6: than

****WARNING****

~~Rose~~

Fear coats my veins with ice every time I try to look at Zayn's room. I've been like this for weeks now, paranoia getting to me. Levi told me he was on his way back here two weeks ago, yet he has never appeared.

"Morning, Rosie!" I hear and turn to see Angel smiling at me.

"Hi, Angel," I replied, trying to keep the stuttering out of my words. I pulled my baggy shirt a little more forward as I spoke to her. My baby bump was very prominent now, due to Liam's constant nagging about how much I was eating.

"How are you today?" she asked, her green eyes sparkling a bit. Fear clinched in my gut.

"Just tired, and y-you?" I flinched at my stutter. This was it, she was gonna figure it out.

"I'm great! You look so much better, all your color is back and I can't see your ribs through your shirt anymore," she said, smiling more at me.

'Yeah, because I have a baby that's coming within the next week and a half...'

"Yeah, that's due to William making sure I'm eating well," I replied.

"That's good, I best be off then," she started, "and Rosie?"

I hummed in response. "If something's bothering you, you know I'm here for you, right?" she asked, her face suddenly turning dark and serious. I nodded and felt the fear come back.

"Great!" she called in her melodious voice of content. A breath I didn't realize I was holding rushed out.

~~~~~

"There you are, sunshine!" I heard from the kitchen as I pushed the doors open. William stood by the doors. "I was just about to come get you up. I have food ready for you."

I looked at the table and saw an array of food, enough to feed a small army. "Liam, this is too much!" I said and received a tongue click from him as he put me at the end of the table.

"Oh, hush. I need you to be healthy, and plus I didn't make all of this," he said and sat down at my side, piling a plate full of food.

"Then who did?" I asked. Suddenly, Week walked in with another tray full of pancakes. His easygoing smile made me feel a little lighter inside, but I shook it away.

'Enough, Rose. Week is NOT your soulmate. Lizzie is and you will never have her.'

"Thanks for the food," I called to him and he smiled up at me. My heart fluttered again. 'Damn it.'

"You're welcome. You need to build up your strength. Don't worry about cleaning up after yourself, I'll take care of it when I get back," he said, pulling off the white apron he had on and walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I called, instantly regretting it. 'Weak.'

He turned to me with a sickening smile that made some fear pop up, but not as bad as it normally was. "To take care of something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Week~~

I stepped down the back stairwell quietly before seeing Angel coming up.

"How's our guest?" I ask as she walks past me. She stops on the step behind me.

"Breathing. You have already done quite the number on him," she replied, I could practically taste the malice in her voice.

"He deserves worse than this, but keeping him alive is valuable," I replied, feeling the slithering under my skin again.

"Why do you want me to continue taking away his pain then?" she asked.

"So I can make him keep feeling her pain on repeat without fear of him dying."

I continued on my trek down the stairs and soon enough the windows stopped opening up and letting light in. The only source of the glow was the ever-burning torches that lined the walls.

The door to the prison was thick iron and the barrier surrounding it kept the prisoners in, and their accomplices out.

I stepped inside and walked to the farthest door in the wing. I pulled him away from the others just in case they caught wind of what he did and killed him for it.

Not that I'm completely against that though.

"Go away, Xaphan," I heard him call out as I opened the door.

He was cuffed to a chair with iron shackles that restrained his magic, thus making his wings prominent. His clothes were torn, but his skin was healed over, removing all but the deepest scars.

"Awww, Zayn, that's no way to talk to the one who takes care of you, now is it?" I cooed and shut the heavy door behind me.

His eyes were defiant against mine. I started to walk towards him and kicked his right wing away from my path. I had only let him keep his left wing attached, but the right one was to make him sorrowful for losing the very thing that angels prided themselves on.

That and forcing women to bow to them.

I stopped in front of him and bent down to meet his eyes.

"Poor, defenseless Zayn. Isn't it sad to be so powerless, at my mercy?" I asked. "Good." I replied when he lightly nodded.

"When will you stop this?" he asked, his defiance feeding the demon just under my skin.

"When you feel her pain or when I decide to kill you. Whichever I decide." I walked over to the table on the far wall. It was lined with knives, ropes, whips, and a variety of chemicals to make the pain last longer. All of this mean for his torture.

"How will you even face her and her baby after this?" he asks into the darkness. "I know you'll never forget that baby is mine, but how will you deal with your promised and soulmate loving a spawn that isn't yours?"

I picked up the knife crusted in the blood from when I cut off his other wing and turned back towards him. He was staring at the door, waiting for my answer.

"With all the love and respect in the world. The baby isn't the problem here," I started and walked up to his back where his left wing attached to the shoulder blade. "No matter what happens, you are the confounding variable blocking my results. I think it's time to take care of this asymmetry, it's driving me absolutely insane!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Levi~~

Being slammed into the room with Week was the last thing I had expected, especially with Rose's absence.

"I was to get Rosalina to have a new heir. A strong-blooded male who could Michael could groom into the perfect new ruler." Zayn said into the room. His voice was dark, almost under a spell.

"How were you planning on doing that?" Week asked, and I could feel Xaphan slamming up into his skin, filling Week's veins with the dark power.

"I've raped her daily since she's woken up."

I watched Zayn wake up and try to fight back, but I had never seen Xaphan actually take over Week before. For as long as I've known him, he was always in complete control over his demon.

I couldn't help but watch Week almost completely tear him apart until Angel and Kai came running into the room.

Kai threw Week across the room and restrained him behind some kind of wall while Angel captured a bloodied Zayn.

"What happened?" Angel called, but only got a hiss from Xaphan as he stared at Zayn. His eyes were glowing red and they even seemed to be producing flames and heat. Angel sighed and took an unconscious Zayn from the room while Kai held Xaphan back.

Watching him come down from that was hard to see. As soon as Kai was satisfied he released the barrier.

"We'll talk about this in the morning, Week," he called to him before following out after Angel.

"I know you're here, Levi," Week said and made me jump. "I can see your aura glow. I have a request for you."

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see it.

"If you somehow talk to Rose, don't tell her what I know. She doesn't need to know."

With his words, I felt Rose calling for me.

She came to my vision with a smile on her face.

"I guess William got there well then?"