Seraphine

thirty five

Enzo 

Luca had run into his room with the news. He didn't even say anything, just gave Enzo a look. Not even a look--Enzo had seen how disheveled and distraught his leader was, and immediately stood from his desk. His lips had parted to ask him what was wrong, but Luca was gone in the blink of an eye, storming into Nico's room.

"What--Luca!" Nico had called out after him as Luca's figure appeared and disappeared in front of Enzo's doorway, and then Nico was chasing after him. Enzo had almost tipped his chair over as he scrambled to follow them. 

"Luca, we need an explanation for this, what in the fucking--" Nico had stopped short when Luca whirled around and glared at him, a glare that was accompanied by tears. 

"Luca, what happened?" Enzo'd stepped forward and placed a hand on Luca's shoulder, and the tall man dropped his glare and ran a hand down his face. The way Luca was acting had Enzo's heart racing and his stomach twisting uncomfortably--what the fuck happened? 

"We failed her." Was all he'd said, was all he'd whispered, and Enzo felt his heart stop. 

"What?" His voice was just as soft as Luca's. Luca had shook his head and peeled away from the duo, jogging down the stairs. Nico and Enzo shared a look before they both ran down after him. 

"Luca, you need to give us a goddamn explan--" Nico tried again, Luca once again having cut him off. 

"Damien has her. Wait here for when they arrive, it'll be around eight minutes. I'll..." Luca had looked up at the two of them, and Enzo had taken a step back. 

The bags around his eyes were dark, darker than he'd ever seen them, and his entire appearance was wrong. Nothing like the usual put together aura Luca carried every second of every day. He looked utterly and completely broken. 

"I'm gonna go draw a bath for her," he'd finally decided, nodding to himself before pushing past the two of them and heading back upstairs. He'd slammed the door shut, and Enzo'd jumped. 

Now, as Enzo stares down at Seraphine, he sees what he'd seen in Luca eight minutes earlier. 

Broken. 

Seraphine tugs the blanket from his hand and he lets go of the material, his hands shaking. She looks terrible, like she'd been hit by a bus. 

Nothing could've prepared him for the truth. 

Damien carries her inside, and Enzo is last in line, trailing behind Nico with a lost expression. He runs a hand through his wet hair and shuts the garage, leaving Damien's car outside in the rain. 

Nico is waiting for him when he closes the inner door behind him, and Enzo just shakes his head. His partner lifts a hand and pats his shoulder, and then he's leading him into the kitchen.

Seraphine is sat on top of the dining table, the blanket wrapped tightly around her, her figure shivering. Enzo taps the thermostat on his way over to the group, hoping to warm the house up faster. 

As he gets closer to her, his eyes dart all over her figure, noting all of the things he hadn't seen when he'd first approached her. 

Her dress is ripped--that much he'd noticed when he reached the car earlier. It was kind of hard not to notice, not when her creamy skin was bright against the dark interior of the car. Her stomach was on almost full display, and though he'd wanted to stare and memorize every inch of her, Luca's behavior from earlier convinced him this was not a time to ogle. 

Now that she's in the light, now that she's closer, he sees the blood on her thighs. 

He puts two and two together quickly, and the air escapes his lungs. He stumbles back a step, brings a hand to his mouth, and swallows his bile, along with his flaring rage. 

"Seraphine--" he starts, and she lifts her gaze from the floor to him. Her blue eyes are dull, her face beaten, and yet she still smiles gently at him. 

Fuck, I'd die for this woman. 

"Enzo, get the first aid kit," Damien demands, and Enzo stares at the damaged angel in front of him for a second longer before moving deeper into the kitchen and reaching for the first aid kit under the sink. 

He pauses for a second when he sees his hand shaking, and clenches it into a fist, tensing all the muscles before letting go and grabbing the kit. 

Enzo rises to his feet and grips the kit tightly, shutting the cabinet door and walking closer to Seraphine and his partners. 

Damien is crouched in front of her, with Luca and Nico flanking him. Enzo takes the spot behind Damien, directly in front of Seraphine, and keeps his eyes focused on her face as he hands Damien the kit. 

"And a wet rag, Enzo?" Seraphine speaks, her voice gentle and rough at the same time, and Enzo falters. "Please?" She tags on politely, and he nods.

"Of course," he murmurs, turning on his heel and going back into the kitchen. It's so silent between the five of them he can hear Damien pop open the kit and rummage through it before he turns on the sink and the sound is drowned out. 

Enzo tries to get a handle on his reeling thoughts and emotions, finally settling on one mantra: She's alive. She's here. She's going to be okay. 

He repeats this in his head to ground himself as he squeezes the excess water out of the rag, imagining for a second he's wringing Derek's neck. Enzo thinks she's going to be okay once more and the image disappears as he exits the kitchen and goes back over to the group. 

Enzo reaches over to hand Seraphine the rag, but then his eyes drop to the blood smeared on her thighs and his fingers clench around it. His eyes flit back up to hers to find her already nodding, and he breathes out slowly. 

"Damien, move." He says, not tearing his gaze away from Seraphine. Damien turns his head to protest, but he sees Enzo staring at Seraphine and finally stands, shuffling to the side to give Enzo room to sink to his knees. 

Enzo doesn't let his eyes drift from Seraphine's searing gaze as he lifts his hands and gently places them on her knees. 

"Seraphine--" he goes to ask once more for permission, but Seraphine pulls her own legs apart, revealing her bloodied and bruised inner thighs to him and the rest of the professors. 

"It's okay," she assures him, and Enzo nods, letting his eyes drop from her face to her core. 

He sucks in a breath when he notices the blood is almost as dark as her lace panties, but he doesn't focus on the latter, instead raising his hand to brush away the former. 

Seraphine's thighs tense when he presses the rag to the blood furthest away from her underwear, and Enzo's eyes flick up to hers only to find them squeezed shut. 

"I've got you, Seraphine. It's just me," he mumbles, and she peels open her eyes to watch him as he wipes away the blood on her left thigh. His hand inches closer and closer to her core, never quite getting there, until he's cleaned up everything he can. 

Feeling brave, he leans forward and presses his lips to her chilled, creamy skin, making her jump. He smiles a little up at her, and she smiles a little down at him, and he moves onto her right thigh, dropping his gaze from her eyes so he can focus on cleaning her delicately. 

When he's done with that leg, he plants his lips upon her skin once more, but this time Seraphine doesn't jump. 

Enzo presses her hands to his angel's knees once more, only this time to close them. She lets him, and he slowly rises to his feet, clutching the dirtied rag in one hand and raising the other to caress her cheek. 

Seraphine leans into his hand ever so slightly, and he brushes his thumb under her black eye, careful not to press to hard into the bruise. 

"Thank you." She murmurs into his palm, and he slides his hand down so his thumb slides across her jawline. 

"Of course, angel. Thank you for trusting me," he says, and Seraphine smiles gently. 

"Always, Enzo."