Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to Marvel and Anne Rice
Blood Red Rose by Tara & Valkyrie
'The Heretic' (The lost child)
Don't turn out the lights, Cause there's demons in the night
And they prey on the fears of us all
They hide inside and wait, and they shun the light of day
The scream in their dreams fill us all
Children of the night, such a sad tune they rhyme
The bloody boys that sing a wicked song
And for all of them, they're just memories in the wind
Rise and see, It's the dawn of insanity
Keeper of the gates of fire and the heretic has said
You don't have to be afraid till I
Till I come to get you and child in time
On the swords edge you ride and cast a spell of heresy
And die in vain, like a wild dog in chains
No one can save or set you free.
It was a typical summer night in New Orleans, hot and humid. The night air was thick with the smells of fresh summer flowers and Cajun cooking. After attending the blues concert they came down especially for, Rogue and Gambit walked down the street enjoying each other's company. Both of them had dressed up for the occasion. Rogue wore an emerald green cashmere sweater and a long green skirt with matching gloves, the color more than setting off her eyes. She looked stunning and Remy had had great difficulty keeping his eyes off her during the show. He had decided to wear a white dress shirt with a gambler's string tie, and black slacks. Of course, he also wore his signature brown trench coat, which Rogue wasn't happy with, but she finally gave up, as Remy stubbornly would not take the thing off.
Rogue took another smell of the beautiful long stem red rose that Remy had bought for her just after the concert. Her heart was soaring at all the sweet attention she was receiving from him tonight.
"This little get away was a great idea Remy, I really needed it too." she said with a smile that would melt an iceberg. The stress she had been feeling lately at the mansion quickly forgotten.
"I'm glad chere, I was starting t' worry about you," Remy replied with warm concern.
Everything about their evening together had turned out perfect and just had Remy had hoped it would. But, as they walked hand in gloved hand, Remy could not shake the uneasy feeling that someone was trailing them. As they strolled down the footpath, Remy watched for anything questionable, praying that his keen instincts were wrong. As they crossed the street, he was unable to find anything amiss.
"Sugah, you're awfully quiet all of a sudden, what's wrong?" asked Rogue, stopping right in the middle of the road.
Remy just shook his head and jerked Rogue across the street, "You trying t' get yourself killed girl." His voice betraying his unsettled nerves.
As they reached the sidewalk Rogue stopped and put her hands on her hips, "Ok we're across the street, what's eating you?" Her demeanor indicating she was more than aware of the sudden change in mood.
Remy was about to answer when his attention was instead diverted to the sound of laughter coming from somewhere above him. He snapped his head up and attempted to see what could be laughing from up in the air, as hard as he tried he could see nothing but the cloudless night sky.
Having witnessed Remy's strange behavior, Rogue became concerned. She too started searching the sky above, straining to see what Remy was looking at, "What are we looking for?" she asked.
Remy looked at Rogue and she looked at him from the corner of her eye, as soon as their eyes met, they both burst out laughing at how ridiculous they must look, staring at the roofs of old buildings.
Remy grabbed Rogues hand, " My mind is playin' wit' me chere, dat's all," he said pulling her arm so they could start walking again.
Rogue just shook her head, still smiling at Remy, " sugah, you lost your mind along time ago."
"And my heart chere," said Remy smiling at Rogue.
"Mistah, you just say the sweetest thangs," said Rogue in her best Scarlett O'Hara voice batting her eyelashes at Remy, while he laughed.
Remy and Rogue stopped laughing as the uneasy feeling Remy had felt moments ago suddenly returned. Rogue was feeling that they were being watched now too. Becoming aware that the street they had turned on was deserted, something seemed very wrong and they both were instantly wary. They walked in silence, keeping on guard, just in case something happened. In their line of work, it is a must.
Gambit looked behind him, he swore he could have heard something moving from where they had just came from.
"I t'ink we better go chere, we have company," the urgency in his voice unmistakable, the unknown was making him nervous.
Rogue was about to give her approval about leaving, when two men emerged from the shadows. They were both about the same height; the man with dark hair only an inch shorter than the other and that was where their similarities ended. One man had long wavy black hair and his eyes were the same shade of emerald green as hers. He had a long slender build with long legs and broad shoulders. Rogue guessed that both men looked to be in their twenties. The other man had long vibrant curly, blonde hair that came down just past his shoulders and blue/grey eyes. He had a slender build like the man with black hair but was not as muscular.
They both walked with an incredible catlike grace and Rogue was struck with the fact that they both had the whitest skin she had ever seen. They almost looked dead, Rogue just figured it was the street lamps making their skin that way.
"What do you want," snarled Remy, instantly recognizing the pair.
"You know these two?" asked Rogue, looking at him questionably.
"Oui," said Remy like he was not at all happy with it.
"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend Remy," asked the blonde one, gesturing towards Rogue.
"Non," said Remy angrily.
Both men stepped forward and Rogue noticed how beautiful these two men were. She knew it was a strange word for men but there was no other word for it, especially the one with black hair. He looked very sad and the other had a mischievous glint in his eye. She was amazed at their grace.
Noticing how they were dressed, one word came to Rogue's mind 'money'. Both were dressed in the most fashionable, classic men's attire. Definitely these were men of means, since clothes like that did not come cheap. The cut and color was such that their clothes would never go out of style, charcoal and black. Rogue hazard a guess that they were probably the types to have bill folds, cuff links and Rolex's, stylish bordering on vain.
"Well then I shall introduce myself then, Lestat de Lioncourt at your service chere," he said bowing.
"And I am Louis de Pointe du Lac," he said walking up to Rogue, taking his hand in her gloved hand and kissing it.
Rogue smiled warmly at the two men, they seemed pleasant enough, but when Remy looked over at Rogue, to find her smiling at the pair, he instantly became incensed.
"And I'm de Easter Bunny," Remy spat out.
"Oh Remy, you aren't still bitter are you?" asked Lestat, like he was enjoying every second of Remy's irritation.
"Never," said Remy through clenched teeth, "How's Memnoch?"
"Interesting that you would ask that Remy," said Lestat with a little more hostility in his voice than he intended.
"Leave it t' you t' piss off Satan himself," muttered Remy under his breath, Rogue didn't hear him but Lestat did.
Lestat's grey eyes instantly narrowed and he took a step towards Remy.
Rogue interrupted before everyone lost their temper, holding out her hand, she said, "Ah'm Rogue."
"Oh what an unusual name, but if you are with my dear Remy, I'm sure it fits you," he said smiling at her, kissing her hand just as Louis had done.
Remy rolled his eyes; he didn't like the way the men were looking at Rogue. There was something just below the surface, hiding behind their false smiles. Especially Louis, Remy could have sworn he was undressing her with his eyes.
"Let's go chere," said Remy grabbing Rogue's hand and pulling her away.
"Remy stop it." Rogue resisted, now annoyed at Remy's seemingly rude behavior.
"I don't know what you two are up to, but leave her out of it," Remy paused looking as menacing as possible at the pair, "I remember your laws, and I don't know what you're up t' but stay away from her."
With that said, Remy pulled Rogue down the street. Rogue had never seen Remy so angry so she let him. Rogue looked back at the two men, they stood there smiling at her so she smiled back.
"She's beautiful," Louis said, almost in a whisper. She wasn't at all what he was expecting to find. He almost couldn't believe what he had been told about this woman.
Lestat turned to Louis and just stared at him for a moment and then said, "Oui. She is, isn't she. Just remember Remy isn't stupid, we don't need him getting in the way."
"He remembers the law, he knows something is amiss," said Louis, watching as Remy pulling Rogue down the street.
Lestat just waved his hand at Louis and said, " She is invulnerable, so he will not perceive us as a threat to her."
Louis just nodded and asked, "Is he furious?"
Lestat went into a deep concentration, after a brief moment, he knitted his eyebrows and frowned. He broke his concentration and turned to Louis shocked.
"It would seem Monsieur LeBeau has become more powerful," said Lestat in disbelief.
Louis turned to his friend in shock also; "You cannot read his mind anymore?"
"It would seem he has the power to block out any telepathy," said Lestat more annoyed than shocked now.
"And the women? Is what Nortatem said true?" asked Louis.
"She has the Kree DNA, no one can penetrate her shields," said Lestat, "you know this already."
"Can you hear them then?"
Lestat listened for a minute and startled Louis when he threw his head back and laughed, "Oh this will be so amusing to watch this scenario play itself out," he said joyfully as he massaged his hands together.
"I just hope it doesn't backfire on us," said Louis frowning at Lestat.
"Oh Louis, you are such a pessimist. Can I ever enjoy things without you looking at the dark side of things," said Lestat with his hands in the air.
"I am a realist, you never take anything seriously. It is my duty to do that for you, they call you the brat prince for a reason," said Louis.
Lestat just shook his head at Louis, "I prefer to be called 'the James Bond of vampires' thank you," said Lestat irritated.
"Keep telling everyone that, one day maybe it will stick," said Louis, trying not to laugh.
"Oh my beautiful Louis, you have such a poetic soul, cracking jokes does not befit you," said Lestat frowning, then changed the subject, "shall we go to the flat in the Rue Royale for the night or shall we go straight to the house in New York,"
"It will be sun rise soon, let's go to the flat."
"Then the flat it is then," said Lestat waving his hand in the air.
Both men stepped back into the shadows were they came from and disappeared into the night.
As they came around the corner, Rogue jerked her hand out of Remy's. She turned to face him full of anger.
"Your hospitality really needs polishing sugah," said Rogue angrily.
Remy thrust his hands into his trenchcoat just so he didn't charge anything accidentally. He was so aggravated, his eyes were glowing a demonic red.
"Dey are trouble Rogue," he snarled, knowing full well that an argument was in progress with Rogue.
Rogue walked right up to Remy and placed her glove hand on his shoulder, saying, "Why is that?"
"Jus' because Rogue," Remy said, his anger softening a little.
"What are you hiding Remy," asked Rogue.
"I know somet'ing about dem, and if anyone else finds out, dey die, plain as dat," said Remy trying to be as vague as possible.
"Why aren't they trying to kill you then," asked Rogue suspiciously.
Remy just gave Rogue a lopsided grin and said sexily, "because of my enchanting personality."
"Very funny, why?" said Rogue standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, anger threatening to show itself again.
"What makes you t'ink dey didn't try," Remy said, winking at Rogue and then turned to walk away.
"Don't use that charm on me buster, will I ever get a straight answer," said Rogue, grabbing his arm, spinning him around to face her again.
"When it's about dose two, non," he said standing so close, Rogue could feel Remy's breath tickling her face.
"And why not? I can take care of myself you know," yelled Rogue, standing her ground.
"Rogue, you don' get it," yelled Remy taking a step back and throwing his hands in the air, "Monsieur de Lioncourt is Wolverine, Jean and you wrapped in a petite package, dat boy can cause a lot of damage."
"Not with all the Xmen around sugah," Rogue said confidently.
Remy just shook his head, he was furious now; "Will you jus' drop it. Dose two live here, once we go back t' de mansion, we will never see dem again, so what does it matter?"
"Why won't you just tell me?" said Rogue getting angry herself.
"Dey are jus' one of many, you t'ink Sinister is rotten t' de core. Dey make him look like a Boy Scout," Remy shouted, pointing towards the street.
Rogue had more questions than answers, but she knew this was a losing battle with Remy, so she decided to let it drop for the time being.
Rogue unconsciously sighed; Remy understood that to be a sign of Rogue letting go of the topic of discussion for now.
"Let's go back to the hotel sugah," said Rogue wrapping her arm around Remy's waist.
Remy smiled down at Rogue as he put his arm around her shoulders, "Sounds good t' me chere."
Rogue and Remy left arm in arm and went back to there separate hotel room for the night. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't see the older gentleman standing at the end of the street smiling.
Coming soon chapter 2...
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