“My father is a vampire?!”
Rozelyn suddenly fell to the ground due to shock. Lucky for her that Rosette was just behind to catch her.
Thalia looked back and saw Rozelyn was now on the grass. Her face was sorry for Rozelyn; pitied the young soon-to-be Vampire Queen.
Rozelyn was panting, sweating, and shaking. How many more lies and secrets she has yet to hear? If only her powers being a Thaumaturge include her being able to travel the Ever After, the equivalent to Afterlife, she had long done it in order to squeeze answers from her dear beloved father.
“What else did my father tell you?” Her voice was rough in her throat. She suddenly felt thirsty, but it was not for water.
Rozelyn was thirsty for blood. She should’ve gone hunting for a prey before visiting Thalia so that she will not end up cowering on the grassy land, looking for blood to drink.
“Rozelyn, I- We will tell you when we arrive at my house,” Thalia softly spoke.
“TELL ME NOW!!!” Rozelyn had gone feral. She pushed Rosette away and grabbed Thalia by her shirt and lifted her on the ground.
It only took a matter of seconds before she had returned to her senses. She definitely should have drunk blood before indulging in this unraveling and telling of grave secrets.
Rozelyn gently put down Thalia. “Fuck!”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She shrieked and ducked. A boom of thunder reverberated the area and a strong gust of wind had almost swept Thalia and Rosette away.
“Rozelyn, calm down, dearest!” Rosette muttered in a motherly tone.
But, Rozelyn yeeted her to the air using her powers into a nearby tree.
“Leave me alone!!!” She shouted while bursting to tears; her venting was more like to herself than the people around her.
“Rozelyn, dear. I am truly sorry for not telling you. It’s my fault. So please, stop this and if you want, pour all your anger to me,” Thalia was now silently crying.
A tornado began to form and a thunderstorm began to wreck the area.
Rozelyn jerked her head to Thalia. She never saw her cry, not even once. Only now she had seen the woman cry who had become her second mother after Visenna died and before Romaine came to her life.
She stood and, in a wave of her hand, the storm dissipated. The dark, raging skies vanished. She walked towards Thalia and hugged her. Rosette walked to them and joined the group hug.
“I am very sorry, too.” As soon as Rozelyn’s tears began to flow, the sky also began to cry. Rain had wet them but they didn’t bother Mother Nature’s emotional outburst anyway.
Their hug become tighter. In a heartbeat, Rozelyn felt more warmth and protection when Rosette and Thalia were around. It seems they are the family that Rozelyn had just realized. Well, she didn’t mean that Romaine and Cyrill weren’t her family. But, it’s a different ambience when she is around these two women—especially this time.
It was Thalia who broke from the hug first. “Come, let’s wash in my house. I have a warm shower there,” Thalia said to the still-hugging Rosette and Rozelyn.
Thalia extended an arm to Rozelyn and said to her with a stern look at her eyes, “You have more things to know, dear Roz.”
Rozelyn winced but eventually smiled. “I know. I can sense it.”
“Rosette? I know you always wanted a daughter but it is enough hugging Rozelyn by now. You have all the time in the world to hug our soon-to-be Vampire Supreme.”
Rosette released the hug as well and said with a jolly voice, “All hail to Rozelyn, the Queen of Vampires!”
The two are clapping hands while Rozelyn just giggled at them.
“And probably the Queen of Werewolves as well,” added Thalia.
Rozelyn just lifted her hands in the air. “Whatever. Let’s just go home now, shall we?”
The smiles of Thalia Turner and Rosette Richards are just their silent answers as the two watched Rozelyn walk away first, kicking the stones and twigs that blocked her way.
***
Rozelyn had another round of eating sweets and chocolates.
She leaned back at the couch as she popped a Ferrero Rocher into her mouth and smiled. Rosette saw her and imitated her as well but the chocolate missed her mouth.
Both ladies laughed, making Thalia join the laugh as well.
The vanishing smile in Thalia’s face and eyes is a signal for Rozelyn that it is ‘tea time’. It is now the time to spill tea and let the cats out of the bags.
“Eku didn’t know that he had dormant vampire blood running in his veins. If he wasn’t told by a Skin Walker, the guardians of the Blood Rose, he will never know.” Thalia then looked at the photo that she had in a picture frame with Eku, Visenna, and her. A tear fell down from her face.
“Where did I get the werewolf blood, then?” Rozelyn’s curiosity will never wither away.
But it was Rosette who answered. “Your mother.”
Rozelyn whipped her head to her and looked at her with wide eyes.
“My moth—how?!”
“She has dormant werewolf blood in her as well,” Thalia was now wiping away her tears.
Rozelyn stood. Not to freak out but to get a glass of cold water to calm the fire inside her.
Thalia and Rosette just stared at each other.
“What will we do with Romaine? I heard from Vesta that—”
“Let Rozelyn find that out by herself,” Rosette firmly replied.
Thalia and Rosette then sit back and relax. A minute later, Rozelyn returned to the living room, looking wholly innocent as if she didn't hear what these two just recently talked about.
“Did my father and mother know about each other?” She asked as she found her way to her seat.
“No,” replied Rosette.
“Then we already had immortal blood even before my father knew about the world of the Blood Rose and the likes…”
“Yes. That is exactly the case,” Thalia then gestured to Rosette to get water from the kitchen.
The aged healer jerked her head to Rozelyn. “Your mother had told me about her dormant werewolf blood the day she was rushed to the hospital to give birth to you. Your father, on the other hand, had told me the day he was murdered by the Blood Witches.”
Rosette returned with a pitcher of ice-cold water. Ire painted Rozelyn’s youthful face. “I thought my father died on an accident?”
Thalia eyed Rosette first before responding. “Your father’s dormant blood was activated the moment he had contact with a Blood Rose in Tanzania. From then on, he became a fully-activated vampire. The Blood Witches—Heathens—have heard about the prophecy which is actually referring to you that a child born of the moon which pertains to werewolves and blood which symbolizes the vampires shall be the most powerful Amalgam Thaumaturge to ever exist. Well, it turns out that the prophecy had been true all along even though they killed your father.”
She drank half of the glass of water before resuming, “He was killed using a Black Peruvian Rose, which is utterly mysterious as I guard the black roses here in my house to keep it away from the bitches’ reach and also to protect the vampires and werewolves.”
Rozelyn stared at her former nanny, “What is it that you are pointing out, Thalia?”
“That a mole is within the coven or the pack.”
Thalia then peered at Rosette and the latter just gave her a tight nod.
“Hemera, Chadwick, Vesta, and Dorrien had a meeting a few days ago about that matter. Don’t tell that to someone else, not even to Romaine and Cyrill,” Rosette’s voice was shaking.
“Why is my stepmother not in the meeting that she is the de facto Vampire Supreme?”
The two are silent and refuse to look her in the eye.
Rozelyn broke the quietude. “Is my stepmother one of the suspected traitors?”
Thalia and Rosette’s head whipped abruptly at her and their faces yielded incredulous looks. Just one look of their faces, Rozelyn knew the answer.
“I knew it. I suspected her too. In fact, she smells different each time. I even thought that…” Rozelyn looked at Thalia then at Rosette.
“…that she is not Romaine all along.”
Thalia and Rosette stood at the same time. “You smelled it?”
Rozelyn nodded to Rosette. Thalia stood and went to the corner to ponder.
“Do not easily trust everybody and anybody, dearest. The only ones who can be trusted are me, Rosette, Hemera, Chadwick, Dorrien, and Vesta. Avril and Anaztasia kept on tracking and hunting the Death Summoners and, who knows, they’re probably under a spell out there too. Your stepmother and Cyrill are not that trustworthy either. Dorrien is also finding a way to corner your stepmom—if she is your stepmom,” Thalia warned her with great seriousness on her face.
“Especially those who acted as innocent sheep towards you, honey,” Rosette added.
“So you two are saying that even my family cannot be trusted?” Rozelyn was confused, enigmatic now.
Thalia sauntered towards her. “These are desperate times, Rozelyn. And the two of your family are the only ones who keep going outside of Ireland—or recently came from outside of Ireland as in the case of Cyrill.”
“What about Dorrien?”
“That is precisely what I am saying. When he arrived from Surrey, he was under a maleficent spell and it took some of my healing powers to unleash him from it. Dorrien is free from the strings of the Heathens now. That’s why we tell you to keep an eye on Cyrill and Romaine and do not trust them completely. We are not saying that they cannot be trusted. We are just warning you, telling you. You are a Thaumaturge and use your powers wisely. Use it to peer from their minds. You are more capable than what you think you are, Rozelyn. So use your gifts well.”
Thalia grinned at her. Rozelyn smiled back. So as Rosette’s.
They have a group hug again.
Yet, it was Thalia who spoiled the moment—at least in a good way,
“There is one more thing that Rosette will be telling you, Roz.”
“What is it?” Rozelyn’s cheerful face radiates bloom and good energy.
Rosette Richards’ smile vanished as she looked Rozelyn straight into her eyes. “I am Visenna’s half-sister.”