Crimson Midnight (A New Adult Dark Urban Fantasy Series) (The Crimson Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Roman’s just pissed because Kris
gets to take her out and he doesn’t,” Harold grinned nastily.

Roman snorted and Raven chuckled.

“Well it just goes to show that
Rose has excellent taste,” said Damon primly.

“Hey!” Roman protested.

Flo saved the day by pushing back
her chair and declaring she was going for a fag.   Walking her plate to the
sink she removed a cigarette packet from her pocket and popped one in her
mouth. “I’ll be out front. Play nice please.” She disappeared into the doorway.

“Shall we all chill out a bit?”
asked Roman.  “Maybe put on some music?”

Before anyone could reply, Flo
called out, “Oh, here comes Thistle. All right, sweetheart?”

Roman got up from the table and
left the dining room. Rose heard a female voice in the hallway and then Roman
returned arm in arm with a woman. She was very pale and pretty and had a
voluptuous figure. Her hair was short and expertly styled into purple spikes.
She wore a very sexy red dress and heels to match.

“Hello,” she said. “How are you
all?” Her voice was slightly breathy and reminded Rose of Marylyn Monroe.

The guys greeted her with evident
warmth.  She was obviously one of the gang.

“Come and sit with me,” Roman sat
back in his chair pulling the woman onto his lap.

“This is my girlfriend Thistle,” he
said to Rose, with a slightly amused look on his face.  Although for the life
of her she couldn’t fathom what he had to be amused about. “This is Rose,” he
said to Thistle.

Thistle reached out, and shook
Rose’s hand and then pulled a face. “Oh dear, I don’t like the smell of meat.”
She recoiled as far from the table as she could while remaining in Roman’s lap.

Roman chuckled. “Thanks for
clarifying, wouldn’t want Rose to take that personal.”

“Are you a vegetarian?” Rose asked.
Ignoring Roman seemed to be the best option.

“You could say that.” Thistle
widened her big violet eyes, which were decorated with long, perfect lashes.

“Yeah, pain in the bum.” Roman
teased and tickled her sides. He then kissed her on the neck.

“Don’t be so mean.” Thistle pouted
prettily then giggled.

Rose felt slightly irritated.

“I don’t see how her being
vegetarian affects you,” Rose said.

“I don’t like the thought of
killing. It is against the way of the Moon Goddess-”

“Oh, don’t get started,” Roman
tickled her again. She giggled, seeming to lose her train of thought.

Rose resisted the urge to roll her
eyes. Moon Goddess? Probably some new age cult or something equally wacky. 
Thistle certainly looked the part, was probably being taken for a ride. Still,
it wasn’t her problem, each to their own, as long as she didn’t try shoving it
down her throat they’d be cool. Composing her face into a neutral but polite
expression, she turned to Damon. Anything was better than watching the two lovebirds
canoodling at the table. 

Roman, his friends and his
girlfriend left in the early hours of the morning. Erin was tucked away in bed.
Flo was doing the last of her washing up before hitting the sack.

Finally, finished with the washing
up, Flo plodded into the living room. “Hope that wasn’t too bad for ya,
sweetheart.”

Rose shook her head. “Dinner was
really nice.”

“Thanks, luv. I really wanna stay
up and have a girly gossip with ya, darling. But I’m exhausted. I need me bed.
Do you mind?”

“Of course not, I need my bed too.”

“We’ve had a good day, but a
knackering one.” Flo was unable to suppress a yawn and Rose responded with a
yawn of her own.

“I’ve started you off now,” Flo
said. “Ain’t it funny how if one person yawns it sets everyone else off
yawning?” she laughed softly. “Right, I’ll see you in the morning. Gawd knows when
I’ll be getting up but I will see ya at some point. We’ll have a nice relaxing
day. I’ll cook us a roast too. It’ll just be us and your friend Faye if she
wants to come over.”

“Will Roman be here too?” Rose
disguised her sudden apprehension behind the mask of a polite smile.

“I hope so but he’s always doing
his own thing. I’ll give him a ring tomorrow. Everything’s locked up. Switch
the lights off when you go up won’t ya, luv?”

“Will do.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Goodnight.”  

Her first full day in her new
home.  She had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but her famous gut feeling
told her whatever it was, it most certainly wouldn’t be dull.

4.

A GOOD MEAL GONE TO WASTE

Henry waved goodbye to Charlie as
he left the Hungry Dragon with his usual Friday night feast of chicken chow
mein, king prawn balls, beef in black bean sauce and prawn crackers. His
stomach growled in anticipation. Riya was waiting for him outside on the pavement,
his large green eyes fixating on the plastic bag carrying their aromatic
cargo. 

“Yes, that is king prawns you
smell. I didn’t forget.”  Henry chuckled. 

The cat meowed approvingly and
trotted beside him as he began his relatively short walk home.  Eastenders
would be starting shortly and he was determined to be seated on his sofa in the
comfort of his flat, ready to dig into his delicious meal just as the opening
sound track began to play. Riya loved that soap almost as much as the king
prawns. As if reading Henry’s thoughts, the cat meowed, urgently this time, and
he picked up the pace.

Henry lived alone by choice.  He
found relationships complicated, draining.  Having tried the dating scene and
being flummoxed by what not to say and what not to do, trying to figure out
what a woman wanted you to say and when to say it…well, it had all been a
little too much.  The male colleagues that he worked with at the small
telesales company, where he made cold calls, thought he was crazy or suspected
him to be gay. He didn’t care. He had Riya, and that was all the company he
needed. 

So as he made his way home on that
chilly autumn evening, his warm bag of yum clutched in his arms, he found
himself to be in high spirits as visions of a cold beer and his comfy grandpa
slippers danced before his eyes.

His flat was situated on the far
side of a supermarket complex and it was always easier to cut across the car
park.  At this time of the evening the car park was relatively deserted. Henry
had made good time, not having to weave his way through cars. He was
approaching the centre of the car park when the lights went out, plunging the
car park into darkness.

Henry’s stride faltered, Riya let
out a strange, strangled mewl– his hackles rising as he followed through with a
hiss. Henry came to an abrupt standstill, almost tripping over the cat.

“What the-?”  Henry didn’t get a
chance to finish his exclamation as the night around him was suddenly alive and
surging toward him.  He opened his mouth to cry out but the scream stuck in his
throat. And then it was too late as the darkness swallowed him whole.

The next morning, the regular car
park cleaner would moan and groan about the perfectly good meal that had been
thrown across the asphalt. 

“A total disregard for those less
fortunate,’ he would say. “A good meal gone to waste.”

5.

NEW ACQUIANTANCES

Must not beat the shit out of the
student…
 was the mantra circling through Rose’s head as she tried to
concentrate on the two students before her.

The class was almost over and she
had put them in pairs to practice a relatively simple technique of breaking an
assailant’s hold on your wrists. She called it the twist and break technique
since it involved twisting your arms and wrists in an anti-clockwise motion to
force the assailant to lose their grip. It worked if done properly and
quickly.  The element of surprise was essential.

She sighed as another titter
erupted behind her. 

“That’s great, Daryn.” She
encouraged. “Now swap places with Lisa so she can have a go.”

“No probs.” Daryn grinned, eager to
please. That grin turned the stocky and slightly greying banker into a
teenager.  It was the eager to please look in his eyes that did it.  Despite
the fact that she was teaching a group of adults, it felt little different from
coaching teenagers. It was as if shelling their business suits and donning
tracksuits gave them the licence to regress to their adolescent years. And just
like there was always one suck up in her teenage classes back home, and just as
there was always one troublemaker, she had found that the same rules applied in
this adult class.  She felt like she was taking some strange fetish group in
the guise of teaching self-defence.

They were more than eager to see
her in the role of authority figure despite the age difference. And being an
authority figure came with a price. On the one hand you had the teacher’s pets,
and on the other the rebels. In this case the suck up stood before her and the
troublemaker behind her, the cause of the sniggers.

Squaring her shoulders, she turned
to face her lanky tormentor.  At least forty years of age and with a carroty
receding hairline, he still hadn’t grown into his ears.  She had learnt the
best way to deal with a problem such as this was to nip it in the bud.  She was
in charge and Carrot-top needed to accept and accede to her authority.

The small gaggle of men separated
as she walked across the mats toward them.  Carrot-top’s grin grew wider, his
stance almost offensive as he anticipated the confrontation. Over six-feet
tall, he towered over her easily. His body, however, was all limbs and joints,
his face under his unusually bright orange hair, wide and smug. His eyes were
mean and hard. 

Rose felt her resolve strengthen.
She could see the bully in his eyes, the thug he must have been. The guy needed
a smack down and she was the one to deliver it.  She stopped a few feet in
front of him, her hands loose and unthreatening at her sides, putting him at
ease.

“Derek isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s my name don’t wear it
out.” He bobbed his head, shooting sidelong glances at his comrades who hid
their smiles behind their hands.

Rose valiantly resisted the urge to
roll her eyes at the infantile greeting. God, they were taking this regression
thing too far! Instead, she smiled her most innocuous smile. 

“You seem to really be having fun.
I heard you laughing. Is it a private party or can anyone join in?”

Derek snorted. “You can join in
anytime you want, Rose.” He drew her name out, turning it into a crude caress.

Rose bit her lip to stop herself
from laughing. He reminded her of the young boys who hung around outside the
pubs and clubs at home, catcalling and making crude remarks.  She wondered if
he had wife and two-point-four children at home. 

She leant forward slightly as if
conferring. “So what’s the joke?”

There was a shift in the corner of
her vision as his companion, a dark-haired man with a neatly trimmed goatee,
cleared his throat. “Um…nothing really, Miss. I mean, Rose.” His voice shook
slightly.

Derek shot him a venomous look and
his other companion, a mousy weasel look-alike, snorted into his hand, which
seemed to embolden Derek further.

Pulling himself to his full height,
he looked down his nose at her. “We were just wondering how you maintain your
balance with those puppies?” He shrugged. ”I mean, isn’t this class all about
using your body as a weapon? What do you do, poke out your assailants eyes?” He
smirked, looking to his posse for encouragement.

The dark-haired man, Simon, stepped
back slightly as if trying to physically disassociate himself from the larger
man, but Weasel Boy stood firm, his eyes shining with amusement.

Rose tapped her chin thoughtfully
with her index finger. “I was just about to give a demo actually.” She fixed
her eyes on his, her lips curving in a sadistic smile. “Thank you so much for
volunteering.”

Two minutes later, a very
disgruntled and embarrassed Derek limped off the practice mat.

“So that’s how we do it, everyone.
I hope you were paying attention because we’ll be practicing that move next
time, and, Derek?” She smiled her sweetest smile. “You’ve been so great. You
get to be my demo partner from now on.”

“In other words punching bag.” It
was Daryn’s turn to snigger.

Derek shot him a lethal look but
made no further move. 

The class ended and the group
dispersed– Derek oddly quiet and the first to exit the room.

The gym, Heat, was relatively new.
It had only been open a couple of months and the décor was still bright and
fresh. The colour scheme was all vibrant reds and yellows and the effect was
very modern with a strong minimal theme. The actual gym room, which housed all
the equipment, faced a wall-to-wall window of tinted glass, allowing the people
working out to look out but remain unobserved themselves. Two fifty-two-inch High Definition plasma screens were fixed to the walls, tuned permanently to one of
the MTV channels that actually played music videos. Surround sound speakers
blared out music to distract the sweating customers from the aches and pains of
their bodies as they pushed themselves to the limit.

At half past one, when Rose
returned from her half-hour lunch break, Heat was pretty empty. Peak time would
be after six when people stopped by to work out after a long day stuck behind a
desk.

The early morning defence class was
an exception to her rota, scheduled as such for those customers who actually
liked to kick arse before work. Right now, however, all she spied was a
middle-aged, slightly overweight woman on the treadmill, and an O.A.P, who
looked surprisingly fit for his age, on the rowing machine. She had checked her
rota and was supposed to be meeting a new customer for orientation.  By the
looks of it, he or she was running late.

For a moment, Rose was captivated
by Beyonce’s powerful voice instructing would be suitors that ‘if they liked
it, they should have put a ring on it.’  The swish of the door opening behind
her caught her attention, and turning to face the entrance she quickly masked a
scowl as a larger than life Harold, dressed in a muscle top and cut offs,
strode toward her. He did nothing to mask his frown of annoyance upon spotting
her.

“I don’t need an orientation,” he
almost growled by way of greeting. “I could find my way around a gym
blindfolded.”

“Now that I’d like to see.” Rose
snorted as he glowered at her. She could tell he was going to make this
difficult, and she didn’t need difficult right now. She needed this job and the
gym needed customers.

Swallowing the many retorts that
sprang to mind, Rose took a deep breath and decided to appeal to his better
nature, provided he had one.  “Look, its company policy to conduct an
orientation for any new customer. It’s an insurance thing, you know, so we can
say we showed you how to use the equipment just in case you decide to drop a
barbell on your foot or something.” 

Harold remained unmoved. From the
corner of her eye she spotted her boss enter the gym. He looked over in her
direction, noting the obvious tension between them.  He took a step in their
direction. Oh, God, if Harold refused to cooperate she would look totally
incompetent.

“Please, Harold,” she said
urgently. “I really need this job and my boss is coming over.” She jerked her
head, almost imperceptibly toward the entrance.  Before she could gauge
Harold’s reaction, Michael, her boss, was upon them. 

A tall, athletic man in his mid-forties,
his face shockingly youthful against his naturally grey hair, he smiled with
practised politeness at Harold. “Everything all right?” He was addressing
Harold but his eyes were on Rose. 

She nodded confidently, hoping that
Harold would confirm the same.

There was a second of tense silence
in which Michael’s smile began to waver.

Then…

“Fine, we’re fine. I was just
saying to your…employee here, how much I liked the décor.”

 Rose left out a sigh of relief,
visibly relaxing. “She’s being really helpful.” Harold added.

“Great, that’s great.” Michael’s
smile was back in full force, recognising a regular gym user in Harold and
pleased that Rose was keeping him happy.  “Well, I’ll leave you in Rose’s
capable hands.” He nodded in Rose’s direction before making his way to the
other side of the gym and into his office.

“Thanks.” Rose said gratefully

“Don’t thank me. Just remember you
owe me one. He turned on his heel, making a beeline for the weights. “Let’s get
this orientation over with.”

Yes, the guy was knob and he could
have embarrassed her in front of her boss. But he’d passed up on the
opportunity, so maybe there was a good side to Mr Muscle. And about owing him
one? Well, once this orientation was over he could take a running jump! Roll on
three o’clock and the end of her shift.

The afternoon was bright, but
chilly as Rose made her way toward Faye’s shared accommodation. She was eager
to fill Faye in about her first day at work.

Dressed warmly in black jeans, a
dark long-sleeved polo neck and a red body warmer, her sneaker-clad feet
slapped against the pavement as she hurried along with a backpack containing
her gym clothes slung casually over her left shoulder. 

She had showered quickly at the gym
before leaving but hadn’t had time to dry her hair properly. It was pulled back
in a hasty ponytail, and she was completely unaware how this accentuated her cheekbones
and slanted blue eyes. There was a flush to her cheeks brought on by the crisp
afternoon air that was usually absent. She was beautiful, yet Rose was
unconcerned about her appearance and focused only on the day ahead.

The house Faye was sharing with
three students was a mere two minute walk from Bethnal Green tube station. She
found the house easily and climbed the steps to the door. Searching for a
doorbell and not finding one, she knocked firmly on the thick frosted glass
that made up the top half of the door. A couple of moments passed, and she was
about to try again, when through the frosted glass she saw a figure approach.
The figure was taller and bigger than Faye and she took an involuntary step
back, not wanting to appear too pushy.

Another moment and the door swung
inwards. Rose found herself staring up at the most gorgeous man she had ever
laid eyes on. He was tall, definitely over six-feet. She sensed power and
energy emanating from his lithe frame, but what captivated her most was his
face. If something could be described as soft and chiselled than this was it.
She had never seen a man that she could describe as beautiful before. But here
he was in the flesh. His dark hair was pulled back at the nape of his neck and
his violet eyes studied her enquiringly.

“Can I help you?”  His voice was
almost musical with a strange lilting quality she couldn’t quite place. He
cocked his head.

“Oh…um…I’m Rose...” 
Dammit,
pull yourself together!

“Hello, Rose.  His expression was
serious but his eyes twinkled with amusement.

Rose stared at him blankly,
waiting…

“So what can I do for you, Rose?
Are you here to see someone in particular?”

Of course, he wouldn’t know who she
was. Rose mentally kicked herself for being so dense. “Faye…I’m here to see
Faye.”

What was wrong with her? Had she
lost the ability of coherent speech?

Turning his head slightly, he
shouted into the house. “Faye, your friend Rose is here!” Then back to Rose.
“Why don’t you come and wait inside? I’m sure she won’t be long.”  He moved
back into the house in invitation.

“Thanks.”  She’d recovered her
equilibrium somewhat and stepped over the threshold, allowing herself to be led
into a large living room.

“Can I get you anything while you
wait?”  He asked in that melodious voice of his.

She shook her head.

“Well, it was nice meeting you.” 
He gave her a small nod before disappearing back through the door they had
entered from. She found herself a little disappointed at his departure.

“Hi, hun.  How’s working life?” 
Faye popped her head around the door.

“Who was that?”  Rose mouthed.

“Oh, I think his name’s Ossian or
something. Why? You like?  Got to warn you, though, he’s a first year student–
just transferred to USL this year from…I dunno, somewhere…I wasn’t really
paying attention. Anyway, he’s all about hitting the books and nothing else.”

“He’s kind of distracting to look
at.”

“Yeah, major eye candy, but dull me
thinks.”

“That’s a quick judgment call.
You’ve been here what…two nights?”

“Trust me, it’s enough time to know
that the bloke is a fuddy-duddy.” Faye rolled her eyes.

“Oh, hang on a minute.” Rose’s face
broke into a grin as an idea formed in her head. “Let me guess, he didn’t fall
at your feet when he first met you?”  Rose chuckled. 

Faye was one of the most
flirtatious girls she had ever met, and one of the most self-confident. Unlike
Rose, Faye hadn’t had to work on her confidence. Faye’s confidence stemmed from
being daddy’s girl, getting whatever she wanted, when she wanted, and not
having to hear the word no. If Rose didn’t know her better, hadn’t glimpsed the
insecure girl under the glamour, then she would think she was a spoilt,
stuck-up, rich-bitch. But to Rose, Faye was just Faye– generous, fun loving and
always there for her. When it came to men, neither Faye nor Rose had problems
getting dates, but Faye in particular had a record of getting any man she
wanted.