Well, chapter 10 is now up. It's quite strange to me getting this far with the story because I know that eventually it will have to end. There will probably around 10 more chapters before I finish out this story, but I have good news. I am incredibly certain that there will be a sequel made. For now, enjoy the latest chapter and please remember to review. And if some of you would like, I will post my AIM information in case there are any questions, comments or concerns. AIM: sydXstacy. 3
Rose awoke sometime later from the afternoon sun shining through her window. She put her hands up to her face, trying to block out any signs of the brightness but it was to no avail. There was a sigh that came from her then she stretched out, finding no sign of the warm bodies that had shared her bed last night. Sitting up she saw that someone had taken the liberty of taking the dirty clothes out of her room, and perhaps Nikola's clothes from last night.
She sighed and got up from the bed, walking over to the closet to pick something out to wear for the day. There was a fluttering of wings and she turned around to see Rei hovering around her.
"Oh, good evening Rei. Did you sleep well last night?" She asked, smiling to the smaller faerie.
"Yes mistress. However, I am afraid that the vampire has disappeared." The voice was so small that Rose wasn't sure she had heard it at first.
There was an immense pain in Rose's chest at the thought of Nikola leaving Sanctuary. She was just beginning to try and figure things out and he went and left her alone. It was understandable that she was upset considering that last night had been…beyond words, despite the fact that she would now have to wear her hair low and prevent Aunt Helen from figuring out that Nikola had turned into a vampire again.
She sighed and pulled on a dark green maxi dress, then brushed out her hair and let it fall over the shoulder where Nikola had bitten her last night. At the rate she seemed to be healing though it would only leave tiny scars. She looked over to her desk and noticed that the black box was still there.
On the top of the box was a carving of a young woman. Her eyes were colored a bright green, the same color as Rosella's. The dress she wore was wrapped once around her chest, the rest falling around her hips and legs to look like a flower. It was made of rich red material and had minor traces of gold. The woman's hair was a deep gold with red highlights and fell down her back in cascading waves. Decorating her hair was a single golden rose.
"Rei…who is that woman?" Rose asked, tracing her fingers along the carving on the box.
Rei fluttered over to the box and took a seat on the desk next to it. Her little eyes intently studied the picture before she turned and looked up to Rose.
"I think that is the Queen Mother Rosmerta. She was queen before Finvarra, in the dark times. She was your grandmother. The gold rose that she wears is a symbol of the great house that her grandmother built many years ago after the Faerie Wars. It can only be passed down to an immediate female relative that will succeed the throne, since our society is built with women being heads of house." Rei yawned and flied up to sit on Rosella's shoulder.
Rose opened the box and sure enough the golden rose was sitting there, glittering with untold power. She carefully picked it up and saw that it would need to be tied into her hair. Being careful of the Púca on her shoulder she tied her hair off to the side, showing off the gold rose.
"How does it look?" She said, watching Rei fly in front of her face and give her a thumbs up.
Rose smiled and allowed Rei to settle on her shoulder before grabbing the book and heading down to the lab. When she got there she saw no sign of anyone else having been there since she and Nikola had disappeared to Finvarra's kingdom. She took out an electronic tablet and a syringe. Rei flew around the room and tried to find a place to sit where she wouldn't be in the way. Rose winced when she inserted the needle and took out some of her own blood.
She typed away on the tablet and pulled up the specifics on her previous sample from when she first came to the Sanctuary. Humming lightly she used a small bit of the blood and put it in an electronic device to determine the specifics. When she pulled the two up to compare them she noticed little difference even with the addition of the vampire blood into her system. The only difference between then and now was her healing process, which she had already deduced would affect her in a positive manner.
She sighed outwardly and examined the blood still in the syringe, a dark crimson color. The syringe was placed off the side as her mind began to wander to Nikola. The electronic tablet she held beeped before her thoughts got too far, it had pulled up the sample of Nikola's DNA and overlaid it with Rosella's DNA. The strands were near identical, except Rose was missing an entire half of her DNA compared to Nikola's. She still was seeing a red strand representative of the vampiric blood in her veins, but it was there even in the original sample. Her eyebrows furrowed and she scribbled some notes before walking over to the intercom, taking her notepad with her.
"Kate. Do you see my sister wandering around?" She spoke into the intercom, watching Kate's face come into view.
"She's down here in Will's office." Kate said, clicking the intercom off once Rose stepped out of view.
Rose rolled her eyes and motioned Rei to follow her down to Will's office. Rei changed into a black dog with bright red eyes this time and padded softly after her. Will's office was a little more of mess than she remembered and she laughed at the sight of chaos in the room.
"You guys can't handle watching a little kid?" Rose smirked and saw Tania come out of hiding behind Will's desk.
Kate was visibly frazzled and sat on the very edge of Will's desk. The Big guy she assumed was off running errands and Will was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands.
"Oh Rose, thank god. Kate thought it would be a good idea to give a faerie sugar, so little Nia here has been running all about causing mayhem and mischief." Will said, looking up at Rosella.
Tania was bouncing around a little more than usual, but it was still a pleasant change from the shy girl she had first met in Finvarra's kingdom. Rose laughed a little and knelt down, pulling the smaller girl into a hug.
"Are you enjoying time with your Uncle Will and Aunt Kate?" Rose was greeted with a furious nod and a return hug.
"Since when did we become Aunt and Uncle?" Will asked, slightly annoyed at the prospect of looking after the child.
"Since I slept until the afternoon. Besides if I ever have kids you'll still be Aunt and Uncle. Might as well get used to it. Now, has Aunt Helen contacted us yet?" She asked joining Kate on the edge of Will's desk.
"Not yet, but we are expecting her call later this evening. Any particular reason you want to know?" He asked, yawning slightly before standing up from his desk.
"I have to keep her abreast of what is going on with me…since Finvarra's kingdom." She said softly, casting a glance over to Tania.
"What have you found out so far?" Kate asked, stepping away from the desk to see what Tania was doing.
"Well, I compared my DNA to Nikola's from when he was a vampire. The only difference between me and Nikola is that I am missing part of my DNA ladder. And the vampire blood has…always been present in my DNA." Rose said, reading through her notes one more time.
"What does that mean for you?" Will asked, stretching his body out as he watched Rose.
"I know what it means." Tania spoke up from her spot on the floor reading.
All eyes turned to Tania, waiting to hear what the little girl had to say. She stood up and stood in front of the adults, straightening out the grey dress she had taken from a box in Rose's closet. Rose leaned forward, intrigued in what the girls had to say.
"Father allowed a tutor to explain it to me once, and it is also in that book that I gave you; it's a guarded secret only a few at court know of. Faeries and vampires used to be one unified species at one time. Over time, it was discovered that some of us had latent regenerating powers while the rest of us could age and die normally as the humans could." She took a pause and looked for a glass of water she had set down earlier, taking a drink while she allowed the first bit of information to sink in.
Rose stood stunned. It was no wonder that Nikola had become terribly fascinated in Finvarra and the way his kingdom worked. The Faeries were essentially vampires that could die.
"So then…how did they get separated into two different species? And how was I not affected." Rose asked, pulling out a pen to take a few notes on the matter while Tania was having a low sugar moment.
"I was getting to that. When the vampires discovered they were seemingly superior to Faeries we were forced into the underground, while they ruled the world above. As our two species bred, any remnant of Faerie blood in vampires was all but removed leaving us with the third ladder of our DNA in common. Also, those who are supposed to ascend the throne are missing a piece of their DNA. When we are joined with our soul mate our children become more powerful, which is crucial for the rulers. This also explains why my sister is more in tune with her powers than I am. Naturally, dissension became common amongst us so the various Faeries fought for control of the underground, leading to the Daoine Sidhe coming to power. After we had settled quarrels amongst ourselves it was our grandmother, Rosmerta that began a war against the vampires. They of course went extinct with help from the humans, but we were still forced to maintain our lands underground by your leaders. Although, we do have a peaceful co-existence now with the humans." Tania mused, looking to Kate for a moment before she went back to reading her book.
"So in some way Nikola and I are related, albeit distantly…" Rose frowned slightly and shook her head, stepping away from the desk.
"Are you alright Rose?" Will took a step towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes…I'm quite fine. Just a lot to think about…" She sighed and put a hand to her throbbing temples, taking a seat on the couch.
"Take a nap. We'll watch little Nia until you get up, we can always dump her on Declan." Will gave her a wink and went off with the others to take care of business.
Rosella nodded and sank deeper into the couch, letting sleep find her quickly.
Rosmerta was sitting underneath a tree in Finvarra's garden, in all of her glory only this time the golden rose was missing from her hair. She looked at Rosella, patting the space next to her to urge Rosella to have a seat.
"Come and sit with me grandchild. I'm sure we have much to discuss." She smiled, and Rosella found her voice strangely inviting.
She obliged her grandmother, taking a seat next to her under the shade of the large Ash tree. Her dress was the same she had been wearing that day and she gingerly touched her hair to feel the golden rose still tied.
"How is it we can talk to each other? I thought you were…killed." Rose spoke softly, glancing around to look at the differences between this garden and the one in Finvarra's underground realm.
"It's quite simple my dear. When our people die, we don't exactly die a true death. We can pass our spirit on to something and those who come after us can use that item to communicate with the living. For the queens in our bloodline, the gold rose was passed on as a way to have an advisor with you." Rosmerta smiled and placed a hand on her granddaughters shoulder.
It was a small action but Rosella could feel the power behind that one hand, even in this dream-like state. The hand on her shoulder was removed and Rosmerta waved her hands producing two cups in the shape of a golden flower, with five petals folded back to allow the cup holder access to the drink. A ghostly figure, near shapeless save for the hand sticking out holding a flagon for the two. Honey colored mead was poured into the waiting cups of the ladies before the silvery shadow disappeared from the garden.
"Now, we spirits don't usually just show up like this. So why don't you tell your dear grandma what's the matter and I'll see if we can't figure this out." She smiled and set the kept partially on her lap, only occasionally taking a few sips.
"I'm sorry I have a question first. Aren't most of the Sidhe like me? I mean don't their powers have some relation with nature or is that exclusive to me?" She sipped at the mead, finding it bitter.
"Of course not my dear. There are some Faeries that are in tune with nature. Not all of us have the same powers, just as the vampires didn't have the same powers. It's more or less random what powers we get. I happened to have powers over abundance. Your father has powers over death. The powers can sometimes greatly contrast with your parents, but they are hardly ever the same. Now this problem of yours…" She drank her mead and set the cup down on the grass, where vines sprouted up the tree and the cup turned into a golden flower.
"Ah…yes. Well, this man…eh, vampire that I like… We have been having difficulties as of late." She spoke quietly, remembering how her father had told her that Rosmerta was killed by the vampires.
"My dear, the great war was long ago. We all did things we wish we could take back, my consorting with vampires did lead to my death but things are so different now that it is only natural you should want to seek out comfort from someone." Rosmerta hugged Rosella about her shoulders; arms tensed with years of muscle enveloped the smaller framed woman.
Rose rested her head against Rosmerta's shoulder, feeling a warmth radiate from her grandmother.
"I'm afraid. I have to take care of Tania now and while I do have help I'm not certain how good of a job I can do. And with Nikola just suddenly taking off after I was feeling something for him, it's just terribly strange. I know he doesn't love me; he loves his plans for world domination. I don't want to wind up as a pawn in his plans. I could see myself being with him, but only if he abandoned his plans for world domination." Rose sighed and drank the last of her mead before setting it in the grass where it transformed into a real golden flower as Rosmerta's cup had.
"The women in our family do not crave power as the men do. It is part of who you are to deny the opportunity to expand on the kingdom and allow what is already there to flourish. However, I do understand the yearning for world dominance. Power is a drug; once you feel it you cannot stop yourself from wanting more. Though, this was a distinction that caused the rift between our two kingdoms. You can work through this, I'm certain of it." Rosmerta kissed her forehead, and it was only a second later that Rosella blinked and she was lying on the couch in Will's office.
She sat up and looked around the office, seeing no one. Rose stood up and walked out of the office, spotting Declan walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets.
"Declan! What's going on? Where is everybody?" She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder as she tried to keep up with the taller man's strides.
"I'm on my way to inform Kate's team that we cannot leave. Apparently while Will was headed to the restaurant he and his little friend were kidnapped. Kate was going to go in with a team after them, but we found out the group was going to be smuggling abnormals on the 'ghost ship'. Helen said to wait at the docks for the ship to come in so we can nab them, Will's on his own for now." Declan said, reaching the elevator to stop Kate.
While he was relaying Helen's message, Rose thought about where Tania had run off to in the mayhem of things. Kate looked at Rose and laughed silently, wondering how the girl got about anymore in just dresses.
"I'll go grab a gun and meet you guys down at the cars. By the way…where is Tania?" She eyed Kate, finding it strange to actually see her in legitimate wear for Sanctuary work.
"Don't worry, Tania is being looked after. So go hurry up, we don't have all day to wait." Kate shot Rose a wink before the elevator doors closed and the group of soldiers went downstairs.
Rose smirked and ran to her room, quickly taking off her dress and putting on a pair of black jeans and a black short sleeved shirt. She went over to her desk and grabbed the Colt out of her drawer before heading out the door. When she got downstairs she was greeted with a pat on the shoulder, which Rose tried to shrug off.
"Honestly Kate, I'm not your buddy. I am your amazing older co-worker. Now let's get to work shall we?" She laughed a little and headed out the door with the others. They took a two different cars, not taking them very long to reach the docks. The different groups spread out, with Rose crouching down behind two boxes. Now all they had to do was wait for the bad guys.
Back at Sanctuary, Tania was sitting in the library reading through some of the books on abnormals. She felt a slight tingling in her pocket and pulled out a small hand mirror, only instead of seeing her reflection she saw Finvarra looking back at her.
"What progress have you made Tania?" Finvarra spoke quietly, his eyes heavy and dark as he scanned Tania's face.
"The vampire has gone off to find his Queen, so we will not have to worry about him. I will place the note in Rosella's book very shortly and she will think that she is not good enough for Nikola. After that it will only be a matter of time before you have your heir back, ready to follow your every command." Tania looked at the door for a brief moment before turning back to the mirror.
"Very good. You have your orders, now carry them out." Finvarra's tone was harsh, once he had finished speaking Tania saw herself reflected in the mirror.
She walked out of the library and went next door to Rosella's room, taking out a piece of paper and pen.
After the bad guys were properly taken care of the team headed back to the Sanctuary for a little relaxation before bed time. Rosella smiled to herself, happy that they had helped the abnormals and put some bad people away for good. Stepping inside her room Rosella noticed that Tania was already curled up underneath the covers. She shook her head and sat at the desk putting her gun away in its drawer before picking up the book Tania had given her. When she opened the book a small folded letter fell out. Written in a slanted but elegant writing was her name. She furrowed her brows and opened the letter, reading silently:
Dear Rosie,
I was hoping that you would find this letter after I had left, and since I have not been attacked yet I am assuming that you have not found this yet. I have left after obtaining knowledge that the Queen of vampires is still alive. You cannot provide me with what I need. When I find the queen I am certain that she will want to further Sanguine Vampiris. If I am to take over the world and be king of the vampires I will need a queen that is equally as strong as myself, not some wimpy princess that can barely make up her mind whether she wants to be with her people or not. At least if I meet the Vampire Queen there is a chance of me taking her as a mate. You were not good enough for me. And I doubt you ever will be.
Nikola
Rosella sat there for a moment, re-reading the words quite a few times before she folded it back and put it in the book. Casting a glance towards the bed she held in her sniffles and climbed under the covers, before finally allowing her tears to flow freely. Tania cracked an eye open from her spot on the bed, smiling to herself as she saw Rose's shoulders shake with sobs.
That's the end of this chapter people, the next one should be up by Wednesday. That should give me enough time to finish up the chapter. Thanks again for reading! And don't forget to review! 3