Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1)

by T. M. Watkins

  “Cripes.” I groaned. Eventually dirty water sprung out of the tap, soaking me in a dreary brown spray. I turned the tap off with a weary sigh, taking the dusty tin opener to my fruit mix. Retrieving a fork, I leaned on the bench and picked through the tin, wondering what I might do with the boring night ahead. The wet material of the dress had soaked against my skin, I tried to peel it off to try to dry it but it wasn't working. Stepping out into the corridor, I figured I would have to change my clothes to let the dress dry sufficiently.

  “Forgetting something?”

  I stopped and turned, William was standing in the centre of the corridor past the kitchen door.

  “Yeah.” I sighed “To the left.” Turning on my heels I followed after him. Yet again he was in a suit, this one was a blue pin stripe. Always looking perfect, not a thread out of place, not even a piece of lint. Me? I'd be lucky if my underpants weren't inside out. William stopped at the door to the entry as he opened it he looked at the frightful brown mess on me.

  “You will find the hamper for the laundry service in the utility room, the service will arrive at the end of the week to collect the items. May I suggest that you freshen up after you remove the dress, who knows what was in the pipes?”

  I nodded as I looked up at him, he was a full head taller than me. His gaze was as cold as ever, I didn't know if it was because he'd found me roaming the house freely or if I had forgotten the turn left rule. Maybe it was something else. “I will be leaving now, the sun has set sufficiently. Is there anything that you require for your dinner tonight?”

  “Uh, no, thank you. Though maybe something not so large, I don't like being wasteful.”

  William grinned darkly, one that made my body fill with dread. “Oh I wouldn't worry about that Mary, there is no waste in this house.”

  After returning to my room, I watched through the crack in the curtain of my room as William walked out the front gate. I couldn't help but chuckle when he turned left on the footpath, wondering if everything he did in his life was to the left. He continued past the fence line of the house and into the dark forest that lined the estate. A man in a suit walking through a forest, nothing peculiar about that at all. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the room, deciding that a soak in the tub was a mighty fine thought. It was a novel thought, I had spent a life having showers and the thought of actually having a bath was oddly exciting. I turned the taps and waited for the brown onslaught but clear water ran freely. As the water filled the tub I pondered the water and the pipes in this place. In this room, the pipes are clear and clean water runs through them, the kitchen it sputters and dirty water eventually spurts out everywhere. Was it because the kitchen is never used or was it because this room is used more often? Or recently my mind whispered sweetly. Porter said that Lancaster was a widower, he said nothing about the fact that there might or might not be someone else in his life. Maybe that's why he's such a crank, I was impeding his love life.

  There was no bubble bath for me tonight, I had to use shower gel just to get any soapiness. The air filled with the intoxicating scent of roses, sweet wild roses. Steam rose from the water as I slowly slipped into the liquid heat. I don't think that I have felt this relaxed in... well ever, I guess. My foot slowly dipped into the water and back out again, fascination struck me at the dripping sound that echoed through the room. I wasn't sure how good this would be for my wounds but it was too late now. Porter didn't even mention anything about this so called government nurse that he was going to have come here to look after them.

  “That would be just my luck, survive a beastly lycan attack only to get an infection for a poorly attended to wound.” I muttered to myself. I frowned, did people die from something like an infection?

  “I'm sure you will be fine.” The soft voice cooed through the darkness, candles on a built in shelf beside the bath flicked with a flame that rose brightly lighting the room. I didn't shriek or yelp, no gasps but there was a frown. He sat at the far end of the room, where the ornate chair came from I had no clue but it was here now and he was sitting on it with his usual smug grin. It was beginning to get on my nerves, it was the look of superiority, that he thought he was better than me. Likely to be true but that didn't give him the right to lord it over me. One leg was crossed over the other, resting on the knee. His finger rubbed the under side of his bottom lip as his gaze lingered far too easily over me. For someone who was so high and mighty about morals and having a female in his house, he certainly forgets them to suit his own need. I pressed my chest against the side of the tub to try and give myself some privacy from the pervert vampire. Resting my arms on the rolled edge, I looked at him, narrowing my eyes.

  “Why do you insist on doing things like this?”

  He grinned but said nothing. I huffed and turned back, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. So what if he saw more than he should? He probably had something ridiculous like x-ray vision and had seen me anyway. I squirted the shower gel into my palm, filling the air with the scent again.

  “What is that?” His voice was tight and sounded as if it was filled with pain. I turned to see the smug grin was gone replaced with an intense scrutiny.

  “Rose shower gel.” I shrugged as I watched the gel curl onto my hand. I looked back to him but there was nothing, he was gone again. Huffing as I shook my head, I continued to try to understand the complexity that is the vampire known as William Lancaster. It was likely that I was wasting my time.

  Chapter Seven

  With the dirtied dress and undergarments in hand, I followed the scent of dinner. He was a bizarre man but he certainly had good food collecting skills. My mind chuckled, a hunter and a gatherer, maybe he was closely related to something prehistoric.

  “I can take those if you like.”

  No jumping, interesting. I pressed my lips together with a slight smile, I was getting used to the weirdo sneaking up on me.

  “Sure, thank you.” I turned and smiled at him.

  “My pleasure.” He gestured to the corridor to the left of me. “Your dinner awaits.”

  Turning to walk down the corridor, I could feel his gaze penetrate me. I looked back, he was watching me. The clothes were still in his hand, the other hand clasped it at his wrist. There was no smile nor an icy glare, just a pensive gaze that would not leave me. I turned back to the corridor, lifting the soft chiffon of the dress, fearing I would catch it and go arse over. The dress was gorgeous, a mixture of creams, pinks and a soft grey and it was one that I would love to wear again. I had picked it for the large roses that were dotted over it, wondering what it was about roses that had Lancaster in a spin. The top swept up to one shoulder leaving the other bare, the skirt fell to the ground from under the bust line. I looked at the set table, another over proportioned meal awaited me. My mind hissed at me that maybe this was some kind of fairy tale where I was the star of the story. It wasn't a witch that tried to fatten Hansel it was a vampire trying to fatten Mary up for his culinary delights. I looked upon the meal wondering what it was, it kind of looked like pasta with a thick red sauce drizzled over it, something green was sprinkled as a garnish. As soon as I put my hand on the back of the seat to pull it out, I felt cold.

  “Allow me.” His breath was a husky whisper on my bare shoulder.

  “Thank you.” I turned slightly to see him, his stare was still the same, brooding and dark.

  “My pleasure.”

  Again there was a glass of wine waiting for me, a fresh bottle had been opened. I looked at the baking dish that rested beside the plate, this would be interesting. I had no clue what this was, my dietary intake at the orphanage had been drab meat and three veg, if I was lucky.

  “Spinach and ricotta cannelloni.”

  “Oh, okay. Uh, thanks... again.”

  His face cracked with the weakest of smiles. I tried to ignore his feigned attempt at a good mood, opting to serve myself the meal before he told me yet again that it would go cold. I knew what he was inferring, I talk too much.

&nbs
p; “My pleasure... again.” He repeated as the weak smile grew into a curl in the corner of his mouth.

  I picked up the heavy cutlery and cut into the tube of pasta, taking a careful bite of the hot food. How he got it here through that forest, still hot and free of bugs or leaves, I don't know. My mouth came alive with my taste buds tingling with a love of this food. “God damn this is good. Shame you can't eat this, stuck with boring blood.” I grinned as I raised an eyebrow at him. His head tilted back slightly, trying to stifle the smirk. He opened his mouth to speak but I got in first. “Eat your dinner before it goes cold Mary. Just trying to be polite and have a conversation William.”

  The smirk got a little bigger but still, he said nothing.

  “So what poor unsuspecting fool lost their dinner and their life tonight?”

  “No one you knew.” William leaned back against his chair slightly as he assessed me. “You don't seem put off by it, do you no longer care for the loss of life that occurs so regularly when I am around?”

  I looked up at him as I continued to cut into the meal. “Well, I'd say that the person that made this meal will be sorely missed. Did you happen to get the recipe before you robbed them of their life?”

  “You are a peculiarity Mary.” He laughed lightly. “Stab me with your words whilst asking for something as trivial as a recipe.”

  “It's a good meal, why wouldn't I want to have it again? See that's the problem with you vampires...” I pointed the knife at him, his eyes widened slightly “You just don't understand the concept of food, understandably because you don't eat it but this is unreal. It's so different to the meal I ate last night. What about you, was your meal different tonight?”

  William laughed, one that was so dark I regretted asking the question about his meal tonight. “Why yes she was. I am not so singular in my taste Mary, you'd be surprised as to what I will chase.”

  I could feel my cheeks heat up as I tried to ignore the statement by continuing with my meal. Stupid me, why do I ask stupid questions?

  “Maybe when this nonsense is over I might be able to entice you out for a night on the town, searching for the right dinner plate. Maybe for once, you could watch me eat my dinner.”

  “Gross. You really are seriously gross. I'm trying to eat here, you know?”

  “You started it.”

  After dinner we retreated to the parlour again, another night of reading books and sitting by the fire. I had to say that if this is what vampires did every night, they were sorely overrated in the horror department.

  “Do you do this every night?”

  William looked up from his book, the fire glazed his face with the soft yellow and gold hues.

  “Is there anything better to do?” He murmured softly.

  I could think of several but considering I can not leave this house, none of them could be offered for a substitution. Again I was asking stupid questions before thinking about it. “Just wondering if this is how you have spent your life.”

  It was out before I realised it, suddenly I could feel my body tighten as the reality dawned on me, his past. Crud balls.

  “Normally I do not have to protect a human who has managed to find herself in trouble. Normally I can come and go as I please with little care.” His snide words were aimed at me as retribution for my stupid statement, I knew I deserved it. Porter had warned me and I had forgotten it as if it didn't matter. I said nothing and returned to the book I was reading, hoping to forget the past minute or so. Darkness shrouded the room, I could barely see the piano at the other end of the room. The fire was low tonight, gently licking at the air. The book couldn't hold me, I had lost interest in it several pages prior. I was going crazy and it was only my second night here.

  “Have you heard from Porter?”

  “The protocol is that they will not make contact until the lycan is disposed of. They can not be coming back and forth with little messages and visits, it is too risky.”

  As I opened my mouth again, William sighed and closed his book, resting it onto his lap. He had given up on reading and was ready to answer the inane dribble that was always flowing. I knew I talked too much but I was curious, was that so bad? “Have you ever had a lycan enter your property?”

  “No.”

  I nodded as I thought about it. “Why do you think that is?”

  “Maybe it's because I put one of their heads on a pike beside the letterbox.”

  “Seriously?”

  He laughed as he leaned back further into the chair, rubbing that spot under his lip. It was an annoying habit he had, that and his mocking my stupid statements and questions. “No, once a week I mark my territory.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “Same way a dog does.”

  I looked at him, he was so smug as he tried to not laugh. Gently I returned the book to the pile instead of following the wishful thinking of my mind and throwing it at him. I got up from the lounge and walked to the door, his hand appeared on the door, sliding to the door frame. It stopped on the long line between the two, essentially stopping me from opening the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Somewhere that I won't be insulted for asking legitimate questions and mocked for my naiveness.” I turned my head to him, looking at the amusement. He thought he was so much better than me, I hated it. “I'm nineteen how much do you really think I know of this world? I was raised in an orphanage that gave a basic and extremely limited education so the fact that I can read and write is quite remarkable. A week ago I never knew of your world or of the lycans so excuse me for not knowing anything. You might have had an easy ride in this life with your fancy house and expensive furniture but I didn't. I had to save up just to buy a pair of shoes so that I didn't have to trudge through the snow with a hole in the bottom. I don't have the luxury of sitting around of a night time doing nothing. I work. Every single minute that I sit here doing nothing, I watch another dollar disappear into the air and yet there isn't a damned thing I can do about it. So I try and keep myself occupied, keep myself from thinking about the loss of money or the beast that would be walking the streets out there searching for me, readying to kill me. Mock me all you like, it means little in the grand scheme of things, just don't expect me to sit and listen to it.”

  “Forgive me.” He said quietly. “It seems to be a daily occurrence that I hurt you in some way, yet there are no tears today. No repairing wounds.” His hand slipped from the door, taking mine in one hand, the other trailed over my cheek. “You have suffered needlessly, not just by my words nor the lycan. So young and yet so brave, you could lead this world into a better tomorrow.”

  The fingers smoothed out over my skin as his hand cupped my jaw. It was icy cold, in the heat of the room it was quite refreshing. The other hand moved to the other cheek, grasping it firmly. His stare became intense, it felt like he was drawing me in closer. I could feel my body tighten, my breathing became erratic as he pressed his forehead to mine.

  “There is no going back to the days of old Mary.” He whispered. “Your life will never be the same. Vampires will flock to you just to see you, they will look to you as their saviour from the fiend that haunts their step.”

  “But I am no saviour, it was luck, sheer stupid luck.”

  “You are wrong.”

  “How can I save them from something that I fear?”

  William moved me against the door, pressing closer as his hands moved down my neck, gripping my shoulders firmly. His breath lingered over the skin of my cheek, softly tracing his lips toward my ear. I closed my eyes as I quietly gasped wondering what was wrong with me. I hadn't ever felt like this, I didn't even know what this was.

  “They will not expect you to be a warrior, just their saviour.”

  “But that doesn't make any sense...” I opened my eyes to an empty room.

  Williams unexpected departure from the parlour freaked me out a little, the way that he could do things that were abnormal was hard to get used to. I quickly soug
ht out the refuge of my room, opting to shrink away and hide under a blanket. As I sat on the seat by the window, I looked out upon the moon lit garden. Still there was no movement in the other houses, abandoned and left to rot. It seemed such a waste. Curiosity struck me, wondering how much they would be. Not that I'd want to live this close to a vampire but it seemed a reasonable place to live. They would have been abandoned for a reason, but what? I could ask William if he knew anything about them and hope that it didn't result in another night of mockery. If I was actually realistic about my situation, I would see that I didn't stand a chance of being a home owner out here, I'd bet I couldn't even afford the rent. What did I need with all that space? I didn't have time to find a boyfriend or a husband, children were out of the question when I couldn't even afford my own life. My life was earning money to pay the bills, what an existence I led. It was boring and bleak and the future was a long life of working whenever I could and sleeping when I wasn't.

  Chapter Eight

  I didn't know where William was, after his bizarre statements about saviours I didn't know what to think. Maybe after five hundred years of life he was a little crazy. Yep, it was Mary's bad luck all over again, not only attacked by a beast but sent to a crazy leech just to survive. The turn down service hadn't arrived yet which made me wonder if he had a maid or if it was his hokey vampire nonsense again. I hadn't seen another person in the place, nor had I heard or seen any evidence of another. If there was a gardener they certainly hadn't showed their face yet but on a slightly more positive note, some of the roses had perked up. Maybe there was a gardener around, I don't recall it raining last night, what other excuse could there be for their sudden zest? I suppose the afternoon heat might have made them wilt. It seemed unlikely that one section of the garden would be allowed to wither away while the rest of it flourished.