Hahahaha- I am SO sorry. My writing muse abandoned me, the cow. I have bribed her back with promises of higher caffeine doses and actually remembering to sleep once in a while.

Expect a couple of new chapters in about (six months) soonish and enjoy the new carefully chosen theme songs for each chapter. But expect a lot of Disturbed songs.

I really like Disturbed. ;

Theme song for chapter: AFI – Prelude 12/21

Alyssa glanced out the window. The sun was just starting to set.

Loretta... Where are you?

She knew that Loretta was strong, but somewhere inside, Alyssa could not escape the gnawing feeling that she wasn't strong enough to defeat the likes of Scissorman. She wanted to believe it was not so...

Even though she knew she should seek out her sister Ruder, the thought of facing Ralph again immediately brought back the chill of fear deep in her stomach. She just didn't think she could.

"Please, please come back safe. Please..." She whispered, praying Loretta would step from the portal in a shimmer of blue magic, to tell her that finally, finally Ralph was gone...

But she didn't.

Alyssa's fear swelled in the pit of her stomach and she wrung her hands in despair. There was nothing she could do but go and find Loretta. There was no way she could face Annette should something befall her daughter.

Hands shaking, Alyssa grasped the delicate crystal bottle of holy water and splashed the portal once... Twice... Three times until it came to life with a hum of concentrated magic. She glared with tear-reddened eyes at her mirror, wishing a curse on Ralph and the fear he made her feel.

Scissorman... I might fear you, but if you've killed Loretta, I will make you pay...

The girl was pretty much dead, which was a shame Ralph thought. She'd only stopped screaming a few moments ago.

Then again he had to hand it to her... She'd screamed longer and louder than any of the others...

"Lo-re-tta" Ralph sang, digging the tip of a blade into her cheek and twisting it. It pierced her flesh and he felt it clack against the fallen Ruder's teeth, but still she did not awaken.

"Hmph. I bet Alyssa wouldn't have given up yet.' He murmured, paused and then grinned. "Speak and she shall appear, is it?" He turned to look at the red-headed girl with his piercing black stare.

Alyssa did not meet Ralph's eyes. She could only stare at Loretta's pitifully broken body.

"What... Did you do...?" She whispered, visibly swaying. Ralph grinned, surveying his handiwork...

Loretta's body was maimed by a series of deep, overlapping cuts. These gruesome planes in the flesh wept bloody tears, staining what remained of the girl's clothing garish red and a darker rust colour where the blood had begun to dry...

"... How could you?' Alyssa's mouth was dry, and her stomach was churning, hot and sick "How DARE you!" She screamed but then choked, bringing her hand to her mouth as her stomach threatened to expel its contents. Ralph's grin stretched wider.

"I think she looks a lot better this way, don't you?' He crooned, caressing Loretta's blood-soaked hair. "No self-righteous posture, no arrogant talk..." He reached slowly for his other blade as Alyssa shook with rage.

"Don't touch her, Ralph... I'll... I'll kill you." Her hands tightened around the holy bottle and Ralph laughed.

"No, you won't. Look at you... You're terrified, aren't you?" he taunted. Alyssa tried to come up with some kind of retort, but her tongue suddenly felt too big for her mouth. Ralph picked up his blade from the table, letting it scrape ominously against the worn wood.

Alyssa's breath came in short bursts. She couldn't seem to retain enough air in her lungs. Facing him now, after seeing Loretta so broken, felt like suffocating.

"Ralph... Please.' She whispered "Please, let me take her home?" Ralph smiled, shaking his head as he took a step away from the table.

"She's served her purpose, Alyssa.' He said "She's brought you here to me." He suddenly raised his blades in an X shape. "Let's fight!" And he rushed at her.

Alyssa cried out. She just didn't have time to move before he barrelled into her and she was sent skidding painfully across the stone floor. She came to a halt next to one of the dungeon's gruesome torture devices.

Ralph clicked his tongue lightly "Nice defence, honeybee." He said sarcastically. It almost annoyed him that she was being so useless. Of course, seeing her so afraid was delicious, but Scissorman did enjoy a challenge...

"SHUT UP!" Alyssa screamed, raising herself up on bloodied knees "Just shut up, Scissorman!" She got up slowly, clutching an aching shoulder. Ralph smiled;

That was more like it.

As he ran towards her, Alyssa's holy bottle shone and transformed itself into the bow. She drew a green repellent arrow from her magical arsenal and shot it at Ralph. He dodged it, but as it shot past him, he could smell the deadly Ruder magic within it. Her powers had grown, even in her terrified state.

Cursing, Alyssa restrung the bow with another arrow, but she didn't have time to release it before Ralph was there in front of her, his blades coming for her throat. She was forced to release the arrow too early for it to do any damage and use the bow to block Ralph's attack.

Her shoulders strained with effort as he bore down on her. Sparks of magic flew from the friction of the twin swords on the enchanted bow. Alyssa could feel sweat on her brow as Ralph skull-like grin mocked her.

"Get OFF!" She pushed back as hard as she could, channelling her magic into the bow as much as possible. It glowed with raw power and Ralph was finally pushed off. He skidded backwards, but managed to stay on his feet. He smiled.

"Oh, you're so much more fun when you're angry, honeybee." He teased. Alyssa was panting, trying to get her strength back after her last attack. It had taken more out of her then she thought it would and she was angry at herself for misjudging it.

"Fuck... You..." She hissed and Ralph smirked.

"Alyssa, my heart bleeds... Just like I'm going to make yours do...' Blue magic flickered around his blades and he looked into her eyes "But I have more practical means then petty insults..." Alyssa paled as she realized what attack he was planning.

She had never been able to completely dodge the crescent-moons of razor-sharp magic Ralph could send flying towards her faster than he could move himself. She turned and ran, but there was nowhere to go...

Tendrils of blue magic surrounded Ralph's form as he watched the Ruder desperately try to escape. "I've a present for you, honeybee..." he whispered and then sent hundreds of small, but lethally sharp crescents of magic towards her.

Alyssa's heightened senses let her know without having to look that death was swiftly approaching her. She threw herself to the ground but as expected, was unable to dodge them all. She cried out as she felt sharp pieces of magic slice through the back of her shirt.

She felt winded as she lay on the ground and thought it was strange that her back wasn't hurting nearly as much as she had expected. But it was a trend with dangerously deep wounds; they never did feel quite as serious as they were. This was confirmed when she felt warm, wet blood spread from her back.

Ralph approached her slowly and deliberately. He smiled at how still she was, obviously in a state of shock.

"It seems you mistimed that, Alyssa..." He cackled as he got close enough to see the pool of bright crimson flowing from her back. Alyssa bit back a whimper as she moved and the wound stung fiercely.

If she didn't get up, she knew Scissorman would finish her right then and there.

"... Bastard!" she choked out, gritting her teeth and flipping herself over. A hiss escaped her lips as fresh pain stabbed through her. Ralph stopped a few feet in front of her.

"Honeybee...' he said "You're finished."

Alyssa opened her mouth to curse him, but no sound came out. She was confused for a second before she felt coldness sweep through her...

He was right.

Ralph smiled as a glaze spread over the Ruder's eyes and she slipped quietly down into a pool of her own blood, not dead, but the next best thing...

"Now...' he said, moving towards the fallen girl and scooping her into his arms "The real fun begins..."

Alyssa's eyes twitched and then opened a fraction. She felt groggy and exhausted. Letting out a little moan, she tried to remember a time when she had felt so... Drained.

Then, her eyes flew open as she remembered what had happened. She looked around wildly finding herself still to be in the dungeon and also... tied down to the very slab she had rescued Dennis from over a year earlier.

For a moment, she just stared at her bonds, stunned. How had this happened? Why hadn't Ralph just killed her?

A noise behind her made her strain her head to look, but the bonds made it almost impossible. She caught a glimpse of Ralph's back. He appeared to be busy with something, but her view was blocked.

"Ralph...?" She murmured stupidly and almost immediately tensed up. Ralph stopped what he was doing and looked slowly over his shoulder, a malicious smile spreading across his face.

"Ah, you're awake...' He said in an almost pleasant way that frightened her "I was beginning to wonder if you'd lost a little too much blood." Alyssa just stared at him and he shrugged, picking something up from the table and turning, but hiding whatever it was behind his back. Alyssa's eyes followed him as he moved towards her, keeping his hand hidden behind his back. Fantasies of gruesome blades and hooks filled Alyssa's head but defiantly, she pushed them away.

"Where's Loretta, Scissorman?" She demanded and Ralph waved the question away with his free arm.

"Are you really in a position to be taking that tone with me, honeybee?" He chided. It frightened her that she really was at his mercy, but Alyssa still glared at him, gritting her teeth. She was terrified, but she couldn't do anything more than pretend she wasn't.

"Just tell me where she is, you bastard!" She growled, testing the heavy shackles binding her wrists to the slab. They were made of an incredibly heavy metal and she could barely move her arms, let alone hope to pull free. She looked over to see Ralph's smile widening to something sinister and evil...

"You want to know where dear, little Loretta is?" He asked. Alyssa nodded curtly and he answered;

"Right here."

Alyssa stared at him in confusion and Ralph slowly began to move closer to her "You see, honeybee, with you unconscious I needed something to do while you were out and your fellow Ruder was all I had to play with..." He came to a stop right next to the slab, standing over her.

Alyssa tried to keep her voice from trembling as she asked her next question "What do you mean she's right here...?" She whispered and Ralph laughed.

"Part of her anyway..." he said, bringing his hidden hand forwards...

Loretta's face was grey. Her wide open eyes were devoid of any life and tears tinged pink with blood ran from them. Her mouth gaped and congealed black-red ooze stained her lips, her chin...

And the ragged, bloody stump of her neck.

Alyssa stared in horror at the severed head as Ralph's eyes shone with malevolent glee.

"Well honeybee, what are you going to do now?"

She began to scream.

Eep.

Uh... I promise I'm not a sick person, I'm just inside Ralph's mind a little more than I would like at the moment. It's all for your sake, anyway, I'm trying to get his character right...

What's going to happen to Aly? Oh dear... Well, I promise you not the same thing as poor Lorry.

... This does not mean for a second that I can't think of several things that are worse, however.

Cower in fear!