New and Old Friends

It's almost impossible for her to express how she feels right now. He doesn't know whether to feel sad, angry, or even betrayed.

Her eyes lock onto a figure standing in front of an orange lantern, its glow spreading behind him.

"Kai?" Nova whispers.

One of her best friends is standing right in front of her. He is clutching a wooden stake in his hand and grinning proudly.

He's quiet, he hasn't said anything the whole time, and Nova realizes he's ignoring her. He looks like he's in his own pretty little world.

He bends over to Kalen, who is lying on the dirty stone floor, still clutching his stomach. Kai attaches the stake to his belt and with a firm grip grabs Kalen's arms and pulls him closer to him.

He crosses his arms behind his back and holds him up against him so that Aiden and Nova can get a good look at him. Kalen grits his teeth and takes a deep breath. He has an angry expression on his face, which hurts to watch.

Aiden glances at Nova out of the corner of his eye and notices her look filled with pain and confusion. His crimson eyes turn to Kalen, who is barely standing.

Kai turns towards the dark stairs and begins to lead the bloodied Kalen back up with him.

"No, wait. Kai!" lets out Nova, who reaches her hand through the bars.

As soon as Kai disappears into the shadows, they both hear another set of footsteps heading down the stone stairs. They notice two tall silhouettes of two muscular men who approach their cells without a word.

They first unlock the one Aiden is sitting in. Nova is sure that he will try something, attack them or leave her here and just disappear without a trace. But that's not the case, Aiden is sitting still without moving.

The man forcefully grabs him by the arms and drags him out of his cell. He crosses his arms behind his back and heads back towards the stairs. Aiden focuses on Nova for a brief moment and looks into her emerald eyes, which turn away from him.

The second man approaches the girl, lifts her from the ground, and forcefully forces her to stand on her own two feet.

They all slowly make their way back up the cold corridor to the more preserved room.

Nova turns her eyes away from the harsh light in the room for a moment and soon notices several people around her.

She turns her head to the left where she notices the other man holding Aiden tightly, Kalen lying on the ground next to him, who is staring at Rosemary and looking at the people around with one eye closed.

The wooden stake is still driven deep into his stomach forcing Nova to look away.

There, however, she notices Kai and several other people in black suits holding Rosalie tightly, who is looking at Kai with a very confused expression the whole time.

Beside her, Faye is trying to get out of the tight grip of unknown people. Nova hears her yell and swear a few times at the people holding her back.

In the very center stands Rosemary, her hands behind her back and her fingers intertwined. Her elegant stance means that she is completely at ease and just waiting for everyone to calm down and give her the attention she surely craves.

"I didn't expect so many familiar faces to visit me today. It feels like my birthday." Rosemary says amused.

"Go to hell!" Faye yells at her, still struggling to break free.

However, Rosemary smiles and ignores the girl. Her slow steps approach Kai, who was standing motionless right next to the man holding Faye's arms tightly. Rosemary stops by him and brushes his shoulders.

"Good work. Your father would be proud of you. It seems your family still has a place in our group."

Kai just nods and a small smile appears at the corner of his lips.

"What is this Kai?! I thought we were friends!" Rosalie raises her voice but Kai gives her no answer and ignores his so-called friend.

Rosemary looks towards the short girl and examines her. She slowly moves toward her and tilts her head, tucking a few strands of dark hair behind her ear before gently grabbing Rosalie's chin and lifting it up.

Rosalie scowls at her the entire time and moves her head to the side, forcing Rosemary to let her go.

"Interesting. I didn't expect to meet another member of my family so soon and I certainly didn't expect her to come to me. Welcome, little girl. We're going to have a lot of fun dear."

Rosalie had known for a long time that her ancestors are the Sellards and that somehow made Rosemary her family.

Nova had never seen Rosalie so angry, she always appeared to her as an innocent and quiet girl, but now her eyes flashed with hatred towards Rosemary, who was smiling sweetly in her direction.

"Marjorie, be so kind as to show this little bird the way upstairs. You know what to do," adds Rosemary, turning on her heel, still wearing that innocent smile.

A tall woman who appears to be a bit older than Rosemary steps out of the group of people. She has curly red hair pulled back, a long dark beige dress with a floral print, and her eyes focus on Rosalie.

She grabs both of her wrists and leads her up the marble stairs to the second floor. The stairs are at the far end of the room and have been very nicely disguised by tall flowers in gray pots.

"Damn. Rosemary! What do you want from us?!" shouts Faye again, who stops fighting the man behind her.

"It's very simple. Our sweet dream walker over there and her two new pets will get me what I want," Rosemary says as she leans over Nova.

Nova looks into her ominous eyes, which at first glance appear innocent, and no one would think that behind all that facade is a woman who can destroy the lives of several people with just a snap of her finger.

Rosemary strokes her cheek and gently touches the wound on her neck.

"Fascinating."

"Do not touch me," Nova says in a sharp tone, furrowing her brows.

"You have a warrior in you, Selene will like that, trust me. She always liked girls who could stand up for themselves and fight for what they want. Just like her." Rosemary says enthusiastically.

"If you want something from me, I want you to help him first!" Nova says angrily, looking towards Kalen, who is gripping a wooden stake tightly in his bloody hands.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Gentlemen, if I may ask you. Help our guest, he seems to be in a little bit of pain." Rosemary orders, looking at the tall men standing behind Nova and Aiden.

One of them kneels on the ground in front of Kalen and takes the stake in his hand. With a sharp movement, he pulls it out of his stomach and throws it to the ground.

He gets back to his place and everyone looks at Kalen, whose bloody wound is slowly starting to heal.

Kalen cries out in relief and glares at Rosemary once more.

"You will pay for this!" Kalen raises his voice and gets back on his feet.

He takes a few steps and heads towards Rosemary, who just stands across from him with a calm expression on her face, watching the angry vampire approach her.

Nova has no idea what Kalen was up to, but whatever it was she knew it wasn't going to work out, she just looks at him with a longing look and hopes he would notice her.

However, Kalen ignores everything around him and when he approaches Rosemary, she merely raises her right hand and places her palm in his direction.

"If I were you, I would stop and listen to what's on my mind or it won't end well for someone in this room. It won't be long, I promise. I know you're not very patient Kalen, but it's up to you. You either calm down or we're going to bury some vampires today." Rosemary says with an angry tone in her voice.

Kalen stops and frowns. He knows very well that he doesn't want another disaster, and he was much more frustrated that Nova was a part of this.

With an angry tone in his voice, Kalen speaks up again. "Talk, witch."

Rosemary smiles sweetly at him but turns towards the group of men in suits standing a short distance away.

She looks at Faye, who is watching everything, and turns her head away from Rosemary, who approaches her.

"Get away from me," she yells at her.

"Oh come on Faith. You've changed a bit since you left, what a shame. I loved that Faith who cared about nothing but herself. You've picked some interesting company. We should see if these people are really worth it, how about that?"

Rosemary boldly turns to look at Kalen, Nova, and Aiden. The three of them just stand there quietly, not one of them looking at Rosemary, their attention focused on Faye.

Kalen and Nova were definitely worried about her, and Aiden was just wondering what will happen.

"Gentlemen, it's alright, I'll take this from here," Rosemary says and looks towards the men who had been holding Faye up until now.

Faye shakes her body violently, trying to get out, away from Rosemary, which she failed to do. Her grip is perhaps even tighter than her henchmen's and Faye felt her nails digging into her pale skin.

"It's no news that Selene is the one who you should be thanking for being here and that's why you're going to help her. You wouldn't want to disappoint your mother right? Faith here will serve as a little motivation. If you don't want me to rip her heart out and present it to you on a silver platter I will need one little thing from you."

Rosemary takes a breath and after a short pause speaks again, her innocent smile still dancing on her face.

"You have two days to find the ashes of the first vampire ever to walk this earth. Succeed and nothing happens to anyone. Fail and well, we can all imagine what will happen then, right?"