Rose sat at the bar in the basement and shoveled pancakes into her mouth. Lissa laughed, "Slow down. You're going to choke!" Rose did as she was told and finished off the plate. "Are you still hungry?" Rose nodded. "Any requests I need to bring to Christian?"
Rose pretend to look thoughtful as she said, "Fruit. My girlfriend, this really strict bitch, put me on a diet."
Lissa giggled and opened the fridge. "What kind of fruit?" Rose peeked inside and grabbed an orange. She started to peel it and watched Lissa. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"As stupid as this sounds, I'm nervous," Rose answered. "The darkness is scary, and I don't know what my other form acts like or if I can control it. I don't even know if I get to stay female or not! What if it hurts you? Or worse, what if this doesn't work?"
Lissa replied, "If this doesn't work, we'll find another way. And I believe in you. You're so strong, no matter what you think. If you think I'm in danger, I know you'd protect me. Unlike me, you can tell when bad things are going to happen before they happen."
Rose pressed her forehead against Lissa's. "But you didn't kill me. You needed the blood, and probably still needed more than you took. But you stopped before any serious harm occurred."
Lissa lashed out. "That's not the point! It's my job to take care of you and I failed that job yesterday!"
Rose wrapped a hand around Lissa's wrists. "Look at me, Liss. We both know I could easily overpower you, even during a bite. I wouldn't have let you do something you'd regret."
Lissa pulled away, and Rose released her wrists. Rose watched helplessly as Lissa ran up the stairs. The lock clicked and Rose sighed. She flopped on the couch and closed her eyes.
"Rose," a soft voice cooed. "Where are you?" Rose opened her eyes and found herself in a dark castle. The voice repeated itself. "Rose, where are you?" Rose heard crashes and screams from behind her and whirled around. The doors flew off their hinges and a voice cackled, "I found you!" Rose blinked. An almost carbon copy of herself stood in front of her, licking blood off her fingers. "I'm your other form. You get to name me, because nobody else ever survives long enough to do that." She snickered.
Rose shook her head. "No. If this is the way Andre proposed to give Lissa a baby, that is not happening. I will not put her in this sort of danger."
"What?" the girl cocked her head. "Baby? How-oooh. Give me a name and I'll give you what you need."
"How can you possibly do that?" Rose cried. "You'll kill her as soon as you see her."
The girl shook her head. "No. I don't get to leave this place unless you're on the brink of death and you need to stay alive. I'm your survival mode, your last-ditch effort. The way I can get you and your girlfriend a baby is through my blood." The girl smiled. "So name me and I'll give you some."
Rose nodded. "Do you like the name Winter?"
"Winter?" the girl repeated. "Why Winter?"
"Well," Rose answered. "Other people are named after the seasons, but you don't seem like a Summer, Autumn, or Spring to me."
Winter smiled. "I like it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle of four pills. "Give her two pills. The remaining two will be for the second baby. Contact me if anything goes wrong, ok?"
Rose nodded. "Ok."
Winter placed her hand on Rose's forehead and Rose collapsed on the ground. "Nighty night," Winter's voice whispered.
Rose woke up screaming in pain. The pill bottle appeared in her hand.
Sorry for not updating sooner. My junior year has been really hectic. I was stage manager in a musical, an actress in a play, participated in two seasons of dance, scholars bowl, and a variety of other activities along with college visits. Homework has piled up, so this is my first free time in a while. I am happy to announce that I can update more now that I'm out of the closet to everyone except my dad and his side of the family, who don't really care about me anyways. This means I don't have to wait until everyone is asleep to write.