Prompt: Picture under July 1st on profile (key in lock)
Fandom: Vampire Academy
Plot: Strigoi Dimitri is taunting Dhampir Rose in her quest to kill him.
The Key of Death
Cloaked in black, she stands to the foot of the grave. The dark sky sends out a loud boom of thunder, but even that doesn't waiver her steely disposition.
It has taken her days to get here and she can't believe her eyes. Although she knows she is in the right place, she pulls out the folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket and opens it.
74 5 k 33
It was a clue. A clue that led her here. Seventy four Fifth Boulevard, plot K, grave number thirty three. The grave of one Anna Belikov. The tombstone informs of her birth and death, but this isn't what holds Rose's attention. It is the ancient looking brass plate these details are etched in. Its filigree edges familiar to her. So familiar in fact that she is assaulted by the memory of tracing these very same lines not too long ago; the cool of her fingertip gliding along the warmth of her lover's skin.
Ex-lover. She reminds herself.
Shaking her head to dispel the memory, she ignores the ache in her chest and looks away from the tombstone to search for her next clue. She spies a small black box by the headstone and picks it up. Inside is a brass key and another note. Sick to her stomach, she opens it with trepidation.
See something familiar? Come and get me, Rose, I'm waiting.
Anger and hurt rushes forth and she looks around expectantly, but sees no one.
"I know you're here!" She calls out into the darkening cemetery. "Come out and fight me, you coward!"
Her hand rests on the silver stake sheathed at her hip, beneath her coat. Her breathing shallow and heavy as she continues to look around her in exasperation.
A long minute passes with no reply. No movement.
She rests her hands by her side for a moment, before looking down at the key clasped in her left palm.
"Belikov Estate it is then," she murmurs, before placing the key into her pocket and setting off to kill the man she loves.
