From here you'll need to know vaguely what happened at the end of 'Awakening' as well as part of 'The Five,' which, considering you're all fans of the show, you probably should have. Much love to all who reviewed my midweek update. I can't promise another one unfortunately but who knows, maybe we'll get lucky :)
Also I know you're all going to know exactly who it is come the end but, well, twists are fun even if you can see them coming a mile away :P
xx
If he hadn't been so worried about the pure fear in Rosie's eyes, Will would have laughed at Magnus and Tesla. Both were staring at Rosie, eyes wide, faces frozen in a rather comical parody of abject horror.
"You can't be serious," Helen whispered.
"More than you know," Rosie said in response, her eyes pleading with her old friend to understand.
"But, the map…" Nikola said suddenly, looking between the two women.
"Rose can't you-," Helen started but Rosie held up a hand.
"Please, just, everything you can remember, in as much detail as possible," she said hurriedly and Helen nodded once, mouth set in a determined line as he eyes snapped shut. Nikola shot her an annoyed look before doing the same.
After shooting the others an apologetic look, Rose placed a hand on both Helen and Nikola's knees and let her eyes glaze over, mouth hanging open slightly. The trio sat silently for a few minutes, faces occasionally twitching, joined by Rose's small hands on their knees.
With a soft gasp, Rosie suddenly withdrew her hands before swallowing. Her eyes were wide and breathing slightly laboured. Helen and Nikola's eyes snapped open and they both looked at her expectantly.
"How much do they know?" Rose asked, jerking her head towards Will, Kate and Henry. Her tone was bland, giving nothing away.
"Everything," Helen answered firmly. The two women shared a moment of silent communication before Rosie let out a hiss of breath.
"She's dead," Nikola said sternly. "She was blown sky high along with the map and the rest of the cavern."
"Wishful thinking," Rosie said in a small, wooden voice, her eyes hard.
"But how? We barely escaped, let alone Afina. She was at the heart of the explosion," Helen said, getting straight to business.
"It's complicated. I… ah… don't think it was Afina who survived. The Praxian's were too clever, it's not like they would have built in a failsafe," Rosie said, tapping a finger against her chin as she thought it through. "But you didn't do a very good job in the wiping them out front."
"Well excuse me for trusting in the mortal enemies of Sanguine Vampris," Nikola quipped.
"I am the moral enemy of the vampires, darling. The Praxian's were an annoyance to us both," she said smoothly, breaking the tension.
"Can we get back to the issue at hand?" Helen interjected. Rose nodded and looked apologetic before she straightened up.
"Of course, sorry," Rose said. "As I was saying, I can't be certain which of them survived but I can smell them far better than I can smell any of you."
"But why couldn't you smell them before?" Will said, catching up quickly.
"The purple resin like substance," she said, shooting Helen a knowing look before turning back to Will. "I have no idea how they make it or what it's made from but it blocks me. I can't smell them or hear them when they're encased in it. From what I know it's a naturally occurring substance that they modified with the express purpose of keeping me and my kind out," she said, her voice thick with annoyance. "After all, leaving a Queen and her court all in the one place isn't exactly conducive to the continuation of that particular group."
"But wait, if you knew about the Praxian's, why didn't you tell me?" Helen asked, her mind moving at a mile a minute.
"The Praxian's were before my time," Rosie explained, her voice tinged with sorrow. "I know very little of the time because it was considered to 'too dark for remembrance,'" she said, lifting her finger for air quotes. "From what little I have learnt, the Praxian's were just about as fond of my kind as they were of the vampires. Something about the amount of power we could possibly wield frightened them. That was part of the reason they chose to retreat below the earth, that way we couldn't ever get in. No sunlight, no evangelical bitches," she said sourly. "For all intents and purposes, I thought that Hollow Earth was sealed off from the world, from both you and I Helen. Of course, had I known your father's involvement I may have been a little more accommodating to the man," she said with a faint smile. "But I swear I only kept the secret because I believed the place to be a death trap and was well aware of your inability to resist a challenge."
Helen shifted uncomfortably, certain that there was more to the story.
Later. There will be time for this later but the fact that you have an ever increasing population of vampires on your hands must take precedence.
"Right," Helen said, nodding as she tried to hide the fear those words brought.
"How can you be sure you can see the vampire now? Could there be more?" Nikola asked.
"There are 24 of them," Rose answered slowly.
"24? Are you sure?" Henry asked, piping up for the first time.
"Positive. They're trying to procreate through the normal methods but, in the meantime they are transforming humans to supplement their numbers."
"But how did they survive?" Kate asked. "I mean, you guys said you blew them sky high."
"The Praxian's wouldn't have known about the resin so their technology wouldn't have been built to compensate. The chambers you saw when you met Afina stretched much farther than you would have seen. It's highly likely that one or two of them would have been injured by the blast, maybe even killed but still have been able to repair themselves," she explained, her voice taking on a scholarly tone. "In fact, given the current predicament, I'd guess that two of them did just that. A full blooded vampire would heal much faster than you can Nikola, it would have taken mere minutes for them to be back on their feet."
"But wait, how can they be changing humans?" Helen asked. "Wouldn't it just have had the same effect as it did back at Oxford? Unlocking previously dormant abnormalities?"
"They're screening for the genetic markers for vampirism," she said simply. "I haven't got a clue how they do it but they are doing it."
"But how?" Will asked. "That sounds a little too technologically advanced even for vampires."
"I do not know Will, perhaps they can taste it in the blood but I hardly think it matters," she spat coldly at him. The room was silent for a moment as her bitter words sunk in.
"I'm sorry, it's just, this is exactly why I haven't… why I'm still here," she said softly, looking him in the eye as she spoke. "I was meant to stop this from happening and now, I fear it will spiral out of control before I can intervene. They're numbers are growing even now."
"Where are they?" Helen asked, mentally preparing herself for what was essentially an unwinnable war.
"You're going to love this," she said dryly, shooting Nikola an undecipherable look. Rosie opened her mouth but, before she spoke, her face froze. Then, in the blink of an eye she was on her feet, body bristling with animosity as a low growl slipped through her lips. Her eyes darted around the room and she quickly moved to the door.
"Rose," Helen asked fearfully, standing slowly as she followed her friend. Rosie said nothing, only growling in response as she began to pace the room like a caged animal. Her teeth had grown again and her hands were curled in anticipation of a threat no one else could see. Letting loose a vicious snarl, she rolled her shoulders. Her body was tensed as she continued to stalk the perimeter of the room protectively, her movements carrying the grace of a predator.
"Rose, what's wrong?" Helen asked, no longer approaching her. Rose snarled at her, teeth gnashing as she moved quickly to the computer desk. With a few long claws, she tapped a few keys on the keyboard before spinning around, her eyes now white as her lips pulled back into a terrifying grimace, angry glare glued to the door.
"What was that? What did you do?" Helen queried, taking a few steps towards the now nearly unrecognizable girl. Rose was shaking, her entire body vibrating with tension and her breathing was laboured.
"That was the EM shield," she growled, her voice distorted with anger.
"What about the shield?" Henry asked, his voice shaking.
"I had to turn it back on," Rosie spat, not looking away from the door. Under her thin shirt, her back was rippling, wings threatening to break forward.
"Rose, what is it?" Nikola said, standing up, letting his own transformation take over. He didn't make to move closer to her but his body quickly became taut with the same tension as hers.
"Sit down Nikola," she growled, fingers flexing at her sides. She was now standing on the balls of her feet, leaning forward in preparation for something.
"Wait, the shield should have been up," Helen said, hoping that her words could get Rosie to focus on something other than the unseen threat. Of course, if there really was a threat, this kind of reaction told Helen that something, very, very bad was about to come through her door.
"It was deactivated three minutes ago," she answered, voice still a growl.
There was a soft knock on the door and Rosie's mouth curled into a cruel smile.
