Prologue
Black Rose Manor
A thousand years ago…
Silence had fallen over the house; all the inhabitants had been sleeping, not noticing the horror coming closer to them in the cursed manor. The oldest of the children in the house was sleeping in her room in the top floor of the house. It was a mid-summer night the breeze was cool at night but the house was horribly hot, she was resting with room’s window’s wide open, tossing and turning in her bed stuck in a horrible dream. As she tossed and turned, not waking a boy watched from in front of the window, hidden by the shadows in the room, he looked down at the grave yard that sat not far from the backyard of the house. He smiled seeing others like him appearing on the grounds of the manor. He then turned his attention to the girl in front of him; he walked closer to the bed where the girl lay under rose red satin sheets. He stepped closer soundlessly, leaning over the bed and examining her face, not seeing what he wanted. He looked at the window, where another man like him was waiting in the shadows.
“Is it her?” asked the waiting male.
The male by the bed shook his head, “She has a bit of her in it, but she’s not fully there…”
The other sighed, “The towns’ people will be suspicious if another person living in this room passes away…”
“So what, let them be suspicious…” said the other male, snapping his fingers, making a black rose appear in his hand, he looked at the rose that was infected with an illness that would take out the person sleeping in the bed, “It’s not like they’ll be able to find us.”
“Still, young master, you shouldn’t keep killing innocent people.”
“Listen if you want her to come back, her soul has to be fully put together again…” said the boy, setting the rose on the bed beside the sleeping girl, “Which won’t ever happen as long as she’s alive.”
The other sighed, but nodded, “Alright, young master, let’s get back to your father…he won’t be happy if he hears that we are back at this house…”
The boy nodded, looking at the bed one last time, “I’m about to give up, what if she never comes back?”
The other shrugged, “Woohyun will be a happy man getting all the delicious blood.”
A hundred years ago…
Sirens filled the air as firefighters worked hard to douse the flames that were enveloping the old manor. Meanwhile two figures stood and watched the house get engulfed by scarlet flames; the older looked at the prince who stood beside him.
“Why did you do that? You know that they’ll just build a new manor in place of the old one…” said the older male.
“I know…” said the boy, he watch the flames light up the graveyard they stood in, “However, that house was the thing that kept her soul attached to mine…so with it gone, I can finally restore the connection with someone else and have both them and I connected to the new manor…”
Present Day…
“Ah, Mr. Choi, you’ll love this next home, it’s a little older than the others, but as you can tell, it has more space. It’ll be more fitting for a CEO like you and your boys, plus the room facing the south on the third floor holds the best air circulation and always tends to have fresh air, it’s a perfect place for your son,” Said the real-estate agent, smiling as he drove the van to the manor that sat on a hill, surrounded by an iron fence, “The fence really helps keep out burglars and people you don’t want near your house out, so it’s a plus.”
“Yes it is…” said the man, smiling back at the real-estate agent, he then glanced at his four adopted sons who sat in the back of the car, the two oldest sat in the middle two seats, both had their headphones in, listening to their IPods, however, they both were doing other things too, the ill one was sleeping while the other was playing around with his camera. As for the younger two, they were talking to each other quietly in the back of the car, making it so he couldn’t hear a word they spoke.
The sleeping boy woke up when the real-estate agent slammed on the breaks, causing the poor boy to fall out of his seat; he looked around in confusion as he got back into his seat, glaring at the driver in anger.
“What was that about?” hissed the boy, who was sour because he had to move three hours away from his old friends, his old town, and his old life.
“Sorry, a dog just ran across the street…” said the real-estate agent, knowing that it was actually far from being a dog, “anyways, it was about time for you to get up anyways because we are at the last of the houses.”
The boy glared, but got out of the car anyways, coughing into his sleeve as a light autumn breeze blew. He looked around, looking at the vast yard; he noticed a random brick in the yard. He eyed it, but shook his head, after all it’s just a rock and it can’t be that fascinating. He sighed pulling his scarf closer to his neck and his jacket closer to his slender body as the wind picked up and began to blow his straight, chestnut colored hair out of place.
He sighed and looked back at his brothers who were looking up at the brown house in awe, he followed their gaze and looked at the gorgeous house, surprised at just how big it actually was.
“Three story, hundred year old beauty, huh?” said the real-estate agent to the ill boy who returned his question with a glare. The adult sighed and shook his head, “Alright, let’s head inside.”
The man unlocked the house with shaking hands and smiled, however, the ill son was the first into the house and frowned, looking at the cob webs that covered all corners of the house and laced the railing to the grand stair case like a veil.
“Yeah, it’s such a beauty…” said the boy sarcastically, “when was the last time it cleaned?”
“I don’t know,” Said the man, looking at the boy who was looking at him with attentive, cold, emotionless eyes, “When it was built...”
“Have you inspected it, possibly check everything to make sure this place is actually inhabitable?” asked the ill son, getting a closer look at the stairs through his thick framed black glasses, only to sneeze as the dust invaded his nose, “It’ covered in dust, how do you expect people to live here?”
The man shrugged, “Anyways, let’s go on with the tour, this room might be a little bit iffy, but let me show you the other rooms in the house that I’m positive you’ll love.”
The ill boys sighed and shook his head, only to sneeze again as he followed the four who were leaving him behind, they finally made it to the third floor where there sat only one room with its own little private bathroom.
“Alright, so here is the south side bedroom I was talking about.” Said the real-estate agent, smiling and leading the four into the room, where a king sized bed sat in the middle of the room, it’s head board facing the wall and the foot board facing a large set of windows that were covered by thin, slightly transparent drapes, “It’s always warm and is never humid, it is the room with the freshest air in the house.”
“Chunji, look around,” Said Mr. Choi, smiling at the ill boy, “tell me what you think of the room, after all it’ll be yours if we end up buying it…”
“It’s spacious…that’s for sure.” I said, “It is a little dark too…I’d be fine with it if we could possibly get a desk in here with a couple book shelves and a wardrobe.”
“Alright.” Said Mr. Choi, “I guess I’ll be buying this house then…since it’s the only one with positive feedback from Chunji. What do you three think?”
The three looked at each other and then back at their foster father, smiling as they all said, “We like it…”
“Then I guess it’s settled then,” Said the real-estate agent, “Let’s head down and get those papers signed and then I’ll help you clean up the walk in room a bit, since it’s the only dusty room.”
“Alright, boys behave for a bit and we’ll start unpacking in a few hours, ok?”
They nodded and the three moved away from the room while the ill one stayed in the room, glancing over the black walls and ceilings, and furniture, he looked at the rose red satin sheets laying on the king sized bed, he then looked at the black, slightly transparent drapes. He walked closer to them, wondering what the view was like, as soon as he saw out the windows, he regretted choosing this house, this room.
He looked at the graveyard in horror, not liking the idea of it being there, despite it being on the other side of the iron fence; he didn’t feel safe with it there. His eyes then traveled from the graveyard that sat in the shadows of the house to the sky which was quickly becoming gray as a storm approached at an amazing speed.
He felt his chest tighten suddenly and collapsed onto his knees, coughing into his sleeve, feeling like his breath was taken away from him. Soon the coughing fit died down and he stood up again on weak, shaking legs, moving to his bed after shutting the drapes.
He lay down on his back and looked up at the black ceiling and chandelier, slowly drifting to sleep, not noticing the stare he was receiving from the boy standing near his now open window, peering at him through the slightly transparent curtains with a smirk on his face.
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