Chapter 22: Dark queen risen again
Elena strode through the shadows of the parking garage, heels clicking sharply. Reaching a sleek black Tesla, she peered inside but saw no one within. Foolish errand this - her time was precious even if tonight's messenger was not.
She turned to leave when frost bloomed across the vehicle's windows. Heart seizing, Elena whirled to find Damien Durello detached from the darkness itself. His flawless features held only disdain as he glanced around their rough surroundings.
"Must you always gravitate to vulgar back alleys for scheming, Elena?" His bored tone cut like an arctic blade. No one spoke down to her - she was a Shelley by bloodline and status. Yet frigid power rolled off Damien's frame declaring even Elena's ancient pedigree meant nothing to his rarified kind.
Swallowing bitterness, Elena offered her hand gingerly, ignoring the flinch when his deathly skin met hers. Best to humor Original vampire royalty, particularly Rose's scorned lover - their interests aligned neatly it seemed.
"What does The Lord of Ancroft himself want with this humble southern CEO's scraps then?" she asked lightly, flexing numb fingers. If mighty Damien thought her family drama with Rose was beneath him, why was he here?
His icy blue eyes flashed, casting eerie cerulean light across the concrete expanse. "You know very well the only scrap here worth my attention, Elena." His voice took on a lethal smoothness. "That delicate mortal morsel stealing my queen's heart and swaying her traitorous affections."
Elena suppressed a shiver at Damien's territorial rage that matched Rose's over the human - this Blake seemed destined to drive immortals mad with uncanny influence.
She had to play this right - Original vampire obsession was wildly volatile. Still this unexpected alliance with her sister's murderous ex could benefit them both she reasoned.
"Yes the delectable Mr Shelton," she drawled. "Rose guards him so fiercely. But I know ways to...distract sweet sister." She gave him a cunning smile. "That's where you come in, my lord..."
Over the next hour they outlined a ruthless scheme to isolate then exterminate Rose's precious human using Elena's insider status and Damien's ancient dark arts. He proved an attentive student of her insights on Rose's emotional vulnerabilities - the closer to her frozen heart, the crueler his kill strike would pierce.
Elena hid her disgust presenting Blake like a lamb to slaughter. She preferred more subtle approaches personally. Yet something satisfying lay in engineering this violent end for the mousy interloper who reduced proud Rose to a hissing wreck these nights...
As they concluded arrangements, Elena dared pose a delicate question burning on her tongue: "Forgive my intrusion Lord Damien but...why not simply dispatch Rose too for this unforgivable betrayal?"
His bone-white features remained corpse still before replying. "Death grants an eternity together I once promised my Dark Queen. Though Rose betrayed and abandoned me..." His eyes blazed suddenly infernal blue. "...in agony and fury she will come crawling back to my side willingly to redeem herself!"
His vicious roar seemed to suck all warmth from Elena's body. This immortal lord's passion was apocalyptic in its extremes she realized. Glad she had avoided his orbit until now.
With effortless poise, Damien smoothed his jacket, icy composure restored. "You have your orders, Elena. Contact me once the human is vulnerable and our triumph assured." He bared diamond fangs with anticipation. "Rose's precious paramour shall grace my banquet table at long last..."
In a gust of glacial wind, he vanished. Shivering, Elena slipped into her car considering the night's events. She almost pitied her fiery sister and what hellish torments surely awaited at the hands of her demonic former lover...
Almost but not quite. For the Council seat and glory destined for one who dethroned unruly Rose was worth some regrettable collateral damage after all. Smiling to herself, Elena started the engine and headed off into the darkness.
***
Rose paced her office, marble floors cracking under the assault of her stiletto heels. She fought to restrain the panic rising since Damien's sadistic visit. The thought of him ensnaring sweet Blake in his web of pain and manipulation...it gutted Rose more cruelly than any physical torture he could inflict upon herself.
She had no illusions - Damien would be weaving a plan already to shatter their happiness, likely reaching out to current allies. Her fangs throbbed imagining him whispering temptation in Elena's ear, stoking her resentment.
Rose struggled between shielding innocent Blake from the psychic burden and preventing him from noticing anything suspicious. But she knew Blake might suspect and inquire, brave heart that he was.
Even the Devil himself obsessed with recapturing Rose's soul and enslaring it for eternity.
In the end, Blake's freewill meant everything. Rose refused to steal that choice like Damien had once silenced her own cries for escape. She would safeguard her young mortal secretary fiercely, Blake unaware of the whirling dark forces aimed at their ruin. This would be Rose's solitary penance.
Pouring blood-red wine with unsteady hands, Rose sank into the office sofa as contingency plans and scenarios raced through her mind on repeat. Ironclad security protocols would be tripled for Blake of course - hidden discreet guards, encrypted trackers sewn into his clothes, armored vehicles...
Rose crushed the goblet, splattering gore across the white leather. Futile measures if Damien managed to immobilize her first. His sadism would ensure Blake suffered prolonged anguish alone while Rose watched helplessly.
The thought ripped an anguished snarl from her throat. Crockery exploded across the room, wine slicking the walls like open veins. Breathing hard, Rose rested her head in blood-wet hands until cold logic reclaimed its grip.
Hysterics wasted time and aided the enemy. She rose to rinse the carnage away and summon her advisors. As they arrived, Rose outlined an exhaustive battle plan: covert safe houses established for Blake, emergency contingencies for every imaginable attack scenario, a trustworthy security contingent sworn to protect their unaware charge with profoundly lethal measures...
Rose bared fangs daring dissent when instead they bowed obediently before the icy authority radiating from her slender frame. As they dispersed to assignments, Rose felt herself settle into the familiar role of calculating general marshaling forces towards inevitable victory, her weaknesses locked impenetrable behind iron walls once more.
If Demian thought her softened by love, he would discover himself ruinously mistaken. The hard ruthless centuries had merely been prelude before this reckoning. She had mastered death in all its forms - and would teach its forgetting to any who threatened what was hers to claim in immortal life.
Let him come at his hour of choosing then. Her beloved would remain ignorant and innocent of the apocalyptic war waged on his behalf. And Rose would battle eternity itself to shield Blake's kind heart from ever facing demons that she had barely survived herself in endless years prior. Theirs would endure an unbreakable peace, even if bought through blood and hellfire...
This vow pierced Rose's soul with preternatural clarity. Dark queen risen formidable again, she went to prepare for war.
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