Roz was on the doorstep of Thalia’s home to visit Aruba when her phone rang.
“Cy?” She breathed.
“Roz, you have to come to the Fortress.”
“Whe—”
“Now!”
Rozelyn wasted no time and headed back to her house. She immediately drove her newly bought car, thanks to Rosette’s gift. Speaking of Rosette, she saw her in one of the windows in the upstairs room of Thalia’s house when she turned around.
“Rosette is probably sleeping in Thalia’s house—again.”
Her phone rang again and she grabbed it with her other hand, while her eyes still fixed on the road. “Where are you now, Roz?!”
“Calm down, Cyrill. I’m on my way!”
“Calm? How could I calm down when one of our fellow vampires had been killed! Her head is now separated from her body and—”
“Don’t worry, Cyrill. You’ve got me.”
And she hung up. Even Rozelyn was panicking, anxious. ‘What the hell is going on with this world?!’
One of the vampires was killed. No doubt it was the Blood Witches again. But if the Heathens have found a way to kill them then…
“I will not let that happen,” Rozelyn said, more to herself. “I definitely will not!”
And so she drove fast to the Fortress of the Rose. But, upon remembering that she’s a freaking Thaumaturge, she just parked the car at a nearby convenience store. When she got out, Rozelyn vanished into the thin air.
Then appeared before the façade of the Fortress of the Rose and the Sanctum of the Moon—in just a matter of seconds.
***
“Good gracious you’re here, Rozelyn. Some—”
Rozelyn and Cyrill immediately whipped their heads to the arched windows, to where Maebh Mullin and a few of her loyal minions are now in.
“I suppose you are not that angry, Rozelyn. Grainne Perkins isn’t that close to you. I’m sure you wouldn’t be bothered by that.”
“Maebh, it doesn’t mean you are the grand and great Blood Mistress, you have the right to touch my people, my kind!”
Cyrill looked at her and whispered, “How long have you known?”
But Rozelyn ignored him. “Listen here, you orphan half-breed…” Maebh’s eyes narrowed at those words.
“Come here again and that would be your last time being able to walk!”
“So what exactly are you going to do, Thaumaturge? Froze the whole world? Ensnare me with you beauty?” Maebh’s malicious laughter echoed in the grand hall of the Fortress. “You are still a child nonetheless. You haven’t yet mastered your powers despite the vastness of your gifts. The fact that I have crafted a perfect ‘thing’ that blocks any vampire or werewolf gifts…including from their dear and one and only Thaumaturge.”
Maebh let Grainne’s body float before them.
“You’re a disrespect to the Night!” One of the older werewolves yelled.
Maebh was about to hurt him but someone halted her.
It was Romaine. Standing at the ruby-ornamented doors of the grand hall.
“I already warned you, Maebh…”
Rozelyn rolled her eyes. Cyrill’s nose flared. The rest scowled and winced at Romaine’s arrival.
‘They probably already knew what Romaine really is,’ Rozelyn pondered.
Maebh ignored her grand arrival. “Bring me the primary blood rose, Thaumaturge,” She said to Rozelyn. “And I will spare all of your friends from Grainne’s similar fate.”
“Is that so?” Cyrill countered, “Or you will use the mighty rose to bend us to your will?”
“Probably like that, young man.” One of Maebh’s companions replied.
“Shut up, Rhella! You are no use of me now, remember? You’re just a pathetic decorative sheep beside me, I mind you…”
Rozelyn overheard them despite Maebh's soft voice—probably all of them heard because of their vampire and werewolf senses.
‘So that is Rhella, the one Rosette speaks of…” The raven-haired Rozelyn thought.
She watched Maebh walk closer to her. Romaine just remains standing by the door.
‘The great Roamine is probably just standing there as a prop, as an act that she still cares for us despite her real motive. Pathetic!’ Rozelyn’s angry thoughts had reached its maximum boiling point now.
Maebh smirked when she saw lightning spark at the tips of Rozelyn’s fingers.
“There’s no need for that, Roz,” Maebh then lifted her chin with her black-manicured fingers. “I will give you seven days to do that job. And if you’ll not meet the deadline, I’m afraid that the existence of vampires and werewolves have come to an end.”
Rozelyn hold her stare. Cyrill was being pinned to the ground by Maebh’s minions.
“What are you looking at there, Romaine? Do something!!!” The same elder werewolf that shouted earlier had demanded Romaine. Romaine just gave him a glare.
“Fine…” said Rozelyn.
Cyrill was shocked. So as Vesta. And Hemera. And every werewolf and vampire in the room, except for Romaine.
“I knew you weren't as hard-headed, Roz.” Maebh stated, smirking.
She was about to head out through the window when Rozleyn spoke.
“Take your mother with you, Maebh.” Everyone whipped their heads to Rozelyn,“Take Romaine with you…”
Rozelyn glanced at Romaine, then to Cyrill, then back to Maebh. “So sad that she had given you to another family only to raise a child that is not her own. Like me.”
She watched Maebh’s face portrayed anger but that useless witch whom she called earlier as Rhella held her arm.
She could see the disgust in everyone’s face. That the leader and supreme that had acted and led them all along was a witch in reality.
“Don’t worry, Romaine. I will take care and continue all your legacy in the coven, in the Fortress,” Roz said with a saccharine smile.
“And ohh,” She added. “Thank you for being my stepmother anyway. I envy Maebh for being a child to a generous mother, like you.”
Rozelyn should be awarded for her excellent sarcasm.
“Goodbye.” The emerald-eyed Thaumaturge directed it to the woman whom she knew as her stepmother, and to the billionaire’s daughter who had been a witch all along.
The vampires and werewolves watched them walk away to the window. A thud was heard when the poor body of Grainne Perkin’s landed on the floor.
“Let us prepare for a funeral, everyone,” Rozelyn commanded.
The people just simply followed her, as if she was the real leader all along.
Hemera smiled at her, as Vesta. It’s good that the pregnant Anaztasia wasn’t here but it was also bad that she wasn’t here as she would love to see her roast her ‘stepmother’, snatching away her title as the Vampire Supreme in front of heathens, vampires, and werewolves.
Romaine had already named her as her heir beforehand. So all she had to do was put herself in the crown and sit on the empty throne that had been empty for weeks already.
“Long live, Queen Rozelyn,” Cyrill muttered with a smile.
“The application as my king is still open though,” Rozelyn declared with a wink.