Roses Wither: Into the Darkness

Rose

“Anything yet?” The demon, who I now knew as Azazel asked.

“Sun does nothing,” The doctor told him, “Acid boils but heals with time, fire did nothing but become a mild irritant. Drowning doesn’t work, although she breathes out of water and has a heartbeat. She is susceptible to brimstone, not ethereal, silver or wooden stake through the heart, though the holy water seems to weaken her.”

I mentally cried, but was too tired to say anything, as I hung against the wall, with those same chemically coated chains holding me upright. I had been unconscious numerous times and was in and out.

I knew it was a good thing I couldn't speak though, because when I opened my mouth it only made things worse for me.

It was hard to keep my mouth shut all the time, considering that they were testing all of the myths. Sunlight, holy water, wooden stakes. Vampires didn’t respond to any of that but, if my wolf was anywhere there, she was now dead.

“Curious...” The demon mused, “The fire did nothing? Are you sure that we have the right one?”

The silver, ethereal and brimstone had been liquidized and injected into my veins. The drowning was the easier of all of the tests he had done on me though, I didn't remember the holy water.

“The blood?”

“She said she doesn’t drink blood and she honestly doesn’t seem to need it to survive or heal, but she does need water and food.”

“That must be the wolf in her blood.”

“Her bite marks never returned when we cut them off,” The doctor whispered, "I hope we didn't break her bond."

They hadn't, but they didn't need to hear that. I could feel him nudging to break in, every time I woke, but I couldn't allow it. I couldn't give in and have him get killed for me.

When the demon grabbed my hair and pulled my head to the side, tears slid down my face.

I couldn’t allow anyone to feel this pain, but without any connection, wolf or vampiric, it felt as though part of my soul had been ripped away from me. My friends and family were taken from me, and my only solace was to know that I may soon die.

“She is looking pale. Has she eaten today?”

Today? What day was it? How long had I been here?

“She had an apple, with a glass of water two days ago, but she needs protein.”

“Then give it to her.” He patted my cheek menacingly, “Then find out what she needs to shift. We can test the ability of the wolves in their purest forms.”

“-Can’t shift.” I breathed. My voice was breathy and barely audible, but when both of their heads swiveled to face me, I knew they had heard.

“What do you mean, dear?” The Dr. asked me.

He had been nice, despite what he had done to me. He'd tried to help me. He had fought to keep me fed, keep my wounds dressed and get me healed. He didn't want to do this, I knew, but he had to. They had killed his family and he was only biding his time to keep me as safe as possible.

“M-mate...” I tried to breathe, “Broke the bond...”

“She was mated to a wolf... Curious...” The demon’s brow furrowed, “Was this before or after The Guard, girl?”

I couldn't answer, but I bit back the tears that struck me.

“It’s hard to tell, she has so many markings.”

“Answer, girl.” I could feel the demon standing over me.

“No.” I spoke defiantly and his response was to backhand me. Again. It seemed to be his only move.

I rolled the blood around in my mouth and spit it onto his feet, his response was to choke me.

“Why are we doing all of this?” The doctor asked frantically, “Please, release her. I thought we were keeping her to get to The Guard.”

“She is linked to The Guard. They are bound, which means that he can feel her pain.” The demon hissed.

“He can’t.” I breathed as a smile, that I was certain was filled with blood, caressed my face.

“He can’t what?” Azazel glared at me.

“Feel me...” I met his eyes as they swirled with red, "I'm blocking him..."

“How?” The doctor asked with a gasp.

“Queen.” Was my only response. I was using all of my energy to block him. Whether he could feel me when I was unconscious, I had no idea, but while they tortured me, I kept the block up.

This got me another backhand.

“Hurt her until she cannot block him anymore. Find out what she knows and be done with her.” With those final words, he was off again. Out the door and through the armed guards.

“It won’t help.” I told him when we were alone, “I know nothing about Chase. I blocked him...”

"You have to open to him. Tell him where you are." He scribbled on his clipboard as he spoke and tapped it until he got my attention.

“Tell me how to find him.” It read, “I have someone on the outside and I want to get you out of here.”

“I can’t get into his head," I cried, "Not without him feeling my pain.”

He turned the clipboard around and wrote again, then showed me.

“He’s not just ANY vampire.” Is what he wrote this time.

“No.” I tried to swallow, but the taste of my blood caused me to gag.

“How long have I been here?” I chose to ask, leaning against my chains.

Bunic was right, feeding me the blood fed my vampire. I needed to feed my vampire. It was my only chance to get out of here.

“Twelve days.”

“He doesn’t care about me.” I told the guy, as tears streamed down my face.

Part of my mind told me that he would have been here already if he did. He would have found his way to me, to free me. I was alone. I had no one. I didn't have Aiden, or Chase, or Marcus. Mom, Tati and Bunic weren't coming either.

I was going to die alone in this cell and my people would never be free. The fates were stacked against me.

"There are rumors that a man is hunting demons in the area one nest to the next," He whispered as he wrote, "Azazel cannot track him, for some reason. It is The Guard. He is looking for you, Rosa. You need your bound, as he needs you. The longer you two are apart, the stronger that pull gets. I can guarantee that the man they speak of is him.”

“Please connect to him and we will get you out of here. If it is the last thing I do, you will be free.”

“I can't.” I sobbed.

“Please, I was there when you took your first breath and cried your first tears.” His eyes welled up with tears, his glasses filling with fog from their warmth, “There is a reason I was taken, but I have proved my usefulness and my time is short. Yours is not. Find him, allow him to come, child.”

I reluctantly closed my eyes and opened the link that had been pushing at me forever.

I felt his distress and his anger as he looked around him at... Was that carnage?

“Rosa?!” He paused, speaking out loud, “Where are you, my love?”

I could feel his concern for my weakness and pain and it gave me hope, but my link was fading fast though.

“Where?” Was all I could make out. Our connection was slipping too quickly. I was too weak now.

"Fontinaine.” He spoke aloud, "False lead. tell me where you are my love, and I will come and free you."

Is he near? The doctor wrote on the clipboard.

“Who is that?!” Chase snapped, “I will kill him, if he harmed you!”

“He is helping me...” I began to cry my tears of hope, "I'm so weak... Need blood."

"I will bring you some, tell me where, my love."

Viento. Tonight. The doctor wrote on the page. A man by the name of Thaddeus will meet him there.

"I will be there." He spoke again, "I love you, my beautiful."

I heard before our link dropped. I couldn’t hold it any longer and knew I wouldn’t have the energy to bring it back up.

Chase

I shouted out in anger, through the now empty demon bar. She was so weak. What had he done to her?! I could feel her exhaustion and pain. I could feel her hurt and heartbreak.

It had been twelve days and I was wasting my time, trying to follow another dead end at a bar.

When Rosa opened the link I had been trying to open since her disappearance, hope surged in me, but it was short lived when our link died.

"Brother?" Theo watched me.

"There is holy water on her chains," I looked to my wrists, where I felt the burn she was enduring, "She is weak and needs blood."

"You can feel her?" Theo asked.

"Yes!" I began to march out, leaving the dead demons behind, "And I need to find her."

I ran straight to the place the man in the blood soaked lab coat had written down.

I waited where he told me to for two hours and was starting to wonder if this Thaddeus was going to show, when a small man nervously walked in.

He stuck out and obviously didn’t belong, but his friend was the one who called this meeting.

I had been ambushed the past four nights and knew I was getting closer to her. I had narrowed her location down to one spot, and I really just needed to figure out how to get to her without destroying innocents in my path. Perhaps this human would be my link.

“Guard?” The squirmy little man stood in front from me, his heart beating rapidly. When I gave a nod, he motioned to the empty seat at the table next to me with a shaky hand.

I nodded and we sat across from each other, myself facing the door and at the ready for that ambush.

It was the table that women had occupied all night, trying to gain my attention, only to be disappointed when I didn’t look from the door. I must have looked like a bouncer, having removed my bloody coat and only dawning my long sleeved t-shirt.

The sooner I put a ring on Rosa’s finger the better it would be for us both.

“Your markings...” He huffed and gave a lithe smile as his eyes roamed what he could be seen around my shirt, “There are so many. I've heard of them, but never actually seen any.”

“What news do you have for me?” I asked coldly, ignoring his admiration.

“She is in the West End, a partially underground facility.” He whispered, “Seventh floor down, one-hundred-thirty-two guards, all vampires and highly armed. There are also 212 human staff, from what Ernie has counted in the past ten days.”

“How do you know this?”

“At first, I didn't believe it was Ernie," He leaned forward and whispered, "But he knew things that only Ernie would know about our... Friendship. He contacted me four times, all by some coded phone in the facility. He said that they took the girl to get to you and he will die soon, but I needed to meet you here to tell you.”

“What does the demon want from me?” I didn’t bother to whisper.

“I don’t know.” He swallowed hard, “Honestly, but he said that you will need an army to reach her.”

“I am the army.” I huffed a laugh, “What do you know about this facility?”

“He said it’s super high security. The building is made from a mix of brimstone, silver and iron.” He whispered frantically, “He's been trying to get her out himself. Every time he- Look, you need someone to help you in, to allow you access, everything is palm coded, and you need an army to get past the guards. This isn’t a game, he’s been making Ernest run experiments on this girl. We think he's planning some war on vampires."

“How am I going to gain this access I need?” I asked.

“Ernest said that he would help you,” He gave a solitary nod and his eyes filled with tears, "He said that he gets to go outside every morning at seven. He gets taken to some patio. He said that three guards cover him. He also-," He took a deep breath, "He also said, when he dies, he wants you to cut his hand off and use it. It will be your key to gain access to her."

“Tomorrow morning it is then.” I gave a nod, “But, why should I believe you are helping me?”

“Ernest was a damn good doctor, before all of this.” He whispered, “He was called upon twice in the past 37 years, by the Tepes family, to deliver babies. A boy, born here, and a girl, born in the states. I wasn't with him when the boy was born, but I was there for the girl.”

“Marcus and Rosa.” I gave a nod.

“When the girl was to be born, they flew us both to the US, for our discretion. Nicolae helped us flea a horrible situation, similar to this.” He began to cry, “My boyfriend helped bring her into this world. Hearing her screams now... As that demon makes him do horrible things to her... It's killing him... He wants to die.”

"And you?" I cocked a brow at the man.

“Did you know, she had a full head of stark red hair when she was born?” He looked at me through teary eyes, “I held her. She was such a beautiful baby. I couldn't imagine the woman she's become. Ernie knows that this demon is going to kill him sooner or later, so if we die helping you, we both see it as knowing she is free.”

“When I first saw her, she was nearly two, and some of her markings were as clear as they are now. Was she born with them?”

“Yes.” He gave another nod, “According to Ernie, so was the boy.”

"Do you know anything about them?" I asked.

"Very little." He shook his head, "Only what Ernie has told me."

“Why do you think markings would form a millennia old child?”

“Ernie says they're born with them, or reborn.” His eyes roamed my visible markings again.

I nodded, then why had mine come as a man of the lost?

“I cannot disguise myself, nor do I want to. I want Azazel to see me coming.” I stood to my full length, towering over the man, “I will keep you and your love out of harm’s way, if possible, but freeing my Queen is my number one priority.”

“Is she more than just a Queen to you? Is it true, what Ernie told me? Are you bound to her?”

“Yes.” I left it at that, and the man didn’t pry.