The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Three ~ The Rose

 He was barely a foot away from me, which made me this close to passing out from claustrophobia. He smiled down at me and that was when I reached down and grabbed my dagger from underneath the slit in my dress. I brought it up and aimed for his head, but he stopped me by grabbing my wrist and slamming my hand against the wall. I brought my other hand up to slap him, but he caught that hand too and held it against the wall along with the other one. I hissed from the amount of pain that shot through my hands, and before I could stop him he grabbed the dagger out of my hand. "Hey!" I cried, and was about to punch him when he grabbed both of my hands with one of his and held them above my head. Great. Now I was pinned to a wall by this freaking psychopath. I squirmed under his gaze and tried to pull my hands away from his own, but then he put the blade of my dagger underneath my chin, and he pushed it up so that I was staring up into his eyes. I winced when I felt the blade make a small cut in my skin. He cocked his head to the side and smiled. "To be honest, I kind of like the position we're in right now." he said, and I gawked at him as he leaned in closer so that our faces were mere inches apart. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions, Valentina, and you're going to answer truthfully, yes?" he said, pushing the blade deeper into my skin, making me groan with the pain. "Yes?" he pressed, and I only managed to nod in return. He seemed to smile at my subtle movement, but then his expression darkened. "Were you sent here to kill me?" he asked.

I hesitated before answering: "Yes." He smiled, and then fixed the blade so that it was now set on my jawline. I refused to look away from him as he did so. "Who sent you?" he asked. "My father." I told him, which seemed to make him laugh, but his grip on the dagger didn't falter. "Funny. Your father who was supposed to attend the banquet hall suddenly decides to send you to do his dirty work in killing me in order to take over the entire Mafia party. It was a good try, but it still failed either way." he said. I kept my face as emotionless as possible; I refused to let him think that he was smarter than me by knowing exactly what the plan was. But the thing is he just found out, and I refused to let him think that he had just won the upper hand by finding out the plan I had in killing him. He started drawing the blade down my jawline to my chin, my throat, my neck, and then my chest. My heart suddenly started beating faster but I didn't want him to find out so I held my breath. He may be a cocky one, but that doesn't mean I have to let myself get fooled. He leaned in close and I looked away, because I was suddenly afraid that he was going to mark me like all the other girls. But when I didn't feel the sharp pain of the blade digging into my skin, I risked a glance in his direction and saw that he was staring at me with an unreadable look in his eyes.

I looked down and saw that the blade was now resting over my heart, but it wasn't digging into my skin so it wasn't drawing any blood. I risked a glance to see him looking over his shoulder, and that's when I took that two second window to rip my hands out of his own and run past him. "Hey!" I heard him cry out. I didn't bother looking behind me, and when I reached the door to exit the sunroom hallway, I nearly collapsed out of relief. But before I could open the door though, someone grabbed me by the waist from behind, and pulled me away from the door. "No, no, no!" I cried. I tried to pry the arms away from around my waist, and I gasped when they tightened around me. "Don't run away from me now, Valentina. You brought this upon yourself when you tried to kill me." Vince whispered in my ear. I grunted as I tried to escape again, but I felt my breath hitch when his hands joined together against my stomach. He rested his head on my shoulder and I forced myself to lean away. "What? Are you afraid of me, Valentina?" he asked, and then placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck. I nearly gasped out of breath at the action, and he must've figured it had some kind of effect on me because then he started planting kisses alongside my jaw, neck, and shoulder. I couldn't move away even if I tried; he was holding me completely against him. "Stop. You're..." I trailed off. I felt him nuzzle his nose along my shoulder, then go up to rest near my ear. "I'm what, Valentina? Hurting you? This is the gentlest I've ever been with a woman. Mostly because you seem to deserve what I can give you." he said, talking in my ear. I held in the tears that threatened to escape my eyes. I had to show him no fear. No compliance. No- He kissed me behind the ear... and I moaned.

I couldn't help it. But that seemed to be an invitation for him to continue, as he started kissing and nibbling on my earlobe. I found myself smiling, but not because I wanted to, but because he seemed to have this kind of effect on every woman he did this to. When he started tugging on the straps at the end of my shoulder, I nearly felt myself falling apart. He pulled me closer to him, and I gasped at the sudden action. "Do you still want to kill me, Valentina?" he whispered in my ear. "Yes." I responded. He pulled, no, pressed me tighter against him, which made me gasp even more. "How about now?" he asked. When I didn't answer, he started trailing his hands up and down my waist, then reached behind my back. "You know you should stop now before I lose my nerves and kill you." I say to him, gritting my teeth and attempting to escape his grasp again. I didn't want to be one of his victims. I refused to, and now, with this, it didn't help my situation at all. I felt him trail his hand up my back and over my shoulder, then down my arm and on my hand.

Suddenly, I felt a cool material meet the palm of my hand, and my eyes widened when I realized it was my dagger. He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand up to behind my head, where I assumed his head was at this very moment. "Then go ahead, Valentina. Kill me." he said, and his words seemed more of an order than anything. My grip on the blade tightened, while his arm around me loosened. "Kill me, Valentina. I dare you." he said in my ear. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Something was keeping me from killing him. Why? I was sent here to kill him, not to be held hostage by him. But before I could do anything though, I felt something graze the side of my neck. I froze and my eyes widened when I realized what he was holding. "Sweet dreams, Valentina." Vince said, right before he plunged the needle in my neck. I screamed when I felt a hot burning liquid enter my blood vessels and within seconds, my vision clouded over and I fell unconscious.