SEVENTY-EIGHT

After the prayer, Rose felt a peace in her heart, which surpassed all her and possibly, anyone else's understanding, at that moment, going to tell me she had chosen me didn't seem so important, neither was ruining my sleep, she decided to continue reading...

***

That night, Mack was lying on his bed with Ruby at his side, then he turned over to her and looked at her innocence as her eyes lay closed.

He was about to kiss her forehead when she said,"If you want to do something lovely, how about start with a midnight snack?"

He looked at her for a second then grinned and said,"Your wish is my command, Rouge."

She opened one eye as he kissed her on the lips before leaving, then closed back her eyes, but felt something move over her so opened one, then both of her eyes, to see something standing on the balcony and facing her, three inch long razor sharp claws and glowing blood red eyes, with a mane like that of a lion and a low growl exuding from it.

She opened her mouth to call Mack but in a heartbeat, it had appeared behind her with its claws on her neck.

She could hear its steady growl, before a haunting chuckle ringed in her ears, which it licked, and the moment the door opened, it vanished through the opened window.

She was breathing heavily as Mack came to her then asked,"I wanted to ask what you wanted for breakfast then remembered I didn't want to kill the baby with my wonderful cooking, so Luigi will handle it, but while we wait, why don't we..."

"Mack..."

"What?"

She wanted to tell him what just happened, but she remembered how defensive and stubborn he was, he definitely would get himself killed this time, she looked at him then said,"Could you read me a bedtime story? I'm in the mood for some reason."

"Well, sure, of course, which book do you want?"

She scoffed then said,"You know what I want."

He clicked his tongue and winked then left and she let out a deep breath, then felt her neck and looked at her bloodstained fingers, was he going to hurt her baby?

***

Lucille stirred on the bed, she then woke up abruptly then screamed at the cobra on her side and jumped off the bed.

She saw the serpent was wound around something on her pillow and wanted to call Lucy, but she heard chilling whispers coming from everywhere.

Suddenly, all the doors and windows banged shut and the place got pitch black, with only the hissing from the snake giving her a sense of direction.

Lucille knew she had no other choice, so slowly went closer to the hissing, ready to smash the head of the reptile with the baseball bat in her hand, but the snake just slithered away and onto her hand.

She screamed silently and tried to throw it off, but as if it knew of her intentions, it hissed sharply and tightened its grip on her arm.

She gulped down and slowly reached for her phone and switched on her flashlight, with the scales of the serpent glimmering in the light.

She picked up the object the serpent had been guarding, which was a papyrus scroll, with a ruby in the shape of an orchid on the seal.

She slowly opened it and it seemed to be in hieroglyphs, she couldn't read it, till the snake spat venom on it and she screamed as it hissed and almost bit her.

She tried to remain calm as she looked again at the scroll, with writings in English unfolding from the venom stained areas, she smeared the sticky liquid all around the paper and the message simply said,"I'm coming for you..."

At that moment, a knife flew over her shoulder and through the neck of the snake, before its lifeless body fell to the side.

Lucille looked at her worried parents, then ran to cry in their arms, they knew it had just began.

I was gently tapped on the shoulder, but didn't respond, just then, Rose pushed me and the entire mattress over and I fell off.

I yelled,"What the heck are you doing?! Did the Bible tell you to do that too?!"

"Ruby and Lucille were attacked last night."

"What?"I asked.

In the car ride to Ruby's penthouse, I hadn't spoken a word to Rose, and realized, she wasn't making much of an effort either.

I looked at her from the corners of my eyes, but she spoke first,"Tommy..."

"No Rose, let me speak first, I'm sorry for overreacting...huh, I just...I just didn't want what happened to Mark to happen to you, or anyone else that I loved, but I was way out of line...if this is really what you want to do, if this is what makes you happy, then I think you deserve my support."

She smiled at me, then said,"Thank you."

We got to the venue and Ruby looked fine, the same couldn't be said about Lucille, and Mack wasn't even here, because he didn't know, they conjured up some lame excuse for him to go to Fiji.

I walked to Lucille and asked her what had happened, and she told me everything, and it made sense...the thing Ruby saw in her room was obviously her dad with the helmet on, which she was totally oblivious to before and the serpent was to represent what he wanted to turn them into, the question was why Rose didn't get a visit, not that I wanted her to get one, especially since we had fought, but it just made no sense for him to ignore the third piece of the puzzle that he had groomed and pruned her entire life like that.

I just sat down, wondering what his next move will be, whatever it was, it was probably meticulously planned, terrible, frightening and funereal, for us, at least...

Mr Welshes took a sip of the drink in the golden chalice in his hand and from the opposite end of the table, sat his wife.

He stood up and went for a walk, then at a balcony, looking at the beautiful kingdom like secret society he ruled over with his father, he took a deep breath, then slowly opened his eyes and asked,"So, did you give them the message?"

Anput walked closer then said,"Have I ever stared you wrong in the years we've been married?"

He chuckled then looked at her as she slowly scratched his chin with her long nails, then said,"The day our family is complete, our kingdom will finally arise from the dust and dominate over everything we once ruled over and more, with you as my queen, we will be unstoppable."

She smiled slightly then his brows furrowed as he asked,"What is wrong, my love?"

"It's Rose..."