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Ch. 9 Paper Cut

Your love hurts like a paper cut
So sweet
Never even feel, it slices so deep
It seems so harmless but only at first
Like a paper cut the pain grows worse

Paper Cut By Vanessa Hudgens

"Rosy? Rosy? Rosy," a male voice yelled as I felt my shoulder get shaken back and forth frantically. My eyes flew open as I turned to face Cody in surprise. Concern lied in his royal blue eyes as he watched me look around the room in confusion. How the hell did I get home? Last time I checked, I was still in the Hell Tower. I mean, at least I remember being there. I recall Scourge knocking the shit out of my head but I don't remember being brought back here. Scourge never even mentioned bringing me home – not that I thought he was going to keep me at that tower forever but… Wait; was I even there at all? The sky outside was black with the sparkling stars decorating it. Maybe I had fallen asleep and out of anxiety for my date: dreamed the whole night up. In response to that thought, my head throbbed in pain. Nope. It was real. The reality of it was supported even more by the fact that I could smell the faint scent of Scourge's usual cologne on my skin even though my dress had been replaced by a half shirt and a pair of shorts. Also, my lips felt a little swollen since they weren't exactly used to Scourge's rough but sweet kissing skills. "Are you okay," Cody asked as he handed me and aspirin and a glass of water. "Where have you been?"

"My head just hurts but I'll be fine. How long have I been gone? Did Auntie notice?" She would kill me if she knew I disappeared with a boy the two of us barely even knew.

"A couple hours. Normal date time but when I came to check on you, your head was bleeding and you were tossing and turning in your sleep."

"Oh," I said, as I stared at him. I hadn't noticed before how his blonde hair was actually more of a gold color or how his skin radiated a glow that caused his royal blue eyes to stand out and even how his tall scrawny body actually held strong lean muscles. "You're beautiful," I blurted out without thinking. Cody stared back at me as strong blush crawled up his cheeks.

"What the hell did that bastard do to you?" He asked, his voice hard. My head took another spin around the park, making it hard to for me to find the words to answer. What exactly did he do to me? Yea, I remembered everything that happened while I was in the Hell Tower but what went on after everything went black was a mystery. I mean, it was obvious that Scourge had brought me home but where did he go? I'm sure not near here since Cody's here but where? Was his mission over? Did he go back to the Hell Tower? Or just back to his apartment that was next to mine? Dammit, my head hurt.

"I don't know. I'll be fine though. All I need is some rest." Cody nodded, watching me closely as I took another sip of water. My throat wasn't dry but yet it begged for some type of cold liquid going down it.

"I'll let you sleep in a minute. First, tell me what you can about what happened." So, I did just that. I explained how Scourge took me to a Hell Tower, my meeting with Lucifer, the tie with my parents and the Dark Angels, and how Lucifer thinks that I'm the incarnation of someone named Victoria. Cody's face had fallen at the sound of her name but it fell even more when I told him how Lucifer had told me how he was my Guardian Angel and that he was in love with me. I left out the parts about Scourge and I kissing though. I don't think Cody would really want to hear that.

"He's lying, isn't he? About you being in love with me?" Cody looked down, shaking his head.

"We will talk about that at a later time, Rosy. Right now, I'm guessing you probably want to know more about Victoria, don't you?"

"Yes," I said with a small nod. "A bedtime story would be nice," I said with a smile to try and lighten the mood. Cody grinned at me.

"It's not a very happy story." I shrugged.

"I think I can handle it." Cody nodded, his grin falling.

"Victoria was a teenager about our age that lived over 400 years ago. She looks exactly like you – same body and hair and everything – in case you needed a visual. She came from a wealthy family and was the sweetest girl anyone had ever met. The only thing was that she was a like you in terms of having both Angel and demon blood running through her veins. But with her, it was the other way around. Instead of being given Angel blood, she was born with it. Her father was a fallen angel but still had divine blood which was then passed on to her – making her a nephilim."

"Half human and half Angel right," I asked. Cody nodded.

"Since she was a big use to Heaven in this war between good and evil, Lucifer sent Miguel – or Scourge as he calls himself now – to retrieve her. They fell in love, as you know, and he somehow got some of his blood into her. We're all still not sure particularly how and it seems that he's not too emotionally stable to talk about it so it remains a secret. But anyways, my Father sent me down to Earth in an effort to save Victoria from Lucifer's clutches. She was so innocent and vulnerable that it was easy to convince her how bad everything was and that she should stay on the good side. She understood but as I turned her back around to the bright side since her heart had started to become black from hanging around Miguel, she fell for me. Out of both mine and her control yes, but it still pissed Miguel off. He found out about his lover's feelings for me, tracked her down and eventually tortured and killed her. Lucifer didn't care though. In fact, he was almost happy. If Heaven didn't have a strong ally, then in his mind things were going well. Besides, he probably would have killed her on his own time once he saw what direction she was headed in. If she wasn't going to help him then she wasn't going to help anyone. There used to be a prophecy or a theory rather that she would be reincarnated to end this war – but the side in which she would pick wasn't yet clear since the girl hadn't come yet. You, Rosy, you are her reincarnated double. That's why you're so open around me and have a crush on Scourge. Her feelings haven't gone away and its taking a toll on you. Your decisions and where your own personal feelings take you though is not affected by her at all, they're all up to you."

By the end of that, my head was spinning even more than it was before. I mean, I understood a lot better about why Lucifer thinks the way he does and Scourge's attraction to me but it was still a lot to handle. Just a couple days ago, everything was perfectly normal. Then Scourge came along and all of this shit gets dumped into my lap. Great, just great. Cody saw the weariness in my eyes as he stared into them. "I'm gonna let you go to sleep now. I'll be back later," he said as he stood up. I held out my arm to him.

"Wait," I yelled, making him turn around to look at me. "Where are you going?"

"I have to take care of some things. Don't worry, I'll try to be back before you wake up. And I'll bring some Chinese food. How about that?" I nodded, letting a bit of stress fall out as he pecked a kiss at my forehead. At least those two parts of him were still normal and made me feel as if nothing had really changed too much. I laid down on my side, staring at the window for a split second before my eyes fluttered close and I drifted into a deep sleep.

X

A party. I'm at a party? I looked around curiously at the scene that I had seemed to step into. It seemed that I was in some type of masquerade ball in a giant ballroom that was shining brightly in gold and silver. I looked down at myself to see that I was dressed in a blood red dress that hugged my torso tightly in tight swirls and fell out into a whirl of red roses at the skirt. My hair was coiled into a braid that fell into braids onto my shoulder. I would've taken off my mask if I hadn't felt the brush of a hand on my bare back. I turned quickly to see Scourge – recognizable even with the mask – smirking down at me. "There are you are, Tori," he said. "I've been looking for you." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up against him.

"I had to speak with someone," I said or maybe I didn't say. Was I in Victoria's body? This was my voice but I hadn't exactly said those words. My head turned to look in the corner at Cody who was in the corner sipping from a wine glass. Scourge looked in the direction and scowled.

"He's an Angel, Tori. I told you that before. You shouldn't be bothering with them," he said, his voice dropping down to a hard whisper.

"I know. We were just talking, that's all."

"Well I don't want you talking with him. Not with the way you look at him." I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Jealous because you think he'll take me away? Or are you mad because you know he'll treat me better than you ever will?" Pain shot through my side at the end of my sentence. I bit my lip, drawing blood, so that I wouldn't scream. Scourge had wrapped his arm around me, his hand squeezing my rib so hard that I thought he might break it. His ice blue eyes shot daggers down at me through the slits of his mask.

"You'd better watch what you say," he growled.

"Or else what," I challenged. Scourge bared his sharp teeth, making a move to start walking with me in tow but Cody walked up to us. A sigh of relief left from my lips.

"Everything okay over here," he asked, his royal blue eyes lingering on me. I shook out of Scourge's grip and smiled at my crush.

"Of course," I replied, my voice a bit more excited than I would like. Scourge noticed this and shot me a cold look from under his mask.

"Would you like to dance," Cody asked, holding out his hand to me. I looked to Scourge who was still glaring down at me. I smiled.

"Sure," I said, putting my hand in Cody's and letting him whisk me onto the dance floor. He pulled me against his body gently, not roughly as Scourge usually does it. Wow they were complete opposites but yet I'm in love with them both.

"You should really stop pissing him off," Cody whispered in my ear. "He could hurt you if he found out about us."

"I'm sure that I could handle him, Cody."

"Victoria, he's been around for thousands of years. I don't think you really want to mess with his temper or his abilities."

"I know, Cody. I know."

"Doesn't mean you won't though." I smiled up at him.

"You know me too well."

"Hm," he grunted with a roll of his eyes. "I just want you to be careful. Understand?"

"Yes. I love you." Cody smiled softly at me.

"I love you too."

I awoke from the dream with a sort of jolt. It had felt weird to be in someone else's body. To experience everything they did but not having any right or will to do anything about it. Victoria was in love with them both but Cody intrigued her more. Since he did say that she was one of the sweetest girls anyone could meet, it made sense of why she would prefer Cody. He was more gentle than Scourge could ever be even if he tried.

My eyes flew open when I heard a tap at my window. Immediately, I turned over to look at what was making the noise. I jumped when I saw Scourge, his glowing ice blue eyes staring at me. His black wings were stretched out from his back as he was hanging onto the window so he wouldn't fall. He pointed at the knobs of my window. Oh yea, they were locked. I got up and opened the window to let him in. Easily he swooped into my room and let his wings furrow back into his back. "Hey," he said casually.

"Hi," I replied, a little confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. I had to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Is your head okay? I know that I hit you kind of hard. I'm sorry about that but it was my Father's orders and-"

"It's okay," I said, shutting him up. The concern in his eyes was very strong and made me feel a bit bad. That aspirin Cody gave me helped out a whole lot so my headache was gone and my little nap had benefitted my energy.

"I was worried," he said quietly. I blushed softly turning to sit on my bed so that he couldn't notice. He followed my actions and sat down next to me. "So you're alright? Even after everything you know?" I nodded.

"It's still a lot to take in but I'm doing pretty good, I think." Scourge let out a small chuckle.

"Better than any other girl, I'd bet." I laughed a little.

"Yea." It fell silent in the room, only the small whooshes of the wind occasionally making a sound. I could tell that he wanted to say something but didn't know what. Me, well I honestly had nothing to say at all. I was still too deep in shock to really engage in small talk.

"Look, Rosy, about me killing Victoria-"

"I don't want to talk about that," I told him. Although it may seem like a lie, I was telling the truth. The past may have made me who I am today but it was not going to affect anything that's going on in the present. I liked Scourge and although I may not know much about if I'll betray him or not, I want a chance with him. I don't know why but I just do. I leaned against him. He wrapped his arms around me naturally, pulling me close up on his chest. "Will you lay down with me?"

"Of course," he murmured, slowly leaning south so that we would both fall onto our backs. He pulled the covers up over us before holding me closer to him. "You know that my feelings for you are real right," he whispered in my ear.

"Yes," I replied, my eyes starting to droop again. "And you know that mine for you are real as well."

"Now I do. Now I do. Especially after everything you've heard and seen. The fact that you're even letting me hold you is amazing me. You're just amazing." Blush crossed my cheeks again.

"Thanks. I think you're pretty cool too." I let out a small yawn.

"Someone sounds tired." I nodded, snuggling my head into his chest. "You wanna go out tomorrow? You and me?"

"Sure. What time?"

"You'll know." He leaned down to peck a soft kiss at my lips before I once more drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

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