9: but

~~Rose~~

I sat up in bed panting. Another blank night, no one visited me. That never stopped the nightmares from coming. They haunted me all the time.

I heard a cry from another room and sighed, slowly standing up. Mauraline was sitting up in her bed.

Angel babies always grew up until they hit the equivalence of a ten-year-old human child, which took only two years.

Damn the dominance of her angel blood.

"Hi, sweetie," I cooed at her. She giggled at me and put her arms up, asking to be picked up.

I lifted her into my arms and kissed her forehead. She was only about three months old, but she was around the size of a one-year-old child.

She started babbling at me as we moved into the living room of my old apartment.

When we had arrived in the city, it was still abandoned, seemingly dropped off the map after the attack when I still lived here. Just after I met Week.

Week.

I winced at the memory. Had we met under different circumstances, I would have let myself fall in love with him. In a different time.

Without him having kidnapped me.

Maura whimpered and I snapped back into reality before smiling at her and kissing her forehead. I had known what she was trying to do, but I would never fault her for what her bond wanted from her.

"I know, baby. I know," I cooed. I wished things could have been different.

Then I felt it. The tug at my bonds with Week.

On both of them.

I looked at Maura and saw her staring out the balcony doors. I had fixed this place before we dared bring her here, knowing it had been destroyed. No one would know where this was.

Except the people who lived in this city with me.

I set her down on the ground and watched her try to stand on wobbly legs.

"They found us," William said as he walked into the room. He had a bag in his arm full of the emergency supplies we would need to make a quick escape.

I nodded at him as he scooped up Maura who was cooing at the outside.

I walked to the balcony doors as William took Maura to the main door to get her to the bottom floor. I had to distract them while he got Maura away. This was the only way to ensure she lived.

I looked around only to hear a voice from behind me.

"Why would you choose this place, Rosie Girl?"

I quickly faced Michael who had mimicked Week's voice.

"Why are you here?" I asked, caution lacing my words.

"To see my granddaughter of course! Now, where is the little girl?" he asked, excitement lacing his words as he moved through the apartment, searching for any sign of Mauraline.

"She is as much your granddaughter as I am your daughter, and that's putting it extremely loose," I replied, not masking the anger.

Michael looked disappointed, but I knew better.

"Your brother escaped," he said suddenly, making my eyes widen in shock. "So you didn't know?"

"I haven't been around anyone since Mauraline was born."

"Mauraline?" Michael asked before laughing. "So you named her after yourself and the star of the sea?"

"Why are you here, Michael?" I asked.

"As you know, my daughter, I am dying," he started before touching a hole in the wall. I had left it as a memory of what happened here when I let the wrong person in my life. "I need someone to pass on my archangel powers to when I die."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"I have a proposition for you."

I froze in the center of the room. He had never calmly spoke like this before, he always demanded things, never asked.

"I'm listening."

"Come back with me. Be my heiress, and I will never ever harm you, your daughter, or your family again."

"Why should I trust you?" I asked, just before Michael began coughing. When me pulled his hand away from his face, there was blood left behind.

"I do not expect you to, but I only have so much longer left. I will be dead by the end of the week," he said, wiping his blood away and walking towards me. "I don't expect an immediate answer, but I will be back soon for your answer."

Just like that, he was gone and I was left alone inside the place that was once my safe haven, but now it felt foreign.

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

~~Week~~

The letter was thrown across the table towards me once I met up with Lucifer.

"Read it, Xaphan," he spoke, his voice had anger.

'Archdemon Lucifer,

It is under the understanding of the Archangel council that you have been harboring half-breeds, half angel, half demon hybrids. It has also come to our attention that one of them has killed another archangel. Present these creatures now, so we may destroy them, after they can not belong in either world.

Failure to do this shall result in war.'

"I am not giving up either of my granddaughters," Lucifer said, his gaze locked on Angel and Kai in the courtyard. "I love them too much."

"So what will you do?"

"I will go to war, and I will create a place where my family will be safe. Mark my words, all of them will belong somewhere."

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

~~Levi~~

I slightly peeked out from my hiding place and watched the exchange between Lucifer and Week. I had known that they were planning this, but I also knew one other thing.

They would stop if I handed myself back to them.

"Levi!"

I turned and faced Week as he ran down the hall towards me.

"I know what you're thinking, but don't do it. You belong here. With us," he said to me, and I suddenly felt happy. I nodded at him and walked away, so much on my mind before stepping into my room and taking the sheet off the wall, covering my progress.

I needed to find the three of them, but there were so many places they could have escaped to. I was amazed to hear that Rose was alive, but I knew what that meant and I had to get to her.

Before Michael got to her first.