Chapter 1- Ignore the Rose
The night was cool, but not too cool, and the breeze easily carried the lovely music coming from the nearby stage. The audience was an odd one, some were preteens; screaming and gyrating madly to each song, some were obviously middle-aged; content to stay seated and just enjoy the music.
On the stage a tall blond lad was working hard to feed an audience that seemed music-starved, alternating from keyboard and guitar like he couldn't make up his mind which he wanted to play more. In front of everyone else, an energetic black-haired young man let song pour from his lips like a river, swollen with rain.
Darren Hayes smiled as he sang, tomorrow was his birthday and his friends were throwing a party for him. The singer bent down and picked up some of the things people had thrown onto the stage; some roses, a teddybear, some candy. As he straightened up, something caught Darren's eye. There was a rose caught on his mike stand, an odd dark rose. Darren tried to grab it too, but it seemed to be really stuck. As he looked closer, Darren realized that the rose wasn't caught, it was growing on the stand, twining round it.
Puzzled, Darren turned around and pretended to ignore the rose, thinking as he continued singing. He tried to catch Daniel's eye, but the guitarist had his eyes closed, leaving Darren to ponder the weird rose by himself. It was strange how it had grown on the stand, Darren didn't know roses could do that.
Something even stranger happened a moment later. As Darren turned back around, he could see the moon coming over the horizon. Soon, moonlight was covering them all and when it touched the rose, it bloomed rapidly, revealing its deep magenta center.
It's a rose like the one Lyruna gave me! Darren realized, startled. He quickly scanned the crowd for the lady, but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it had been quite some time since Darren had seen the Elven lady. Ever since Darren had met Lyruna in New York, she had lurked in the background, unseen by everyone but Darren, it seemed. But these past two weeks she hadn't appeared once, leaving Darren curious and confused.
If it wasn't her, then who? Darren wondered. The song ended and Daniel opened his eyes again, checking up on Darren. The singer pointed to the dark rose and looked at Daniel questioningly. Daniel saw rose and grinned at Darren, uncomprehending of its significance. Darren sighed, regretting his decision to not tell Daniel what had happened, and not for the first time.
But he'd never believe me, even if I told him Darren reflected bitterly, a wry smile crossing his face for a moment. Still, he felt bad for keeping a secret from his best friend.
But I didn't tell anybody Darren consoled himself, also not for the first time. Even though Lyruna hadn't told him to keep their meeting a secret, Darren had felt reluctant to let anyone know. When Daniel had asked what happened to his lady stalker, his 'vampiress', Darren had just shrugged. Keeping his voice neutral, he had suggested that maybe she had given up or lost them. Daniel had merely raised an eyebrow at Darren's sudden indifference and let it go.
Darren turned his attention back to the present as the band started playing the show's last song. He put the whole rose matter behind him and let himself enjoy the evening, resolving to think about it later. But, as Darren watched the full moon travel across the sky, he felt a twinge of unease.