With that he disappeared and Helen was left clutching the sheet around herself, her knuckles white. Her brain had shut down and her heart now ruled her entire being. It was breaking and so everything within her was shutting down, allowing the pain to take over. She wasn't even able to cry, her despair so deep that tears were not enough to convey her misery. So she sat on the bed in a state of disbelief.
"Mom!"
Helen looked up quickly and saw Ashley standing next to John, his hand clasped tightly around her arm. He had such a smug look on his face that she couldn't bare to look at him. She focused entirely on Ashley, knowing that this could very well be the last time she would see her.
"What's going on?" Ashley asked and Helen knew that she was frightened beyond belief. Not to mention shock at seeing her mother wrapped only in a sheet.
Helen got up gracefully and walked to where Ashley was standing. Without saying one word she wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace, willing the past hour to disappear. John started to laugh mirthlessly and only then did Helen release her daughter. She gave John a contemptuous look and he only smiled wider.
"You can hate me as much as you want but it will not stop what has been set into motion."
"Don't do this John." Helen pleaded.
"It's too late Helen. What you've done cannot be undone."
"I'll do anything." Helen cried desperately.
"Anything?" John questioned as he stalked over to Helen and ran his hand down her arm.
"Yes." She looked down to the floor not able to meet neither John's nor Ashley's gazes. Her eyes caught sight of one of the vials and a plan started to quickly formulate in her mind.
"What's going on?" Ashley asked not able to keep quiet any longer. Her mother looked completely defeated, something that Ashley had never seen.
"Your mother and I had an agreement. One which she broke."
"You were never going to return her to me therefore the agreement was never valid. How can you be so hypocritical of something you would have done with no second thought?" Helen defended heatedly.
"Because it's so much fun." John answered in a low whisper. His hand closed tightly over Helen's arm and she barely kept the hiss of pain from escaping her lips.
"What agreement?" Ashley was feeling more and more confused, not to mention frightened. There was a clear history between her mother and this psycho but she couldn't imagine her mom being involved with someone like him. But how could she explain her mother standing only in a sheet with her hair so messy while John was only wearing pants?
"Anything Helen?" John asked again completely ignoring Ashley's question.
Helen kept her head down demurely as she nodded slightly. If only she could get to one of the vials without being detected than she might have a chance at stopping this madness. And there was the issue of getting the syringe full and plunging it into his arm, all without him knowing.
"Mom, what is going on?"
"Hush Ashley." Helen looked up into Ashley's face only to find that her daughter was near tears. "It's going to be alright."
John laughed. "How charming."
Helen cast him a deadly glare and he retaliated by pulling her violently away from Ashley and dragged her over to where his coat lay near the bed. She nearly tripped over the sheet but regained her footing gracefully only to be hauled up against him. He was looking down at her murderously and for one moment all hope fled in the face of his anger.
"Do not tempt me." He slid a knife out of his coat pocket and held it up to her throat. "It would only be too easy to end this now."
"You need my blood to stay alive." Helen said through gritted teeth. "I'll give it to you, straight from my arm, if you leave Ashley here with me." She could tell that he was thinking it over and felt a small victory.
John smiled and leaned toward her. "Agreed."
They both knew that he was lying but Helen had little choice but to play along.
"I'll need a syringe. There should be one located in my study." Helen said quickly. She needed John's attention completely diverted from what she was planning.
"Ashley will retrieve it. And don't think for one second that you will try anything foolish." John said directly to Ashley. "You will only have one minute to get it or your mother will die."
Ashley nodded determinedly, her face set in stone. She gave her mother a long look before she ran to the next room to search for a syringe. Helen looked up at John and found him staring at her.
"You really do look wonderful Helen. Breathtaking as always."
"Stop the flattery John. You are already getting my blood, you don't need to exacerbate the situation by making petty comments."
He chuckled and then sat on the bed. He pulled her down to sit next to him, wrapping his arm around her. He started to hum a tune that Helen found vaguely familiar but was too concerned with the knife he was tapping against her leg to fully pay attention. With each soft hit of the cold blade it only made her heart beat faster. If her plan didn't work she knew exactly what he would do with it and how efficiently he could do it.
Ashley came back into the room holding a syringe and looking mildly triumphant. She noticed the knife in John's hand and her face paled slightly.
"Ah, you've found one." John said pleasantly. He stood and left Helen sitting on the bed. While he was distracted by walking over to Ashley Helen reached down quickly and grabbed the empty syringe that had fallen earlier. With nowhere to conceal it she had to hope that John would not notice it clutched in her hand.
While John was taking the syringe from her, Ashley looked over to Helen and both women knew what had to be done. Something had to be said for the years they had worked so closely together; forming almost a telepathic ability to anticipate the other's next move.
Ashley's hand shot out and punched John in the side of the face so fast that not even he knew that it was coming. Helen took the opportunity to dive for one of the vials that had rolled under the bed, her hand desperately starting to search. She could hear John practically growling and a moment later the two initiated hand to hand combat. Helen wanted nothing more than to join her daughter but getting that syringe filled with the serum was the only way to stop this. Just as her hand closed successfully around it she was yanked back only to be met with the sight of John's face.
And he was furious.
"Do you think to save yourselves? How pathetic." He grabbed her arm and hauled her up to her feet. Leaning in close he said, "This could have ended so differently. I wanted it to end differently."
"We both made our choices long ago John." Helen responded.
"Yes we did." He said quietly, studying her face intently. She heard a groan and looked over to where Ashley lay in a crumpled heap only a few feet away. She made to move but John stopped her.
Helen became only too aware that she still held both syringe and vial in one hand and her panic raised. Fortunately John assumed she was upset over Ashley, and even better he thought that Ashley was too disoriented to present a threat. Helen knew better; it would take more than a small tussle to take Ashley out.
Ashley kicked out her leg and took John's leg out from under him. He crashed to the floor with a curse and Helen jammed the syringe into the vial. Her heart was beating so violently against her chest that it physically hurt and her hands were beginning to shake almost uncontrollable. But years of self-discipline kicked in and she managed to calm her shaking hands and soon the syringe was full. She looked up and saw John holding Ashley in a choke hold with the knife held to her throat.
"No!" Wasting no time Helen rushed forward. John thought she was only making a futile attempt at getting Ashley free so he only smiled, thinking he had the upper hand. His surprised look when she only jammed the needle into his arm was almost laughable if she hadn't been so terrified.
"What have you done?" John asked haltingly after he realized what had happened. For a moment Helen caught something in his eyes, something that pierced her heart more painful than anything physical possibly could; the man she had fell in love with. But that John disappeared and was replaced by the monster he had become.
"Forgive me John." She whispered.
He released Ashley and stumbled back allowing Helen to reach out and envelope her in her arms. Ashley was shaking but trying valiantly to hide it. Both of them turned to find John phasing in and out.
"The five, the others will come." John managed to get out before he finally phased away, leaving only a thick silence.
Helen managed to keep her emotions under tight control and judging by the tight lipped expression on Ashley's face she was doing the same. There would be time enough later, when they were both alone in their separate bedrooms, to let loose their inner turmoil. For the moment, however, Helen hugged her daughter and they clung to one another.
"Mom," Ashley began.
"Please Ashley." Helen interrupted. "I will explain everything later. For now indulge your mother." She only hugged her closer and Ashley returned it.
"Can I ask one thing?" Ashley leaned away and gave her mom a pleading look.
Helen sighed but nodded anyway.
"Could you put some clothes on? Cause it's getting kind of weird." Helen laughed shakily and gave her daughter a quick hug.
They may have just been through hell but they still had each other. And as Helen watched Ashley leave the room to give her privacy she couldn't help the shudder that passed through her. The very real possibility that Ashley could have been taken from her forever once again shook her.
The serum she had injected into John should have killed him. However Helen had underestimated John once and she was hoping that this time she had done enough.
A/N: That's it! Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for all the reviews! But don't worry, you haven't seen the last of me...
