The Lust for the Red Rose

 

Seth stood in the hallway watching her open the door and go in. He didn’t budge after she went in, not knowing what to do. Noticing that he wasn’t following her she asked: “What are you doing? Are you planning to stand in front of my door all day? Hurry up and get in, I won’t bite if you won’t” He obediently complied. Her apartment was covered in Roses, and thankfully the window was fixed the only problem was that there was another window of the same size was also in the room. Each window had a note from each royal pain in the but. She sighed and clearing the middle of her bed from roses she peacefully passed out. Seth stared at her, she looked like the sleeping beauty from the fairy tale. A few rays of sunshine were falling on her white face as she lay on a bed of red roses with her black wavy hair spread across the pillow. As he looked at her he had a strong desire to protect her, as if she was the last pure thing in the world. He knelled in front of her bed and bowed his head.

Rose woke up late with a killing headache, when she saw a strange man laying next to her, her headache worsened. She sat up trying to recollect what happened and who this man was, but nothing came to mind. She pricked her finger on one of the thorns, from dozens of roses that were surrounding her. The man next to her stirred and whipping in his sleep. He could smell the blood and it was getting to him. He reached out and gently grabbed her hand. He captured her bleeding finger and inserted it into his mouth then, looking into her eyes he liked the drop of blood of, then gently sucking on it he kissed her hand before letting go of it.

“Who are you?” she finally managed to whisper

“I am Seth, don’t you remember the crazy night we had?”

She felt embarrassed; she couldn’t  remember a thing except that she went to that party with a friend.

“Did we meet at the party yesterday?”

“Yea, we did” he didn’t know if he should explain or what to explain at that, “You beat up a bunch of my vampire buddies last night after we made out”  just seemed inappropriate, to be said to this princess. Not to mention he still didn’t want to believe it.

“Hmm.. Would you like some breakfast?” she asked shyly, she still wasn’t sure what happened between them last night. Seeing how uncomfortable, and fragile she looked, he couldn’t just say I “Are you on the menu?”

“You know why don’t” I cook you breakfast as thanks for letting me stay the night, while you take a shower or something” he said kind of embarrassed. She nodded and grabbing her bathrobe stepped into the bathroom.

Seth in a different lifetime enjoyed cooking, he remembered his real life, the life he had before this eternal nightmare began. He remembered his peaceful days of cooking for little sister, while his dad lay drunk on the couch. In that moment of reminiscence he wished he could go back. For the first time in what seemed to be an eternity did he realize that vampires were truly dammed and probably had nothing to be proud off. 

When Rose got out of the shower still wet, not being able to resist the smell of food that was entering the bathroom. The table was set; on her plate were scrambled eggs with cheese, hash browns, and with three pieces of French toast covered with powder sugar. As if he has read her mind, for if she would go to a restaurant that morning that would have been exactly what she ordered.

Noticing there was only one plate she asked: “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“No, I am sorry, I do not eat human…”. Before he could finish he noticed her slip and she was about to fall down, he made a dive to catch her in mid air and with inhuman speed he succeeded. She was laying on top of him, their faces were only inches apart, he could help his yearning to put his arms around her thin torso. He was leaning into her when the door bell interrupted them. 

He let go of her and she rushed to the door, not knowing what else to do. As she opened the door she saw a familiar face and quickly closed the door back. 

"Who is it?" Seth asked curiously

"Come on Rose open up" Lances loud voice shouted from the other side of the door

"I really don't want to pay for this nice door that you are going to force me to brake if you don't open the door"

She gave in and opened the door, that was being taken hostage.

"Is he still here?" Lance asked walking in and being confronted by Seth standing right in front of him. "Why are you still here?" Lance asked trying to hold back his anger.

"He is here because he was invited, unlike you who is here because you threatened to break the door down" said Rose without giving Seth a chance to open his mind. She was now starting to remember some of last night, and that Seth was a vampire too. She sighed at the thought that she got involved with another vampire. She sighed at the thought that now more vampires knew where she lived than humans. 

"Is this the kind of.."he paused, then he got angry"IS THIS THE KIND OF MAN GIRLS FALL FOR NOW A DAYS?" Lance realized how stupid he sounded only after he said it.

Rose couldn't handle it, this ancient creature, the ruler of the vampire nation was acting like an idiot and she knew he knew it, he was acting like some school boy. Seth was shocked, he has nerve seen Lance act, look or sound like he did in front of this woman. He did not know if he should join Rose in laughter, or cry having seen his leader lose face. 

"Shut Up" Lance said looking as if he was trying not to pout.  It was the most unconvincing "shut up" that was ever heard from Lance. 

Seth broke down and joined Rose in her laughter.

"Anyway, I want to enjoy my breakfast, so will you please leave" Rose said looking at the breakfast that was sitting on the table and getting cold.

"I want to take you out tonight" said Lance

"I will go only if Seth comes with"

"What?" Seth and Lance said simultaneously

“Well I guess we are not going then” and she started pushing both of them out the door.

“Fine!” Lance gave in, this will give her a chance to realize how superior I am to other vampires he thought to himself.  She kept pushing them out, alright I will see you later, Bye now”. She felt stupid for agreeing after she shut the door behind the 2 vampires, but she was at the same time a little excited.



Seth: “Are you planning to use Rose for the ceremony Master Lance?”

Lance: “I wasn’t planning on it, actually I haven’t been thinking about the ceremony at all lately”

Seth: “There is only 2 months left”

Lance: “Never mind that, what were you doing with Rose till morning?” he said coming closer to Seth

Seth getting a little flushed: “Nothing, I just made breakfast in the morning, we slept the rest of the time”

Lance infuriated:” You slept with her?”

“Not what I meant, I mean we slept, or.. she slept and I slept, but umm…”

“Ha, ha, ha I get it, I get it” Lance started laughing, Seth has not seen the princes laughing face in a while, and so he smiled a little embarrassed.

“Anyway, you better not get in my way tonight”

“I wasn’t planning on going, I thought Prince agreed, just so Rose would come”

“You are going, otherwise she will not go when she sees you are not there, but it is a good opportunity to show how I compare to other vampires, so make sure to act as a low life for sake of a good comparison”  Seth just nodded trying not to show his concern.

She was walking back extremely angry, her high heels made her feet very sore, so she stopped and took them off, and started walking barefooted. She couldn’t believe Lance being such an idiot, just when she was starting to think he might have been a good guy and Seth even a bigger disappointment.

She heard a noise in an alley ahead, as she approached, hiding behind a wall of a building she peeked into the darkness. There was a fight, she could not see who was fighting, but she heard a voice of a cat as if it was being killed, she couldn’t help but run into the alley, but by that time the fight was already over, and she could only see one silhouette.

As she came closer she saw a young man badly beaten up sitting on the ground with a black cat in his hands. The man had a sad smile on his face while petting the cat. As she came closer and the man turned her way she recognized him, it was Max, and he was startled by seeing her.

His smile was instantly whipped off, and he became as cold as ice. He stood up, pushing the cat off of him, and headed toward Rose. She continued to walk toward him, then passing him she knelled down in front of the black cat and started petting it.

“How dare you ignore me woman?” Max yelled

“It can’t be helped if this cat is 100 times cuter than you”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him, she pushed him away nauseated.

"Do you hate me that much?" he asked

"No that, not it" the blood was really getting to her and the effect was becoming stronger as the smell of blood increased in the air "I, I hate blood" she said weakly.

"I am sorry for bleeding" he said sarcastically

He looked in pain, so she grabbed his hand and started pulling "Come with me I will treat your wounds, even if you are a vampire if you don’t treat the wounds it will take longer to heal, not to mention leave a scar" she looked at the scar on his face, it was still pink and she knew it was recently made. Max did not resist, he thought this was his chance to win the bet. He could make her his tonight, and have his place as the ruler secured, not to mention her blood was delicious.

Once they got into the apartment, Rose showed Max to the bathroom and sat him down.

“Please take of your shirt” Rose stated digging through the medical cabinet

He took off his shirt saying: “Don’t you think we are moving too fast, at least maybe you should feed me  so I have more energy to Ahh, that hurts” he yelled in the middle of his pompous speech, she was already attending his wounds. “ It stings, what are you doing?”he yelled

“You are such a baby”

“Shut up you insolent woman” he said looking up at her as she started to treat his face. He noticed how beautiful she looked. She had a little bit of make up on, and her lips looked very moist and inviting, her hair was styled and curls went down to her chest as she was leaning in he could see part of her cleavage. Max was never too interested in women, he used them mostly as food, but when they wanted him and begged to be held by him he did. He was never attached to any woman, he enjoyed having women, but almost never went out of his way to find a woman for the night, it the few occasions he did it was done to take his frustrations out.

He Looked down for a moment, but that didn’t help, as her dress exposed her beautiful naked legs. He looked up at her again watching her face, when their eyes met. She brought her face closer to his and stared him strait in the eyes, he started to feel uncomfortable not knowing what she was doing. 

“You have really pretty eyes” she finally said “The first time I met you, I thought your eyes looked brown and red, but now they are hazel”

“So what?” he said for the lack of a better response

“Could it be that they change color according to your mood?”she asked curiously while bandaging up his shoulder

“Yea, so?” he was actually surprised almost no one knew this fact and he tried to hide it.

“Nothing, it just not a trait of a vampire, I don’t believe, it more of..” she paused

“Go ahead finish” he was mad, she had feeling pushing this topic any further might not be a good idea

“No nothing, I am sorry” she said putting away the medical supplies

“Aren’t you afraid? Or at least uncomfortable being so close to a vampire let alone you know what I might be?”after he said this he realized, that was it. All other humans he was with other than the ones he regularly fed on, none of them knew what he was, and the ones that knew he was a vampire got paid for feeding his clan.

“It just doesn’t matter to me” she sighed ”To tell you the truth, actually I feel more calm with vampires around me, than with humans”

“Huh?” he was shocked, what is she saying

“You see people are fragile, and all people who get close to me get hurt, but vampires don’t die easily, you heal fast and vampires are much stronger than humans, so maybe I cant hurt vampires as badly”

He laughed “Of course you can’t hurt us, you are stupid for even comparing us with humans”

She forced a smile, but he knew how she felt inside, he couldn’t figure out why she had that kind of worry, but he knew her pain. He was curious about her, he offered that bet, just to get Lances attention away from the political issues at hand, he thought if Lance would be courting this girl he has a chance to steal more of Lances followers. 

He noticed her getting nervous and once they we in the kitchen, she was pacing back and forth. As he was about to complain about getting dizzy by just watching her, she turned to him and said: ”I can’t take it anymore, just wait here” she said in a commanding voice and grabbing a light coat she walked out the door. He didn’t know what to think, he sat there for a few minutes thinking about how dare she tell him what to do, as he was about to leave it started to rain. Her actions were unpredictable, he had an affinity for understanding human’s drive, what made then act, which enabled him to very accurately predict their behavior, but this girl was like a hurricane and he had no idea where she was headed and what exactly made her tic. He decided to look around her apartment. He found many paintings and books. On of the book that caught his eyes was “Ancient Curses and Blessings”, he wondered why she had this, he didn’t believe in human curses, there was only one ultimate curse and that was the curse of being a vampire. He grabbed the book anyway and took a seat. 

Finally after almost two hours, she came back, she was all wet and walked in sneezing. 

‘Where the hell did you go?” he asked noticing she had something in her jacket.

As she unzipped her jacket a black furry head popped out. She let him down on the floor and started walking around. She flopped on the couch after taking of her wet jacket.

“You went out in the rain to find a cat?” Max asked

“Yea, I just couldn’t leave it, for some reason, he seemed familiar when I petted him, I was thinking of naming him Salem” she said with a gentle smile on her face watching the cat going from one room to the next. She looked outside it was still raining.

“If you wish you could stay here tonight, it’s raining pretty heavily”

“Aren’t you afraid to spend a night alone with me?”

“Why? Should I be?”

“Are you a complete moron? If I was a regular man I could rape and kill you, but as a vampire I could just eat you anytime I get hungry. Its like locking that hungry cat with a mouse”

“You think I am the mouse and you are the cat?” she laugher

“Well you definitely are not the cat”

“You know that the most dangerous wolf is a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” she said giving his a conniving look and walking into the bedroom. She walked out with a pillow and threw it at Max I am tiered, I had a pretty bad night so I am going to bed, you can help yourself”

“Well sorry for making your night so bad” he said sarcastically

“No, I didn’t mean you, tonight was horrible even before I ran into you”

“I see” he said flopping down on to the couch

She was about to walk away, when he grabbed her hand and with a sudden jerk; loosing he balance she ended up on his lap. She tried to get up but instead he grabbed her legs and laid her down holding her in his arms. He held her hands tight while struggled she stopped and looked at him angrily.

“Did you really think I will just say okay sweet dreams? Do you now understand how powerless and weak you are?” he asked

“I am not I can get out if I wanted to”

“Is that so?” he picked her up and threw her on to the couch, pinning her down, holding both of her hands down above her head. She struggled twisting her body underneath him, trying to kick him, but nothing worked. She felt helpless, violated, and most of all disappointed in herself. Though Max would never admit it took all of his strength to hold her down, he made it look like it was easy but in reality he was struggling. He was shocked; he definitely could see her throwing a human man across the room if he tried to do a similar thing to her. She quieted down and turned her face away from him, he wasn’t sure what to do.  He knew if he tried to use on of his hands to touch her, she would easily free herself. 

“Do you admit your defeat?” he asked, but she did not answer. He leaned in a little more and was about to ask again, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain and not knowing what happened he was on the floor with his nose bleeding. She waited for him to get closer to her and she head budded him with all her strength. She got up and got him a towel. “Haven’t you parents taught to you not to play with your food?” 

He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the floor close to him. Their faces were only a few inches apart.  His nose was bleeding and the blood made her weak.

“Haven’t your parents taught you not to play with fire?” as she was about to respond, he wanted to shut her up, and the only thing came to mind was a kiss.





He captured her lips with his and passionately kissed her, forcing his tongue inside her mouth, entwining with hers. It took her a moment to realize what happened and she pushed him away getting up to her feet.

“What the hell?”

“You were being annoying, it was the quickest way to shut you up”

“So are you and Lance constantly making out, if that’s you method of shutting someone up?”

Max didn’t know what to say, the image he got of him making out with Lance made him sick to the stomach, and Rose knew it, by looking at his disgusted face. She smiled to herself, for at least getting to him a little, but she didn’t feel it was enough.

“I guess I should of figured you two had that kind of a relationship, I mean you two always passionately stare each other in the eyes, I wouldn’t be surprised if your quarrel wasn’t over the throne but maybe he cheated on you and you couldn’t forgive him for that?" she said wickedly.

He was very red and extremely mad, he got up and walked up to her, she thought he was going to hit her. He grabbed her shoulder with such force, she screamed. He violently bit into her neck, she could feel two sharp fangs penetrating her skin. She felt her life being sucked out of her at incredible speed, Maxes eyes were red he seemed like a monster. She panicked and kneed him in the stomach, which caused him to choke and let her go. He looked furious his eyes were getting redder and his nails grew longer and sharper, his fangs had blood dripping from them. She knew fighting this state would be useless; she needed to calm him down.

She started laughing, “Come on can’t you take a joke calm down” she said in a trembling voice

He wasn’t calming down, he was getting closer and closer to her. It seemed like he was losing his mind, she knew this was not a behavior of a vampire, she had a feeling she was dealing with something more dangerous. She noticed it was getting lighter outside, she ran out on to the balcony, he tried to follow her but jumped back once he stepped out into the sun. She sat down in the sun across from him and as he submerged into the darkness, but she knew he was there, as two red eyes stared at her hungrily from the shadow.

“What are you” she asked

“I am the demon that is within this man, Lighter”

“Does he know you exist?”

“He, knows, but he doesn’t” the creature said

“Why did you come out now”

“You, you are a dangerous being Lighter”

“What is this Lighter you speak of?”

“a, ha, ha, Do you not know what you are?”

“I dont understand, tell me more”  but the creature was gone and dumb folded Max was standing before her.

She walked back in, Max grabbed her are you okay? Are you hurt?” he looked worried

“I am fine, I met your other self, he was quite vicious”

“That cannot be, this is the fist time that after an episode there is someone still alive around”

“You call that monster inside you an episode?”

“I should kill you right now, you are the only one who has seen me in that form and still alive”

“I figured out that you can’t kill me unless you are in the monster form, anyway what’s a Lighter?”

“It a legend, they don’t really exist, why do I have to tell?” he stepped closer to her, she pushed him away without paying much attention and he almost got knocked over. He thought he must have been off balance.

“When does the monster usually come out?”

“None of you business” he said turning away

“Come on, tell me! Maybe I could help you”

“What can a mere human do to help someone like me?”

“Well I didn’t get killed by the monster, and you need to eat, and here would be a safe place for you to stay”

“Are you begging to be my slave?”

“Do you feel like sunbathing? I am offering you a deal, that you can stay here and I will give you some blood a few times a week, and in exchange you will let me talk to the monster in you once in a while”

“That monster must have been really charming if you are willing to go this far for him”

Rose smiled, and shyly said, “Well he know how to get a woman’s interest” which shocked Max beyond belief.He was getting irritated that Rose seemed to like a monster who bruised, and drank her blood violently, while he was being so nice. He honestly believed he was being nice. 

“Alright, I will agree but on one condition”

“What is it, I really think you should just be grateful that anyone would want to be in the same room as you let alone let you stay at their place”

”How dare you” he yelled looking at her and she made the gesture for him to continue on

“Anyway, I don’t want to see Lance anywhere near here”

“I am sorry but I cant control where he goes”

“You can make him never come here if you wanted to”

“You know, maybe I should just ask him about the Lighter and the monster in you?”

“Agggh! You are impossible, No Deal, I’d rather live under a bridge than put up with Lance and a human as annoying as you” with this he walked out the door. Rose calmly walked to the door and waited. In a few minutes there were loud footsteps nearing her door. As the sounds of footsteps seized in front of her door, she opened it. Max walked in. She started laughing.

“Shut Up” he said 

She was still laughing, “Sorry, I just thought maybe you really wanted to get a tan”

She locked the door and walked up to the TV.

“Hey do you want to see a movie?”

-Glare-

“What movie do you want to see?”

-Glare-

“Okay you can choose we’ve got The Fast and the Furious, 10 Things I hate About You, Barney and look Buffy the vampire Slayer”

“I don’t watch movies, so I dont know, though I hate more than 10 things about you, you can watch that one if you must”

She giggled “You know this movie is based on a play by Shakespeare”

-Glare-

Those eyes of his were starting to piss her off, she came up close to him and made the saddest eyes she could, and leaned in. He jumped at least 3 feet back. She started laughing.

“Are you afraid of me?” she said wickedly

“No, who would be afraid of you, though ugly I have seen a few uglier humans “he said trying to catch his breath

“Ugly huh? And why did you jump back?”

“You startled me that’s it”

“I wonder what other vampires would say if they knew you got startled by a human girl?“

He suddenly remember also getting slapped by this girl also, he thought of making her pay but looking at her bruises and wounds on her neck, he decided against it, this time.