Bloody Rose

Chapter 3: Feelings and Trust

I dropped to the floor, this was too much to take in. Lucifer came and sat next to me. He let me rest my head against his shoulder. The warmth and electricity I had felt earlier had returned but even now I was still wishing it to go away.

"In the dreams, these things, you reading my mind and us feeling each other's pain, it always ends up hurting us more and more." I said after a long silence.

"Well, I think you will change your mind once I show you this place."

"Yeah? And where is that?" The suspense was killing me.

"Past the river, in a cave."

"You're not trying to kill me are you?" I retorted.

"No, of course not." He said, his grin growing wider with every second.

"Let's go then." I got up so quickly that I almost blacked-out. Lucifer caught me by the waist and steadied me. This time, there was no warmth, no electricity, only the feeling that something was wrong, although I hadn't the slightest idea what it was.

"Woah, careful. You don't want to hurt yourself." There was no sense of worry in his voice. Something had changed. There was more of a malicious, devilish tone to his words. As we started walking, I put my guard up and silently put a protection spell on myself. However, this did nothing to calm my nerves.

We neared the river and slowed to a stop. There was no bridge or even a boat to get across it. The current was at its strongest during this time of day, and on top of that it was about to rain.

"How are we going to get across?" I asked, weary of his answer. All he did was smile at me with that annoying devilish smirk that had become unnerving. Then he took a few steps back from the edge of the river and ran at it. I looked away, waiting for a splash but it never came. I looked back at the river bank where he previously stood and he was nowhere to be found. I glanced across the river and surely enough, there he was, staring at me.

"What are you waiting for?"

For you to tell me your intentions. I thought to myself, forgetting he could still hear me.

"I assure you, my intentions are nothing but innocent." He said, with a face that seemed to be faking concern.

"Alright, I'll jump." I took a few steps back from the riverbank and ran towards the edge making sure to use all of my vampire and werewolf strength to help me make the huge jump across. I closed my eyes while in the air and awaited my feet to touch the ground. Once they did, I opened my eyes and looked around to see if I landed in the correct place. I did. But Lucifer was nowhere to be found.

Something moved from beneath me. I looked down and surely enough there was Lucifer, struggling to breathe from under my feet. I quickly got off of him and he got up.

"Did you try to catch me?"

"Well yes, and no." I faked confusion although I knew exactly what he meant.

"I tried to catch you but I stopped when I saw that you were going to end up jumping further than I did. However, you somehow ended up on top of me anyway and you did not feel the same thing I did."

I didn't?

"Yeah, you show no sign of breathlessness or anything remotely similar."

"Maybe it doesn't work if i'm the one inflicting the pain."

"Maybe." I could tell that he was catching on that I bewitched myself. But he shook his head as if it was too hard to believe.

"Let's continue walking, shall we?" I asked, nervous that he was going to ask about it. So we walked until we reached a well-hidden cave. The entrance of it was covered in wisteria trees and moss-covered rocks. The greenery was as beautiful as it was colourful.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." And I was telling the truth, but I couldn't help but feel that something was not right with this place and with Lucifer.

A/N: Short explanation

Lucifer being able to read Arabella's mind is part of a spell/curse. When Arabella tells you, as the reader, that she put her guard up, it did not mean what it typically means for a human. For a witch, as herself, it means to block any spell or curse temporarily, so that she can easily put a spell on herself, someone else or an object, so that it can not be detected while she is doing it. The time period for this varies according to the strength of the witch.