Roseblood

By Emily Shore

TWILIGHT & PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

If only Reina Caraway could stop waking up in vineyards with bruises on her back and bloody roses and corpses at her feet!

As the only human in a secret society of vampires and werewolves prophesied to rule both races, Reina has more than her fair share of pressure. Add her growing supernatural abilities, a stalker murderer able to cloak her scent, two rival vampires training while competing for her heart, and even the Queen enlisting her aid, it's just another typical day in Le Couvènte.

The perfect recipe for murder, mystery, romance, and suspense set against the decadent Redwoods and wine-soaked backdrop of Northern California.

Twilight fans are sure to love Roseblood and its sequels growing to Game of Thrones stakes.

What others are saying:
"What to read after Twilight!"
"Perfect for Midnight Sun Fans."
"Gripping and addicting."
"Classic vampire lore with a twist."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emily Shore
• Release date: Sep 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463717271

Emily Shore

Emily Shore is a MN author with a B.A. in Creative Writing from Metro State University and was a grand prize winner of #PitchtoPublication, which led her to working with professionals in the publishing industry. Her anti-trafficking books Ruby in the Rough and Ruby in the Ruins are her first indie-published books with proceeds benefiting trafficking rescue organizations. She is signed with Clean Teen Publishing for her anti-trafficking dystopian The Aviary. For every book sold, a personal donation will return to Women At Risk, International.Throughout the years, she has connected with rescue organizations and survivors of sex-trafficking and injects the truths she's learned into her books for youth. She loves motivational speaking on the issue of sex-trafficking and always hopes for more speaking events in schools, churches, and libraries. Please contact her on her website if you are interested in hearing her speak. In her spare time, she loves attending any abolition events, baking, acrylic painting, interior decorating, and spending time with all the little girls in her life.Emily lives in Saint Paul with her husband and two daughters. Their goal is to adopt a little girl from India.

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The Roseblood Series, Book One

Emily Shore

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Roseblood

Copyright ©2019 by Emily Shore

Cover Art: M.A. Phipps

Copyright © 2019 Emily Shore

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without prior written permission of the publisher. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to:

Permissions, ARK, PO Box 211155, Saint Paul, MN 55121.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Further, readers should be aware that Internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it was read.

For more general information about our organization or technical support, find us at: http://emilybethshore.com

ARK publishes its books in a variety of electronic and print formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books and vice versa.

Front Cover © 2019 Molly Phipps, We Got You Covered

ISBN (Print): 978-1689765282

ISBN (eBook): 978-0463717271

For Kevin because of that night on the porch.

Thank you for listening, for acknowledging my feelings,

and for telling me that I wasn’t evil for writing about vampires.

Most of all, thank you for encouraging me to keep writing.

~ 1 ~

The Blood Farm

How on earth did I get here?

I’d woken to frost prickling the naked soles of my feet, a January wind bristling against my cheeks, and the sound of coyotes growling. Too close.

Shocked and shivering, I sprung away from the barbed wire fence, humming with electricity. In the early, gray dawn light, the coyote pack paced along the perimeter, sniffing.

It was a blood animal farm. The kind my family never allowed me to see even if I’d read about them in school. Which clan’s territory was this? Thanks to the high Redwoods bordering the vineyard, I knew I was on the edge of Le Couvènte.

My meager pajamas offered little comfort from the pre-sunrise wind. Almost worse was how my shoulders throbbed. Wincing, I kneaded my fingers into my shoulder blades, but the gooseflesh on my exposed skin was an ever-present reminder that I needed to get someplace safe. But safe seemed miles away.

At first, I doubled over, laughing. As the only human in a supernatural family and city, I’d learned to laugh at the strange and occasionally dangerous affairs of life.

Best prank ever, guys. Now, come get me, I commanded my brothers, raising my voice an octave, but then shook my head, rationalizing.

This was no prank. This was…dangerous.

Someone…someone powerful had moved my body in the middle of the night without my family knowing and brought me here.

When I stepped forward, something pricked my foot. Peering down, I leaned over to pick up the fresh rose: an awkward presence in the vineyard. Examining it, I shuddered.

The rose was bloody.

I slammed my eyes shut, remembering something from a dream. No, a nightmare. A vampire caped in shadows. Faceless. I shook my head, wishing I could rid myself of the memories. A human girl in a white dress. A bloody rose. In my dream, she didn’t even have time to scream before his strong arms nuzzled her neck and his fangs buried deep into her tender throat. He’d tossed a long-stemmed rose to the ground, picked up her body, and carried her into the vineyard.

This same rose. This vineyard.

I felt a chill like hoarfrost creep up my spine. I spun my head, searching for a predator. Was I next?

No. Instead, I flung the bloom to the ground and gritted my teeth, proclaiming, I haven’t survived the past seventeen and a half years in Le Couvènte to become a morning entrée!

Immediately, I started running down the last vineyard row toward the familiar Redwood trees. Giants compared to the miserly blood farm trees on my left. Just as I reached the vineyard’s end, I tripped over something large…and soft. My hand discovered chilled skin, icy flesh. Biting back a scream, I scrambled away on my hands and knees and silently chastised myself when I froze to look back at the corpse. Bloodless as a stone. More Déjà vu. It was the same victim from my nightmare. A human girl.

No wonder the coyotes were growling. Attracted to the scent of decaying flesh, they tempted the fence line before yelping from the electrified barrier. I almost yelped, too, but my throat lost it somewhere between gasps.

Suddenly, I heard another growl. Distant. Carried on the wind from somewhere behind me at the other end of the vineyard. A vampire snarl. Freezing was my default. No possibility of a human fighting them. Thanks to my father’s training, I hacked away at my default by breathing in four times and using my nails as miniature spikes to carve crescent marks in my arms. Finally, without daring to turn my head, I somehow got to my feet and raced toward the vineyard’s edge. Toward the Redwoods. Until the vampire emerged from the tree line…crouched in hunting form.

There was nowhere to run except back toward the body. I was done running. Nothing left to do but stand and stare him down like a queen. Every vampire and werewolf in Le Couvènte knew of my birth and humanity. From my mother and father’s former reign as monarchs to the No-Human Blood Law, I was untouchable.

But as the corpse proved, this was a prime place for a murder.

As soon as the vampire landed before me, I sighed, knees almost buckling in relief. Raoul, I uttered my friend’s name. A friend who’d saved my life ten years ago.

Taking an early stroll, Reina?

There was no time to play along. As if picking up on the death aroma and my panic, Raoul hastened to my side.

Something’s happened, I tried to explain but choked on the words.

Instead of inspecting the corpse just a short distance away, Raoul refused to leave my side. He centered his dilated eyes on me. No scarlet traces in his pupils. Your heart is racing. Are you hurt?

No, I gasped, nearly heaving. But I need to get out of here. The Council, they―

He raised a hand. Hold onto me?

I loved how even his well-meaning commands were always questions. Accepting his offer of speedier transportation, I wrapped my arms around his neck. This would be awkward if Raoul wasn’t such an old friend, such a good friend…with my whole family.

The wind stirred my deep mahogany hair so it flicked along his cheekbones—chiseled, defined—and cast a scent of damp moss and evergreens. Of dew-drenched hunting grounds: familiar woodlands around our homes since Raoul was our neighbor. I breathed deep, using the scent to steady my quivering hands right before he shifted into vampire speed.

Deeper in the Redwoods surrounding my home, Raoul began to slow. Hanging tight to Raoul’s neck, I twisted my neck to see my family’s house a half-mile through the trees. As soon as one of his hands navigated up my shoulder, I cried out, Stop!

Inertia struck my body like a cymbal crash. Raoul held me fast to prevent me from falling, hands like dagger hilts on my flesh.

Raoul slowly loosened his grasp, no doubt relaxing in the groves and thickets surrounded by Redwoods. No danger here…for either of us. Even if vampires didn’t immediately burn in sunlight, it could still damage their skin unlike a human like me. Similar to second or third-degree burns after a few minutes with a longer healing process. Thanks to their hyper-dilated irises and sensitive retinas, sunlight rendered them blind if they so much as stared for a moment. Not to mention how much it diminished their energy and abilities. Raoul’s fog and shadow skin was too beautiful to damage. Both milky and dark. Contrary to popular opinion, not all vampires were pale as the moon.

First, I caught my breath, then rubbed my shoulders again. If they were bleeding, Raoul would have smelled it, would have alerted me.

What’s wrong? Concern laced Raoul’s voice.

Please check my shoulders. I’m in so much pain. I…I don’t know what’s going on. I winced, pivoting my back to him.

I craned my head. Raoul blinked twice as if checking my body language for more permission. Once his cold hands descended on the back of my nightgown, easing it down just a little, I trembled, cringing again. One moment was all it took for Raoul to shift my nightgown back into place before swinging around to face me.

Reina, what happened this morning?

I studied the creasing of his brow. Almost shuddered at his bronze eyes like iron in fire as they narrowed pointedly. What is it? What’s going on?

You have bruises all over your upper back.

~ 2 ~

Discovery

We lingered so I could collect my thoughts before diving into my family’s drama.

Sure, I’d served up drama throughout the years. Growing up as the sole human in a city, in a family of vampires and wolves was intense. I’d worked hard to tame any monsters going bump in the night. Still, there was no way to prepare for stumbling across a dead body. Her image stuck.

When did your shoulders start hurting? inquired Raoul, pacing. His method of reflection to work out all the pieces. He moved with a soldier’s posture but a casual grace. A byproduct of his choice to enlist in every war in U.S. history since the Civil War. I admired his patience. All I wanted to do was punch a tree.

As soon as I woke up in the vineyard. Did he want to go back and search the area? No, he wouldn’t leave me alone.

I should have felt outraged. The thought of someone touching me while I slept…hurting me. I shivered. More from the shade than the bruises. I envied how temperature meant nothing to Raoul. In response, the vampire removed his leather jacket and draped it around my arms. I nodded a thank you.

Tucking a tendril of my spicy brown hair behind my ear, I licked my lips and explained, I had a nightmare and woke up there. I don’t know how.

I should take you home. So, he had no answers either. So safe and rational. His bronze shrine eyes hemmed me in, reminding me of his past, of tragic rumors. As one of few bitten vampires in the area…and older, Raoul guarded his background.

Please don’t tell anyone about the bruises. Not yet, I pleaded. I didn’t need my family freaking out any more than I knew they were. One thing at a time. First, the corpse.

No, it should come from you, confirmed Raoul.

Nowhere near ready, I leaned up against a nearby Redwood, pondering, I’m going to be late for school. Everyone would be disappointed if I didn’t make it. For more reasons than one. I didn’t exactly have friends. Hopefully, the press wouldn’t get a hold of this.

I sighed. Mom’s going to kill me.

If Heath doesn’t beat her to it.

Yes, my oldest brother. Heath had only grown more protective of me after I’d hit puberty. At least we were close. Combined with my parents’ respected former reign, Heath was the main reason I’d never suffered any serious bullying or threats throughout the years. Thanks to his power and abilities, the occasional roving blood gang had tried…but failed to capture me.

As Raoul approached again with his wings testing the air, I decided to ask, Do you think this is related to the prophecy?

When Raoul wrapped his arms around my waist while I stepped onto his boots, he stared down at me with his fathomless bronze eyes and confessed, I believe so, Reina Caraway.

Heath was the first to almost kill me.

Already dressed for the day, he met Raoul and I in the driveway, grabbed my arm, pulled me close to his chest, and threw his arms around my back. Where the hell have you been?! I cringed at the thought of my telepath brother figuring out what happened. I’d hold out as long as I could, reverting to my default method of blocking his thoughts.

Is that the lamb’s wool sweater? I remarked on the gray material with the shawl-collar. Heaven forbid Heath leave the house without looking his best.

Stop joking. Heath’s eyes dilated, black overwhelming his lagoon irises as he cupped my shoulders and stared down at me. I rolled my eyes and tapped his aquiline nose, stepping back as he probed, "Where were you? Whole family’s gone crazy trying to track your scent. And seriously? Your mental palace? What are you hiding?" It wasn’t a palace. It was a fortress with a moat and flying sharks and other mythical creatures guarding it.

Puzzled, I glanced back at Raoul before peering at Heath. You couldn’t find my scent?

What in the hell?

Told you she’d show up, muttered Brian.

I spun to my right to see my other older brother. His sculpted chest peeked through hisleather jacket―careless hair wind-tossed from what was undoubtedly a morning transformation due to my disappearance. He flicked away a tuft of fur from his shoulder. You’re going to burst a blood vessel someday, fussing over her all the time. When Brian slapped me across the back, I yowled, but Brian feigned innocence. What?

Nothing… I cracked my neck to the side and retreated further into my castle to keep away all thoughts of the bruises.

"You’ve been gone for an hour. That is hardly nothing," Heath warned, voice low, tone otherwise so regal now grim.

Calm down. I tried to lighten the mood, poking my oldest brother’s side while reciting Les Misérables in my head. All I know is I went to bed last night, had a nightmare, and woke up in some abandoned vineyard on the edge of Le Couvènte. The one next to an animal blood farm right before I tripped over a dead body.

Crap. The moment his nostrils flared, I knew Heath had heard that stray thought. At least it was the right one. Not the bruises one. Heath couldn’t exactly help it. From the day of my birth, his mental radar had always been tuned to mine.

Reina.

My father’s voice summoned everyone’s attention, cutting off any chance Heath had of making a scene.

Come inside before you catch frostbite, Dad commanded. While I walked up our wrap-around porch steps to where he stood, he ordered Heath and Brian, Boys, we’ll work this out inside. Your mother is beside herself.

Dad, I’m fine. I swear!

Dad squeezed my shoulder. Thank God for that. Your mother wants to see you.

Before Mom, I informed Dad about the corpse. He excused himself to make a phone call, If anyone could figure out what the heck had happened, Dad would be the one.

Once I stepped inside my family’s modest 1800’s Victorian home, I exhaled, relieved. I loved everything from our historic porch, stone scrollwork, and cone-shaped tower to its inner antique design and woodwork. Somehow, it all mingled with my mother’s modern-day furnishings.

Mom promptly fussed over me as much as Heath. Thankfully, no reports about my disappearance had surfaced on the news. Just quarrels over blood territory, farms, and an arson report of a Le Couvènte safe house. Normal for an election year.

Pay up, Brian ordered Heath. I told you Mom would cry.

Behind me, Heath groaned, and I turned around, snapping at the boys. Cut it out, you idiots.

Brian coughed loudly, following with, Princess.

Queen someday, I corrected him, noticing Heath wince.

If the Founder’s prophecy was true, I would become Le Couvènte’s Queen. So, I couldn’t panic. No matter how human I was, no matter how the empty white glove of a corpse still haunted me, I refused to crumble. Not if I wanted the throne. Not if I was destined for it.

After diffusing Mom, I’d taken all I could. My family was beginning to cloy. Anxious to get upstairs, I alerted them. I need a shower. We can sort this all out when I come back down, I suggested.

Yes, Dad agreed, finished with his call. He swayed to Mom’s side, paused, and glanced toward the front door. Did Raoul leave?

Heath folded his arms across his chest. Yes. He told me all he did was hunt a little further from his usual grounds and smelled Reina in the vineyard.

I’ll thank him later. Dad nodded, his deep chocolate curls leaping from his brow to his cheek. If he didn’t hunt so early in the morning… He didn’t finish because it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t want to consider what could have happened either. The growl I’d heard still gnawed on my insides.

For all we knew, someone from Le Couvènte High could have targeted me, though I doubted it. Few believed in the prophecy of some ancient Founder, even with his unprecedented foresight. Foresight was tricky after all. At first, I considered telling Dad about my dream, but I was desperate for a shower first. It could wait-ish.

She’s getting bossier, I overheard Brian complain as I headed up the stairs.

By the way, Brian, you stole the tiramisu I was saving for myself last night.

No, I didn’t! Brian guffawed at Heath’s accusation.

I smirked. I’d stolen it, but Heath would nag Brian about it for days while I reveled. Youngest girl of two brothers…no one ever suspected me.

In the northeast corner of the house facing the street was my room where I did a little jig. Nothing like a brush with death to get your blood pumping and heart rejoicing! Shuffling out of my pajamas, I dumped them on the floor, skidded into my personal bathroom, and turned around to eye the bruises. Worse than I’d imagined. My flesh was dark but puckered like violets budding. Some of my skin was inflamed and sore. I touched one mark and winced, recoiling with a spoken ‘Ow!’. If Heath found out about this, he would burst all his blood vessels. I should tell Dad, but I was afraid he’d keep me from school longer. The last thing I wanted was confinement. No one would ever shut me in a cage. Not even my family.

Over the years, countless critics had opinionized that my parents should have given me up for adoption. A human didn’t belong in this world. Humans managed to coexist with vampires in small Sanguinarian pockets here and there. Or in European sects with their human familiars.

As far as I knew, Le Couvènte was the only society with three races living together. Even if the third race was a population of one.

Turning on the hot water, I braced myself and stepped inside the shower. When the scalding water hit my shoulders, I shrieked. I washed away the smell of decaying flesh, the touch of the icy morbid corpse, the flecks of blood that had stained my fingers from the rose.

For years, I’d held my own with my brothers. I wasn’t bossy. Brian was just the atypical middle child who enjoyed dominating me. No, I was confident. Okay, sometimes overconfident. After numerous dangers I’d encountered since I was a child, I owned that.

Only, this morning was different. This wasn’t a random threat of passion. This was calculated, predatory. It stung…so, I put my head between my naked legs and screamed hard into a washcloth, biting down hard. I considered how close I’d come to joining the corpse. Why did the bruises seem like a comfort in comparison?

After getting out, I drew images on the steamy mirror. Vines…and blood. I recounted my nightmare: a white dress, fangs sinking into her neck, and a rose tossed like an afterthought.

It was time to tell my father about the dream.

For all we know, this could be an ability manifesting, perhaps even prompted by your subconscious… Dad commenced the discussion in our family’s living room with me at the center―nothing new in our family―, If so, I should notify the Council.

Would I possibly get to meet the Queen? What a thrill! No, not under these conditions, I internally ridiculed myself. A human girl was murdered. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know her. Someone knew her. She was someone. Why did I find her? My blood froze at the memory of two holes in her neck. The feeling of dead flesh. I tempered the memory, warmed it with emotional fire. Was this murder connected to the prophecy? After all, this was the first human murder in Le Couvènte since our Founding days.

Someway, somehow, I needed to help the Queen bring this murderer to justice.

If I became Queen, no human blood would be shed in our homeland just as the Le Couvènte Queens of the past had done before me, honoring our ancestors, our Founders.

Few still believed that a human, the weakest member, could ever become Queen. It was far-reaching.

I squeezed my shoulders and offered a slim-to-none theory, So, some weird sleepwalking thing?

That conveniently conceals your blood scent so no one else can follow? Heath countered like a bishop taking a pawn. His posture was stiff as he lowered onto the couch’s armrest next to me. And with the bloody rose, the same victim from her dream, we can’t simply ignore it. And leaving the victim right near an animal blood farm is a bold move. Was it a message?

Dad regarded Heath. We don’t have enough information. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

Heath’s prickly countenance settled before Dad thanks to our father’s eraser power.

I shrugged before leaning deeper into the couch, tugging at my long chunky sweater. If this is an ability manifesting, I don’t want it. I shivered at the memory of my nightmare and its fulfillment. I can’t believe this is my destiny.

Brian stretched his arms out, yawning. Here we go again! I threw him a look.

Brian, if you even think of accusing me of overdramatizing after the morning I’ve had, I swear I will shave you in your sleep!

Mom’s eyes pounced on Brian, threatening him with her famous Medusa-glare. I loved how I’d inherited that. Your sister’s fate is at stake, she advocated for me.

Brian sulked and sunk deeper into the couch to avoid her stone-turning gaze before nodding in my direction. You’re all overreacting. She’s fine! I wondered how Brian would react if he saw my bruises, given his temper when it came to protecting his family.

Only thanks to Raoul, Heath mentioned and rose.

Let him go if he wants, I tried to persuade Mom. I’m fine. I wanted to go to school. If the prophecy weren’t common knowledge, I wouldn’t have had a care in the world, but with the pressure building and an entourage of suck-ups trailing me in the halls, I was getting impatient. And restless.

Reina. Dad suggested, You should get something to eat and rest. I’ve already spoken with Enton Carolton. The Council will deal with the matter. Enton was the head Council Member, the mouthpiece.

Agreeing, I helped myself to a quick breakfast and locked myself in the library. On my way over, I peeked through the gap of Heath’s door to see him sketching, designing a costume. His method to release tension.

The library was my special place. The mahogany mantle over the vintage fireplace. The balcony with its coffee-colored railings edged in a semicircle. The floor-to-ceiling windowed rotunda on the opposite side. I loved everything. When he first bought the house before Heath was born, my father contributed the library. Without his books, he couldn’t survive. I was my father’s daughter.

I didn’t care that I was stereotypical from my love of Jane Austen, Broadway musicals, and pumpkin spice everything. Let the jocks love their sports. The goths, their black everything. The nerds, their tech. Growing up with one fashionista and foodie brother and another who loved horror and old cars, I wouldn’t begrudge anyone’s fandoms.

No pleasure reading today. I needed answers. Unfortunately, after hours, my research yielded little results, other than family history.

My parents had the most successful and peaceful reign. Although they were both from a prestigious clan and pack, people still looked down on their union. More than anything, I wanted to abolish that stigma. Perhaps the bloodlines would never mingle or prejudice disappear. But maybe…just maybe we could coexist in peace and respect instead of just coexisting.

After hearing the door open, I stepped down from the window seat on the upper level and moved toward the balcony railing. Nodding down at my father, I didn’t close my book to ask, What’s up?

I spoke with Enton, he explained, hand gliding up the banister toward me. Reina, your wish to meet with our monarchs will come sooner than you anticipated.

Part of me wanted to shrink, intimidated. The other part of me rejoiced―my heart a bonfire for my blood to dance around. I planted my hands solid on my book to ask, Who else knows?

Only the Council.

Good. If it was public knowledge, I’d never get a moment’s peace. And the last thing anyone wanted was a copycat murder. I only hoped I could help catch this asshole. Hopefully before he targeted me again.

When will I meet the Queen?

Chapter ~ 3 ~

The Invitation

School finally!

It still felt weird having my brothers shadow me. Weird but necessary. Heath was twenty-six and Brian was twenty-three. They both had college degrees but were permitted at the high school as my bodyguards. The alternative was professionals or homeschooling. Not a chance, given my extraversion and stubbornness. Once, Dad had opted for living outside Le Couvènte so I could go to a normal school, but Mom wouldn’t hear of it. This was her home. Besides, if anyone outside Le Couvènte discovered our family’s secrets…

As I traveled to my locker, I noticed members of the Snowden pack congregating around each other, proud sneers directed toward the Minneli clan. A twinge of righteous fury invaded my heart.

Instead of personality cliques in Le Couvènte High, we had clans and packs. Wolf packs like the Snowden one looked down on the Minneli vampire clans, any vampire clans. Because of me, my brothers had yet to join any―unusual for their age―, but our family’s royal status didn’t render them pariahs. I wasn’t exactly a pariah. More like a science experiment of different blood types poured into a flask. We were a supernatural DNA cacophony poured into the world’s largest blender. Pulse well.

I slipped a history book from our library into my backpack and closed my locker. Since my search had given me nothing, when I met with the Queen, I fully intended to ask if I could procure a special visit to the High Council Library. Only Council members had access to the annals where the prophecy existed. I still didn’t know which Founder had written it; since they were all in sleep stasis, it was impossible to ask.

As my brothers escorted me to