"The worst thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies. It comes from friends and loved ones."
Rose's POV:
I stared at James in complete and utter horror. Of all people that could've been a possibility, James was the last person that I would've ever suspected. He was right about that.
"Why?" I whisper and he laughs, throwing his head back as demonic laughter echoes through his mouth. He gives me a scary look as his blue eyes turn gold, his dark brown hair turning black as his body turned into a demonic color, a blackish red. He truly looked like a demon now, fangs showing as he smiled.
"It's because you've always been in the way, ever since you were young. If you were dead, there would be no heir to the throne and the demons could take over Dragmere once and for all!!!" He rages, his voice deep and demented.
I take a step back in shock, tears pricking my eyes as I heard him. All those years of his friendship, the laughs, the hugs, the fun memories, everything we've shared...it's all been a lie? He's been raising me like a pig for slaughter.
Harry comes up beside me, somehow breaking free of the rocks that James had trapped him with. He glares at James angrily, the clothes he was wearing slightly ripped from the rocks. He kept his black pants on, but ripped off his shredded shirt and tossed it aside, still glaring at James. Harry's bare chest moved up and down rapidly, his breathing ragged with anger.
"You lowlife demon, how could you do this?" He growls, his eyes turning red as James laughs at him. "It's because we demons are treated like dirt. And it's time for us to be on top, and put you humans and vampires in your rightful place! Under our feet!!" James rages, his gold eyes shining with hate.
"Even if you kill me, we will always come after you, Rose. We will come for you until you come with us, because we will kill you." He snarls and a tear slips down my face. My fists curl up as my body begins to shake.
They weren't going to stop. They were always going to come for me, and people were going to get hurt because of me. People I cared about were going to die, just because of me. I can't let that happen. My family...Harry...dying because of me?
"Just give up Rose, and come with us. Accept your fate." He says darkly and I feel Harry trembling beside me. He sticks his arm out in front of me protectively, glaring dangerously at James.
"You really think that's going to happen?? She's not going to do that!" He growls and James gives him a dark smile. "Just give her to us Harry, and you'll never have to worry about suffering or pain ever again." He says and Harry clenches his fists furiously.
"I'd rather die than sell out someone that I care about!" He shouts and I begin to cry, covering my mouth with my hand. Tears begin to fall down my cheeks as my shoulders shake, sobs racking my body.
"You will never take a friend away from me, demon!! I will fight until my very last breath!!" Harry says defiantly and I feel more tears fall down my face.
No one...no one has ever done anything like this for me. In my entire life, no one had ever given so much for me or stood up for me like this. I've never had a friend before besides James, having been in the castle since I was young, and here Harry was, claiming I was his friend and that he wasn't going to let me leave.
And having Harry standing here, standing in front of me, defending me, gives me a new sense of worthiness. Something that no one has ever given me before. The fact that he was willing to fight for me made my heart swell with happiness.
Before James could say anything else to Harry, Harry sprints at him, reaching him in a second, slamming his fist into James face and sending him flying backwards.
James rolls on the ground, a cloud of dirt puffing around him as he tumbled across the ground. He flips himself up, landing on his feet before wiping his lip with a grin on his face before looking down at his now bloody hand.
"Wow, you actually made me bleed. Now it's my turn." He growls, pushing off from the ground and hurling himself at Harry. Harry braces himself for the impact, taking James head on as he slams into Harry.
Harry stays standing but James drives him back, scooting Harry across the ground with dirt flying all around them. Gritting his teeth together, Harry grabs hold of James' arms and hurls him over his head, sending James slamming into the wall.
When James hits, he falls to the ground on his knees, gasping for breath. He's obviously underestimated Harry and it's going to get him killed. Even though James wants to kill me and he betrayed me, I don't think I could see him die. He's been my friend for too long. It may be stupid of me, but I didn't like seeing him get beaten up like this.
My eyes felt tired from crying as I walked to Harry, placing a hand on his arm and making him look at me. "Please stop. I think he's done." I whisper and Harry's eyes soften. His red eyes look at me intensely and I give him a pleading look.
"Rose, he's trying to kill you. I'm not going to take it easy on him." He says to me and I shake my head. "I can't stand seeing two of my friends fight, even if one of them is my enemy." I tell him and he lets out a sigh.
"Sometimes you have to make a choice, Rose. You have to either let it go and move on, or you can let it consume you. James is your enemy, you can't let him get in the way. You can't let him consume you." He says gently, trying to coax me into doing what's right...but I was hurt. Too hurt and conflicted to make this choice.
"Harry I don't know what to do. James was-" I'm cut off by something sharp stabbing me in the back, sending me flying to the ground. I land on the ground hard, gasping for air. My back seared with pain, and I felt tears come to my eyes. I don't know what just hit me, but whatever it did to my back was extremely painful.
"Rose!!" Harry's panicked voice makes me turn around on the ground, wincing as I did. He was kneeling beside me, his eyes wide in shock as I laid on the ground. "I'm okay Harry." I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Rose, your back...it's bleeding." He says worriedly and I shake my head. Oh, so that's what I feel on my back? Heh, I should be used to that. "Don't worry about it, okay?" I say, offering him a smile as tears gathered in my eyes. He gave me a worried look but I ignored it, looking past him to see the cause of my pain.
A sharp rock was jutting out of the ground, where I was standing just a few moments ago. James was now standing by the wall, a sickly smile on his face. He was bleeding badly from his head and stomach, but he was still slowly sauntering over to us. He chuckled, his golden eyes dark as he eyed me.
"Too bad, I wish it would've killed you." He says and anger comes over me. I struggle to get to my feet, using Harry's helping hand to balance me and to hold me up while I glared at James. Harry was holding me up now as I faced James with the meanest look I could possibly give him.
"What did I ever do to you James?? I've never been mean to you since the day I met you! So why do you hate me?" I shout and he grins at me, his sharp fangs showing.
"You're alive. That's what you did wrong." He says and hot tears roll down my face. "Rose, don't give in to him." Harry whispers to me and I shake my head at him.
"If you wanted to kill me James, you've missed your chance. You've had several years to kill me yet you choose now. Why?" I ask and he glares at me. "I had to wait for the right moment to strike, so when I heard that he was coming in, I knew that I had to take my chance now." He says and Harry gives him a deadly look.
"Who is he?" Harry growls and James laughs. "You honestly think I'm going to tell you? I'm not going to reveal my partner." James snaps and Harry lunges at him, pinning him down on the ground with a hand around his throat.
"TELL ME HIS NAME!!" Harry roars, his body trembling with rage. James looks frightened but he still refuses Harry, shaking his head slightly. "I'd rather die then do that." James spits, mocking Harry for when he stood up for me.
"Then you will die." Harry mutters lowly, standing up with James still in his death grip, and slamming him down into the ground again. I hear the snapping of a neck and I wince, looking at James' now dead and mangled body with horrified eyes. His blood was surrounding him and his neck was bent at an awkward angle, making me have to turn away from him.
He was my friend...
Harry gets off of him, his fury now fading, turning to look at me as his red eyes faded back to green. He's breathing heavily as he looks from James to me and then finally turns away from James' body. He walks over to me, taking my hand and tugging me close to him.
"It's alright Rose, he's gone. He won't hurt you." He whispers and my lip begins to quiver, hurt over both betrayal and the loss of my friend. As my back stung in pain, I gently touched it, wincing at the contact and looking at the blood.
"This is all my fault." I cry, clenching my fist and throwing the blood in my hand on the ground, angry with myself. I should've known, I should've known that something was wrong, but I didn't. And now, Harry was hurt, but so was I. This is all wrong, this is so, so wrong.
"No, no it's not your fault Rose. Don't ever think that. It will never be your fault for any of this." Harry says defensively and I lower my gaze, a saddened look on my face. Remember, Rose, he doesn't know. He doesn't know anything about it.
"But Harry, they're going to be coming and they won't stop. I don't want you to get hurt or even worse, killed." I say and he gives me a soft smile. "Don't worry about me, Rose, I'll be just fine. I couldn't live with myself if you were to die while I could protect you." he says, his eyes clouding over in sadness.
I gave him a grateful smile but winced as a spasm of pain shot through my back. Harry quickly picked me up, carrying me over to the palace door. "We'll get you cleaned up. The sleeping spell has been lifted since James is dead, so everyone will be waking up soon. Most likely tomorrow. It'll be like this day didn't even exist." Harry tells me as he holds me in the princess cradle.
I nod to him, trying to ignore the pain in my back as he walks to the doors, opening them with one hand while carrying me in the other. We walk inside before he closes the door again, shutting it gently so he wouldn't wake anyone up.
He carries me up the stairs and into his room, setting me down gently on his bed. "Turn around, Rose." he tells me and I nod to him, slowly shifting my body so that my back was facing him. I jump in surprise as I feel his hands lift my shirt up and he chuckles softly.
"Do you trust me?" he asks and I look over my shoulder to him, looking into his green eyes and nodding my head slowly. I had to trust him right now...he was the only one I could trust anymore. Everyone else was a suspect in my eyes now, but Harry was the only one who was helping me, so he's the one I can trust. He smiles at me reassuringly before lifting up my shirt right above my new injury.
"Crap." he mutters to himself and I try to look over my shoulder, but he places a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "Don't move too much, you'll make yourself bleed even more." he warns me and I sigh, turning back around and listening to him move around his room looking for something.
I jump again as something cold and wet presses against my back, but I soon let out a sigh of relief as I feel the rag soothing my wound. He wipes the blood away before pressing it onto my back again, soaking up any blood that was coming out.
"He hit you hard." Harry whispers and I look down at the ground, sadness overwhelming me. I had trusted James with my life, I had told him a lot of things about me, and yet he goes and does this to me. Just comes to show that I can't be too careful with who I trust.
I feel Harry wrapping my back now with a bandage and I let him, too sad to object to anything else. When he was done, he put the shirt back down and I heard him walking away, probably putting up the bloody rag.
"Hey, don't be sad." he says, rubbing my shoulders soothingly and I bite my lip to keep the tears back. No, I've already cried too much today. No more tears. Harry turns me around slowly so that I'm now facing him, looking into his caring green eyes. He smiled at me softly, trying to make me feel better but I had a new wound that he couldn't see...it was on the inside. I've been hurt deeply by a pain I feel inside, that no outward pain could replace how much I was hurting.
"How can I not be sad?" I ask him and he frowns, trying to think of something to say to me. "He's not worth your tears, babe. If he can go so low like that to betray you, he was never a friend in the first place. A friend would never do that to someone they care about." Harry says, rubbing circles in my hand as he looks at me.
"You won't do that to me, will you Harry?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "Never, I care about you Rose. And I don't hurt people I care about." he says, squeezing my hand gently and looking me in the eyes.
I offer him a smile and he smiles back at me, sweeping away the hair that had fallen into my face. "Don't worry, Rose." he says, pulling me close to him and wrapping his arms around me comfortingly. He pulled me into his lap and began to rock me back and forth comfortingly, trying to ease the pain I felt inside. "If I can help it, I'll never have anyone harm you again." he whispers, planting a kiss on my forehead.
"I promise, Rose. I promise I will protect you."
Kind of sad, yes? I hope you're enjoying this! I really would like more people commenting on this to tell me how you like it, because I have no clue at what you're thinking haha. So please Comment and Vote!!