The Rose & The Hat [Rose The Hat/Female Reader Oc] [Doctor Sleep]

Naughty Little Gift

The first time Rose connected with the kid took her completely by surprise.

"I'll prepare food with Annie; make arrangements; the cooking van is mine this evening."

"Oh, we're eating like kings tonight." Crow nodded, making sure to show Rose an endearing smile.

She smirked back, dismissing him.

The True hadn't had a good rube meal in a while. They tended to pester convenience stores and fast-food places; just like the camper-rubes they pretended to be. She was going to buy fresh food for that particular meal. Lots of it. So maybe Sarey and Tommy could help her a little—they knew enough about cooking—besides, Apron Annie already had some ideas of what she wanted to cook alongside her.

She stretched, thinking about the last time they had eaten such food. It had been a cold winter. Their last hunt had been a good one so they decided to give the rube holidays a taste. Turkey, a thing called romeritos—Brown Joseph said that dish was part of his rube family Christmas tradition—plus several other meals were enjoyed at that time.

Steam had been in steady supply for a while, and Rose wanted to stretch their luck enjoyment lapse as much as possible. She loved seeing her people happy and well-fed. Survival was far different from living, and she wanted those under her watch to not only survive but to live. Life itself was a steam vamp's reason to live.

She had a small feeling then—a tinkling emotion that told her something big was coming. Something good and something bad. She didn't know exactly when, exactly how, or the order in which it would come (good or bad first?). But she could perceive the thud it made from far, far away.

Sound can be deceiving, though...

She gave a lopsided smile as she checked her wallet to see how many ingredients she could buy alone and to premeditate the quantity of money she would have to withdraw from one of their trusted sites.

As she counted cash, it happened.

Rose's mind was pulled elsewhere in a flash of incandescent power. And something that had been impossible until then, happened. Rose wasn't able to stop it. She was known as the strongest steamhead to ever head a Knot. Back in the olden days, when rubes needed the power steam provided for survival and developed their silver mist way better (it lasted for longer and was stronger—tastier), she had been rivaled a few times, but never beaten. So, for the first time in her everlasting time, she had been outpowered.

Who...

She wondered as the blink of transportation occurred. And there, she heard it. There was a voice—a little kid's voice.

Ayuda...

The voice screamed. But, she knew that small mouth hadn't moved with that pattern, no, other words came out of it, but her soul screamed it.

AYUDA

From the little Spanish she knew, Rose understood that that was a cry for help. Her eyes glowed a pale blue as she finally took in the world around her. She smirked, feeling a tad taken off guard yet mostly amused. Once she saw what was happening, she understood why her mind had been taken there. There she saw a tiny body being beaten purple by an unstable, angry, and scared woman. From the little information she had, she guessed the fuming lady was none other than the little girl's mother—or her counterproductive caregiver. And Rose wondered. Rose wondered if the child had added to the angry woman's instability, though that thought probably applied to all neurotic mothers and fathers out there. The vampiric woman meant more than that, though... the child; the little thing that was suffering right in front of her was releasing a lot of steam. Not only that, but the power Rose felt was unlike any other she had ever found. Bigger than hers by far, but not as polished or sharp. Not yet... It was raw in its wake. Delicious... She could taste it and she wasn't even physically there (that's how strong that pup was). The little one had pulled her all the way there. Rose could feel she was fucking far from her body, so much so that she could barely feel it breathing lightly, but she couldn't even pinpoint it anymore. Going back to it was probably going to be abrupt and unpretty. She frowned for a slight moment before placing all her attention on that pretty little hurting cub. The child had probably been so scared that she wanted someone to aid her—anyone—so much that her power finally erupted. Though Rose bet, no, she knew that the kid had manifested talent since younger. Such grand silver didn't stay quiet for long. The child probably reached out to whoever was closer, whoever resembled her. Someone who produced a huge amount of steam.