Lilies And Roses

Alexander flung the covers back and ran out into the hallway. "Jason!" he called, but there was no need. Jason was already there, charging into Rose's room.

"Miss Glass, are you alright? Miss Glass!"

Alexander had entered the room after Jason and he automatically took in all of the details. Rose was sitting up in her bed, covers and pillows shoved violently out of the way. Her hair was plastered to her face by sweat and the tears that were streaming down. She was breathing hard and mumbling something under her breath, which was quickly growing in volume. Soon, it escalated to where she was screaming at the top of her lungs, "No! No! No! NO! He's NOT gone!! NO!! NO WAY!! There's... There's NO WAY!! NONE!! He... He CAN'T be!! He just CAN'T!!! He's NOT DEAD!!!"

Alexander quickly walked over to her and took a seat next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders. "What's this? What are you talking about?" he asked her quietly, although he knew the answer already.

Rose turned, comforted by his arm, and started crying into his chest. "He's... He's not gone... right? Right?"

Alexander, surprised at this development, awkwardly laid his other arm around Rose and tried to console her. "No, I don't think he his," he lied. The research that he had did last night told him otherwise.

~

An hour or so later later, Rose sat in front of the fireplace, encased in a warm blanket sipping out of a cold bottle of Irish spring water. She made sure the top was on right before she laid the bottle down in her lap. Then she stared into the fire, watching the flames consume the logs, one after another. Every once in a while, the logs would crack, sending up a jet of hot sparks into the stone chimney.

Alexander watched the fire, too, although he was focused more on his thoughts than the logs. Rose said that, in her dream all she saw was her father falling, blood everywhere around the room. He was really pale, according to her memory. If that's true, then...

"Jason."

Jason looked back at him from where he was sitting by the door. "Yes, Alexander?"

Alexander stood up and said, "I need to talk to you outside. Rose will be okay in here alone." He glanced at her as he said this.

Jason nodded and let Alexander take the lead out into the hall. Alexander looked in his deep brown eyes with a serious expression on his face. "Jason, I fear that this dream that Rose had was the truth."

Jason looked surprised. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"For one thing, I doubt that dream would wake Rose screaming if somehow she knew it
wasn't true. From the time that I've been with her, I've gathered that it would take more than that one dream to wake her like that. I have also had some suspicions that one would do something like this...”

Jason nodded. This made sense. Alexander had told him that there was one that was very rash.

"So then I dug a little deeper. And..."

“And you found something that told you Richard was gonna be killed?”

Alexander replied, “Basically. I didn't know it would be Richard, but I knew that someone was going to be killed, somewhere, sometime. You remember, he's very rash and almost completely unpredictable, so I wasn't certain. I figured it might have been him. They have been targeting me since that incident, and somehow they knew the 50 grand was a cover for the information. Richard was one of the best Researcher that we have. Or had, as it may be.” Alexander stopped for a moment, but then continued on. “I meant to contact Aaron and Liam today, but...”

"But then this," Jason finished, rubbing the back of his head.

"Exactly.”

~

Rose slowly came into consciousness. The fire had completely gone out; there was nothing but gray ashes left laying on the stone. Rose looked around the room, taking in the details. Sunlight shone in from behind the closed blinds. It looked like it was mid-morning. Alexander, Jason, Megan, and two other boys were standing on the other side of the room talking quietly to each other. Jason, turned and made eye contact with Rose. She smiled as he turned and said something to the other two. All four of them looked back at Rose, the two guys walking over to her. She noticed how they looked almost the exact same. The only thing that set them apart was their hair color and their expression. One had maroon hair and an almost goofy smile on his face, while the other had black hair and a more sober expression.

The maroon-haired one offered his hand and said, "Hey. I'm Liam, and this is my brother, Aaron. Nice to finally meet you, Rose."

"Um, hi. Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Liam nodded, smiling encouragingly.

“What's up with your hair?”

He let out his breath and hung his head down. “You don't like it...?”

Rose laughed. “Well, I do. It's just different.”

Liam pulled his head up and laughed, “Great! See, someone does like it, Aaron!”

Aaron sighed and said, “You know, that's great, Liam, but that's not what we should be talking about right now.”

Rose could tell that Aaron was definitely more serious than his twin brother. But they both looked pretty good in her eyes...

Aaron butted in on her thoughts. “Rose. I'm Aaron Cass. It's nice to meet you. Your father has told us a lot about you...” Aaron glanced back at Alexander, who nodded. Aaron went on. “We, being me and my younger brother, were friends with your father.”

“Wait... But how exactly do you know my father? Aren't you like... 16?” Rose asked, confused.

This made Liam burst out laughing.

Ignoring his brother, Aaron told Rose, “Actually, we're both 23.”

Rose's eyes widened. “Oh my God... Seriously? That's really weird.”

Liam nodded, still giggling.

Aaron pinched his nose. “I really don't get why that's so funny.”

Liam shook his head in fake disappointment before slapping the back of his brother's head. “Like you said, dear brother, that's not what we should be talking about,” he said in a mocking voice.

Aaron rolled his eyes, but changed the subject anyway. “Pointless shenanigans aside, we have dead serious business here to talk to you about.”

Rose instantly sobered up, feeling it had something to do with her dad. “Yes?”

Aaron looked straight into her gray eyes. “We think your father is dead.”

Rose jumped to her feet, a worried expression on her face. “No! How? How do you know?”

Alexander stepped in when Aaron faltered. “We may have had warning signs before, and then your dream. You said it seemed awfully real, right?”

“You're not just going to base somebody's life on a dream, are you?” Rose exclaimed angrily.

“Of course not, Rose,” Alexander said carefully. “We were planning on going to visit your father after lunch, as a matter of fact.”

This seemed to calm Rose down a little. She looked down at the floor and said grudgingly, “Well, we should eat lunch then, shouldn't we? I'll be getting dressed...”

Rose left the room quickly. Aaron, Liam and Alexander exchanged looks, while Jason and Megan, who were standing in the back the entire time, excused themselves.

Upstairs in her room, Rose sat on her bed and covered her face with her hands. What if we get there and he really is gone?What would I do...? Where... Where would I--

Her thoughts were cut short by a knock on the door. “Rose?”

It was Alexander.

“Yeah... Come in.”

Alexander opened the door to see Rose sitting on her bed staring at the bathroom door with one tear running down her cheek. “Yeah? What is it?”

He came in and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. “Lunch is ready.”

She just kept staring at the door, unresponsive. After a couple of minutes, he left her alone to think.

Another tear ran down her cheek.

~

The five climbed off the plane, Megan and Rose walking in between the others. Megan
was trying to cheer up Rose and make conversation. She tried a grand variety of topics, from money, to time, to books, to art, nothing worked. A conversation finally caught on when Megan brought up the cheesy soaps they were watching yesterday. Megan manipulated the conversation to make it funny and get Rose laughing. It, of course, worked, and had everyone in a relatively happy mood. This mood didn't go very deep, but it was something.

Jason called a limo for them to ride to Rose's house. Only three people were really talking during the ride: Liam, Jason, and Megan. The other three were too deep in their thoughts to do much talking.

Soon, they arrived at Rose's house. By now, a thick fog had settled over the area; Rose could hardly see two feet in front of her. This didn't help her mood very much. By now, she almost completely believed Alexander and the twins, and she couldn't get it out of her head.

Megan walked beside Rose in the fog. She glanced down at her with a concerned expression. “Rose... Are you okay?”

Rose sighed and replied, “Yeah, I'm fine.”

Megan wasn't so stupid as to accept that, though. She could tell by Rose's frown and hunched shoulders that she was worried. And wouldn't Megan be worried if it was her father? But unlike Rose, Megan's mother was still alive.

Megan shook her head sadly and hung an arm around Rose.

After a couple of moments, they saw Jason, Aaron, Liam and Alexander standing beside the porch steps, waiting for them. Megan and Rose passed them, heading up to the front door. Rose pulled a key out of her back pocket and quickly shoved it into the knob. She turned it to the left and pulled so that the door swung open. The front room's lights were all on.

Rose's eyes grew hopeful. “Maybe...” She took off through the arch leading into the hallway. Jason, Megan and Liam took off after her, their feet sliding a little on the newly-polished hardwood floors. Alexander and Aaron shared a doubtful look.

“No...!!”

Aaron and Alexander started running. They turned left at the end of the hall and hurried over to where Megan was huddled around Rose. She was kneeling on the floor, face in her hands.

“Megan. Take her out,” Alexander commanded in a sturdy voice.

Everything was bloody. Everything. The bed was tousled and smeared, pillows and blankets thrown everywhere. The walls were covered, and you could even see a couple of places where his hands had smacked the wall or where he fell. The expensive carpet on the floor was completely ruined, blood almost eclipsing the whole design. Clothes and watches from a wardrobe in the corner were spilled out around the room, ruined. A desk in the corner had managed to avoid the worst of it, although it was splattered with a little blood on the side. The computer on the desk, however, was not so lucky. Then Artemis spotted Richard. He was lying in front of the glass door that led out onto a balcony. He was unnaturally pale, even for a dead man. Artemis noticed that, with all the blood everywhere around the room, Richard's neck were completely spotless except for two little dots on the neck. They were dark gray with two tiny pinpricks of red in the center.

“Those damned Vampires!” Jason snarled, smacking his fist on the desk.

There was a rustle in the bushes outside, and Aaron and Liam each drew a gun in one hand and a silver stake in the other. They ran across the room with their guns held low and vaulted over the edge of the balcony out of sight.

“I hope they catch him.” Alexander said. He was kneeling beside the dead body of Richard Glass. “He will pay for killing Richard. He was not only the best Researcher we had, but he was a great friend of mine. Not to mention the only relative that Rose had...” Alexander shook his head in disgust and stood up. “Jason, call someone to pick him up and clean this mess. God knows we can't let anyone come near this house with this horrible smell.”

Jason nodded and pulled out his phone.

Alexander went over to the glass doors and shut them. Next he locked the doors and drew the curtains. Then he left the room to see how Rose was doing.

Megan had her on the couch in the front room and was giving her a cup of hot chocolate. Rose seemed to be in a state of shock not responding to anything, just sitting there, staring at the liquid in the cup. Alexander tilted his head and Megan nodded, standing up to leave to room.

Alexander sat down in her place. “Rose...?”

She looked up at his face.

“What do you want to do?” He purposefully gave her a question that she had to answer with words.

After a couple of minutes, Rose responded with, “Answers...”

Alexander laughed quietly. “That's the one thing that I can't give you right now. Later, I promise.”

Rose looked at her feet. “You should have told me earlier...”

Alexander placed his hand over hers and said, “I know. And I'm sorry. But I can't tell you until we get back to the manor. Can you wait that long?”

She nodded.

Alexander smiled. “We'll leave soon. Do you want me to take you back to the limo?”

Rose nodded again and set down her drink. Alexander led her out the door and down the steps. The sun had completely set by now, and you couldn't really see anything. Alexander walked in front of Rose, leading the way to the waiting car.

Right as Rose climbed into the limo, two sleek black cars pulled up next to them. He shut the door after her then briskly walked over to the first of the two cars. A tall man wearing sunglasses stepped out and started to talk to Alexander. Rose couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked like it was important. She wanted to open the door, but she felt like Alexander would tell her when he was ready. So she suppressed the urge to eavesdrop and looked the other direction as not to tempt herself.

Rose heard her front door open and shut and glanced to see who came out. Jason was already talking to the tall man from the car and two men were climbing the stairs to go inside. Megan had just left the house and was coming over to Rose and the limo. She scooted over so that Megan had somewhere to sit. She opened the door and the cold air flooded the limo, making Rose shiver.

“Oh, are you cold? Sorry, I'll shut this door,” Megan said apologetically.

Rose glanced out at the tall man, Jason and Alexander. “...Who are they?”

Megan looked surprised. “Alexander hasn't told you? Well, maybe I shouldn't say anything about it then...”

“Ugh...”

Rose looked back out at Alexander.

“Do you like him or something?”

Rose blushed, surprised by the question. “No, of course not... It's just... the man over there looks very suspicious...”

Megan laughed. “Sure. I'll take your word for it. Anyway, that guy over there is Fitzgerald. He's... Well, I'll tell you later.”

“Ugh! This is infuriating!! All of this has something to do with me, I know it! I just don't what it is exactly because you guys won't tell me!! And I know for a fact that it has something to do with my father, too! Why else would those guys be entering my house with my dead father still in there?”

Megan looked into her eyes for a moment before she told Rose, “I know what you mean. The same thing happened to my older brother, Caleb. I'll ask Alexander if we can tell you on the plane.”

With that, Megan left the limo. Rose watched as she walked up to Alexander. They started talking, Megan explaining something using her hands as emphasis. Alexander nodded once or twice, then said something. Megan smiled, laughed, and came back over to where Rose was.

Megan opened the door and limo was once again flooded with cold. Rose shivered again, but neither she nor Megan noticed. Megan was still laughing as she told Rose that she would find out about the situation on the plane. That was the only place that they would have enough privacy to explain the current state of affairs. Rose accepted this; the plane was closer than the manor was.

Soon, Alexander and Jason joined them and they drove off, leaving the strange men at Rose's house.

“What, you're just going to leave my house to those weird men?” Rose said, astonished.

“I know them; they're not bad people. It's not like they'd take anything,” Jason said, rubbing his spiky blond hair.

“That's what you say...” Rose said, staring out the window.

~

It didn't take them long to arrive at the airport. The boarded Alexander's private plane, and Rose settled into one of the comfy leather seats.

As soon as they took off, Rose started questioning the young Falkin.

“So what's up with all of this stuff that's been happening? And how is my father connected to all of this?”

Alexander sighed and said, “Well, let's start at the beginning--”

“Wait! Where's Aaron and Liam?” Rose stood up. “We left them back at my house, didn't we?”

“Rose, calm down; they're the ones piloting the plane.”

Her eyebrows raised, and she said, “They know how to pilot a plane?”

Jason replied, “Yeah, they're up there if you wanna go check. Watch your footing, though.”

Rose took the invitation and made her way up front. Sure enough, when she opened the door, Liam was there at the controls with Aaron beside him. Liam turned to her and saluted, smiling.

“When did you get up here?” Rose asked, mystified.

“When you weren't looking, obviously,” Liam laughed.

Rose shook her head, chuckling, then returned to where she was sitting with Alexander and Jason before.

“Believe us now?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. So what were you saying?”

Alexander sighed and said, “Finally. Do you know about Vampires? First introduced
with Bram Stoker's novel in the 1800's?”

“Yeah...” Rose answered.

“Well, Vampires are real.”

Rose stared at him blankly. “Yeah. Okay...”

“Really. They are.”

“Uh-huh. Let's say that. Go on.”

Alexander shook his head then resumed. “Way back in the medieval times, people saw Vampires as one thing: a threat to the human race. So a group of people banded together to create a Clan and called themselves Vampire Hunters. Jason, Megan, Aaron, Liam and I are all part of this.”

Rose raised one eyebrow. “Really.”

Alexander sighed. “Can I continue?”

“Please.”

“As I was saying. The inside of the clan is very organized; everyone is either a Researcher or a Field Operative. Researchers, obviously, find out things about the vamps, like how many are in one area, who they are, how old they are, etc. Field Ops, on the other hand, get the vampires' locations from the Researchers and go out to hunt for them. We try to minimize the number of feedings by sending out Field Ops to the target before the vampires get to them.”

Alexander paused, looking at Rose for her reaction.

Rose only said, “So? What does this have to do with my father? I'm sure a vampire killed him right? So why couldn't you guys stop the thing before he got killed?”

Alexander sighed again and leaned back in his chair. “Richard was a Researcher. One of our best ones, at that. And the vampire that killed him was relatively rash, so it was hard to find any sort of pattern to his feedings. It's usually difficult to find times when the vamps are going to strike but with him...”

Rose could tell that Alexander was sorry that he couldn't save her father in time. Maybe they were friends or something.

“So. What do you think, Rose?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Do you believe me or not?”

Rose pondered on this. On one hand, look what happened to her father; that was no work of anything human. Any human that was sane, anyway. And she had witnessed some odd things going on with her father before. But on the other hand... Vampires.

“Yes. I think I do believe. But you have yet to persuade me completely, so you have some work to do, buster,” Rose warned him.

Alexander chuckled and said, “I'll look forward to it.”