Rose makes her way to her house to get ready for school. She spots Devon's car up front, and she squeezes her face.
He's a bit early, isn't he? She thinks, but then she checks the time on her phone to see that she's the one who is late. She mutters a curse word, and then she rushes into the house. If those girls hadn't sent those ogres her way, then maybe she would have gotten ready on time.
Why does she have a feeling they also did that to make her late? She's sure they did that on purpose. It's Piper; everything she does is calculated and planned.
As soon as she walks into the house through the kitchen, she sees that her breakfast is served, but her aunt, uncle, and cousin are not in the kitchen. She questions if Devon is even in this house because her food looks untouched, and that guy loves food too much not want to take a bite.
She hears voices in the living room. It sounds like people are arguing with each other.
Or mostly, Devon is arguing with the owners of the house. Rose picks a toast bread and puts it in her mouth, then she walks over to the living room to see what the hell is going on.
And there he is, her troublesome, argumentative, nice, kind-hearted, party-loving, protective best friend, giving her aunt and uncle theories on what could have killed those two couples.
"Could it be a serial killer?" He asks.
"What? Serial killers in Cupid's Hollow, we don't have serial killers, we have monsters who cause harm to humans, and that's probably what's going on here."
Rose loves her uncle, but he can be a bit dense. Rose also likes the way Devon thinks because she doesn't think those could be ordinary monsters. Like, what monster do they know that rips people's hearts? It's been two couples so far, and it is giving serial killer behaviour.
"Don't you have theories? Should Rose and I help you investigate?" Devon asks, and she smiles at the fact that he mentioned her name in this even though they still don't know that Rose is standing right behind them.
She's like a ninja like that, quiet, and when she moves, no one hears her coming. She walks like she's tiptoeing.
"No! Out of the question, no way are we bringing you or Rose into this." Uncle Chris says. And Rose rolls her eyes. "Yes, you guys may have passed your tests, but you're still teenagers in high school, and you both operate under the alpha's command, which is me," he says proudly. The Lockwoods are proud people. That's why she's the way she is.
But Derek argues that her pride is way worse than the rest of them.
"Do you understand me, Devon?" he asks. And Devon doesn't answer right away. In fact, Rose is hoping he says no.
"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Aunt Meg says, which makes everyone turn around. She looks down at her outfit, and she completely forgotten that she fell while running from those ogres.
"Rose, honey, are you okay?"
"Oh yeah, yeah. I just fell when I was jogging. It's no big deal, really."
"Were you injured?"
"Yeah, but it healed. I'm a werewolf after all, or have you all forgotten?"
Even though she lives with werewolves, sometimes they forget she's one. It's highly unlikely for two different species to be soulmates, but it does happen, but rarely. And when they have a child or children together. It's either that they become one species or the other.
But Rose is different.
Hybrids are seen as myths; they shouldn't exist, but the only two hybrids that have existed are Adrian, the vampire witch hybrid that killed her parents and wreaked havoc for years and her.
It's a very strange thing in the supernatural world.
So when they look at Rose, they assume she's only a witch because she's good at casting spells and she looks like her mother, who was a witch.
"Of course not. I'm just glad you're okay." Aunt Meg says, smiling. Rose doesn't smile back; she barely does. She doesn't like awkwardness, the way they're all looking at her like she's a fragile bird. She hates it with a burning passion.
That's why, as soon as she gets any awkwardness from anyone, she leaves the place.
"Okayyy." She looks over to Devon. "I'm gonna take a quick shower, and then we'll go," she says, running up the stairs to get ready for school.
"Good morning, Cupid's Hollow, how are you love birds doing? I hope you dreamt of making it big in life and seeing that faceless man who keeps loving you in your dreams. And I hope you start your day with magic and romance like always.
Not to scare the romantics of this fine ass town, but so far there have been reports of two couples being killed and their hearts missing from their chests. I don't want to say a serial killer is in town, which is impossible cause this is Cupid's Hollow. Romantic Capital USA, and no one would want to go about killing and murdering.
Sheriff Beasley is on it, and I'm sure there's going to be a rational explanation for all of this. But in the meantime, stay safe out there, romantics.
Now to soothe the morning, I shall be playing one of the most romantic songs filled with so much yearning from the nineties. I Just Want You Back For Good By Smoking U. I'm your host. Justin Trent and you're listening to Lovebirds Capital FM, have a good morning, Cupid's Hollow."
Rose reduces the volume of the song with a grimace on her face. She HATES love songs.
"Hey, I love that song," Devon says.
Of course he does.
Devon knows she hates love songs, so he doesn't protest any further. He lifts his shoulder in a shrug.
"So what do you think about the killings?" he asks.
"Serial killer for sure."
"Ugh, I knew you'd agree, this is why we're best friends. Great minds think alike. But your uncle doesn't think it's a serial killer."
"Of course, we're dealing with a serial killer. I have watched too many true crime and paranormal investigation documentaries to know this. You can spot a serial killer with ease. Jeffrey Dahmer's victims were gay men of colour, Ted Bundy was women, John Wayne Gacy was teenage boys, and that demon from the nineties that was targeting children. They all have a specific group of people they target. And this serial killer is targeting couples for some reason."
Rose looks away, thinking. "Why are they going for couples, though?"
"I mean, I thought it would be you since you hate romance and all that." Devon laughs, and he knows Rose won't laugh alongside him, but he does it anyway. She gives him the sideways glance, but he doesn't care; he laughs anyway.
"That's not funny, Devon."
"It is to me," he continues laughing. If he wasn't driving, she would have punched him in the stomach.
Devon stops laughing immediately when he realises that he's been laughing at dead people.
He clears his throat. "Yes, it's not funny. You're right, sorry."
"Whatever, want to investigate this shit?"
"Hell yeah!"
Rose and Devon-and sometimes Violet, when they force her to-investigate paranormal happenings in their town. When they were eleven, Rose found a missing girl was almost being eaten by a troll, and that a group of fairies led to the death of Arnold's father, but they're humans, so it was ruled out as an accident. Almost every paranormal crime was solved by Rose and her friends.
Even when they've almost gotten themselves killed in the process. That's why Rose's Aunt and Uncle are against them looking into what's going on.
"But I'm sure your uncle knows a serial killer is in town. Why's he acting like this isn't typical serial killer behaviour?"
Yes, he does know. But she believes no one wants to think that a serial killer could be in their precious romantic town. Things barely happen here. They're in the quiet part of California after all.
"I don't know," Rose says.
Devon doesn't believe her. And he also didn't believe her when she said her fall was an accident.
"Also, what really happened to you? I know for a fact that you didn't fall. You're too careful. You barely fall."
Rose sighs. "It was Piper and her stupid plastic ass friends. They summoned ogres to give me a real test."
"Those bitches. How many ogres?"
"Three," she says.
"Wow, and you dealt with them on your own. And also, you don't smell like ogre, and they have a harsh stench."
"No, the weirdest thing happened. My claws were out, I sliced the air, but the impact was seen on their bodies. And I'm pretty sure I didn't come in contact with any of them."
"Whoa, that's new."
"Yeah," she says, remembering clawing the ogres without touching them. "And when they got weak, I banished them."
"Badass," he says and then shakes his head. "Piper's just jealous of you."
Rose doesn't care about any of that. She just wants Piper to leave her alone. That girl has been terrorising her since they were kids. And she's done with her madness.
They get to school, and luckily, they're not really that late. Everyone's holding a card and staring at it. Including Violet.
"Hey, Vee. What's going on?"
"My welcome back to school party, obviously," Arnold says to Rose, as he gives both her and Devon a card.
"I'd like to see you there, Rosalie Lockwood," he says, playing with her hair, and she moves back.
"Really, Keegan," Devon says.
"Don't touch me, Arnold," she says, squeezing the paper and throwing it at him. He scoffs.
"See you there, pretty," he winks, then leaves.
"Ugh, what a douchebag," Rose says in a grimace.
"So my guess is, you're not going," Violet says.
"Of course not," she walks away with a scowl on her face. "I fucking hate parties."