Crimson Cascade Sequel

11

"Hopefully my spell worked and you can hear and see all of this before my blood wears off," she says pausing looking for her words, but there was no gentle way of putting it, so she got right to it, "I used to work for Tan, not by choice but still, I helped him, then after you killed Tan, Zander took his place.
When Zander found out you and Bucky were rounding up the rest of Tans group you became a threat. He gave me the mission to hand both of you over to him, so he could ultimately kill the both of you and take your powers."

"So i followed you for a little before establishing a plan," she pauses and exhales deep, "one night i saw you talking to Rian, i told him Cristina had been cheating on him with Zander, which prompted him to tell you where she was, he wouldn't of give her up otherwise.
I had shielded Cristina's blood with poison a few weeks prior upon Zanders request. I knew of your powers so i knew you would bite her, giving me chance to swoop in and heal you gaining your trust, although it was only supposed to incapacitate you not kill you. Taking you to my home was never the plan but it had to be done to save your life," again she takes a moment, "then you met my daughter," she smiles as she talks, "Rosie never takes to strangers, or anyone she meets but there was something about you and especially Bucky that she finds comfort in," she pauses again.
"Rosie has uhm, Rosie has powers and visions, that she doesn't fully understand," at this point tears start to trickle from her eyes but she keeps her composure, "she would tell me things, give me instructions, i didn't believe her at first, putting it down to her just having a wild imagination. If i had listened to her her father would still be alive," she trails the end of her sentence before saying, "now I do exactly as she asks, and i suggest you do the same."

Just then you hear a door bursting open and a loud male voice booms, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"
It was Zander, looking for you and Bucky at Faye's home, "shit," she begins to speak more quickly and quietly, "yesterday i was sending you into an ambush, I'm sure you heard Rosie tell me i couldn't send you there, that you were important. I think the two of you are part of a bigger plan, possibly for a future event," she ends her explanation as Zander kicks the bathroom door down and grabs Faye by the throat, "please look after her," were her final words.

Your eyes come back into focus and your instinctively gasp for air, you hadn't noticed but tears had made their way down your face. You hastily wipe them on the back of your long sleeved top, now staring down at the empty vile that you played with in your grasp mulling over Faye's words.

Your brain goes back and forth over these key points until Bucky's quiet footsteps pull you out of your thoughts. You turn to see him with a sleeping Rosie resting on his shoulder as she sits on his forearm, "shes fast asleep," he tells you.

You give a weak smile and sigh, "I'll grab the cushions from the sofa and make her a make shift bed, she can stay in here with us tonight until we can get something better," you head downstairs and return moments later with the cushions and the throw that was draped over the back of the couch. You place them on the floor between your side of the bed and the wall, protectively making sure it was the furthest place from the door, "there," you say, prompting Bucky to place her down gently. You place the throw over her gently, she stirs a little before getting comfortable.

"So," Bucky starts, "what did you see?"

You sigh heavily, "honestly i don't know what to make of all of it," you say before leading on to tell him exactly what you heard and saw.
He sits there going over what you had just told him, you ask, "so what do we do?"

"I, i don't know, magic and witches? this isn't something we've ever dealt with before. I only found out vampires were real when i met you," he smiles as he thinks some more, "but i do remember Steve mentioning a woman he knew, he said she had magic powers too, maybe we should ask him?"

"Then we need to finish our mission here as soon as we can and get back to the tower," you say as a matter of fact, "how will we....," you begin your next sentence but your cut off by Bucky, "let's rest tonight, we haven't drank in almost a full day, gather our strength and figure out our next moves tomorrow," he says stroking your hair and reassuringly kissing your forehead as he heads downstairs to get packets of blood for the two of you. You walk to the bathroom and begin to brush and tie up your hair for the night, as you do you hear clattering, pots and pans banging downstairs followed by the sound of struggling. You run out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to see Rosie awake stood at your side of the bed, "stay here," you tell her as you grab a gun from Bucky's bedside table, "don't make a sound," you tell her as you leave the room, closing the door to behind you.
You stealthily make it down the stairs and head towards the sounds, as you came into view with your gun held out ready to fire you see two Bucky's fighting each other, "STOP!" you shout at them, both of them doing as you ask.

"(y/n) its him, it's Zander," they both say in unison.

You flick your gun between the two of them, you couldn't tell the difference.

"Come on Doll, it's him, shoot him," Bucky one says.

"Don't listen to him Doll, he's trying to trick you," Bucky two says.

They looked and sounded identical.

"Shit," you say through gritted teeth. You study both of them looking for any sign of an imperfection or a mistake in Zander's ability, but you couldn't see any. You didn't know what to do, you didn't want to injure your Bucky, giving Zander chance to attack or even kill him.
Just then your vampiric hearing focuses on the tiny pitter patter of feet making their way down the stairs. Without taking your eyes off the two Bucky's you say to her in a low stern voice, "Rosie, go back upstairs!"
She didn't listen to you but made her way to you, looking at both Bucky's as she does. As she reaches the place your stood and rests her hand on the side of your leg, "look silly," as she says it a wave of power surges up your body to your eyes, instantly you see through Zander's disguise, shooting him twice in his chest. He stumbles and drops his disguise, Bucky moves in on him pulling his arms behind his back, you grab the cuffs from the nearby counter and head over to the two of them.

"Let him go," Rosie states.

All three of you turn your heads to the little girl, Bucky speaks to her, "it's okay Rosie, he needs to go with the other bad people."

You look at Bucky who was hoisting Zander to his feet, "let him go," you say looking into his eyes, hoping he would remember what the two of you had just talked about moments ago.

It worked, he looked from you, to Rosie to Zander, "today's your lucky day," he growls as he changes into his vampire form to intimidate Zander, "i don't want to see your face again, now go!"

Although confused Zander backed off and sprinted out of the kitchen door and into the night. You look down at Rosie who looked up at you, you squat down to her level, "thank you for helping me see him," you say with gratitude, giving her a hug, "but why did we have to let him go?"

She thinks for a moment before saying, "I don't know," with a shrug of her shoulders and a big yawn.

"Okay," you say softly, "let's get you back to bed," you say as you pick her up off the ground.