Once again, we are back with a new chapter of our beloved story.

Without further ado:

Roses Bleed Red: Chapter 7

If I don't put a stop to this soon...Both of them might end up dead... Rhodes thought as he rushed to the interrogation room. When the cat looked through the small window affixed to the door, he expected a number of things. A bloodbath, maybe. Senseless murder, most likely. He did not, however, predict a tornado of black and blue tearing its way across the room. Both moving so fast in a frenzy of clashing quills and scorching attack, it was hard to see who had the upper hand.

The desk had been flipped on its side.

The chairs had been thrown and torn up.

It was at this moment Rhodes was thankful Shadow hadn't released a Chaos Blast. If he did, they'd probably need a new police station...and quite possibly lives as well. Carefully opening the door, he was surprised when he felt a gust of wind; apparently they were moving so fast, they created a draft. Within the next moment, a strong coppery smell filled his nostrils. He didn't have much longer until they probably killed each other.

My money is on Shadow Rhodes sarcastically thought as he turned and faced Mark, "Get in there and tear them apart before someone loses a life." he commanded, pointing at the tornado. The blue cat noticed the hesitation in the bulky security guard's motion. He nervously took one step, then two towards the door. He peeked in just a bit.

"N-No way! I could die in there...!" Being the first time he's heard his voice, Rhodes was taken aback. It sounded an awful lot like a foot crunching on gravel. It became clear: he was big, but he knew how to pick a fight. If he went in there, he may not come back out.

But of all the things to say, and at this moment...

"Well, someone's got to go in there. I can't go because I'm the detective. And we can't call the police because YOU ARE THE POLICE! NOW; GET YOUR ASS IN THERE AND SPERATE THEM BEFORE THEIR FIGHT COSTS US THE CASE" Rhodes roared at Mark. Taken aback by the annoyed and enraged outburst, the guard once more stepped towards the room and hesitantly entered. Carefully closing in on the hedgehogs whom were currently battling to the death, he slowly reached into the tornado and grabbed a hold of one of the gladiators:

"WHOA - wha - HEY!" Sonic was being held by his foot, upside down. Shadow, who noticed this change of pace, wiped away blood from his mouth and charged towards the vulnerable hedgehog, fists raised. Sonic, realising that he was helpless, only covered his face with his arms and braced for impact. However, the impact never came:

"Let me go, so I can finish him!" Shadow roared as he was being held back by Mark. Sonic used this distraction to slip out of Mark's grasp. With Mark's attention divided, Shadow easily pushed him aside, making him lose balance and end up on the cold iron floor. With their restraint out of the way, the two hedgehogs were back at it again. Sonic landed the first strike; a solid punch landing directly in the centre of Shadow's stomach, making the Ultimate Lifeform stumble backwards. Shadow retaliated by lunging forwards, knocking both hedgehogs to the ground. Landing atop of Sonic, Shadow placed his hands on each side of Sonic's head.

"I'm gonna CRUSH your skull like you crushed my hopes and dreams" Shadow roared. Applying pressure to his skull, Sonic desperately tried to retaliate by flailing his arms and his feet, but to no avail. However, Sonic had a saving angel: Mark was back to his feet and ripped Shadow away from the terrified blue hedgehog and kept him at a distance. It was no easy task; the artificially engineered ebony male was considerably strong. Rhodes decided this was the time to let his presence be known and stepped into the room and faced him.
"I thought you could handle this professionally." it wasn't a question, more a statement filled with disappointment. At this point, they were getting no where; especially with Rouge still MIA at the moment.

"I did, until that spiky blue bastard had the NERVE to talk about Amy the way he did! You would have done the same thing" Shadow spitefully said, glancing over at the blue hedgehog.

"Well, I wasn't lying." The blue hedgehog retorted. At that moment, the room filled with a bright yellow, electrical glow as a burst of pure energy was sent flying through the room, just barely missing Sonic.

"Look at you, can't even aim!" the blue one taunted.

"SHUT UP!" the male screamed.

Sonic stuck his tongue out, "She enjoyed it more with me; I was better than you ever would be!" he teased spitefully. Another Chaos Spear and an incoherent scream followed.

"Alright, alright, calm down. Monica, go get a paramedic to tend to their wounds." the addressed cat, was still wide-eyed, but moved away with haste. Both had shallow slices from the clash of sharp quills and burns from the intense Chaos power both held within them. Any longer, and...who knows what would have happened? The end of the World?

"I don't need meds, Detective. I've handled him before, plenty of times"

"Stick a pill down his throat and hope he chokes." Shadow sneered. He then proceeded to stomp his way out of the room, stopping only to spit blood at Sonic. Disgusted at first, Sonic soon smirked as he realised that he was covered in his enemy's blood.

-

With Shadow now finally gone, after refusing treatment, Sonic was once again thrown in his cell. Meanwhile, Rhodes was talking to Monica.

"So, now what? Do we go after Rouge at this point? Those two are hopeless."

"Well, we know Sonic must've had something to do with Miss Rose's death; if he was completely innocent, he wouldn't have lied. But with only footprints of his, that's not much evidence to go on." Monica relayed, then flipped up a paper on her clipboard, "From what Shadow found out, there may have been...sexual relations between the two before she died..."

"Have her tested and let me know the results. I have to think for a minute." and with that, he stalked out the station and to his car, leaving Monica alone to preform her orders. Once inside, he started it up and rode all the way to the apartment of the victim; Amy Rose. He pushed open the unlocked door and looked around. It was still a mess in there. Apparently, the landlord oblivious to what happened here. He through the kitchen, where specks of blood were found. The living room... looked like a battlefield: A bloody mess and a horrid stench. The bathroom was clean and quite tidy. The last room he entered was the bedroom.

He looked around the bed for any disturbances and found none. He pulled open a drawer or two from her dresser and went to her nightstand. In the very bottom drawer, was a leather-bound book with her name on it.

A diary...?

Rhodes took out his phone and called Monica, "I think I found our next step."

That concludes chapter 7. Come back later for chapter 8

Until next time…