Nine Years Later
Rose stands right across the street staring at the club in front of her. She watches as people line up to enter the building, ready to have fun for the night, forget their problems, and let loose.
She'll be going into that club, but she's not going to be having fun, well, she will be having fun, and that fun isn't going to be dancing or drinking or flirting with cute boys-not that she ever does, but she is going to be killing monsters. What's more fun than killing monsters?
She turned seventeen yesterday and in the witch and werewolf community, once you turn seventeen, you're given a test to have your first kill, kill a monster and get the mark of Hela. A mark given to werewolves and witches by the Gods for passing their test.
Rose has been training for this since she moved into her Uncle's house. She's vowed to be the best she can be, trained day and night, read about the monsters that lurk in the shadows, learned every spell and controlled her instincts.
She's both a werewolf and a witch, so she'll be doing the test for both. Which sounds hard, but not hard to her. She's not going to allow Piper Blackwell to get into her head about how she's a monster just like the ones they're meant to fight.
If she's going to be a monster, then let this monster be able to kill other monsters.
"You ready?" her cousin, Derek, asks her.
She turns around and gives him a look.
"I was born ready," she says with a tiny smile on her face.
"Ha, pride, pride's not gonna get you anywhere, little cuz," he says. Derek has always been there for her, her big cousin. He had his first kill years ago; he was tasked to kill an ogre. He did so, but the ogre's stench came onto him, and he smelled like shit for weeks. But he still passed.
He's a very handsome man indeed. Twenty-one, muscular, full lips, perfect dark skin, his hair in a buzz cut, which Rose is getting used to seeing because he used to keep his hair in a full afro.
He's always protected her from the other werewolves and witches who try to make her feel like shit for being a hybrid. Rose doesn't just see him as a cousin but a brother who always has her back.
"Well, I've been preparing for this moment my whole life, so excuse me if I have a little pride in me. I just have to do it." She says, her smile still intact.
"You're excited about this, aren't you?" Derek asks with his arms crossed.
"I get to kill a monster for the first time. Of course, I'm excited," she says, blinking. She's been ready for this, and there's no way she's going to destroy the Lockwood name by failing.
The Lockwoods are one of the most famous werewolf families in the United States, and they've always been protecting humans from monsters for centuries and have never failed a test. Rose isn't going to be the first. Rose knows she's going to pass this test. She's not being prideful; she just has faith.
Although there are people who have failed this test and if you fail the test, witch or werewolf you're going to be stripped of your powers by the Gods, and your family will definitely disown you. Rose has seen it happen, and it's not cute.
But at the same time, she doesn't think it's fair and a bit dramatic. Taking their powers, yeah, makes sense, but disowning your own child? Now that's crazy.
"I know, you were born ready for this." Derek says.
"Of course I am." She turns around, and Derek chuckles and shakes his head.
"Okay, let's do this," she says, crossing the road.
"Good luck!" Derek yells.
"I don't need luck!" Rose yells back, and Derek knows that she really doesn't because Rose is lucky herself.
Despite being bullied or made fun of or treated like an oddity by both communities, she's still managed to be number one. Number one in spells and haunting, and fighting and everything you can think of.
Rose isn't number one simply because she wants to be number one, but because she just wants to prove to everyone that she belongs and she's not a mistake like most people think.
She's not supposed to exist; she's heard that a thousand times since she got here.
Although, it's not all werewolves and witches who are like this, some don't care that she's a hybrid.
She struts to the club with so much confidence. Her aura is too powerful. People stare at her, both men and women. They love how powerful and badass she looks.
Rose is beautiful, this she knows. She has had a lot of guys approach her, but she's rejected them because she doesn't have time for boys. She's never had a boyfriend, never had a crush and never had her first kiss.
She's not a romantic like her best friend Violet. She thinks romance is a waste of time.
But she is pretty.
Honey brown skin that glows when she's under the sun, her hair is a curly afro, her lips full and beautiful, cognac brown eyes, long lashes and a nose ring she had to beg her Aunt to get.
She loves the colour black, and she loves to dress like a rockstar.
Right now she's dressed in a black leather jacket, underneath a black crop top, black jeans and boots. She wears a silver cross around her neck, and she has two rings on her right fingers and three on her left ones, then there's the black friendship bracelet her bestie Violet gave to her when they were eleven.
She puts on a leather jacket when she's about to fight a monster. Because just like Superman has his cape, she has her leather jacket.
But she's never going to say that out loud.
She walks past the people in line waiting to show the bouncer their ID.
She stands in front of the tall, large black bald bouncer with tattoos all over his body, he looks at her up and down.
"You can't cut the line, sweetheart," he says, and Rose smirks and looks at the adults waiting in line. Then, she adjusts herself in a way that makes her not noticeable, and she flashes her eyes. They turn golden.
The bouncer relaxes his face when he realises.
"Oh, sorry," he says, then steps aside. She nods and then walks into the building.
"Good luck," he says. And Rose rolls her eyes.
Why the fuck do people think I need luck? She asks herself.
But she doesn't care; she moves forward, and the sound of the music gets louder and louder. Then it becomes loud to the point where she knows for a fact that she's in a club.
She looks around her and she sees people dancing, some are having a drink at the bar, some are just making out, they look like they're about to swallow each other up. She grimaces and then looks away from the couple kissing each other. Or are they even a couple she doesn't care.
Rose has never been in a club before, but she's not here to enjoy mundane things. She's here to kill a monster.
But before that, she needs a drink, she's thirsty. She walks straight to the bar. While she walks over to the bar, she looks around her to see if she'll spot any suspicious activity.
She's been given a task to kill a wendigo. She knows about wendigos. They're tricky creatures but they can be killed. It's not hard.
Rose sits on the stool.
"What can I get you, beautiful?" the hot bartender with the Justin Bieber haircut asks her.
"Uh, orange juice, please," she says, and he snaps a finger.
"Coming right up." he walks away, and while he's doing that, she looks around her. It feels surreal being in here.
"Here you go. One orange juice for the black queen," he winks and Rose cringes. She doesn't know why boys think that will work on her. It won't.
She thanks him and begins to drink. She keeps her eyes glued to everyone in here, trying to catch any kind of suspicion.
"Another drink for the special lady," the man says, and she turns around with confusion written all over her face.
"Uh, I didn't order this," she says.
"He did," the bartender points, and she follows his direction to see a man lifting his glass toward her. He's in his forties, he wears a suit, and Rose is a hundred per cent sure he's married but is hiding his ring.
Gross.
She looks away from him, and then she catches something suspicious. A man in a hoodie looks from left to right. Rose sees that his eyes are pitch black.
Yep, that's a wendigo. A smirk appears on her face.
Then she shoves the last juice into her system and then leaves the stool and heads toward the wendigo.
She has to walk past a bunch of dancers, some drunk girls even hype her up, begging her to dance with them.
"Next time, next time." Rose says, smiling, and her smile disappears as soon as she leaves their vicinity. Then she heads out back to the VIP section.
She looks around her, and she moves forward toward the red curtain, but slowly. She tries to use her super hearing to know what's going on. But what she hears is groans and the sounds of punches.
There's a fight going on behind the curtain. What?
She lifts the curtain, and then she sees someone fighting the wendigos.
No, not a person.
A vampire.
A vampire is fighting the wendigos.