Roses Wither: Into the Darkness
Forty-eight

I knew that Rose still had every intention on speaking to Swanson, but it wasn't going to happen.

I had my own questions, and once they were answered, he would be dead for what he did to her.

She wasn't the same girl who was taken from her father's territory months ago. Now she was haunted by what happened to her and part of that haunting had everything to do this man. To say that I didn't want him anywhere near her, would be a vast understatement.

I would have Nico send his parts, one by one, back to his clutch, as his flesh rotted on the dungeon floor, as a mere tribute to what he had watched my beloved go through.

"Oh," He spoke dryly, watching me as I entered the cell, "Company. How pleasant."

He sat unmoving on the ground, with no clothing, no bedding, nothing around him. He knew better than to stand against me,he was now Nico's captive and I had been given permission by my side, to do as I wished with him.

I had Nico remove him from the pole before I arrived. I could feel the pain had been in and I reveled in it.

"You are going to talk." I slowly pulled my gloves from my pocket and slid them on as I stared the man down.

"How is the weather outside?" He grinned, "I really miss the sunshine in the courtyard."

"Do you understand, that what Nicolae and Vlad did to you is nothing compared to what I have been taught to do?" I pulled my blade out and examined it, "Father Cozzo and Azazel taught me well, I assure you."

He scoffed, "No one can do worse than they have already done."

"You raped my bound." I let the color of my blade shine in the darkness, holding the silvering of my eyes back.

"He already took it!" He shouted as he slinked into the corner of his cell, "Six times!"

"I know," I gave a slow nod, knowing he was referring to his member, "It's a bitch when your dick grows back, isn't it? Hurts as much as when it gets cut off."

"How would you know?" He whimpered.

"I was raised by Azazel, remember?" I told him dryly, "He would castrate us every two days. He told us that it was so we wouldn't sin."

"What do you want from me?!" He cried.

"I want to know what you know about the whereabouts of one known as Azazel." I cocked a brow at him.

"I know nothing." He scoffed, but I saw it in his mind.

Their meeting place was a restaurant.

"Have you ever seen a blade like this?" I flipped the blade in my hand, "It is a strange color, is it not? It carries the blood of angels, the bone of myself, brimstone and pure, holy silver." I smiled, "It was forged using holy water to cool it." I examined the blade, running my thumb over the edge, slicing my skin with the lightest touch.

"Now," I crouched to where he sat on the floor, "I am looking for Azazel. He seems to be using a veil to block me, and you will tell me how to break that veil."

His hand made a fist and I could hear in his mind, that he was scooping up dirt to throw in my face. I couldn't allow that, so I pulled out my dagger, fashioned of the same material, and jammed it into his hand as he whaled.

The smell of burning flesh wafted through the cell as smoke seeped from the junction of the blade and his hand. I smiled as he carried on and screamed. It was music to my ears.

"Oh," I stroke his face, "Did I forget to mention that the blade burns like the fires of hell on anyone touched by a demon?"

"You bastard!" He choked out, "Get it out!"

"Yes." I shrugged, "I am a bastard, that is how Azazel found me, but I believe that the blade can stay, for the time being."

"You have no idea how wrong you are." He screamed again as I twisted the dagger.

"And what am I wrong about?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"You are not a bastard by birth." He panted, and that was when I saw it.

Azazel sat across from me in our meeting.

"I had my eye on that retched creature for some time." He told me, as he sliced into his steak and began eating it like this was a casual meeting, "I had to wait for her beloved husband to leave her side, before I could even plot my moves without his knowledge."

"What did Azazel tell you about why he wants me?" I left the blade in his hand and lunged at his neck with my sword, tightening the blade to his throat and reveling in his pain as it slowly sliced and burned.

"No one is ever ready for him," Azazel told me as we sat at the table, "He is the son of the greatest warrior. He is my key to owning the underworld. He is the one that Satan has been waiting for and I plan to hand him over for my freedom, before I kill them both."

"Okay, enough bullshit," I dug the knife in 2 millimeters and enjoyed the sizzling and scent of Burt flesh as he screamed, "I can see your thoughts. A lovely trick my wife gave me. So, you will tell me why Satan has been waiting for me and I will end this."

He didn't speak and only thought of the pain he was in.

"You will die anyway, I can either torture you more or kill you quickly." I hissed.

The whole conversation came to mind then...

I met Azazel at the steakhouse, as requested. He had no guard, no protection. This demon was the strongest we had ever dealt with

"Come," He smiled up at me as the waiter placed his steak at the table, "Sit, we will discuss."

"What are we here to discuss?" I asked, taking my seat and leaning against the back. There was no need to let him know how scared I was.

"You have a very strong Army." The demon told me.

"I do," I gave a nod, "We work with artillery."

"I believe you can help me. I need someone hidden from a very dangerous man."

"Hidden how?" Was this his love? Did demons love?

"Hidden away from other vampires with abnormal senses." He eyed me around his steak, "Senses that she is believed to have herself."

There are very few with abnormal abilities and I didn't want to get on any of their bad sides.

"Who is this girl?" I hadn't heard rumor of any of those particular vampires having a bound, and if he meant Nitala Tepes, it was out of the question.

"That does not need to be known, but you will need to know who we are keeping her from." He pointed the steak knife at me as he spoke.

"And who would that be?" I scoffed. He was being awfully secretive.

"The Guard."

"The-?" I almost choked on my own spit, "Tepes's guard? Do you have a fucking death wish? He goes after your kind in his fucking sleep."

"My sites are set a little higher than death." He smiled dryly as he sliced off a chuck of steak and ate it.

"Who is this girl?" She had to be important to them.

"A child no one speaks of," He wiped his mouth, "She is a myth. A girl of legends."

"I risk my men for some girl that might not even exist, and what do you get out of this?" I glared at him.

"I finally kill The Guard."

"No one, and I mean NO ONE can kill The Guard." I scoffed, "The man is indestructible."

"I just need his sword." He glared back at me.

"Rumor has it, no one can wield that thing but him."

"I have a way that may work." He told me with finality.

"There's no way we can be ready for him." I snorted, "The guy is a freight train."

"No one is ever ready for him," Azazel told me, "He is the son of the greatest warrior of all time. He is my key to owning the underworld and once I own it, Nicolae, Vladimir and all of their line will be gone."

"How?" I watched as he cut up his steak and ate it.

"The Guard is the one that Satan has been waiting for. He is my leverage. Once I have him in front of my brother, I will kill both of them."

"How do you know you've even got the right guy?"

"I had my eye on the last of the fallen for some time." He told me, as he sliced into his steak and began eating it, "She had long, blonde hair, she was an angel, a very beautiful face, and a beautiful figure."

"She was my ticket to locking my brother in the underworld and weakening him," He continued eating, "Because if I killed the last of the fallen, he would be trapped. But it didn't work that way, because when my son and I found her, she was pregnant with my brother's heir. A boy bread of Demon and Angel."

"He was born a fallen and I knew I had to kill them both, her and the child she carried, if I wanted the thrown. But after I killed her, the boy wouldn't die." He flailed his fork around and it was really disturbing, he was talking about killing babies for christ's sake, "I tried everything, even crushing his skull, removing his bones and stabbing his eyes with them, but I needed Satan's bones to kill the babe and I had just locked him in Hell by killing the angel."

"So, I fed the boy his mother's blood, hoping that the Angel blood would kill him, since he was half demon. I slit his throat and poured it in. The infant stopped crying, he didn't make a sound and I realized that it hadn't killed him, but countered his demonic blood. It had numbed him. I could hit him, drop him and do anything to him, but he never felt it."

"I trained him to hunt my enemies and anyone who could potentially help my efforts to defeat my brother."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, you will know, I am out of Angel blood and if I can do that to my infant nephew, think if what I will do to your army of you don't concede."

"So, you are telling me that I will die either going against you, or against The Guard who is actually the son of Satan?"

"No..." I gaped at him.

"He had no reason to lie. He wanted you dead and was going to kill us all in the end."

"Chase!" I heard Rosa shout, "Get away from him!"

I couldn't let her replace out. If she knew, she would not view me as the man I have become. She would only see my evil.

Had she seen it already? In his past? Was that why she had been hesitant to bind to me again?

"May his soul depart peacefully," I closed my eyes and whispered my prayer for his soul. His thoughts were in shock because I was praying, "Through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

I applied the remaining pressure needed and severed his neck. Decapitating him.

"No!" Rosa screamed, as someone knocked me over with the force of ten men, "I needed to question him!"

I reared up, my anger taking over me for an instant, before I realized who I was about to fight.

Rosa.

"What is wrong with you?!" I shouted at her, "I could have hurt you!"

"How dare you kill my prisoner!" She shouted back, crouching and ready to fight.

"You want to question him?!" I stood tall, looming over her even more than normal. I had to make light of this, if not, she would know something was up.

Motioning to the body with my bloody blade, I smiled, "Be my guest!"

"Very funny!" She stood from her crouch to try to get into my face, her Romanian accent thicker than I had ever heard it.

"I thought it was." I smirked down at her and she let out a scream of frustration.

"You ignorant moron!" She snapped, "I could kill you for this!"

"And I would bounce right back!" I snorted and she screamed again.

"I hate you!"

"What is happening down here?" Nico's voice was overheard through Rose's war cry.

I turned to see Nico standing with Theo.

"You okay, brother?" Theo asked in concern.

"I am," I grinned at him, "Rose is a little pissed."

"Little?!" She snapped and gave her father that incredulous look, "He killed Swanson!"

Her father smiled as her power grew.

"Sounds like a relationship problem to me " He grinned, turned on his heal and left the cells, Theo followed.

"You had no reason to question him alone." I glared at her.

"I wasn't going to!" She hissed up at me, "That is why I had Theo around the corner!"

"Why Theo?" My brow furrowed, "Why not Matthias?"

It was good she hadn't, considering that Azazel had referred to Matthias as his son.

It had to be Matthias, he always spoke of how he was there the night I was taken, but if everything Azazel told Swanson was true, I was also a demon.

"Because, aside from you, he's the most alert one." She rolled her eyes, "Matthias is too lax and the other two just seem to follow orders. Why does it matter?"

"Just wondering." I shrugged.

"Now, how am I supposed to get to Clara?" She glared at the body of Swanson.

"She is safe in the cavern in the lake," I wiped my knife off, "Azazel can't reach her there. I will hunt him and once he is dead, we will go after Clara."

"He put her there to keep her from Azazel. Why?"

"I don't know." I shrugged again.

She stared up at me, her look was deadly and the silence was even deadlier as her power rose in the air around us.

"She looked like me, Chase. She has a disguise on, which doesn't work on demons, but he wasn't a demon, so he thought he was keeping me from Azazel. Why? What does Azazel have against you?"

"Didn't you see that in his memories?" I questioned her.

"No," Her brow furrowed, "From the moment he walked into the diner, every memory that included Azazel was gone."

"It doesn't matter," I told her, "Azazel will be dead soon. We will leave immediately."

She gave me one last glare and when I didn't respond she stormed off, "Don't go near any windows!"

"I still think you are sexy when you get angry." I mumbled as she left me to my thoughts and the dead body.

How could this be possible? There was no way that Azazel spoke the truth. If he did, there was a lot going on, that I never knew about.

If I had known, I would not have bound myself to a goddess, no matter how good it felt to be with her.