Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1)

by T. M. Watkins

  The blue lantern slowly started to light up the darkened room, I had been sitting with the moon's light and nothing more. A soft blue glow shone throughout the room, it was almost like it was on a timer, indicating to me that it was bed time. With a big reluctant sigh I got up from the lounge and shut the curtains, scurrying to the walk in robe to dress for bed. A new set of draws had appeared in the walk in robe, it was filled with night gowns. They varied in styles, some had lace, some had a soft pattern in the material but all of them were the same type of material. The air was warmer tonight, I selected a nightdress without long sleeves, just a thin band over the shoulder. When I exited the bathroom from dressing for bed I sighed with dismay, the turn down service had been and gone. Pillows neatly stacked on the lounge by the window, the cover and top sheet pulled back. Whoever it was, they were extremely light on their feet. Yet again I settled down for an uneasy sleep.

  I woke to the sound again, I strained to listen to it as I pulled the cover higher over my chest. It sounded more like little tiles that might be in a puzzle, moving and clicking against each other. Maybe it was a puzzle, maybe there was some kind of doorway that was encrypted with it. This place was kooky enough to have something that odd. Keys and locks? Nah, let's put in a puzzle for you to decode. Curiosity got the better of me, pushing fear out of it's way. I picked up the blue lantern and crept to the door, carefully turning the door knob. The glow lit up the corridor revealing an open door. It was like I had found a pot of gold, an open door on this level was a rare find. I turned the lantern up both ends of the corridor several times, checking for Lancaster. Nothing. He had to be on the other side of the door. I stepped out into the corridor after dumping the lantern back on the bedside, quietly closing the door. My heart raced as I peered through the door to the room. It was lit with the glow of a candle, the curtains were drawn. There was a soft sound that I couldn't figure, it sounded almost like he was talking. Not his normal talking, it sounded full of pain and grief. Suddenly I wanted to be back in the bed, feeling like an intruder on his pained emotions.

  Something caught my eye, something that was the most craziest thing for this house and this odd man. A bassinet. Crud balls. It's hood was trimmed with delicate lace, the same lace was around the base of the bassinet, flowing to the ground. It was empty too. My stomach slowly sank, feeling incredibly sick. His wife must have been pregnant or maybe she had already had the baby and it died too. My mind started screeching at me to get back into my room before he discovers me spying on him and intruding upon his private moment. The light of the candle started to move in the room, I wanted to crawl into the corner and hide but there was no where to run except my room. Carefully I padded over the floor and turned the handle, pushing the door open. I was on the threshold, I was almost there. My heart was thumping so hard it was painful.

  “Mary.” His voice was shocked, there was no anger. My mind cringed, I had to lie my way out of this and I hated the thought of lying. I turned to look at him, the candle light flickered around the darkened corridor, it also showed that he had changed out of his suit. There was no denying it, I was drooling. He was in long bed pants and a matching dressing gown that was open, showing off one very fine torso.

  “Are you alright?”

  I must have looked like a deer in headlights, staring blankly at the firm chest.

  “Uh yeah.” Finally my mind sighed. “I wasn't feeling so good, thought you might have had something then I remembered you don't digest food so probably not medication either.” Nice it cooed as a response to my terrible lie. I was definitely going to hell.

  “Oh, well you would be right in that assumption. I do not have any human medication and as for what I use when I am ill, it would likely kill you.”

  “Alright, I'll go back to bed then. Good night.”

  “Good night Mary.”

  I stepped into the room, slowly shutting the door on the figure that had not moved.

  “Oh and Mary?”

  My body tightened, fearing the worst. Fearing he had figured me out or maybe saw me.

  “Do wear a dressing gown if you plan on roaming the house of a day time. If you insist on disobeying my request to be dressed appropriately outside of the bedroom at least cover yourself.”

  “Like you are?” I gestured to the skin on show.

  “Touché. You win this round.” He smiled softly.

  I grinned and shut the door, breathing a sigh of relief when I heard him walk away. It lasted all of about a second until the memories of that room came flooding back. His words of distrust against humans, what Porter had said about him having a past that I wasn't to pry into, he was a widower, things slowly started to fall into place. I couldn't help but wonder if a human had caused the death of his wife and baby. Slumping back under the sheets I started to form the pictures, piecing the few bits of information together. Wife, dead. Empty bassinet in bedroom, dead child. Still upset but there is no wedding ring so he's obviously been on his own for a while. Certainly explains his reluctance to have me around, he probably hasn't lived under the same roof as a woman in years. There was no morals or his standing in the community, it boiled down to the fact that he wasn't ready for this. Porter had obviously neglected to tell him that it was a woman coming here, or maybe he lied and said it was a male. It was likely he did it so that Lancaster would agree to this. But even with the excuse of his morals he still let me into this house far too easily. It now worried me that he had an ulterior motive, but what?

  I slipped into a troubled sleep, my mind couldn't let the room go. It seemed haunted by the thoughts of a child dying needlessly, his wife might have died trying to save the innocent life. William said that he had lived here for fifty years and the room was set up for a child, his wife and child had died in the past fifty years. My mind wandered back to Porter's words about William having a run in with the lycan family that my attacker was from. It meant that William had either lived in their territory or had been passing through. If I were to assume that he walked everywhere like he did tonight, I could assume that he lived in the territory, it would be too far to walk to it from this area. That being the case, it meant that he must have moved out of the area to get away from them. But it was all assumption, with nothing to go on, I had nothing but my own theories. Yes, it was definitely a troubled sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  The soft giggle filled the room as William kissed the giant swell. Her pregnancy had gone well, any day their child would be born.

  “Ella for a girl.” She whispered sweetly.

  He grinned as his hand crossed the her belly where the child was pushing on the skin.

  “Leonard for a boy.”

  William sighed slightly as he got up onto the lounge beside her, taking her hand. His fingers tickled the back of her hand, trailing past the stack of diamonds and gold. There wasn't enough diamonds on the planet, he wanted them all to lavish upon her. And when all of the diamonds belonged to her, he would turn his fixation upon her next desire. Whatever it was, it didn't matter. If she wanted all of the rubies in the world, they would be hers. He would give everything he had just to see her smile. “Do you wish to taint our son with my past?” His eyes looked up into hers, looking into the stunning blue. He toyed with the soft waves of brown as she fluttered her eyes at him, smiling coyly until she got her own way. “Alright my love, Leonard for a boy.”

  “You are too sweet for words.”

  He trailed his fingers over her delicate pale skin, her beauty was intoxicating to him. “Don't ever leave me Mary.”

  “I won't darling, always by your side.”

  I spluttered awake, choking on the water as I sat up in the bath tub. Gasping for air, I turned and leaned over the edge, coughing as I tried to get the bath water out. Slowly my body started to calm down, the coughs lessened but the tears didn't. Wiping them away did nothing, I couldn't stop crying. I saw her or at least I thought I saw her. It couldn't be real, it was my imagination. I was projecting my anguish over the room int
o my dreams and creating a scene that my mind believed to be real. But what was the with the question about the boys name and tainting him with his past? Surely that could not be make believe? Was it some kind of added in nonsense or was this a true memory and this hokey vampire house was offering me a snippet of his past? I didn't know what to make of it, it seemed so real, like I was there. I could see the limb push on her stomach wall, I could feel the sensation of the material as William touched it. It was soft crushed velvet.

  I had to know if it was real, I had to find out. Clambering out of the tub I wrapped the towel around me and scurried into the robe, ignoring the dress I had picked out for the boring day ahead. Crazily I flicked through the dresses, searching for a velvet dress. I was crazy, as if he would let me wear his dead wife's dresses. This was stupid, I was being unrealistic. I leaned on the wall, feeling the water dribble from my hair and onto my chest, soaking into the towel wrapped around me. Turning my head to look at the dresses, I saw a latch on the wall. Dread snaked it's way through me as I tugged on it, it released a section of the hanging space. The sound of gears clunking together filled the space as the panel moved and turned. When it finally stopped it sat as a T section, opening the robe up to a whole new area. I looked at the new panels of hanging space, this wasn't a secret, there were long skirts and shirts. It was just clueless me that didn't investigate the space entirely. I grabbed the candelabra and stepped into the area, looking at the skirts, running my hand over the soft material. The dresses got a little more historical looking, a shelf lined the room with boxes, presumably hat boxes. I stopped in my tracks, feeling the familiar softness under my fingers. Turning to the material, I pulled the sleeve out, shaking my head in disbelief. I took the hanger of the pole and looked at the dress, this was it. A soft sob escaped me as I hung it back, it was her, her soft sweet voice filled my head as the memory of the vivid dream returned. It flooded through me as I relived it again causing more anguish. The only problem was, when I looked through William's eyes to his wife, I saw myself.

  Days had passed since I fell asleep in the bath tub and almost drowned. And that other thing. I didn't want to believe it to be real but how could I imagine a dress that I had never seen before? The conversation, the reference to tainting the child with William's past, the adoration he felt for his wife. But it all paled in comparison to the view of his wife. It couldn't be true. How was it possible?

  The nights had passed with the same dreariness, I would wake of a late afternoon, I would refresh myself from a difficult day of sleeping and dress in something from the front row of dresses. The panel had been closed and I refused to lift that lever again. William would go and feed and return with something steaming hot and delicious. It was like he had a chef in a kitchen waiting for his demands. Dinner was the same, it was a decent meal that balanced the food groups reasonably well. There was always a fresh bottle of wine of which I was served one glass. I didn't know if the rest of the bottle was available to me, I hadn't asked. Considering I didn't drink before I came here, one was plenty. When William figured I was sufficiently full, he offered his hand and led me out of the room, leaving the table as is. I could only presume that he had some form of help here, who else cleaned up the dishes? We would always retire to the parlour to sit by the fire and read. Quite frankly I wanted to use the books as kindling, that's how interesting I was finding it. William had been subdued and hadn't been snide or mocked me, of course I was barely speaking to him out of fear I might blurt it out that I dreamed I was his wife. So there were no stupid questions, just one bored human and one sad vampire.

  There hadn't been a peep out of Porter, I worried that something might have happened to him. Would I be stuck here for an eternity if something did happen? Sure he said that someone would replace him but what if I got lost in the paperwork? It was depressing and much to my relief I had found entertainment in the bag to blow the depression out of the water. A mp3 with several packets of batteries. I squealed with delight when I found it yesterday, not realising that among the terrible selection of clothes that were packed for me was something to occupy my dull days. The music that was preloaded onto it was a mix of current songs, I think. I didn't really have time to listen to music so it was like listening to something for the first time. The afternoon sun was setting on the other side of the house, I was leaning on the back of the lounge as I watched the varying shades of orange being thrown across the land. Mindlessly humming to the music as I watched the birds fly around, wishing I could be that free. Something tugged on one of the ear buds, pulling it out. I turned to the man that was smiling at me, gasping as I clutched my chest.

  “Is it so necessary that you do... that!” I snapped as I pulled the other bud out.

  “I do love how you react. What is that?”

  “Music player.”

  “I see.” He settled onto the lounge beside me looking at it curiously. “And it plays music, that little contraption holds music?”

  I nodded wondering how it was that he didn't know about technology in this era of commercialism.

  “May I?”

  “Uh sure, though you may not like the music.”

  “And how would you know that?”

  I shrugged trying to avoid giving it to him, this was one of those cheek searing moments. “Call it a hunch.”

  “What is the name of the musician, what era is it from?”

  “It's a band, they're called Kings of Leon. They're still around.” I shrugged again. “Current era.”

  He nodded and took it from me looking at it as if it was a rare specimen. I sighed loudly, figuring I wasn't getting out of this so easily. Might as well bite the bullet and give him an education. Taking the ear buds from him I put one in his ear, the other in mine and pressed play.

  “This song is called sex on fire.”

  His jaw dropped as he stared at me. He wouldn't listen so he only had himself to blame. When I was done with embarrassing him, I flicked it to the next song. He listened to it for about a minute or so, his face contorted with shock, frowning and a bit of confusion. I stifled the smirk and flicked it to the next one, continuing my fun. I chuckled and looked down at the screen.

  “Muse, a band. Undisclosed desires.” It wasn't the greatest of songs to have lined up for the next one to listen to but I didn't realise until it was too late. Crud balls. I looked up at him feeling the flush rise in my cheeks. I don't know who loaded these songs but it was like they had intentions of planting seeds of lust in my mind through the songs. Not that this song was going to get my groove happening. I cackled hard when I looked at the next song. This one I did know.

  “Kesha, tic toc.” At least it wasn't a song about getting any grooves on. Well maybe a dance groove but not the naked groove. William tried to pull the bud out of his ear. “No, no. I insist.” I grinned as I stopped him “After all, you know best.”

  He frowned at me as his lips pursed a thin line. As I wrapped my arm around my bent knee I fluttered my eyes at him, trying to annoy him even more.

  “Do you like this music?”

  I laughed, he was almost yelling it at me. Pulling the bud from his ear, I switched it off. “You don't need to yell, I'm not deaf. As for the music, it's alright I suppose. This isn't mine, it was in the bag that Porter packed.”

  “Do you think that Porter listened to that?”

  I giggled as I wrapped the cord around the player. “Maybe.” My eyes slowly lifted to his, of course his gaze was stuck on me. Thoughts of that stupid dream were screaming at me, telling me that I was the reincarnation of his dead wife, heckling me as it told me that was the reason I was wearing her clothes, he was turning me into her. Panic set in at my delusional thoughts, I was a fool. I had put myself in place of his wife, somehow magically imposed the dress onto my not really pregnant body and faked the scene in my mind. Yep, that makes sense. Clearly I had seen a picture of her somewhere in the few rooms I had been in, she must have been wearing the dress in the picture. Unless it's a vision of the fu
ture my mind whispered.

  “Are you alright?”

  My eyes darted back to him, my lip hurt. I didn't realise I had been biting it as I took a trip down wishful thinking lane. Was that it? Was I wishing for a life here in the creepy house? Surely not.

  “Yeah I'm good.”

  “Oh okay, you just went a little pale there for a second.”

  That's because I was thinking about a god damned dream I had where I was pregnant and your freaking wife. I huffed internally, trying to find a calm place. No such luck.

  “All good.” I smiled. It was hollow, thinned and forced. He was going to see straight through me for sure.

  “Good.” He nodded and turned to face the front. He looked at his nails, obviously finding a bit of dirt that was interesting. Or maybe he's trying to distract his thoughts my mind giggled as it teased me. “So... you're a night filler.”

  Total hell, now he's doing small talk. What did I do wrong in this life to suffer small talk?

  “Yep.” I said softly to try and maintain composure. “And cashier of an afternoon.”

  He nodded again, frowning and then not frowning. It might be hell but it was amusing. “And it doesn't pay well?”

  I shrugged as I pulled my bent knee closer. “It pays the rent, the utilities and the food. I suppose if I needed something else I could get a third job or go without food.”

  William lifted his head to me with shock on his face. “You would really go without food just to pay for something?”

  “If there was no other choice, what else could I do? I don't have any parents to beg for a loan. No bank will lend to me. I could always rob them, then I could get money from a bank.”

  He turned on his seat, facing me as he settled side on, his arm laying over the back of the lounge. “You won't need to rob any banks Mary, there isn't a vampire alive that would allow you to suffer poverty again.”