The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Thirteen ~ The Rose

The movie had finished very weirdly and made me fall asleep, but all I did for sleep was toss and turn. "Hey, Valentina." I heard a voice say, and then there was a warm hand on my arm. I kept my eyes closed, tossing around so that the hand left my arm. "Valentina." the voice said again, but this time, it was more rough. Two hands grabbed my arm this time which made my eyes fly open. Surprised, I looked to my left to see Vince staring at me. "What?" I asked, annoyed. He shook his head, removing his hands from my arms and picking up my hands with his own and holding them up in the small space between us. "You didn't sleep at all, did you?" he asked, concerned. I shook my head, which made him sigh. "Alright. I'll be back." he said, and got off the bed before walking towards the door. I sat up on the bed, rubbing my eyes. "Where are you going?" I asked groggily. He had just placed his hand on the doorknob before he glanced over his shoulder to look at me. "It's two in the morning, Valentina. You need to rest. I'll go get something that'll help you sleep." he said, opening the door and leaving the room.

With nothing better to do, I groaned and let myself fall back down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I didn't sleep a wink, did I? But before I could close my eyes so I could attempt going to sleep again, the door opened and Vince walked into the room holding a syringe in his hand. Eyes widening, I scrambled up so that my back hit the headboard of the bed. "Keep that away from me." I said, my eyes never leaving the syringe he was holding. He looked up from it to see my fearful expression and sighed, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Valentina, this is a tranquiliser. It'll help you go to sleep, and hopefully, you'll get some rest." he explained. I frowned and looked at him suspiciously. "What if it's a trick? What if it's actually the toxin that you're giving me?" I asked, and raised an eyebrow for emphasis in my words. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, do you want me to help you or not?" I gulped, and looked away so that he couldn't sense the uneasiness I was feeling.

He said that he wanted to help me get some sleep, some rest. But what does he mean by that? Is he only doing this so that while I'm out he can do whatever he wants with me? Tie me to a chair, perhaps? Just like in the nightmarish dream? I slowly turned my head to look at him, and almost jumped when I found that he wasn't there anymore. "Hey. Where'd you go?" I couldn't help but ask, and looked around me. But just as I was about to get up from the bed to go and search for him, he appeared out of nowhere and grabbed my arm, pressing the sharp needle against my skin but not hard enough so that it was plunging in. In the darkness of the room I could see the gleam in his eyes, and I bet he could see the glistening of my tears. "Do you want me to help you, Valentina? All you have to do is ask." he said, and looked at me, smiling softly. I sniffed and glanced down at the syringe he was holding. It was too dark in the room so I couldn't see the color of the liquid that swished inside of the glass of the syringe. "Valentina," he said and squeezed my arm. "Ask me what you want me to do."

I looked up at him and blinked away the tears that were forming in my eyes. "Can you make them go away? Please?" Something flashed in his eyes before he smiled at me. "Of course. Anything for you, Valentina." he said. And in the few moments he waited to see if I would change my mind, I thought about what I was asking him to do. What was wrong with me? I didn't know if it was him doing this to me, the toxin, or me. Maybe it was all three making me trust him. I couldn't control my mouth anymore, that's for sure. "Valentina, do you want them to go away?" he asked, bringing my attention back to him. I nodded, not trusting my words anymore, and he held my arm tightly so that I couldn't pull away as he pressed the needle into my skin, earning a yelp of pain from me before he pressed on the plunger. "You said you wanted the nightmares to go away, right? Even if you just had a couple?" he asked, and took the needle out of my arm once he was done pressing all of the liquid out of the syringe. I shrugged, and he looked at me, frowning deeply. "Tell me, Valentina." I shrugged again, surprised at how I wasn't passing out right now as the liquid flowed through my bloodstream. "I guess." He smiled at me, then leaned forward to press a kiss on my forehead. "Sleep well, Valentina." he said and got up from the bed. He put the syringe on the nightstand next to me and walked over to the door, shooting me a smile before opening the door and leaving the room. Sighing with relief, I let myself fall back on the bed and stared at the ceiling for as long as I could before a wave of sleepiness washed over me, and too tired to resist, I gladly let it take over.