Black Rose

Black Rose BOOK 2 - THE DRACULA DUET KARINA HALLE Copyright © 2023 by Karina Halle All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover design: Hang Le Editor: Laura Helseth Proofreader: Chanpreet Singh I’m more than just a little curious How you’re planning to go about making your amends to the dead “The Noose” A Perfect Circle I found you in the water, you were soaking wet Falling deep into your dripping heart again “Vivien” +++ (Crosses) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana Contents Playlist CONTENT WARNING Prologue 1. Rose 2. Valtu 3. Rose 4. Valtu 5. Rose 6. Valtu 7. Rose 8. Valtu 9. Rose 10. Rose 11. Valtu 12. Rose 13. Valtu 14. Rose 15. Rose 16. Valtu 17. Rose 18. Rose 19. Valtu 20. Rose 21. Valtu 22. Rose 23. Valtu 24. Rose 25. Valtu 26. Rose 27. Rose 28. Rose 29. Valtu Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author Also by Karina Halle Playlist “Vivien” - +++ (Crosses) “The Vampyre of Time and Memory” - Queens of the Stone Age “The Noose” - A Perfect Circle “Last Cup of Sorrow” - Faith No More “Sensation” - +++ (Crosses) “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” - Lana Del Rey “Some Kind of Ghost” - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club “Bitches Brew” - +++ (Crosses) “Born to Die” - Lana Del Rey “Stripsearch” - Faith No More “Ever (Foreign Flag)” - Team Sleep “Sunspots” - NIN “Initiation” - +++ (Crosses) “Head like a Hole” - NIN “16 Psyche” - Chelsea Wolfe “Ultraviolence” - Lana Del Rey “Change (In the House of Flies)” - Deftones “Ashes to Ashes” - Faith No More “The Hollow” - A Perfect Circle “God Hates a Coward” - Tomahawk “The Blackest Day” - Lana Del Rey For a more extensive playlist please check my Spotify by clicking HERE or searching for “Karina Halle Black Rose” or scan this pic: For Bruce: thank you for being the best doggo in the world. You are forever loved, my sweet boy. CONTENT WARNING Hello there, dear reader! Thank you so much for wanting to read Black Rose, and if you’ve been waiting some time for this book to release, I’m grateful for your patience! The Dracula Duet is now complete. Just in case you picked this up on a whim, YOU MUST READ BLOOD ORANGE BEFORE THIS BOOK…Black Rose is not a standalone. But since you will have read Blood Orange already, you’ll be familiar with the content warnings and there are similar warnings for Black Rose including: Graphic violence, gore, blood, horror, harsh language, mild BDSM elements, sexually explicit situations, ghost of an unborn child, talk of suicide and pregnancy loss, death and grief. Prologue THEN “She is dead.” Bellamy grips the edge of his desk with bony fingers and thinks his heart might give out. It lurches in his chest, then seems to disappear entirely, as if erased. Her name doesn’t need to be spoken because he innately knows the truth. He knew it. He knew it even before Atlas Poe uttered the words, standing in the doorway to his office, afraid to step inside. He had felt severed all morning, blaming it on a dream he had, as if he lost some crucial part of him and couldn’t remember it. But now he knew why. When you spent your years training a witch, shaping them to be another version of yourself, and take on the role of their guardian, they become connected to you in ways beyond what’s natural. In many ways, she had become a daughter to him, though any love was conditional. “What happened?” Bellamy asks, his voice barely audible in the vast depths of his office. “She was killed,” Atlas says. “Murdered.” Bellamy’s eyes pinch shut. “By whom?” “They believe it was the vampire, sir,” Atlas says. He clears his throat. Oh, damn. Bellamy leans back in his chair, struggling to take a breath. There is a deep sorrow inside him that wants to rise but he never has room for sorrow in his life, so he pushes it away and lets the disappointment wash over him. He had given Dahlia one more chance to prove herself. During her last mission, the one that nearly got her ejected from the guild for good, she went and got too close to the female vampire she decided to befriend before killing, and the vampire became wise to her. If it wasn’t for Bellamy rescuing Dahlia at the last moment, Dahlia would have died then. And this time, Bellamy wasn’t there to save her. He assumed he wouldn’t need to. He thought that her desire to prove herself would have meant she’d taken extra precautions. But somehow her glamour must have slipped. Her truth must have come out. Valtu probably murdered her on the spot. The last he had heard from Livia was that the two of them had become very close. He almost smiles at the thought of Valtu suffering from the sweetest betrayal, but he stops short of feeling happy. How can he be when his dear Dahlia is dead? “This is my fault,” he says quietly, mainly to himself. Atlas hears him. “How so?” Bellamy grunts and runs his hands over his face. They shake slightly as they do when his emotions become too much for him. All the magic in the world couldn’t seem to get rid of them; neither did conventional medication like anti-depressants. He is a young sixty in every way except that. He hates to think what he’ll be like in ten, twenty years. The thing he despises the most about vampires is that they don’t have to suffer through aging. It is thoroughly unfair. “She wasn’t ready,” Bellamy says, glancing at