Story

Prologue

            The roses were in bloom though it was in the dead of winter. The petals still soft and deep red, its thorns razor sharp and their stems long and vine-like. Their beauty, so mysterious and dangerous. Sweet, tantalizing aroma fill the air, those who breathe it in is lured to the gardens of their perpetual bliss. To enter the gardens is to forever lose your soul; be you man, woman, or child.

            These gardens surrounded the most beautiful manor. Its walls of old stone, growing with vines and ivy; small purple flowers frame the large heavily draped windows. Shutters made of old mahogany were kept shut, never allowing the sun to grace the rooms inside. The chimney was always smoking giving the town around the manor the only proof that someone lived there. The manor was said to belong to the oldest family in Talias. The family line had dated all the way back to the Mid-Evil period, hence their family crest of a sword with a red rose wrapped around the blade, symbolizing beauty and strength.

            Though a family lived in the manor, no one truly knew who lived in the manor or what went on there unless they came upon those deep red roses and some how became curious to venture into the seductive beauty of the land.

Chapter One

            Light poured into the window of the nearly empty living room. In the room was just a chair, a table, and a TV. The room was white; no true color was located anywhere. The table was old and badly damaged as was the chair and most of the furniture located about the house. Gashes and bullet holes were scattered around the room. How they got there was a question that may never get answered.

            The master bedroom had a bed and a dresser to one end and on the other was a lone desk cluttered with papers and pictures. Below the papers was a fully loaded shot gun. No shells were near it and on the bed were scattered bullets to the caliber that lay on the pillow. The window was open, letting in a slight breeze. The blinds softly banged softly on the window, making the only noise in the house.

            The second bedroom was adorned with the same furniture, only this room was clean. Its blinds were open, letting in a bit of sun. The bed was made and the sheets were an off white made of a heavy material. On the desk was an odd assortment of weapons; consisting of two Machetes, 3 calibers and 2 pistols, 1 long sword and a torch blower. In the drawers were many double blade knives, switch blades, and butterfly knives. Very few clothes were in the closet or dresser and dust covered every inch of the top of the dresser.



            Walking in the front door into the living room, Talex, a daywalker, was a tall five foot eleven man. His hair was black tipped with red. It reached just passed his eyes. In his left ear he had a piercing with a dangling cross. His eyes were a dark shade of grey with specks of lighter grey. They were piercing and when you looked into them you could have sworn they could look into your soul and cling to it and forever you’d be trapped.

            He wore dark blue jeans severely torn on the bottom and covered in blood on the calves. His black muscle shirt no longer skin tight on his muscular body. It was ripped crossed the chest where a slight wounds was that was merely a scratch now and chunks of the shirt was missing on the bottom. He tossed his leather jacket the chair and kicked off his combat boots and headed for his room.

            He walked over to the desk where the pile of papers sat and fumbled through them looking for a certain one. He found it moments later towards the bottom of the pile. It was a list of names and starting from the top most of them were scratched out. He grabbed a pen and did the same with the next name on the list.

            After taking care of crossing out the name on the piece of paper, he walked over to his dresser and grabbed fresh clothes and then walked over to the shower. Twisting the knob to the left to hot and pulling the lever up on the facet, making the water pour from the shower head; he checked the temperature and felt that it was tepid. He undressed and then climbed in; first allowing the water to beat down between his shoulders for about five minutes until the knots in his back loosened. Talex turned and faced the water, letting it wash over his face and chest. He relaxed for the next ten minutes and then proceeded with a normal shower.

            The shower did him fairly well; he was a bit more relaxed, though still a bit tense from the afternoons’ small run in with the blood sucking fiend. Though he had to admit his little encounter had proved to be quite resourceful, until he decided to be a wise ass. That little mishap got his head be removed. Talex had no remorse for him though. It was his job to kill those who feasted on those of the living.

            A shifting of a body brought Talex back to reality. The noise came again and he sensed that it was possibly coming from the direction of the kitchen. As far as he knew his brother was not due home for a few more hours. He set down his towel and put on his clean pair of jeans. Bending down he slowly opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a small pistol; it wasn’t much but it would do the trick. Slowly getting up he reached for the door handle and twisted it as silently as he could. He slowly opened the door and raised the gun to just a few inches from his face and then quickly peered out. Upon not seeing anyone he slipped across the hall and silently walked along the wall with his back pressed firmly against it. He followed the noise exactly to where his suspicions had led him, to the kitchen. There, peaking out from behind the refrigerator door was the unmistaken able rear end of the most hideous pants that his brother could have owned. They were a violet color with gray pin stripes running down them. They were tight to his legs and were just as tight down by the ankles where he was wearing black, pinstriped converse.

            He apparently hadn’t noticed him yet and so he smirked.

            “Give me one good god damn reason why I shouldn’t shoot you were you stand?” He held his voice strong and wavering. He could see the muscles tense quickly in those pants and then after a few seconds he had relaxed.

            “Jesus Talex, what the fuck is wrong with you? You scared the shit out of me.” He had come up from behind the fridge door and glared at him. In his arms he had the milk, bread and jelly.

            He turned away from his brother and walked over to place the gun on the kitchen table and then turned back to his brother.

            “I thought you weren’t returning until later? What plans changed?” He gave his brother a skeptical look as he watched him put the sandwich together. His brothers black shaggy hair fell over his face and covered his crystalline blue eyes. His mother always had the better looking ones. They held more life to them and were always vibrant with ecstasy. His brother was just a tad bit shorter than he was, but just as built, which is sadly why he was curious to know how he fit into those pants and still bend over without ripping them. “Brock what happened?”

            “Things didn’t go to well at the embassy.” His brother’s French accent was heavier than his own since he lived with their mother most of his life. He himself had stayed with their father until he died in a boating accident. His father worked in America for a high priced boating company. Though one day his father did not come home; the boat went up in flames because some idiot forgot how to do his job right. Their mother stayed here and continued on as actress during the night because it had just happened to be that she was a vampire, thus him and his brother to be the only daywalkers. Vampires were forbidden to mate with the humans but his parents went against the rules and did just that.

            “What happened?” His brother was the one who dealt with all the technical and political crap while he was the muscle. his brother was a fighter as well but preferred not to establish himself into that unless absolutely needed.

            “The leader of the Wereclan was killed yesterday and the vampires are being blamed. It was a lot of uprising and shouting. So called our needs to a hold and I need to return in a week to discuss our issues.” His brother stuffed his face with the sandwich he hade made and chewed while looking down at the floor. He was leaning up against the counter with one had rested on it and his legs crossed. His shirt was a silky black and was unbuttoned slightly. He didn’t ever know about his brother. Sometimes he dressed good and classy and even intelligent and then he had his days where he didn’t know what to think.

            “The werewolf leader was killed? How?” He crossed his harms and he ankles and leaned up against the chair of the kitchen table. Brock took a sip of the milk he had poured and looked up at him.

            “He was decapitated. In the middle of the night they say. He was sleeping in his chambers at the castle. His wife was killed as well.”

            “What about the daughter?”

            “She’s still alive and is now returning from Romania with her hunters. She received news of it the same night it happened. She is not too happy.”

            “A werewolf can never hold their temper down.”

            “Well she seemed furious when she was speaking to the ambassador and his attendants today. I left shortly after. I wanted no part of the conflict and be somehow magically accused of being apart of it.”

            “Just like you, but I see your reasoning behind it. We don’t need anymore trouble tailing us. Speaking of tailing. We should leave here soon and find a new place. I got a lead this morning of the crest. A vampire who recognized it and dropped a few hints of what he could about where he had seen it. So we need to locate closer.”

            “Moving again. I’m glad we don’t own so much. Just weapons and clothes. Basic necessities.” He turned around and grabbed the milk and put it away.

            “Smart ass.” Talex said to his brother. “I’m going to finish up an then take a nap before tonight. Better to leave in the cover of night. Safer for our kind.”

            “Jerk off. Why do we have to leave so soon?”

            “Because we want to find the people who are responsible for our families deaths.” Talex walked into the bathroom grabbed his things and walked back into his room where he shut the door behind him. He and his brother were going to need their rest because the night was going to be long and rough.

Chapter Two



            “Where the hell is the damn remote in this place!?!” Shouted a medium height vampire. He reached five foot nine and was fairly muscled, though muscle never really counted with a vampire. When turned its strength had grown and vision was heightened; as well as their hearing. “Hello anyone listening? I know you can hear me.”

            “Well no shit, Torin, of course we can hear you, we just choose to ignore you. Anyways the remote is located behind the picture frame on top of the entertainment center. I had to find a place to hide the remote from Lanya.” The response was from the second eldest sibling. He was the oldest. There were four of them and sadly he was the only male. The sister he was speaking to right now was, Lilia, she was slightly shorter than him, at five foot seven. She wore her long brown hair up in a sloppy bun and adorned it with a red rose. She was not dressed in her normal attire tonight. She was dressed in a maroon dress that reach her mid thighs. Her feet were bejeweled with rubies on her black heels and a silver anklet. On her wrists you can see her family tattoo of a bar code and on the other wrist the Egyptian symbol Ankh. The top of the dress covers the family crest on her shoulder just right.

            “Going out?” He said reaching for the remote and then sitting down on the long L couch they had set in the middle of the large living room, of the three that they had. He flicked the TV on switched it to the nightly news.

            “Yes I am and I’m taking your Mazda. I’m going clubbing tonight. Well that and I have a meeting.” She sat at the other end of the couch from him and put her legs up onto the table that was in front of her.

            “A meeting?”

            “Yes, the leader of the Wereclan was killed. Many are being blamed. I’m going to clear our name. While I’m at it I plan to have a little fun.”

            “When do you not like to have fun?”

            “When people are destroying cars.”

            “Good point. When do we expect you home?”

            “When ever the meeting is out.” Her eyes flickered to his face. He had not responded to her taking his Mazda. Usually it turned into an argument which ended him taking one of her precious vehicles. She was back to watching the news again. The lady was speaking all in French. The Americans who were visiting must have been confused.

            “Bring her back with out a scratch.” She smirked.

            “I will. And do me a favor. Make sure Lanya stays away from my camaro. We’ll continue with her car as soon as we can.”

            “I was planning on working on it tonight, but you’re leaving so I think I’ll just take a break from it.”

            “Sounds good. I’ll help you with it later then.” The agreement had been made as she knew was going to happen. She got up and grabbed his keys from the hook in the kitchen and walked through the back door that led to the garage, the sun was nearly set, but it was still light and was unable to touch her skin.

            She climbed into the front seat of the leather coated chair and turned her on. She purred with love. She was a motor head as was her brother. To dress up like this was a rare occasion.