Dominium - Sin Ch. 01

Rose de Saint Clair at the age of 24 had already learned a few valuable lessons most of us would never have the chance to learn. More importantly, she had learned how to survive in a world that was more dangerous than anyone could imagine, unless they decided to believe books and movies and be labeled lunatics by the rest of the mortals.

Treachery was everywhere, it was worse than the regal courts of old... or perhaps it was just the same, but with the added spice of immortality.

The youngest daughter of Alessandro Ecteanis, the oldest vampire of Dominium and its ruler and most ancient of Guardians, and his official Mistress, her serene majesty Queen Marian of Avalon, she was part of the elite, even though she was mortal.

It was amazing to think of this as an elite, as vampires were already the elite within the mortal world, but truth was that by being their daughter she was both untouchable and the biggest target ever.

Lilithyia, Alessandro's mate who had long been scorned for her hunger for power and inherent disregard for the rules of Dominium, had many millennia ago changed sides and forfeit her ability to walk under the sun for the throne of the Darkness and its abominable children.

And because of this the world was at war, even if in utter secrecy, though what was another war between so many the mortals already waged, most of the time started by the desires of their vampirical masters...

Then there were the Others, witches, lycans, ghosts and so many more... All in secret wars and alliances, the map of the world and the borders of countries completely redesigned to show each assigned territory, kingdom, be it neutral or not.

In essence it was all complicatedly simple. You were either a lamb or a lion.

Rose had decided long ago that being a lion in lamb's clothing suited her best, so kept to herself, maintained as low a profile as a high born socialite could.

She had attended the most exclusive school for gifted children, "Our Lady of Light". In fact it was so exclusive because it only allowed the offspring of Dominium, lycans, witches and all the creatures that Gaea in all her wisdom and recklessness had deemed fit to create in a time long ago.

Considering that most factions were at war with each other, the school was a safe haven of sorts. She had lived a normal existence... well as normal as it could be when you had a PHD at the age of fourteen.

There she learned more than most of us would learn at school. Oh she learned the normal subjects of course, but she also learned of her lineage and her immense power. And then she learned how to hide it from the rest of the world, especially from her family. The teacher in charge of that recognized the danger looming over her and decided it was best that part of her records never made it to day light. The rest of the school board agreed with her decision.

But it was not enough. It would never be enough. She left the school and went to Oxford to further expand her knowledge and degree, to learn more away from the sheltered walls of her boarding school. She craved normality after being sent to Our Lady at the tender age of three.

So she did what most teenagers did, gifted or not. She had friends, she partied, she had her own flat, courtesy of her family, she dated... She was 15 when she found out she was pregnant and she hid it from all. To her family she claimed she was doing research on her field to publish an article in an important magazine. To her friends she said that she was just a bit too tired from all the parties. And she manipulated all with her power not to see what was really happening. She shut herself in her flat, never even told the father of the child. She called on the only person she thought could help her, her supposed sister, Countess Valerie de Saint Clair.

Before Valerie could arrive Rose was attacked in her own home. All her school training served of little against 7 vampires, all over a century old. She was left for dead and woke up alone in a hospital bed. She was told she had been found by a neighbor and had been brought just in time, that she had been injected with poison and that the child was gone. That it was a miracle she was still alive.

Rose knew better than to believe in miracles.

Valerie and Marlene were there the next day by her side and though both seemed extremely concerned and Valerie insisted on her returning to Paris, she could tell something was... off.

She was determined for some reason to stay; every fiber in her told her as much, that going back to Paris would be a huge mistake. It proved to be a difficult task, but since only to the mortal world was she the younger sister of Valerie and Marlene, she played the ultimate card. She was their aunt and she outranked them in the grand vampirical elitist status, even if she was a mortal.

It took a while to be left alone. Then a bigger while to secure her flat and make damn sure she was safe in it. Bit by bit it became Dominium and Darkness proof alike. She also contracted a witch's services, a perk of being the niece of Elizabeth, her mother's twin sister and one of the most powerful witches that had roamed this world. She had died centuries ago, but she was still remembered. A spell was cast to make sure that if anyone meaning her harm came close to her home would suddenly feel confused and compelled to leave the area. It worked well enough.

Money and status opened more and more doors, and she used them willingly and always off the radar. She wanted to know what had really happened for her to be attacked like that; she wanted to avenge the child she never knew.

It was amidst all this that she came across them for the first time, a ragtag group of misfit mercenaries called "The Redeemers" that were determined to bring balance and justice to the dark world that Gaea had left behind before going into hibernation.

Soon she had joined them and was being trained again, this time not only to defend herself but to attack others and she proved quite good at it. And the power that she had kept mostly hidden was what she trained the most, the one that lurked in her mind.

In school they had thought her and her classmates that there were 5 levels of psychological manipulators: The more common ones were the level ones, that could read mortal minds easily, but could do little else; The second level could read some vampirical minds (if they were weak enough) as well as reading and manipulating most mortal minds. The third level as not common, though you could still find many. Mortals were playthings to them, weaker or younger vampires too. They could even read the minds of slightly older vampires. Level fours were even rarer. There were only 12 level fives in the entire planet and they were closely monitored and protected. They were able to access the minds of most vampires and also manipulate most of them at will. It was immense power that could be so easily used for the most devious of causes.

And then there was Rose, who according to her teacher, was in a class of her own. She was told only another rivaled her power, the Guardian of earth, but they said no more about him and finding the Guardians, even when you were the daughter of one, was incredibly hard as they had gone deep underground for the most part.

Flash forward a few years later and she was not only part of the team, she was their biggest weapon and leader, answering only to Ariadne, the enigmatic founder of "The redeemers" back in the 17th century, though outside of the group none knew of her activities, as her life and the quest for the killers of her unborn child depended on that.

But more than that, she was committed to their ideals of justice in a world that lacked it. She often laughed and said that the Suicide Squad had nothing on them when it came to dishing out good, old fashion, hard core justice. And they cared not if it was Dominium, Darkness, Lycans, Witches, Merfolk (and those caused the worse kind of trouble on full moon nights...)... if they posed problems, they were dealt with.

The Guardians had long abandoned their duties for the most part and the Redeemers were feared for their thirst for revenge and Rose loved that. She loved that her alter ego, Minussa, the one without a face, could inspire such terror in the heart of her enemies.

And yet it was precisely her chosen pseudonym that inspired both dread and ecstasy in her heart, as it had not been chosen by her.

No, that was the name he called her after dark, after each time she could no longer stand to stay awake to keep him at bay or his absence in her dreams. She wanted free of him, just as much as she wanted him as well, that dark haired stranger that she had known in her dreams all her life.

At first he had called her Didila Erish when she was but small child and in her dreams they had played childish games. He had been like a big brother to her, a really big one due to his size. But as she grew, the games began to change. It was on the very night she turned eighteen that they shared their first kiss, and it was that very night that he began to call her Hili Minussa.

She had not recognized the language at first... It took her a while to understand that he was calling young queen when she was a child, but that now he referred to her as beautiful bride, staking a claim to her when they had never really met except in the realm of dreams and she was not entirely sure he was even real!

It was when she found that little piece of information that she began to try and hide from him... But he always found her.

Yet every time she woke up she could only vaguely remember him. Tanned skin, dark long hair and the most dazzling green eyes she had ever seen. She did not even know his name and refused to tell him hers just in case.

The less anyone knew about her, the better, even if it was just a dream.

She exercised absolute control over her mind and that of her team, developed implants that helped her make their memories of her impossible to access just in case, covered her track as best as she could.

She found her attackers soon enough, as well as the person that had ordered the hit, and when she realized who it was, she simply followed the thread to the real culprit. And she began to hatch her plan, taking her time, picking her targets carefully. She knew she could not attack them one by one, it would have to be a blitz, attacking multiple targets in one single night otherwise they would forfeit their lives for nothing.

And she would need allies, powerful ones.

Her parents were out of the question because that would mean revealing more than she cared, but there were others that stood to gain and had enough leverage and people to help her cause.

It became just a matter of time and she was patient... She polished her plan as the days grew by, all the while her alter ego Minussa became more and more notorious as a cold blooded killer that no one could catch or even describe.

Thus the legend of the bride of death was born.

*****

- Mademoiselle de Saint Clair? – the flight attendant gently nudged her, making sure she woke up, trying to avoid the blush in her face as she had spent the last 30 minutes watching Rose squirm and moan in her sleep. She wondered what exactly could she have been dreaming and prayed for a dream like that to come to her for it sounded too good to miss.

Sitting in the family's private jet, Rose opened her eyes and gasped. Gods the things that man could do to her in her dreams... And the things he could make her do.

One glance at the flight attendant and she realized she had not been the least quiet as the girl was scarlet.

- I am sorry to disturb you mademoiselle de Saint Clair, but we will be landing in Paris shortly. – The woman mumbled timidly even if in the most polite manner she could.