"Quite right," the elegant red head said with a polite smile. She wore a smart grey dress that wouldn't have looked out of place in an office. Hell, all she needed was a clipboard. "My parents were not married when I was born."
Rose's vision went a little red around the edges.
"However I doubt that was the use of the term you intended."
"Intelligent and pretty," Rose snarled. "Don't you just have it all..."
The other woman preened, running a hand over her hair. She opened her mouth as if to speak again only to close it as the sound of approaching footsteps grew.
"What did you do to her?" Rose said, ignoring those approaching. The woman smiled her serene little smile. "Where is she?"
"Shouldn't you be able to tell me that?"
"Rose!" came the desperate cry through the damp night air.
She made no move to reply, staring intently not at the young woman with the sharp eyes before her but instead at a small, wooden bench set between overgrown shrubbery.
And the woman in white resting unconscious upon it, her dark hair falling in haphazard curls across her cheek.
"What have you done?" Rose said again, hands clenching into trembling fists. The bile rising in her throat was only calmed by the gentle rise of fall of Helen's chest. Not that it stopped her from running through a variety of painful deaths she could inflict upon this mystery woman.
Though why she was alone, Rose could not figure out.
Where was their armada of protection for the oh so precious cargo?
"Rose!" someone bellowed. Nikola, she realised after a moment. It was Nikola. The voices in her head were still pounding away, drawing her attention and distorting everything beyond recognition. Even the one voice she knew better than any other.
Cocking her head, Rose frowned, her eyes never straying from Helen's prone form. Why could she not hear Helen? Or the smarmy red-head?
But then she couldn't focus on the mystery of it any longer because she could sense the approach of the others. Swinging one arm out, she caught Nikola's sleeve before he could tear past her. The strength with which he fought her grip told her he was fully transformed in a snarling menace of vampiric terror.
Her other hand flew out just seconds later, catching John full in the chest as he too made to move to where Helen lay in plain sight. She shuddered at the vision that, as always, took over her sight for a brief second but for some reason, it was now accompanied by a wave of nausea.
The rest of the team collided with the two men in a series of ungracious yelps and thumps but neither John nor Nikola moved. Slowly, Rose released them, arms trembling. Something was off, and it wasn't just the fact that this woman, whoever she was, was alone.
Quickly flitting through the minds of her companions with a touch more effort than normal, Rose searched for some flicker of recognition, trying to place the face before her. And then it clicked. The woman, Carla, whose terror had drawn Rose's mind to her knew this woman. She was scared of this woman. Actually, scratch that, she was terrified of this woman. Ruthless was the first word that sprang to mind, in fact.
"What the hell have you done to her?" Will cried, lurching forward a step. John pushed him back into line without blinking.
"Oh, your darling Helen shall be perfectly fine," the woman cooed. "After all, what kind of bait would she be if she were dead?"
"Dead?" Henry echoed, his voice deepening a little with the first touches of transformation.
"Cool it, Hank," Kate murmured and Rose wouldn't have been surprised if she took his hand too.
"More pressing is the idea that you'd use Magnus as bait," Declan ground out.
"Every good trap needs bait," the young woman said with another condescending curl of her lips.
"Who are you?" Rose snapped, tired of these games.
"And, more to the point, how can we kill you?" John said smoothly. Rose half expected Nikola to jump in with something more but he remained silent, shaking in silent fury by her side.
"My name is Doctor Worth," she said serenely. "Imogene. I feel it's best we're all on first name basis, all things considered."
"Why can't I hear you?" Rose snapped again.
Imogene smiled and chuckled.
"You are very impatient, aren't you? Though I have to admit, I haven't managed to catch your name yet."
"Why?" Rose repeated, eyes flicking to the other woman for a brief second.
"Give me your name."
"Tell me why."
"Your name or I'll have this made more painful than it needs to be," Imogene snarled, her eyes flashing a strange shade of gold. She blinked at her own words before recoiling slightly, smoothing her hair down as if it would help to keep her temper in check.
"Tell me why I cannot hear you," Rose spat. She was ready for the discussion to be over.
"Give me your name," Imogene said, her tone once again condescending.
Rose snarled, her arms beginning to shake one more. A cool hand wrapped around one balled fist but she shook it off. Anger was all she really had at the moment, anger and a set of teeth that could shred human skin like it was butter.
"You said something about this being a trap," Declan said after a beat.
"Correct," Imogene said, not looking at him. "And?"
"Well, why haven't you, oh, I don't know, dismembered us yet?" Will said.
Imogene chuckled.
"Don't you worry your pretty little face about dismemberment, William. My plans for you aren't nearly as bloodied as that."
"That doesn't bode well for the rest of us then, does it?" John growled.
"Well," Imogene said with a sigh, "I won't be in charge of care for all of you so I can't say who will and won't be subject to dissection but it's rather safe to assume that the, well, how shall I put this? The less gifted members of the team shan't be cut up."
"Enough!" Rose finally cried, taking a step forward. "Enough of this... chit chat. You have a purpose in bringing us here, yes? So then get to it so we can get the hell out of here."
For a moment, no one moved. The breeze died down, leaving the night air still. From somewhere behind them they could the music of the party and a few stray crickets were beginning to make themselves heard but no one spoke.
"You're too confident in yourself," Imogene said, brow creasing ever so slightly. "I think you underestimate me."
"And I think you've underestimated us."
Slowly Imogene raised a hand, two fingers pointing upwards. Everyone watched her for the briefest of moments, all holding their breath.
Rose heard the whizz of metal through the air before the others. Nikola was the next to notice, stiffening and shifting slightly beside her. She knew where it was coming from, knew where it was going to land. The cruel look in the other woman's eye explained it all and so Rose stood tall.
As the metal tip of the arrow burrowed through her right shoulder, Rose grinned. It burned, the metal obviously laced with some kind of poison that was supposed to bring her to her knees but Rose waited until it pierced the other side before she looked down at it. The tip shone softly in the moonlight, glistening with her blood.
She chuckled.
The others around her gasped in shock, a few muted cries of alarm puncturing the otherwise silent evening. Nikola chuckled too, looking down at her wound.
Rose caught his eye and her smile widened. His smirk was positively murderous. Turing back to the now slightly less cocky red head, Rose let her smile drop.
"Did you really think this would kill me?" she snarled, stepping forward. Her pace was measured but Rose was pleased to see the other woman recoil slightly. "An arrow? Tipped with what? Cyanide maybe? Or perhaps something to hurt not kill?" Rose laughed softly, reaching up to grasp the bloodied tip of the arrow with one hand.
She pursed her lips and stopped dead, tilting her head.
"Stupid human," she whispered before slowly and deliberately pulling the arrow from her shoulder. It hurt like hell as it ripped away chunks of flesh but Rose didn't flinch until it finally pulled free of her shoulder. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the cool air caress and irritate the wound even further.
Her eyes snapped open suddenly as her arm came up and, with a well placed flick of the wrist, she sent the arrow flying straight at Imogene. It stuck her upper arm, causing the red head to cry out in alarm. Clutching at her wound, she stumbled backwards, glaring at Rose.
"See, the thing is, darling," Rose said, lips curling in distaste. "There are things about me that even Helen doesn't know about. Very bad things. Things that will, I'm afraid to say, kill you."
With a grin, Rose flung her arms wide and let loose the transformation she'd barely been controlling. As the wound on her arm began to heal rapidly, the flesh of her back tore to allow her wings through. Her nails grew and teeth sharpened and every sense was suddenly aware of so very much more. Now she could hear the heart beat of everyone in the vicinity, including those of the men she assumed were in charge of shooting them all to death with archaic arrows. She could hear the back up Declan had put in place, only she could hear their minds too. In a split second, she reached out to those he couldn't properly hear and, fighting the overwhelming nausea and brain melting headache that accompanied the action, reached into their minds and stopped them from breathing.
All of them.
A few strangled cries floated towards where they stood in the garden and Imogene's eyes widened even further.
"Now, tell me how you're doing it," Rose snarled, rolling her shoulders as she shook out her wings.
"Resin," someone whispered, their voice broken and dry. Rose stopped, her heart freezing up. "Purple... Afina..."
And then Rose's heart was beating once more, blood pounding through her body alongside fury. Her breathing was laboured, her vision blurry.
Turning her attention back to the slightly perturbed red head, Rose let her lips curl back into a snarl. "You will pay. If you have hurt her in any way, you will pay for this."
Imogene's top lip curled and she opened her mouth to say something but a weak cough cut her off.
"Helen!" John called, his voice raw with emotion.
"Don't," Rose snapped, her tone icy. If they surged forwards, all this would fall to pieces.
"Yes, stay back or I'll kill her," Imogene hissed, suddenly turning deadly. "And this isn't something I'd test if I were you. After the way she destroyed all our plans in Vienna, this is only fair. Plus we get the added bonus of learning from her physiology. I can't wait to see her body shredded on the operating table as our scientists take her apart."
Rose let lose another snarl, leaning towards the other woman, balancing on the balls of her feet.
"That's funny, because you're testing my patience," Rose replied.
Imogene went to respond but Rose was too quick, slipping forward and backhanding the other woman. Imogene fell to the ground, long legs sprawled across the gravel as she clutched the side of her face and her still injured arm. Rose watched as two tiny pieces of resin fell from behind the other woman's ears and it was like all sensation came rushing back into Rose's mind. She gasped, staggering backwards as she clutched at her head.
She could see it all now, their plan, their anger, their torture. All of it was on display for Rose. But, worst of all, she could see what they'd done to Helen. Her body began to shake again only this time it had nothing to do with trying to hold back her transformation.
They had tried to break Helen, to tear her apart inside until she fell into thousands of tiny pieces they could use. And they'd gotten damn close. Rose still couldn't hear more than the occasional murmur from Helen's mind but she could see the way Imogene had interrogated her, faking the passage of time to the point where it must have felt like months had passed, not days.
Eight days turned eight months... Rose shook her head.
And then something else.
One minute. No more. Close. They come. One minute. Hold on. Stay. No lose. Come. They come. Guns. Blood. Death. Maybe. Maybe not. Alive. Serum. Learn. Practice. Serum. They come.
The thoughts gave way to a series of images of a laboratory filled with sterile equipment, of needles and IV bags that contained something far more threatening than their clear contents would hint at.
Experiment.
Rose snarled, a string of vile curses slipping from her lips before she turned to the others. Nikola was transformed, Declan, Will and Kate nursing guns by their sides. Henry's face was partially transformed, his canines longer than normal but John was the most changed somehow. His face was distorted with an anger that ran deeper than anything Rose had seen before. Her mind now clear, she knew she could look into him to see just how dangerous he'd become but she refused. There was something about the look in his eye that terrified her. It was... too familiar.
"They're coming," she growled at them. "Declan, this is it. Ready?"
The Brit nodded once, stepping forwards as his hand went to his ear.
"Go," he said into his sleeve.
Rose turned back to Imogene just in time to watch the other woman reach up her skirt. With a grimace she took control of the woman, yanking both her hands up to the side, forcing her onto her back.
"Did you really think you'd capture us?" Rose snarled, flexing her talons. "Shoot an arrow or two and everything would be fine? We'd just come quietly?"
The other woman struggled against Rose's hold over her mind.
"You'll never make it out of here alive. Not even if you kill me," Imogene hissed, eyes narrowing.
"Oh," Rose continued as if not hearing her, seeing the plan more clearly. "Gas. Really? You were going to gas us. How... pathetic."
She went to continue but the far off sounds of footsteps stopped her.
"Incoming," she said, turning back to Declan and the others briefly. "And these ones aren't ours."
Declan nodded once, checking his gun before moving away from the group. The rest of them dispersed as Rose turned back to Imogene.
"Once I have dealt with this, you will be my first port of call. Now run."
With that she released the other woman and turned. She heard Imogene scramble to her feet and reach again for the knife. This time, Rose caught the projectile before it hit her shoulder but, as before she threw it back. It lodged in the other woman's throat before she could blink.
As the blood began to flow steadily from the wound, Rose shifted her attentions. She heard the woman's body fall to the ground with a soft thud, followed by a few gasped protests before she fell silent. But it wasn't that woman Rose was interested in. She could hear the 'silent' footsteps of their soon to be attackers getting closer and closer. There wasn't much time.
"Helen," Rose breathed, reaching out to her friend. Her body seemed sunken, as if they really had been parted for an entire eight months. Her skin looked brittle, too tight over her bones. As Rose shifted the hair from Helen's face she could see that they'd gone to pains to make her up. Her alabaster skin was caked with makeup to cover the dark circles beneath her eyes and her lips painted ruby red.
Making sure to sheath her talons, Rose crouched down in front of Helen, running her hands through her friends hair as she worked to hold back tears. It wasn't right, seeing Helen like this... It wasn't right. Rose had always known that somehow the source blood would be the death of the illustrious Five and for once, she hadn't wanted to be right.
The mysterious properties of Helen's blood were too tempting to groups like this. Even when the rest of the world proclaimed her dead, she was in danger simply through virtue of living.
"Bloody Magnus," Rose whispered, half chuckling, half sobbing as she found the large chunk of purple resin they'd somehow affixed to the back of her head. Carefully she pried it off, trying not to listen to the murmur of pain that slipped through her friend's lips.
When it was free, she tossed it aside, gasping in shock as she was finally able to hear Helen once more. It was strangely uplifting, even if Helen's mind was nothing more than a confused mash of memories, both new and old.
"Rosie," she murmured, eyes fluttering open for a brief second. "Oh Rosie." She hummed softly, a tiny smile on her lips.
Carefully Rose slid her arms beneath Helen's frame, easing her up until she was sitting on the bench, her white silk dress turning silver in the moonlight.
"She's alive?" Nikola asked, making Rose start. She turned to give him a small smile.
"Very much so. I think... She'll be all right but... This will take time to recover from. Her mind..."
"But she's alive?"
"Yes."
Nikola nodded once before awkwardly ducking in close, pressing a kiss to the top of Helen's head.
"You stay that way, you hear me?" he whispered, his voice a low growl.
"We don't have time to get her out of here. Their reinforcements are almost here," Rose said hurriedly, wrapping an arm around Helen's shoulders as she slid into the space beside her.
"We can't leave her here, can't John..."
"Their teleportation capabilities seem to reach beyond John's. We can't risk them tracking her or him."
Nikola looked like he was about to argue but as a gunshot rang out, he snapped his mouth closed.
"We need to hide her," he said, reaching down to grab Helen. He hefted her up into his arms, holding her tight.
"Behind here," Rose said, gesturing to the shrubs. Together they pushed aside the thick branches until they found a space big enough for Helen to hide in. Nikola laid her down carefully, caressing her cheek softly before straightening up.
Rose took his hand, unsure of whether or not there were any words that could make this better. Nikola smiled down at her but, once again, a gunshot rang out before he could speak. They both turned, vaulting over the bench as they headed towards the rest of the group.
Declan and Kate were at the head, guns pointed out into the darkness. Will and Henry were hanging back a little, weapons at the ready. John, for some reason, was nowhere to be seen but Rose didn't think to question his absence. He was a fighter and a stealthy one at that; he'd take care of himself and, if they were lucky, their opponents too.
Smiling at the thought, Rose rolled her shoulders, forcing her wings back in for the moment. They weren't exactly the epitome of stealth.
"Are the guns us or them?" Declan breathed, eyes flicking to Rose.
Rose waited a moment, brow creasing as she searched the minds she could hear. John was, as she suspected, darting about and slitting throats. Those around her were all racing through the vague plans they'd concocted in the days leading up to this, their minds scattered for the most part. Then she heard another gunshot and the mental whoop of joy that followed it told her all she needed to know.
"Us."
Another gunshot rang out, this one much closer to where they were.
"This waiting is killing me," Will whispered.
"Shut it, Huggybear, I'm tryin- OW!"
Everyone whipped around to watch the blood trickle from the wound on his chest for a second before instinct kicked in and they scattered.
The sound of gunfire grew louder and more frequent as they all hid around the space. Never in her life had Rose loved high, untamed shrubbery more.
What's say we even the odds, she offered to Nikola, peeking through the foliage. His mental chuckle was dark but significantly more upbeat than before. Helen was alive and his mood had improved dramatically with the knowledge. The fact that he had doubted Rose's promise that Helen was alive and well (enough) made her frown but she ignored it, instead springing out from her hidey hole.
She and Nikola moved through the dark garden almost silently, picking off attacker after attacker with little more than a well placed talon. On occasion, one would put up a fight but they made a deadly team and soon enough the odds were much closer to even.
There are too many to deal with like this, Rose sent to Nikola as she tried her best to avoid another spurt of blood from the body she was currently lowering silently to the ground.
I've found a few of John's, Nikola replied. His handy work is disturbingly good.
Even with the three of us, it won't be enough.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Rose smiled as she snapped another neck.
Like cattle, she agreed. There is a small entrance to the clearing to your right.
Can you convince them to head that way?
Sadly not, Rose thought with distaste. They got bloody clever with the resin, I can barely pick up their minds, let alone influence them without keeling over myself.
Nikola seemed sympathetic for a moment but he brushed it off, getting back to work.
Find John, he said. I'll meet you both there. And with that he was off, darting between bushes and over dead bodies.
Closing her eyes, Rose searched for John, finding him easily. He was giving in to his beast, taking out his frustrations on a suitable victim.
Sharp blade, Rose sent softly, her tone wary.
Makes things quicker, he replied, not missing a beat. Care for a demonstration?
Not right now, Rose sent, screwing up her nose. We need your skills.
She quickly showed him the plan, gaining his silent approval before heading towards where Nikola would be waiting for them. On the way, she took out another two of their attackers, much to her own surprise. It was only as the second was sinking to the ground that she realised what she was doing. Killing indiscriminately wasn't her thing. No matter how evil these people where, this was... unacceptable.
A cold shot of dread ran through her as she looked down at the body by her feet. He had a family, or at the very least, a life. Someone would miss this man whose blood was quickly cooling on her skin. This wasn't revenge, or even a well thought out plan of attack. This was cold blooded murder.
She was just about ready to start dry heaving when the sound of approaching footsteps helped her survival instincts to kick in. This time, however, she merely knocked out her attacker, gently lowering his unconscious body to the ground. He was lying in the slowly expanding pool of blood from the two men who had happened across Rose before the development of her conscience yet, as John approached, there was no time to move his body.
John nodded at her once, presenting to her an image just as gruesome as the one she supposed she presented to him. Blood covered his arms and chest, his face flecked with red too. He had, thankfully, hidden the knife he'd been ripping into his victims with.
She gestured forwards and together they moved through the gardens until Nikola came into sight, his dark eyes swirling in the moonlight. He was significantly less bloodied than either Rose or John, his shirt still recognisable as white and Rose found herself wishing she possessed his measured control, despite their emotional attachment to the situation.
"The others know what we're going to do," Rose whispered, turning to face the darkest depths of the garden again.
And then she smiled
"Oi!" she yelled, her voice carrying on the still night air. "Come and get us."
"Because that's not going to scream trap," Nikola muttered, shaking his head as they all braced themselves.
"I'm counting on the fact that they're not very smart," Rose replied, flexing her fingers.
"They are exceptionally easy to kill," John added, cracking his neck.
"Is it just me, or are you getting creepier with age?" Rose muttered, shaking her head. Nikola smirked at the pair of them. Rose was about to chastise him for snark in the face of massacre when, finally she heard the footsteps approaching. As one, the three of them melted back behind the shrubbery to wait.
And they weren't waiting long. It was barely 30 seconds later that the first man rounded the corner, his gun sweeping the space. And then another, and then another and then, when number six rounded the corner, they sprang.
It all passed in a blur of limbs and blood, Rose's body acting more on instinct than anything else. The sound of flesh hitting flesh was almost all that registered. There were bullets whizzing by too, somehow missing them all. What Helen would probably call adrenaline was rushing through her veins, heightening everything. Her body sliced through the air as she took out her attackers with nails and teeth and, when one proved to be particularly stubborn, her fists finished it off for that hands on approach she found surprisingly enjoyable.
Nikola and John were moving with almost as much finesse, grunting softly from time to time as they took down more attackers. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose watched as the others finally joined the fray, taking out more of the men clad in black. Smiling, she turned back to the man trying to bash her skull in with the butt of his gun.
With a swipe of her talons, the man was on the ground, his chest bleeding profusely through the thick black fabric that covered his chest. Smirking, she brought her foot up to rest just under his neck. He scrambled, pushing at her leg but the slippery fabric of her skirt kept getting caught up and stopping him from getting a proper grip, not that it would have stopped her from crushing his wind pipe.
"Bad luck, chum," she snarled down at him, revelling in the release his death gave her. She felt powerful, on top of the world.
"This is easier than picking off pheasants," John put in as he slammed another man into the ground.
"Remember that weekend when Gregory took us out?" Nikola asked, voice breathless with excitement before he snarled, plunging his talons into the gut of an oncoming attacker.
John smiled and chuckled before swiping behind him, catching another man in the ribs.
"We caught nothing all week," John said with a grunt as he pulled his blade free.
"Gregory kept telling you off for scaring away the birds," Nikola said, flashing him a grin.
"You guys got to do all the fun stuff," Rose said. "How come you never invited me?"
"Someone had to keep Helen company," Nikola teased as he broke the neck of the man who thought it wise to tackle a vampire to the ground.
"Our girls weekends away were rather wild without you boys holding us back," Rose allowed before sinking her fist into the gut of yet another attacker.
"I wish I could have seen it," John said, shaking his head as he straightened up. "I've no doubt you'd have been right terrors."
Rose laughed, throwing her head back in release. She turned to reply to John, her grin widening as she took in his smile only to watch it drop as a shimmering white something approached him from the side.
And then everything slowed. Rose supposed it was like watching a car crash, the way everything seemed to be in perfect detail yet still so impossible. Helen was up. She was walking, moving, freely. But she was unsteady. Those pretty blue eyes were hazy as she stumbled about. Her feet tangled in her dress and she fell, arms outstretched.
Her lips were part way through forming his name as she fell into his arms, recognition sparking in her mind. And John tried to catch her.
They all seemed to freeze as he did, Helen's eyes going impossibly wide for a second as something akin to understanding flashed across her face. But it couldn't be, Rose knew it wasn't understanding. Helen didn't understand. In fact, there was only one thing going through her mind as her painted lips fell apart.
Finally.
And it was odd, because suddenly that same word was going through Rose's head too. She should have seen it earlier, she should have pieced it together but she hadn't.
Finally. This is it.
Rose looked over to John.
The blood.
The knife.
And she knew.
Helen's fingers were wrapped around John's upper arms, clutching at the blood soaked fabric of his jacket. Rose watched as he said the name of the woman in his arms, jerking back in terror.
And Helen released him, her body falling backwards as the knife slipped from where it had come to rest between her ribs. A choked noise of shock fell from her lips as the tip left her body, eyes losing focus.
Helen was beautiful, Rose realised. Even like this she was captivating.
Her eyes were wide and watering, lips trembling in the perfect 'O' as her arms fell to the sides. The air rushed by her, flicking the ends of her hair up to hide her face as she reached the ground with a soft thud that brought everything back to normal speed for Rose.
With a screech ripped from her somewhere deep inside, Rose reached out to the minds of everyone still shooting at Helen's team and, with little regard for the sharp crack that echoed through each of her bones, she ended their lives. They all fell simultaneously to the ground and Rose started forwards, clambering over bodies until she could fall to the ground beside Helen, her hand coming to rest on the bloody stain slowly spreading across the pale silk dress.
Sorry not sorry.
xx
