The Bloody Rose

Chapter One

My blood stood out on the fine parchment. It was done. There was no going back now. I followed the two palace guards with my head down. As I exited the academy for the last time, I felt a twinge of sorrow. The tattoo on my arm itched as I thought of the task I would be taking on. I resisted the urge to pull up my sleeve and scratch it. The taller, more prominent guard opened the door of a limousine and gestured for me to get in. I slipped in after a moments hesitation. As they started up the engine, I leant my head on the darkened window. I saw Ivy, standing at the window looking out towards us. I longed to reach out to her with my telepathy but I knew that I couldn't do so. I closed my eyes instead and let the steady rumble of the engine soothe me. When I opened my eyes we were entering the gates of the palace. I stared in awe as we drove up to the looming building. I trailed behind the two guards as we entered the palace. They led me through a maze of halls, up to the third floor. 

"This is your room," we had stopped in front of a large wooden door.

"Thank you," I nodded and they left, going back down the corridor. I opened the door and walked inside. It was breathtaking. The room had a plush, double bed with black bedding that had a blood red rose embellished on it. There were two cocoon chairs hanging mid air. Bookshelves lined the walls. All of them reaching the ceiling. I ran my fingers along the maghony shelves. There were books on most of the shelves. The last one was for my own books. I opened the balcony door and stepped outside. There were another two cocoon chairs and a table between them. I looked over the balcony at the others and noticed that many had their own thing. The one opposite me had a garden and another had a stationary bike. Once back in my room I slipped off my cloak and hung it up behind the door. I found a pair of scissors in the desk drawer and used them to cut open one of my boxes. I dug around in it until I found a nightgown. I opened one of the side doors to find… a kitchen? I had to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. The bathroom was clean, white tiles on the walls and blue on the floor. I started up the shower and checked out the beauty products that lined the bench. It was like a mini apartment. After showering, I slipped out of the bathroom onto the soft blood red carpet. I looked around at all my boxes. Sighing I moved to open the nearest one.

"Might as well start unpacking," I uttered to myself. I started to hang up my clothes in the wardrobe, which was the second door, and placing books on the shelves. It took me about an hour to unpack all my belongings. I sat back, feeling accomplished. There was a knock on my door. I walked cautiously towards it and opened it.

"Your Majesty," I opened the door wider and curtsied for Queen Sylvia. 

"Please. Enough with the formality. Just call me Sylvia," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Okay, umm, Sylvia," I said, unsure.

"I take it that the room is to your liking," she gestured around the room at the book shelves.

"Yes. I love it," I nodded.

"It's good to see that you've been able to unpack your belongings," she picked up one of my books. She sighed and placed the book back on the shelf, "I said I would tell you what a Keeper was."

I nodded. She jumped up onto one of the cocoon chairs. I quickly joined her.

"There are vampires in this world that want more power than they can have." she started, "They create vampires from humans. Turned ones. Humans believe that vampires are all turned but that, as we know, is not how it is. Turned vampires are monsters. Blood lusting monsters. It isn't as common anymore but occasionally we get a tip and a Keeper is sent to eliminate it. Your job is to keep our bloodlines pure. As a Keeper you aren't always on call but don't mistake it for being easier. In truth the task you face is harder, more challenging. 

I sat in silence. I was right about having to kill those monsters. Queen Sylvia left shortly afterwards leaving me alone to think about things. I was sitting in a cocoon chair reading Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream when someone knocked on the door. I put the book on the chair and jumped down.

"Yes?" I answered the door.

"I'm Pandora and I'm here to give you something," a girl smiled.

"Come in," she followed me into my room.

"Nice," she looked around my room. "Anyway this is for you."

She handed me a small box. "What is it?"

"Contacts. Not the usual type," she opened it. "Go put them on and I'll explain further."

In the bathroom I put in the contacts and came back out to the room. "Okay."

"Look besides my head," she indicted to a place next to her head. Words came into focus.

"What?" I exclaimed. Her name, date of birth and title were beside her head.

She grinned. "That's not all you can do. If you swipe two fingers down, an icon menu appears."

I did as she said and little circular icons appeared. "How is this possible?"

"The contacts are made like that. I don't know exactly what's behind it but anyway, you can go through a person's history, you can track them, in fact, you can store things." she swiped her fingers down and a menu turned up.

"I can see yours," I said.

"You can see all of them." she pressed a few icons and laid her other hand flat. A dagger appeared in her palm. 

"Wow," I rose my eyebrows.

"It's actually really handy" she pressed another icon and it disappeared. "Only Keepers have these though. We don't want others to find out. You don't have to use them it's not compulsory."

"Thank you," I said and she left. Only after she left did I realise her full name was Pandora Cole. The same Pandora that wrote the journal I found. I looked over to where I had put it on my bookshelf. "Another time." I whispered. "Another time." I yawned and jumped up onto the cocoon chair and continued reading for a while longer before giving in and going to bed.