Rose is supposed to be tucked under her blanket with her stuffed animal, Mr Ziggy the Zebra, by this time of the night. But she isn't, she isn't sneaking to watch cartoons either. But she's in a closet at the dining table playing hide and seek.
But not with her parents, with the monster who has come here to kill her and her parents. But mostly her.
Rose has been stuck in that closet crying silently, and her mother instructed her to stay quiet. Even though this closet is enchanted, she still wants her to be quiet, and that is what Rose is going to do. Stay quiet and do not do anything. To avoid being spotted by the man who has come to kill her.
Her parents are putting up a fight. Rose's heart beats faster the more she hears loud thuds, crashes, and finally her mother's scream. She peeks through the tiny space in the middle of the closet door. The lights are twitching, and she feels like she's in those horror movies her parents forbade her to watch.
It's kind of ironic how she was never allowed to watch horror movies, but she's suddenly in one.
She looks hard enough because it's too quiet. Did her parents kill the monster? Or did the monster kill her parents?
The lights flicker and flicker. Going on and off over and over, and she gasps silently when she sees her mother on the ground, lying on top of a pool of blood.
No, no, no.
The tears forcefully come out of her eyes, but she tries her best not to make a sound if not, she's going to be next.
Her mother, her beautiful mother.
The one who used to read her bedtime stories, who taught her how to cook and bake. Her mother, who was always there for her, the woman who gave birth to her, is gone. Forever.
This cannot be happening. She wishes this were a nightmare, and she'll wake up from the nightmare, and her mom will be right there trying to assure her that it was just a bad dream.
But no, this isn't a nightmare, this is real. Someone has killed her mother and is going to kill her next. If she makes a sound then yes, she's going to get killed.
But where is her father? Is he still alive?
Please, please, please.
Rose doesn't know who she's begging, but if anyone can hear her, let her father be okay. She doesn't want to be an orphan; she doesn't want to lose her dad like she lost her mom.
She hears groans and grunting. That sounds like her father; it is her father, he's still alive. But he doesn't sound okay.
"A werewolf falling in love with a witch." A chilling says, and Rose knows who it belongs to, it belongs to the monster who killed her mother. "Well, my father was a vampire who mated with a witch, and that's why I exist." Yes, the witch-vampire hybrid. Rose has heard her parents talk about him.
He's just like her in a way, something that shouldn't exist.
An abomination.
"Now I'm only going to ask this once…where is this special daughter of yours?"
"You will never find her." Her dad says angrily, but he doesn't sound okay to Rose. It feels like he's being tortured by this monster.
Rose can hear the hybrid smile. She can feel it.
"Then you're useless to me." Now it's the hybrid that's angry, and the next thing Rose hears is a slash of flesh and choking, serious choking.
And then she hears a heavy thud, and she sees her father on the ground, but he's headless. The hybrid viciously throws his head to the ground.
Rose moves away from the door, and she accidentally hits the wood. She stays still and tries to act like a statue. But she knows the hybrid heard it; she just prays he doesn't see her.
"Why is someone here?" he asks. Rose tries her best not to move, because if she does. She's going to be in hot trouble. She's going to be headless like her father.
"Hmm, thought I heard something." Rose hears footsteps. It seems like the monster is leaving. She hears the front door open and close. Rose lets out a loud sigh of relief, and she's about to open the closet to leave the tight space, but the doors swing open on their own.
No, not on their own.
The monster is the one who opened it; he had tricked her.
"Ah, a glamour I should have known." He says with an evil grin on his face, revealing his fangs, they're long and they look sharp, can tear the flesh of anyone and anything, blood rests on his lips, and his eyes are silver. His hair is long and white as snow. He looks like the devil, a beautiful devil with ugly traits.
"Now do I have to beg you to come out, or should I force you out?" he says, his voice cold, his accent foreign, Russian to be exact. Rose shakes her head, trying to beg this monster, but deep down she knows that's of no use and she's going to die soon.
"Forcefully it is." He reaches his long nails for her but then something like fire blasts him until he's no longer standing in front of her.
Rose stops shaking, and she furrows her brows. A man runs past her, another man does the same and it looks like they're fighting the monster. They're here to save her.
She flinches when she sees a woman in front of her, a very beautiful woman, with long curly hair and light brown skin. She looks like a queen, a goddess. Rose knows what she is; she's just like her. Well, in a way.
"Hey, sweetie. I'm here to help you. It's okay, you're safe." Her eyes go from honey brown to golden in a matter of seconds, and Rose smiles because she knows it. She can trust this woman, so she gets out of the closet.
"Good girl," she says and then carries Rose while Rose holds Mr Ziggy to her chest. She sees that a werewolf and a witch are fighting this monster, and they seem to be doing a good job of it.
"Don't look okay?" the woman tries to shield Rose from all that has happened. But it's too late. Rose has already seen it all; her parents are dead. They're gone forever.
They've killed the monster, and they've set him on fire; he's also gone forever.
The people who saved her are her family. And they're taking her away from Texas, and they're going to California.
A town in Southern California called Cupid's Hollow.
Rose can see the sign.
Welcome to Cupid's Hollow, decorated in neon lights and a baby angel with love arrows on top of the sign.
She's grateful for her Aunt and Uncle, who have saved her. And now she will do anything in her power to protect them and make sure her parents' death doesn't go in vain.