Love and Bloody Roses: Bloodlust Chapter 13, a sailor moon fanfic

Okay girls and guys, here it is - the completed Chapter 13. Thanks to everyone for sticking with me and all of the encouraging and supportive reviews! Just to say thanks, here is a very long chapter for you (over 26,000 words). So without anymore words, here is Chapter 13 of Love and Bloody Roses 2: Bloodlust!

Chapter 13

All around there was nothing but burning debris and rubble. The air was hot and heavy with thick black toxic smoke. It had been hours but the fire fighters had yet to get the great blaze that had consumed the other buildings of the elementary school completely under control. Current speculation was that the bombing of the elementary school holding three thousand young children had been a terrorist attack. Information was sketchy at best but right now no one cared about who had done it. That would come later. No, all that mattered right now was finding every child. Night had fallen and the fire was only just beginning to burn itself out. Surrounding buildings had suffered damage but luckily hadn't caught fire in the explosion, including the buildings the teachers and students had been used as shelters from the explosion.

So far it seemed that by some miracle most of the children had made it out before the explosion. A few still hadn't been accounted for but no bodies had yet been found, although only a small percentage of the school grounds had been searched. News of the bombing had spread quickly through the city causing mass panic and chaos. Frantic, terrified and panicked parents and caregivers hovered around the school grounds, the lucky ones clutching their children tightly while the others searched frantically. It had been hours since the explosion but there were many children who were still unable to find their parents in the crowded chaos and there were hysterical parents desperately trying to find their children. Six fire departments had arrived on the scene and were battling the blaze frantically and searching still burning buildings for survivors. But they searched with a heavy heart as after such a powerful and large explosion it was unlikely that any child would be able to survive. Even if they had, they would be forced to survive yet again against the consuming flames. They weren't fools. They knew they were searching for bodies. But as long as there was one spark of hope, they would keep searching until no corner was left unsearched or all of the children had been accounted for.

Word had been sent out across the city to the remaining fire stations for volunteers to search the grounds that weren't ablaze. One fire fighter who had heard the call had yet to deny it. Even off duty fire fighters and police were flocking to the scene to help. It was amazing how disaster brought out the best in the city. And then there were the curious gawkers and hounding media crews searching for their story.

It was disordered chaos and authorities were still trying to gain control of the situation.

Fire fighter of seventeen years, Jeffery Cross was one of the fire-fighters assigned to search the extinguished debris for bodies. No one held high hopes for survivors. Sweat poured freely down his face and his body beneath his heavy fire retarded clothing as if he were under a shower, exhaustion made his movements sluggish but no one, not one of the volunteers or emergency services on the scene wanted to go home. This had been a school and even though every ounce of logic told them all that no child or teacher could have survived the explosion, didn't mean they didn't have hope. Even if they only found one child survivor then it would all be worth it. News had been given to the staff before the explosion, so when the bomb had detonated, the entire school had been evacuating. There was the small hope that there were no causalities, that the school staff had managed to evacuate every child before the explosion.

Jeff's head snapped up as something reached his ears, something he was certain did not come from any of his colleagues. A low weak and pain filled moan sounded faintly around him. He looked around at his team mates and knew they hadn't heard it. Had he imagined it? It was better to raise a false alarm than dismiss the idea of a survivor. He had learnt that years ago on the job.

"Hey! Hey! I think we have a live one!" He called out alerting his team mates as he quickly but thoroughly scanned the debris. Years of experience told him that the area they were searching was very close to the point of the explosion. The area had received the worst of the explosion but due to that fact, it had been spared from any major fires which had allowed them to search the area so soon after the explosion. "Where are you?! Hello! Can you hear me? Let me know where you are!"

All around him, his team mates had jumped into a buzz of activity as they frantically searched the area for the location of the sound but everyone remained silent, their ears straining to hear something from the survivor, anything, a moan or banging.

Jeff heard it again. A low weak moan coming from his left. He followed the sound this time and his eyes fell upon an overturned dumpster in a pile of rubble that had obviously been sent flying by the pulse blast of the explosion. Could it be possible? Could there be someone in there who had survived the great explosion and fierce heat? It was possible. He had long ago learned that miracles could happen. He had been one of the hundreds who had searched the rubble of the Twin Towers on 9/11. It was amazing what the human being was capable of surviving.

He moved hastily towards it but the area around it was not cleared. It was littered with dangerous debris and unknown dangers and the dumpster in question, was near covered with rubble. It took twenty men working as fast as they could another fifteen minutes to get to the overturned dumpster. With great effort, they pried open the lid.

There, lying amongst discarded paper and what looked like the remnants of an art supply room was an unconscious large man with black hair.

"Holy shit." Gasped the stunned police officer standing behind him, in disbelief. "That's Darien Shields."

"The man who got the Red Rose Killer?" A fire fighter asked from beside him.

"He's the one who started the evacuation. According to his partner the bomber called him and told them that only he could enter the school." The officer explained. "He saved these kids."

Jeff edged carefully eased into the small space that had been untouched by the explosion. This man looked as if he had been tossed around like he had been in a giant dryer and it must have been hotter than hell in there. The metal of the dumpster was still too hot to touch with bare skin. It seemed all the paper, foam, wood and cardboard that lay beneath him had protected him enough to save his life.

In fact now that Jeff could get a good look at him, he was one lucky son-of-a-bitch. He was hurt but not one of his injuries was serious. He had a deep cut that would need stitches across his left shoulder, his hands and forearms where burned which had almost sealed up the small cuts that appeared to have come from jumping through a glass window as there were small shards of glass embedded in several of them, another cut to his thigh that may just escape needing stitches, and he had several small cuts and bruises all over his body. And judging by the blood on his torn shirt he had another laceration across his midsection. Luckily it appeared that all of his cuts had stopped bleeding.

The man definitely had a guardian angel watching over him who had put in some major over time for him. By the looks of it, not one broken bone or life threatening wound. The guy must have been in serious pain though.

"Get me some water!" He ordered urgently. The most life threatening element at the moment was dehydration. This man had been shaken, beaten, rolled, stirred and cooked. How the hell was he still alive, even within the shelter of the dumpster?

A water bottle was placed into his outstretched hand reaching back over his shoulder. Detective Darien Shields was lying on his back and it seemed that he was coming too.

"Easy." Jeff soothed the man who in his book was nothing less than a hero. He had stopped the Red Rose Killer almost single handily two years ago and now he had saved three thousand young children and had nearly lost his own. If any man had deserved the miracle of surviving such an explosion, it was him. "Just lie still. We've got you. You're going to be okay."

Darien Shields moaned weakly and painfully but he didn't open his eyes.

"Here, try to drink." He cradled his head in his hand and held the water bottle to his lips. He waited until he had opened his mouth enough for him to drip in a little water. He made an attempt to swallow but erupted into a weak coughing fit. "Take it easy." Jeff told him before looking over his shoulder to see that a stretcher had already been brought to him by two paramedics.

It took a few more minutes to get him onto the stretcher. They had been slow and careful in sliding him out of the dumpster and onto the stretcher after he had been fitted with a neck brace by one of the paramedics who had deemed it safe to move him. Although they had discovered that he had long savage scratches down his back which had caused him to moan in pain as they had laid him down on the cool metal of the stretcher.

Six men carried him proudly across the battlefield that was what was left of the elementary school. Word had quickly spread through the volunteers of just who it was they had found. Silence had fallen over the volunteers as they carried him.

The sound of one man clapping loudly echoed across the silence and within seconds everyone joined in, honouring the man who had saved so many innocent lives. Were they also clapping for the men who had saved him? He didn't know but he didn't care. He felt pride and honour well up in his own chest. He had saved this hero and even though he would never speak the words, that had brought him feelings of self pride and honour. But it was this man who deserved honour. He had done a heroic thing this day that would never be forgotten by many. Oh, the city would go on and forget but every parent of every child would never forget what he had done to save their children.

He would never forget what this man had done.

The first thing Darien became aware of was throbbing pain and heat. His entire body throbbed intensely and he was exhausted beyond all description, it was the pain alone that kept the darkness from wrapping around him and consuming him. His head was consumed by sharp throbbing pain. It felt like someone was digging into his head and brain with a jackhammer. Somewhere in the back of his painful, clouded mind he noted that it was a good thing that he didn't feel cold. It meant he wasn't dying. He knew what dying felt like and he was grateful that he didn't have to feel it again.

What the hell had happened? And what was that sound he could hear? It sounded like a stampede but it came from all around him, consumed him. Pulsed through him. What the hell was that?

And was he moving? He wondered as the sensation of the air shifting around him and the subtle swaying up and down came to his attention. He could feel something cold and hard beneath him and for some reason he couldn't move his head. It was held in place by something hard and uncomfortable.

Serena.

The one word shot through the haze and he forced all his awareness and concentration to turn inward. Serena. Now he remembered. Diamond had planted a bomb at the school where she worked and he had had to leave her with Seiya outside the school grounds while he had evacuated the grounds. He had stayed with the bomb in an attempt to disarm it but he hadn't stood a chance and he'd known it. At the last moment he could remember running across the classroom and flying straight through the windows with enough force and strength to break through the four by four framing. Had he had the time he would have thrown a desk through them instead of using his body but he'd had mere seconds. He'd landed hard, twisting his ankle violently but he had forced himself to ignore the pain, get to his feet and fling himself into the dumpster. He had barely had time to close the lid before hell, with all its force, power and fury, had broken loose. He could remember the sensation of the dumpster being picked up and carried by the burning hot pulse of the blast but he couldn't remember the landing. That must have been when he'd been knocked out.

And now he was being carried on a stretcher to what he assumed would be an ambulance but he wouldn't leave without Serena. She must have been frantic about him. Where was she? Had Seiya taken her back to the safety of the hospital or were they waiting for him safely outside the grounds?

Summoning all his strength, he cracked his eyes open. At first everything was dark and fuzzy but as the seconds passed he realised that his vision was only fuzzy. He was looking up at the night sky, although no stars twinkled in the brightened skies above Los Angeles.

Hell. How long had he been out? The smoke he could taste and his own body told him that it hadn't been for days. No, he'd been out for hours but how many? How many hours until it was the sun that brightened the sky and not the vast twinkling lights of Los Angeles City? He had to get to Serena. That was all that mattered. She was all that mattered. When she saw him like this she would be frantic with worry and she would fuss over him to no end. He would see her loving eyes filled with concern and fear for him, and she would do whatever it took to help him get well again. He loved it when she fussed over him, when she near mothered him. He hadn't had that in a long time before her.

He could remember one time he had come home after a rough day at work about nine months ago. A murder suspect, who had happened to be the leader of a street gang, had run when he and Andrew had gone to pick him up and they had given chase. There had been a struggle when he had retreated back to his gang and there had been a fight in which he had not walked away from unscathed, though his injuries had been nothing to those sustained by the gang. He'd had a black eye, a split lip and a bruise across his chest from a crowbar that one of them had hit him with in a lucky shot when his attention had been elsewhere. He had been unsure as to whether or not to go home to Serena because he knew she would worry about him and quite possibly overreact.

She had surprised him. She always did. He had walked through the door and she had taken one look at him, walked up to him and gently stroked his unbruised cheek. It had been the look in her eyes that had made him forget his pain. There had been blinding love and ice old fear in her eyes that had ran straight down into her soul and it had been in that moment that he had realised how much his job terrified her. Like all of the other wives and girlfriends of those in the force, she feared getting that phone call telling her that something had happened to him and he wouldn't be coming home. She hadn't said a word and she hadn't asked one of him. She feared losing him but she knew how important his job was to him and she would never ask him to give it up. She knew that if she asked he would do so but he knew she never would.

He could still remember the sensation of her taking his hand and leading him to the couch where she had helped him out of his jacket, gun holster and shoes and she laid him down. She had brought him an icepack, a pillow and a cup of his coffee and she had sat with him until his pain had eased. He could still see her sitting on the floor beside the couch, holding his hand and staring at him with that same look in her eyes, although the love gradually grew brighter and the fear had faded, not completely but enough to let him know that she was peaceful enough to sleep. He had held her that night, not able to make love to her, even though he had wanted too. She had held him back, while being careful to avoid his bruises. She had held him so tightly, reminding him how his sister had clutched her teddy bear in terror during a lightning storm. She feared losing him just as greatly as he feared losing her and he needed to find her to take that ice cold fear and dread from her eyes and see it replaced with love and relief.

And then he had to get her out of the city. It was clear that Diamond's relentless desire to have her was endless. He would never stop until he had her. There was only one option left for him now. He had to get Serena someplace safe and then he had to leave her to begin a hunt of his own. He would hunt Diamond to the ends of the earth and back, if that's what it took to make Serena safe again. One thing was certain now, Diamond was going to die whether he surrendered or not. Diamond would see no mercy from him, not after this. This was Diamond's game and he was going to play it because to the winner would go the prize and that prize was Serena's life. There was nothing he wouldn't do to win this, whatever it took, he would do. He would teach Diamond not to mess with that which was his and that which was under his protection.

"You're awake." Said an unfamiliar gentle voice and a moment later a face appeared before his eyes above him. "Everything's alright. Just stay still. We're gonna get you to hospital. You're going to be fine."

He tried to say Serena's name but his voice only came out as a course croak. His mouth was bone dry and his tongue felt heavy. He tried to suck some saliva into his mouth without success.

The man above him seemed to notice that he wanted to something as a water bottle appeared at his lips and he opened his mouth to allow the soothing cool liquid to enter his dry mouth and pour down his dry throat. If he were able he would have moaned in relief. It felt so good as he drank it down greedily. He felt like he had just been rescued from the middle of the Sahara Desert. After several light gulps, the bottle was moved away and Darien tried to speak again.

"Serena." He mumbled hoarsely. He wanted to lift his head to look around but even if he had the strength, the neck brace made the action impossible.

"Serena?" The man who was looking down at him who was dressed in a fire fighter's uniform repeated questioningly.

Darien barely managed to nod his head yes.

The man looked lost. Clearly he didn't understand what he wanted. "Was she with you? Is she here somewhere?" He asked alarmed.

He was asking if she had been with him in the school during the explosion. He could see the anxiety in the man's eyes at the news that there may be one more body he would have to find.

Wait a minute. Alarm bells were going off in his head, clearing the haze enough for him to regain enough of himself to think clearly. If Serena had been there, she would have been making one hell of a racket, either hassling the rescue workers relentlessly or be a part of the process of organising the children and getting them safely back with their parents. She was not one to sit in the background. She would be one the front line or right behind supporting the front line.

Where the hell was she?

He blinked as he was moved swiftly and he realised he was being loaded into an ambulance and moved off the foldable stretcher and onto an ambulance stretcher. He felt the light weight of a heavy hospital blanket being draped across him and then felt them strap him in. He was in an ambulance, an ambulance that would take him to a hospital and not necessarily the same hospital as the girls. He wasn't leaving until he found Serena or found out where she was. She wasn't in his sight and that wasn't right. He had to find her. Now.

He became aware of his body again as adrenaline flooded his system. He hadn't had to rely on such a large amount of adrenaline and reserve energy to keep him going since that night he had killed the Red Rose Killer. Running from Rubeus Collins had been beyond exhausting and had pushed both he and Serena beyond their limits. Serena had been so exhausted that she had nearly fallen asleep on her feet and he had been the same, he had just understood the price of stopping. It had taken all of his will to keep himself going that night.

He had done it then and he would do it now. He had to keep going. If he didn't, just like that night, the price may very well be Serena's life.

He pushed away a paramedic with a pen sized flashlight who intended to shine it in his eyes to check for any sign of a concussion. It wasn't the first time by far and it wouldn't be the last but he didn't have time for this, he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. Reaching up with iron heavy limbs, he felt along the neck brace until he brushed the velvet straps. He tore them away and instantly felt the neck brace fall away. He pulled it away off his shoulder and from around his neck, ignoring the paramedic's protests and urges to remain still. Next he reached down and unclipped the three straps holding him to the ambulance stretcher, one at his chest, one at his waist and the third across his legs. He threw back the blanket and sat up despite his exhausted and aching body protesting strongly. His body was urging him to lay and rest, to sleep and heal but his mind, his heart and his soul was screaming at him to get to Serena. Once he got to her he would comply with his body.

Until then, there would be no rest. There was only Serena.

"Please, lie down! You're in no condition to move right now!" The woman urged him almost pleadingly.

Darien threw a glance out of the ambulance. People were running back and forth, uniformed police officers were upholding the barriers preventing the enormous crowds beyond from entering the area, hounding news and media crews were pounding questions and pointing cameras in every possible direction, fire fighters fought against a blaze that had already consumed everything in its path. He knew that the best they could do was to prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings until it died down on its own. The school was gone, not one building stood upright and complete. It had been completely demolished by either the explosion or the blazes it had ignited. Sobbing families and parents clung to their children in overwhelming relief and fear for what could have been. He had saved the lives of these children and now it was time for him to save the life of the one who mattered most to him.

With each passing minute everything became sharper and clearer and that included the pain and throbbing of his body. Sitting up, he looked around and spotted what he was searching for. Ignoring the paramedic who seemed to realise that she couldn't do anything to prevent him from leaving the ambulance, he reached for the small glass bottle and a syringe.

"Hey, wait a minute! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The paramedic protested loudly. "You can't take that!" She reached to take it from him but he froze her with a lethal glare.

He didn't have time for this. He stared straight into her eyes with a hard, defiant and daring look within them. "Report me." Somehow his badge still clung to his jacket breast pocket and he still had on his shoulder holster with both weapons in place. Lady Luck had been with him this night.

Well, except for the bomb. And Serena going missing. Oh, and the fact that his body felt as if he had been locked in a large dryer for the last . . . . eight hours, he realised at the sight of the small pocket watch hanging from a pin at her breast pocket.

Shit. He'd been out for eight hours! He had rested enough, he needed to find Serena. Now!

He lifted himself up off the stretcher with great effort and a groan in pain, and staggered to the back of the ambulance where he took one last look around, snatched up a bottle of water that had been placed in one of the compartments and clumsily slid out of the ambulance. His feet felt unsteady beneath him and he swayed weakly as a wave if disorientation and dizziness hit him. He remained still for a minute until the world turned right side up and settled back beneath his feet.

Ignoring the chaos around him and the concerned stares and comments he was getting due to his dishevelled and battle ridden appearance, he summoned what little he had of his bearings and judging by his memory of where he had parked the car. He staggered and stumbled through the chaos until he saw the car still parked where he'd left it. It was now just inside the barrier and there was near no one around as it was sheltered from the crowds by large fire trucks and a wall of debris. The car itself looked undamaged, until he got closer. It had been hit by several pieces of small debris and the back window shield and two of the side windows were missing. He located them a moment later. They were in pieces on the ground beside the car and on the seats within the car itself.

Easing open the driver's side door he practically fell into the seat. He dropped the contents of his hands onto the passenger's seat and turned the key that was still in the ignition. The car roared to life immediately. The car had near a full tank of gas and by the sounds of it was in perfect running order. What had prevented Seiya and Serena from using it to leave? The barricade wouldn't have been there until only a few hours ago and other than that, there was nothing else preventing the car from leaving.

Black dots swam in front of his eyes. He furiously tried to blink them away but they were determined to stay. In his current condition, he wouldn't be able to stay conscious for much longer. He was exhausted, dehydrated and his body was battered. He needed to take a moment to take care of himself before he could find Serena. It was her greatest wish that he take more for himself. She would be proud of him.

A shadow of an affectionate and loving smile spread across him lips and he reached for the water bottle on the passenger's seat and down the entire bottle. Dropping the bottle onto the seat he reached for the small glass bottle and the syringe. He re-read the label to check that he'd grabbed the right bottle, in his state he had to be careful. He quickly tore the syringe free of its sterile plastic packaging and inserted it into the top of the bottle. Angling the bottle above the syringe he pulled back on the syringe until it was half full and lowered the glass bottle, pulling the needle of the syringe free. Discarding the bottle of morphine onto the seat beside him he stared at the clear liquid in the syringe. He hated taking medication unless he absolutely had too. He was the type of person who would rather suffer through the cold once a year than stuff himself full of drugs and suffer eight times a year. But right now, he was in a situation that made it necessary. Not bothering to take the time to remove his shirt, he drew in a deep breath, closed his fist tightly around the plastic syringe and stabbed himself deep in his thigh and he slowly injected the liquid into his body.

With his task done and the syringe empty, he pulled the needle from his body and threw the syringe onto the seat. He drew in a deep breath, closed him eyes and leaned back on the seat. It would take a few minutes for it to enter his blood steam and begin its job of keeping his pain at bay. He'd had morphine before, he was lucky. He wasn't one of the people who suffered serious side effects from it. Hell, it barely made him drowsy and the adrenaline in his bloodstream should be enough to counteract that.

Opening his eyes and looking around casually. Something small and black on the floor of the passenger's seat caught his attention and he almost cried out in joy.

Seiya's cell phone.

His stiff and exhausted body screamed in protest as he bent over and reached for it but he didn't care. Seiya didn't have his cell phone on him but he didn't have too. He had another way to find Serena, something much more helpful in locating her.

He flipped it open and after a moment in which he struggled to remember Andrew's new cell phone number, he dialled and put it to his ear. With any luck Serena would be with him at the hospital, safe and sound, and ready to tear him a new one for not being in touch sooner and worrying her to death.

But he had a cold feeling of dread in his stomach. Things were never that easy, especially where Serena was concerned. She always did have a talent for finding trouble. No one would know it by looking at her but keeping her safe and out of trouble was a full time job. No, it wasn't his job. It was his duty, his purpose in life. One he took very seriously.

Darien spoke the moment it was picked up. "Andrew. Is she with you? Please tell me she is."

One moment of silence before, "DARIEN!?!?!? Is that you?!" Andrew's loud, shocked and disbelieving voice filled with confusion and disbelief echoed through the small cell phone.

"Yeah."

"What the hell?!?!?! You're alive!!!!" Andrew screeched so loudly and highly that he would have given Serena a run for her money in the deafening vocals awards. "You should have called hours ago!! Or at least picked up the damn phone! We thought you were dead!"

"I'm not far from it." He mumbled under his breath. "Is she with you? Serena. Is she with you?"

Andrew's silence told him all he needed to know.

"I don't know." He said evenly, trying to keep himself calm. "The Captain went down there and spoke with some of the teachers who saw her the moment I called him and let him know what was happening. He'd just received news of the bombing. One of them said she saw men with guns putting her into a car. At first she thought they were police but then they knocked her and Seiya out. I keep hoping for Serena to somehow escape and show up here." There was remorse, regret and conflict within his voice. He was torn between staying with his wife who needed him and going to search for Serena himself. "I have all those I can, searching for her but everyone is occupied with the explosion and the chaos it's caused. A riot was barely put under wraps in time on the east side. There's no sign of her."

Andrew waited for the explosion. He had expected it the moment he'd told Darien that he didn't know where Serena was but he remained eerily calm. Andrew was worried to death about Serena and it tore him apart that he couldn't be out there looking for her. If he knew where she was, he would already be on his way to get her. He would be able to leave his wife knowing that this was what she would have wanted. She would have wanted him to leave her there and go after their dearly loved and much adored little sister, who they all felt the overwhelming desire to protect and shield.

Darien barely held himself in check from completely exploding in furious fury, hatred and the need to annihilate. At the same time an ice cold dagger of fear and horror pierced his stomach. He knew without a doubt who had her and he'd had her for hours! His battered body was urging him to close his eyes and sleep to rest and heal but he fought against it. His aching body and pounding head was actually helping him to stay conscious. "Andrew. I left something with you. Something that will tell me where he's taken her. I need you to look under Nina's bed, in the frame under the mattress."

"Huh? Why?" Andrew mumbled into the phone as the sounds of movement echoed behind his words.

"I planted a tracking devise on her." He explained quickly, picturing the electronic devise Andrew would find. It was a small laptop/portable TV/DVD looking thing, half the size of a laptop but able to pinpoint Serena's exact location as long as she was with a seventy mile radius. Expensive but worth it. He would have paid ten times the price. Hell he would have given his entire fortune to know where Serena was. He would give his life to have her safe and before the night ended, that just may happen.

"Found it!" Andrew said victoriously. "Um . . ."

Any other time Darien would have smiled fondly with amusement. Andrew was not one who was gifted with technology. "Just push the red button and enter your birthday as the pass code." He explained flatly. Not even Andrew could mess that up. He had thought about using Serena's birthday as the pass code but it had occurred to him that she would never be the one to type it in. She'd never have to locate herself.

"Wow." Andrew gasped, flabbergasted, in his ear. "You know if this was under any other circumstance and she found out about this, she'd kill you."

Darien ignored him. He was right but this just wasn't the time. If he ever got her back he was going to lo-jack every piece of clothing she owned. "Where is she?" He demanded impatiently. God only knew what Diamond was doing to Serena right now . . .

NO!!!! She wasn't hurt! She was alive and waiting for him to save her. He would know it if she were dead. He would feel it. He would feel his soul being ripped for his chest and his heart would cease to have the will to beat. But if she had one mark on her, he was going to skin Diamond alive, slowly. And that was just the beginning.

"Got it!! She's-whoa!" He cried out in surprise.

Darien sat up straight in his seat. Please god, don't let it be somewhere that would tell him that Diamond had already finished with her. Like the river. "Where is she, Andrew?" His voice was ice cold, hard and held dangerous warning to answer quickly.

"She's in Bel Air." He answered, perplexed. "8679 Bel Air Street. That's smack dead in the middle of rich and famous country. What the hell is she doing there?"

Darien knew that area. It was a wealthy upper class area filled with expensive secluded mansions belonging to rich and famous celebrities and politicians. What the hell was Diamond doing there? Right now that didn't matter. He had to get to her but Bel Air was a good hour's drive away and with the current chaos the city was in, it would take even longer. Keeping the cell phone to his ear he started the car and quickly backed it out. He drove straight through the police barricade, splintering the blue wood with a loud bang. The tires squealed as he manoeuvred the vehicle into a sharp one-eighty turn and then he was off, speeding through the streets, wishing that he had his bike. With it he could have been there in half the time but to his knowledge it was still at the cabin.

It seemed so long ago since they had been there with nothing but each other's company. For those two weeks, the cabin had been their own little piece of heaven, their paradise. Their sanctuary. They had been together and they had been safe and at times happy. Like they had been before the world had driven them apart. He didn't blame Serena for leaving him, he never had. He had understood why she had left and how hurt she had been. No, he blamed himself. He should never have let her leave, he should have gone after her and won her back. He should have done a lot of things, things that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that he got her back and never let her go again. If they survived this he would marry her and give her the life she deserved. He would give up the job he loved, the job in which he saved lives and helped people by getting the worst of the worst off the streets, he would move from the apartment that he loved and he would give up the life he loved to marry her and buy her a house someplace safe. In a small town where he could protect her and keep her safe. One day they may even be able to raise a family there. To have a daughter who was the spitting image of her mother, inside and out.

He was jerked violently into the door as he cut a sharp corner at high speeds. It took all of his skill to keep the car on the road and avoid an accident that would see him in hospital on life support instead of saving the one person his life depended on.

From the cell phone at his ear he would hear the pounding beat of running footsteps. He blinked, for a moment he had forgotten about the phone he was holding to his ear. "What are you doing, Andrew?" He asked as he swerved hard to the left to avoid a Volkswagen and sped through a red light at the intersection.

"You're not doing this alone, this time Darien." His partner told him firmly. "This involves me too. He hurt Nina, Darien. I'm not going to let him get away with that. With any of this. This time we're doing this together. This isn't just about Serena anymore. Besides, you aren't the only one who loves Serena."

Darien was both relieved and worried at the knowledge that he wouldn't be doing this alone this time. He was relieved that he would have backup and that doubled his chances of getting Serena out alive but he was worried for his partner and his brother. This time he would have two people in the line of fire to lose and he didn't know if he could do that. He was torn between thanking Andrew and warning him not to come, to stay with his wife where he was needed.

"Andrew-."

"Don't Darien." Andrew warned him firmly. "You're not going to stop me. We're in this together this time. This bastard has put Nina into a coma, my pregnant wife Darien, and he's hurt Serena in every way possible. This was the bastard who hurt her years ago. If anyone deserves to die, it's him. You aren't the only one who would kill for the women he loves." Darien heard a car door slam on the other side of the line, and then an engine start. "I'll meet you there but I'm going to call the Captain and fill him in. This time we do this right. This time we go in with swat teams and backup."

Darien swore as he came to a red light that was completely blocked by stopped cars. He quickly scanned the area in front of him and made a choice. The next moment he was on the footpath, garbage cans, café tables and chairs and two signs were in the air behind him. As he swerved sharply back onto the street, he turned some of his attention back to the conversation. He knew there was no way backup would get there in time, hell with the chaos in the city was in, it could take hours to get the help they needed and they didn't have hours. He wasn't going to lose Serena. Not for anything. He wasn't going to wait one second for backup, as it was Andrew wouldn't arrive at the mansion until well after he had. No, he was Serena's only chance, at least for now. He was going to get Serena out of there and then he was going to burn the mansion to the ground with Diamond's dead, shredded body inside.

No one hurt Serena and lived, and it was time the world learnt it.

The tires of the car squealed ear-piercingly as it was thrown sharply around the corner of the city block at high speed narrowly missing two cars and a light pole. Darien cursed violently and sharply threw the car in the opposite direction to avoid hitting the blue convertible parked on the other side of the street. Angry car horns sounded from several cars around him and was followed by blurred furious voices cursing at him colourfully. He couldn't make out the curses even if he had too, his hearing wasn't what it should have been, a consequence of the deafening explosion that he had barely been able to live through. There was no ringing in his ears but he could tell that he wasn't hearing as well as he had been able too before this night. He hoped that this didn't affect his chances of saving Serena.

But Darien didn't even notice the chaos going on around him that he was causing. All that mattered was getting to Serena as quickly as possible. He had to save her. Diamond had had her for far too long. For Diamond's sake she had better be alive and unharmed or he was going to kill him in the most painfully excruciating way possible. He would make Diamond beg for mercy, mercy that would never come. He would teach the man the meaning of agony.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel in fury as he fought his fear at the thought of what Diamond might at this very moment be doing to her. He was using every evasive driving skill in his arsenal to duck and weave through city traffic, at break neck speed, that had been sent into chaos along with the rest of the city after the explosion. Panic and fear had gripped the city. It would take every available police officer, fire fighter and member of the emergency services to deal with the chaotic city. If order in the city was not restored soon there would be little choice but for the National Guard to be called in to deal with the situation through man power and force. Since the September 11th bombings by terrorists, the fear of another attack was common. Although this hadn't been done by terrorists but by a madman with no heart or soul, most didn't know that. It would take time for the news to be spread and for the people of Los Angeles to calm themselves and return to their homes.

Darien cursed under his breath and slammed the car sharply to the left and onto the footpath in order to avoid the large dump truck parked at the red light. Garbage cans hit the front of his car and went flying, sending discarded paper and garbage everywhere. He sped through the intersection, narrowly missing a white SUV that was driving passed, and he jumped the curve and returned to the street once he was past the parked cars waiting for the light to change, once again leaving behind blurring horns, furious civilians and quiet possibly a car collision or two.

He was driving as fast as he could but it was no where near fast enough. He had to get to Serena now! Every second was one second too late! Was one second more that monster Diamond had with her! Had to torture and rape her! Oh, if he touched one hair on her head he was a dead man!

An annoying ring tone pierced his thoughts and determined state and he realised that the cell phone was ringing. Keeping one eye on the street in front of him, he picked up the cell phone and flipped it open. He put it to his ear and prayed that it was Andrew with good news.

"Shields."

"It's me." Andrew's voice sounded through the cell phone, the sound of a car engine in the background. "I rang the Captain and through the swearing and threats I got that he's glad you're alive and he's going to kill you."

Any other day Darien would have been amused by this. Their Captain was a good man who was quite often indifferent around them but when it came to times like this, it was really obvious that he did care. He was a good man and good friend who would always come through in a pinch. Just like Darien knew he would have done all in his power to come through for them now.

"He gave me the low-down on the mansion." Andrew went on. Darien could hear paper being flicked before he spoke again. "The place belongs to some famous architect. It's got all the fancy trimmings. Twenty-three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Four swimming pools, tennis courts. All the nice little extras, but there is something interesting about the place. It seems that the wind cellar is actually a bomb shelter. Apparently this guy was an end of the world nut."

Perfect. It was the perfect place for Diamond to take her. He would be able to do whatever he wanted to her and no one would ever hear her scream. He had to get to her now!

"Where's my backup?" He asked urgently and seriously. He was in no mood for small talk today.

"SWAT is on its way but with the chaos the city's in at the moment it will take at least an hour for them to get there." Andrew explained sombrely. "Riots have broken out all over the city. The worst of them have barely been able to be controlled and contained in time. That explosion has sent the city into a panic. The Captain's doing the best he can."

Darien didn't dwell on that. He didn't want to lose what little self control he had left. He had to get to Serena and if he had to save her himself, then so be it. "My ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) is twenty. Get backup there as fast as you can Andrew."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." He promised.

"If something happens to me, Andrew. Get her out of there." Darien near begged him. He didn't care what happened to himself, as long as Serena was safe.

"I will. You have my word, Darien." Andrew promised him knowing that he needed this. He needed to know Serena would be safe if something happened to him.

A moment of silence passed before Darien spoke again, his voice sombre and heartbreaking. "I'm sorry I've dragged you into this. I should have ended this weeks ago instead of running."

"Hey, you did what you could. Don't blame yourself for this." Andrew told him firmly with brotherly authority. "Just focus on saving her."

Darien swerved through the slowly moving traffic with precise skill and swiftness. What he wouldn't have given for his bike. "Be careful Andrew. I don't want to lose you either."

"You're not that lucky." He said with a forced, strained joking tone.

And the line went dead.

Darien cursed under his breath and threw the cell phone onto the passenger's seat, returning both hands and eyes to the street ahead of him that was becoming more chaotic by the minute. He had to get to Serena and as much as he didn't want Andrew in this, he was grateful for the help. This time he didn't have to face this alone. And like last time he would win this fight. He would save Serena and he wouldn't do it by losing his best friend. He was the protector and he would protect his family and eliminate the threat once and for all. And then he would make sure that no one ever threatened Serena ever again.

And with that thought he accelerated, narrowly missing the car in front of him.

The mansion was huge, it looked much bigger than sixteen hundred feet and eight bedrooms. Andrew had been right, it did have all the trimmings, including an Olympic sized swimming pool complete with a Jacuzzi, tennis courts and even a helicopter pad. The mansion was on land that sloped sharply downwards. The driveway was above the entrance and lead down to the mansion. There were several vehicles ranging from high priced SUV's to two expensive Mercedes, as well as a long white limousine, a bright yellow Humvi, two jeeps and an old falcon that looked really out of place among the rest. All but the SUV's were parked on a flat area halfway up the driveway, the SUV's were parked only a few feet from the mansion. They were so deeply emerged in the light from the house that they cast no shadow and would be useless to provide any good cover for him.

He could see all of this from where he crouched in the bushes in the shadows at the highest point of the driveway. The mansion was well lit, every light was turned on and that included all of the exterior lights and with the floor to ceiling windows on both floors, he could easily see inside.

Diamond was one arrogant son of a bitch. From what he could tell, no one stood guard. All of the men he could see were relaxing or celebrating inside the mansion or on one of the balconies or terraces. It seemed they believed that it was all over and they had claimed victory.

A cold smile spread across his lips. Not even close. It wasn't over until Serena was in his arms and someplace safe or they were all dead. By the end of this night, either he or Diamond would be dead but either way Serena would be safe. He would make sure of it.

Using the shadows cast by the trees, bushes and the shadow cast by the house itself, he was able to shield himself from the moon's bright light above. He slowly crept down the sharp slope towards the house. There was a terrace a few feet from him in which he could hide beneath. He moved stealthy, not making a sound as he slipped through the shadows, he strained his ears for any sound that would alert him to someone approaching. He held one glock tightly in his right hand, his entire body tense and ready for action at a moment's notice. The men inside the mansion may not have been alert but they weren't blind and he couldn't take a chance at being seen. The element of surprise was his best advantage at the moment, one of his very few and he wouldn't lose it now. His body had been battered and beaten and burned and it couldn't take much more. Even if his spirit and will were so willing.

Above him on the terrace he could hear movement and voices growing louder as they approached the end of the terrace. He instantly froze and shrank back into the shadows, flattening himself against the white cement wall under the terrace. He listened carefully, straining his disadvantaged ears, and soon identified two sets of heavy footsteps. Two men were standing on the terrace directly above him. He couldn't be discovered now, he was gravely outnumbered by the sounds of it and the element of surprise was too precious to be lost.

"Diamond still with the woman?" A deep voice asked.

"Yeah." The second man answered the first. "All this fuss over a woman." He mumbled, deeply sceptical. "Yeah, she's a looker but to go to all this trouble-."

"Hey, a jobs a job." The first man cut him off sounding as if he were shrugging. "And this one wasn't all that easy."

The second man laughed. "Yeah, that cop really was determined to hold on to her." He was amused.

"Can you blame him?" The other laughed along with him. "It's a shame what Diamond plans to do with her. All that beauty, that gorgeous body. What a waste."

"And we're the ones who have to clean up the mess." The second said with frustration. "All that blood. It'll be hell getting it out of the cellar."

Bingo.

He now knew where she was. She was under the mansion. That may be a problem. Not only did he need to get into the mansion, he needed to get under it. How in the hell was he going to do that without being seen? If that place was a bomb shelter, then most likely it would have only one entrance, if he got caught down there he would be trapped and all his attempts to save her would be in vain. So how the hell was he going to get down there without being seen and the entire place alerted to his presence?

There had to be a way.

What he needed was a diversion, one that wouldn't immediately become obvious to anyone that someone was there.

He slowly scanned the area searching for anything that he may be able to use. He didn't see any gas cylinders or even a dog he could make bark to attract someone's attention. All he could see that would be of any use were the cars but he couldn't blow any of them up without it looking instantly and really suspicious. So what could he do?

And then it hit him and he wondered if there was a glowing light bulb above him. It was so simple and just might work. It might arise suspicions but it would cause enough commotion and be distracting enough to buy him enough time to get into the cellar where they held her.

Careful to stay in the shadows and to stay low, he stealthily moves back up the slope to the small parking area. Looking around to assure that no one was around and looking in his direction, he crouched low and concealed himself between the bright yellow Humvi and the Mercedes and praying with every fibre of his body that it was unlocked, he reached for the front driver side door handle and pulled. To his overwhelming relief it opened soundlessly.

Now it wouldn't take much to set his plan in motion. The Humvi was perfect. It was big, strong and it was parked right on the edge of the flat area facing the mansion. All he had to do was take off the brake and give it a harmless little push.

Flattening himself against the seat of the driver's seat, he quickly set to work. It took only seconds to deal with the brakes. Once done, he closed the door with a faint click and moved to the back of the vehicle. It only took a few shoves at the back of the Humvi to roll the front tiers over the edge and then the vehicles weight and gravity took over the rest.

Crouching low, he watched admiringly as for the first time that night, things went his way. The bright yellow Humvi rolled faster and faster down the steep slope, gathering speed with every foot it went. For a moment he feared that it would hit one of the SUV's and lose momentum but it missed by mere inches and zoomed straight on past at at least eighty miles an hour.

A loud crashing, shattering sound filled the silent night as the Humvi drove straight through the floor to ceiling windows and entered the mansion. Several more crashing, banging and smashing sounds of chaos and commotion filled the air, soon to be joined by several loud male shouts of confusion and surprise as the Humvi continued on its way through the mansion, room after room.

A small satisfied smile spread across Darien's lips as the sounds of destruction ended with the loudest splash he had ever heard. It seems that the Humvi had been stopped by one of the Olympic sized swimming pools.

A deafening crash vibrated through the house above them, so loud that it even penetrated the thick walls of the soundproof wine cellar slash bomb shelter.

Everyone in the room froze and their gaze's flew up to the ceiling above them which doubled as the floor of the story above.

Hope flared within Seiya. Hope for their rescue, or at the very least Serena's rescue. Diamond had been having his way with her for the past twenty minutes and he couldn't stomach to watch anymore. His cries and threats towards Diamond and the others in the room had been ignored until a few minutes ago when they had used the material that had blindfolded him to gag him. He pulled against his restraints with all his strength, ignoring the sharp stinging pain, but to no avail. He was restrained securely but still he struggled and shouted and cursed through his gag.

All of Diamond's actions so far had been superficial, more about inflicting pain rather than damage. It was clear that he wanted this to last as long as possible. He had first started with a few cuts into her delicate flesh, one into her thigh, two into her left arm and a slice along one cheek. To make matters worse, every time she flinched away from his touch or the blade, the thorns of the roses would only dig deeper into her flesh. All but the first of the slices into her skin had resulted in her gritting her teeth and holding back her agonized screams. After she had seen how pleasurably he had reacted to her first, it seemed she hadn't wanted to give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream again. She was a strong woman who had endured the pain and kept silent and it had saved her from more, as clearly with so little reaction from her, Diamond had quickly grown tired of it and had moved on to his next sick and twisted means of torture. This had involved a riding crop that left behind deep welts in her pale flesh that were bruising within minutes. With each merciless blow a sickening meaty slap echoed through the room and hit him right in the stomach. It was at this point that they had had to gag him as his "colourful protests" had become too difficult to ignore.

But it had given Serena a few minutes away from Diamond's attention.

But those precious minutes had soon past and it was becoming clear that Diamond was growing more and more agitated that he couldn't get her to scream or cry out in pain. He wanted to hear her pain, he wanted her to beg him. Each time he hit her and she didn't cry out, he only hit her harder and more mercilessly with the next blow.

With each sicking blow Seiya grew more nauseous and the harder he pulled against his unyielding restraints. His wrists were blazing with white hot pain and he could feel them becoming slippery with his own blood. He would have given both of his hands to have her free from this, hell he would settle for Diamond's death which he would deliver the first chance he had, no matter the personal price it cost him. Part of him wanted to beg her to scream, to give into Diamond and prevent it from getting any worse but the rest of him knew that this was just the beginning and it wouldn't be long before she was doing just what Diamond wanted. Serena was the strongest and most stubborn woman he had ever known but not even she could hold out forever. There was only so much torment the mind and body could bear before they both broke.

If they weren't already. Her body might still be strong but her mind wasn't so strong right now. He had seen in her eyes that her heart, soul and spirit was broken at the loss of her Soulmate, her body and mind would not be far behind.

By the gods! What had she done to deserve this?! She was the most kind, generous and caring person he'd ever met! After only knowing her for less than a month he could see clearly exactly what she was. She was a gift to the world and it was no wonder that so many loved her and the rest wanted her. Years ago Diamond had had her and he had abused her. What kind of man, what kind of monster could do that? And now years later he blamed her for his crimes and the punishment of those crimes. This man had lost his mind long before he had known Serena and it seemed that he had lost his heart and soul along with it.

Under such torture, he had to wonder what it was that she drew strength from. Was it that she was honouring Darien's memory by being strong for him? Or was it that she had nothing left to live for and she wasn't about to die giving Diamond the satisfaction of hearing her scream?

And it seemed that his prayers for a miracle or at the very least a distraction had been answered because the loud crash from above was enough to cause Diamond to step away from Serena, his eyes still glued on the ceiling. He seemed reluctant to leave Serena and the fun he was having because he visibly hesitated before he nodded his head at the other men in the room and they all headed for the door.

But before Diamond left the room he turned his attention to Mrs Collins and fixed her with a dangerous, warning glare. "Do not touch her. Your time will come but for now she's mine."

The old woman didn't say a word but Diamond must have assumed that his message had gotten across as he turned and closed the door behind him with a loud metallic bang.

This was his chance. All he had to do was find some way to get free but that wasn't going to come easy. Perhaps he could trick the old woman into freeing him? He studied her for a long moment but knew it wasn't a realistic option. The old woman was insane but she wasn't an idiot. Not if she'd had a hand in all of this. There had to be some way to get Serena out of there before Diamond came back.

With sadness, remorse and desperation clear in his eyes, he turned his gaze back to Serena. She was laying so still, her breathing shallow and laboured, she was in so much pain that was evident by the white night gown she wore that was now more red than white, stained from her own blood. He wanted so much to offer her words of comfort but he couldn't even do that. He had to get her out of there. He couldn't bear to see her being tortured anymore. And what was worse, he feared that she had given up, that she was using the last of her will not to scream but in truth she would welcome death to escape the pain she must be feeling. Not the physical pain but the pain of losing her heart.

A pain that was far greater than any Diamond could ever do to her.

Seiya watched with distrustful eyes as Mrs Collins stalked slowly over to where Serena lay bleeding and barely conscious and stared down at her with a chilling look of pleasure and satisfaction on her face.

Would she disobey Diamond? Was she planning to hurt Serena more or even kill her? The old woman was insane but he could tell that she did fear Diamond, even if she didn't show it and he was counting on that to keep Serena safe from the demented old woman.

"You know, I really did like you once, Serena." The old woman said pleasantly, with only the slightest hint of something darker, something more dangerous underlying her tone. "You seemed so nice, so friendly, but it was all an act wasn't it?" Her tone turned heated with fuming rage and hatred. "You manipulative, conniving little bitch?"

Serena turned her head slightly, the movement obviously causing her great agony, and she looked up into the old woman's eyes with her weak and pain-filled own. Silently Seiya begged her to remain silent and not to antagonize her but he had a feeling that nothing, not even the threat of more pain, would keep her silent.

"You're guilt at abandoning your son has made you blind." She mumbled weakly as she looked up at her through barely open eyes. "I'm sorry for your pain but one day you will have to accept what your son truly was and what he was wasn't your fault."

Seiya couldn't believe this! She was waving her blood smeared self at a starving T-rex! This woman was beyond rationality and compromise, and she was beyond seeing the truth. She wouldn't see that Serena was trying to help her by trying to relive her remorse and self blame over her son's fate.

She moved so fast, faster than the old woman should have been able to move, and she dug her fingernails deep into the deep cut Diamond had given her along her thigh.

Serena screamed in agony and the old woman laughed evilly with joy at the deafening sound.

Seiya struggled as fiercely as he could against his restraints, not caring about the damage he was doing to himself but still he could not get himself free to help her. She screamed again and again as the old woman dug deeper into the wound.

And then she stopped screaming all together.

The sound of metal moving against metal drew his attention back to the door at his back. By the sounds of it, Diamond was back. The metal lock clicked free and he sensed rather than heard the door open and a figure step into the room. Diamond was back already and now Serena's fate would continue yet again. Would it have killed the fates to give Serena a little bit more time to somewhat recover?

Would he punish Mrs Collins for defying him?

Mrs Collins didn't even look up as the door opened. She was much more interested in running her aged hands along Serena's wounds. Serena didn't even wince which drew his immediate urgent attention. He had thought that she was holding back her screams to deny the pleasure Mrs Collins was seeking and maybe she had done so by retreating into her mind to find some peace from the pain but had she actually passed out? Although that would give her a little time of peace from the pain of her body and her heart, it did not bring him comfort as it meant that she was doing worse than he had thought.

The figure behind him moved with speed and stealth and suddenly he found himself free. It was so unexpected that his stiff and exhausted legs did not have time to catch him and he fell to the cold floor.

What the hell?

Before he could say a word or spring into action, the figure behind him moved quickly towards Serena and Mrs Collins. A tall figure with black hair who now had his weapon aimed straight at Mrs Collins temple.

What the hell? Had he passed out himself? Or was he trapped in a delusion created by his mind that had been so desperate to escape the horrors of the situation? Or had the connection between the two become so strong that it could summon his ghost to her in her time of greatest need? Not that he believed in any of that but when it came to this man's desire to protect her there was nothing that he wouldn't do.

"Touch her again and it will cost you your life." The voice was ice cold and hard with dangerous warning.

The old woman froze and slowly turned to face him, her crazy eyes wide in disbelief.

Darien had no idea what the old woman was doing there but he knew who she was immediately. She was the woman who had bore into the world the monster who had come to be known as the Red Rose Killer and she had been Serena's neighbour until the old woman had moved from the building right after her son had been killed and the truth about him had come out. It had been believed that she had left the building in shame and remorse for what her son had done to one of her neighbours but seeing her here now didn't fit that belief. What hand she had in all of this, he could not even begin to fathom but right now he knew all he needed to know. That this old woman was hurting his woman and that made her his enemy, one he had no patience for and old woman or not, he would kill her if it came to it. He wouldn't like it but he would live with it if it meant that he could get Serena out of there alive.

"But you're dead!" The old woman gasped in shocked disbelief.

Darien narrowed his eyes, eyes filled with dangerous darkness. "Dead or not, I'm still the man holding a gun aimed directly at your right eye. Now step back or I will kill you."

All shock washed away from the woman and was replaced by hatred and rage that twisted her face inhumanly. "Just like you killed my son?! My poor little innocent baby! You murdered him! He was a good boy! He never did anything wrong!"

Darien hesitated uncertainly. What the hell? For a moment her words baffled him but a second later understanding washed over him. This was a woman who had been driven to insanity by the loss of her only son and her own remorse that she had given him up. Somehow in her twisted mind she had come to believe that they were the enemy. He almost felt sorry for her but it was impossible for him to do so when her hands were covered with Serena's blood. Blood someone was going to pay for with their own.

But that person would not be Mrs Collins. He knew who his true enemy was and it wasn't this deranged old woman who had lost her mind in the grief of her lost son. Sometimes people just needed someone to hate, to blame. He couldn't hate her for that, he could only pity her for what she had been through. One of the hardest things about his job was dealing with the families, the families of both the victims and the perpetrators. It was never shown in the movies but it was the families who suffered the most. The victims family suffered with the horror and loss of losing a family member and the perpetrators family suffered from the shame and remorse at what a beloved member of their family had done to another. Some, like Mrs Collins, just couldn't deal with the overwhelming emotions and either fell into depression or convinced themselves that their family member was innocent of the charges against him. Some even accused others of framing them. Mrs Collins believed that of them, she just couldn't bring herself to believe that her son had become a monster.

"Seiya." He addressed the man still on the floor who was looking up at him with disbelief and bewilderment on his pale face. It seemed that the US Marshal had shared in the old woman's assumption that he was dead and still couldn't get his mind around the knowledge that he was in fact still alive.

And maybe he was meant to be dead but right now he didn't have time. Once Serena was safe and away from there, then he could contemplate his mortality.

"Seiya!" He snapped, intolerant warning in his voice. They didn't have time for this! Diamond could be back at any minute and they would be trapped in the solid concrete room that only had one exit. "Shut the door!"

Seiya blinked himself free of his trance and rose to his feet and obeyed before he slowly moved closer to him while keeping his distance from the old woman. He had yet to take his eyes off of him since he had realised just who it was who was saving them. "How the hell did you survive that explosion?" He asked numbly.

Darien was so irritated with him that he wanted to hit him over the head but decided to leave that until later. Right now he needed Seiya to snap out of it so he could address the compelling situation that was damn near screaming at him to be dealt with. And that situation was lying motionless on a bed of red roses with sharp thorns digging into her delicate flesh. He held his second glock out to Seiya and waited until the man numbly took it from his hand. "Keep it on her." He nodded his head towards Mrs Collins. He was in no mood from anything from the old woman.

Seiya blinked, finally seeming to come to his senses. He raised the glock he held in his hand towards the crazy old woman, staring hard at her with warning that if she tried anything she would pay for it with her life. Darien may be hesitant to kill the old woman who had been driven mad by the loss of her son, but he had seen the look in the woman's eyes as she had watched Diamond torture Serena and he would not hesitate to kill her if she gave him any excuse. She had been so disturbingly excited by it that it had damn near made him violently sick. "Step back." He ordered knowing by the look on Darien's face that if she didn't get away from Serena immediately that he wouldn't be the only one itching to find some excuse to shoot her.

Darien waited until Mrs Collins was a good distance away from them and that Seiya had her under control, before he turned his back to them and greeted the sight he had purposefully avoided until now because he hadn't actually wanted to harm the old woman. It wasn't easy for him to kill or harm women, in fact he had never killed a woman before and he wanted to keep it that way. But he wouldn't be able to do so if he had taken a closer look at his love with a firearm in his hand.

At the sight of his angel's broken and bleeding body, he froze in pure horror. His stomach wrenched violently and he had the fight against the need to be sick. His heart turned to ice in his chest, putting weight on his lungs, making it difficult to draw in breath. He had seen a lot of gruesome sights as a homicide detective for the LAPD but this blew them all away and would forever more be the sight he would see in his worst nightmares. His beautiful and delicate angel was covered in darkening bruises and cuts. Her precious life's blood oozed from four long angry slashes caused by a blade of some kind and also from the dozen's of small punctures in her arms, legs and shoulders from the thorns of the bed of roses she was laying upon.

Oh dear god.

Uncontrollable burning fury sliced its way through the cold pain within him and threatened to erupt from within him like the violent explosion he had barely survived only hours ago, but only the thought of saving Serena gave him the strength to suppress it for the time being. He quickly moved forward and being as mindful of her injuries as he could, he lifted her up off the stone alter and pulled her into his arms but still several of the roses remained embedded in her flesh. He needed to get them out or they would sink in deeper and removing them would only cause her more pain. He stepped back and slowly lowered to his knees and gently laid her on the cold smooth surface of the cement floor.

She wasn't conscious and for that he was thankful. She wouldn't have to endure the pain of him seeing to her injuries. He quickly but carefully pulled the thorns from her skin and discarded them. Within a matter of seconds he had his jacket off and was tearing it into long strips. He quickly applied the make shift bandages tightly over the cuts to her thigh and arm. The most serious of her injuries were taken care of but he wished he could do something about the cut along her cheek. Fortunately the bleeding was already slowing, the cut clotting.

With that done he gently took her head in his hands while being mindful of her sliced cheek and checked her pulse. He was relieved to find that even though it was a little sluggish, it was strong. Exhaling a small sigh of relief he cupped the uninjured side of her face in one hand and picked up her hand in his other. He needed her to open her eyes and look at him. He needed it more than he needed his heart to beat. He needed to know that she wasn't going to leave him.

"Serena? Angel? Baby?" He said with gentle urgency. His voice trembled with his desperation, his need to have her respond to him was crushing him. He could feel tears filling his eyes from the pain of it. "Please, open your eyes. Can you hear me? Oh, baby I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I should have been there to protect you. I should have gotten to you sooner. I should have stopped this. I promised to protect you but I have failed. Please wake up. Don't leave me. Please, angel. Serena." He begged her pathetically. He was so close to crying that he could feel them flooding his eyes and they blurred his vision.

A low pain-filled moan escaped from her parted pale lips and his heart skipped a beat as hope and relief flooded it and the crushing sensation dissipated. "Angel? Can you hear me? Serena? Please, open your eyes and look at me. I need you to look at me."

Slowly and weakly her eyes fluttered open, pain of all meanings glowing dimly in her eyes. "Darien." She whispered her voice course and heavy and confused. "Am I dead?"

He forced a strained smiled to his lips as he looked down at her and gently stroked her face, letting her feel his touch, letting her feel him there with her. "No baby." He gently cupped the side of her face, allowing her to see his love for her in his eyes. "You're not dead."

Serena looked up at him with what almost looked like wonder mixed in with her sorrowful love. "Then I'm dreaming."

"No." He shook his head briefly and squeezed her head gently. "You're not dreaming, my love. I'm here with you. We're both alive and I'm going to do whatever I have too to keep it that way." He promised her with all the conviction he possessed.

Hesitation and confusion lit her eyes. She didn't understand how he could be there and she didn't want to dare to believe that he actually was there because she didn't want to feel the pain of losing him again. He understood that and he allowed her a few seconds for her to accept the truth. He could see the pain that the thought of his death had brought to her and it broke his heart and stabbed him with guilt that he had been the cause of such pain for her.

Her eyes widened. "You came back for me." She whispered in disbelief, tears filling her beautiful eyes.

"Of course I came for you. Nothing could ever stop me."

"Not even death." She weakly raised her cold hand to his face and cupped his cheek. "Should this be a dream then I shall never wake."

Still she believed him dead or that she was dreaming. "Sweetheart, darling, angel." Whispering every endearment he could think of, he gave her a gentle smile. A smile he held only for her. "Neither of us is dead. Do you really think I would let myself be taken from you so easily? Do you think I would ever stop fighting when you're in danger?" He took her hand from his face and lowered it to his chest where he held it over his beating heart. "Do you feel that? That's your heart my love, do you think I would ever let it stop beating?"

She stared at him for a long moment as if she were not daring to believe it was true that he was there with her. He watched as tears filled her eyes as they grew impossibly wide. "Darien? Is it really you?"

He smiled down at her with nothing but love on his face and in his eyes. "Yes, my love. My angel. I would never leave you. Forgive me for not getting to you sooner, for not stopping this. I should have killed Diamond weeks ago-." He was cut of suddenly when Serena snaked her uninjured arm around his neck and used her hold to both pull herself up to him at the same time as she pulled him down to meet her waiting lips.

He kissed her with all the hunger, passion and love he could summon. He understood that she needed to feel him, to feel their connection to convince herself that he was indeed alive and there with her. He needed the same thing. He needed to feel their connection, feel her in his arms in order to attempt to convince himself that she was alive and really in his arms.

Right now he only wanted two things. He wanted to get Serena out of there to safety and then he wanted to kill Diamond. He would never forgive him for doing this to her, for hurting her like this. He had tortured and beaten her and god only knew what else he had done to her.

The thought made his freeze. He pulled away and quickly re-examined her now that she had her eyes open and he was certain that she was not in any immediate danger from her injuries. It was then that he realised what she was wearing. They had undressed her and it was clear she was naked beneath the night gown. That alone earned Diamond and anyone else who had helped him a death sentence but the fact that it was covered in her blood sealed their fates. He wasn't just going to kill them, he was going to make what they had inflicted upon Serena look like a gentle massage.

Pulling off his business shirt he carefully draped it over her shoulders in an attempt to cover her, leaving him only in his wife beater singlet shirt. He would deal with Collins and then he would beat the answers he needed out of Seiya if necessary. Right now he could have slaughtered everyone in Bel Air in retribution for what had happened to Serena.

Sensing movement behind him, he remembered that they weren't alone in the room and he glanced over his shoulder to see Seiya staring hard at the old woman with disgust in his eyes and the glock pointed steadily at her chest. He had witnessed everything they had done to Serena and judging by his bloody and raw wrists, he had tried like hell to get free to save her and he was now indebted to Seiya for all he had done for Serena. The US Marshal had won his trust. If he was unable to get Serena out of there, then he could trust that Seiya would do all he could to do so.

"Tie her up." He ordered Seiya coldly. They had to move soon. It was too dangerous to remain there much longer. He had sent a car through the house and into the swimming pool. A great diversion that had already brought them more time than he had anticipated but it would only be a matter of minutes before they came back to continue with Serena.

He swallowed a feral growl.

Seiya moved quickly to obey, using what had been his own restraints to restrain and gag the old woman.

While Seiya did this, Darien turned back to Serena to find her sitting up fully before him, her pain written all over her face. At the sight, he snarled darkly with furious hatred and the desire for vengeance.

Serena sensed Darien tense and she looked up into his face to see him struggling for control against the furious and violent urges within him from what had happened to her and the pain she was enduring. She had to calm him down and bring back his rationality or he would do something reckless and stupid that would most likely get him killed. He needed to focus on getting them out of there now, not on her or her injuries.

Ignoring the sharp throbbing pains shooting through her body, she forced all evidence of her pain from her face and she gently cupped his cheek. She waited silently for him to meet her eyes and used the look of love in her eyes to calm him. "I will live and I will heal." She promised in a gentle whisper.

"I swear to you, he will die for this." He promised resolutely.

"I don't need him to die." She whispered softly. "I need you to live."

Darien was silent. He didn't know what to say. Even after all she had been through, because he had failed to protect her, she still forced aside her own pain and suffering to comfort him. How could he ever be worthy of such a being? She wasn't human, no she was something divine that he would never be worthy of.

"You are my heart." She whispered as she stared into his eyes.

"As you are mine." He wanted to kiss her so badly, so urgently that it hurt but he sensed movement behind him once more and he knew Seiya was done with his task of restraining the old woman.

"There's no time for that now." Seiya hissed edgily from behind them.

Darien knew he was right. They had wasted so much time already. He forced himself to pull away from her. Giving her one lasting loving but reluctant look, he stood up and turned to Seiya, all softness gone from his face. Now only the fierce and hard warrior remained. One who needed answers.

He stepped up to Seiya and spoke quietly so Serena would not hear. "Tell me what happened to her." His tone warned Seiya that it was dangerous for him to leave anything out.

Seiya caught the warning all too clearly and instead of protesting that they didn't have time for this, he quickly recapped Diamond's actions with her over the past half an hour. Each time he mentioned Serena's pain or Diamond inflicting an injury, Darien gritted his teeth and fisted his hands. This was a man fighting to maintain his last ounce of control before he became completely homicidal.

"Did he rape her?" Darien snarled furiously.

"I don't think so." He answered quickly before Darien lost it completely, keeping his voice hushed. "She didn't appear to have been touched before I woke up."

Clearly that fact brought little comfort to him.

Darien needed to know if she had been raped or hurt before Seiya had woken. If she had been raped then he was going to rip the offender's balls off and force them to eat them. Needing an answer, he returned to Serena to see with a small amount of relief that she was sitting up and leaning against the stone alter with more strength and less pain in her movements. He quickly knelt beside her and looked into her eyes pleadingly and fearfully. They didn't have much time left and he needed to get her out of there, he just couldn't do anything without knowing.

"Angel. I need to know how they hurt you." He asked slowly, carefully.

Serena looked into his eyes with so many emotions in her own that she looked dazed. She searched his eyes and a small loving smile spread across her pale lips. "It doesn't matter now."

"Please Serena." He begged her with his tone and his eyes. He feared her answer but he needed to know none the less. "Did Diamond do anything more than what Seiya witnessed?"

Serena's small smile fell from her lips as understanding penetrated her cloudy mind. "No." She whispered. "He didn't rape me."

Darien would have bowed his head in relief if he had been able to take his eyes from hers. Without warning, he tucked his glock back into his shoulder holster and he gently lifted her into his arms, being mindful of her injuries, and cradled her against his chest. Serena wasn't up to the task of walking out of there so he would have to carry her and trust Seiya to cover them.

After all the effort he had spent trying to keep her away from Diamond, she had still ended up in his grasp. What would it take to keep her safe from the monsters of the world? Ever since Collins, a.k.a the Red Rose Killer, had brought them together the fight to keep her safe had only escalated. He understood what it was about her that drew in or attracted the attention of every male on Earth. It wasn't just her beauty, it was her innocence and the sense of happiness and peace that radiated from her, welcoming all in. She was the type of person who would always be surrounded by people who loved her very much. She was like gravity. No one could ignore or dismiss her. He had never minded the fight he had to fight to keep her safe and with him but lately he had been feeling as if he were failing that battle. The serial killer he had been searching for two months ago had cost him what he loved most and now Diamond, another psychopath, threatened her and he wasn't sure he could protect her from him. He had tried and time after time he had failed, starting when Diamond had attacked her in her own apartment to this very moment when he had kidnapped and tortured her. No matter what he did, it always seemed like he was failing her. He had promised never to leave her and he had, he had promised to always be there for her and he hadn't been and he had promised to protect her and he had failed.

But even after all of that she still had faith and trust in him, he could see it in her eyes as clear as daylight. She still believed that he would save her, that he would get them out of this and that they would live happily ever after. Why did she have so much faith in him? What was it about him that made her believe in him to no end? He had not only failed her so many times but he had hurt her time and time again.

Why was it always those you loved most who were the ones you hurt the most? No one could hurt Serena like he could, not even Diamond and that power over her scared the hell out of him. He wasn't worthy of it. At least he didn't think so, but she did. Maybe one day he would earn that worth but until then he would assure that she was never hurt, by him or anyone else, ever again. He would ask her to marry him when they got out of this and he would make sure that the entire world knew that she belonged to him and anyone who dared to threaten her or that fact would pay dearly for it. This would be the last time anyone hurt or threatened her. No matter what it took. If he had to use his entire fortune to build an impenetrable fortress to make her safe then that was what he would do.

They reached the door and he waited silently for Seiya to slowly open the door a few inches and scan the dim cold concrete hallway. Long seconds past before Seiya nodded, indicating that the coast was clear, and he opened the door wide. Holding the glock securely with both hands he stepped sideways through the door and quickly placed his back to the opposite wall, his eyes glued on the concrete staircase at the other side of the hallway.

Darien waited a few more seconds before he stealthily followed after him and stepped out of the room that had held his love. He looked over his shoulder and not trusting the old woman to keep quiet, even though she was bound and gagged, he gently set Serena down on her feet behind Seiya and silently closed and locked the only door of the hallway. She wouldn't be getting out of there without help. He turned his attention back to Serena and Seiya. He noticed that Serena was looking slightly stronger with every passing minute and for that he was grateful. Maybe if the time ever came she would be able to run or at least walk on her own. He couldn't guarantee that he could carry her out of there but he would guarantee that she would get out of there. He could make no other guarantee other than Diamond would not be in a position to follow her if she had to run on her own.

At that thought he quickly moved towards Seiya and whispered into his ear so low that not even Serena, who was standing beside him, could hear.

"No matter what happens to me, get her out of here."

Seiya turned and stared at him but he said nothing. It was clear that he didn't like the thought of Darien not being able to get Serena out of there himself. There was only one thing that would result in him being the one to get her out of there and that was his death.

Long moments passed before Seiya finally spoke. "I watched her die inside at the thought that you were dead once, I will not have to do so again because she won't survive it again. If you want to get her out of here alive, then you must live."

"Just get her out of here." He ordered authoritatively, leaving no room for any more to be spoken.

Serena watched as Darien stepped away from Seiya and turned his attention back to the corridor before them and the cement stairs at the end of it. The only light that lit the corridor came from the dim light bulb above them and the bright light flooding down the stairway from the floor above. It was light enough for her to see the silhouette of the two men with her but not light enough for any colour to meet her eyes. This place was so gloomy that it made her think of a tomb, and it may just become that. Their tomb. So many times their lives had been threatened over the last few weeks but now it was far greater than ever before. They were on Diamond's territory surrounded by enough highly trained men to be a private army. Diamond's private army that were armed to the teeth. How many more close calls where they going to have? How many times did she have to watch Darien narrowly escape death before it did finally catch up with him? She didn't know how Darien had survived that explosion at the school but she knew for certain that it had been a miracle, a close one by the look of Darien. His body was so battered and beaten that it was a miracle in itself that he was still on his feet. He was covered in black bruises that were still forming, cuts and scratches, dried blood covered most of his arms and drying blood stains patched his torn clothing. His hair was mattered worse than she had ever seen it, and by the looks of the various patches of angry red skin, he was covered in painful burns. He had a slight limp and his grip on his glock wasn't as firm as it usually was. He was exhausted and in pain.

He looked like he had survived worse than an explosion.

How was he still on his feet, let alone still going? He was in no condition to fight anyone, let alone someone as dangerous and as well armed as Diamond. He was going to be killed and it was going to be all her fault. Diamond wanted her, not him. Why had he come after her? How he had found her she didn't know, she doubted Diamond would have left behind flashing neon signs advertising where they were, but now it was going to get him killed.

She couldn't let that happen. She had to find a way to get some help or at least to get Darien out of there with his life.

Darien was now at the base of the stairs and was looked up cautiously with his weapon primed and ready for action. Ready to defend and protect.

She studied his face. She knew that look, she had seen it only once before when he had acted to kill to save her life the night they had had their showdown with the Red Rose Killer. With Collin's whose mother had been so twisted by her grief and remorse had become a monster just like her son. The look on Darien's face told her that people were going to die this night, by his hands and one of those was going to be Diamond. Darien wouldn't let him escape again to come after her again. The lengths Darien went to protect her were terrifying and she didn't know how much longer she could bare it.

Darien signalled for them to join him at the base of the staircase.

Seiya wrapped his arm around her waist and half carried, half dragged her down the corridor to him. They moved slowly but silently through the shadows until they reached Darien who was preparing to ascend the staircase and face whatever dangers lie above them.

Serena couldn't let him do that, the thought of him being out of her sight nearly stopped her heart but the knowledge that what he was doing was extremely dangerous nearly killed her. "Darien." She gasped, so quietly that he only just heard her, and she reached out for him.

Darien heard Serena's urgent plea and he turned to see her arm weakly raised, reaching for him with panic and fear in her eyes. He ignored her hand and took hold of the side of her head, his fingers disappearing within the delicate golden strands of her long free flowing hair, and he looked deeply into her eyes, offering her all the comforting assurances he could in the fleeting seconds they had in which they were not alone. "Serena, no matter what happens know I love you and that I'm with you always."

"Don't die for me." She begged him pathetically, her trembling voice held the tears that her dried trembling eyes could not. "Not again."

"I'll never leave you." He promised her before he released her and stepped back without another word. Without giving her the words she wanted that he could never keep.

Darien forced himself to ignore the fear and pain his love was enduring in order to focus on the situation and get her out of there. He cautiously raised his head so his eyes were level with the floor above and he scanned both directions of the hallway that the staircase led to. From his location he could also see into two rooms, one appeared to be a bedroom and the other looked like a study or office. He didn't know how long backup would be and he wasn't going to hide in a corner and just wait to be found. They were running out of time, it was a miracle that they hadn't already. The car rolling through the mansion and into the pool should have alerted the occupants of the mansion to the fact that something was wrong. He didn't know why it hadn't brought them running downstairs to check on their prized prisoner that had brought them what could only have been a king's ransom. Instead, every direction he looked was deserted.

That alone brought the fact that something was wrong, screaming to his attention. Had they set a trap for them? Were they waiting around the corner waiting to pounce on them? He didn't know but he had to get Serena out of there. They were sitting ducks where they were. The staircase was the only way out and they had to take it. He wouldn't leave Serena there another moment for Diamond to take pleasure in torturing her to death. She hadn't been raped and the few cuts she had received would heal completely and leave no permanent damage. The psychological damage that had been caused by what she had believed to be him dying would be far more difficult to undo than whatever Diamond had done to her before he had arrived. Serena was the strongest woman he knew and she had learned, long before they had met, how to deal with Diamond's psychological torture but she had never learnt how to deal with her greatest fear, the fear of losing him. He would help her through that when they were out of there.

Something he would have to deal with later was that he had failed her and how close she had come to being raped and tortured to death. So many times he had saved her from those who had wished to rape her, it was a danger her beauty and purity cursed her with but never had it come so close to happening since the Red Rose Killer. He couldn't let it come so close again. He had seen how rape could destroy a woman, her spirit and kill her inside and he couldn't let that happen to Serena.

His grip on his glock tightened as he took a single second to force back the blinding rage that threatened to erupt and take away his focus. If he let any of that hit him now he would get them killed, he had to keep his emotions under control and he had to get them out of there. He had to get Serena out of there.

Now.

He crouched down and turned to look Seiya in the eyes seriously. He quickly indicated, using law enforcement sign language, with his hands that he would go first and provide cover as he brought Serena up after him.

Seiya nodded once, giving his silent confirmation of both his understanding and his compliance.

Darien moved stealthily up the last few stairs, all the while constantly scanning the area and keeping his ears alerted for any sound that might alert him to anyone approaching. He could hear nothing but silence and the frantic pounding of his heart as it worked overtime to pump blood and morphine and adrenaline, which was most likely the only thing keeping him going, through his exhausted body which protested painfully every time he moved. He crouched tensely by the large square hole in the floor with his weapon held firmly and ready in both hands. In his weakened and exhausted state his reflexes weren't what they should have been and so he needed to be ready to act before his enemy have a chance too.

He sensed movement beside him as Seiya emerged, staying low, and stepped to crouch at the other side of the opening for the staircase. Darien watched out of the corner of his eye as Seiya reached down and pulled Serena gently up onto the floor with them. He tensed even more, his entire body tensed like a spring ready for action. He would take no chances with Serena. At least none that he absolutely didn't have too. Diamond had already proven that he would do anything to get and keep his hands on Serena.

Now they had gotten out of the cellar undetected they had to get out of the mansion undetected. While he had been searching for a way in he had also keep looking for a way out. The best chance to get out without being detected was at the east side of the mansion. There was a low balcony that they would be able to jump off and the thick shrubs and bushes were only thirty feet away. It would be their best chance to get out of the house without detection but that meant having to make their way through half of the mansion. A mansion that had floor to ceiling windows and was light up like the fireworks on New Years. They had to be quiet and careful but at the same time, they were running out of time. If anything, they were on borrowed time.

If they were discovered, Darien wouldn't have any choice but to hold them off while Seiya took Serena and made a run for it. He didn't like being parted from Serena but right now Seiya was in the best condition to get her out of there, or at least find some time until backup arrived.

Speaking of backup, where the hell was Andrew? He should have been there by now. With any luck he was only minutes away and hadn't been caught or killed.

With one last scan and a second to listen, Darien nodded at Seiya to help Serena up and he moved down the hallway a few feet and looked through the open doorway for any sign of movement. It was a bathroom and it was empty.

As they moved, Seiya being sure to keep Serena in front of him so she was protected between the two of them. Right now Seiya knew that keeping Serena too far away from Darien would be like taking cubs away from a lioness. It would be a certain death sentence. He was so overprotective of Serena, how did she not feel smothered?

Seiya shook his head and quickly pushed away the random thought. Darien had already moved onto the next open doorway so he carefully but quickly moved both himself and Serena, who he was supporting as she was still too weak to move while crouched, on her own.

It was so bloody bright! The entire place was white and every single light was on! They were even leaving black dirt stains on the white carpet below their feet but there was nothing they could do about that. Hopefully if anyone came along, they would think that they belonged to another resident of the mansion. If they raised the alarm it would be only too easy to follow the footsteps to them. They may as well be leaving a trail of glowing radioactive breadcrumbs.

Without warning, Darien froze mid stride and it took Seiya every ounce of balance and coordination that he processed not to fall straight into him. The next thing he knew, Darien had planted his back against the wall, draped one arm over both him and Serena and pushed them down to the floor while he extended his gun arm and pointed his glock at the figure that had just emerged from a doorway two doors down.

Darien held his breath and aimed. He didn't recognise the large bulky man but he wore the exact same military getup as Diamond's henchmen had at the cabin. He aimed straight for his head to kill him silently.

The henchman was fully armed and held a magazine open in his hands that Darien saw was a pornographic magazine. He was so engrossed in the magazine that without looking up, he turned down the opposite direction down the hallway from them and kept walking without even looking up.

Darien breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his gun arm and his hold on Serena and Seiya that was keeping their noses to the floor. Clearly the guy hadn't gotten the news about the mansion's new hallway leading from one end of the house to the new ornament in the pool.

He had been fully prepared to kill the man, the only thing that had made him hesitate to see what the henchman would do was that Serena would witness him taking a life and he didn't want her to see that. He didn't want her to fear him, to see him kill so mercilessly and without hesitation. Serena was also innocent in that watching someone die so violently would traumatize her forever.

Still, he wouldn't hesitate again. That had been too much of a close call. He had to get them out of there now.

He turned his head and looked down at Serena who was hunched under Seiya's heavy protective arm. It was a small comfort that Seiya was nearly as protective of her as he was. If something happened to him Seiya would do everything in his power to get her out of there.

Serena was looking up at him with trembling fear in her eyes. Fear for her own sake or for him, he didn't know but either way he didn't like seeing such a look in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her but words would not be spoken now. He quickly reached down and took her hand gently in his own. He gave it a gentle squeeze and a tiny reassuring smile. He wanted to tell her that nothing would ever happen to her, that he would protect her no matter what but his small smile was all he could give her.

Releasing her hand, he turned his back to them and scanned the hallway before him. He strained his ears to hear anything but again there was nothing. He couldn't even hear the henchman's footsteps anymore. It seemed that that explosion really had messed up his hearing. He cursed silently to himself, that was one more disadvantage that he didn't need! What was it going to take to get a damn break tonight?!

Forcing himself to return his focus to the situation, he crept forward to the next doorway and a quick glance told him that it was clear to go onto the next doorway that the henchman had just stepped out of. He took an extra moment to check the bathroom before he crept forward. He checked two more rooms before the hallway ended and opened up into a large sunroom filled with white leather and glass topped furniture.

Darien hesitated, quickly assessing the room and the risks. The room was very open and had several doors and hallways leading into it but at the same time there were several pieces of furniture that could provide cover. They had to go forward, they couldn't go back the way they'd come. It would burn precious time and energy that they didn't have but then again the sunroom was a huge risk. If anyone walked in the chance of being seen were overwhelming. It would only take one shout from one henchman and they would be surrounded and royally screwed.

They had no choice. They would have to risk it.

Turning his back to the wall, he forces himself not to look at Serena as he looks straight into Seiya's eyes and gives him a meaningful nod.

Seiya doesn't needs words to understand what it was that he intended. They had no choice. They would have to risk the open to get to freedom. They would be sitting ducks if they were seen but there was no other way. He felt Serena stiffen in his hold, she seemed to sense that things were about to get a whole lot more dangerous for the man she loved. He didn't look down at her, he couldn't see the pain in her eyes again that her eyes had held earlier that day. He had never seen anyone look so hollow and lifeless. She had died inside and now it wasn't difficult to tell that she feared losing him again even more now she had learned just what it was like to lose him.

He strengthened his grip around her in preparation for Darien's actions. If Darien was seen, he didn't need to be told to know that he would cause one hell of a diversion and then hold them back as long as he possibly could so they could run. Serena wouldn't leave him, he would have to drag her away.

Until he had met them he had never believed that true soulmated love existed but now he had seen it he felt compelled, just like everyone else who had been so fortunate to realise just what it is Serena and Darien shared, to protect it. To protect them. He understood why their friend's had been willing to risk themselves for the both of them. The love they shared not only affected Serena and Darien but everyone around them. The love they shared was like gravity, everyone had to obey it and everyone was drawn to it, held by it. The love, laughter and life the two held was felt by everyone and it was something precious. Something that had to be protected and because of that, Seiya was willing to give his life to protect them. Not because it was his job but because he had found something worth protecting and if he did die tonight, he would die leaving behind a piece of himself in his son. He did no doubt that that little boy was his son now, he knew it. He couldn't explain how and he didn't want too. But he would also leave this world knowing that he saved one of the most precious and most pure things in the world.

That would be an honourable death.

As he stared into Darien's eyes, he made him a silent promise that should anything happen that he would protect her. He would get her out of there at any cost, he would keep her safe no matter what it took.

Darien braced himself for what he would see and how it would hit him before he looked down into the eyes of his love. Every time he did she looked at him as if it were for the last time. She was so afraid of losing him, so afraid of having to watch him die again that it was breaking his heart. What would it take for him to convince her that he wasn't going to leave her again? He loved her more than anything else and he would do anything for her. If he had to give his life for her then it would be a worthy sacrifice. There was so much more he would give for her than just his life. It was easy to sacrifice one's life for another but it was so much harder to live for that one. Should he die this night, then he would find a way to let her know that he would always love her and always be with her, even in death. She was his entire world and to die for her would be the greatest sacrifice he could make for her, but it would not part them. Nothing could ever part them. He would sacrifice his life, he would die, with no regrets or hesitations. As long as she lived then as would he. She was so much stronger than she realised, she could live on without him. She would live on and be happy and maybe even one day love again, that he would never object too. All he wanted was for her to be safe, happy and loved. He didn't want her to mourn him for the rest of her life.

Darien had been avoiding her eyes but finally he looked down at her and she knew that he was saying that what he was doing was dangerous and he may not come back. He was begging her to run if something happened to him and he was telling her how much he loved her and that he would always be with her. The gift of being able to communicate so much to the other with just one look had always been one that they had shared. They didn't need words or sonnets of love and devotion. That one look was enough but this time she couldn't accept what he was saying. This time she couldn't let him go. So many times he had proven that he would die for her but never had she proven the same to him. That would change now. She couldn't let him risk his life for her, she couldn't let him die for her. She had lost him once and she now knew that that sacrifice would be one that would be made in vain. She would not survive losing him again. Not to death. He was strong, he would live on if something happened to her if she asked him too, if she made him promise her that she would live on. She wouldn't live without him and she wouldn't let him risk his life for her again. It wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth his sacrifice, his life. He had such an important part of this world, he did so much more than she did. He saved lives by locking up the bad guys, by preventing more murders. The world needed him and she couldn't let all the good he would do be lost because he had given up his life for her. This time it was her turn to risk her life for him, to save him and assure that he lived on. She wasn't afraid of death, she was only afraid of losing him. Of losing the man she loved more than life and if she had to take her unborn child with her then so be it. Darien would never know that she was pregnant when she died. Amy would never tell him, she wouldn't cause him anymore pain than he had to bear. No, Amy and the girls would look after him for her and eventually he would love again. He held too much love and life within him not to love again. She didn't want to die but if there was no other way to assure Darien's survival, then so be it. She would die a thousand deaths for him. She had always been the helpless damsel in distress around him, always needing to be protected and defended but no more. She couldn't let anyone else risk their lives for her anymore, so many of those she loved had already been endangered and even injured for her. She couldn't risk letting someone lose their lives for her.

There was something in her eyes that Darien didn't like. He had always been able to read her through her eyes, she was always so open and held so much of herself in her eyes. She held her heart in her eyes but right now there was something he couldn't name but it put him warily on edge. He didn't have time now to analyse it, he had to get her out of there but he had from past experiences to watch her when she had such a look in her eyes, it usually meant trouble. He silently pleaded her with his eyes to stay put and not to do anything stupid, they didn't have time with words.

Casting Seiya one last momentary glance, he spun around on the tops of his feet and turned his attention back to the room, scanning it thoroughly but quickly. The room was enormous and filled with expensive furniture such as the two long white leather lounge sweets, several large glass topped tables with golden framing, several stocked book cases along the wall to his left and much more but it still looked spacious and not in any way overstuffed. There were several doorways leading into the room, most of which either held a closed door or a long well light hallway. There was no movement, no sound and that worried him greatly. This was the perfect place for a trap but they had no choice but to risk it.

Slowly he moved a step forward while still remaining crouched down along the wall. His body was aching, exhausted and every movement was a straining effort. He wouldn't last much longer. The morphine was slowly losing its effect and the adrenaline in his system wouldn't keep him going forever and when he lost that he would have nothing left. His will was unyielding but his body had been beaten and battered, burned and injured, and he had long surpassed his limits. He had to get Serena out of there before his body failed him and he had to do it before they ran into anyone else. He was in no condition for physical confrontation.

Cautiously, he stepped away from the wall and left the cover of the doorway and entered the room, remaining low and silent, his weapon held ready in his hand. He wouldn't use it unless he had absolutely no other option. He had no silencer and the noise of the gunshot would alert everyone in the mansion to his presence.

He reached his target, the closest of the furniture that provided suitable cover, a thick white leather lounge chair and he concealed himself behind him and strained his senses for any sign of danger or movement but again there was nothing which was putting him more and more on edge with every passing moment. Either Diamond was arrogant enough to think that he had won and had no need for tight security and he just hadn't discovered them yet or he had discovered them and were waiting for them to walk into his trap. Either way, he had no choice but to keep going forward. He would have to risk walking them into Diamond's trap.

He crept forward, being careful to remain behind whatever cover he could find as he moved slowly and stealthily into the middle of the room, all his senses and instincts alert and strained around him like a radar. He was acutely aware of his surroundings, a talent he'd gained after years on the force.

While half of his mind was focused on the situation, the other half was basking in the pleasure from the thought of what he was going to do to Diamond once he got his hands on him. He planned to get Serena to safety and then begin the hunt for Diamond and when he found him he was going to make Diamond feel every ounce of pain and terror he had inflicted upon Serena, only a hundred times worse. He didn't like the thought of leaving Serena but he would do whatever he had to do to make her safe and that meant wiping Diamond from the face of the earth. But not quickly. No, he was going to take his time, make it last as long as possible, maybe even days. Diamond had hurt Serena before they had met, from the moment he had read Serena's file during the hunt for the Red Rose Killer, ever since he had learned what Diamond had done to her before he had come into her life, he had loathed and despised Diamond but now it was more than that. Much more. Although they had never officially met, they were mortal enemies. One could not live while the other did. One of them was going to die and by the gods, if he had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be him!

"Darien!" Came a sharp hiss from behind him that snapped him from his thoughts.

Darien reacted instantly. Still crouching low, he spun around and raised his weapon ready to fire at the threat that Seiya had dared to speak aloud to alert him too. Only at the last second did he realise who it was who was crawling towards him, quick and low. He released his tense hold on the trigger that would have only needed the slightest bit of pressure more to fire the weapon. Taking a single moment to breathe a sigh of relief that he hadn't shot the woman he loved, he reached forward, grasped her upper arm and pulled her to him where he crouched low behind one of the thick white leather couches. He felt anger and irritation rise up within him but he forced it back. Now wasn't the time to scold her for disobeying him and not remaining with Seiya, he had to get her to someplace that provided more cover.

At least she had proven that she was now strong enough to move on her own. At least for a while but if he ever did get her out of there, he was going to kill her himself! How many heart attacks could one woman give a man in one day?

He pulled her protectively under his arm and pulled her close while he peeked out from behind the couch to scan the room for any sign of movement. Seiya had broken the silence, someone could have heard him.

Long moments past and still nothing but silence. He didn't know whether to be relieved or certain that they were heading into a trap. There was no way their luck could be that good, not after the exceptionally bad run of bad luck they'd had over the last few days.

As he took a moment to calm his racing heart, he was thankful for the extra little burst of adrenaline he'd been given the second before but just how much juice did his adrenaline glands have left? The human body couldn't possibly come stocked with that much. They had to get out of there quickly or he was going to find out just how little adrenaline and strength he had left. It also didn't help that thanks to the blazing heat of the explosion, he suspected that he was dangerously dehydrated. His mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert and he was beginning to lose the fight against the wave after wave of light-headedness that was so determined to hit him.

He reached for Serena's hand and prepared to move when without warning his instincts flared into life, screaming urgently at him that something was very wrong and that they were in grave danger. But before he could raise his glock or even turn to look over his shoulder at Seiya, Seiya spoke, his tone filling him in on everything that his instincts and senses were trying to tell him.

"Darien." His tone was sombre and cautious, and louder than the whisper it had been.

As he turned his head to look over his shoulder, he sensed Serena tense and moved further into his side as if seeking safe haven there.

Seiya was now on his feet with his arms held above his head and a look of sombre defeat on his face but fierce will in his eyes. It was the look of a man who had a gun to his head but wasn't about to submit to the henchman standing behind him who was indeed holding a gun to the back of his head. They stepped into the room as the sound of doors opening and heavy footsteps filled the silence of the room.

Every instinct within him screamed at him to protect Serena at all costs, to get her out of there because if the henchmen were there then that meant that he was there as well, but he knew if he did something stupid and reckless that he would just get himself killed and he wouldn't be there to save Serena.

"So you managed to survive that explosion Darien." Diamond's highly amused, arrogant voice filled the room. "You must tell me how you managed it but then again, you do seem like a man who can manage a few miracles from time to time. I mean look at how long you managed to keep her from me, and now here you are trying again. Although I would have thought that by now you would have learned just how futile your efforts are."

Darien was damn near erupting from his hatred, fury and irritation at the cocky, arrogant voice. He wanted nothing more than to leap over the couch at his back and beat him to death with his bare hands!

The sounds of movement drew closer to them and suddenly several of Diamond's henchmen were surrounding them, pointing their various firearms straight at them. Firearms ranging from the military glock to M-16 automatic rifles.

Darien automatically pulled Serena protectively against him and wrapped his arm around her while with one hand he span his weapon in his hand and grasped hold of the barrel, and then he offered the handgrip of the weapon to the closest of Diamond's henchmen. They'd been caught and he didn't need to be told to surrender his weapon. They had walked into a trap. He had known that Diamond was arrogant but not stupid. It was his fault that they were caught and he had to do what he could to keep Serena safe and unharmed and with him. If he didn't obey or at least appear submissive until he found a way to turn the tables, then Serena could very well pay the price for the trouble he caused.

As Seiya lowered his arms and walked over to them, Darien helped Serena to her feet but he kept her as close as possible and carefully placed her strategically to his left where she was the most protected between him and Seiya and the furthest from Diamond and his henchmen. He didn't raise his arms in surrender as he turned to face Diamond, who was staring at him from ten feet away with the largest, darkest, more evil smile of pleasure and amused delight on his face that he had ever seen, and glowered at him, conveying all of his hatred and murderous intentions on his face.

Serena stared up into the eyes of her love as he stood protectively between her and Diamond. She had never seen anyone's eyes so black or so filled with murderous hatred. This was a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill the object of his hate in the most excruciating way possible. This man couldn't be the man she loved, not the man who was so filled with love and affection for her. How could a man who held that much love and will to protect at the same time hold so much fury and hatred? Was his will to protect her that overwhelming in him? Had protecting her become an obsession? A compulsion that had driven him to become this? The Red Rose Killer had never been as dark, Rubeus Collins had never had eyes this black. Is this what his will to protect her was turning him into?

"You just keep walking into trap after trap." Diamond was gloating delightedly. "I'm glad you survived that fire Darien. Now she gets to watch you die again."

The growl that rumbled from within him was purely animalistic. "I'm going to enjoy killing you, Diamond." He snarled darkly.

Diamond studied him for the longest moment before he took several steps forward until only the couch between them separated them. When he spoke it was with childish amusement. "You really think you can kill me? After all this, even though you're now only inches from me, you're still can't kill me. After all you have survived, after all you have done, this is how you are defeated. It's pathetic and disappointing really. I expected so much more from you. You've tried so hard to keep her from me, yet here we are. When are you going to understand that this is meant to be? That she is destined to die by my hand?"

Serena sensed the wild animal in Darien that Diamond was taunting was only seconds from seizing control of him and sending him flying across the couch to attempt to beat Diamond to death but she knew he wouldn't make it. It would be shot before he ever got his hands on Diamond and she couldn't let that happen. She had to calm him ort she would lose him. Again.

She turned her back to Diamond against her better judgement and looked up into her love's hard and deadly face. She raised her hands, ignoring the pains, aches and protests from her body, and placed her hands on his chest, one hand over his heart. "Darien." She whispered gently, pleadingly. Desperately.

It took him a long minute before he tore his wild fuming dark eyes from Diamond and looked down at her. For a moment the look of hate remained in his eyes but then it gradually began to fade. Love did not fill him eyes but the hatred and fury had faded enough for her to be certain that when she spoke, he would hear her. For a moment she doubted whether or not even she would be able to calm him this time, she had always been able too before but this time was different. This was her love who had been pushed past his limits in every way possible to the point that he had become half man, half furious and murderous animal that was filled with hatred and the compulsion to protect.

"Forget him and just look at me. See me, my love. Hear me." She begged him, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "Remember what we share. Remember the strength to fight for it and to remember who we are while we do. You are a good and honourable man. A man who would never harm anyone by choice. Please, Darien. I know you're in there." Keeping one hand over his heart, she raised her other hand to his face and gently cupped his cheek, allowing him to feel the connection between them. Allowing him to feel their love.

Long moments past and the fear in Serena, that this time their love wasn't enough to calm him, grew within her. She had to calm him, she had to keep him alive so that she might find a way to get Diamond to let him live, if not let him go. Seiya would be easy to get free, Diamond cared nothing for him. It was Darien that he wished to use to hurt her even more. She had brought this down upon the man she loved the most and she had to find a way to lift it back up from him.

She didn't blink. She didn't dare to look away from his eyes for even an instant and gradually something familiar began to return to his eyes. She felt her Darien return to her, the man she loved with all her heart.

"A good and honourable man is what she thinks of you Darien but you and I know better, don't we?" Diamond's superior voice drew their attention back to him.

Darien raised his gaze and the moment it hit Diamond's gaze again, the dangerous animal within him returned.

"We're the same Darien." Diamond went on, for now ignoring everyone else in the room but him. "Only I've accepted my dark nature where you fight yours but you won't be able to fight it forever. Soon you will become something much more worse than me. Something much more dark and dangerous. The hunters of the hunters always make the best killers. They teach you how to catch killers but at the same time they teach you how to be one. It's so easy. So much more fun too." He laughed. "You feel it, don't you? Every time you catch that scum you chase. How many times have you come close to just pulling your gun and saving the courts the trouble of a trial? To kill is so easy for us. So natural. How long do you think you can keep fighting it for before you get that first kill?" he waved his hand dismissively. "And I'm not talking about killing in self defence. I'm talking about watching the life fade in the eyes of those you want dead. It's so sweet, so delicious."

"You're wrong!" Serena snapped defensively. "Darien is nothing like you! He's good and descent! He'll never be anything like you!"

Diamond looked down at her with black laughter in his eyes. "Really? Do you really believe that looking at him now?" He raised his gaze back up to Darien. "More importantly, do you believe what she says Darien? Come on, tell her that I'm wrong. Tell her that you've never been tempted to kill, tell her how good and descent you are."

Serena spoke before Darien could, because a part of her feared greatly what she would hear from him, he had been put through so much turmoil this night that he just wasn't himself. No, tonight he was a solider with only one mission and that was to save her and eliminate the threat to her. "I know what Darien is. I've seen it, I've felt it. He would die for me and he would kill for me. Kill to make me safe. That comes from love, not hatred. Say what you want but I will never believe any different. He will never be you, Diamond. I know the both of you. I know the heartless monster you are and the honourable and loving man Darien is. Nothing will ever convince me different."

Darien was blown away by the depth of the faith and devotion she had in him. She had spoken with such conviction that it was clear that she believed her words with all her heart and soul. How did she hold so much belief in him when even he had to admit to himself that Diamond wasn't completely wrong. There had been times when he had wanted to take justice into his own hands and he had barely been able to hold himself back. After seeing a man who had just raped, mutilated and then dumped an eight year old girl in the river like garbage, laugh carelessly and say that she deserved it, who wouldn't want to kill the son-of-a-bitch? Is that what had pushed Diamond over the edge? Had he taken that one extra step and finally stopped fighting? Had the inhuman sights of the job finally overwhelmed him with madness? God knew the job drove a lot of good men over the edge, some to the bottle, others to narcotics and some even to murder. He battled it every day, the need to do something more to prevent even more innocent people getting hurt by those who had no conscience or mercy. Over the last two years the only thing that had kept him going was knowing that at the end of the day he would crawl into bed with Serena, with a woman who had proven to him that there was still good in the world.

Darien could never forgive Diamond for anything he had done but that didn't mean he did understand him and what it was that drove a good cop over the edge. Then again, Diamond could just be a psychopath who had always been the way he was now. Either way, the man was going to die for what he had done and he wasn't going to let him take him over the edge with him. He wouldn't become a monster like Diamond, no matter what. He protected the innocent and those who couldn't protect themselves. They depended on those like him to fight back the evil of this world and he would never stop doing that. No matter how hard it became, and should he die in that fight then that would be a price he would pay.

"We may be alike, Diamond but do you want to know what separates us?" Darien asked him. He tightened his arms around Serena in reassurance and thanks for her support and belief in him but he did not look down at her, he just stared straight ahead into Diamond's eyes so he may see his own conviction. "It is that I choose not to pull that trigger. I choose not to be a monster like you. I choose to be a good man. I choose to fight scum like you so others don't have too."

"What pretty words." Diamond smirked with a chuckle. "You put on the mask of a good man and you play the part well, but we both know that it's just an act. One that will one day be seen through."

Darien couldn't believe the arrogant bastard. He couldn't be told he was wrong. He was just a spoiled child who listened to no one and always had to get his way. "It's no mask. It's who I am Diamond. It's who Serena and my friends have made me. That's another difference between us. I cherish what I have. I don't hurt and abuse it. It is a gift to me, not something to be owned and claimed."

Diamond's eyes momentarily glazed over as he took the time to bask in a memory Darien dreaded to know. No doubt his words had reminded him of some form of torture and abuse he had committed against Serena. A crime he would soon pay dearly for.

"Oh, how sweet her helpless little cries of mercy were." Diamond practically purred. He lowered his gaze to Serena's. "Do you remember Serena? How sweet you were and how sweet you will be again. You see that's why I can't let you go. We've only just begun." His dark playful mood turned serious and deadly. "I'm actually glad you didn't die in that little explosion Darien. Now she gets to watch you die a slow and painful death before facing her own."

Serena sensed Darien tense once again. He was so close to exploding that she didn't know if she would have time to calm him this time. Her dead and pain-filled fate she could handle. Darien's she could not and Diamond knew it. Despite how much they had both changed and how much time had past, Diamond still knew her well enough to know that the best way to hurt her was to hurt what she loved and she loved nothing more than she loved Darien. She had to do something and now, but what? What could she do? She was weak and injured, and there was nothing she could say or offer Diamond that would result in Darien's safe freedom. Never in her life had she felt so helpless but at the same time felt so desperate to do something.

Serena blinked dumbly. Diamond and Darien were still talking and threatening but the words faded from her understanding as something had caught her attention, movement in the doorway behind Diamond. Movement no one else seemed to have noticed.

It had only been a brief flash, a reflection off of something black and metallic moving through the darkness of the room behind him. For a moment she considered that she had imagined it but then she saw something that made her catch her breath and her heart beat with renewed hope.

She carefully wiped her face of anything but nonchalance. If anyone noticed that she had noticed something, then it would be investigated and discovered, a very bad thing if that movement had come from some form of help for them or even something they could use as a distraction to find a way to escape.

Looking around the room slowly and carefully, so not to draw attention, it was clear that no one but her had seen it. All eyed were currently on the two conflicting males of the room who were still involved in their deadly testosterone driven pissing match.

At her back Seiya remained protectively but tensely still and silent, ready to spring into action the moment he was needed. What he planned to do she couldn't even guess but it was some comfort that it wasn't just the two of them this time. During their ordeal with the Red Rose Killer they had been alone against him. Andrew had been shot and backup hadn't arrived until it was over. Then again, Seiya was just one more person they could get killed. Half of her was grateful and comforted by his presence and the other half was fearful for his sake.

And then behind Diamond there was movement once again, only this time it brought both great hope and great fear to her.

Before anyone could realise that there was another in their midst, a man emerged from the doorway behind Diamond, holding a glock that was in seconds pointed right at the back of the long blond haired man's head. His eyes were set hard and were filled with unfamiliar anger and fatal determination. This was a man with the need for vengeance in his eyes.

Serena sensed all the men in the room react except for Diamond, who was still unaware of the weapon aimed at his head. A few of the henchmen took a step forward but quickly stilled when the man with the gun shot them warning glares. Clearly the henchmen didn't care anything about Diamond except that he was their payday.

Darien and Seiya sensed the nearness of action and they moved closer so she was almost pressed protectively between their hard and tense forms.

Finally Diamond seemed to realise that something had changed and it hadn't done so in his favour. He tensed and his smile fell from his lips.

"Tell your men to drop their weapons Diamond." Andrew ordered authoritatively, his grip on his glock steady.

Diamond hesitated.

Andrew stepped forward and pressed the end of the barrel against the back of his head with more force than was necessary to make his point. "And in case you get any ideas, that was my pregnant wife you kidnapped and now she's in a coma, so don't think I won't splatter your brains all over my partner's face."

Both Darien and Serena were impressed and speechless at Andrew's extremely colourful threat. He had either been watching way too many movies or he truly was fighting to urge to do just as he threatened. Andrew had never been the reckless one. He had always been the rational one who had a gift for remaining calm in these situations. Andrew must have loved his wife just as much as Darien loved her, and was just as overprotective of her.

Diamond seemed to come to the same conclusion as he nodded meaningfully once at his men and they dropped their firearms to the floor and kicked them away. Darien and Seiya acted quickly to pick up a weapon and arm themselves while kicking the weapons further away from the henchmen.

"Andrew, buddy. Great timing." Darien nodded to him in greeting. Honestly, he didn't know if he'd ever been happier to see his partner and best friend in all of his life.

"Jesus Darien. You look like you've been through hell." Andrew looked pointedly at his appearance.

"I have been through hell." He said as he indicated with the M-16 he was holding, for the henchmen to raise their hands above their heads. "That explosion was hotter than hell."

Andrew turned to her and looked her up and down, brotherly concern coating his face. Now that Darien was no longer holding her like a protective shield, he could get a good look at her physical appearance.

"Serena! Are you alright?"

Serena looked down at herself and she understood Andrew's concern. The white nightgown she had on was covered in patches of blood and she suspected that she had more than a few bruises and visible cuts. Her entire body ached and throbbed, and she didn't know how much longer she could stay on her feet. She was trying to appear strong and okay but the truth was she didn't know how much longer she could last. The evening sickness and evening fatigue that she was trying so hard to suppress wasn't helping either.

Darien still didn't know she was pregnant and she was thankful to all the gods in heaven for that fact as there would be no way Darien would retain any rationality if he knew. And that would only result in getting him killed.

At the thought of the child she carried she couldn't help but dare to take a moment to dream of what it would be like if they all got out of this. How would Darien react when she told him? Would he be happy and ask her to marry him? Or would he be angry that she hadn't told him sooner and that she had taken such foolish risks knowing she was pregnant? Even so, after they got past all that, was there a chance for then to have a normal life? She and Darien could raise their child together and be happy and together for the rest of their lives. She could have that dream now. Darien was alive.

At least for now. They still have to get out of all of this mess alive.

"I'm fine Andrew." She told him weakly. "Just a few scratches is all."

Andrew's eyes flashed with fury just as Darien's had and he glared at the back of Diamond's head murderously. Clearly he didn't like the idea of the one he thought of as a kid sister being hurt.

"She really is sweet, isn't she?" Diamond asked in a sing-song voice. "Brushing off her own pain so those she cares about don't worry. Too bad you weren't here to hear her scream as I ran my knife along that delicately smooth skin of hers. Oh, she's so soft. It's enough to make a priest hard-."

Both Darien and Andrew roared in uncontrollable rage and then everything happened so fast before Serena's eyes.

The room erupted into chaos as everyone seemed to move at once. Diamond jumped back and rammed his elbow into Andrew's side as Andrew had been about to knock him over the back of the head with the butt of his glock. Andrew grunted in pain and dropped his weapon. In the same moment, Darien had been about to jump over the couch to get to Diamond and no doubt kill him but he was tackled in midair by one of Diamond's henchmen that was twice his size. They land on the floor, Darien with the large henchmen on top of him. Darien grunted in pain as the enormous heavy man knocked his breath from him. This left Seiya to deal with half a dozen henchmen on his own armed with only a glock in each hand. Outnumbered, Seiya could do nothing in time to prevent to of those he held back at gunpoint dive to the floor to retrieve their weapons. As he lowered his glocks to deal with them, the henchmen to his left stepped forward and swung his fist hard, right into Seiya's gut.

The room was chaos with loud shouts, heavy footsteps and the sounds and thuds of physical contact that was neither friendly nor gentle. Serena didn't know what to do, she was frozen in the middle of the room with so much happening around her.

Without warning, something within her screamed at her, warning her of danger. She didn't now how she knew, but she looked over her shoulder to see Diamond standing against the wall on the other side of the room with a glock in his hand and he had it pointing straight at her. He was looking at her with his empty black eyes and an evil triumphant smile on his lips.

Serena couldn't move, she could do nothing but stare into his eyes knowing that he was going to shoot and kill her and there was nothing she could do about it but she didn't care. All that she cared about was her love who was currently fighting for his life and the sadness that filled her heart that she would be taking the life of their child with her into death. Would he ever know that she had been pregnant with his child when she's died? She hoped not, it would only hurt him more.

Andrew was lying on the floor between them with blood gushing from what he suspected was his broken nose where Diamond had hit him with the butt of the glock when he had taken it from him. He turned and looked up at Diamond expecting him to see him aiming the weapon at him to kill him but what he saw was much worse. He had the weapon aimed at Serena and clearly intended to pull the trigger to kill what it was they were all fighting to protect.

"NO!!!" He roared as he pushed himself to his feet and ran for Diamond to tackle him before he could pull the trigger but he knew before he had even risen from the floor that he wasn't going to make it. He had to save Serena at any cost.

Andrew's desperate, horrified roar echoed through the room and all of the men of the room. Darien turned with ice cold horror and dread filling him like the icy waters of the artic and he saw a sight that made his heart screech to a halt. Diamond had his weapon aimed at Serena and Andrew was running towards him to stop him but he was never going to make it. He had to save her! Forgetting about the thug he had a moment before been locked in hand to hand combat with, he leapt into the air to sail back over the couch and knocked her out of the way.

But he knew that he was never going to make it before Diamond pulled the trigger.

Seiya had heard Andrew's desperate cry and he was already running as fast as he could towards Serena to push her down and out of the way of the line of fire but he knew that he wasn't going to make it. Despite that knowledge he pushed himself harder. He was only a few feet from her now. He had to save her. He understood why everyone fought so hard to either protect her or have her. She was light. Light that was more precious than anything could ever be.

As the three men moved towards Serena, each who was only a few feet from their target, she was standing stone still staring Diamond in the eye, staring death in the eye, only a few seconds had past since Diamond had pointed the glock at her. She knew none of the three were going to make it. She was going to die and everything would end. All of the danger and pain and hurt her friends and family suffered because of her would end. It would all end. And even though she was only a few heartbeats from death, she felt peaceful and calm.

She closed her eyes. She had accepted her fate.

'I love you Darien.' She whispered serenely in her mind to him.

Diamond fired. Crimson blood splattered over the flawlessly white décor. Darien, Seiya and Andrew froze as a soft gasp escaped Serena's pale lips and her eyes flew wide open.

One of them had just been shot.

Serena. Darien. Seiya. Andrew.

Prepare to say goodbye to one of them.

Stay tuned, Chapter 14 which will be up soon!