Little Rose

~^~Chapter 1~^~

Rosette:

My feet thud against the earth as I land, head swinging back and forth in hope that no one saw. I glance upwards. No one is following me, yet. I stretch out my wings before flapping them once, hovering just above the bushes around me. I shouldn't have landed in the first place, but I needed to touch the earth to ground my place here. I head in the direction of a dark shape on the horizon. Please be a human town. Please be a human town.

As I quickly draw nearer, my heart sinks. It's not a town, human or otherwise, but a thick knot of trees in the middle of nowhere. I could have sworn there was a town around here. Unable to fly through the trees and having no other source of cover, I land once more and head through, moving as quickly as possible. To avoid stumbling and slowing myself down, I increase my eyesight, allowing me to see lights through the trees, and tuck my wings into my back, making myself smaller and more agile on the ground.

Of course! The town is on the other side of the trees! Thank my lucky stars.

My feet go in that direction, but something pulls me slightly to the left of it. Before I can decide which way to go, a voice brings to my attention that I am not, in fact, alone.

"Well, well. What's a pretty little angel like yourself doing out here?" I whirl left to face the owner of the voice, seeing the tell-tale glint of a fallen's fangs peeking from his mouth. The lack of red irises -- they're actually a deep green -- inform me of the worst: a fallen angel. This is not going to go down well, I'm unarmed and nowhere near full health, and by the dark red dripping from his chin, he recently fed. My eyes catch the movement of another behind him, this time a fallen human -- known as vampires to their mortal counterparts.

This is really, really bad.

"Shouldn't you be upstairs?" His companion taunts.

"Shouldn't you be locked in the basement?" I retort, finding courage that has been buried for awhile. The pull has shifted away from them slightly and strengthened considerably. I find myself moving towards it, shifting from the danger in front of me. I glance around, looking for an easy escape route. None. The trees are too thick, I couldn't effectively run anywhere, except right to the fallen. Sun and stars, I'm trapped. I can't even go up, the trees are too close to fl- wait, I can go up. These trees are perfect for climbing. Now I've got a plan.

Before I can act out my rough sketch of a plan, the fallen human rushes me, faster than the blink of an eye. I barely see it coming. My body hits the ground, rolling to my right. The pull strengthens again, drawing me closer. Reluctantly, I halt my roll towards it. I stay crouched, ready to spring towards the nearest tree. I never get a chance to.

"This one knows a thing or two, doesn't she?" The fallen human hisses, arms wrapped around me, lifting me into the air effortlessly. My legs swing, knocking his legs out from underneath him and sending me towards the ground. I dash towards the tree in front of me, pulling myself into its branches. Now I'm in the tree, what's next? The pull, right. If it's what I think it is, whoever is at the end of it should be a tremendous help.

The branches sway beneath me as I navigate them, the wind I don't remember being there a few moments ago helping to disguise my movements, and hopefully my scent. I suppose it's useful, despite constantly blowing my hair into my face.

The pull becomes stronger, it should be right below me now. I go a little further, then jump, landing on the ground in a crouch to help break my fall.

"You missed me." The voice is honey, sweet and slow and sticky, catching me before something dangerous comes along. There's no doubt now, this is my Destined, the one person made for me, and I for him.