Chapter 9

A/N:

Me: Yes…still own nothing other than Everyone's Favorite Couple, and funny hat girl. Don't know what it's gonna take to convince some people…

Lizzie: Are humans always this thick?

Me: Yes. Yes indeed. Review. I could use more. Still, I REFUSE to turn this story into a BLOODY SELF-INDULGENT PLOTLESS FLUFF-FIC! I refuse to give up substance for reviews. I'll save it for the epilogue.

Soooo….without further ado…THE CHAPTER!

"Could this be it?"

Lizzie looked down at the vial of greenish liquid before her, and beamed weakly, but triumphantly. She sighed, and pressed her face into her palms, trying not to breathe in the fumes from the antidote. She rubbed her throbbing forehead. The realization of her discovery hit her hard, making her sway against the lab table. Oh God…I'm free!

Without warning, tears formed in Lizzie's eyes. In the five days she'd been at Finkelstein's castle, she was surprised that her parents hadn't located her. Rather than it being a pleasant surprise, it was bittersweet. She thoroughly regretted running away. Her employer was not as he had first appeared; friendly, and congenial. Lizzie never did trust him though. She smelled a rat from the first time he cracked a fake smile at her.

He was truly, an inside-out, sick, twisted bastard. His tone was no longer light, but bitter, or sarcastic, depending on his mood. His standards were high, and Lizzie had time limits for select chores such as clearing the table, or mopping the floor. If she failed to meet the criteria, or did the task too slowly, Finkelstein would beat her to a pulp with a long, wooden cane, with a cold, blunt silver tip. Or, if he was feeling particularly nasty, he'd cut her with a machete.

He would deprive her of food whenever he felt like it, and the food she did receive was meager. If she rebelled at all, she was knocked unconscious. Between the speed cleaning, the beatings, starvation, and staying up all night, she was left listless, and exhausted.

Worst of all, he acted as if he begrudged only her. He never beat his lab assistant, Igor, who left at night. When she asked her captor why Igor couldn't do all the shit she had to do, he hit her, and told her that it wasn't what he was paid for.

Finally, after all the trials she had faced, she was confident that she had found the antidote, after numerous tests. With her head in the clouds, she sprung from the lab table; rummaging through the shelves for a syringe. She spotted one on the top.

She glanced around the room for a stepping stool. She seized a sizable black chair, and placed it before the shelves. She hosted herself on top of it, and reached for the needle on tiptoe.

Suddenly, she slipped. The chair fell over from under her. She grabbed a shelf on a reflex action, but she knew in a second that it would break.

The wooden board slid out. Lizzie went tumbling to the floor, with an avalanche of books and tools on top of her.

"Damn it…" she growled from underneath the mound. She fought her way through the fallen items, and stood shakily, her body aching.

Rolling at her feet was a plastic wrapped syringe.

Lizzie groaned. "Son of a bitch."

She bent over to seize it, when something at her left caught her eye.

It was an open sketchbook rattled with curious drawings, wand dozens of loose paper, so yellowed and old that they looked like parchment. Needle in hand, Lizzie got down on her knees, and crawled over to it.

She flipped through the first ten or so pages, labeled "Hypothesis," in messy scrawl. She blinked. A scientific Experiment.

There were many sketches, and measurements, all illegible. But the creation itself was very clear. His project was none other than Lizzie's mother, Sally.

Her head spun. She remembered in her childhood, she had innocently asked if Sally had a mother. Sally had gone pale, and told her she had been 'built,' but she had spoken tearfully, so that her father scolded Lizzie, and warned her never to bring it up again.

Trembling Lizzie stood again, and hurriedly unwrapped the needle, grabbed the vial, stuck the point of the needle into the bottle, and filled it with precision (A/N: I didn't go to med school. I don't know how accurate my descriptions are. It's just a story. Don't sure. Don't flame.) Her sink or swim instinct took over.

She had to leave.

But more overwhelming was her guilt for running away to her mother's long-time captor. She was so angry. All he had done to her, he had done to her mother. He knew who she was, and he took her in anyway, and beat the shit out of his granddaughter.

Seething with fury, Lizzie shoved the needle into her pocket, and looked around for a blunt object. She saw a glint in the dim lighting of the right corner of the lab. She charged towards it. Finkelstein had left his cane. Smiling wickedly, she took it, and ran out the door and down the hall to Finkelstein's bedchamber.

She threw open the door to see the old man sitting by the open window, inhaling the night air, a heavy book in his lap. He looked at Lizzie, his eyes growing wide with fear when he saw his beloved cane in Lizzie's clutches.

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing girl? I still have my machete."

"I quit."

Finkelstein wheeled towards her, and grabbed her free arm.

"No you don't. Not if I can help it."

"Let go." She said, pulling away. She gave him a knock on the head with the cane.

"Ow!" He moaned, drawing back, so that he yanked off Lizzie's arm. It tore with a sickening rip. Lizzie hissed in pain, and glared at the doctor. He sneered at her.

"Your arm. Don't leave home without it."

Bastard. He actually though that was clever, Lizzie thought. She brandished the cane in her remaining fist.

"Do you think that's going to stop me, Doctor…" she sibilated fiercely. "Or should I say…Grandpa?"

His jaw dropped. "Y-you know…"

"You insufferable bastard…." Lizzie took a step towards him again. "You abuse my mother. Then, you take me in, even though you know damn well I was lying through my teeth with that Calloway crap, and I ran away from my parents. Then you BLUDGEON ME WITH THIS GOD DAMN CANE!" She held it above her head.

"This is for Sally!"

She swung the cane back, uncontrollable in her rage. She struck the doctor hard on the head, knocking him unconscious. She whacked his lifeless legs, sending the wheelchair, toppling to the floor.

She pried her arm out of his hands, and made off with it through the hallway, down the stairs and out the door into the night.

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The Next day, say…late afternoon….

Sally's heart pounded in her chest, as she stood in front of Finkelstein's Castle. In the five days she had been searching for Lizzie this was the one person she hadn't questioned. And with all the pandemonium regarding her daughter's disappearance, the monster was still alive in Town's square, awaiting execution.

She sighed, the old memories creeping up on her. She drew herself tall, and knocked on the door.

She waited for the whirring sound of the electric wheelchair. She folded her arms. Here goes.

The door opened slowly.

Standing in the door frame was the doctor, just as she remembered him. Frail and old, with that stupid curly lip. He was holding a bag of ice to his forehead. Sally could have smiled; it gave her hope. Lizzie's childhood baby-sitters had suffered similarly.

The doctor groaned at the sight of her.

"Well hello, my dear. Long time no see. Come back to help me in my old age?"

Sally swallowed hard, and glared at the doctor. "I'll cut to the chase, doc. My daughter is missing. Have you seen her?"

The doctor blinked. "No. Can't say that I have. Of course, you never brought her over."

Sally rolled her eyes, and held out her hand. "She's about yea high, and looks like me with shorter hair."

"Nope. Can't say that I have."

"Massssster…" a voice hissed from the hallway behind the doctor. Sally peered over his shoulder to see a little hunchback hobbling towards them. Igor. Finkelstein's lab assistant. The doctor turned around.

"I found dees in de lab…I tink it belongs to de leetle girl."

He held up a black backpack, with the initials LS sewn into them. Finkelstein gaped in horror, and ushered Igor away. Sally gasped.

"She was here!"

Finkelstein threw up his hands in surrender.

"Fine. You got me! And for all it's worth she is just like you. Maybe worse." He pointed to his head.

Sally was livid. She clenched her teeth. "She was here and you didn't bother to tell me?"

"She gave me a fake name. She called herself Liz Calloway. Came looking for a job as my assistant, asking to be paid with access to my lab."

She took a step forward, balling up her fists. "But you knew who she was! You knew she was lying! You knew she was a runaway! But you put her up! And judging by that head wound, she had to fight her way out of it!"

The doctor was silent.

"Where is she now?"

"How should I know?" Finkelstein said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"What did you do to her? Did you beat the living shit out of her like you did me?" She neared him again. The Doctor's eyes were wide with fear.

"You can't take a little Deadly Nightshade in stride can you?"

"You poisoned me!"

Sally groaned. "Fifteen years ago! Because you were holding me captive! What the hell did I do that was so horrible, that made you hurt my daughter?" Her eyes welled with bitter, angry tears. "My little girl. We've been looking for days, and she's been here the whole time!"

With that, she let her rage take control, and she kicked the wheelchair over, sending Finkelstein wailing onto the floor.

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Later that night…

11:45 PM

(A/N Yes…You may disagree with the timing. I know Finkelstein can't live that far away from Town Square . But take into consideration the time it took for Lizzie to sewn her arm back on, her exhausted state, and her many physical ailments causing her to limp.)

"A little bit further…"

Lizzie whimpered in pain as she clambered up the hill. She had taken to crawling when her legs had given out, and she could feel blood beneath her fingernails as they dug into the ground. She arrived at the top, and stared at Town Square over the horizon. She tried to stand up. She shuddered. She saw wood stage in the middle of the square. Balanced on it was the steel cage, housing Damien.

From her spot on the hill, she could see him pacing in the moonlight. She couldn't begin to comprehend what time it was, but she knew she had to hurry. But she could run; the hill laws too steep. She'd faint. Reluctantly, she took the fragile syringe from her pocket, and held it above her head. She let her knees give way, and rolled down the hill like a barrel, holding the precious needle out.

She stopped in a patch of leaves. Dizzily, she held her head with her free hand, and looked around. She was a mere yard away from the cage. She crawled to it, wincing.

"I'm coming Damien…"

"Lizzie?" A timid voice whispered form the cage.

Lizzie hoisted herself onto the stage, and inched towards the steel box.

She looked up. There sat Damien, even more emaciated, and miserable than she. He blinked at her, his eyes shining with tears in the light of the moon.

"L-Lizzie…" he choked, peering though the cage at her. She grinned weakly, her eyes welling up. He reached out a big, pale hand to cress her cheek.

"You came back…"

"I promised Damien." She responded.

"Oh God…It's you…It's really you!"

Lizzie laughed shortly. "Yes. I'm so glad to see you too. Even in this condition!

"Darling…you look terrible. Beautiful, but terrible nonetheless."

"It doesn't matter." Lizzie said in a breath. "I've got it." She held up the antidote. She closed her eyes.

"I might have gone to hell and back for it, but its here."

Damien smiled sadly. "My angel."

He clutched his ribs, as if speaking had hurt him.

"Oh…" Lizzie's voice caught. "What happened to you Damien? Did they beat you?"

"No…" he sighed. "Some people threw things at me, and stood around my cage just to gawk. They barely fed me…Lizzie…will they accept me once you get me out of this mess?"

Lizzie nodded confidently. "I'll make them."

Then, from somewhere in the night, the clock tower struck midnight. As the bell tolled, Lizzie's heart nearly stopped.

The lovers exchanged a look of horror. Damien was breathing heavily.

"Lizzie…RUN!"

Lizzie backed away from the cage, suddenly finding her strength. She moved slowly, stunned by the rapid transformation she had begun to recognize too well.

To Be continued…

A/N: Wow. God, I hope I left you all in suspense! Muhahaaa! (T.V Announcer voice) Will I kill off Lizzie? Will I kill off Damien? Will there be a happily ever after? Will Sally have a stroke from the shock of it all? Find out in the next installment of Treacherous Romance!

(deep breath.) Okay…Like to thank my wonderful Beta/ person, Nicole, for editing my mistake-ridden story, and the much needed encouragement when I got stuck.

Keep the reviews coming!

Finkelstein is a rat bastard!

Lotsa Love,

Anna!