Roses Wither: Into the Darkness
Thirty-nine

Chase

“Oh, Goddess!” When I came to, Rosa was crying and screaming, “Chase?! Chase! Please be okay! Please! Goddess, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! Please be okay! Please! I can't-! Don't-! No-!”

I was on the ground and she was leaning over me. Shit, she must have gotten me too.

“Where is he?!” I hopped up, replaceing Blackblade next to me and running into the blood and debris, as though nothing had happened.

I had to replace Azazel. I had to kill him, before he became a loose end. I didn’t do loose ends and having one of the priests as a loose end, wasn’t going to work for me.

“You’re okay! You’re-” Rosa sobbed, “I thought I-!”

I realized he was gone and I hollered out in anger, throwing body parts around, hoping to replace him in the messy heap.

Rosa continued to sob as she watched me, and I couldn’t stop myself from returning to her side to comfort her as she shook with fear. It must all be hitting her now, as she began to shake.

“It will be okay, my love.” I wrapped her in my blood covered arms, looking into it her face as she looked me over and began to breathe as she patted my face.

She had done it. She had unleashed The Moon Queen and she had been glorious, but I knew what she had been through, and I wouldn't wish it upon any woman, let alone my bound.

“You are with me now,” I pulled her in tightly. She was strong, but she wasn’t unharmed, “I will keep you safe, my love.”

Her eyes were now back to their beautiful gray-hazel, but the pain in them tore me in two, as she sobbed and looked around at the debri.

Sirens sounded in the distance and I knew our time was limited, so I gave her a light kiss on the forehead and ushered her toward the door.

“We need to go.” I spoke softly to her, “I need to get you to my car, it’s around the corner and down the hill. There’s an alley we can get through, but we have to be fast, unless you want to go after the police too.”

We made it back to my hotel room. Thankfully I had been through enough little rifts to know that I needed a car.

The looks that a bloody man with a sword got on a bike, weren’t the most pleasant.

Rosa was comatose the entire way. Not saying a word, just staring at her hands as her tears fell on them.

When we arrived, I ushered her into the room quickly, so no one was the wiser.

“You can shower first, I will clean up in the sink, then head in when you are done.” I whispered in her ear.

“Don’t leave me.” Her voice was nearly inaudible.

“I won’t, my love.” I held her hand, when what I really wanted to do was pull her close and kiss her until I knew she was okay, but considering what she had been though, it wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me.

She gave a nod and looked down at our clasped hands.

“Do you want to shower?” I asked, trying to get her beautiful eyes to take me in, “I have shampoo and conditioner in there, along with soap, whatever you want.”

“How long have you been here?” Her voice was so quiet, it couldn’t even be counted as a whisper.

“Almost two weeks.” I watched her face as she looked around the room and began to tear up again.

The poor thing was realizing how long it took my stupid ass to reach her.

I dropped her hands to slam my fists on the desk near the door, breaking the wood.

“I’m sorry,” I couldn’t look up at her, as I stared at the shards left on the floor.

She nodded nervously and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Once I heard the shower turn on, I paced and took a moment to myself, before I made a few calls.

The first one was needed, but I needed to process before I was able to really talk to anyone, let alone her father.

She was safe now... Safe...

I had gotten her out... But, if it had only been one day sooner...

“Speak.” Nico ordered.

“She is safe.”

“Where are you?” He asked, “We will pick her up.”

I wanted to say, “Yes, Nico. Come with your army and collect your daughter, so I can hunt Azazel... She will be safe with you...” But, then I thought again. I knew somewhere she was safer. Somewhere I could leave her while I hunted Azazel.

“No.”

There was a pause, and I could feel his anger through the line.

“I must have misheard you,” His voice grew to a shout as he continued on, “You did not just tell me no!”

“Yes.”

“Yes, you told me no? Or yes, you will hand over my daughter? Don’t test me! I want my child!” He shouted through the line.

“Yes, I told you no, Sire.”

“What is wrong with you?” He sounded confused now.

“She is safe, but Azazel got away.”

“You don’t leave loose ends, Chase!” He shouted, “It is why you were my personal guard! Has she made you reckless?!”

“I fell.” I swallowed hard.

“WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!”

“She is safe, showering inside my hotel room.”

“Hotel room?!” He shouted again, “You have my daughter in a hotel room, when a demon is after her?!”

“He was using her to get to me.” I bit my lips.

“Why does he want you, Chase?” His voice was still coated with anger.

“I didn’t get the chance to replace out.” I ground out, “But Azazel is one of the priests.”

“Why would he use her?”

“He knew we were bound."

“It is good that I remember that you are bound to her, Chase,” He spoke the words stoically, “Because that means that you know, if I kill you it will hurt my daughter too. You also know that I cannot hurt my daughter like that, so I will keep you alive and harm you slowly. Painfully!”

“Our bond, I don’t know what happened. Our connection was down for the entire fight. It is still down.”

“You said you fell during battle?” He asked, “How did Rosa fare?”

“Like the Queen she is.” I smiled, rethinking the strength she had not to cower in front of them, “Powerful, strong willed and glorious. She is the one that fell me.”

“She used her gifts?” I could hear the pride in his voice.

“She killed them all.” I snorted.

“She what now?” His pride easily turned to shock.

“She killed them all. Decapitated them. All except Azazel," Then I thought back to the way my blade reacted to it's contact with him, "Or perhaps she did and he woke before I did."

“Where is he now?”

“I do not know," I ground out, "I got hit by the crossfire of her glass explosion and he was gone when I came to.”

“You need to replace him.”

“I need to tend to Rosa.” I snapped at my sire.

“Rosa needs to come home, where she is safe!”

“Tell you what, when she starts talking again, I will let you know what she says.” I hung up the phone and dialed the next number.

“Is she okay?” Matthias asked, “Theo reported that he was sent away, but there was an explossion.”

“She is safe.” I swallowed hard, “That is all I can say.”

“Thank the Lord.” He sighed with relief.

“I need you to prepare the house." I ran a hand down my face, "Rosa is coming to stay with us for a few days.”

“Chase-”

“Please, what she has been through...” I choked, “I just need to know she is safe, brother.”

I heard Rosa sobbing through the walls of the hotel room and dropped my phone to run in and check on her. I almost took the bathroom door off the hinges to get to her.

When I entered, she was curled on the shower floor, sobbing against the wall.

It looked like she had gotten the blood off and scrubbed her thighs raw in the process, they were just starting to heal.

I couldn’t blame her. No woman deserved to be forced upon. Not a single one.

“Rosa...” I spoke her name, to let her know that I was there. She didn’t respond.

I slowly made my way over to her, not wanting to scare her.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and she jumped, but she didn’t snap, like a normal person that had suffered the way she had, would. Instead, she clung to me, pulling me under the stream with her.

“Hey,” I tried to give her a light smile, “You can’t get cleaned up from the floor.”

She looked around at the floor of the shower room.

“Are you too tired to stand?”

Okay, the look she threw at me was telling me that my question was stupid.

“Trying to take everything in?” That got me a nod.

“It’s okay,” I planted my ass down, pulling her into my lap as the water splashed over us both, “I understand.”

I did. I fully understood.

I held her tightly in my embrace, as the water splashed over us both. Removing the blood from me and the stress of what had happened in the early morning hours.

We stayed like this until she fell asleep in my arms, then I dozed off myself.