Meet Rose

She stood and faced the mirror behind her. "Someone will come in and take your statement then. I trust I won't have to tell them about the journal and the deposit receipts you keep in a lock box at your bank. Or about the relationship you have with Dr. Dvorak, your contact to the black market where you sell the blood you steal."

"I will confess. As agreed." His voice threatened to fail him.

A man entered the room. "Good. This agent here will be taking your statement." She gave Aden a glance and marched out of the room.

Aden followed but was stopped by Paul. "Let her go. I'll have someone else take her home." He nodded at Brian who punched a number on his cell.

"But sir?" He protested

"Walk with me son." Paul put his hand on his shoulder and led him back to his office. "Have a seat. I need to let you in on a few things about your girlfriend." He stared out his window with his back to Aden for a moment pondering how to proceed. "She was right when she said I thought you are too good at what you do. But she was wrong when she said I didn't like you. I do. I do because you're good. My frustrations were more about my own ineptness and not your ability. I'd hate to see you throw that away because of her."

"Sir, I'm not sure I understand..."

He held up a hand to silence his questions for the time being. "Please, son. I know you have feelings for her. Everyone knows. They can see it the way you look at her. The whole department is a buzz about you spending the night with her."

"It wasn't like..."

"It doesn't matter what it was. It looked like... well it doesn't look good. But regardless, you should know who or what you are getting yourself into." He paused waiting for further objection. When he heard none he continued. "I met Rose seven years ago. I was working the south side with Agent Fitzgerald and Agent Michaels on a series of homeless murders when we came across her; or what was left her anyway. We found her face down in the irrigation ditch that runs parallel to the highway; not far from that church that had burned a few nights before. By the looks of it, she'd been there for days. Her body was badly burned, decomposed. Dead. Dead as any corpse I'd found in my time. After the usual procedures, she was brought to the morgue for identification and autopsy. It was Dr. Madsen's first year on the job. I wanted her prints, she agreed to get them for me." His eyes misted over at the memory. "But the moment Belinda touch the girl's hand she froze. Almost like she was being electrocuted and couldn't let go. She screamed in pain and shook all over. I was so caught off guard that I couldn't think straight. I did the only thing that came to mind. I knocked her over, thus breaking the connection. It took a few seconds for her to come around. Outside of a headache, she said she was okay. Truthfully it freaked us both out. Thought for sure we had found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a horror flick. Then, as if to confirm our worst fears, the girl sat up. Not a mark on her. No sign that was a decomposing, burned corpse just a few minutes prior. She smiled that crooked, arrogant smile of hers and demanded a new set of clothes. Just like that. She offered no explanation for what had happened. To her or the doctor."

Aden, rubbed his temples and the incredulity of the story the captain fashioned. He was right, this was straight out of the movies. If he hadn't seen what Rose did with her arm the night before, he might have had a hard time swallowing it all. Seven years stuck in his brain. His memory only went back seven years. He got slapped with a strange feeling of deja vu. A buzz rifled through his skull bringing with it a scene of a wedding. There was laughter and hugs and then nothing but the distant sounds of sirens. The captain's voice made its way to the forefront of his attention again.

"She showed up the next day in my office and proposed the arrangement we now have. I didn't agree to it at first, but she has ways of convincing you."

"Arrangement? Sir, I was to the understanding that she is under house arrest."

He chuckled at that. "No. She's free to leave whenever she wants. She locks herself up in that house."

"Why do you call her a vampire?"

"Because she was dead. Now she's not. That makes her undead, so to speak. And she can suck the life out of your lungs if you got a secret that you don't want to get out. Or did you notice the blood drain out of Dr. Madsen's face when she pulled that little stunt in the conference room. She didn't need to see the body; she knew Belinda did it."

"And she know your secrets?"

"Yes," He pulled his chair to the desk to lean his heavy elbows on the writing pad that covered the desk. "The day she made the proposal, she said she had to 'see' for herself what kind of man she would be working with. She put her hand on my cheek and the lights went out. It felt like fire and ice shooting through my body faster than the speed of light." Aden shuddered, his thoughts drawn to another dream momentarily. "It fried and froze every nerve ending I had in a split second. Then she spent the next ten minutes telling me everything she saw. Things I'd forgotten long ago. Things I had desperately tried to forget. I suppose I should be thankful too. She saw a few things that needed medical attention as well. Thanks to her I avoided a lot of... health related issues."

"So you trust her?"

"Yes and no. I trust what she sees but I don't trust her. There's something about her that seems to be inherently evil."

Aden stood at that. Of all the things he heard, he disliked the use of the word evil in her description the most. "Forgive me sir, but seeing the truth in people is hardly evil. Maybe it's the fear of exposure that causes you to fear her, but that doesn't make her evil." He hardened his stare to make his point.

"It doesn't make her holy either, son"

"Doesn't it?" Isn't that what they crucified Jesus for? Exposing the truth? Didn't they accuse Him of being evil? Punish Him for it?"

"I would hardly compare that woman to the Savior of the free world."

Aden sucked back his retort to avoid a futile argument. It was apparent the captain would never see Rose in the same light he did. "May I go now sir? I have reports to get done."

"Yes, Agent. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I will sir." He left with the intention of visiting Rose. He wouldn't have to wait long to see her.

She stormed past him into Paul's office. With one hand firmly affixed to the knob and the other jabbing a finger at him she shrieked "No one takes me anywhere but Agent Christopher! You got that!! Especially not some dumb punk who thinks having sex with his sister is okay!"

Aden shot the officer in question a look and dropped his eyes when he saw the shame on his face. A muffled giggle rippled through the office behind forced frowns.

Paul dropped his shoulders with a sigh. "Very well. Agent?" Aden looked, trying hide his own smile. "Will you please take Miss Rose home?"

"Yes sir."

"That's better." She huffed. Her attention was drawn to the door knob for a half a minute. A crooked grin crept into view. "So you finally told him how we met. Huh, Paul? Worried I might do something bad to your golden child? Good. Very good." She released the knob and left at a little more of normal rate. "Let's go Agent. See you around Larry, give my love to Audrina will you?" She blew the young officer a kiss as she walked by. He shrunk back swallowing the bile that was stuck in his throat.