Merikh found Collin and Azriel at the back of the house. They found a blind spot where they can plan on how to get Mia. “Your dad has Mia,” Merikh said the moment he reached them. “Great way to say hello,” Azriel said sarcastically. “Where did he take her?” Collin asked.
“All I know is they took her to the basement. That was it. Your father kept me in his office until one of them went back and told him ‘she’s ready’. I don’t even know what he meant,” he explained. Collin’s brows furrowed, ”we need to find some kind of secret passage. I mean, this is my father’s house. Our houses both in LA and Jersey have those passages. It’s for security and safety reasons. This house probably has one, too.”
“I’ll look for the passage,” Merikh volunteered, “what’re you gonna do then?”
“See my dad.”
Azriel and Collin went inside. Every guard that gets in their way, Azriel lays a hand on their head, his angelic touch kills them immediately. Collin, on the other hand, breaks their necks or chops them off with Mia’s machete. As they reached his father’s office, Azriel puts an arm around a man in a suit. Collin kicks the door open and found his dad facing the window, a Scotch on his hand. He turned to face Collin.
He was horrified to see his father’s clothes have bloodstains on them, Mia, he thought. “What did you do to her?” he said.
“Hello to you, too, son. Nice of you to come by,” his father smiled and walks towards him with a glass of Scotch on his other hand. Mr. Roth offered one to his son, who took it but then threw it on the side. “That was crystal, and your mother gave it,” he said, acting all offended.
“You don’t have any right to talk about my mother. You let her die, let’s not forget about that,” he reminded his father, who glared at him. “If you want to know what I did to your little hunter, I am more than happy to tell you,” he said as he walks away from his son, then he turns to face him again. “You know, Collin, you didn’t tell me the reason why you liked being around her. Now, I do get it. I mean, she’s beautiful, I can tell you that. But her body and how she makes me feel, it’s something else,” he laughed and drank his Scotch. Collin walked closer to his father, raging inside. His father went on and on about what he did to Mia. How he sliced her skin, how it felt good to him. The way she tastes. Collin’s eye glowed and grabs his father’s shirt, pushing him down to his desk, then someone walks in. Collin’s eyes were glowing, glanced behind him to see one of the men in suits, his gun pointing at him. His father chuckled, “guess you’re done for.”
Then they hear a loud crack and a thud. The guard fell to the floor, limp. Azriel was standing there, his wings tucked from behind him but not hidden. It was just resting on his back. “You were saying?” Collin says as he looks back at his father, who is now terrified.
They didn’t realize that his father can reach a button from under his desk. Alarm starts blaring, hurting Collin and Azriel’s ears that they had to cover them. That was their mistake, they gave Collin’s father an opportunity to run.
***
I was tied up and beaten up in a dungeon. It’s not even the 13th century and they still have a fucking dungeon. Who does that?! Oh yeah. Collin’s dad. Sick bastard. Trapping a 21-year-old for his perverted fantasies. Probably thought vampires can get angelic grace…or could they?
I was spending my time overthinking shit when I heard Merikh. “Mr. Roth asked me to check on the prisoner,” I overheard him say. Prisoner?! Prisoner?! Oh I am going to kill that son of a bitch when I get out of here, I thought. Then suddenly, I heard metal clanking against each other then a muffled groan. I looked up and saw Merikh opening up the prison door. He ran to me and checked all my cuts and bruises. He saw me with a ripped shirt and my pants are open, “shit, Mia, I am so sorry. I didn’t know he’ll do this,” he said as he untied my wrists. I almost fell but he caught me. He slowly laid me on the ground so he can untie the ones one my ankles. He took his shirt off then discarded the ones I was wearing. He helped me get up after I am fully covered up. I looked up at him and mouthed “thank you”. He nodded and we both walked out. We passed through a secret tunnel out of that Hell hole. When we got out, Collin and Azriel just ran out of the house then walked as they got outside.
Collin ran up to me, he was about to hug me when I winced in pain. He looked up at Merikh, and he just looked down. Azriel asked me if it’s okay for him to look where it’s hurting me, I looked at Merikh and he helped me put my arms around Azriel, who helped me back inside the secret tunnel. Alarms were still blaring, “are you sure no one’s gonna come here?” asked Azriel.
“I’m not sure but either way, we’ll both keep an eye,” replied Merikh.
“What happened in there?!” Collin angrily asked, “I trusted you with Mia! I –“
“I couldn’t – I mean, I fucked up, alright!”
“Oh yes. Yes you did!”
“You know what,” Azriel interrupted, “you both fucked up. Mer, you had one job. Get us in and keep Mia safe. And you. That’s your father. You know him better than any of us. You could’ve given us something to use against him. But no, none of you did what you’re supposed to do, so, shut up and let me heal her. She’s too weak to heal herself. I bet your father used an Angel’s Sword to do this.”
He proceeded to carefully lift the shirt up, he started to heal my back first. Upon seeing my cuts and bruises, he was holding back his tears as he heals me. I held on to Azriel’s arm and gave him a weak smile, reassuring him that I will be okay. He gave me a small nod, agreeing to it, then I winced and groaned when he proceeded to heal the part where my ribs are supposed to be. I held on to Azriel’s shirt a little too tightly. He looked at Collin, “your father broke her ribs. It’ll be painful for her when I heal it, so I need you to take off your belt, let her bite on it.”
Collin took off his belt, folded it, and carefully placed it in my mouth. “Okay, Mia, I need you to hold on. I need you to not make a loud sound when I do this. I am sorry, but I really need you to keep quiet, okay?” he asked me before putting his hand above my ribs, I nodded. When I felt a warm sensation, my ribs started to heal, but holy hell it is fucking painful! I kid you not. I cried and bit hard on the belt, I screamed but the belt has kept it to a minimum. I can hear Azriel repeatedly saying “I’m sorry” while Collin wanted him to stop but Merikh, is of course, against him.
When he was done with my upper body, he wanted to see my legs. He wanted to know if Mr. Roth did as much damage to the lower parts of my body as he did to the upper parts. I consented with it but I asked Merikh and Collin to turn around, which they obliged to do so. I unbuttoned my pants and started taking them off. I only had fewer cuts and bruises on my legs, but Azriel stopped scanning me. He looked me straight in the eyes, “did Mr. Roth do something to you? I mean, beyond the cuts and bruises that he gave. Did he ever touch you inappropriately when you were in there?” Collin turned around the moment Azriel asked the question. I kept my mouth shut.
“Well? Did he?!” Collin wanted to know but I couldn’t say anything. He even looked at Merikh, “he was making quite an advance towards her in his office but I –“ he cuts himself off.
“You what?”
“I was able to stop him but in the basement? I have no idea what he did. But her pants were unbuttoned when I got there.”
Collin punched the wall. He angrily turned to face me when I answered Azriel’s question in my head. They all heard it. They all heard my thoughts say “yes”. Collin’s furious as he paced back and forth, then he stopped. “You three, stay here,” he commanded.
“Where are you going?” Merikh asked.
“I’m going to see my father and kill him.”
“No,” I suddenly said.
“What? What do you mean ‘no’?!”
“No, because, I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” I glared at Collin to let him know that I am serious about it. He still went back inside the house to deal with his father in a way that I can still kill him. Maybe let him suffer, too.