~Chapter Thirty-Five~

End of the Game

Three days passed and not a single moment of them were spent relaxing.

Rose was either training with Hudson, Goliath, Brooklyn or the others in hand-to-hand combat, or was battling Xanatos's robots to try to test them against her powers. During her down time, she usually spent it with Brooklyn, Akira and Angela in the Library, where they were researching and learning more about Avalon and the different spells from the Grimorum Arcanorum. Or she found quiet time by herself and worked on strengthening her shielding abilities. She looked forward to training with her Clan because she did not leave with many cuts and bruises like she did with the robots.

Just like what she was doing now.

Gritting her teeth, she was pushing back against the large robot that Xanatos had activated to attack her, and with every passing model he was testing against her, the harder they were to beat. So far, her shields were holding up, but this robot- which looked a lot like a beefier Goliath- was the toughest one yet. Xanatos saved the best for last, and it was one of the newest built proto-types out of his robot production line. And it was tough.

As she was straining to keep the robot at bay, Rose remembered what it was like training with her Clan, just hours ago when it was still dark and before sunrise, and let her mind take her there for a moment...

Everyone in the Clan took turns training with her… and she had many amazing opportunities to learn from each member. Goliath was the strongest and hardest to beat, by far. Hudson was the best fighter over all, Broadway was also very strong and heavy to try to fight, while Lexington was fast- almost too fast for her. Angela was a very good opponent and had a mixture of strength, and wit. And to her utmost surprise, Akira, as little as she was- was like a ninja. She was graceful with her sword and footwork and was the one that sliced into her armor the most.

But, the best part was when her mate faced off with her.

Normally Brooklyn chose to be side-lined and worried for her the entire time, but this time, they took to fighting each other- and it was the most intense out of all of them, and he did not take it easy on her, no, they fought more fiercely and with more energy than any of them.

It was refreshing for Rose, and both of them were able to truly see what each other was made of in battle. They were equals, which made it all the harder to fight against him. They still didn't want to hurt each other, and Brooklyn always double checked that her small shield was covering their baby in her stomach, or that she was fully armored again; but other than that, he gave the fight against her his all.

They battled against each other, and not a moment of their fight, did their eyes leave each other. However, they quickly realized as they fought that their duels would almost always end in a draw because their minds would connect, and they would be able to see or anticipate each move. They would fight until they both reached exhaustion- which did no one any good.

To remedy that, Rose placed a shield over her mind so she couldn't hear him, and took him on again; but still lost, which she was okay with. What she appreciated about fighting with her mate was that he was fair, but was very skillful and tactical in his approach to her. He taught her a great deal about how to fight in more modernized times. He wasn't the strongest compared to Goliath and Broadway, but he had a mixture of strength, Lexington's smarts- but even more than that, he was cunning. Almost like Kevin was. He made a strategic plan in his mind and followed through; which outsmarted her almost every time. She was thoroughly impressed with her mate's fighting skills.

When they went a third time, they fought so fiercely and stared deeply into each other's eyes, it was an experience that was strange for her; so full of desire, and intensely hot. They did a dance of some sort, which was mixed with mating desires of a truly erotic nature. It was during that duel that she finally overcame him, knocked the sword out of his hand, and pinned him to the ground.

"Gotcha!" She teased him, revelling in how proud he looked of her.

"Good job, babe!"

"You sure you didn't let me win?"

"Nope." He said with a smile. "You won fair and square." He then grabbed onto her face and pulled her down to him. "Well done, my love. I'm proud of you."

With a grin, they both leaned forward and kissed each other deeply, as she straddled and pinned him to the ground of the gymnasium floor. She loved remembering the look of passion, love, amazement and pride in his eyes for her… and wished the robot staring her down had the same kindness.

Shaking her head, she came back to reality and gritted her teeth harder at keeping herself protected. For three days, since Titania's visit, she had been training day-in and day-out to hone her skills. The biggest thing being her shielding abilities.

Xanatos wanted to test all of his robot prototypes against her, to see which ones needed adjustments to make them tougher, and which ones were actually strong enough to take her magic on, or even overpower her. So far, none of them were able to overpower her… but had gotten close… but this one was proving to be the one that might win. Sweating ferociously and forcing her bright red shield to keep her covered, she had been holding the robot's powerful lasers at bay for sometime. She had been at this all night long, and was beginning to tire out.

This was all Xanatos asked her to do was to simply stand there, all in her armor and helmet on, and keep his robots from penetrating her magic shield; and do nothing else. But when this robot came out, shooting from the lasers that Kevin used from the black market back in January- that Xanatos no doubt bought out- she was starting to feel the difference. The mean looking robot with bright red eyes, shot a series of lasers at her shield, then brought out another laser from its back, which looked to be the size of a bazooka. Rose gasped, closed her eyes and braced for impact when the robot shot it at her.

BOOM- she was blasted off of her feet when the laser bomb exploded into her shield. The power of the blast threw her backwards and she landed painfully onto the robot training room floor. Rose grunted out in pain against the matted floor, but quickly covered her head as debris fell all around her. When the coast was clear, she looked up and watched as the tall and largely built robot sized her up; calculating it's next attack.

With that, she was finally more nervous at what it could do to her. However, before it could attack her again, Xanatos' voice rang out through a microphone system, "SP0-901, shut down." Instantly, the robot's glowing red eyes flickered a few times before its eyes went dark and it's body shut down. From behind a protective barrier, Xanatos quickly was typing information down onto his computer and then spoke into the microphone.

"Rose, you okay?"

She gave him a thumbs up, stood up, and dusted herself off. She was sore from all of her training these past few days and nights, and was looking forward to having a nice bath to relax, but overall she was good and wasn't hurt.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Xanatos nodded from behind his safety plexi-glass, typed for a few minutes more, and then took a floppy disc out of his computer. He came out from behind his protective office and walked towards her, holding the disc up with a bright smile.

"I think I've finally got it figured out." He said happily. "Thanks for your shielding help, Rose. Their programming should come in handy soon, very, very soon."

"No problem." She said, trying not to fall asleep standing up. "I'm not gonna lie, they were definitely tougher than the other batches. I hope they are enough to stand up to Hela."

"Me too, I'm hoping they will. Thanks to Kevin introducing this new laser technology off the black market, I was able to buy it all out and incorporate it into my own weapon systems. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. A true force of nature like lightning." He said, smiling at her. "Well, duty calls. I need to get this floppy disc to my main warehouse in Upper New York. I want thousands of these robots to be adjusted and added to the batch in production right away."

As he was talking, Rose quickly started getting undressed out of the heavy armored suit and helmet, and glanced warily over at the sleeping robot.

"How are you going to get there?"

Xanatos blinked and then chuckled. "I do have a pilot's license for my choppers, I normally just have Fox fly us, but since she's not here, I'll fly myself. It's only a half-hour flight… I'll give this information to my head weaponry specialist, and have him get started on it. I might stay a few hours to oversee production myself, but then I'll be back." He paused then said, "Would you possibly like to come with me? I mean… that is, if you want to."

"Um… well… I wouldn't mind coming with you, I just probably need to get some sleep."

"Yeah." He said in a sigh. "You're right, you probably should. I can tell that you aren't well rested."

It was true. Ever since her nightmare a few nights ago, and learning about the prophecy… sealing her fate to that dark creature even more, she had done everything she could to not fall asleep. The past few nights, she would train and be with the Clan as much as she could until she was past exhaustion, and Brooklyn would sleep next to her, but even then, her sleep was anything but restful.

As if sensing her thoughts, he placed a hand upon her shoulder and said, "Stay here and get some sleep, Rose. No more working on your shields, which… they are very powerful and impressive, I have to say. So, well done on that."

"Thanks." She said with a smile.

"But go to sleep." He urged, shaking her shoulders slightly. "I have hundreds of security guards in this building that'll watch every entrance. If you feel uneasy with you being alone, then you can come with me…"

"No," Rose said quickly. "I'll be okay. I'm not worried to be left alone nor do I need a babysitter."

He chuckled again.

"Alright. Well, like I said, I'll be gone just a short time, and anticipate being back by lunchtime. Then, I will get some sleep myself."

"See you later. Thanks for all of your help in helping me train."

"You're welcome… and thank you. Without your powers to test on, I wouldn't know what proper adjustments to make." He said, holding the floppy disc up. "Because of you… I finally feel one step closer to getting my wife and son back and ending this war before it even really starts."

"You really think they are powerful enough to do that?" Rose asked in a gasp, he glanced over at her and smiled darkly.

"Never underestimate my mind, Rose." He tapped his head. "I've made many impossible things possible, all because I had the determination, power, money, skill, and will-power strong enough to make them happen." He paused and glanced down at the disc. "This is now the greatest thing I'll do. Make weapons strong enough to take down the Goddess of Death herself… and save my family. All of my family."

Rose smiled at him, and knew he was referring to them all as his family. Though she was in awe by him, part of her was still a little weary of what he could do… what he was capable of. This man had earned himself a reputation of being one of the richest men on Earth by his brilliance in making modern technology and weaponry. It was good that he was on their side, because if not…

It was a bit unnerving to think about.

When she left Xanatos' training room and made her way up to her bedroom, she quickly sank herself deeply into her large, stone tub and enjoyed a nice and relaxing bath. Her entire body was aching from all of her training and working-out; bruised from taking on her Clan with hand-to-hand combat, with swords, and then shielding training against those powerful robots. But her mind was exhausted more than anything from all of the energy spent from working on her shields. Xanatos was right, she did need rest. She owed herself that much if she were to keep going by tonight.

She spent a good half-hour washing her hair and body in the tub, then got out. She got dressed in a flowy white tank top with jean shorts, brushed her long hair out, washed her face, and then went straight to bed. She had been snacking on and off all day and was feeling good- but now- more than ever she needed sleep. And the moment her head hit her pillow, the instant sleep came- taking her to a dark and peaceful world. And for once of her being alone, no dreams or nightmares plagued her, and she was able to finally rest.

Hours later, she woke up refreshed from her nap and found that it was a little bit after two in the afternoon. Getting up, she made her bed and then tiredly made her way towards the kitchens to fill up her water cup and get some real food in her system.

To her amazement, as she passed Xanatos' office, he was already back and working on his computer.

Stepping into his room, she said, "Hey! You're back already?"

He looked up from his computer and smiled.

"I actually never left." He told her quietly. "You said that you felt confident about being left here alone, but after you left, I couldn't help but feel… unsettled... about leaving you here alone and unprotected. Not after what attacks Kevin has been capable of in the past. So, I emailed the disc to my department instead, and tonight after the Clan wakes up, I'll take my chopper and visit them to oversee their production. But for now, I will stay."

At this, Rose's heart suddenly gave a lurch. He stayed to protect her? His kindness truly floored her and knew now, without a doubt, that he would be there for her no matter what. She tried not to get emotional at his words, but with a smile from him, she knew she wasn't doing a very good job at hiding it.

"Thank you." She barely managed, but he waved her comment away.

"No need to thank me." He ruffled a few papers on his desk, stood up and then stepped around to face her. "You are Fox's cousin by blood, which makes you a part of my true family. I'm going to take care of you. Which leads us into this next topic of conversation… I heard you quit your jobs…"

Stunned, she stared at him. "I did… but how did you know that?"

"I have my ways of knowing." He grinned, and her heart thumped nervously.

"What? Did you have my bedroom bugged? If so…" She stopped, paused, and thought about all that had gone inside of that room with her and Brooklyn; then couldn't help but laugh. "Well… don't be traumatized with what you hear goes on in there, or complain, as that would be completely your fault."

At this, Xanatos threw his head back and laughed out loud, so hard, that his voice echoed and reiterated off the walls. It had been the first time since losing his son and wife that a smile actually reached his eyes.

"I… you…" He laughed some more, then placed an arm around her shoulders. "Wow, Rose. It's not very often someone makes me speechless, but you've done just that. No, I have not bugged your room, nor would I ever betray your trust or privacy. Elisa mentioned it to me, out of strict confidence, of course. So, don't be angry with her. We just want to make sure that bills get paid and that you aren't going to get in any trouble financially."

"We should be just fine." She said with a laugh. "I want to focus on things with Kevin and Hela first, that's all."

"Well, as always, you're welcome to stay here." He said, guiding her out towards the kitchens. "In fact, I insist that you do. What better place to be protected than in a castle fortress?"

"True." Rose snorted. "Well, thank you. I really appreciate you helping me out."

"No problem." He grinned, then opened the door to the kitchens. "Join me for lunch?"

She smiled back at him, and nodded. "I would love to."

"What can you cook?"

Now it was Rose's turn to laugh as she faced him, and raised her eyebrows high at him. "What? You're telling me that your servants never taught you how to cook while you were growing up?"

"I never had any servants." He explained. "I actually grew up in Bar Harbor… just like you. And my family… we were quite poor."

Rose stared at him and shook her head.

"I never knew you grew up there."

"Yup. Down near Fisherman's Cove, I believe my father knew yours quite well. The two played poker together at their 'once a month get-together.'" He paused and smiled at her. "Funny how small this world can be sometimes."

"Wow." Rose whispered while leaning against the stainless steel counter top. "I never knew that. That is crazy… and I didn't really know my Pop's friends that he would play poker with. Those were the nights that Nana kept me away from all the smoke and alcohol she let him have one night a month."

Xanatos laughed. "My mother was exactly the same with my father. However, I'm at least ten years older than you are, so I would have been graduating high school and planning on getting the hell out of that place to start my business here in Manhattan."

"You hated Bar Harbor?"

"Yeah." He chuckled, sitting down on a bar stool. "Much too small of a place for me and my big ideas."

"Oh, not for me." She replied, mindlessly going over to the fridge and getting out items for deli- meat sandwiches to feed both her and him. She continued to speak as she spread mayonnaise on the bread. "I loved living there. It was so beautiful, peaceful, serene and quiet. I loved how simple everything felt."

"Yes, I know." He grumbled back, making her laugh. "But I'm not a simple man and never have been, so it did not work for me." He paused, watched her for a minute then switched topics quickly. "You do know that you're not supposed to eat deli- meat while pregnant, right?"

Rose paused, stared up at him and looked confused.

"What? Since when?"

"Since… forever, I guess." He laughed. "Or at least that's what Fox's doctor told us. Deli meat can carry bacteria that could be bad for the growing fetus."

"Oh…I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me that." She then continued making him one, and stuck with a simple peanut butter sandwich for her. "It's strange to me how much my eating has changed since being pregnant."

"Fox's eating increased for sure, but overall, she had a good pregnancy with Alex." He took a bite of sandwich and said, "I hope yours is the same."

"Thanks, me too. So far, it's been nausea and vomiting, but that's been controlled thanks to medicine, and I'm just tired. But I'm feeling good, overall. Dr. Sato is actually coming tonight to give us the first ultrasound."

"I know. Are you excited?"

"Very." She said with a smile, and spoke through bites. "Brooklyn and I have been talking about it since I told him we're expecting. I told him not to get too excited, since the fetus is still really small and we might not see anything just yet, but it'll be interesting to see if it's more Gargoyle or Human… or if it'll be its own thing."

"The first of its kind…" He whispered and then shook his head. "It's incredible, Rose. Not gonna lie, I'm anxious to see it as well. What a blessing this child will be in your guys' lives… that's for sure." He paused. "I actually noticed that you two haven't told the Clan yet."

"We are tonight." She said softly. "We just wanted to see the ultrasound first and make sure all was looking good, before we did."

"Smart. Well, just be sure to take it easy whenever you need to with our training, okay? We don't want you to be injured or hurt the baby. It's too precious to risk, as are you."

With a smile, she looked up at him and again couldn't help but again feel grateful for him.

"Thank you… and yes, I agree."

And for once, she sincerely meant that.

After lunchtime, Xanatos retired to his bedroom to rest for a few hours before the Clan woke up, and Rose was left to wander around the Castle, looking for something to do. It would have been easy to climb into her own bed and get more rest, but she'd already had a nap, and wasn't tired at the moment.

Amazing as that was.

So, she decided to venture into the large library, and maybe find something to do there. This room was easily her favorite one in the entire Castle. Usually there was a nice fire going in the fireplace, but because it was the middle of the summer, it was empty and kept the room cool. In one corner, Angela had drawn a map of Avalon and showed all of the Clan so they all had an idea of where to attack if they were called into that realm to aid Titania, and she had been studying it carefully these past few nights. In her nightmares, Hel seemed to be the same outline as Avalon, but had different magic and creatures.

Sighing heavily, and not wanting to think about Hel, she sank into the couch and stared at the walls of books. She had a thought to try to find a book that sounded interesting to her, one that could occupy her mind, but it didn't sound like something she could truly get into. Her mind was filled with images and thoughts… ones that she wanted to get out.

Rose stood up from the couch and made her way over to a desk that overlooked a large window, and began rummaging through it. She had never done so before and didn't know quite why because there was a full supply of tools for art. Her eyes widened and knew what she was going to do. She wasn't much of an artist, but the white paper and pencils were calling out her name. Sitting down at the desk, she pulled out a sheet of paper and instantly got to work, drawing the images she saw in her mind and wished to get out on paper.

The afternoon passed slowly by and was now evening time. Rose had remained busy drawing various drawings. Some bad images from her nightmares that she had to get out of her system, but some were very good and helped her feel hopeful and happy. She ended up drawing three pictures and was slightly impressed with herself over them, even the images from her nightmares. She drew the outline of Hel that she saw in her mind, looked over and was amazed that it was the same likeness to the map Angela drew of Avalon.

She stood up, wrote 'Hel' on her drawing and taped it to Angela's picture, hoping to show the Clan tonight.

Then, she looked down at the other three.

One was the drawing of herself as the dark Fae with wings… and it was scary how real she got it. From the evil expression in her eyes, to the majesty of the wings, that was her… apparently underneath her human form.

Putting it down she then looked at the last one, and couldn't help but smile. She decided to draw the vision that Brooklyn shared with her, the one they had back in December. She and Brooklyn were standing on a cliff somewhere over a beach, overlooking the ocean, stars were all around them, and they were in each other's arms. She added the Clan in one corner of the picture; including Broadway and Angela's child, Bronx, and their unborn child. No faces were drawn, but the shadow of the children were known by the different Gargoyle features. Theirs had webbed ears like Broadways… and hers and Brooklyn's child, she drew a lot like a younger version of her mate.

Part of her didn't know why she drew their child more-like a Gargoyle, but she did, but still left many things and details left out. Like her growing child, a lot of things weren't complete yet, and that was okay. The best art took time, and that's how she felt about her unborn child. She smiled at herself and rubbed a loving hand over her stomach. It still was a very small bump, as she was so skinny before, but her stomach was still flat.

Taking a deep breath, stretching and rubbing her neck; she decided to call it a day. Yawning, she placed all of the pencils back, but kept the papers out- putting her dark Fae one underneath the good vision she drew out.

At this point, the Clan was going to be waking up in one hour- and the sun was beginning to set. Rose glanced around at the wall clock and read that it was six o'clock. Standing up, she then looked down at her hands and found that they were chalked up with pencil and black marks. Walking out of the library, she went towards her bedroom to wash up before going to eat some dinner. The hallways were quiet, silent even, and she had no idea if Xanatos was still asleep or not, but she knew it best to leave him be.

As she passed by his office on the way to her bedroom, and saw it empty; she knew that he most likely was still asleep.

Rose kept walking along until a strange sound suddenly stopped her in her tracks. With as quiet as the castle was, she heard the strange hum of running water. She placed a hand on the stone wall of her bedroom and rested her ears against it to listen to the water through the pipes. Furrowing her brows, she walked quickly down the rest of the hallway and into her bedroom door. When she got there, she was instantly shocked to see water flooding from her bathroom and lining her bedroom floor with a thin layer of water.

Gasping, she quickly walked through her bedroom and stopped at the bathroom door. Nothing felt out of the ordinary and her magic couldn't sense anything or anyone- but her tub water was on, and somehow the plug was down; allowing the water to flood over the top of the stone basin.

"What the hell?" She breathed to herself as her thoughts went crazy in her mind with questions. How did this happen? Did she forget to turn the water off?

Racking her brain, she was sure that she turned it off after her bath when she went and took her nap… but then again… this could be a new symptom she heard from pregnancy books. The pregnancy brain, and perhaps she was entering that phase and forgot to turn the water off?

No.

As she thought it through, it was off when she took her nap… she didn't do this.

Ignoring her thoughts for the moment, she ran across the room, skidded to her knees at the basin of the tub and shut off the water. Silence followed after the rushing water noise went away, leaving only a few dripping noises from the tap. Instantly, she shot her hand into the water to pull the plug, but then stopped…

… it was suddenly too quiet.

The air around her was literally stuffy, icy, and different. Her hair raised on the back of her neck, and to her horror, there was something… someone... in the bathroom with her.

Before she could whip around to face whoever it was, magic rushed through the room and she knew that a shield, mirrored to her own, had been taken down. Turning around, she was barely able to see a figure, dressed in all black, jump out from behind her bathroom door. Before she could stop him, a man shot across the floor and grabbed onto the back of her neck with an iron-tight, pincer grip.

She yelped out in horror and pain, and knew exactly who it was... she didn't have time to scream, or even breathe before the man forced her head and face into the overflowing basin of tub water; trying to drown her.

Seconds ticked by, but they were like minutes or hours in Rose's mind as she remained under water, held down by her surprise attacker. Her mind and body was in full panic mode, trying desperately to fight away, but her inner survivor took over and was screaming at her to focus and use logic instead of wasting her strength.

Don't panic! Don't breathe or try to scream! Think through this!

Her mind kept screaming at her as she tried with all of her strength to fight them away from holding her face down in the tub water. She held her last breath deep inside of her lungs and kept flailing frantically and desperately to get out from her attacker's hold, twisting, bucking and fighting in a desperate panic to live. Anything to get one ounce of breath…

Her arms and legs were kicking and flailing out of control, but she was forcing her mind to stay sharp and to think.

THINK! Get out from their grasp! Fight! FIGHT!

She lifted up on the strong being who was pinning her body down, but still couldn't get her face or neck up one inch towards the surface. So, she used the strength of her legs to bring one leg into the tub, submersing half of her body and tried to use the slickness of the water to slip and twist away from them.

And it worked for a second.

The fingers holding the back of her neck slipped as she twisted further away, and she instantly raised her face out of the water, gasped and gulped in air in a frenzied panic, before the hand was around the back of her neck again, and seconds later, she was back under the water. Again, she flailed, kicked and tried to fully get inside of the tub and away from their iron-tight grasp. And although she was able to get a breath in for a few seconds, her lungs were on fire from holding her breath for so long, and it was taking all of her to not open her mouth and instinctively breathe; which would drown and kill her.

She tried to reach behind her with one hand and punch the being in the side, where their kidney would be, or use her legs to kick them in the abdomen, any sensitive part of the human body, but her punches weren't effective enough to hurt her attacker… and she couldn't move. Panicking even more, she was losing out on time, if she couldn't breathe in the next few seconds, she would drown.

Forcing herself to try to focus, despite her panic, she opened her eyes under the water and saw her possible saving grace. Quickly, she reached down for the plug and pulled it up, beginning the painstakingly slow draining process of emptying the tub, and prayed that she lived long enough to get her head above the water. Kicking and still flailing with all of her strength, she used the same technique she used before and forced her entire body to be in the tub, soaking every inch of her, and tried to twist out from under their grasp.

Even if it bought her seconds of air again, it was worth the try. And again, by a certain miracle, it worked.

The hands slipped off her neck, and she was able to pull herself up, breathed and gasped in a few breaths of fresh air, before the person got better hold of her, and went to force her head down once again. So, she took a deep breath to fill in her lungs, and went under a third time. Her head was dizzy, and her entire body hurt, but the water was draining and she was able to grasp onto the sides of the tub, which helped her better fight against the anti-gravity of the water, and get a better grasp on them to fight back.

Rose turned around in the water, grabbed onto the attacker's wrist and opened her eyes under the water. She was now face up, with her back against the bottom of the tub, and the attacker instantly grabbed at the front of her neck, choking her out.

This was a risk to allow her attacker to get a hold of her neck from the front, as their fingers instantly went right for cutting off her airway… which was Kevin's favorite move. A move, which… luckily for her, she had lots of practice with. Now with her completely being choked out, she only had one chance to escape… but was in the right place to finally be able to fight.

Rose shot her other hand out of the water and blasted all the magic she had left in her mind to blast her attacker off her, and it worked.

The man went flying across her bathroom floor, in a blast of red, and instantly she grabbed the side of the tub, shot up from the water and gasped in as much air that her lungs would allow. Choking, gasping, and coughing, she leaned over the side of the tub and rolled out of it. She was surrounded by inches of water on the floor, was soaked to the bone, and her lungs were still on fire; despite her gulping down air as quickly as she could. Her vision was blurry, her mind was fuzzy; but she saw the attacker get back up from crashing into the side of her counter- and saw who it was.

And she was right.

It was Kevin.

Somehow, he had gotten into the castle without anyone's knowledge… against Xanatos' security measures again. She was sure that because he was dead and had Hela's magic, her magic, he most likely learned how to portal through different heights. A skill she was amazed he learned so quickly, because she still had no clue how to do that, or even portal on the ground yet. However, this was unlike all of his attacks. Kevin wasn't making a big theatrical deal out of it like he normally would do… this attack was the scariest one yet to her. He had been grunting out in effort and rage, but hadn't said a word to her, and she knew why.

He was done playing the game, and was here for blood.

Her blood.

Gasping in the air, she quickly placed a hand on her abdomen and shielded her unborn child with her red-magic, giving it her all, as he geared himself up to come at her again. She looked up through her soaked hair at him, and couldn't only gape in fear at him. Kevin was wearing all black armor, military styled clothes, and his black respirator mask over half of his face. He was breathing hard, coming for her; but she had to fight. With her child protected, as well as it could be, she tried to shoot up from the ground to take him on- but with a blast of magic from his own hand, he wrapped her in a red, bond-like rope and froze her from moving anymore.

Then, with a roar, he threw her as hard as he could across the room and she slammed into the large bathroom mirror with a deafening CRASH.

Pain shot through her back, neck, and head as glass shattered against her body, and she could only scream at the pain and hold onto her head and stomach as she came down hard on the counter top. The shattered glass stabbed through her and her body impacting against the counter, and took her breath away. She still hadn't been yet able to move, or fight back, as he moved too fast… caught her too much by surprise.

He was really meaning this attack, his every intention was to hurt and destroy her. Each movement from him was rage-filled and not a word was spoken still, which stunned her the most… it was so unlike him to not flaunt off his kill. So perhaps he was going to do that… after she was gone. Her blood chilled at that thought, and thought to fight, but found that she literally couldn't move still.

He still had her in the bound-like rope with his magic and then, with another roar, he pulled on the line and catapulted her body from the counter and into the wall right next to the tub. She slammed head first into the stone, making her world gather dizzy stars, and then she collapsed on the ground. Rose still hadn't been able to truly scream yet; but sounds, yelps and grunts of pain automatically escaped her mouth as she fell and crumbled to the ground. Again, she wasn't able to even try to come back to attack him because he was already on his knees next to her, and was moving on to the next attack. He grabbed onto her scalp, tearing hair out, and turned her onto her back; then used his fists to punch her across the face.

PUNCH! CRACK! The pain was more than she was prepared for, her face, though once broken and healed by Brooklyn seemed to break again. However, this time, it didn't just break- but something in her face shattered...

PUNCH! Her nose crunched sickeningly.

PUNCH! Now, her world was fading… fast.

FIGHT! Her mind screamed at her, and Hudson's words echoed through her brain… fight and keep fighting. But she couldn't move, couldn't think…the pain was too great. This wasn't like during the Draugr attack at the fire. They didn't surprise her this badly, because she could feel them coming… this attack? She didn't expect it at all... her vision was so dizzy, and she was seeing six to eight faded Kevin's above her.

Then, it dawned on her, the magic he had bound her with, was still there.

She couldn't move her hands, limbs, or even raise her hand to shield herself with her magic. He had her… and since he did… it was obvious that she was going to die. It was not yet sunset, and the Clan would still be asleep… which made her remember her nightmare. The shattered Clan. Brooklyn! She couldn't let him kill them too… then she thought of her unborn child underneath her shield…

She had to get out.

But suddenly, Kevin's hand came down upon her open neck and cut off her airway… and with the lack of air, her world went darker even faster.

No… got to… fight… but she couldn't.

He had gotten her this time- truly by his surprise attack. No Draugr to prepare her for his arrival, no flaunting of his plans, no elaborate game… he portaled into the castle, used a shield to make himself invisible to her until the last second, and attacked so viciously. He was serious this time… and was through playing games.

She was going to die.

Rose closed her eyes and willed the last remaining strength of her shield to protect her unborn child… and to send her love through hers and Brooklyn's soul-bond, in which was currently quiet because he was sleeping. She still never knew if he could hear her thoughts through that bond, and never got to ask him, and she would always regret that. As well as a lot of things. But mostly, she regretted not having more time to love him. Time to spend the rest of her life with him as his precious mate.

Tears escaped her eyes and she sent all of her love to him through the universe, through any bond that would reach his sleeping mind… anything to tell him that she tried to fight and died trying- for him, for their child, and for herself… and that she loved him more than anything in this entire world.

But this was it, and she wouldn't be able to tell him that, and grief entered her heart and mind. Despite how long she had been training for, she fell victim to Kevin again, and didn't get a chance to fight. She failed, and wouldn't again be able to look into Brooklyn's eyes, feel his heart beating with hers, and tell her that she loved him… with everything she was, nor to see the eyes of their baby…

She wanted to tell Brooklyn that she was sorry, that she loved him… and that she belonged to him. Every inch of her body, soul, heart and mind was his.

She would forever belong to him.

Seconds or maybe minutes passed, she didn't know, but her world was almost gone as Kevin continued to tightly choke her by the neck; making her breath come out in horrible grunts. Kevin's black eyes were piercing into hers, and looked more like a devil or demon than human anymore, and there was no ounce of mercy in them. Just pure rage and vengeance.

She was sure this was it for it, when his eyes suddenly looked up, he yelped out, and something or someone slammed into him, forcing him off of her. To her relief, the crushing force against her throat was gone, and even though it was spasming, air was still able to barely get in, bringing her world back closer to the light. She continued to gape her mouth and air in like a starved fish, willing herself to not go back to the darkness and to not give in.

Her mind was still screaming at her to get up and fight, but her body was betraying her and wasn't moving. She was lying on her side and found that the images in front of her passed by in slow-motion, with weirdly fast-forward motions; and her hearing was muffled, as if she was still under water. Her body was frozen and unable to move, whether by magic or true injury, she wasn't sure yet.

But two things remained clear to her.

One: she was drenched in water and an alarming amount of blood, close to the amount she bled when Kevin shot her back in January. And two: someone had joined their party and was fighting Kevin. From her muffled hearing, it was a male, who was roaring and grunting in a fight against Kevin… and it was a human. A man with long brown hair and goatee.

Xanatos.

Somehow, he must have heard the altercation or knew she was being attacked, because he was now fighting Kevin with an impressive amount of rage and strength. The men were truly going at it for the kill, but unlike before, Xanatos was armed. He punched Kevin in the face, pulled out his new weapon system and shot it, aiming for his head, but Kevin raised a shield up and easily deflected it. The bright white laser bounced off of it and shot into Xanatos' leg. He roared out in pain as the laser burned through his thigh muscle, but with him down, Kevin shot forward, punched him in the face just right, and he went down.

Kevin held his hand out and shot out magic-like cords, just like what he used on Rose, and coiled Xanatos's body together. Then, he grabbed onto his bleeding face and finally said his first words of the night, which were deep and mechanical sounding thanks to his mask.

"Sweet dreams, rich man."

PUNCH!

Kevin punched Xanatos in the face with some magic, and instantly her savior fell victim and went limp and unresponsive. She prayed that he was still alive, and that they would both make it through this day… but with a quick step over to her, Kevin knelt down next to her, and again she was unable to move as he lifted her up, inches from his face.

"As for you… my darling." He growled. "The game is now officially over! YOU'RE MINE!"

PUNCH!

She felt the pain of Kevin's fists against her face, but just like he did with Xanatos, magic overcame her mind and instantly her world went black and she faded into nothingness.

And she knew no more.