A Trail Of Roses

Bloody Memories

"Hayden Kaulester."

A pair of dark brown eyes looked up at me from the file, the intense gaze of a hardened Gate guardian evident even from a simple piece of paper.

"Twenty-three years old, 5.7ft and a former guardian of Helsinhaim."

Also known as the gates of a thousand realms.

There were seven of them, each protected by specifically trained individuals and one of them were situated beneath the stone of our castle back in Scotland-heavily protected by six guardians. A group of powerful and specially trained Casters tasked with protecting the Gate and ensuring that nothing came in or out of it.

It was a great honor to be considered as one of the Six. It meant you were powerful enough to ensure the protection and safety of not just the clans, but also the humans and the kinds unbeknownst to us.

I look back at the file.

So why would this guy just abandon his duty and attempt to betray the clan?

From what I've heard he was the quiet type. Stern and focused solely on his duties as a guardian. He was the perfect disciple.

So, what triggered the change?

"Broke out of confinement two days ago and haven't been seen since." I add, flipping the page only to find nothing else but his description.

So there really were no other leads.

But I guess that is to be expected from a powerful Caster such as him.

"I went down to the dungeons last night and found a strand of hair which belongs to him." Darius says from his spot across the coffee table.

He's calmed down a lot since this morning and that too just by reading through some random files and doing what he calls research. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that I'd kept him waiting till evening.

The sun had started to set.

"Are you sure it's his?'' I ask throwing the black file onto the table and taking a seat on the edge of the sofa.

He nods. "I did an identification spell first before trying a tracking spell."

Going from his voice and that small frown marring his face it seems like he didn't manage to accomplish what he had tried to.

"I'm being blocked."

I make a sound before my eyes find the file again. It's no surprise that he'd be blocked. We were dealing with a very powerful and well experienced Caster here, naturally he wouldn't make it easy for us to find him in this little game of hide and seek.

"I thought you said you had a lead?' I query, leaning back to look over at him.

The room has taken on a soft glow as the setting sun casts its dying rays into the loft, tainting the usual dark space in a soft orange glow.

"Yeah," he says, leaning back and crossing his arms across his chest. "Before I got cut off it led me to a small motel inside Brooklyn."

Impressive.

Since New York was the main hub of the Council, it was protected by a powerful spell that made it nearly impossible for anyone to just waltz in. Just crossing from one borough to another would mean having to cross a barrier.

Supernatural's couldn't just move around.

The same went for those that were considered criminals. With the barriers, none of them should be able to pass through it.

Not even powerful Casters. Not unless you've had help or were on par with a High Lord.

Which, despite how powerful Hayden seemed, there was no way he could be on par with a High Lord. My uncle would have told me about it, not to mention this mission would need a lot more attention and way more manpower. It would possibly even include my uncle going after him himself.

So, did he have help? Perhaps one of his comrades?

"Okay then," I get to my feet and move off towards the glass window as the sun started to disappear. "Can you open an array to that motel? We'll check for more clues around there."

At least as guardians we could move freely through the barriers. That and we were directly linked to a High Lord, perks I suppose.

"Sure," Darius says before stepping up beside me and taking a deep breath, the sun coloring his golden strands with her dying rays. "Just hope we find something."

He raises his left hand, palm up, fingers wide and bent into a gripping motion, showing off his guardian ring and the Fontain seal carved into it. Ultraviolet ripples formed at his fingertips as his magic current became seen.

The current started to tear through the air in front of the window, stretching and cutting through space as it slowly appears like a rift before us as the magic circle made itself known. It became bigger with each moment, eating away at the area around it as the currents swirled around the circle and a picture appeared.

A large stone building, a dark alley and darkening skies.

Once the array is big enough to hold an entire person and the picture has become crystal, I take a deep breath before stepping inside of it. My feet crossing onto the ground on the other side.

A warm sensation flows across my body, tickling my skin in a soft caress as we cross the barrier and are deemed as non-threatening.

Turning, I watch Darius step through, the portal snapping shut behind him within a matter of seconds. He lets out a heavy breath before turning his gaze to mine, a thin layer of sweat gleaming against his forehead.

Opening portals weren't child's play, especially when having to cross a border as well-and definitely not when you were a newly appointed guardian.

''You still alive?'' I ask with a raised brow, earning a deadpanned look coupled with an eye roll.

"Funny." He replies to which I shrug and then turn in the direction of the building looming before us.

With the sun nearly gone and darkness engulfing us, there was something almost disturbing about the place. It looked like something out of a horror show. The kind of place that had the hair at the back of your neck stand on end just by glancing at it.

"Let's go inside." I say before turning to the left and heading for the exit of the narrow alley we've found ourselves in. Passing trashcans and shadows of things I'd much rather ignore.

We find our way onto a street, people passing by blissfully unaware of the dangers of their world. Going about their day and doing whatever they have set out to do.

Turning left we head for the glass doors, a light breeze caressing my face. Darius followed behind me as we step into the well-lit building, the chiming bell signaling our arrival.

My eyes took in the peach-colored walls and minimal furniture scattered here and there. The pot plants on both sides of the entrance and the reception desk on the opposite end of the room.

An elderly lady was seated behind it.

She doesn't seem to have noticed the chiming bells as we crossed the distance and come to a stop right in front of her. She sat staring blankly at a spot on the desk, not moving and barely even blinking.

It made warning bells go off at the back of my head as I stood watching her. Her grey hair were loose and framing her aged face, barely gracing the button up floral shirt she wore as her pale blue eyes continued to stare blankly into nothingness.

"What's-"

I cut him off by placing a hand on the bell at the top of the counter, patting it once and looking for a reaction.

As if she's suddenly been brought back to life, the older woman sits up with a start, her pale eyes bright as she looked around before focusing them on us, a surprised expression flitting across her features.

"Oh, hello Dears," She says, stretching her lips into a lovely smile as she looked from Darius to me and back again. "A room for two?''

I felt Darius glancing at me, but I ignore his look and instead stretched my own face into a smile, leaning forward and shaking my head causing my ponytail to swing from side to side as I meet her gaze.

"Oh no, we're actually here to see our brother," I say, my smile never faltering as the lady looked at me. Glancing at her name tag briefly I meet her gaze once more. "Helen. He checked in here a day ago?''

I could be wrong, but I doubt she'd notice with the state she was in.

Her mouth forms an 'O'. "I see. What is his name? I'll call him down for you Dear."

She picks up the phone at her side before placing the earpiece against her ear, not bothering to even look at a book or anything that would give her his room number.

"Hayden," I watch her tense up, her behavior sending another warning bell into action. ''Hayden Kaulester."

We watch her turn into a frozen doll once more, the earpiece of the old vintage telephone becoming frozen within her hands.

"Oh no..." She says slowly, her eyes landing on a spot on the phone as her gaze turned blank. "We don't have anyone...like that...here."

"She's been spelled." Darius says as Helen kept muttering to herself. Denying the fact that Hayden was here despite her state.

"We...don't have...anyone..." She keeps saying before slowly bringing her face up to mine. Her pale gaze boring into my own but ever unseeing as she looked on.

Her smile was gone as her face had fallen into a mask that held no expressions, none at all.

It was as if she had truly become nothing but a doll.

"Demon..."

I narrow my eyes at the word that suddenly falls from her mouth before she goes back to her chanting of denial.

That one word made the bells blare loudly at the danger it brought.

"Demon?'' Her gaze suddenly snaps towards Darius and for a moment it seems as if she's brought out of her trance as her eyes widen, fear spreading through her once lifeless orbs like a wildfire. It filled them completely as the earpiece falls from her grasp and her breathing became unsteady.

"Demon! Demon...'' and then she starts to wail, gripping her head as the words spilled from her lips and filled the silence between us. Her fear filled the air just as something else does.

Something I didn't notice before as it hung within the air, silently wafting around and giving a signal as to what needed to be found.

"Deal with her." I say before turning in the direction of the stairs. Whatever it was must be here.

"What? Wait!" Darius protests but I'm already taking the stairs two at a time and making my way up the narrow staircase.

My bells were blaring while my senses screamed that something bad awaited just a small distance ahead.

Something that gave off that stench.

"Just deal with her." I call back before continuing on, reaching the second floor and taking in the same peach-colored tapestry and closed doors as they stood on the left side of the walls.

It didn't seem like there was anyone else within this motel and honestly, I didn't blame them. The aura this place gave off was one of darkness, it was as if the building itself was screaming at people to stay away.

Nothing good could have caused this threatening aura.

The floorboards protested beneath me as I crossed them slowly, every sense of mine open and waiting to see what I might find as the putrid stench became stronger, filling the air and threatening to suffocate me with each step I took.

I had a nagging feeling that I already knew what it might be...but I hoped to be wrong.

A sudden turn appears, and I follow it, turning to my left only to come to a sudden stop at the scene before me. My entire body being turned to ice as my blood froze over.

The light above flickered and flashed, obscuring the place in darkness but that did not hide the sight of what laid before me.

Red spots covered the walls, tainting the peaches that once were in a red stain that just seemed to be scattered everywhere. On the rugged floor and against the walls, even the roof.

I take a step closer, goosebumps breaking out across my skin.

The light goes out.

But that didn't hide the shadow of what hung from the roof, nor the liquid that dripped onto the ground in soft yet ridiculously loud splatters. It was suspended by its own entrails as they flowed from the gaping hole at its stomach, up and wrapped around its neck before finding its way around the wooden panel across the roof.

One eye had been ripped right out of its socket and it dangled lifelessly from its rightful place down the chest that was supposed to be there. The heart was missing and its face...

It was completely unrecognizable.

Slashed beyond any salvation while blood flowed from its open mouth. Mourning the separation of the tongue that laid on the ground before it.

It was Hayden.

The silver insignia ring around his finger proof enough.

But despite it all.

Despite finding him in such a state, nothing made my heart thunder more than the bright red roses scattered around his corpse. They drifted in the puddle of his blood, littering the ground and giving this gruesome scene the beauty, it didn't deserve.

That and it sent my mind reeling.

Back into the past and back to the night everything fell apart. It was as if I was transported back into that moment.

Back to his death.

Instead of Hayden, he hung there, his blood pooling around him and those once warm eyes staring at me lifelessly.

Red roses scattered around him as well and burning their dangerous beauty into my mind. The same red roses.

The same scene.

The same murderer.

And the same suffocating stench of death.

A loud shatter crashes through my memories drawing my attention to the room a few feet to my right. Before I know it, I'm crossing the distance and stepping into the room, swallowing down the lump that had been threatening to form.

Moonlight shone directly into the small space. Filling it with her light and the shadow standing in front of the window, ready to leap from it.

"Hey!" I call, making the culprit train a gaze behind him and at me. Crimson eyes stared into my soul, freezing my body momentarily before he turns and leaps, disappearing from my sight.

Oh no you don't!

I rush after him, leaping down as well and landing squarely before the inn. My gaze snaps around trying to catch sight of the monster trying to escape.

People continued to walk around, completely oblivious to me as I looked towards both sides of the street before closing my eyes and using my second sight.

He was fast no doubt but as long as I have a glimpse of him within my mind, I could still find him.

My senses stretch and like a bloodhound searching for the scent of its prey my eyes flashed through the surrounding area, searching for the creature with his crimson eyes.

I see him, running through pathways and moving at a speed befitting his kind. My eyes snap open before I cross the road and start running down the street. As long as I got a pick on his presence he wasn't going to escape.

I wasn't going to let him escape.

Not again.

Not ever.