Red Like Roses

Chapter 2

Heather looked up as the door to her office swings open and Solace, Willow, Winter, and Danielle their head of security walk in.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Heather teases.

"Why would we ever do that?"Solace asks sitting down on a nearby chair and kicking her feet up to put them on Heather's desk. Heather rolls her eyes as the others sit down chuckling to give their report. " Me and Danielle have increased security and added more patrols. No on gets in or out with out us knowing!" reports Solace confidence dripping from every word. Danielle gives a nod of confirmation before Heather turns to Winter.

"I've ensured that the kids here in the Spire are getting more training in the area of werewolves. But they don't know about the war."Winter says.

"Good we don't wanna cause a panic. The kids have never seen war and over half aren't old enough to do sparring yet." Heather says breathing a small sigh of relief.

"I've had all our faraway scouts come back and had our storage filled to the brim. We won't run out of supplies for the next year at least." Willow says with a small grin, clearly proud of her work. Heather nods.

"That's all good but....," Heather stops herself.

"But what?" asks Solace looking at her sister and becoming the mature reliable one. "You know we're your team you can tell us anything."

Heather sighs," I'm not sure we can beat them. Many of us only have simple training, fighting humans and other common creatures. Not to mention the majority of our population is children and trainees. And I......I don't know if I'm the on to lead us." she finishes. The group falls silent and then Heather feels a hand on her shoulder.

"We will beat them, because we have to. We didn't ask for this war but we will finish it and save everyone we can. And you are the one to lead us or else you wouldn't be here today in this room with all of us ready to put your life on the line for everyone single person in this place." Winter says her voice firm but not unkind.

"Winter's right," continues Willow," but we can't even stand a chance at winning with a leader who looks like she'll fall over if you blow on her. Get some rest Heather. You haven't gotten any sleep since the incident." Heather looks down at her dirty crumpled clothes and then into the mirror on her desk. Her short red and black hair all over the place with tangles throughout it.

How the heck did I get knots in hair that's THIS short? she asks herself.

Her face looks tired and frazzled dark bags under her eyes.

"I suppose you're right,"Heather says at last," but promise me that you'll wake me up if there's any sign of trouble. Got it?"

"Sure thing little sis!" says Solace a smile back on her face," wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun!" As the others leave to go about their daily business Heather heads to her bedroom. As she enters she notices her two dogs Sage and Zwei curled up on her carpet. She checks the doggy door to make sure they hadn't destroyed it yet like in the past during their games. She chuckles at the memories as she takes a quick shower before changing and tip-toeing around her dogs to her bed. She lays down and quickly falls into a dreamless slumber.

Hether opens her eyes with a start. She isn't sure what awoke her but even with her mind still clouded by sleep she knows something isn't right. She continues to pretend as though she is still asleep, keeping her breathing even, and presses her emergency button on the bracelet that she wears at all times. It connects to each of her team mates who have copies of the bracelet. She hears the sound of metal on leather.

A weapon! she thinks as quiet footsteps approach her.

She wraps her hand around her weapon, Crescent Rose, and tenses slightly. She can now hear the breath of the intruder. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the glint of metal being raised above her neck. As the assassin brings the weapon down Heather jumps out of her bed and her scythe unfolds from it's dormant form. Now she has a good look at the intruder. They wore a hooded cape much like herself but instead of red it was a mix of black, grey, and other colors of the night. The assassin's face is shrouded in darkness and only their amber like eyes shined through. The man slips the weapon that they had been using into the folds of their cloak. Heather sighs.