Gabrielle Blood-Rose Guardians

I used to believe in coincidences; those random events that put two people in the same place at the same time. Strange things happened to my family, things that only the members of my family had the skills or abilities to deal with. Was it merely coincidence, or was destiny steering the boat? I had originally thought meeting Ben was one of those coincidences. I now know better. My life has a set journey and Ben was an important part of that journey. There were good times and great times, and times of great sadness on that path as there would be on anyone’s path. It had its rocky moments, but also its breathtaking vistas, and although there were times I’d rather forget, there were also times I want to always remember.

Australia was supposed to be a new beginning for my parents, but for me it was just the beginning. I had been alive barely two months, when we boarded a plane and left Paris. I didn’t know anything about the world. I didn’t know anything about Australia. I didn’t know anything about myself. Mum had said Australia would be a safe place to learn all of those things. For her and Dad it was a grand adventure, the next step on their journey, but for me it was just something else that I didn’t know anything about.

The first couple of months in Melbourne I learned how to blend into Australian society. I also learned to be less dependent on my twin brother. I was determined to live my own life and learning to be separate from him was the first step on that path. We prepared for leaving home; for going to university. Peter and I would stay together in Armidale; I was glad for his company, but happy that we no longer felt the need to be in constant contact. The only people I knew in the world were family and people, unrelated to us, but that we considered family. Growing up fast had prevented us from experiencing any normal childhood activities, including developing friendships. I guess that is the downside of being the child of two vampires. I had grown up in only three days; I felt like I had spent the rest of the time since that moment, catching up on everything normal children learned during development. The world is such a big place and I know so little about it.

I am looking forward to university. I hope I am smart enough. I have no way of knowing, having never been to school. I don’t feel particularly intelligent, but then again, what does intelligent feel like? I find everything interesting; but I wonder if that is because it is interesting, or just because I don’t know anything. What I am looking forward to the most is making friends. I want to have friends. I want to fit in…I really want to fit in.

Ben seemed to make that effortless. He was…well for a while, he was everything in my world. He would be the first boy who loved me – physically and emotionally. He would steal my heart in more ways than one. Sometimes I find myself reflecting on my first few weeks of university and wonder what I was thinking! I took some pretty intense risks; risks that had an impact on people other than myself. If life was a stock-market, I would have been applauded for my risk taking, for the returns were high. My involvement with Ben was an essential part of that risk-taking behaviour. He swept me off my feet and introduced me to the world of romance, and for that I will always love, at least some part, of him. Those first few delicious footsteps into romance are the memories I will treasure for a lifetime – a very long lifetime.

My name is Gabrielle Smith. I am one of six children destined to follow my mother, Elizabeth, The Blood-Rose Guardian, in her battles against those who would destroy our legacy. I know that is my duty; my responsibility, but I really hope to have some fun. This move to Australia is full of possibility and I think I want to embrace those possibilities. I think there is more to Gabrielle Smith than meets the eye. I can feel destiny driving me ever forwards towards something great. I’m just not sure I want to let destiny have the reins just yet.

Chapter 1

Armidale

I held Peter’s hand as the small plane landed at the Armidale airport. It was a small airport. I hoped the town itself wasn’t too small. It would be too hard to hide two vampires if it was too small. It was a lovely day to arrive. The sun was shining in a blue sky that reminded me of Paris. The sky reminded me of Paris…nothing else did. There were sheep in the paddock with the aeroplanes. The terminal consisted of only a few buildings; it was tiny. Up until today, the smallest airport I had been in was the Melbourne one, before that they had all been large international airports as we traversed the planet from Paris via Singapore to Melbourne. This was something different, it was so…rustic.

Peter had the aisle seat, if you could call it an aisle. It was so narrow; I doubted anyone larger than Peter would be able to negotiate it. I hoped this plane and this airport wouldn’t be a reflection of my life here in Armidale. I wanted a big life. I want to experience life. I was really looking forward to parties, dancing and boys. I promised my parents, Elizabeth and Adam, that I would get a good education, and I fully intended to keep that promise. My priority though, was to grow up and to have some fun. I really hoped I would fit in. I hoped Peter fit in too. His priorities were different; he wanted to get back to Paris, to work in the Musee du Louvre. He had a life plan, I just wanted a life.

There was a small bus with a big sign on the side that said UNE, we headed for that. The University of New England would be our home for the next few years. We had been given rooms at one of the residential colleges on campus. I was really looking forward to living with other people…despite the risks for someone like me: someone with a biological need to consume human blood and a magical ability to subdue my human prey with my mind as well as my body.

Where are you heading? The man standing at the bus asked us.

I looked at my piece of paper.

Austin College, I answered him.

No worries - get in.

He smiled at me as I climbed into the back seat.

Peter settled in beside me. We waited for twenty minutes while the bus filled up with new students arriving on planes from all over the country. It was the start of the new academic year, but the second and third year students wouldn’t arrive for a couple of days. This was the time for new students to get acquainted with the layout of the university and colleges. I had already stumbled over the different names. In France, a college was a school, but here it was where students lived when they went away to university. The bus drove us towards town and then veered off to the left. We passed a big sign that said UNE. I was excited now; this was it – the beginning of my life!

It was hard to imagine that I had only been on this planet a few months. This time last year, I wasn’t even a thought in my mother’s head. This time last year my mother had been inundated with work at the Musee du Louvre in Paris, my father was still a painful memory in her ancient past and a future with children did not even cross her mind. How the world could change! In one short September week my mother had gone from being a single, independent woman to a mother of six vampire children. I say children, because that’s what we are to our parents, but to the rest of the world we are young adults ready to set out into the world on our own.

I am nineteen, as far as the human world is concerned, it doesn’t matter that my life only started last September. I am a fully grown, lethal vampire, and if it weren’t for the rest of my family, I could say that I am unique…because I was born, not turned. The only DNA in my body is vampire DNA. I am not, and have never been, human. We are still trying to figure out what this means for us. Am I faster or thirstier than a turned vampire? Is my magic stronger than my mother’s? It doesn’t seem like anybody could be more powerful than my mother, she is The Guardian after all, but I feel like I am different. I feel like I was born to shine. I shouldn’t exist at all, and I wouldn’t if not for a magical talisman, but I do, and surely that has to mean I am destined for greatness.

We came around a bend and, sprawled over a hill in front of us, was the university. It was like its own little town. The bus turned left off the highway and headed for the hill. The driver then turned right onto university land. The university flats were spread out to our right and Drummond-Duval College was to our left. The bus pulled up outside of Austin College.

It was a huge white building, and more than a little bit stark. I was nervous and the building reminded me of a prison. Not that I actually know what a prison is like – but hey, I have watched my share of television since I was born! Peter and I climbed out with our bags. There was another student standing there with us, gazing at the building in front of her, though I didn’t think she had been on the bus.

Hi! My name is Gabrielle, I introduced myself to her.

Hi…I’m Aden. Scary isn’t it? She was looking at the college.

I understood her fear. I felt so small and insignificant, and I wasn’t human, I could only imagine how a human, with their one lifetime to live, would feel facing this austere view. This was home now. This prison-like building was home for at least three years. I swallowed the anxiety rising in my chest. For three years this would be my home while I studied my way through my first degree; while I learned what it was to be a vampire in a human world; while I learned to be me.

A slim girl with long brown hair walked towards our small, but nervous, group.

Hi! My name is Megan. I am a tutor here at Austin, let’s get you signed in.

She was beautiful and friendly. I smiled at her. So far, so good; she seemed nice. We picked up our luggage and followed her toward the office on the right. There was another tutor standing behind the counter. He signed us in and handed each of us an envelope with a magnetic key inside. Megan came back and offered to take us on a tour. She started at the office and pointed towards a large glass-walled room to her left, our right.

That’s the dining hall. Upstairs are the large common room, the bar and smaller tutorial rooms.

We followed, nobody said anything. It was all very daunting. She walked us out beneath the large common room and through some glass doors into the courtyard. She explained the basic layout of the building. There were three floors: bottom, middle and top. Seemed simple so far… Each of the square buildings was a block: one, two, three, four and five. The skinny sections between them were attached to one of these blocks. Each block had a tutor who could help students out with fitting in. There were ten blocks in all! Megan explained that our block would be like our family while we lived together. She walked us into a stairway at block one. There were amenities rooms here: a billiards room, music room and guest rooms. Then she took us upstairs. Peter was in Block 1 on the top floor; Aden and I were both in the middle block: Mid-1/2. She dropped us off at our doors, showed us how the key worked, gave us a quick tour of where the bathrooms and block common rooms were and then she disappeared.

I dropped my bag on my bed and pulled open the curtains. I had a view of the sporting field out the back and some other colleges across the way. Aden was across the hall and down a bit. She faced the courtyard. Peter faced Earl Page College on the end of the building.

So I’m here now, I said out loud to myself, better make the most of it.

I didn’t sound convincing, not even to my own ears. I was as nervous as a fledgling bird about to take those first steps over the edge of the nest and risk plummeting to the ground far below. Those birds were either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid!

The rooms were stark, like cells. The parallel with a prison came back into my mind. The room had white walls, a bed with brown and orange blankets, an orange desk, a phone and a grey chair. There was a wardrobe, some bookshelves and a lockable drawer. This would never do – I couldn’t live like this. I had lived in smaller spaces, but never so bare. I grabbed my handbag and key, and then locked the door on my empty room. I walked the six or seven steps to Aden’s room.

Let’s go shopping…I need to decorate my room, I invited her to come with me.

Sure…why not? She picked up her handbag and key. What about Peter?

Let’s go check. I said, even though I could have just talked to him telepathically.

Getting used to not doing that would take some time. We climbed the stairs at the end of the corridor and managed to find his room behind the Top-1bathroom block.

Hey... Aden greeted him, …we are going shopping. Do you want to come?

He looked at me.

No. I am going to explore the campus, but I’d appreciate it if you could pick me up some posters or something…these rooms are pretty bland.

No worries, got some money for me? I asked pushing an open palm towards him.

He handed me a fifty dollar note.

Have fun exploring. We will see you at dinner.

Aden and I left him sitting in his room alone.

We descended into the sunlit day and walked our way toward the bus stop.

So…he’s your brother? Aden asked, Older or younger?

Same age, I explained with a smile, he’s my twin.

Twins…cool…so do you know what each other is thinking?

I was shocked by her statement, did she know? Was telepathy normal for twins? Even for human twins? How should I answer that? I did know what he was thinking, and feeling, most of the time. I decided on a non-committal answer:

Seems like it sometimes.

Yeah, I have read that about twins. They sort of develop their own way of communicating. Psychologists have been studying the psychic links between twins for years.

Really?

I slowly let out the breath I had drawn in when she took me by surprise with her previous question. I wasn’t sure how to take Aden. She seemed intelligent, but was clearly just a little bit weird. She would stand out in a crowd with her flaming red hair and brilliant blue eyes. It was such a contrast, fire and ice; the combination was truly eye-catching. I wouldn’t have called her beautiful, but she was eye-catching. Her smile lit up her entire face. With that hair, standing next to her I was completely insignificant – I didn’t want to be insignificant. She was a beacon for attention. Still, she was the first person I knew to whom I wasn’t related. A friend was a friend, and Megan had said that our block would be our family. Aden was in my block, she was therefore, by that definition, my new family.

We caught a bus into town. It was Sunday and not much was open. That was disappointing; I was used to businesses that stayed open all weekend. Kmart was the only open store we could find. It would have to do. We wandered around for a while, looking for things that might help improve our rooms. Eventually, we decided on some sheets to cover the notice boards with colour. Quilt covers to give the bed something of a lift and some posters. Aden chose a poster of a sunrise or sunset over the ocean. I picked some movie posters for Peter and I. Movies was one of the few things we were actually fairly caught up on. I also picked out a plant for my room and some fashion magazines. I found a small clock-radio CD player each and a handful of CDs for Peter and myself. Two hundred dollars later I was done. It had been quite a successful expedition. It was 4.30pm by the time we got back to college. Dinner was at 5pm in the huge dining hall, so I had just enough time to make a start on my room.

I climbed the stairs with my arms full of bags. Fortunately I am stronger than any human. It took me a minute to get the key right in my door lock, but eventually I was successful and the door swung open. I tipped the contents of the bags out on my bed and started sorting through them. Anything that was purple, I kept for myself; the navy blue stuff was all for Peter. I had posters of the Twilight-New Moon cast and he had Terminator. I put the plant on the bench where it would get plenty of light from the window. I grabbed the stuff I had bought for Peter and headed upstairs to his room. I found him talking to a boy; a cute boy.

Hi, I said to the boys.

Hey, sis! This is Ben. Ben, this is my sister, Gabrielle.

Peter introduced us, like he was a professional at it. Actually, that was the first time I had been officially introduced to anyone new by him at all.

Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Is this your block too? I asked him.

No, I live downstairs in Mid-1/2, he replied.

Oh…me too, I smiled.

He lived in my block – yes! Or was that bad? If he was my new family then…oh dear!

Here, I said to Peter holding out the stuff in my arms. I’ll help you set up, and then we can head down to dinner.

I took the navy blue sheet out of its packet and shook it out and handed it to Peter. He and Ben pinned it to the notice board, behind Peter’s bed. I handed Peter and Ben a poster each. They pinned them on the notice board too. I needed help to wrestle the blankets inside the quilt cover. I had chosen a grey, red and navy blue one for Peter. I hadn’t got him a plant but instead I handed him a bobble-head bull dog. He raised his eyebrows at me. I smiled. I thought it was cute and kind of fun. He put it on his empty bookshelf. The only things left were the CDs and alarm clock CD player. Peter’s room was done. It looked way better than when he had arrived. It was such a good transformation, that I couldn’t wait to get to mine. I looked at my watch…there was enough time.

Come and help me do mine?

No worries, Ben jumped at the chance.

I smiled at him. He was nice as well as cute…so far so good…except for that same block thing – was that going to be a problem?

Peter fussed around a bit but eventually grabbed his keys and locked the door as Ben and I headed down stairs. We walked past a few open doors. There were obviously new students inside. I stuck my head in to each one and introduced myself. I didn’t stop to talk; I wanted to get my room set up.

I opened the door and set the boys to work. I had purple satin sheets. Peter and Ben stuck one on the big notice board and another, folded one, on the small notice board. My quilt cover was also satin. It had several shades of purple and mauve and matched the notice board cover. Posters went up, CDs on the shelf with the purple alarm clock/CD player. I had a few extra pictures to go up from some calendars I intended to pull apart but they could wait until after dinner. Overall, I was very pleased with how my room had turned out. It was sort of luxurious. It didn’t look like a prison cell at all anymore - thankfully.

Megan walked past to remind us it was dinner time. She was appropriately impressed with the transformation of my room. I called out to Aden to come to dinner with us. I introduced her to Ben. The four of us headed downstairs to the dining hall. I wondered what new adventures that would hold. I had already had a day filled with new experiences and personal growth. I was excited to be here. I was also glad Peter was only a thought away. I couldn’t imagine taking this journey by myself, even though I theoretically wanted to do this my own way; I liked having him just upstairs. He was my safety blanket – he always had been.

The dining hall was a large room full of tables and chairs. Wow, a lot of people must live here, I thought to myself. They obviously weren’t here yet, but would be by the end of the week. We lined up to get dinner. It was like being on a conveyer belt. We went in one door to the servery, filled our plates, grabbed cutlery and dessert and came out a door at the other end. We put our stuff on one of the tables closest to the drink room.

The drink room was a small room filled with drink dispensers and glasses on one side and toasters and a large hotplate on the other. I grabbed two glasses and filled them with red cordial and returned to the table. Peter was having an in depth conversation with Aden. She might have been a bit ditsy, but she had my brother fully engaged. I listened in, action films, he was set. Action films were his favourite. I took a moment to survey my surroundings. There were honour boards on two of the walls, a stage with a piano at the other end of the hall and an eagle and dragon looked down on the residents from hand-painted pictures on the wall nearest me. The entire end wall held photographs of past college inhabitants. I smiled, one day I would be up there too, I would be a part of something. I was already starting to fit in.

So what are you here to study? Ben asked me, interrupting my eavesdropping and daydreaming.

Bachelor of Arts, what about you?

Science.

Really, what area? I asked.

Ben was cute, nice and smart. He just kept getting better and better. I hoped that same block thing didn’t really matter.

Chemistry, and maybe some biology.

Nice…So are there many parties here? I asked, changing the subject.

The only party I had ever been to was Mum and Dad’s wedding in Paris. I was eager to find out what a party included in Australia with people my own age. By my own age I meant nineteen. For me it was largely irrelevant that I was literally born only a few months ago. The accelerated mitosis of my vampire DNA had ensured that I was fully grown and lethal within three days of being conceived. As a fully grown vampire, I wanted to dance, I wanted to kiss a boy and Mum had said parties were a great opportunity to acquire some blood if I was desperate as well. I wasn’t desperate yet, but I would be in a couple of nights. Peter would be too. He had explored the lay of the land this afternoon while I had been shopping with Aden. He had sent me some images of likely ambush sites. Reconnaissance was important for vampires who didn’t want to be discovered…and I definitely didn’t want to be discovered.

Yeah, all week; didn’t you see the pamphlet on your desk?

No, I was distracted by interior decoration projects. When is the first one?

"…Tuesday night, when the second and third years return. It is called a ‘nut and bolt’ party."

What does that mean? I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know either, that was comforting I didn’t want to be a complete moron for not knowing anything about living, or about being a teenager.

What else?

There is a fancy-dress block party on Thursday, and some kind of games night Wednesday. Friday there is a formal dinner and then an excursion or something to a nightclub in town. Saturday is a floor crawl and I think we get Sunday off!

Cool, plenty of parties then. I can’t wait.

This would be a fantastic week. I was so excited by the thought of all the adventures that I ignored Peter interjecting into my mind. To get my attention he had to tap me on the shoulder.

Hey…pace yourself. You don’t want to write-yourself-off on the first one.

Yes Dad! I teased him.

He was such a worrier. I wouldn’t need a parent nearby with Peter on the scene. What did ‘write-yourself-off’ mean anyway? The statement itself didn’t make any sense.

I looked around the room. There were about thirty people there now. The tutors all sat together on one table. Everyone else was spread around the room. Some sat in small groups, like us, there were a few people alone…that was sad. I was glad to have made friends so easily and so quickly. Much to my surprise it had been quite easy. Aden seemed to be a good choice for a friend. Actually she seemed a really good choice for Peter; he was once again engaged in a conversation with her and more importantly was completely ignoring me.

Hey Ben, show me where you live. I said to him, I wanted to give Peter and Aden some breathing space; I wanted to give myself some breathing space too.

Besides, Ben was cute, I was sure there was worse company around than him. How hard could it be to spend some one-on-one time with him? He pulled my chair out for me. You know that should have been a clue as to his real identity, or his real age, but of course, I missed it completely. We got up and put our empty plates on the cleanup trolley. Ben and I headed back towards our block. Peter stayed at the table with Aden. I was secretly pleased with that little development…okay, so maybe I wasn’t so secretive about it, but what it meant was that Peter would not be hounding me or watching over me during all of those parties that promised to fill my evenings with fun for the rest of the week.

Chapter 2

Ben – The Beginning of Something…

Ben’s room was still cell-like, except for some posters of half-naked girls in a gym. He needed a quilt cover and material for his notice boards. He had several books already on his bookshelf; mine was still bare of actual educational materials. He also had heaps of CDs and a wicked stereo. He hit ‘play’; music started playing. I didn’t recognise it. He noticed me looking quizzically at the CDs on his shelf.

…I have a lot of eighties stuff. He admitted sheepishly.

Hey, music is music.

I was no judge of quality. Just because I hadn’t heard it before didn’t mean I didn’t like it. I hadn’t heard ninety-nine percent of the music available, so the song playing could have been fairly recent for all I knew. Actually I was quite enjoying the song…something about raining in Africa.

Besides, I like this song, I said.

He relaxed. He sat down in the chair. I sat on the bed. I leant against the notice board and pulled my legs up.

Where are you from? he asked me.

Most recently, Melbourne I said, some level of honesty was the best way of keeping secrets. My mother had taught me that – the art of secret keeping-101.

…and before that? You have an accent. Where did you pick that up?

Really, I hadn’t noticed. I grew up in Paris. I hadn’t noticed I had an accent, but it was understandable - I had grown up in France, I should have a French accent.

Cool, he had a huge grin, I have a hot French chick sitting on my bed. This college is excellent!

I blushed, and couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t know what to say so closed it again, while I allowed my brain to re-establish a connection with my voice.

Where are you from? I asked, trying to distract him from me and my inability to think coherently.

Not that far from Melbourne actually, a place called Shepparton.

Really, did you come on the same plane as me?

No. I drove – it took me more than a day. I had to camp out overnight halfway.

He drove; I wanted to learn to drive. I imagined that being able to jump in a car and just take-off on a whim would be one of the most liberating feelings around.

Do you think you could teach me how to drive some time?

His smile widened, Sure!

I looked at my watch, it was only eight but I was worn out. I could feel my eyes starting to droop and my head wanting to let gravity take it downwards towards a soft pillow. Last night had been a hunting night and therefore a very late night. It promised to be a big week; I should definitely get some sleep now, while I could.

I am exhausted. I’m going to bed. I’ll catch you in the morning, okay? I smiled and squeezed his shoulder as I left his room.

He smiled back.

Back in my own room, I unzipped my long-abandoned suitcase and sifted through it for my pyjamas, a towel and my shower bag. I then headed for the bathroom to take a hot shower before bed. The bathrooms were unisex, I didn’t mind. Everything had doors and curtains. I suspected a few the parents may have been shocked though when they were given the tour of their child’s first home away from home, but none of the students seemed too perplexed by the shared bathroom arrangement.

The water was hot and soothing. I let it run over my body. I washed my hair and brushed my teeth. After drying myself and getting dressed into my pyjamas, I wrapped my wet blonde-brown hair in the towel. I was clean and warm and smelled of roses. I padded back to my room and slipped into bed. The bed wasn’t bad but the college was quiet, too quiet. I had lived in two of the most bustling cities in the world; the silence here was very distracting. I climbed back out of bed and put a CD into the player and set the alarm clock for 6am. I slipped back between the sheets. I turned the light off and the ceiling glowed!

What the…! I said out loud to no-one.

I turned the light back on. There were hundreds of little stars all over the roof. When energised by the light they glowed. I turned the light off again, examined my ceiling for constellations and finding none to speak of, closed my eyes and faded away into a beautiful dream with a hot boy playing a starring rôle.

My alarm went off at 6am as the clock had promised it would. I had to hop out of bed to turn it off. That was my safety precaution against rolling over and falling back asleep. Day two at college, I wondered what it would hold. Day one had turned out alright. I rifled through my suitcase, I hadn’t unpacked yet. I know, most people would have done that first – but I am definitely not ‘most people’. I pulled jeans and a black singlet top out of my suitcase. I hung the rest of my clothes in the wardrobe and put the small items in the drawers. I grabbed a dry towel. I had fallen asleep with the other one around my head and it was still damp. I hung it up on the towel rack. With clothes and towel in hand I headed back to the bathroom. Ben was there standing at the mirror shaving, he smiled.

Good morning…how did you sleep? He asked me looking at my reflection in the mirror.

Hi. Yeah, good – I was completely out to the world, I replied.

My eyes wandered over his body. He was standing there with only a towel wrapped around his waist.