The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Six ~ The Raven

Valentina ran over to her father, went on her knees and hugged him, then started crying her eyes out. "Shh, mi rosa, shh." her father muttered, and if he wasn't in chains right now I can imagine him patting her back in support. "Padre..." she trailed off, and started sniffling, while her father looked up from her to glare at me. "What did you do to her, Ravino? We had a deal." he said, and then he turned to his daughter and his expression softened. "Valentina, show me." he told her. She looked confused for a moment, but after glancing at me she turned around on her knees, so that her back was facing her father. His eyes widened when he saw the raven tattoo on her back and I could see him reaching out to touch it in his mind. As he looked over the tattoo, Valentina glanced up at me with teary eyes, her expression full of sorrow and regret. "What is this? What did you do? We had a deal, Ravino!" her father cried, his face suddenly turning as red as a tomato. "I'm a man of my word, Mr. De La Rosa. I delivered your daughter to you so you could see her one last time. And in return, you would give me your daughter's hand in marriage. That was the deal, and even though poor Valentina wasn't around while we both signed the contract, she is still a part of it." I said, and reached out to grab her. She backed away immediately, and I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked me up and down like I was going to pounce on her any second. Which I didn't.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Valentina. I'm a man of my word, like I said." But she didn't seem to believe me. Her eyes were still clouded over by sorrow, and only when her father called her name, did she turn around and face him. "Mi bella Valentina..." her father said, and she leaned in, so that he didn't have to struggle to place a hand on her cheek. Even though her back was turned to me, I could see that she was closing her eyes and leaning into her father's touch, and for a moment, I felt slightly jealous. "I had to. He found out and he threatened me-" her father started to explain, but she stopped him, by placing her hand over his. I frowned and crossed my arms; I didn't threaten him. Not really. "Remember this, Valentina. Stay strong, but most of all..." he paused to glance at me, and the look he gave me was full of hatred, "don't let any man control you. Ever." I bit the inside of my cheek, and I did the one thing I told myself not to do... I snapped. I uncrossed my arms and took a few steps forward, then leaned down and grabbed Valentina by the arms. Almost instantly, she started screaming and thrashing and kicking as I dragged her away from her father. "Papa! Papa! Don't leave me Papa!" she cried, and I had to keep my grip firm on her as I continued to drag her away. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw how her father was looking at her: teary eyed, full of longing and love and sorrow. One of my men came up behind me, his arms crossed behind his back. "Your orders, sir?" he asked. I glanced once at Dolor De La Rosa before saying: "Take him."

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I thought that Valentina was going to stop crying and trying to kick me when we reached the room, but it turns out that I was wrong. When I pushed her away so that I could close the door, she immediately started towards it, but I kept her at arm's length. "Just listen to me, Valentina." I said, and locked the door. I turned around and was about to say something else when she slapped me across the cheek. My face burned with pain, and it hurt so much that my whole entire skull throbbed with the immense pain. I raised a hand to my cheek, and said: "Ow." I stared down at Valentina and I noticed how red she was. Heck, she was furious. Her hands were balled into fists; her whole demeanor had changed. Now she stood before me as the feared Valentina De La Rosa everyone knew about. "Fight me." she said. I gawked at her, and I had to keep myself from slapping her back. "I'm not going to fight you, Valentina." I told her. She stood in a fighting stance, and raised her fists. "Oh yeah? Why? You're afraid to fight me?" she asked, and started bouncing on her toes. I groaned and rubbed my forehead with my fingers, then pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"Seriously Valentina? Can't you just let me explain first before you start going all murdering on me?" I asked, annoyedly. She punched me in the face, which I wasn't ready for, so it sent me falling backwards and hitting the door. "Valentina..." I trailed off as she approached me and grabbed the collar of my shirt, then raised a fist. She fixed me with a hard glare that I couldn't look away from. In the light, her face was deadly. "Don't make me punch you again, Ravino." she said, and I had to keep myself from smiling a little bit when I heard how desperate she sounded. "Like I said, I don't want to fight you." She tightened her grip on the collar of my shirt and leaned forwards. "Your funeral." she told me, and punched me in the nose. "Ow!" Then she let go of my shirt, and didn't hold back as she kneed me in the stomach. "Ow! What do you think you're-!?" I started asking her, but I could barely finish what I was asking her because she grabbed me by the throat and brought me close to her, right before she kneed me down below. Pain shot through me which caused me to scream and her to let me go. "That was for inking your symbol on my body while I was unconscious," she punched me in the face, "that's for making me your wife without telling me," she kneed me down below again, "and that's for hurting my dad."

I was hurting. I don't know how much but I was. So when she pulled back her fist to let go another punch, I caught her small hand in mine. She seemed surprised for a second, but then it faded away to anger. "Let go of me." she ordered. I squeezed her fist and watched as her face contorted into pain. She slowly went down on her knees and I took that as an advantage so I stood up and took the higher ground. I grabbed her by the back of her head, gripping her hair in my fist, and brought her face close to mine. She looked up at me with fearful eyes; good, she should fear me. I was meant to be feared. I looked into her eyes, and for a moment, I thought that this wasn't right. I shouldn't be holding her this way, where she was a captive and I was the monster who kept her on a leash. But then that moment faded and I moved my hand from the back of her head to grip her jaw. "Say you won't try to fight me anymore." I told her. She gave me a look and gritted her teeth before saying: "No." And that was enough to make me snap. I threw her to the side, and didn't flinch when I heard a crack sound in the room. She looked up at me and I saw the right side of her face was bloodied. There was a little gash in the top right corner of her head, which suggested that she must've hit her head harder than I hoped it would. Within a second, she lunged towards me and tackled me to the ground. "You bastard! I'm going to kill you!" she cried, as she relentlessly tried to scratch my face with her nails. She sat on my stomach and punched me in the face so hard that I heard a resonating crunch. "Ah!" I cried and held a hand to my nose, thankful that what I felt wasn't broken. But I gawked at her anyway before grabbing her shoulders, then pulled her down towards me and kissed her.