The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Nine ~ The Raven

When we arrived at my house, I dragged Valentina out of the car and to my room where I locked her in before she could run out. Almost immediately she started pounding on the door, demanding me to let her out. I turned away from the door and placed the key in Angelique's palm. "Don't lose this. Or I will kill you." I said, sternly. Her eyes widened slightly before she curtsied and walked away, her skirt trailing behind her. I turned back to the door and rested my forehead against the wood. Muttering under my breath, I said: "What are you doing to me, Valentina?" Then I walked away from the door.

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I had asked my men to drag Valentina's maid to the dungeons and tie her to a chair where they would await my orders on what to do with her. After locking Valentina in my room, I went downstairs and walked down the long hallway, avoiding the gaze of the test subjects I had brought down here to be experimented on with the Rose Toxin. Up ahead, I saw the hidden door at the end of the hall being guarded by two of my men, their hands behind their backs and grim expressions on their faces. I stood in front of them and gave them a firm nod, then they took out a pair of keys and a gun. I grabbed the weapon from one of the guards and examined it. In my hands I held a small pistol, but I had made sure to have the ammo dipped in poison before I would use it to kill the captive. When I nodded to show my approval, the guard holding the pair of keys opened the door and stepped aside. I walked inside the small and dark room, the only light provided being from the tiny lamp stuck to the ceiling in the middle of the room. I pulled out a chair from a dark corner and dragged it in front of Valentina's maid. She was tied to a chair with ropes that wrapped around her ankles and wrists.

She looked up at me with teary eyes, her cheeks red and eyes puffy as if she had just been crying. The piece of cloth in her mouth was pulled back tight, so I wouldn't doubt the fact that her teeth were in pain right now. I leaned forward and pulled down the gag out of her mouth, where she took that moment to spit in my face. I wiped at my cheek and gave her a stern look. "Don't bother. It will take more than that to make me hate you enough to kill you." I told her. She sniffed and looked up at me with hatred burning in her eyes. "What did you come here to do then? If not kill me?" she asked, her voice raspy from the piece of cloth that had just been in her mouth. I sat down in the chair I had set in front of her and crossed my arms. "I just came here to talk. Unless of course, you'd rather I kill you and get it over with instead?" I suggested. She bit the inside of her cheek, no doubt to keep the retort she had in mind from coming out. "The deal I have to make is simple: tell me what you know about the toxin and I will set you free." I said. She seemed to contemplate the deal for a few moments before nodding and shifting her position as much as she could in her chair.

"The first few doses are harmless, as they don't inflict much damage to the victim's brain just yet. Except, the third dose gives them nightmares about the person that gave the toxin to them. Whether it be willingly, or unwillingly." she said, and paused to see if I was going to jump out at her and kill her. But when I didn't move, she gave me a wary look and continued. "Hearing and seeing hallucinations, along with red eyes, are the side effects that come after taking a fourth dose of the toxin. The fifth dose, the victim develops a certain dependence towards their captor, which then forces the victim to fall to their feet and remain helpless because they cannot handle all the madness around them. And finally, the sixth dose," she paused to lick her lips uncomfortably. "The victim succumbs to the violent behavior that has been slowly etching its way out of the walls that contained it. The victim is no longer the victim, but a person driven into insanity." she finished. And for a while, there was only silence. Then, she squirmed in her seat and asked: "Can I go now?" I narrowed my eyes. "No." Her mouth dropped open and she looked like she was about to argue, but I didn't give her the chance because I took out the gun at my side and pointed it at her head.

She whimpered as her eyes crossed over so that she was eyeing the gun. "I told you everything." she said, and a tear fell down her cheek. "It's good that you're scared. Tell me your name." I said, calmly. She took a few moments to gather up her courage and say: "Serena." I smiled and lowered the gun so that it was now resting in between her eyes. "Serena. Now I am going to say something to you and you are not to say anything, agreed?" She nodded vigorously and I retracted the gun from her head slowly. I sat back down on my chair and folded my hands on my lap, my right hand still clutching the gun. "You're probably wondering what happens now. After you've told me what the toxin does, I now know how I can make more use of it instead of experimenting on random people to find it out for myself. But now... I have all that I need to get it done." I told her. She was still gazing at me with hatred burning in her eyes, and in that moment, she looked a lot like Valentina and how she always looked at me, but that moment disappeared as quickly as it came. I shook my head to rid myself of the foolishness I was thinking of. "What, exactly, do you plan on doing, Mr. Ravino?" she asked, curiously. I put on a satisfied smirk on my face because I had just gotten her to ask the one question I had wanted her to ask me.

I leaned forward in my chair and grinned. "Why, in addition to taking over the entire Mafia... I am going to break Valentina, of course." I said, and chuckled deep in my throat. I leaned back in my chair and rested an arm around it, feeling quite satisfied with the way Serena was looking at me now. "And what better way to do that, than to make her fall to her knees and beg me to save her from the brink of insanity. Only then will I save her... by killing her." I said, and threw my head back and laughed. Serena tried to jump out of her chair, but the ropes keeping her tied to it held her down. Seeing that she was trying to escape, I got up from my chair and walked over to her until I stood looking down at her. I brought my gun up and pointed it at her forehead. "Beg for your life, Serena." I said, and smirked at her. She gritted her teeth, and the few tears in her eyes shone in the dim lighting of the room. "You will never break her." she said. I laughed and pressed the gun harder to Serena's forehead, gaining a weak whimper from her. "Oh, yeah? Watch me." I said, and pulled the trigger.