PREFACE
Rokea is a very complex individual. She was born in 1915. Or at least that's what she says when she's asked. In reality she was born over a hundred twenty-six years before the current year, 1941. She is a bloodsucker, but not necessarily a vampire by nature. She is a highly trained assassin. She has been known as The Silent Killer, the widow maker, the warrior princess, and the Heishi no kyōfu. She is very beautiful and can use any weapon she is given to maximum effectiveness. She is currently a German kommandant's, or commanders, fiancé. Truth is, she doesn't love him in the least. So she plans to go to America to try and aid the allies, for she has very important knowledge on German positions and weapons. Only problem: she needs to get out of German occupied territory. So as she tries, she gets caught by an officer, who shares her wish to escape from the vise-like grip of Germany's tyranny.
Berlin, August 23, 1941
Roekeas House
6:47 AM
She stands outside on her balcony in Berlin, watching the sun rise. She wonders if she will ever be free of her curse. She thinks about ending it here and now, but knows she won't die. Even a ten story drop wouldn't be enough to kill her. The two guards inside her room guarding the balcony were stationed at the Führer's orders. Two more were stationed outside her bedroom door and multiple others in and around the house. Not that the protection wasn't necessary, of course. She was an official, and officials were often subject to assassinations. An officer walked out onto the balcony.
"Vermissen Rokea. Pardon the intrusion, but your presence was requested by the Kommandant." He spoke with the barest hint of a German accent.
"Tell him I'm unavailable. I don't wish to see him." she said in reply.
"Vermissen, he strictly requested your presence. If you don't show, he'll be extremely peeved." She just kept staring at the horizon, hoping, praying that someone, somewhere, would be able to answer some of her questions.
"Tell him if he wants to meet with me, he will do so at my convenience." She turned her head toward the soldier, a towering blond-haired boy with sparkling blue eyes, standing at about six-foot-two. He was quite a handsome young man. With time, he would grow to be a handsome husband. She shook her head to clear it. "Do you understand, Sophus?" She was trying her best to sound official and keep her thoughts logical. The last thing she needed to do was make a mistake brought about by emotions.
"Yes, Vermissen Rokea. I'll be sure to tell him that. Guten tag, Vermissen." He turned and walked back through her bedroom and was escorted out of the building. She watched him walk through the courtyard, letting her composition slip for just a minute as he walked out the wrought-iron gates, down the streets and into his car. And then he was gone. And so were her feelings for him.
Sophus was twenty-two years old, had long blond hair and intelligent, sparkling blue eyes. He had a handsome face with a beautifully curved jaw and deep alabaster skin. He had never known real fear before. But now he did.
Sophus was terrified. Not only of the Kommandant, but of vermissen Rokea too. There was a certain air about her that hinted at certain darkness and power. Not only that, but it felt like every time she looked at him, she could see through him, straight into his very soul. And her face. Every time he saw it, and looked into her beautiful blue eyes, he saw a cruel, calculated look. He saw intelligence and a deep understanding of the world around her. It was like she was a thousand years old, yet she didn't look a day over twenty-five. It just didn't make sense.
Then again, nothing has really been making any sense lately. To Sophus, this whole war was just a waste of time. Wars killed people. Innocent people. He even remembered when he told his parents that he was joining the Heer. The look of approval on his fathers face, the disbelief on his mother's face. How she tried to convince him that it was safer to stay home, to wait until volunteers were needed. But bullheaded as he was, he joined anyway.
Now that he's been in the Heer for six months now, he realized just how stupid his decision was. The training was harsh, the food wasn't great, and neither were the sleeping quarters. The only reason he dealt with it was because he couldn't bear to go home and hear his mother say I told you so. That would be even worse than facing the kommandant. And he scared the living hell out of Sophus. He could avoid his mother and live. He tries to avoid the kommandant, he's a dead man.