Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1)

by T. M. Watkins

  “Porter brought me here, to hide me. He said you were my only hope.”

  The vampire nodded with a soft smile.

  “Jail has electricity.”

  “And phones if they are allowed.” He chuckled.

  “Lancaster jail.” I frowned as it spilled out. My eyes darted back to the deep blue eyes that never faltered from me. “Porter called this place Lancaster jail.”

  “He did.”

  Why? Because I can not leave until Cameron is caught. Cameron will search for me and kill me even though he wasn't able to in the alley. Why didn't he kill me? Gifted... the vampire called me a gifted human but what did that mean? I didn't know. The vampire and I didn't always get along, we had a fight, about what though? It was a dream my mind screamed. No, it wasn't a dream, it was a vision of the future. Married with a child almost ready to be born. He was scared, scared of losing another wife. Another child. But how?

  “Married?” I frowned, unsure of the word. His body tightened, taking a deep breath he collected more crystals and sprinkled them into the water. “Yes I was married once, not so long ago. She died giving birth to our child.”

  “Sorry.”

  He nodded but said nothing, just watching the crystals falling from his hand. “It was a foolish risk, I should have known better than to allow her to continue with the pregnancy. But she insisted that all would be well, that it didn't matter that she was still human. Our son died first, somewhere in the labour. He didn't even get to take a breath.”

  “Leonard, don't taint him with your past.”

  The vampire nodded again, ruefully swishing the water with his free hand. “She died not long after he did, she held my hand and told me that she would come again one day. Maybe as herself, maybe as another but when she did return, I would know. Our love would keep us together no matter what, my heart would always belong to her.”

  “Sweet.”

  He pursed his lips together sadly and nodded.

  “Cold.” I begged.

  “I can not let you out until you remember my name, if I do all of your hard work will go and you will return to the limbo that you were in. This is a memory pool, these are memory salts.” He sprinkled more into the water. “In order for it to work effectively, you have to remember the one thing that the witch attempted to remove from your mind. Me. Remember me and you will break the spell.”

  “Help.”

  “I can not help you, it will not work.”

  My eyes looked over the flowers that hung from the ceiling, it was so beautiful. “How did you do this, where are we?”

  “This is just a room in my house where I keep the memory pool. You did the rest.”

  I frowned at him, looking at the odd man and his crazy words.

  “This is from a need to encase yourself away from the world that would try and harm you. We are in a thick layer of rather large thorny stems on the exterior of the room that are sturdy and strong, almost impenetrable. The interior is the glorious blooms of hope and desire. This is your heart Mary, this room projects what your heart feels. Thorns on the outside to protect yourself from being hurt, lush and stunning flowers to show the inner beauty of you. There are thorns because you fear to let anyone in, you fear them ruining the joy that is this.” His hand cupped a flower, the petals were delicate and when he touched it, it sent a wave of aroma through the air.

  “Love?”

  “I do not know if you have someone Mary, Porter never told me about that. Even if you did, they could not come here, you are in hiding.”

  I could feel pain, like something inside of me was dying. Alone, always alone. Unwanted, unloved. “Dying.”

  “You are not dying Mary, this is a spell of the mind and nothing more.”

  “I want to get out.”

  He sighed loudly and pulled a clear panel over the top of me. All but a small section over my face covered me now.

  “Why?” I cried.

  “Because this is important and I have to go and feed before the sun rises.”

  “But what about if I need the bathroom?”

  “A memory pool halts bodily functions. You will not need the bathroom nor will you need to eat.” He began to move away, searching through the thick leaves and blooms for the door.

  “What if something happens to you? Who will let me out?”

  “Remember my name and I could do it for you right now.” The vampire looked back at me. “Come on Mary, think, remember. Relive the past week. You remember Porter, do you remember the conversations that you had with him? The drive here, surely you two spoke about me, what did he say?”

  “You wouldn't care if I was alive or dead.” I sobbed as I pushed on the panel. It wouldn't budge, I was trapped in a clear, watery coffin. “Property sits outside of lycan territory. Lancaster's property.”

  I remembered him searching through his bag, pushing the stupid glasses up his nose repeatedly. I found it annoying and had chosen to watch the view out the window. Suburbia, it was what I wanted. Normality and the humdrum of a family life. A family, it was what I craved the most.

  “Old, behave like a lady, books and covers.” I whispered.

  “Keep going.” He moved away from the door.

  “Potty mouth... vile act to speak so boorishly.” I gasped as a searing pain struck my mind. I cried out in pain as the tears seeped out of my eyes and into the water. “William.” I sobbed uncontrollably “Your name is William Lancaster.”

  William lifted me from the memory pool, setting my soggy body to the cold floor. Through the thick bush of rose buds and leaves he searched for something, turning back with towels.

  “Normally I don't have to search through a garden for them.” He said as he grinned cheekily. “How are you feeling?”

  “Incredibly cold.” I said as I wrapped myself in the towels. It did little for me, he had dumped me into the pool covered in clothes and now the wet clothes were soaking the towels.

  “Of course. Maybe you should change into some dry clothes. I will set up some blankets by the fireplace in the parlour to warm you.”

  He looked at me as if he wanted to say something but he said nothing, just offering a smile that was like many of his others, weak and forced. William turned out of the room after searching through the flowery bush. A solitary tear trickled down my cheek, as it did the flowers withered and died. They fell to the floor in a pile of brown ash and then disappeared, leaving the bare walls and the shelf of towels.

  After I dragged my depressed and soggy body to my room and changed, I made my way to the parlour. The room was incredibly hot yet it did nothing to warm me. William was making a pile in front of the fireplace, a large stack of thick and warm blankets that looked extremely comfortable. He saw me and offered a smile, gesturing for me to get onto the blanket stack. There were more waiting on the lounge, no doubt for me to wrap into and snuggle down.

  The blanket around me wasn't enough, the fire was barely a thought when it came to getting rid of the chill. I was laying on the floor of the parlour by the largest fireplace in the house. It was roaring brightly but it did little. William had left me here to go and feed, stating that first he had to do a few minor alterations to the protection over the house and the yard and a small amount of home maintenance. I didn't want to know, I figured it had something to do with the woman turning up unannounced. William wasn't impressed, he muttered on several occasions that the house was supposed to be witch proof. Eliandra was a witch, a woman that he had known prior to his wife. I didn't want to ask mister high and mighty morals what she meant by the statement that he used to be such fun. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. He said that he did not wish to speak ill of her but I had heard mutterings that he didn't want me to hear. Some of them might have been the word jealous, some of them might have been the word bitch and some of them might have been referring to her promiscuity. The man of high and mighty morals sure knew how to throw around the derogatory words under his breath.

  I laid on the thick blankets tha
t William had set out, a dozen blankets that were doubled over in an effort to create additional warmth. There were more laying over the top of me, I was a pile of blankets wrapped in a warmth that I could not feel. I could not shake it off, it was entrenched into the depths of my body. The coldness had made its way to my core, digging itself deep into me. It just added to the overwhelming feeling of loneliness that I now had. The time in the memory pool just added to my suffering. Now I could see how my life was. I worked, I slept. There was nothing else. No one else. The vision that I had of my so called future was a lie. There was never going to be an us, though I don't know if it was what I wanted. But the vision of being pregnant had given me hope that there was a family in my future. My family. That I would be loved by someone. But that had been ripped away from me in one soul crushing moment. My heart would always belong to her. There was no love here, not for me anyway. Maybe there might be someone in my future, maybe some day he might stroll into the shop and sweep me off my feet.

  I sighed as I stared at the flames. The shop that I probably don't work at. Probably? Considering that my boss is really a lycan that attacked me, I stood up to him and now he's on the run and probably searching for me, yeah I'd say I don't have a job any more. I would have to find another job, probably two. The flat that I lived in, I suppose I could go back there once Gerard was caught but what if he told his family? Would they come after me? So maybe I couldn't go back to my flat after all. Where would I go? With no parents, no real friends or loved ones to keep me here, I guess I could go anywhere. I could become like the birds that fly around outside and be free for once. Maybe I could beg Porter to find me some kind of victim compensation money, I could buy a camper van and tour the country, never staying in the one place for too long.

  “Sounds perfect.” I whispered to myself.

  “What does?”

  I rolled my eyes, it seemed that he had perfect timing when it came to strolling in at the most inopportune time. “My life plan.”

  “Oh?”

  Wrapping the blanket around me I sat up to eat the meal on the tray, my stomach was almost singing with hungry anticipation. I dipped the spoon into the large bowl, the thick red sauce was filled with vegetables.

  “Minestrone soup apparently.” He grinned as he sat on the floor opposite me. “So, the life plan?”

  “When I'm free of this jail, I'm going to hit Porter up for some compensation money. There has to be some kind of victims of crime fund or something. Then I'm going to buy a camper van and I'm going to bugger off around the country.”

  William raised his eyebrows at me, likely it was because of the use of the word bugger. But after he called Eliandra a bitch, I'd say it was fair game from now on.

  “I figure I can't go back to the flat, my boss knew where I lived. He's probably told his family.”

  “That is a possibility and it would be wise to not go back there. Is there anything you hold dear to you still at the flat?”

  “No. My parents left me with nothing, I got nothing as I grew up in the orphanage and I didn't have the money to buy anything but the bare essentials for life.”

  William said nothing as I continued to eat the soup but I could tell he wanted to. I barely knew him but already I could see when he was building up to say something.

  “About the vision.”

  And there we have it folks. William Lancaster the vampire, an open book. Can be read so easily.

  “What about it?” Yep, I played it cool. I inwardly rolled my eyes, I was a fool to think that I could pretend I didn't care.

  “I don't...” He sighed. “I don't know what to think of it, to be honest. There is no lie with a vision yet there is no way that it is the truth. You must understand that my heart belongs to my wife, one day she will return.”

  “And that's possible I take it?”

  “It is, though it has been a long time and my heart grows weary with the wait.”

  I listened as I ate the soup, not wanting to talk about it. If I were honest about it, I would say that I wanted to avoid it like the plague.

  “It pains me that the vision has come to you, why it has tricked you I do not know. Please know that I do not wish to cause you grief and although you have lit a fire within my soul that nothing could extinguish, I can not love you.”

  Whoa, hang on a second. What the hell did he just say? I gulped the soup, painfully the hot liquid slid down my throat, burning it's way into the pit of my stomach. “Sure.”

  “You are too brave for your own good.”

  I nodded, hoping that it might seem that I wasn't a tad upset. Okay, so I might have been. Let's be realistic here, I was about to start crying into my soup. Vision of the future, happiness overload with marriage and a kid, everything that I have ever wanted, check. Confirmed that it is the future with me in it and not the past with his dead wife, check. Shot down in flames leaving my hopes and dreams a burning mess as he tells me that he feels something but because of the stupid god damned dead wife that said she's going to come back and ruin everything so he can't love me, check. I hate my life. I sighed, no longer caring about anything.

  “Yep, that's me. Brave ol' Mary.” I said, my voice barely holding the emotion.

  Me, brave ol' Mary. What a joke. Stands up to a lycan because she longs for death only for the stupid thing to go running off with it's tail between it's legs. Gets to live in an odd house with an odd man, somehow manages to develop something for the weirdo only to have him put her up a rung on the ladder but then knock her down several rungs all in one little sentence. The moral of my story folks? Don't walk down alleys at five am in the morning.

  Chapter Twelve

  I settled back onto my blanket bed when I had finished with the soup. For the first time ever, William removed the dishes from where I had eaten. I guess there wasn't a maid in this place after all. Tonight I would be sleeping by the fire in the parlour as the chill from the memory pool would take it's time to leave my body. It wasn't working, I was shivering. William was pacing back and forth in his den, cursing at the book that was evading him. Somewhere on the wall that had floor to ceiling shelves and was stacked tight with books, was one that would give him the answers that he needed for my problem. I sat on the blanket pile wrapped in the several layers of blankets and looked through the two doors at the frustrated man. A glint of light that cracked through the curtain caught my eye, the warm sun was peeking through. There was no point, if sitting by the fire in my own frozen nightmare wasn't doing it, the sun didn't stand a chance. But still, it was worth a shot. Only problem was I would have to step outside and I knew that William would flip out if I suggested it and it was likely that he would have a coronary if I did it without telling him. Did vampires have heart issues?

  “Only one way to find out.”I whispered as I flicked off the sheets and stood from the ground. Let's see if we can give the soul crushing heart breaker a coronary. The bastard deserved it.

  “Find out about what?” William frowned at me as I walked toward him in the entry. “Why aren't you under the sheets?”

  I ignored him and continued to the door.

  “Where are you going? Are you mad woman? Shut the damned door.”

  Holding the door knob I took a deep breath and turned back to him. “The sun is really hot, it's the afternoon sun, seriously hot. I'm going to give it a crack.”

  “The sun is behind the house Mary, that means you will have to walk all the way around... outside. Porter told you that you were to stay on the inside of the house, that means no going out the doors or the windows.”

  His eyes narrowed at me as we faced off against each other, neither of us were prepared to back down.

  “If you have a better solution then say so.”

  “Back door, you can stand inside the house and get the reflected light.”

  I rolled my eyes and shut the door, following him through the house. I stood beside the open door basking in the direct sunlight. Freedom from this house was a step forward yet I feared
to take that step. We were in the utility room, William was hiding behind the main door into the corridor. I had to say, I felt sorry for him. He was trapped inside during the day, he could not venture into the sun, he could not enjoy it's warmth. I turned with a glorious smile on my face, revelling in the heat.

  “Were you born a vampire or were you turned into one?”

  He peered out from behind the edge of the door. “Born.”

  “Can humans be turned into vampires or is that make believe?”

  “It's possible.”

  I grinned and lifted my foot, giving the impression I was going to step through. His eyes widened, I wonder how far he would go to stop me. When I was done teasing him I put my foot back down. The relief on his face was quite amusing. “Do you miss the sun?”

  “I wouldn't know, I've never been out in it. You know, kind of like my skin burn free.” He said dryly.

  I turned to one side, feeling the burn upon the skin of my arm. “Would you venture into the sun if it meant saving someone you loved?”

  “Who would be so foolish as to step into the sun like that and endanger their life?”

  My mind scoffed, too bad for you Mary. It's lucky you don't love him, otherwise that would be just a little crushing. “Yeah, stupid alright.”

  I shut the door taking one last glance at freedom. So long, it was nice to see you again. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can meet again. I turned the locks and wearily sighed, today was a long and depressing day that I wished to forget.

  “I'm tired, I'm going to bed.”

  “Right.” He pushed the door open further. “Good idea. Are you warm now?”

  I nodded my head, pushing past him. The proximity was unbearable as I looked up at him, wishing that Porter would hurry up and rescue me. I needed to get away from William, I couldn't take this much longer.