The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Five ~ The Rose

When I woke up I found myself lying in a bed with black and red checkered blankets over my body and the curtains to my right drawn. I rubbed my eyes with my hands and looked around, and when I realized that I was out of my dress and changed into a red nightgown with an opening in the back, I started to panic. "Ah, you're awake. For a moment I thought you were going to sleep more than I thought you would." I froze with my hand over my chest. Ravino. "What? Too afraid to look up and see my face?" he asked, mockingly. I gritted my teeth as I looked up to see the smiling face of Vince leaning on the doorframe leading into the bathroom across from the bed I was in. His hair was wet and matted to his forehead, which suggested that he had just taken a shower and had come out to see me awaken; he was wearing clothes from head to toe, which I was thankful for. He smiled briefly upon seeing my confused expression, then frowned when I got out of the bed and started walking towards the door. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked. Just as I was about to exit the bedroom, in the corner of my vision I saw myself in the reflection of the mirror leaning on the wall close to the door. But what I saw made me stop in my tracks and gasp in both surprise and horror.

On my back, from my shoulder blades to my lower back, was a large tattoo of a raven perched on a thin branch holding a rose in its beak. I gawked, turning around in a way so that I could see both my expression and my back at the same time in the mirror. In the reflection, I saw Vince come up behind me and place his hands on my shoulders. Almost of their own accord, my eyes start to well with tears and I find myself bawling my eyes out in front of him. "Hey, shh." he mutters, and rubs my arms. I sniffed and turned around so that I could face him, and gave him the hardest glare that I could muster. "I. Hate. You." was all I said to him, before turning on my heel and opening the door and walking out of the room.

I started to run down the hallway and wasn't even a few feet ahead when I bumped into someone. "Oof!" I said. When I backed away from the person I bumped into, I found that it was a girl about the age of twenty four in a maid's uniform. "Oh, I am so sorry, miss!" she cried. I noticed that even though she was older than me, she seemed to have the voice of a thirteen year old. I frowned at her. "Where am I?" I asked, curiously. She looked up from the floor to stare into my dark eyes with her own blue ones. "You're in the Ravino mansion, my lady." she replied. My frown deepened and when I felt a certain presence behind me, I stiffened. The maid's gaze went to the person behind me, who then placed their hands on my shoulders. "Don't mind her, Maggie. My wife just woke up. She barely slept a wink last night so obviously she's tired." Vince said from behind me. I wanted to turn around and yell at him, but I couldn't find the courage to do so for some reason. The maid whose name was Maggie nodded and walked away, turning around the corner at the end of the hallway and leaving me alone with Vince's hands on my shoulders. "You're trembling, Valentina." he muttered in my ear. I could feel the tears threatening to fill my eyes again, so I turned around and faced him.

"What the heck!? I'm your wife?! How did that happen?! I demand to know what happened last night right now!" I screamed. He didn't seem fazed by my screaming; he didn't even flinch. But he did embrace me though. I was pressed against his chest and that's when I let out the tears I had been holding. "Shh." he said, and caressed the top of my head. I sniffed and buried my face deeper in him, up until the point where I pulled away just because I didn't want any other people seeing us together. I wiped my nose with the back of my sleeve. "You're cruel." I managed to say, and he frowned, before letting out a laugh. "I'm cruel? How? I'm not the one that trains day and night to kill men." he said, fixing me with a hard look. "I don't just kill men, dummy. I kill women too, half because some of them get out of my nerves and half because I just feel like it." I protested, and was about to walk away when he grabbed me by the chin and kissed me.

Now, if I were one of those girls who were thrilled at being with Vince Ravino I would kiss him back. But I'm not one of those girls, so I pulled away, disgusted. "What the heck is wrong with you?!" I asked him, shooting him a glare. He seemed almost hurt for a moment before grabbing my arm and digging his nails into my skin. I had to keep myself from hissing from the pain. "You're... hurting me." I said. He moved his hand from my arm to my shoulder, then my neck, my chin, then my cheek. His hand rested there for a few moments before he leaned in and said: "You don't know how much I would love to kill you right now, but I promised your father that I would keep you alive and safe. And I won't break that promise just because of my never ending annoyance with you. You can see your father one last time before we send him back to the hole he came from. Do you want to see him?" I stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity, before looking away and muttering a small 'yes'. His hand dropped from my face and rested at his side. The look he was giving me was enough to burn a hole right through my skull. "Alright, then. Let's go see daddy dearest."

~/~

Vince had grabbed my arm again and started leading me to a door near the end of the hallway, and to my surprise it led to the basement. We descended the stone steps with him behind me, and I had to hold my breath, afraid of what I was going to find down here. When we reached the bottom step, he placed his hand on my lower back, making my breath hitch. "Don't make eye contact with any of them. Don't make any sudden movements, but most of all... make it quick." he whispered in my ear. I couldn't bring myself to talk back to him, no matter how badly I wanted to, so I just nodded. He lightly pushed me forward and I stumbled a few steps but managed my footing. I looked left to right and the only thing I took from this makeshift dungeon was that almost every cell was dirty and full. There were so many people: girls, boys, women, men. All of them, clothed only with white sheets. Their faces were swollen, their bodies frail; I had to feel bad for them. A woman wearing a shawl looked up from the baby she was holding in her arms and met my eyes. Strangely though, her eyes were red, and not the white part of the eye but the irises themselves were red. I wonder what happened to her for them to become that way. "Keep moving." Vince says, when he noticed that I had made eye contact with one of the prisoners. We stopped walking, and I was about to turn around and ask him why we stopped when I heard a frail voice say: "Valentina?" I froze and my eyes widened. Lying on the floor in the cell at the back of the hall, with chains attached to his wrists, was my father.