Bloodrose

by Cassidy Raindance

  “While it may be your worst nightmare, you’re not dreaming. If you were dreaming, could you feel this?” asked the woman.

  She was behind me in the blink of an eye and I felt the adrenaline rush through me as I knew what was coming. I knew what it felt to be the rabbit. I had lived it for the past however many hours I had been stuck in this hell hole. Now I would know what it felt like to be somebody’s dinner.

  I felt the tearing and the ripping as my flesh was torn and shredded. She ripped into the curve of my neck and shoulder that Brad had bitten on first, gnawing with vigor. I could feel the blood spray the side of my face and a trickle began down my blouse.

  I screamed as loud as I could. It didn’t sound like me. I had a moment where I thought there might be someone else here, someone else being eaten just like me until I screamed a second time. But there wasn’t anyone else. I screamed with my entire body from deep in my gut. That scream had come from me. No one would come. Only more monsters.

  I tried to scream again and settled on tears and sobs of despair. I felt dizzy, sick, tired. My eyes wanted to close, to go to sleep. I wanted to wake up and for this to all have been a bad dream. Somehow, as my heart pounded in my chest and my head pounded in pain I knew that if I went to sleep I wouldn’t wake up. I tried to scream again but all I got out was a cry of pain. The jolt of this insane woman, this monster, digging down deeper into my shoulder and hitting nerve after nerve.

  Brad opened the heavy steel door and strolled in. He looked mildly interested, even turned on. My vision had become doubled, almost tripled, but I could read his face enough to be thankful that his perverse emotions were for the leech latched on to my neck.

  “Are you finishing her off?” he asked.

  Brad smiled at her, his face already spattered and smeared with thick but drying blood. His hair slick and greasy, he laid on the charm for her. If I had the energy I would have spit at him.

  “She doesn’t know anything,” said the woman, licking blood off of her hands, “She may just be a pet but she’s still in the way. We can’t have her popping up anywhere alive,”

  “Want me to hang her in the ice box?” asked the goon, taking a few steps toward me.

  “No, finish her off,” said the woman, eyeing me with moderate disgust as she stepped around me and the goon.

  The woman did manage to resurface the monster in her before she left and smiled at me as she stepped out of the room, closing the heavy door behind her. I could only imagine the smile had been the result of my fate, which she knew more of than I did. By her smile, I didn’t hold my breath that it would be a pretty fate. The resounding thud the door made when it slid closed made my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

  The goon with the greasy hair knelt next to me and smiled. I could barely focus on him at all but what I could focus on were his teeth. Compared to the blood already around his mouth, they were a brilliant white to the background of deep red smears all over his face. He picked my hand up though I couldn’t feel it. I knew that he had my hand because I could see that he had it. I watched but I stopped feeling. I couldn’t keep my head up as it bobbled to the side weakly as I tried to protest. He bit into my wrist and I could hear a strange ripping sound as his teeth tore into my flesh and his mouth created a seal, sucking my life force into his mouth eagerly.

  A second goon, one I hadn’t noticed before, stepped out of the shadows and walked behind me. At first I only felt his hand on my head. When he tilted my head to the other side I knew what his intentions were. He wanted the side of my neck that hadn’t already been ripped apart. I imagined him a neat vampire. It didn’t matter. I looked at the floor and could see the concrete floor slanting down to the drain in the room.

  My eyes fell to the floor as I couldn’t move my head. I could feel him biting in, my head bobbing slightly and the pain fading to almost a dull pressure, a pinching sensation. The light was fading in and out but I focused all my attention on what I could, the drain. My eyes were fading, my consciousness, and my will to keep fighting. I kept my eyes on the drain and only the smallest flame of worry burst to life as my eyes followed a small trail of blood less than a foot away from the drain. It snaked, without any hurry, toward the drain.

  I had no doubt whose blood made its way to the drain. It may have felt like hours but it could have been as little as ten or as much as twenty minutes that they fed on me. I began to wonder if they were drinking my blood at all or just chewing their way through me they were taking so long. I thought it would be quick. It seemed impossible and cruel that they would drag it out, killing me.

  I watched as my own blood circled the drain as though it were paced by mere drops at a time. When the drain finally ran red and began slipping down the filthy pipes, I knew that I couldn’t have much longer. Having survived as long as I had felt inhumane though every second meant another second alive. Would anyone be looking for me? The one person that had cared at all for me, as long as I had been in this crowded and desolate city, had been murdered in front of me. By the same kind of monsters that had their fangs, literally, sunk into me now.

  In that spark, that anger at watching Robert killed and the realization that no one would be looking for me, I heard a shriek. I couldn’t move but I knew who it had been. The neat eater. I heard footsteps faintly from outside the room coming toward the door. I felt more than heard the goon that had been latched on to my neck for the better part of 20 minutes let go and stumble. The goon gnawing at my wrist stopped. I could tell because I didn’t feel my veins twinge and twang at his constant readjustment to get a better bite.

  My view became obstructed. I could see his bloody hand clutching at my mangled shoulder and then he fell into the drain, the blood slowly pooling around him as he looked up at me. My face had to hold shock. Had I done this? Had my rage made my blood go sour? I tried to hold on to my thought of rage but my shock kept my mind slippery with questions.

  He looked as though he couldn’t breathe, gasping for air. His face tense, he clutched his bloody hands toward his chest. I watched as droplets of blood streamed from his eyes and the corner of his already blood smeared mouth. Whatever had happened wasn’t something I had any control over. I watched in amazement, gratitude and thankfulness as his face contorted in pain.

  “One drink too many,” said the goon at my wrist.

  He sounded far away or as if he were mumbling but I knew that to just be my current condition. I had no idea how much blood I had left in my body. But apparently, the neat eater had been a lush.

  The goon that squirmed in agony, gasping and his eyes bulging at me, turned an ash color. His eyes bulged every so slightly more and my fascination turned to a weak horror as his skin began to glow the color of hot embers, tiny blazed veins running to each hot spot. It lasted less then a second. His body imploded in fiery frenzy of flames and the ash fell to the ground an instant later. Small flakes of ash piled to the ground, my blood still circling and attempting to run a course right through it. As a river through a burned mountain, my blood streaked a path to the drain it sought and found.

  I closed my eyes, not wanting the horror show, the freak show of monsters on so many levels to continue. I heard the door open and frantic shouting but that was all I heard. I didn’t care. Whatever frantic concern burst through the door had no concern in my world. A world full of vampires and killers, torture and murder, it wasn’t a place I wanted to exist. I welcomed the darkness. Only the darkness didn’t stay long. As soon as the darkness closed in, taking me away from the blood and the shouting, my mind turned on a light for me. I drifted into a peaceful white light and, as the saying goes, let the concerns of mere mortals fall away.

  Chapter 26

  I paced a path from the marble grand staircase in the center of the house where royal court ceremonies were held all the way to the front door. At first I simply paced in anxious anticipation but then I walked the same path to see in the arriving members.

  The house had become eerily quiet the few moments a
fter Penelope left. I had watched her carry Prussia right out the front door. I stayed toward the marble staircase, well away from the Queen’s chamber and corridor. I checked the front door every few minutes for arrivals. Penelope had only been gone a few minutes before the first Lords and Ladies began to arrive. Penelope had been right about sending the message to everyone when I had. While it felt like an eternity to me as I waited I knew that the ones arriving the earliest had probably dropped everything they had been doing to show up.

  As each member arrived I felt more relief that there was one more witness but also more anxious at what it meant would happen sooner rather than later. It’s not every day that a non-titled and until recently banished Lady responsible for the death of the previous Chancellor accuses the Queen of abuse of power, demands the appointment of a fair Chancellor and if the mood of the court permitted, the resignation of the Queen. That kind of agenda would lead any vampyr to turn into a stress-drinker almost instantly.

  I continued to pace between the staircase and the door as I saw in more arrivals. My disappointment when I saw Sebastian coming toward me as I returned to the front door had never been greater. He looked beyond angry and he stopped me only twenty feet from the front door. I could see every guest as they came in but they could also see and hear me. I wanted to avoid him but it wasn’t an option.

  “Prussia has been taken,” he said with an accusatory tone, “Your friend from the park, where can I find her?”

  He hadn’t even finished his demand, as it wasn’t really a question, and three guards showed up at his back to intimidate and question little old me. It must have been a real serious situation I snorted to myself.

  “I have more important things to do than to worry about the Queen’s pet,” I said, pointing a finger toward Sebastian to showcase that his entire contribution to the court was seeing to the Queen’s human.

  “Don’t underestimate her importance,” warned Sebastian, a dangerous glow behind his eyes.

  “Her importance to the Queen,” I asked, “Or her importance to you?”

  “Both,” said Sebastian, “Now tell me where I can find your little friend from the park,”

  The only comfort I had in that moment, realizing that he really had developed feelings for this pesky human, is the knowledge that she wouldn’t survive the night. It would take time but I knew now that I wanted Sebastian more than I had ever cared to admit and I wanted him back.

  “I hope you enjoy your frail bitch of a human,” I said, no attempt to conceal my distaste for the entire affair, “Perhaps when you’ve tired of playing with your food you’ll crawl back and we’ll talk about what a complete ass you’ve been,”

  “We don’t need to talk about our history together,” said Sebastian, taking a single step towards me, “I’m fully aware now of what an ass I’ve been following you blindly to the ends of the earth.”

  Sebastian took another step toward me and now he had stepped so close to me that I could lean forward and lay my head on his chest. I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if it would be a smart gamble. He’d either attack me or hold me. The way he panted to get his charge, Prussia, back I assumed he’d attack me sooner than hold me. I wished I could let out a deep sigh of defeat but settled on a compromised gamble by resting a hand lightly on his chest and looking into his eyes with as much pout as I could muster. And I got nothing, not a single emotion or twitch from him.

  “You’ll come around,” I said, as sweetly as I could get away with given his steady glare. It would take time but he would, as they all did eventually.

  My heart strings plucked a sad tune as he picked up my hand off his chest as if carrying the plague and flicked it away from him. His gaze held mine the entire time. I didn’t flinch, didn’t cower, and didn’t give away the hurt I felt at this slight but powerful gesture.

  “Where is she,” he growled.

  “I can’t be sure,” I said, trying to look disinterested in the conversation now. I instead played the offended damsel with hurt pride. I turned my nose up and turned my face away from him.

  Apparently he hadn’t wanted to play anymore because no sooner had I turned my nose up than he snapped his fingers and two guards moved to either side of me. Grabbing me at the wrist and elbow, the two lifted me ever so slightly up from the ground and I could do nothing but glare at Sebastian now at the indignity of the position.

  I tried to duck my head down slightly but the guests that were trickling in could see now that the show had begun ahead of schedule. And not one of them seemed surprised that I turned up to be the attraction at the moment. My toes skimmed the plush carpet lightly but I still kept my back as straight as I could once I realized I had an audience. A small gathering of court members began behind Sebastian. Sebastian and the circle of guards kept the onlookers at bay as his gaze continued on me.

  “Tell me where she is or I’ll have you arrested,” said Sebastian.

  I tried to think quickly about my options. It didn’t look like I had many at this point. I had to give him something. And I had to warn Penelope, my Master, before Sebastian got there. She didn’t need to clean up the mess so long as she gets out of there before Sebastian showed up in his glorious white knight complex with sidekicks.

  “You can’t arrest every unsuspecting vampyr in the city for sampling the Queen’s favorite pet,” I said loudly, playing to the small but attentive audience.

  Every moment I could stall would be good and playing it up for the drama-loving court members didn’t hurt either. Sebastian looked annoyed at what I was so obviously doing. He looked around at the audience and didn’t miss a beat as his attention focused back on me, held up in the air with a guard on each arm.

  “There will be no arrests,” he said.

  A quiet murmur rippled from the edges of our small audience out toward the entrance to where public court ceremonies were held. Sebastian tried to play off as though it didn’t concern him but I saw his slight shoulder hitch up a few centimeters. He had a nervous tell in that way.

  “A lot of force and show just to retrieve a lost toy,” I said, trying to bait him and get a rise.

  Nothing could turn an audience faster than if you hammed up a good bit of sass for them. I had learned that lesson a little late in past experiences.

  “This will be a full scale sweep,” said Sebastian, his hands shifting to his hips in a more assertive stance now.

  I could tell his patience had already worn thin. He had never been good at politics, a show or at avoiding manipulation. After all, I had had him wrapped around my finger for years.

  “For a human? Taken by only one unsuspecting vampyr?” I asked loudly.

  Another ripple of murmurs went out, much louder this time. I could see some turning to one another and whispering passionately to one another. There were some head shaking and some barely audible ‘blasphemy’ shouted from around the ceremony platform in the back. And I knew in that moment that I had what I had been looking for. A fully attentive audience primed for a royal lynching after months of rumor milling and turmoil.

  But while I celebrated quietly to myself on the mood of the court so far I misjudged how sharply Sebastian’s patience had come to taper. He stepped right up to me as I dangled above the carpet supported only by the guards that lifted me at my elbows and he let his hands curl around my neck and began to squeeze. What began as a light grasp on my throat became a crushing steel force that threatened to break my neck at the slightest twitch or sneeze.

  “Like I said, don’t underestimate her importance,” whispered Sebastian just loud enough that I could hear him.

  I tried to keep a proud face as the court gathered around. But as he kept his grip around my throat I could feel the room closing around me gradually. The light came and went as though a flicker rolled through the room but I knew there was nothing wrong with the lights. I tilted my head higher in an instinctual reaction as though I were drowning and simply needed to surface from below the water in order to breathe.

  I t
hought I could call his bluff and hold out to show strength but my eyes gave me away. The desire to breathe became too strong and I had never expected him to take it so far for a human. It had been my mistake to assume he was bluffing. My eyes found his and I searched his face for any mercy, any love still there for me. And when I found none the hate in my heart for Prussia blossomed as a spark into a wildfire.

  I struggled against the guards’ grip on my arms then and began to kick. I tried to strike out at Sebastian and didn’t manage a single blow. I heard one guard curse as my nails caught his arm and I dug down deep until I felt blood flow. Only when my ears were loud with the sound of blood rushing by my ear drums did Sebastian finally release me. And he didn’t have a shred of compassion in his eyes for me as I looked at him, panting for every breath I drew in sharply.

  “Where is she?” he growled at me with rage thick in his voice.

  I paused to catch a breath and thankful I had my breath but wondering how far I could take this. At this point, knowing that he intended to kill any he came into contact with I wanted to give Penelope every chance possible, every minute I could. But that pause looked to be all the mercy I had favored from my dear ex. Without missing a beat Sebastian’s hand reached for my throat. I pulled back as much as the guards’ grip on me would allow and I sucked in a terrified breath.