"Ah, Miss Hathaway." Victor professed unconcerned. "It has been too long. I went back to talk to you earlier today, but found that you'd left us."
"I'm sorry about that, Vic, but I don't like cages. Being locked in a room makes me antsy, I just had to leave. I do hope you understand." I said playing the part of a polite young lady.
"Of course." He said, his unnaturally joyous look fading into his signature demonic smirk. Tasha had been broken out of her shocked state and had also adopted a demonic look, though hers was of anger not arrogance. "Who are these creatures you've brought with you?"
"These are a few other Spiriteds. You see, we have a problem with what you're doing, Victor. We can't let you continue with your crusade." I said slowly making my way around the edge of the room, signaling the rest of my group to spread out also. Our movement made Victor's arrogance slip, momentarily replaced by fear, but he quickly masked his weakness.
"And what do you think you're going to do about it?" Tasha spit out, her eyes trained on me. I don't think she'd even noticed Christian in the room with her. At some point, she'd whipped out her little lighter and started playing with it, as she had done the first time we'd met. "I don't think you could actually do anything to us. You're just a stupid, useless, little bitch of a girl. It's best you leave the world in the hands of the adults."
"I am an adult." I growled, trying not to let her words get to me. I'd never liked Tasha, even before I'd met her, but she wasn't really trying to change my mind about my feelings toward her. I knew I shouldn't let my emotions get in the way of this mission, but I really hated being called a child. "You don't know half of what I can do. If I were you, I'd watch what you say to me."
"Or what?" Tasha scoffed. "Are you going to disappear again? Or do you have a useful ability?"
"I've got plenty, but I'm trying not to use them on you. Someone else has a bone to pick with you." I said gesturing toward Christian. His face had gotten very dark the more he'd glared at Tasha.
"Christian?" Tasha asked, squinting in Christian's direction as if she had trouble seeing him. "What are you doing here? And with her?" She asked jabbing a manicured finger in my direction, her tone turning icy.
"I'm here to get justice for my parents." Christian's voice sounded calm, but you could see the fire raging, threatening to burn us all. "How could you, Aunt Tasha?"
"How could I?" Tasha actually looked shocked that he would ask such a question. "You're parents never did anything for me. I asked for help, for money, but they never did anything for me! I was family and they abandoned me! They abandoned me because you were going through a hard time. I know now that you were going through the transition phase, coming into your powers, but they completely forgot about me, and because of you. Because of your kind. I did what I had to."
"You killed people because they were taking care of their child?" I asked, appalled, but Christian's voice drowned mine out.
"My parents gave you money!" He yelled, taking a step in Tasha's direction. At least Tasha had the common sense to take a step back. "They helped you as much as they could, but you didn't want to change and help yourself! You kept running around with those criminals and look what it did. It got my parents killed! You should've died in the house with the rest of your friends."
"You set that fire, didn't you?" Tasha questioned. She took back her smart decision from earlier and took a couple "threatening" steps forward. Christian seemed amused that she was just now figuring out the fire wasn't the accident it was reported as. "You could have killed me! Hell, you killed my friends!"
"They got what they deserved." Christian growled. "You're going to receive the same punishment." Fire sprung to life in the palms of his hands, but instead of the orange, yellow, and red flames, these were much hotter. The blue and purple flames danced over his skin without leaving a trace.
"You don't want to do that, Christian." I soothed, the flames became tinted with red but didn't disappear. His gaze was fixed solely on Tasha. Tasha looked back and forth between me and Christian.
"So, you've teamed up with this bitch?" her earlier fear of Christian's flame vanished and was quickly replaced with anger. "Are you two a thing, or something?"
"I'm going to say 'or something.'" I said from spot across the room.
"Do you even feel bad about it?" Christian asked. "Do you feel any remorse?"
"The only thing I regret was that you weren't home at the same time. You just had to be out with friends. We could've gotten a lot more money if we weren't worried about you coming back any second."
"You're a heartless bitch, Tasha." I stated, feeling the anger swell in my chest. My anger towards Tasha, and my anger at the situation that Christian had to deal with.
"Now, now, children." Victor's voice rang above the response Tasha was about to give. "We're getting off topic."
"What topic is that?" I asked.
"Well, I'm assuming that you came back to tell me you aren't going to help me, right?"
"Indeed."
"Well, in that case, I need to neutralize the threat you pose to me." He said sadly, like he felt bad about his choice.
"You're not going to touch her." Dimitri growled as he moved quickly beside me. He placed his body, mostly, beside me, though he was tense, ready to push me behind him should Victor act on his threat.
"You must be Guardian Belikov." Victor said smiling at his movement. "I heard that you were starting to grow attached to a Project, but I'd never think that you'd act on your feelings. I'd always heard that you were such a level-headed guy. Or did she use her abilities to trick you into this relationship?"
"Hey! I did no such thing!" I defended myself. I felt Dimitri tense, even more, beside me, his fists were clenched and his jaw was strained. I placed a hand gently on his upper arm, calming him significantly. The last thing we needed was to have his Darkness raging.
The problem that occurred, though, was that when I touched him, his Darkness latched onto me. I felt his rage transfer to me. My vision got slightly hazy, the edges tinged with black, my sole focus being Victor, seated in front of me with an arrogant, amused smirk sitting comfortably on his face.
The voice at the back of my mind telling me to stay calm quickly morphed into one of hatred, calling for action, calling for blood.
The Darkness rolled through me, finding all the powers that could be harmful and brought them to the surface. The image of Victor gasping for breath became reality as the air was forced from his lungs, causing him to stumble off the couch, his hands flying to his throat, tearing at the invisible force.
Everything happened so quickly, but I could remember it all. I had allowed Victor to continue breathing. He stumbled to his feet, his eyes wide in terror as he took me in. I was aware that I'd levitated a few inches, bringing me eyelevel with Dimitri, who'd backed away from me, though he continued to try to talk to me. I heard nothing. I registered nothing. All my focus lied with Victor and his life.
I didn't really understand how being a Wielder of Death worked, until now. I could feel his life, as if it was a tangible object I held in my hands. I wrapped my fingers around it, relishing in it as it squirmed in my clutch. I saw the moment Victor realized that I held his life in my hands. The moment when he understood my intentions, and before I could stop myself, his life was crushed, turning to ash in my fingers.
My bloodlust was not satiated, though, so I turned my focus to Tasha. Her eyes widen as she took in Victor's collapsed form. I reached out for her life, but was pulled back by an angelic voice.
"Roza." It whispered to me. The black around my vision started to fade, but I needed to focus on Tasha and her existence.
"Roza." The voice came again.
"Roza." It said again. I closed my eyes, hoping it would help me focus on my mission, but I was met with an image. The man standing in front of me was tall. His brown eyes staring straight into my soul with such intensity I stepped back, but he followed.
"Roza." His voice floated through the surrounding darkness, reaching my mind without seeing his lips move.
"Who are you?" I asked, unsure how to react to my vision.
"Roza. Come back to me." He reached out with a hand. His hands were large, rough, perfect. I started moving my hand forward, finding myself with a desire to touch this man. I hesitated a few inches away. He could have moved forward and grabbed my hand, but he didn't. He waited for me to reach out to him.
"Roza." His voice echoed in the back of my mind. It sounded familiar, peaceful. I placed my hand in his, his thumb coming gently over the back of my fingers. He brought the hand up to his lips, placing a kiss on my knuckles.
"Come with me." He said, turning and pulling me behind him.
"Where are we going?" I asked, looking around the darkness of my mind. "Who are you?"
"Trust me." That was all he said as he led me into the darkness. I found it easy to trust him. Even though his hand was rough against mine, his touch was gentle. If I didn't know better I would have said it was loving, but I didn't know this man, so there was no way he could know me, let alone love me.
"Turn around." His voice told me. We'd gone so far into the darkness that I couldn't see him anymore, but I could feel him. I did as he instructed me. I felt him pull me back toward his chest. One arm snaked around my waist, the other wrapped across my chest, with his hand resting on my shoulder. His chin was resting on the top of my head.
"What are you doing?" I asked, not that I didn't like the new position, but I didn't know why we were here.
"I'm just going to show you a few things." He bent his head, whispering in my ear. My body shuddered as his lips brushed my earlobe. I leaned back against his chest and his arms tightened around me.
"How are you going to show me things if I can't see my hand in front of my face?" I felt him chuckle, and I started to say something else, but a picture began to materialize in front of us.
Standing in front of us was an older version of ourselves. We looked happy. The man also had me wrapped securely in his arms, but I was facing him, placing soft kisses on his jawline. His focus was on the crib beside us. In it was a beautiful baby, from the colors spread around the room it was a boy. The baby was sleeping peacefully, with us just staring at him.
"Thank you, Roza." The man said, turning back to the vision me, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose, which caused her to sigh happily. "I'm so glad to have the both of you."
"We're lucky to have you, Comrade." The vision me said. She wrapped her arms around the back of the man's neck, pulling herself up and him down. Their lips met with so much passion, I had to look away. I didn't know the man behind me, though it seems that he knew me. I wonder who he was?
The vision began to fade as their kisses became more heated. Eventually we were left standing in the darkness of my mind.
"What was that?" I asked quietly staring into the space the vision had once occupied.
"That is the future you're giving up if you continue on the rampage you're on." The man said gently, rubbing my shoulder absentmindedly. His chin had dropped and was now rested on the shoulder his hand wasn't rubbing. "You're giving up a life as a loving mother and a devoted wife. You'll lose a loving husband and a perfect baby boy. You're letting the Darkness consume you. You'll become someone no one will recognize."
"What will I become?"
"Let me show you."