Rosa

Chapter 26

My body numbed as the hours passed, but the pain was always there, every time I moved an inch. The ropes, digging their way deeper into my torn skin, and the bruises turning darker and more sensitive by the second.

I was hurting too much to think about what would happen next, all I could focus on was trying to get through the moment in front of me. I couldn't keep track of time in the dark basement, so when the door opened once again I didn't know how much time had passed, minutes, hours, I had no idea.

Jonathan stepped into the room again, his hight filling the doorway, and I felt my terror return once again. I tried to flinch away from him, but the small movement hurt too much, and I heard him snickering at my pathetic state.

'Time to head up little one, dusk is coming, and your friends will be here soon.' he said with a sinister smile.

Behind him in the doorway came the two guards from the party. They closed in on me, and I panicked as I thought they would continue Jonathan's beating. But as they neared I think I imagined some sympathy on their faces as they carried the chair with me in it, painfully up the stairs. Each step they took jolted me in the chair, and each jolt was more painful than the first.

But with each movement, I noticed the ropes around me getting looser, little by little, I still couldn't move, because of the pain and the bindings, but maybe I could eventually.

My whole body was bruised, even if I couldn't see it, I could feel it, and I prayed the pain would end.

Once seated in what looked like a living room, I saw how huge the house I was in must have been. I knew we had to be a long way out of New York because nothing I saw reminded me of the city I lived in.

I couldn't see a single building near the house, only the beaming lights brightening up the dark night, illuminating the yard.

There were more vampires upstairs, sitting, standing, waiting for the attack to come, and I couldn't believe how he had gotten so many men and women on such short notice, I just hoped that Alexander and Cayden could gather enough people to stand a chance. The vampires attentions turned to me as I was placed in the room. Meeting the eyes of some of them, I saw the different expressions from glee to pity, from hunger to disgust. I felt every eye of the vampires on me, and all the attention and different emotions made me dizzy.

I didn't have the focus in me to take in my surroundings more than trying to find a way out, but no way I looked showed me an option of how to get out of this mess, every door I saw was guarded by one of the vampires.

I slowly wriggled my arms and legs with the new little moving ground I had gotten from the loosened ropes, and I felt the dagger I had stuffed in my shoe going out this morning. They hadn't searched me because they hadn't thought that I could be carrying a weapon, but now that knife was my only bet. I felt hope surge through me, as the coldness of the blade finally registered in my panicked mind, and I tried not to wear my feelings on my sleeve.

I needed to get out of the chair one way or the other, but I couldn't figure out what way would be the smartest.

I stayed in my seat, waiting for the perfect idea or the perfect moment to try to get loose. Knowing the battle was nearing, I had to come up with something soon so that I wouldn't cause a distraction. I didn't know what I would do if Alexander or Cayden got hurt because of me, so I had to do something, fast.

Before I had had time to start a plan to break out I heard an alarm go off, and all the men and women around me were on the alert.

'Finally, our guests are here.' Jonathan said addressing me. 'Wait for my cue, and then bring her in, and everyone, be ready for when they attack.' he commanded his followers.

'Actually, put her in the doorway, I want her to hear her rescuers beg for their lives, to see how pathetic they are.' Jonathan demanded and I felt my chair being brought up again by the two men, feeling my restraints loosening a little again as the ropes cut into my wounded skin.

I could feel the cold night air from the cracked door, and even though I couldn't see them I knew that Cayden and Alexander were here. I could feel Cayden, and his hope toward rescuing me, but at the same time his fury from Jonathan's abduction.

'Jonathan,' I heard Cayden's demanding voice shout from somewhere to the left, and I felt my heartbeat increase at his voice. 'let's settle this without a fight, it only causes death, let us not do this mistake a second time.' Cayden continued.

'If I recall properly, the only deaths that were caused last time were your friends. The only difference this time is that your death will come this time too. I won't spare you again old friend, neither you or her.' Jonathan's voice held resentment and I knew that this fight was more than about me and my 'disrespect'.

'What have you done with Rosaleen, where is she?' Alexander intervened, his voice urgent.

'Oh, she is here, and she is alive, but the moment you two die, so does she.' Jonathan started, 'Actually she's been dying to see you again.' Jonathan ended with a manic laugh.

I didn't know if that had been the signal, or if something else had caused it, but the two big men at my sides brought my chair up once more and started carrying me outside to the freezing cold night.

At first, I knew I was in the shadows, and too dark to see, because all I saw on Alexander and Cayden's faces were hope and relief at seeing me again. But as soon as I felt the blinding light of the spotlights, the air outside shifted and I heard the roars of Alexander and Cayden. That's when I knew they saw my broken and beat down state.

Their attack came at once, and I felt it coming as my chair was dropped to the ground, breaking it and leaving me unmovable on the icy ground. The vampires were streaming past me shouting and hissing as they went, not paying attention to my powerless body on the ground.

I couldn't move, and I lied there on the ground, staring up at the dark sky, all the stars invisible from the brightness of the yard. Looking up at the bare sky, I couldn't help but think, even in the middle of the fight, about how my life had been just as the sky, empty, until I had met the two vampires in my life. Even if I hadn't known them for long, they had brought joy, excitement, love, into my life. But lying here I also thought that it had only given us pain, fear, and grief, by meeting, and I wondered what had been better, living a blank life, or having a short, but exciting one. However, I couldn't figure out that thought as I was brought back to the present by the cut-off head flying past me, starting to turn into dust in the air.

As I came back to reality, the sounds from the fight came with it, and all I heard were the sounds of beating, ripping, screaming and grunting. The smell in the air was of mud and blood, mixed in a nauseating odor. Not being able to see the fight made those sounds and scents more disconcerting since I didn't know who it was that got hurt.

These moments on the ground had felt like an eternity, but only a minute or two could have passed when I finally regained the feeling in my body and I was able to lift my aching head, and painfully make it to my feet.