The Night World Series: As Beautiful as the Black Rose
Middi: Hey Guys! Last chapter was the ending of 'Daughters of Darkness', now my story starts here. Now Symphy… you got anything to say?
Symphy: hmmmmhmhmmmhmhmhmmhm. *duct taped mouth shut and tied to the chair*
Middi: *grins wildly* Didn't think so.
Middi: So ya, once again I don't own the Night World Series.
"Mary-Lynnette Carter! Come down here this instant young lady! You have to get ready for your dance. Y'know, THE PROM!" Claudine yelled from downstairs.
But Mary-Lynnette didn't want to go to the prom. She didn't want to leave her safe haven of misery. To be with people who would remind her of him. She wouldn't let herself go through her intense sadness over the last school year again in that one late night party. There was a fine line between wanting to go to a dance and being forced to go by your psycho stepmom.
Jade and Mark were the two least people that Mary-Lynnette wanted to see. They had their Soulmate; everything was right in their world, but for her, Mary-Lynnette, nothing would ever be right until he came back. If she had it her way, she would have spent the last year just looking at the sky, just waiting for him. But she almost never got her way; even now she could hear Claudine thumping up the stairs. Intent on her stepdaughter going to her last high school dance, and high hopes of her stepping out of this goddamn depression.
'Thank God I installed that lock on my door' Mary-Lynnette thought absently as her stepmother was banging harshly on her bedroom door.
Soulmates. Two people who love each other entirely. Two people who, think that their lives are insignificant and incomplete without the other, think that with out the other, they'll never have a happy moment in their lives till their back in each other's arms. A silver cord will unite the two forever, or rip them apart. And entirely new sensations come to the two, like a haze that shrouds the two in their own world, and the sparks of feeling the other's touch.
'What a load of bullcrap' Mary-Lynnette thought bitterly.
Mary-Lynnette's room was a dark brown color with one large window attached to it and hardwood floors. It had posters all around the room with pictures of planets, stars, comets, and charts that showed where things in the universe were. There was also large bookshelves that cover the right side of the room, most of them astronomy, but there was one book being displayed out in front, Pride and Prejudice. There was a computer, broken but still a computer, right beside the bookshelves. And next to that was the door to her bathroom.
Mary-Lynnette's bed was on the wall opposite to the computer. It was a queen sized bed so she lots of elbow room. Her light chestnut brown hair cascading down her shoulders, a couple of strands of hair matted to her face because of her tears. Sad, sky blue eyes looking at the Milky Way galaxy poster above her head, as if willing her to be closer to them.
She heard different voices in front of her door and realized it to be Jade, Kestrel and Rowan.
Mary-Lynnette got up in a panic, she was on the second floor to her house, in her pj's, and three vampires, her blood-sisters to be exact, were waiting outside her door to take her to the prom.
"Awww Screw this!" Mary-Lynnette threw her hands up in the air exasperated, and she got off the bed.
'That's right Mare. Get your butt out of your room right now!' the elder sister's telepathy came in handy in such occasions such as these.
'But Rowan-'
'No way hozeh Mary-Lynnette!' Jade chimed in. 'You need to stop moping around all the time. Ash,' I mentally and physically winced at his name, '…he'll…hewill be back. He wouldn't break a promise to you Mary-Lynn. Never you.' She added with an 'of course' in her head.
'What about my feelings?'
Mary-Lynnette was mad now. No one knew her feelings; no one knew the pain of watching as your soulmate left you. Because YOU asked them to. Mary-Lynnette had asked him last year to go back into the Night World and see if he wanted to give it up, or if there was some other person…a girl…that he would stay for. But as soon as he left the Burdock family's porch she wanted nothing more than to run into his arms.
Ash thought of humans as vermin…and food. Mary-Lynnette truly loved him, but she didn't want him forced against his will to stay here. So she asked him to leave, but she didn't know about the pain she would feel after he left.
"Open the door Mare! C'mon! Come to the dance with me, Mark and Kestrel. It'll be fun I promise!"
Then I thought for a moment. You can't go to prom if you don't have a dress, she thought mischievously.
"Fine." She pretend whined.
"But now when I think about it, I don't have a dress-"
When she opened the door she expected to see the dazzling beauty of the three vampires. But she didn't, she saw the extravagant beauty of three vampires in PROM dresses. And Rowan holding up a fabulous red dress with a sign on it saying "Mary-Lynnette YOU ARE GOING TO PROM EVEN IF WE HAVE TO DRAG YOU THERE WITH OUR AWESOME VAMPIRE STRENGTH"
"Oh great…" She said defeated.
Jade alone was enough to crush the stubbornness of the great, stubborn, Mary-Lynnette Carter. But all the Redfern sisters were more than enough to make her comply with their 'evil' wishes.
"Hey we're not evil!" Jade retorted.
"Stop reading my mind!" She hissed.
"Yeesh moody much Mary?" said Kestrel with sarcasm.
"Yes. And guys, why are you doing this for me? I just want to stay home today…" Mary-Lynnette said in a quiet voice.
Silence reigned down around the four girls. None of them knew what to say to her. After about a minute of silence, Kestrel, sarcastic, fierce, and proud Kestrel broke the silence.
"Look. We've seen how you look at our brother, and the way he looks at you. I don't want to pretend I understand this Soulmate crap, so I'm just gonna say it like it is Mary-Lynn. When Ash comes back, and we tell him you've been moping since he's left, he'll blame it on himself and we'll have to endure painstakingly long hours of trying to fix it. I don't want to do that. You have, not even a week left of school left, HIGH SCHOOL, be cheerful for that damn last week!
Mary-Lynnette looked at her in surprise, and then a small smile tugged at her lips. She never knew that Kestrel would do this for her, let alone anyone who might've been closer to her than Mary-Lynnette. She nodded and motioned for her blood-sisters to come into her room.
Let's just say…she was in for a LONG six hours.
In a dark warehouse in downtown New York City, was not a good place to be. For either Night Worlders, or humans. There was dangerous and archaic magic, spells, and people here.
"Is all going as planned Ivy*?" A short woman of about 5.2, with long strawberry blonde hair asked her young protégé with her high trilling voice.
"Yes Lady Shirui*. The young Redfern girls still do not know of the power so close in their grasps. I doubt even the idiots in Circle Daybreak know of this." She spat out the name like it was venom. "It was all but luck you stumbled across this piece of information. It would have been impossible to win the war if you didn't find this in the secret library." Said and even shorter woman of about 4.9 with short spiky black hair.
"Good. Now all we have to do is force the girl's powers to awaken, and then boom. The age of humans has gone, and those bastards in the Night World will pay dearly; it's our turn in the spotlight." She raised her fist in reassurance.
Ivy nodded encouragingly. Her master was a very powerful vampire. Lamia to be exact and her family were once mightier and more powerful than the Redferns. Then, a catastrophe occurred. Something that shifted the fate of all the races, into the favor of those pathetic humans!
An indescribable person with powers unimaginable nearly wiped out all the witches, werewolves, vampires, and shapeshifters. There was just this blinding light, and then, there were just dead bodies everywhere. Blood, dismembered appendages, organs, they were everywhere. Ivy was a made vampire, and she lived through that apocalypse. But the thing that's seared into her memory was the screams of pain and terror from all of the Night Worlders.
No one would believe her when she told them. And then she met Lady Shirui. She was the first person to believe in her, and go along with the almost nonsense that spewed out of her mouth.
Ivy was hated by most of the Night Worlders. And not because she used to be human. It was because of what she did while she was human, and most of the time as her vampire self. She helped massacre almost half of the human population. (At the time) And nearly wiped out the only food supply for vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters.
"My Lady? What of her soulmate? He could pose a problem if he found out. Not much I assure you of course; I could easily take him out. But the problem is Circle Daybreak." Ivy bowed, showing her master complete and utter respect.
"Hmm…If we could find a way to activate her black flames without actually being anyway near her would prove most beneficial to us. Though we would have to send an agent in to…how you say…start the domino effect. And we'd need someone stupid enough to actually do that with the Eternal Flame-Bringer... Oh, I have the perfect idiot to do it. I'll have to call him, but he's, unfortunately, already outside. Even if I didn't call him yet. But," She said with a smile. Then added, with a malicious grin. "He's the idiot who'll listen and do whatever I order him to do."
With those words out of Shirui's mouth, a wise and old friend of the clan's opened the door to the warehouse with a crunch. The door was gone, and with it, stood a handsome man. An exceedingly handsome and very deadly man. With his chestnut brown, almost black hair and devilishly chiseled face, perfect nose, high cheekbones, murky green eyes, plus the wicked smile he owned, and used often, were enough to make even vampires stare. He looked straight at Ivy, glaring, and then directed his attention the beautiful blonde before him.
He dashed to her side, picked up her hand, and gave it a brief kiss along her knuckles. He then stood up straight, trying to look imposing and intimidating, and failing horribly. To anyone but these two vampires, he would've looked a tad intimidating. But to the two ladies, he just looked regular, and interrupting their chat. Shirui looked at him, sighed, and then scowled.
"What is it Karōshi*? I had thought we agreed that you wouldn't come until I called. And if you haven't noticed yet, I haven't called." She enunciated every syllable.
He smirked wolfishly while Ivy looked at him in disgust.
"I know babe. But," he took a step closer and was at her ear in a second. "You don't know how long I've been waiting."
She sighed again then turned to her protégée.
"Ivy, unfortunately we will have to postpone our meeting till later tonight if that would be alright with you."
"Of course, my Lady if you would excuse me." Ivy answered with a bow to her master, and a glare to Karōshi.
As Ivy left the warehouse, Shirui turned to look at Karōshi.
"Now," She addressed him as her co-conspirator. "What is so important that you interrupted my meeting with my advisor?... My love…"
He smiled at that and took her hand. "Shir, I know how to activate the black flames."
She looked at him with awe and surprise.
"H-how?" She said impatiently.
"May I?" he said, gesturing to her neck. And she let him.
They both felt the rush of haze and emotion filling their bodies as he bit down on her neck.
'So, Karo, how do we activate the flames?'
'Straight down to business huh Hun?'
'Shush. Now please, tell me.' She almost pleaded.
'Well, right now, before I devour you for being so damn tempting, you have to stop that. Then, first we need to aggravate or anger her, and then close her soul.'
'Close her soul…'
'Which means,' he mentally grinned.
'We have to turn her into a vampire.' The answer was so simple!
"Now," she said with her actual voice, as she pulled him off her neck. "Are you ready to go do this assignment?"
He pouted.
"Are you finally coming this time?"
"Actually, yes. Ivy has control over the company and the area. So, why not?"
"Hehe. Does 'Miss I have a fifty foot pole shoved up my ass know'?" insulted as he grinned wolfishly.
"Nah. Now, let's go."
Two extremely powerful vampires versus one human black flame igniter…
Mary-Lynnette Carter didn't stand a chance.