Blood roses: a Duke x reader story

Chapter 1

A/N: Just so you guys know, this bit of our tale will tell of how you and Missi arrived at the castle before the start of "The Night".  You, the reader will be wearing the outfit in the picture.  So enjoy the story! Remember to save you strength. Its going to be a lengthy night......

Deep within the woods, there lies one of the rarest and most magical flowers known in legend. Known by the name "Blood rose". this dark red flower is incredibly rare and is the stuff of legend. Many say that this flower symbolizes eternal love because it sprang up from the spilt blood of a young woman who died to save her true love. But no one has even caught a glimpse of these flowers because you can only see them if you die.........

The castle loomed before you. It was a formidable looking building, massive and gothic in nature, completely dwarfing the two of you as you stood in the early evening shade. Okay, you had to admit, whoever lived in this castle, they certainly possessed some excellent taste. If you were at least two years older and had about a million more dollars in your pathetic bank account, you could see yourself living in a place akin to this, wearing nothing but gowns in every shade of black and chokers with rubies at the center, moon-bathing on the roofs at night, entertaining people of high caliber at parties that'd make Gatsby himself green with envy, wandering through the winding halls like a girl in a gothic novel, with nothing to light your way through the darkened corridors save for a flickering candelabra......

 You looked up at Missi. "Hey, are you sure about this Missi?"  You asked. Sure, it was a beautiful castle, and the two of you had come a very long way(considering the events of the morning that you didn't even want to consider right now....), but......

Missi looked back at you and smiled. "Well of course! Don't you want to see what's inside, y/n?" Now normally you would be all over doing something like this with Missi, one of your best friends(the two of you had been friends for what seemed like your whole lives, ever since you could remember, you and Missi had been inseparable, going to the library, watching films, hanging around in the graveyard.....) , but you weren't so sure about this.  She sounded awful cheery about this whole thing, and Missi was supposed to be the shy one after all! She defiantly wasn't the type of person that would even consider going into a strange castle into the middle of nowhere, if you had to be honest, Missi was more like the type of girl who preferred to cuddle up underneath a fuzzy blanket in her purple armchair, re-reading Twilight for the umpteenth time......

You on the other hand, had taken up the personality of the spitfire to Missi's shy girl personality. Sure, you hadn't started out that way, in fact, once you were just like Missi, wearing comfortable sweaters, too shy to even consider talking to a boy,  giggling over literary references that you only understood.......

Then, came the whole incident that tore your family apart as you knew it, upsetting the whole "picket fences and casseroles" style life you'd lived until your twelfth birthday, with your dad's sudden and abrupt disappearance(never mind the prickle at the back of your mind that screamed the truth you didn't even want to consider believing....), you'd shed your soft sweaters, began watching your dad's collection of movies(mostly horror films and a few other films that probably weren't exactly appropriate for twelve year old girls) on repeat ,developed a rather snarky attitude, and left your old self far behind. 

"I don't know. I mean everything about this place is giving me a weird horror film vibe." You said, instantly remembering a ton of different horror films where bad things happened to the clueless and stupid characters who usually entered the haunted mansion or the strange murder house. But a weird part of you was curious in some sort of strange way. It was a part of you alien to the rest of yourself, dark, and almost wild in some way.....

Missi rolled her eyes jokingly. "Y/N, I think you've been watching way too many horror films. That's all just movie fiction, remember? This is real life. Big, bad Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kreuger aren't going to jump on you the moment you walk through the door...."

"Yeah, but I am scared of one thing, and that's getting busted. For breaking and entering. And spending the rest of my teenage years, which are supposed to be "the best years of my life"!" You sarcastically quoted one of your teachers at high school, a vaguely hippiesh woman who clearly believed that high school was a wonderful, happy place where everybody joined hands to sing Kumbaya.

Missi giggled at your impression. "Come on y/n. We aren't going to get in trouble. The place looks like it's been deserted for years, so I don't think anyone will give us any trouble. And besides, we need to stop walking! I'm exhausted......." She gave you a little puppy dog pout, widening her brown eyes and making little whimpering noises.

Okay, seriously, Missi had some of her own brand of dark magic, because she must have known that your own hard as flint heart would melt at the thought of helping her out.....

Damn it. Missi really could be annoyingly adorable when she wanted to be.

You rolled your eyes. Really, once Missi had her mind set to something, there was no stopping her, was there? "OK. We'll stop here for a while. But if we get sent to jail, just remember, they don't let you read dumb books about sparkly vampires behind bars." Actually, you weren't even sure if that fact was true at all, heck you were actually kind of interested in exploring this castle, come to think of it......

Missi pretended to look offended at your words.

"Hey, Twilight's  an underrated book! And besides, Edward Cullen's so hot....." She jokingly pretended to swoon, making you laugh aloud at your friend's antics.

"Well okay." You replied, pretending to be frustrated that you had to come along. The two of you reached the front door and pulled it open.

After all, what could happen?(A/N: oh how wrong you were, so very wrong)

 Duke's P.O.V

In a tower far above the two friends, he had been listening to every word. After all, with his keen vampric senses, it was almost a crime just to not listen into the little conversation those broads were having. At least the girl with the glasses had convinced her friend to actually step inside his castle. Jeez, that second girl with her h/c hair and dark clothes was a stubborn one, that was for sure..... But then again, he liked a little bit of spitfire in a woman. It just added to her overall charms......

 Those two tender young girls would surely provide some amusement at least..... He smiled at the thought. The first girl was nothing special, just your run of the mill doll wearing her boxy glasses, sort of tomboyish, the type of chick who wouldn't even say boo to a goose.....But yet, there was something intriguing about the second girl, the stubborn one.... He shook the thought out of his head. Never mind that, there was so much more to be done and it had been quite a while since he had guests for dinner........

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I've just been so busy with schoolwork and other stuff that I haven't had a lot of time to write. Also, sorry for the short chapter, I promise that a longer one will be coming soon. Then we can dive into the stuff you've been waiting for!

The night she calls me....