A Vampire Named Rose

Chapter Thirty One

I have always wanted to see Paris but not while running for my life. The sun was setting over the city and the goal was to make it to a boat so we can go to London for the library. The damn huntress ruins everything. Peter finally pulled into a shipyard and we managed to make it onto a ship headed for London.

Peter, Pavel, and Svetlana went one way on the ship and I went with Gabriel. He had me in a vice grip.

"Rose, this is your first time being near humans since you know what. I don't want you to lose control. There are plenty of seedy areas of London to go hunting."

"Gabriel, I feel fine."

The man looked at me puzzled.

"You are not hungry? Rose, it took me fifteen years before I felt like I would not drain every human I saw dry."

"No, I am not. Maybe it is something left over from the soul? I hope Pavel and Svetlana are okay."

Gabriel cocked his head. "That's why we need to go to the library in London. My guess is the demon has minimal influence over you. I have heard of that happening."

"Would the London library have anything on dealing with the Huntress?"

"They might since the first Huntress came from England. Now Rose, don't try to argue about going back to nursing. That's playing with fire."

I spun around. "Gabriel, is this about the Huntress? I would say give it another twenty years before I even consider medical school. However, I know I would have to go through nursing school again."

He pulled me closer. "You stubborn squid. I want to make sure you are not going to massacre a hospital, Rose. I know with a soul, you had perfect control over your bloodlust but now that you are drinking blood, I do not want to take any chances."

"You know I could say the same thing about you, grunt. Just remember that Pavel is a fellow squid."

Gabriel just laughed. The two of us stayed outside. While on the ship, it would be safer for our little group to split up. Peter needed to be with Pavel and Svetlana. Hopefully, they will not draw too much attention. Gabriel would stay with me since we are technically married.

Several hours later, the ship arrived in London and we all got off the boat. Peter hailed two cabs to take us to what must be another of his homes. Once inside, the sun came up.

"We will go to the bank later. The library isn't open during the day. So how did Rose do?"

"She had no problems. Peter, I think she might be one of the few whose demon will not have that much influence over her."

"Excuse me, boys, please don't say I am cursed."

"You are not. It's just how some of us are. Besides, I think Pavel and Svetlana's demons do not have that much influence over them. However, the two of them have not called themselves human for over twenty-five years. That may be playing into their control."

Svetlana had another idea. "It could be something left over from the curse. We need to get to the library. It's the only way."

Pavel nodded in agreement. It was a long day waiting for the sun to go down. When we left, Peter took us into a seedy section of London that looks like it was not done with being rebuilt after the war. Peter walked into a dilapidated bookstore or so I thought. The London branch is even grander than the one in Milan."

"Rose, the prettiest one of all is the branch in St. Petersburg. We do have an advantage of having the books from the St. Petersburg library here. How is your Russian?"

"I can get by."

Gabriel just laughed as well as Pavel and Svetlana. They know the truth.

"Do we split up into groups with the research?"

"Yes, you and Gabriel will be researching Vera's curse. Research the original curse that was placed on the vampires as a whole. Rose, this library has a medical section for us vampires. See what you can find out since you are the only one with medical training. Pavel, Svetlana, and I will research the Huntress."

Peter, Pavel, and Svetlana went one way and Gabriel lead me to the stairs.

"Been here before?"

"I have and I know where we need to go."

I followed Gabriel up a flight of stairs. He took us to the third floor. I looked at the history books and saw one that looked ancient. It looked like it could be over one thousand years old. I gently tugged the book out and it opened to something we have all been looking for. It's the original curse.

"Gabriel, it says Aurora is powering the curse through a crystal. The map looks like it could be from the time of Aurora. If my map reading skills are correct, that looks like Miami, Florida."

"You were a Grunt. I thought you would have been a map reading expert by now."