The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Seven ~ The Rose

The first thing I felt was pure anger. How dare he grab me like that and pull me down to kiss him! But then, I found myself melting at the contact, and before I could even register what was happening, Vince grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me away, and arched my neck so that it was bent all the way. He gritted his teeth and stared at me with a gaze I couldn't scrutinize, but even then, I knew that my attempt to kill him before made him really angry. "That is what you'll get if you ever try to kill me again. Got it?" he said, and I had to find the courage to nod. He seemed satisfied with that, however, it wasn't until he removed his belt with his free hand that I started to panic. I widened my eyes at him. "What are you doing?" I asked, the fear evident in my voice. He didn't answer, but instead, he got to his feet and walked over to the bed, while still holding on to the back of my neck so I had no choice but to follow him. He literally threw me onto the bed and before I could get up and stop him he got onto the bed and grabbed both of my hands and brought them up to the bedpost, where he tied his belt around my hands, therefore keeping them tied to the bedpost and keeping me from moving. "Hey!" He grinned at me and got off the bed, and then started for the door. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?! You're not going to leave me like this are you?!" I screamed. He had reached the door, but he didn't open it. Instead, he glanced over his shoulder to meet my eyes and smiled briefly before smirking at me. "I'm going to work. Stay here and wait for me, okay?" he said, then opened the door and left the room.

~/~

I didn't think waiting would be so boring that I ended up falling asleep. And judging by how before I fell asleep it was daytime and now it was night, I must've slept through the entire day. Now I lay in the bed, trying to get my hands out of Vince's belt. "Argh. Almost... there." I said, and bit my lip to suppress a yelp of pain when the metal scraped my skin, leaving a trail of red skin in its wake as I managed to slip my hands out of the leather. "Phew." I said, and rubbed my wrists together. They were so red that it looked like I went in the sun for twenty hours straight without any sunscreen and got a really bad sunburn. I got out the bed and walked over to the curtains, then pushed them aside to look out the window and see the backyard. But before I could see what was outside though, two arms had found their way around my waist, which made me snap out of my trance. "I see you're enjoying the view." Vince said in my ear. I tried to keep my focus outside, but when he reached up with one hand and pushed some loose strands of hair away from my face and pulled them behind my ear, I looked at him. I frowned, and glanced down at his arm, and noticed the dried blood on his hand, knuckles and arm. "What did you do?" I couldn't help but ask. I knew that he did this every single day, but I needed to know if he did anything that would make me want to punch him again.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. I'm going to take a shower now, so I suggest you sit quietly and wait for me." he said, then released his hold on me. I turned around and watched as he grabbed a towel from a cabinet under the TV and headed towards the bathroom. I started walking to him, but then he turned around and frowned. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, curiously. I stopped in my tracks and crossed my arms, then gave him a stern look. "I'm in the Mafia too, Vince. Whatever you tell me won't affect me either way because we both do the same thing." I told him. He started to shake his head and walk over to me, and stood a foot away from me to keep some distance between us. "Are you sure? What if I told you I went out and beat a man to death? What if I told you I did an investigation and punched someone until they told me what I wanted to know? But even then..." he said, and his eyes looked me up and down, and I could feel myself getting scared. I shook myself to rid the feeling of fear from me. I wasn't scared; Valentina De La Rosa was never scared. "Even then what?" I asked. His dark eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and for a split second, I thought I could see a little bit of lust in them, but I wasn't quite sure and I didn't want to stick around to find out. So I turned away from him, with my arms still crossed, and waited for him to leave to head to the bathroom. But those footsteps never came.

Curious, I looked over my shoulder to see him staring at me, or more precisely, the tattoo on my back. I glared at him. "I'm going to change into something soon that actually covers it, by the way." I told him. He shook his head, and pointed to the wardrobe in the corner of the room. "In there you'll find some clothing supplements. But don't get too comfortable with them because we're going to your house tomorrow so we can pick up your own clothes." he told me, and turned around to leave but stopped when he was in the doorframe leading into the bathroom. "Unless of course... you'd prefer to stay in what you're wearing now." he said. I shifted my position on my feet and glared at him before raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to get my own clothes, thank you very much." I told him, and he smirked right before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

I sat on the bed and played with the fabric of the sheets. What the heck is wrong with me? I should be out and running away from this psycho. Or even better... he should be dead. Why didn't I kill him last night? If only he wasn't such a cocky little bastard. The sound of the bathroom door opening made me look up and see Vince walking out of the bathroom, but then I quickly looked away, because he was only wearing a towel around the bottom half of his body. "What? You've never seen the top half of a guy's body before?" he asked, a bit of a mocking tone in his voice. I waited a few moments but didn't answer him during that time, and when I looked at him again, I was relieved to see that he had put on a black t-shirt to cover himself. I let out a subtle sigh of relief then glared at him. "Of course I have. Just not..." I trailed off, a lump suddenly forming in my throat. He cocked his head to the side, a curious expression on his face. "Just what?" he asked. I looked away, my face burning. "Nothing." I told him, but that only made him laugh. "Oh my... you're a virgin, aren't you?" he asked, and that's when I snapped. I got up from the bed and lunged at him, but only to have him grab my arms and pin them behind my back, so now he was holding me against him. "Admit it, Valentina. You're a virgin." he whispered in my ear. I felt my cheeks burn, but I kept my composure as I spoke: "Yes, I am. And proudly so." He loosened his grip on my hands a little bit before asking me: "Do you still want to kill me, Valentina?" I paused before answering: "Yes." He sighed, then started trailing kisses up my neck. "You don't know how much I would love to rip those lies out of your mouth." he said softly. I gulped and turned my head away. "Well, you'd have to try really hard to succeed, then." I told him, truthfully.

I don't think he knew how much I wanted to rip his tongue out, but for some reason though, I couldn't bring myself to do it. "What's wrong, Valentina?" he asked, then kissed me behind my ear. "Are you afraid of me?" I gulped and his grasp on my arms loosened a little bit to let them fall to my sides, but then he wrapped his arms around me, trapping me in a one-sided hug. I couldn't move my arms, despite the throbbing pressure that was on them that kept them in place. "You don't know how much I'm dying inside for you, Valentina. You're making me crazy." he mutters, and squeezes me, making me gasp, briefly cutting off my oxygen supply and his arms digging into my stomach making me feel a bit of pain in that area. "Well... you don't... have... the same effect... on... me." I manage to say through struggling breaths. Maybe if he would've stayed wherever he was before the makeshift bar this wouldn't be happening. Maybe if he didn't scare me with that gaze of his I wouldn't be feeling emotions I knew better than to feel. "Then tell me, Valentina. Tell me what I make you feel." he says. I contemplated how to answer him. I knew that at the banquet hall he was sent to kill me and I to him, so we shouldn't be doing this. But for some reason, which I dare not explain, we both have a certain effect on each other.

"You're doing well with making me not able to speak." I told him. I felt him nuzzle his nose in the hair behind my ear. "Maybe that was my intention." he said, and I opened my mouth to say something, but then I felt a cold metal press against my neck. My eyes widened while my breath hitched. "What are you doing?" I asked, too terrified to turn my head around to look at what he was holding against my neck. "Sweet dreams, Valentina. And when you wake up... I'll be there for you," he paused to kiss my neck, "and you'll be mine." Right before I was about to ask him what he meant by that, the cold metal plunged into my skin, making me yelp in pain, and then my vision faded into black.