❝ Have you ever loved a rose,
and watched her slowly bloom;
and as her petals would unfold;
you grew drunk on her perfume.❞
- Lang Leav, The Rose
[ copyright ]
- w. herondale x oc
- plagiarism...
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"QUITE THE LITTLE STRATEGISTS, you two are." Camille smiled, revealing her white teeth once again. Rosela however, if she could've done it literally, shot daggers at Will's egotistical face.
"And it would also provide a perfect opportunity to search de Quincey's residence," said Jem. "See what we can discover about his interest in these automatons. If he really has been murdering mundanes, there's no reason to think that it wasn't for more purposes than mere sport." He gave Charlotte a meaningful look, and Rosela knew that he was thinking, as she was, of the bodies they once mentioned in the cellar of the Dark House.
"We would have to figure out some way to signal the Clave from inside de Quincey's" Will mused, his blue eyes already alight. "Perhaps Henry could devise something. It would be invaluable to have a blueprint of the houses's construction—"
"Will," Tessa protested. "I don't—"
"And of course you wouldn't be going alone," Will said impatiently. "I would go with you. I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Somehow those words that slipped from Will's lips caused an odd yet familiar pang in the Valois girl's chest but she merely pushed the matter aside.
"Will, no," Charlotte said. "You and Tessa alone, in a house full of vampires? I forbid it."
"Then who would you send in with her, if not me?" Will demanded. "You know I can protect her, and you know I'm the right choice—"
"I could go. Or Henry—"
"I could go along and accompany them, I could easily blend in—," Rosela interrupted.
"Oh no you will most certainly not—" protested Will.
"What, with my charm and wits I can assure that we can accomplish this." Rosela's dark orbs danced with determination, "and besides, I must go, if de Quincey really is the Magister he must know of my parent's whereabouts and someone has to handle Will." glaring at the Herondale boy who, in return, heaved a sigh
Camille, who had been watching all this with a look of mixed boredom and amusement, said, "I'm afraid I agree with both William and Rosela. The only individuals admitted to these parties are de Quincey's close friends, vampires, and the human subjugates of vampires. De Quincey has seen Will before, passing as a mundane fascinated by the occult; he won't be surprised to find that he's graduated to vampire servitude. And as for Rosela, she does not only have a right to come along but she can in fact easily blend in as also a human subjugate."
Human subjugate. Rosela had seen them once. They were also called darklings, mundanes who had sworn themselves to the service of a vampire. They provided companionship and food for the vampire, and in return received small transfusions of vampire blood at intervals. This blood kept them bound to their vampire master, and also ensured that when they died, they would become a vampire as well.
