WIND ROSE (Ruby Rose Fanfic)

THIRTY-TWO (RUBY POV)

"Ruby, my love, you have to do something for me: hug me like you're a baby koala holding onto her mother," Iselen whispers in my ear and I can feel her muscles getting tense under my arms. "I bet you know how to do it, you're from Australia after all... Don't let me go."

"But I'm not a koala," I answer scared, hiding my face in her neck because I don't want to look around. I hate this place: the horrible demons, humans crying desperately, their cries when they're dragged into hell, their torturers' laughter, the disgusting smell of demon soldiers... I just want to go home. I wonder if this is real for a second, if she's here to save me or I'm dreaming like I did many times these past hours before waking up disappointed.

"Of course not, you're even cutter, but you must stay next to me now, okay?"

"Yes, madam," I answer hugging her tighter while she talks to Terra about what we're going to do to get out of here, hiding behind a column.

The heat and perfume of my vampire's body soothes me, even under these circumstances, my pretty girls make me feel safe and protected. I also feel tired, I don't know how much time I've spent here, memories are blurry in my mind since Michaela dragged me through the door and brought me to this horrible place, hours seemed to tick by very slowly while I cried and dozed off sometimes. But I do feel weaker, I get the impression that those demons are feeding on my energy and, even though I never doubted Iselen and Terra and knew they we're going to rescue me, I was afraid I couldn't stay alive till they got here and knew I'd let myself go out of sheer exhaustion sooner or later.

"I don't belong here, I shouldn't be in hell, I'm a good person," I remember I cried at Michaela but she just laughed to my face dropping my body on the cold stone floor.

"And yet, here you are. You're the Key of Hell, Ruby Rose, and whether you like it or not the essence of this place is inside you, otherwise you wouldn't be able to open that gate. Maybe you're evil after all... or maybe a witch sold your soul while your mother was still pregnant." I stared at her horrified and she laughed again. "A friend of your family or a neighbor offered an innocent soul to hell in exchange of success, money or whatever else she wanted. Unborn babies are the purest souls in the world... Come on, don't look at me like that, you were lucky... You're the Key. Usually, babies like you are possessed by powerful demons to be able to be born in the human world and become psychopaths."

The bitch walked away to talk to Marsh about how to go back to Los Angeles but I didn't listen to them anymore, curling up against the column, trying not to look at the ugly creatures and miserable humans around me, praying for my girl to find me soon, hugging my legs... And that was when I remembered one day, when I was a toddler, I fell and my mum cleaned the wound on my knee. I still have the scar and could see it through a hole of my ripped jeans. My mother told me that she missed her old friend, a nurse working at a nearby clinic, but she also had knowledge of medicinal herbs and home remedies. What was her name? Eloise... She'd married a very wealthy man and moved abroad. What a bitch... I'm pretty sure this is all her fault.

"Ruby, listen to me, this is important," Terra's voice snaps me back to reality while her hands tie something around my waist. "If something happens to us, you have to run as fast as possible following this wool thread, it'll guide you back home while we deal with the demons so they can't follow you..."

"No!" I cut her off hugging Iselen tighter.

"Don't worry about us, baby, we'll kick their demonic butts and we'll get out of here, the tree of us together. I'm pretty sure of that, this is just a precaution, okay? We only want you to know that this is the safer way to go back to Los Angeles," the vampire whispers in my ear and smiles reassuringly.