The Blood Rose Lady

"You didn't know how happy I was when he was inside me, Roz," said Rosette.

"Yeah, I know." Rozelyn's sarcasm mode is turned on again.

Rosette rolled her eyes, astonished to Rozelyn's sudden shift in the mood. "Really? How much did I feel then?"

She glared at her, eyes narrowing. "You're very, very happy that you and your dear Leo have lasted for more than ten rounds."

"Rozelyn!" Thalia reprimanded. "It doesn't mean you're an adult, you're allowed to be very green-minded!"

"I'm not being a green-minded, dearest godmother. I am just speaking the truth."

"How did you know then?" Aruba, the new addition to Rozelyn's 'fan club', asked.

"I am a Thaumaturge. Astrals cannot stand against me," she said with a smirk.

Aruba laughed at that, as did Thalia.

"You two always bully me," said Rosette, pouting.

"Three, Rosette. Meet Aruba Lynn, the new addition to Rozelyn's fan club." Rosette rolled her eyes but the grin on her face was still visible.

Aruba and Rosette exchange introductions and eventually get to know each other.

"So your Leo did still love you after all these years then," Roz stated while chewing some caramel popcorns.

Rosette grabbed her snack. "Hey!"

"Calm down, green-eyed. I just wanna have a handful of it."

"Now, now, that's enough," Thalia spoke. "We have to discuss of Maebh's threat and her—"

"Maebh may seem strong only because her biological mother is still there for her to catch and defend her anytime, especially when failure falls to Maebh's hands," Aruba Lynn divulged.

"So..." Rozelyn then looked at Aruba, then to Rosette, then finally to Thalia. "Rom-I mean Mary Bathory is her strength then?"

"And her weakness," Thalia realized.

"Go to Tanzania, Roz," Thalia Turner continued. "In that way, you may trick Maebh that you are getting the flower for her but in fact you are using it for your own."

Everybody was silent, and their brows were raising.

"What do you mean, Thalia?" asked Aruba in a curious tone.

"The Primary Blood Rose, the first ever Blood Rose to bloom in the earthly soil possesses incredible powers-that only the most powerful creature can also contend with."

"A Thaumaturge..." Rosette muttered while looking at Rozelyn.

"Wait, so this primary rose thingy can only be picked by a Thaumaturge? How about if another one will get this?" Rozelyn's words finally come to sense.

"No one knows, dearest. But I'm pretty sure it's not good," her godmother replied.

"I agree with Thalia," said Aruba. "Maebh can easily be tricked, despite her so-called bitchy attitude. She may be the Blood Mistress but she's not as powerful as her mother, as Mary Bathory."

"Then I better be careful of my ex-stepmother then," replied Rozelyn.

Thalia giggled at that. "I already warned you about her, Roz. It's a good thing you've found out sooner."

"Yeah, thanks to my father's journal."

"Daddy's still guiding you even in the afterlife, I see," Rosette declared that made all of them laugh.

Silence was flooding them again when Rozelyn broke it. "So the plan is final."

"Take Cyrill with you," commanded Thalia. "You need a man in your journey, goddaughter. Only healers know of this knowledge but..."

She sighed first before resuming. "There are monstrous guardians watching over the flowers-both human and inhuman. So I suggest you take Cyrill with you, at least you also have a source of strength if you know what I mean." Thalia then gives her a smirk and wink.

Rozelyn winced, arms crossed. "Cy and I never fucked, and we will never be."

"There's always a first time," Rosette teased, grinning. "Well, it's settled then. Cyrill and you are going to Tanzania. You better tell him then." "No need for that," Thalia muttered. "We have recorded Rozelyn's voice since earlier. Cyrill already knows what you're up to.'

39

Rozelyn immediately stood and grabbed Thalia's phone. Aruba and Rosette just watched the two fight playfully while laughing to their hearts out.

***

"I see that Thalia really called you here... in her own house," Rozelyn averted her eyes from him as she couldn't bear to look at him without tears flowing from her face.

Love is indeed a sadist. It tortures her heart until she gave in to it-give in to love, surrender to love. The emotion that she constantly denies having towards him "Thalia said that we have an important matter to discuss," said Cyrill.

"You don't need to go with me if only you are forced to..."

"I am not forced, Roz. I want to go with you. Truly," his sigh could've made her face him but she held back.

"Look, Nadeshiko..." Rozelyn's eyes widened when he addressed her by her second name. "I cannot afford to lose another family."

"I am not your family, we never were. Let's just say that you are a tenant to my father's house-my house and your adoptive mother is the one who's paying for the both of you."

His face radiates gloom. Sorrow. Heartache. Pain. "She was never my adoptive mother. She killed my mother too, you know. I saw her do it. I just shut my mouth to avoid further mayhem." Rozelyn finally faced him. "You knew?"

She pounded into his chest repeatedly, despite it like an iron wall. "You knew she was evil yet you kept it to yourself!!!"

"And if I told you...would it change anything? Would it change this? Would it prevent the situation we have now?!"

It suddenly rained, soaking both of them. Both from the cold rain and their tears. The wind is howling like the storm-the rift-that began to crack between them. "We're lucky we have Thalia. She's the only woman whom I treated more like family. In fact, she's the one who begged me to study in England. Even if I told you about Romaine, about Mary Bathory, I suppose you wouldn't believe me either."

"You're right. I wouldn't..." Rozelyn softened her voice and inched closer. "Because I was a brat then. Because I was a spoiled, entitled, bitch of a brat back then...Is that what you wanna say?"

He looked at her, but his mind commanded him not to. "Even if you're a bitch back then, at least you're not evil. Even if we became the creatures of the night who only live if we drank the blood of others, I never see you as a maleficent woman. All I see is the woman, the girl, the lady whom my heart always yearns for..."

She gasped at that, making her step backward.