Bloody Face and the Dark Mistress

X. The Raven

Rose sat on a bed. Thredson's spare bedroom to be exact.

Thredson walked into the room with a tray and smiled. He locked the door and sat on the bed.

"I made toast, pancakes, and bacon," he said. She looked at the food and shrugged before beginning to eat it.

"So I've been thinking-"

"That's never a good thing," Rose cut in.

He slightly glared at her. "I think we should form an emotional bond to each other by explaining our past."

She glanced up at him questioningly. "Here I thought you said you knew about my past."

"Bits and pieces."

"It's boring really. My birth was product of a rape. My mother was held captive for nine months by a satanic cult. They brainwashed her and I was raised in the definition of hell. Horrors beyond imagination. When I turned sixteen, I ran away. Hopped a train and never looked back. "

He looked down for a moment. "What's with Poe?"

Rose sat there, chewing, choosing her words carefully. "The man that ran the cult, that raped my mother was obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. The whole cult ran on his writings and philosophies. Heck, we had black cats hanging from our trees. He called himself 'The Raven'."

"I'm sorry," he said.

She shrugged and took a bit of bacon. "Now you."

"My mother abandoned me at a young age, I went into psychology to try and figure out my disorder. To understand myself. In medical school, we studied the corpse of a woman, the same age my mother was when she left me, thirty-three. I realized what I longed for and craved was a mothers touch, that warmth."

"But when you skinned them, their skin was cold," Rose said softly. He nodded.

"I can't be a substitute for your mother, Oliver."

"With you it's different," he said hastily. "I don't want you in that kind of a way. I want you in a romantic way."

"I'm afraid I can't be that to you either."

"Why not?"

"It's like you said, I don't feel. I'm not capable."

He leaned closer. "I'm beginning to understand that isn't true. You wouldn't have killed all those vile humans if you didn't feel."

He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and kissed her. She didn't move. He pulled away and looked at her in confusion.

"Why won't you admit your feelings?"

"Unlike you I don't want to get physical on the first date. You wanna date me? Take me out, watch something, go somewhere, do anything. That's how relationships work. Now, if you'll excuse me, John Coffey just got put on the Green Mile, good day."

She turned and picked up the Stephen King book, opening to the page and began to read.

Oliver looked at her for a moment and then stood silently, walking out.