A Faustian Bargain
Chapter 3: Rosette the Thief
OooO
Opportunity makes a thief.
-Francis Bacon
OooO
Kate was chopping up old credit cards into minuscule slivers that littered her desk when her fax machine started humming. Frowning, mainly because her fax machine was only ever used to send bills, the nun strode over to the machine. It beeped and whirred as it chugged out a single piece of paper, formatted as a letter.
The letter was addressed strictly to her. Unfortunately, the letter was not a secret love confession, but a complaint…about her daughter. Apparently her daughter was so randy and uncontrollable that the letter had come straight from the most holy warden of the prison himself. Rosette was in trouble…for whatever it was she did. Whatever she did at that prison, she'd be cleaning toilets for a month to make up for it!
Kate's sanity became unhinged when she read the body of the letter. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…" she muttered, choking the pair of scissors painfully in her hand.
"You're dead, Rosette Christopher."
OooO
If Rosette thought stealing a demon from his cage was a splendid idea…well, she was having second thoughts. She had to grab him by the back of his trousers to keep him from flying out the window once. She had to scream like a newborn to prevent him from touching anything that could possibly cause them to go flying off a cliff (steering wheel, clutch, and windshield wipers included). She was sure that if he had attempted to tear off the rickety door he would've been able to do it with just his pinkie.
Thank heavens he didn't try that.
So now she didn't know what to do. There was a big hulking mass sitting next to her, disgruntled at her behavior but not completely put out. Keeping the demon's ass glued to the car seat had kept her occupied on the ride over, but now that she sat in front of a house she was lost. They sat quietly in the car, her hands idly resting on the steering wheel. The man next to her wasn't particularly looking to start a conversation either.
"Is this your house?"
Rosette glanced over at the demon. His neck was bent a little so that he could fit in the small cab of the vehicle. He really was extraordinarily large for a male. "No."
He glanced back at her, his nose scrunched up. His face clearly told her he thought she was ridiculous. "Then why are we sitting in front of it?"
She sighed and patted the steering wheel. "She'll hear the car. I have to sneak you in—"
"If you have to do that, I'm not coming with you."
Her hands tightened on the wheel. She angled her head toward his handsome face. "Look, you—"
"Don't try to assert your authority over me, human," he snapped back. She could see his fangs pointing out from the sides of his leathery lips. She frowned and stared out the dirty windshield of her hopeless car. Really, that wasn't the reaction she was hoping for. She wanted to punch him in the face.
'That would go well,' she thought. She let her eyes shift to his form again. His size was unnerving. His hair was currently curtaining his face, and she could see long, pointed ears behind the veil of purple. Her eyes traveled upward to glance cautiously at the sharp set of horns protruding out of his head. Those didn't look like something a girl would want to cuddle with any time soon. Of course, his face made up for all the pointy things that the rest of his body possessed.
Rosette bit her lip. Why she had thought that? What a crazy thing to think. As if a bad-tempered demon like him would ever want to be held by anyone.
"I'm not, demon," she finally sneered, getting annoyed at how hard he was trying to differentiate them. "I just need to talk to my mom before I let her see you, OK? I've never even had a male friend before…having you pop in might be too much for her heart to bear."
Chrono watched her with curious eyes. She had never had a male friend before? Then what the hell was she doing with him? If she never had any male friends then she'd never dated anyone and she'd never…Chrono bit his lip. He was becoming painfully aware of how young the human girl really was. Just sitting in the car with her was wholly wrong on a million different levels.
What would happen if he…and if he wanted…what if he couldn't control it?
Being in the closed confines of the car, surrounded by her scent, was making him mad in the head. This day wasn't going to bode well for him, he knew. He was already turning senile…and surely he was old enough to! He was positive he was nearly a century her senior.
Noticing her pale white hands on the steering wheel, he exhaled softly. "You're hands are white," he whispered, watching as his voice broke her out of her stupor. She shook her head as if thinking something silly, and quickly removed her hands from the wheel. She folded them conservatively in her lap. Then she changed her mind and began running them through her hair.
"What's wrong?" Rosette asked when she noticed that Chrono was half leaning out of the window, keeping his body away from her. Normally, if she'd been with anyone else, she would've teased them that they looked like they had severe constipation. Being with a six foot something demon that didn't seem to eat though, quickly stifled any corny comedic jokes that she had. It seemed that being stuck with a cranky demon squelched a lot of humorous things she would've said.
She didn't know much about demons, clearly. Chrono was currently trying to disengage his nose. If she knew anything about his kind, she'd know that a female's scent was particularly strong when she did anything that would involve wafting. Whereas a normal boy could only smell the feminine vanilla scent, a demon could smell the girl herself—her skin and her soul.
So if the damn brat would just stop it--!
Because Chrono would eat his own toes before telling her that, he tersely stated, "Your driving made me sick."
That was easy enough to believe. Even Rosette had a guilty face. She reached her hand out to rub his back (or something to that effect) but quickly put it down when she saw the look that he gave her. The look that clearly said, "Touch me and I will throw you out the window." Although she didn't have any idea why he never wanted her touch…
"Sorry," Rosette muttered, recalling exactly how she'd been driving. No pothole was left un-hit with Rosette Christopher behind the wheel. She couldn't blame Chrono if he was five seconds away from yawning in technicolor.
"Listen," she began, utterly falling for his I-Have-To-Barf-Puppies Act. "I'm going to go inside and talk to my mom…" She glanced meaningfully at him, and because Chrono was a terrible soul that wanted to make her feel bad, he suddenly faked a gag. He didn't think she'd be that gullible but…her face quickly pulled into a grimace. Wonderful! She believed it. She was easier to harass than he originally thought…
She said something else and quickly scampered out of the car, leaving the demon to sit out in the open. He had to wonder what would happen if he decided to go skipping around the neighborhood. Would most of the people even realize what he was? Or would they think that Halloween had come early?
Rosette disappeared around the corner, leaving him in the car to fry. If she came back and he looked like a wilted cabbage…well, that was all her fault. He glanced at the glass to his right. His hand ran over the transparent material, his claws screeching unpleasantly.
"Curse it," he muttered, clawed hand running over the door side. How was the window supposed to be opened? He searched for a few seconds before giving up. "Meh." He could always blow the whole car to pieces if the heat irritated him enough. Besides, it wasn't that unbearable…
Five minutes later and Chrono was dreaming of the Antarctic. Good heavens, he was going to catch on fire before the ditzy blonde came back. She'd have to put him out with a fire extinguisher.
Normally, a demon could withstand temperature changes much better than a human could. Although Chrono could've easily stood in a scorching desert hours longer than a normal man, that didn't negate the fact that the heat irritated him. He was prone to getting cranky-crankier-in warm weather. He much rather preferred to be freezing than sweating up to his eyebrows.
"Human's and their contraptions," he muttered, raking his hand along the inside of the door. He finally located a small button with two arrows. He pressed the arrow that pointed down. Nothing happened. Irritated, he pressed it again, but the window didn't budge. Feeling murderously hot, Chrono reached behind him and shed the coat that Rosette had borrowed for him. His wings ached.
Another button push got him nowhere. He was going to murder the entire town if he couldn't get the window down. The temperature in the car had somehow risen to epic proportions, and although Chrono was a patient demon, this was definitely testing him. The window refused to move by safe and logical means. Therefore, it would have to be forced by his own methods…
"I apologize."
OooO
For some reason, Rosette's hand started to quiver as she pulled out her house keys. She shook so badly that she dropped them once before inserting them into the lock. A foreboding feeling engulfed her as she turned the keys. Something behind the door was emanating pure malice.
Of course. Kate was waiting for her in the living room. One glance at her boiling demeanor told the teenager that she was waist deep in cow squat. And unfortunately for her, the squat would just keep rising…
"Rosette Christopher," Kate said, keeping her anger in check. She needed to store up energy for when she dropped the nuclear bomb over the girl's empty head. "Where have you been?"
"I went shopping," she said with a shaky voice. Darn it! She had practiced saying it in the car ride—when she wasn't wrangling with Chrono, of course. It was a simple enough lie, but one look at Kate's face sent her confidence tearing for the hills. It was a wonder she was even able to stand in front of her right now.
She didn't want to know what would happen when Kate saw the thing in her car.
That is, if he was still in there.
"Hmm." Kate arched her brows at Rosette. She traveled over to the couch in the living room and sat down in it. Rosette was compelled to follow. "And what did you buy?"
"Shoes."
"Hmm," Kate repeated with much more emphasis. She paused for a moment before saying the next sentence. "And did you pay for these shoes?"
Rosette frowned. What was she getting at? How else does one go about shopping for shoes? "Of course I did, mom."
A quick glance at her features. Kate was gauging her daughter. Rosette couldn't fathom why. She had expected Kate to descend on her like a banshee (because surely she would've heard about Chrono). But instead they were discussing the matter of buying shoes? What was going on?
"With what money, Rosette?"
She feigned the perfect exasperated daughter look. "Money here and there. I saved up. You don't exactly spoil me rotten with—"
"Rosette, did you steal anything today?"
'Good question mom! As a matter of fact I have a very attractive demon sautéing in my car right now…' "Of course not! Mom! You know that you've raised me better than that. I bought the shoes—"
Kate stood up. She looked upset. "You know I don't like it when you lie to me."
"But I didn't steal anything!"
"Rosette—"
"I bought the shoes!"
Kate looked ready to slap her. "We're not talking about shoes anymore, Rosette!" She grabbed a letter off their coffee table. "I got a letter from the prison's warden. He says you stole something from the prison!"
Hopefully Chrono wasn't going to take that as a cue to come bursting into the room. She pretended—no, she was—enraged. "Mom, why would I steal anything from the prison? The most valuable thing there is a wad of used gum!"
Something flickered in Kate's eyes as if she were about to contradict that. Had Rosette kept herself out from the basement, she wouldn't have known what that look was. Now she knew it all too well. So how long? 'How long had you known about that place?'
"How could you steal something?" Kate demanded. She was absolutely enraged!
"Oh mom!" Rosette cried, angry now. She was probably going overboard with her reactions, but the cow scat was floating up to her neck and she was just as upset. It was a contest between her and Mr. Shelk, and Kate trusted that wretched old bastard? What happened to family ties? Trust? The whole world was damned if the warden was more believable than anyone else in the universe.
"Rosette just tell me—"
"I didn't steal anything!"
"DON'T LIE TO ME ROSETTE CHRISTOPHER!! NOW IF YOU—"
"HOW COULD YOU BELIEVE THAT I'D DO SUCH A THING—"
"HOW DARE YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE AT—"
Just as their argument reached gargantuan proportions, there was a shy knock at the door. Rosette, still flushed over the latest development, nearly went into cardiac arrest. Please—heavens, please—don't let that be Chrono!
Something told her it wasn't though. Somehow she pictured that he'd more likely rip the door off its hinges than knock. She wasn't even sure if that word was in his vocabulary.
Kate, very social conscious, quickly took a deep breath and arranged her hair back into place. It had fallen into disarray when their argument became more feverish. She glanced in the mirror, noting her flushed cheeks and heaving chest. She turned back to Rosette, the knocking still ringing insistently in the background.
"We're not finished yet," she promised. She stalked over to the door, peeking through the small hole in the door. A wobbling old lady was bent over the doorstep. Kate threw Rosette a warning glance to behave before unchaining the door and flinging it wide.
"Mrs. Chapin, good afternoon!" Kate said cheerily, holding her hand old for the aged woman. Her neighbor gratefully took her hand and bent over to kiss it.
"Good afternoon, Sister. Pardon my disturbance. I did not mean to interrupt your conversation." Both Rosette and Kate blushed simultaneously, embarrassed that their racket had been subtly pointed out. "But I noticed something as I was walking by your car…"
Gah! Rosette could've hung herself. She knew she should've hid Chrono in some bushes! The car was probably dripping with holy water by now…
Mrs. Chapin's face was pulled with worry—Rosette could tell that much as she craned to see her without looking too suspicious. Rosette stood far away from the door (and her mother) and she wasn't going to compromise their recent argument by sauntering up to hear the conversation. Although it really was hard to hear what the old badger was saying from so far away…
"I'm sorry, Sister, but it appears that some terrible soul has gone and smashed one of your window's in…"
"He broke the window?" Rosette hissed quietly to herself in horror. What was the demon thinking? What a..a…demon! For his sake, he better have the money to pay for it…
Rosette couldn't see her mother's face, but she could already tell that she was shocked senseless. It wasn't everyday that your daughter is branded as a thief and a car-wrecker. Rosette was breaking quite a few records in one day.
"And—and did you see who…did it?" Kate said, her voice strangled. The neighbor shook her old head.
"No, I'm sorry that I didn't. But…" the old lady's face seemed to glow. She linked her hands together and let out a contented sigh. "There was a very handsome young man that was picking up all the shattered glass. Such a kind man…even when I offered to help he just shook his head and said he had it under control. Getting his hands bloodied up like that…what a sweet thing."
Rosette wanted to scream. A kind man!? Was the old lady so blind that she didn't see the horns sticking out of his head? The giant pointed spine whipping around his body? For goodness' sakes, the bat wings? Maybe she had seen someone other than Chrono…because why would he even bother to pick up the pieces?
The fact still remained that he broke her window. It had to be him. Who else would want to commit a crime on that rickety old truck? There was no benefit to sabotaging such a piece of junk. The shattered window was a testament to his determination to escape. But then…why try to repair it?
"He's senile. He has to be crazy. Maybe he was kept down there for a reason…"
"Rosette." Kate said, turning her head to smile warmly at her. Rosette's insides turned to dust as she caught onto the glint in her eye. The smile looked maternal, but it definitely didn't reach her eyes. The smile was a pretense put on for the oblivious Mrs. Chapin.
"Yes, mother?" Rosette said with the same level of fake formality. Rosette was leaning far over enough to see Mrs. Chapin's rotund face grinning happily above her baby blue knit sweater. Obviously she thought she was witnessing a pure golden family moment in the making.
Good thing she didn't know that Kate wanted to hang Rosette by her eyelashes.
"Will you walk Mrs. Chapin out to your car? Please make sure nothing is stolen." Her smile faltered a little and Rosette got a glimpse of the madwoman-in-waiting. "I'll follow after soon."
Fearing for every hair on her seventeen-year-old body, Rosette nodded and sauntered out the door. Kate held it open wide, letting Rosette pass by without so much as a smack on the back of the head. She shut the door quietly, leaving Rosette with her short and good-natured neighbor.
"You've grown so much," Mrs. Chapin said conversationally as they plodded along at a snail's pace. Rosette was forced to make slow and tedious steps as she kept in time with the lady's hobble. The sun became antagonistic within the seven minutes that they shuffled along. There was no living creature on any of the streets. Rosette liked to imagine herself in one of the houses, loping around with the air conditioning, eating ice cream on the counter top and not worrying about being branded a thief…
"Oh, just look at that, " the lady said with a sigh. Rosette, completely disoriented by the heat, at first couldn't believe her eyes. She happened to have a very clean slate and had never tried drugs, but after seeing a young man bending over her car, she began to question that record. It would certainly take an immense size of crack to produce what she was seeing.
Mrs. Chapin was correct in saying that someone had shattered her window. Not one shard was left, leaving a square, gaping hole that would soon echo the emptiness in her wallet. Not in this lifetime did she have the funds to pay for that. She could only hope that with bloody diligence and torn up fingers would she be able to piece it back together.
It would be a puzzle piece to be lauded by the most sadistic and gore-greedy of men.
Shards and holes aside though, the more astounding item was crouched under the open crevasse that was her former window. Mrs. Chapin was again correct in saying that this young man was undoubtedly handsome. Long purple hair flowed down a tan, sweaty, and bare back. Lean biceps ended in cupped hands filled with glass. She could see blood dripping from between his pianist-like fingers. He was tall, he was young, and he was a human male. No pointy ears, no satanic horns, and definitely no batwings sticking out like road signs.
She could've punched him. Or, if she wanted to unveil the real sadist in her, forced him to curl his glass-littered hand into a fist. Of course she had neither the power nor the heartlessness to do such a thing, so instead she berated him in her mind. All for nothing! Stealing the coat, gabbing loudly about his Halloween horns and Lord of the Ring's ears at the stoplight as those two little girls looked on in wonder….and for what? So that he could turn her into a yakking coat thief? He could've just as easily transformed himself!
'You didn't know,' she consoled herself with the truth. How would she have known what the demon's powers were? All she knew about him was that he was a handsome criminal with a grumpy disposition toward her. And now, that he could change his appearance at will, that he had some beef with her sad-sorry truck, and that he fancied cleaning up his own messes. That wasn't much to go on.
Of course…she didn't know that Chrono had broken her window, but who in their right mind would? She couldn't think of many people who would go swinging at a car when there was a behemoth of a demon sitting in the passenger side. The perpetrator could've been blind, but last time she checked, Rosette wasn't on the no-no list of the blind community.
So it was Chrono, no doubt about it.
The heat was sweltering and Rosette was seeing more than mirages of water as she stared at Chrono's glistening profile. Any other girl would've snapped fifty pictures of his completely model-worthy body already. Rosette was not any other girl though, and she wasn't going to let him off the hook just because he could make the whole female population feel faint. He was still going to pay for her car somehow, even if it meant him cleaning dishes, painting her toes, and scrubbing her toilet for years after.
"Hello," Rosette ground out, trying to sound as genial as possible. Mrs. Chapin's heart was bound to explode five different ways if she witnessed young Ms. Christopher outright strangle the kind young stranger picking up her window (or what was left of it).
Chrono lifted his head slowly, as if he hadn't heard them before they had even come around the corner. As if he hadn't sensed their warmth before he was even in eyeshot. "Hrm."
Chrono had a wonderful way with words that no one else seemed to have. She put her hands on her knees and leaned forward, smiling a little. Mrs. Chapin was diagonal enough to the teen to be able to see her expression. The old woman definitely didn't have the hearing though. "What did you do to my window?" she hissed through a grinning veneer.
"It was hot," the demon retorted. Why was she complaining? He was attempting to do her miserable car some justice and pick up the shards. The window probably cost more than the entire car did. If it were a nicer car he would've felt bad (by only a fraction), but for the red hulk in front of him? Not a chance.
Rosette leaned in closer. "If everybody in the world broke their window when it was hot," she whispered to him, "windows would go out of production." She glanced down at his hand. "You're bleeding."
"It doesn't hurt."
"I didn't ask if it did." Chrono frowned at her, apparently not amused with her attitude. Not used to girls with a backbone, perhaps?
Mrs. Chapin, thinking their whispering had something to do with flirting, giggled wisely to herself. She remembered all the things she'd done to drive the boys wild… It was only when Rosette spoke loudly to her that she was pulled out of her reminiscing reverie. "What was that, dear?"
"I said," Rosette nearly hollered. "I'm going to take him inside to clean his hands."
Although Mrs. Chapin knew that she was supposed to wait for Kate to come outside, she wasn't one to deny the teen's request. Any opportunity to scrutinize the well-built male in front of them was enough of an excuse for her.
"Alright. Come along now."
Rosette nodded and reached out to wrap her hand around Chrono's wrist. He pulled away, dropping some bloody shards in the process. She reached out to him again in agitation, even as he was shaking his head at her and frowning.
"I can pick myself up," he told her, rising to a stand. His shadow towered over her bent frame. She quickly stood up also, fearing that he'd be cruel enough to drop all of the glass pieces on her head. Hey, she didn't know him well enough to know what he would and would not do.
"Ok, Mr. Touchy," she muttered, motioning for him to follow. Both of his hands were littered with glass, held up and out as if in an offering. They abandoned the remaining slivers on the hot concrete. As he followed Rosette and Mrs. Chapin his graceful loping quickly changed to that of languid steps as he was forced to match Mrs. Chapin's pacing. It was a peculiar feeling for him—a demon who lived fast and hard to be taking casual strolls with a nun and a quaint old lady.
They met Kate at her doorstep. She had one foot out the door when Rosette and company walked past the gate and up the concrete steps of her front walkway. Kate exhaled sharply in disapproval upon seeing the shirtless stranger, and exhibited this by making a barricade of her arm across the door, refusing Chrono passage after Rosette had gone in.
"Mom!" Rosette groaned, hands on her hips as she faced Chrono from inside the house. "Stop it! He's hurt!"
"How is the car?" Kate asked, keeping an eye on Chrono, who was nearly sneering at her.
"It's fine." Rosette answered.
"And there's no window? What if somebody tries to steal it?"
Rosette sighed. "Have you seen that car? No one in his or her right mind would steal it. Can you let him in, please?"
"Rosette," Kate said without turning to her whimsical daughter. "I will not have a bare-chested, bloody stranger wandering around my house with my daughter." She glanced briefly at Rosette, who suddenly became conscious of how high the slit in her skirt was. "Go change."
Chin high and hands shivering slightly, Rosette firmly stated, "No."
Kate bit the inside of her cheek until it was swollen and leaking blood. Not yet…she refocused her gaze on her neighbor, who was shifting uncomfortably under the tension that was choking the atmosphere. "Mrs. Chapin, thank you for escorting my daughter. You must pardon us though, for I have some things to discuss with Rosette." The way she spoke clearly left no room for argument.
"O-of course, Sister. Anything, always," Mrs. Chapin promised, giving a smile that was dampened under the current situation. She gave a bemused wave at the two females, and a lingering gaze at the demon who appeared to just as uncomfortable as she was. Still smiling a half-smile, Mrs. Chapin slowly tottered away to her house next door. When she was out of earshot, (which wasn't very far, considering the lady's range of hearing), Kate turned her hurricane on Rosette.
"Rosette, go upstairs. And you—" she gave Chrono a hefty stare. You will come with me into the kitchen."
Chrono bared his teeth, but the effect was much less threatening without his fangs. Rosette, immediately foreshadowing that he was about to speak his mind (and that the end result wasn't going to be good at all), quickly sprung into action. "Don't—"
"Mom! I'll take care of him!" She hollered over Chrono's voice, stifling whatever nasty thing he might've said about her mother. "My virtue will be fine," she added, as if to placate her mother. She attempted to move her mother's arm, but it was fused with the doorway. "Mother…"
"Rosette," Kate said slowly. "What…did you steal?"
Rosette was beginning to think Kate had a serious case of amnesia. "We already went over this." Besides, if Kate really wanted to know the answer, all she had to do was look right in front of her.
"Yes we did," Kate vehemently agreed. "But we are far from done, young lady." She glanced back at Chrono. "Don't move, boy."
"You're being cruel," Rosette ground out, watching as Chrono's fists attempted to clench. His left eye twitched when she heard a crunching sound. A large drop of blood fell from his hand. "He's bleeding all over the place. He could get infected. Can you please talk to me about this after he's bandaged? He did help out after all…"
Kate glanced swiftly between (what she considered) her scantily clad daughter and the half-naked man before her. Normally two nearly half-naked teens spelled disaster and rotund stomachs, but the chance of the stranger getting an infection weighed heavily on her mind. She refused to be responsible for the boy any more than she had to be.
"Come inside," she finally consented, removing her hand. He narrowed his eyes and managed a nod to her, slipping by silently. He wandered behind Rosette into the kitchen, feeling relieved that she was there for the first time. He wasn't sure how well he would fare if stuck alone with Kate. He was sure that it would end with a cross lodged into the side of his neck.
"Drop the pieces in here." Rosette held up a white trash bin, protected by a clear plastic bag. Inside were old coffee grounds and wrappers from frozen mixed vegetables.
Chrono complied silently. He opened his long hands and let the loose ones fall. Unfortunately most of the slivers were imbedded into his hands. Rosette couldn't help but wince as she took in his sliced up hands. Really, he shouldn't have tried so hard. Even though she was angry with him for breaking it, she still couldn't cover up her sympathy for him. It was an old car, after all.
As Rosette sat across from Chrono in a counter top chair, Kate strode in with a box of medical supplies. She laid it out before them and stood between them with her arms crossed over her chest. Rosette felt eerily like she was on a date with her mother as a chaperone. This was probably the reason why Rosette's hands shook as she reached out for Chrono's.
His hands were under the table. Rosette sighed. "I need your hands, sir," she said, aware that Kate was scrutinizing absolutely everything she said and did.
He turned his head less than half an inch to the side, and then to the other. Rosette couldn't fathom why he wouldn't want to be treated. If she were in his position she'd be hollering and begging for salve. He adamantly kept his hands to himself though, apparently trying to keep something from Kate. Why?
"You're bleeding; please give me your hands."
His mouth opened slightly as his lips formed a 'no'. She sighed and leaned back, placing the tweezers and cloth back down on the counter. "Listen, you—"
"Put your hands on the table."
Kate was watching Chrono closely, her eyes narrowed so much that they looked closed. Her foot tapped impatiently on the linoleum floor. "Do it, boy."
Chrono's eyebrow twitched at the title. How dare that old hag…he could turn her head a full 360 with one slap of his hand. But he was the mother of the female before her, and he still owed her for taking him from his shackled life. Was that enough of an excuse to protect him though? Even though just being in their house was damning him, could he afford to go even deeper?
Knowing he was going to hell no matter what he did, Chrono slowly slid one of his hands on the table. It was curled halfway, unable to open because that would tear the wounds open further. Rosette smiled at him, picking up her tweezers again. Deep inside of his crippled soul he wished he could mirror her emotions at that moment—anything to soothe the sudden feeling of anxiety that gripped him.
He flinched when Rosette's hand slipped under his own, but he managed to not pull away. She cupped his hand gently, picking out the shards with maternal care. Chrono did not stare at her as she worked, for he felt like he would be intruding if he did. He felt like he was intruding enough already. He could feel Kate's hawk eyes on his profile. His hand felt like it was going to burn alive with the feeling of her skin. He couldn't think straight with all of these things assaulting him at once.
She bandaged him up nicely, tight enough so that the wrappings would stay, but not so constricting that it turned his hand purple. She gave him a soft pat when she was done, taping up the end carefully so that it would not unravel. She held out her hand, awaiting his other one.
Glancing over to Kate, Chrono slowly slid his over hand onto the table. He knew that right as his hand was revealed he was screwing himself sideways, but there wasn't much that he could do. Rosette didn't pick up on anything unusual, but Kate was much keener than she was. The Sister frowned as she observed Chrono's digits, his palm, and his wrist.
"That's an interesting tattoo you have," Kate said, her tone suggesting that 'interesting' wasn't the word she really had in mind. "Is that a barcode?"
Chrono grit his teeth. The ship was tipping and this woman was going to plunge him in and outright drown him. "Yes, it is."
"What is the inscription beneath it?"
"I-I-B-D-77-0." He said softly. Rosette's hand had stilled upon hearing his tone. The tweezers gravitated in the air between her fingers. She was glancing back and forth inconspicuously between her mother and her demon. He was looking off to the side, and Kate was looking coolly detached. Despite this though, murder shone in her eyes.
"Rosette," Kate commanded. Rosette glanced fearfully at her mother. "Please go upstairs and get my purple makeup kit."
"Wuh—"
"Just do it, Rosette. I will stay down here with our guest."
Rosette looked imploringly into Chrono's eyes, and ever so slowly he nodded his head. Rosette sighed and set her tools back down again, taking her time to wash her hands in the sink. The room was deathly silent as she wiped her hands purposely on a towel, eyeing her mother suspiciously. When she exited the kitchen she nearly ran up the stairs and to her mother's room. She was half fearing that if she took too long, somebody would end up dead in the kitchen.
Her mother had two makeup kits, a paradox in itself since Kate didn't like wearing much makeup. Rosette knew that her mother was always well prepared though, and usually bought things that she would only use once or twice in her life. Hence, her myriad of nail polish, lipstick, and eyeliners. There was enough to paint a mural in a kindergarten classroom.
The purple one was the bulkier of the two makeup kits, the other one being a shiny teal. It looked big enough to lose a small child in it, which was one of the reason's why Rosette never dared to open it. It weighed a ton as she dragged it out from under the sink in the bathroom. Why was she doing this? Rosette had to wonder why she was being so complaint as she carried the case in her sagging arms. Was Kate going to dress up for Chrono? Jab him in the eye with a lipstick? Impale him with eyeliner? If she really wanted to torture him, all she probably had to do was paint his nails.
Nothing bad ever came out of makeup though, as far as Rosette was concerned. If Kate wanted to chuck beautifying products at Chrono, then that was fine by Rosette. Unless there was acidic nail polish or anything razor sharp (which she was convinced there wasn't), she didn't have much to worry about.
When she walked back into the kitchen the tension was palpable. The padding of her tennis shoes on the floor sounded too loud. When she set the case down on the table the sound echoed more than she would like. Rosette sat herself back across from Rosette, frowning at the box situated between them.
"Thank you, Rosette," Kate said icily. Rosette nodded, watching as she unlatched the kit. Kate's hand wrapped around something and Rosette wondered if the nail polish chucking would begin. It that's what it would be…Rosette was going to duck and cover. Those things were made of glass! Chrono was on his own if things started to fly, too.
"Rosette—" Chrono began suddenly, pushing himself back in his chair. Rosette yelped at him, recognizing that he was going to fall backwards in less than a second. He twisted out of the chair, managing to keep himself upright for a moment. But then his foot caught the rug under their couch and he toppled over backwards into the sofa.
"Geez, watch where you're…" she trailed off, a small laugh at his clumsiness dying in her throat. "…Mom?"
Kate loomed over the upside down form of Chrono, her face impassive as she looked down at him. One hand was clenched tightly at her side. The other was cocked forward. She was holding a gun, and she was pointing it at Chrono's face.
"On your feet, demon."
OooO
A/N: To be continued….
Sorry this took so long. I have no time to myself anymore. I am a slave to school and sports.
I hope that it's becoming obvious that Chrono isn't very social-savvy with humans. He's been locked up for decades, so he feels uncomfortable when people try to touch him or have a conversation with him. Later on though he'll become more talkative and more like the Chrono in the series.
Thank you for all that reviewed! I really appreciate it. It lets me know whether this will be a success or not. I really, really hope it is.
Next chapter….the bargain is revealed, finally!
--Obsidian Sorrows