"Ra's own masterpiece. What is it like to conquer?
Broken boy
Fearless man
What is it like to burn her?"
Kara Saemos slammed the doors to her father's meeting room. She'd been called upon suddenly, she disliked having to travel so far for a simple meeting. Her face was of ice and steel. Her father merely glanced up at her arrival and returned to lounging by the fire. Strange to see a vampyre by a fire, they were not immune to it. Kara's seething expression abated when she noticed Astaroth slouching opposite her father. Her vampiric senses immediately snapped into place.
'Father,' she knelt, suddenly remembering herself.
'Daughter,' her father motioned for her to rise. She approached her father's chair, weary of Astaroth glaring at her from behind, and offered her hand for her father to kiss. 'I have missed your company in these walls.'
Truthfully, she hated their home. It was barren and dark, empty. Her mother made this place a home, if vampyrs even had homes. A part of Kara will never forgive her father for selling her to the brothels once he had bred her like an animal. 'Is there a reason you summoned me?' she asked, keeping her voice light. She had better things to worry about, like how to get Dean to accept her as his claim. He was being a nuisance.
'The girl that your future husband has taken as his pet,' Astaroth sat up and the shoulder of his shirt slipped off. If Kara could blush, she would have. The lord was nude beneath. 'How is she?'
Her father summoned her all the way out here for this? An interrogation? 'I thought I told you I'd return with information once I had it.'
Balderik squeezed her fingers to the point of breaking. 'Mind your tongue, you useless girl.'
Kara pressed her lips into a thin line and turned back to Astaroth. 'I fear Dean has grown to care for the mortal. Just yesterday, he invited her into his observatory so he might teach her of our history.'
Astaroth's face hardened. It was not what he wanted to hear, it seemed. Kara would be lying if she was not struck by Rose's beauty, that day on the courts, she saw her blood red hair and amber eyes and sick fury rolled in her stomach. Kara was born a fucking Wite, she was born to seduce, to be beautiful, and yet that mortal somehow had Dean's attention without any supernatural powers. With her arched neck and freckled skin, she was lovely. She'd love to gauge out her eyes.
Astaroth stood quickly. 'I'll take care of her. All you have to do is be ready to take your crown.'
'What are you doing to do to her?'
'What do you want me to do to her?'
Kara's shoulders squared at the sheer ruthlessness in the lord's voice. Cold and predatory. What else could she do? If she wanted to become the Queen of Flesh, she needed to pave the way. 'I want her head on a spike,' Kara said. 'I want her burned to ashes.'
Astaroth's smile was wicked and vile.
~
Rose's fist collided with Ekki's bare cheek. She ducked just in time to avoid a hit to her teeth. Beyond them, Rhazien was throwing out orders like they were on the battlefield.
'You're keeping too much weight on your right side, Ekki could—'
Her back slammed against the hard floor and hollowed air pushed from her lungs.
'Knock you down,' Rhazien sighed.
Rose squinted up to the sky and glared at Ekki's smirk. The three of them have been at it for days, part of her classes, apparently. Rose couldn't help but think they just wanted to teach her to fight to test a mortal's strength. She was glad of the distraction, though.
Rose took Ekki's outstretched hand and pulled herself up. A thud landed to her left, Rhazien strode towards them with a shrug. 'Not bad but you'd be dead in battle.'
'Good thing I'm not going to be in a battle any time soon,' she grumbled.
'Are you sure you don't want to try the Rhygar again?'
Rose's gaze slid to the white staff leaning on a rock behind her. It was a gift from Meredith, a light staff, one capable of challenging her power into offensive attacks. They tried to use it a few times in their sessions, but she had no control, she couldn't channel her power into it for a narrow strike. It was like a toddler acting on its own accord. Unfocused, Meredith has clipped. She was unfocused. And no one knew why, the only person who did was the last person she wanted to interact with.
Rose drew in a breath, shook her head.
Ekki pulled off his gloves. 'Wanna tell us why you've been avoiding Dean?'
Her head whipped to the two vampyrs. 'What has he told you?' avoiding was an understatement, Rose ran from Dean as if he was the plague. At mealtimes, she'd not stay more than fifteen minutes, she'd blank him if he tried to speak to her. I claimed you, Rose. The words stung and shook her every day, the bite marks on her neck had faded well enough but Rose felt the lingering instinct to be around him claw at her back every day. Some stupid vampiric cult shit.
'Nothing,' Ekki raised his hands.
'What he means to say is, whatever you two argued about, unargue about it,' Rhazien sighed. 'He's literally being a dick to everyone.'
'Not my problem.'
Rhazien shook his head and gave Rose a tight-lipped smile. 'Guess I'll have to get the stick out of his ass myself.'
'Are you coming for dinner?' Ekki asked. Right, dinner. Not only did she have to endure Dean, but she had to endure Kara as well. And not only that but Cato of all goddamn people, had been spending a lot of time at the castle doing business. It began with messages to Dean from Astaroth and then it became full day stays and then he began stayed overnight. The gods must hate her. She didn't have the energy for such nonsense.
'Maybe,' Rose said.
'You can't avoid him forever.'
She scoffed. 'I avoided Chrissy Lunden all of sixth form, I think I can avoid a stupid vamp.'
Rhazien put his hand on his heart. 'She called Vamps stupid.'
'Damn straight.'
He shrugged, locking his fingers behind his head. It was Ekki who seemed weary to leave her out here alone, but she offered him a smile and pushed them along. 'Make sure you take the tonic Thalia made for you to combat the poison in the air.'
'Yes mother,' she smiled. Once they had left, Rose started walking. She let her feet guide her and let her thoughts run rampant. Just a week ago she'd been told the truth, a week ago she and Dean had...
They'd done something terrible, and he was embarrassed by it. She was embarrassed by it. What would Kara say if she found out? What would the other lords say? They'd probably kill her, she'd have to find a way out and back to Zamar before it's too late. But for some reason everything felt too late.
When she walked through the dead garden, it's heavy, dove-grey hair was dizzy with something unbreathable. There was something soft yet utterly annihilating about her, she held both an intolerable tenderness and hell fire. And as she walked, she knew she was not alone in the mist. She paused, scanning the hazy grey and the lazy poisonous winds as they breezed past her.
'Perhaps if you were to follow me, may I suggest quieter shoes?'
A male emerged from the grey wisps of mist. Tall—taller than she remembered—dressed pleasantly in earth tones, hand stitched and tailored. Cato gleamed at her. 'I was looking for Dean, have you seen him?'
Her stomach rolled at the mention of his name. Rose bit, 'I'm not his keeper.'
Much to Cato's respect, he did not frown or grimace. He only took a small step closer as if she would run away and she was much inclined to. 'And yet you live in his home and dine with his family. How oddly amusing.'
Her amber eyes flared. 'If you'd like to know where he is, I suggest you follow the train of crying women. It will lead you right to him.' Rose continued walking, surprised to hear his own catch up and match her stride. Suddenly the steel, the fire, the hell in her, vanished. 'What do you want?'
'Just wanted to say hello,' he offered her the same smile he'd given her that day at the coffee shop. What a lifetime ago.
'Bye.'
He chuckled. 'You never cease to surprise me, my love.'
She'd never rolled her eyes so hard before. They stopped her a rose garden, a dead rose garden. Rose stared long and hard at them, every emotion in her body threatening to spill out and make her break. But she wouldn't do that in front of Cato, he didn't deserve to see how much she was suffering.
She crouched on her hunches and stuck out a hand over one of the roses. Suddenly a puddle of light lit up on her palm and shin gently on the petals, and soon, the rose started regaining its lovely colour back. The petals straightened and grew, the stem returned to a bright green.
'Nice trick, you're really getting better,' Cato crouched beside her.
'Did you know I had powers when you chose me?' she glanced sidelong at him.
He shook his head. 'No, I didn't,' she gave him a knowing look and he smiled. Smiled as if he enjoyed being around her. 'I swear.'
'Vampyrs can't lie.'
'That's faeries.'
'Same thing,' she stuck out her tongue. She breathed a sigh of relief, at least Cato knew nothing of her witch heritage. Even she was still getting used to it. He plucked the rose and offered it to her and when she hesitated to take it, he added, 'You should do this to the castle. Bring life to something dead. I—I think that's why you are here. To bring life back to Hel.'
Rose licked her lips, feeling too many things at once. Taking the rose, she said, 'I don't think I have enough life left in me.'
'On the contrary! Do you want to know why the lords are afraid of your power? Because you represent everything they despise.'
'And that is?'
He smirked. 'Light.' He pushed to standing and offered her a hand up, she noted the look of subtle shock on his face when she actually took his outstretched hand.
'You're being oddly nice.'
'Just trying to make Amends before Grimas starts.'
'Grimas?'
'It's like a kind of vampyre hibernation. Every Vampyre in Hel enters a deep sleep for about two months.'
'Wait?' she gasped. 'everyone.' He nodded. 'But...what about me? I'll be awake.'
'I'm sure Dean will put something in place to keep you company.'
She sighed. 'Are you Coming for dinner?'
'I wasn't invited.'
No, a voice in her head purred. Don't do it. She ignored it. 'Well consider you invited. Besides, the thought of having to suffer through a dinner with Kara and Dean is agonising.'
'What about Thalia?'
'Thalia would not understand.'
'And I would?'
She looked at him. 'For once in your fucking life Cato, just be there for me. You were so good at pretending to do so, pretend again.'
There was a flash of hurt on his face, if they could even feel hurt. But he nodded and began walking. If she had to fight another evil with a lesser evil, she would.
~
Rhazien hauled himself atop the dining table, frowning as he said 'Ekki, why do you have a stone wrapped in one of Thalia's ridiculous knitted sheets?'
'What?' they heard Thalia gasp from the outside hall. Sprinting, Thalia was sprinting into the dining room and skidded across the floor to a halt. Her eyes went straight to the white and pink fabric she had knitted just days prior now dirtied by filth by Ekki's rock. Some kind of moan came out of her, followed by a sharp bark 'My sheet!' She'd began knitting after Rose mentioned it a few days ago, said it was a human thing people did as a hobbie. Thalia practically jumped at the idea of trying something human. She was shit at it, mind you.
Ekki scrambled to his feet, taking the stone with him as Thalia approached with an unyielding face. She was average but dwarfed Ekki, yet she could still install the wrath of all of Hel upon anyone. 'Wait, Wait—Afet gave it to me,' a small smile.
Somewhere, she came from somewhere. Afet strode right past the dining room hall carrying a tray, paused at the door and grimaced. Flicking her black hair over her shoulder, she said with a voice as sharp as the steel on Ekki's sword, 'I threw it at you.' and then continued walking.
Ekki grumbled after her 'You still gave it to me!'
They could have sworn they heard Afet hiss something quite vulgar back. Thalia snorted 'Your love life is quite something. You're still pining after her?' she tried to get the sheet back. 'Give it back Ekki, you heard her, she threw it at you. It's not a gift.'
'You can't even reach me,' he smirked. A knee right into his most sensitive part was what brought him to his knees. Scrambling. She snatched the cloth, left the stone in his hands and cackled. 'Stupid vamp,' she sang.
Just then, Dean and Kara flooded into the dining room looking represent in black velvet jacket and matching pants. Thalia almost gagged seeing Kara wear something similar. Neither of them offered their future flesh Queen a glance as they strode in. Dean stopped short when he saw them all. 'I don't even want to know,' he shook his head and glanced around. 'Where is Rose?'
'I don't know,' Thalia said with venom. 'Seems like she's avoiding you like the plague. I don't blame her, I'd do the same.'
'She is here,' a toe-curling voice. All five of them turned to the dining hall doors and saw Rose striding arm in arm with Cato Masen.
~
The pure look of shock mixed with rage on Dean's face when she walked in on Cato's arm should have been satisfying but in all honestly it felt her pissed off. Why was he mad? What was he even mad about? She stared Dean down for mere seconds before averting her gaze to the rest of them. Thalia blinked between her and the Daywalker, looking like she was about to yank her arm and demand answers, and Ekki and Rhazien only looked between one another, then looked to Dean with smirks. Dean tracked her as they walked the entire length to their seats. Rose in the middle, Thalia on her left and Cato on her right. Cato even pulled out her seat.
Kara took her place at Dean's right side while Dean took the head of the table. Upon cue, servitors brought them their helish food and for Rose, a pasta bake. It was bland but they tried, it wasn't like she knew how to cook human food.
'I don't remember Cato being invited to stay for dinner?' Dean's words were tight lipped. Rose settled her amber eyes on him while Cato squirmed beside her. As king, Dean had every right to remove him.
'I invited him.'
'You hold no authority.'
'Yes, I do,' she said in a voice unlike her own. She did and no one knew why. 'If anything, I have the most authority here. You can't kill me because you need me but who's to say I won't up and burn you all to ash?' she was also his claimed.
Rhazien cleared his throat. 'Rose,' a warning. A big fucking warning. But Rose just stared at Dean, stared, and stared and stared.
'You really do live up to your name,' Kara said sweetly. It sounded like she was trying to diffuse the situation, but Rose had met much of her kind before, she was only adding more to the flames. She put her hand on Dean's and every instinct in Rose battled against her ribs. The instinct to get her hand off her the man who had claimed her. Her Moirai. 'Everyone sees your beauty and seems to forget you have thorns.'
Rose smiled. 'Well, that's the nature of a rose, isn't it? It hurts you when you least expect it to.' She turned back to her food. They ate in silence for a painfully long half an hour stretch and it was in that half an hour that she felt something, someone, claw at her mind.
I don't appreciate your behaviour, she barely glanced at Dean. She felt confusion from his end, restlessness maybe. You feel...so far away. Your mind is so far.
Maybe I don't like having you in my head after all.
Rose, stop this.
Why do you care whether I stop or not? What you want to go back to being kind and sweet after what you did? You're embarrassed of me, I'm embarrassed of myself, just leave me be. You've done enough.
Silence. And then, I'm not embarrassed of you.
So, would you stand up here and tell everyone that you claimed me? That it wasn't an accident? That you wanted it as much as I did?
Silence. It lasted for so long that she dared to glance up, she found him looking at her with a sombre expression. Hot tears licked her eyes. She turned away and said into his mind, I'm not surprised. She glanced at Cato. 'Are you finished?'
He nodded.
'Want to go for a walk?'
'Of course, milady.' Such pleasantries. They stood and she took her arm, bidding goodnight to everyone.
Rose, please, she heard Dean call. But she ignored him.
~
Dean couldn't hone his temper as he watched Rose and Cato from his balcony. Rose smiled at him and something in Dean nearly snapped. He couldn't leash it, and when Cato's hands fell to her waist idly and twirling her through the rose garden, Dean's madness rolled. She smiled so widely, she looked so beautiful. He had a dream about her the night she came, and for months, he couldn't get that dream out of his head; the girl who broke into the heavens, crushed each and every star and whispered to the universe, live. After Thalia informed him of her divine sight, he knew exactly who she was. He tried to deny it, had wanted to deny it, but each day her power grew and sometimes he could feel it rumble at night. The castle would wake at the whisper of her feet.
A Vesen Queen, he had no doubt about it. With power like that, it's likely the Vesens have already become aware of her existence and were hunting her down. Astaroth could never know, he would not let her live. Dean looked to Hel's black sky, shuddered a breath, and asked Ra to help him let her go.
~
Rose's eyes stung but she rubbed them and continued reading. Before the great civil war and rise of Narcissa and Zadimus, the everlasting empire of Avrak, an ancient civilisation in the dawn of man, ruled the world. The dreadkings ruled as living gods. From what she gathered, these ancient kings ruled earth long before vampyres and witches came into the world. Earth was called Ead in the old tongue. The dreadkings became obsessed with unlocking the secrets of immortality, they ordered their servants, 'the crimson order' a group of powerful priests into finding a cure to death. The priests studied all aspects of life and death, they learnt of the cosmic force called Uthrarr and how its 'threads' could travel through time and space, leading them to believe there were other worlds like their own. They found scrolls scattered across the world that formulated to 'the sin scriptures.' She wondered if the Arkaine was part of these scriptures. There was little on the fate of the dreadkings and what came after, history must have forgotten them, but it seems like they found something. Something that left their people struck with immortality, but it had a catch, they became insatiable for blood. But that didn't make sense, Narcissa and Zadimus were the original vampyres. They began the line. Unless...unless that was never true. That the origins of Vampyres were false.
Rose slammed the book shut and scooted off the bed, stripping herself naked. The clock had just struck midnight, it was time. She picked up a separate book and walked over to the middle of her room and knelt on the floor.
This will either work or it will blow up right in her face.
She took a knife, bit her lip and cut her thigh. The pain flared and then dulled. She used the book to draw the correct symbols in a ring around her and waited.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Her right arm started burning, burning like someone was dragging a blade across it. She tried not to shake or make a sound as she watched a set of letters carve themselves on her skin, watched her own blood drip. She'd cloaked her room with the tongues an hour before to mask the stench of blood, last she needed was a curious vamp scenting fresh blood.
She read the letters on her arm.
'Have you decided?' it was Zamar.
Rose took her knife and carved her skin 'I'll help you but my memories are still lost'
'They will come in time'
Could he not have chosen a less painful method of communication. 'Promise me you will leave Dean, Thalia, Rhazien and ekki out of it.' the words disappear
'We cannot let them live'
'If you touch them so god help me, I will ruin you. My allegiance does not lie with you, lest you forget.'
It took him five minutes to write back. 'As you bid it.'
Rose flexed her fingers. 'What do you want me to do'
'Do not give them a reason to suspect your treason, they already trust you. Keep their trust.'
'They are going to kill me once they learn what i am'
'Then u will just have to kill them first.' The words vanished and Rose had nothing left to say so she just stood from the circle and sighed. Keep their trust.
~
The next day, Rose took all the dead flowers from the garden and brought them back to life. Dean breezed past the foyer but stopped, glanced around at the flowers scattered around the room. And then his eyes fell to her. 'What have you done?'
'You don't like it?'
Again, he looked at the flowers. Lily's, daisies, wild roses. Wildflowers, growing towards her sunlight. Slowly, he replied slowly 'They make the room look...bright.'
She smiled and continued bringing them to them. He watched as she tended to the plants for several minutes.