Roses Wither: Into the Darkness

Marcus

Battle was now a second nature to me. My skills weren’t one-hundred percent, but they were good. I could fight as a human and wolf and I was honing my skills, thanks to The Guard.

When I decided to make the change and become a vampire, it wasn't because of my visions. It was because I started to gain some of mother's powers, that would eventually go to Rosa.

I knew that I would become a vessel for some of Rosa's powers and I wanted to be strong enough when that day came. I had to be, or the powers alone would consume me.

She was just fifteen when I left. A beautiful, redheaded girl, who loved to cause mischief with her friends. I couldn’t help but feel that I had abandoned her. Although, in retrospect, I had done it to help her, so I couldn't be faulted.

Our father had grown up in a different time, under different circumstances, as was our mother. They were used to the separation, but Rosa and I were not. We were siblings that shared a bond, and it was hard on me as her guardian.

I missed my baby sister so much that it killed me. When I spoke to her on video chat, I always just wanted to hug her and laugh with her like we used to, but the internet wasn't useful for that.

I had one last thing to do, before I made the change though. I had to talk to her one last time.

“Oh! Hi, Big Brother!” She excitedly beamed at me through the screen. Her red hair was vividly splayed across a grassy field and I smiled. I knew she was laying in the field. She loved that field.

I missed our summers in North Carolina. I would always catch her daydreaming in the grassy plane around our house, with all of my mother’s flowers and the beauty nature provided us. I bet it was spectacular right now too. It was her birthday in three days and I was sure that Mom had gone overboard with her creation of flowers for her.

Mom always went for the purples, whites and yellows. Rosa's favorites. The girl would lay there for hours, admiring each and every one. It was good to know that some things never changed.

“Happy Birthday, Sis!” I grinned at her and her smile faded immediately.

"So, you aren't coming then." She sighed and sat up, "I haven't seen you in forever, Marcus."

She was upset that I wasn’t coming, and I didn’t blame her. I’d missed so much. I looked around the sitting room, to avoid her sad little face.

It was one of seven libraries in our father’s castle. Rosa would love this. She’d always been a reader. Even if she didn't admit it, I had caught her on quite a few occasions.

“So, I heard through the grapevine that you and Aiden took off to the falls? Together. Alone.” I decided to change the subject, because her heartbreak was killing me, "What did you guys do all day?"

"Who told you?" Her eyes narrowed at me.

"Mom and I have a connection, so talk, Little Red." I glared.

“It was hot, so we went swimming,” She shrugged, “Nothing dirty. Things are getting a little weird with Aiden though, so it won’t happen again.”

“Weird, like how?” I watched her as she cringed.

“He was pissed that I was hanging out with Elijah.” Her face scrunched.

“Isn’t Elijah gay?” I chuckled, remembering that he'd come on to me quite a few times.

“Yes, but no one knows, except me and Clara, and apparently you. How did you know that?” Her brow furrowed.

I couldn't tell her. I also couldn't tell her that, even if he hadn't come on to me, that I could feel the shifters and channel them when I wanted. That was for another time. I was her guide and when that power passed onto her, I'd show her how to use it.

“How does he pull that off anyway?” I kept going and could tell that she was weary at first, but then moved on.

“Easily.” She snorted, “I’ve been helping him and in turn, he helps me.”

“How?” My brow furrowed in question.

“Everyone thinks we’re sleeping together,” She smiled widely, “So I go hang at the pack house with him, then a few hours later, I go home, by myself. No sex, no games, and no trouble.”

My sister had to be the only she-wolf at her age that was still a virgin. She had a focus, a goal, and it made me love that girl even more. Even though I knew it wasn’t healthy for her wolf.

“You do realize that you’re almost eighteen right? That’s mating age. They’ll be coming out of the woodworks.”

“I won’t mate.” She held her chin defiantly.

“You can’t stop fate, Rosa.”

“Marcus?” She fiddled with something in her hands, it was too small to see what it was. Maybe a ring of some sort? “What if I told you that I didn’t think my mate is a wolf?”

“What do you mean?” My brow furrowed as Chase entered the room.

“I will only be a moment.” He mouthed and went straight to the bookshelf, on his mission.

The man was known as The Guard and he was a soldier through and through. He had worked for my father when I was a child, and he'd been the only one strong enough to train me now.

We’d been training intermittently the past several years, although he didn't work for my father anymore. He now had his own home, his own people and his own thought track. He hadn’t acted the same way these past few years, as he had when I was a kid at all.

This made me curious. I didn’t know what had happened to him in those 13 years that he was away from our family, but he smiled now, joked, although seldom, and seemed... More alive, less like a guard...

Who knew what he’d been through before my father, but when I was a child the extremely tall, muscular, blonde guard had always taken his job seriously and nothing ever seemed to bother him, hurt him, or even seemed to amuse him. But, in his absence, something in him had changed, it was as if he'd been awoken.

It was so hard to explain and such a minimal change, but he had altered so much that, even after three years of him being back, it still shocked me.

“I don’t know.” She sighed, but my eyes were moving between her and Chase.

I watched the corner of his eye that I could see, as his pupil darted to the computer when my sister spoke again.

From his angle, he couldn’t see her, but it was evident that he could hear her and I found his reaction to her voice very curious. Especially since he had never appeared to have any interest in anything before.

I didn't move my head and neither did he. It was a technique I'd learned from him. I simply watched him with my eyes, but noticing he was caught, his eyes instantly began searching for the book he'd wanted again.

It used to be that we could have full conversations around him and he would hear nothing. He would respond to nothing unless addressed by his title and even then, he had no emotion, no tone and no notice. It had been as if he was moving solely on motion, not emotion, but now he heard everything and even though he didn't vocalize it, his body would respond in little ticks like what had just happened.

“I just...” My sister struggled for words, “I’ve been having these dreams, with this guy... I just... I don’t know...”

“What guy?” My eyes examined Chase’s back as he turned completely away from me.

His shoulders were broad and straight as he moved to the next shelf. He was searching for something. What was he looking for in my father’s journal library?

“Obviously, I don’t know him,” She snorted and waved her hand to dismiss it, “It’s just a stupid dream. Ignore me, like you already are. What are you looking at?”

"Nothing," I shook my head to clear it and turned my eyes back on my sister, “Look, that was how my visions started,” I reminded her, “They were dreams with emotions that clung to me.” Like the summer heat in Florida. I mentally added.

“Oh, they’re clinging to me alright.” She laughed.

“Rosa,” I sighed, “If you’re having visions-”

“No visions, trust me. We aren’t doing anything important in my dreams.” She laughed again, "Just things that I shouldn't share with my big brother."

"Have you had multiple dreams about this guy?" I asked.

"Yes, like, every night." She shrugged, like it was nothing, "It's just a dream."

“Maybe he’s your mate.” I wagged my brows at her.

"Trust me, a man like that, doesn't exist," She rolled her eyes, “Anyway, how’s Tati?”

“He’s good.” I watched as Chase grabbed one of my father’s journals and continued his search, “Still an asshole.”

"Shocker." She laughed, but my eyes didn’t leave Chase. I watched as his back stiffened with her laughter.

I was now curious about two things. He was looking for certain journals, specific years.... He was also responding to my sister’s voice. He’d never cared about books before and he certainly had never responded to anyone, unless spoken to directly, and even then, the only real response was to nod and continue on.

“Hey sis, what did the guy in your dream look like?” I tilted my head, examining Chase’s back again.

“We are not discussing it, Marcus.” Her eyes narrowed at me.

Chase found another book, grabbed it and smiled at me as he left the room, ducking to walk through the door frame.

“Rosa-”

“I have to go.” She said ruefully, “I’m up for patrol in 20 and Alpha Taima’s probably seething that I haven’t reported yet.”

“Rosa-”

“Bye, Big Bad,” She blew me a kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I rubbed my face as she hung up. Something was up. Something back home and something here.

I stood and went to the book shelf. I knew these books, I’d been studying them for years now. They were my father’s journals.

Chase had taken two vital diaries. The one of my fathers creation and the one with the map of my sister’s markings. Why?

I knew then, as I stared at the empty spots on the shelves, what I had to do.

I had seen him in the final battle, but was he a spy? A turncoat? Would he be a danger to my sister?

It didn’t make sense, but I had to know and there was one way to be certain. Chase needed to turn me, not my father. I needed that connection with him, to see where he stood in the war to come.

During the change, a bond occurred between the sire a vampire childe. I would be able to see his past and hopefully, with my abilities, his future.