Battle with Balthazar...

Lying on the ground with my back hurting like crazy, I looked up at the bastard who flung me across the room like a rag doll.

                      "What's the matter? The mighty Black Rose can't take a hit?" Balthazar sneered.

      I got up and drew my guns. I ignored the pain in my back and took aim. With a flick of his wrists my guns flew out of my hands and skittered across the floor a few feet away from me. In an instant he was in front of me and had his hand around my throat, lifting me a few feet off the ground.

                "Not so tough without your guns." He spat.

                         "Let her go." I saw that Alex had his axe poised and ready to attack as he stood behind Balthazar.

                          "I suggest you put that away boy, unless you don't care for your leader's life." Balthazar said not even taking his evil yellow eyes off of me as he strangled me.

    I was starting to get light headed. I looked over at Alex and gave him a pleading look to stand down. He reluctantly lowered his axe, never taking his eyes off the demon for a moment.

                    "That's a good little human." Balthazar sneered then punched me hard in the stomach before throwing me across the room again.

    I slowly get back up on my feet.  I reached for Excalibur but stopped in mid-reach as a pain shot through my body like lightning. I dropped to one knee and glared at Balthazar.

[Damn!] I thought to myself, [As if strangling me wasn't enough he had to break a few of my ribs too.]

"What's the matter Rosie?" he chuckled evilly as he made his way towards me, "Not up to the task?"

                "Leave her alone!" I looked past the demon general to see Nicolai's little sister, Danielle, standing there with whip in hand.

Balthazar turned around and gave a dark laugh, "Or what?"

    "Danielle, stay out of this!" I called out as I frantically tried to get up, "This doesn't involve you!"

                "Oh, but it does now." Just then Danielle moved as if an invisible force had pulled her and ended up in the clutches of the demon general.

"DANIELLE!!" Nicolai cries out and rushes to save his sister but is flung across the room and sent crashing into a weapon rack with the flick of Balthazar's wrist.

"Balthazar, leave her out of this! This is between you and me, she has nothing to do with this." I called out.

                "But my sweet Rose," he said as he grinned wickedly, "She worked so hard to get my attention and I think she deserves a little reward for that."

He laughed as he threw Danielle over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes, and then disappeared through the portal.

"DANIELLE!!" Nicolai cried out as he got up and rushed after her but it was too late. The portal was closed.

-------------------------

 *(Alex's P.O.V)*

   Three hours later we were all back at Nicolai's penthouse, sitting outside of Sophie's room, waiting for her guardian angel to come out and tell us how she was.

               "Alex, would you please stop pacing, you're going to put a hole in the floor if you keep that up." I stopped in my tracks as I snapped back to reality at Abby's words.

I looked at Abby who was right next to me and had a hand on my shoulder with a concerned look on her face. Over in the corner was Garth, growling to himself and glaring at me.

[What is wrong with me? Why didn't I attack him when I had the chance?] I thought, blaming myself for what happened to Sophie.

"There is no use in blaming yourself Mr. Walker." Nicolai said, obviously reading my thoughts, "Sophie is a strong young woman and a few cracked ribs will not stop her from getting stuff done. Trust me on this, she will be fine."

Nicolai's carefree tone was gone and his face was filled with concern. Even though he said Sophie will be fine I could not help but worry.

      [These feelings,] I thought to myself not caring if the vampire read my mind, [I am worried about Sophie but why am I worried.]

                        "You care about her don't you?" I turned around to see Garth standing there.

                       "W-what are you talking about…"I said nervously.

                        "It's nice of you to worry about my fiancée, but let's get one thing clear… Sophie is mine and mine alone. If I even catch you looking at her funny, I will slice open your throat, cut open your belly and feed your insides to my pack. Got it?" Garth growled.

                            "Hey chill, ok?" I had to make up an excuse or I'm dog chow, "Only a crazy person would like a girl like her. She's bossy, rude, and her hair…"

"What about my hair?" I quickly turn around only to see Sophie at the door, looking very annoyed.

"S-Sophie… hey, how are you feeling?" I was scared out of my mind; I had just made myself look like an idiot in front of Sophie.

                           "I've been better." She said as she clutched her side. Seeing her like that made my chest ache, I couldn't even look her in the eye. I felt like such a failure.

"Now is not the time to mope Alex." She said to me, "Right now we need to find out what Balthazar is planning to do with the Leviathan."

"That's it?" Nicolai replied with a hint of anger in his voice, "What about Danielle!?"

"Nicolai, I know you're angry about Danielle being taken, but we have to think about the big picture here."

"You're damn right I'm angry!" Nicolai stands up and starts to shout, "My sister, your friend, has been taken by a demon general and you aren't going to do a damn thing about it!?"

"Nicolai, calm your ass down!" I shout back but then Nicolai bares his fangs in a threatening manner.

"Stay out of this slayer!" He growled.

"Nicolai, listen to me we will get your sister back but we need to find out what Balthazar is planning to do with the leviathan first." Sophie said in a commanding tone, "We need to look at the bigger picture otherwise we could be facing total destruction of life as we know it."

Nicolai looked down at the ground with his fists clenched. He obviously was not going to let this go and we just might need his knowledge of demons to save the world from Balthazar. I had to do something to help him realize that there was much more at stake than just his sister's life.

"How old are you?" I asked cautiously.

He looked up at me and said with an irritated tone, "I'm twenty-five."

"Your real age, Nicolai." Sophie said as if commanding Nicolai.

"I am three hundred and twenty-five years of age." He replied, "Why do you need to know?"

"What about your sister?" I asked prying a bit further.

"She is three hundred and fifteen." He responded, even more agitated now, "I'm sorry, how exactly is this going to save Danielle?!"

"I understand you are frustrated, your little sister has just been taken. I get why you are upset but you have lived well over three hundred years and so has your sister. So I am thinking somewhere along the lines you two have learned how to survive in difficult situations."

"What's your point Mr. Walker? Sure we have survived for more than three centuries but it will be all for nothing if Lucifer gets his bloody hands on my sister!" Exclaimed Nicolai.

"ENOUGH!!"Shouted Sophie, then turned to Nicolai and said, "Cool your fangs,Nick! We will save Danielle but we need your cooperation in order for that to happen."

Nicolai was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll do it, but for the sake of my sister and no one else. Your precious human world can burn for all I care." He then turned on his heels and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.