WARNING- This chapter contains violence and is not suitable for younger readers. For this, I am changing my fiction rating to Teen. Thank you.

Winner of Last Chapter's Question: HollyluvsArty! YAY!

Question of the Chapter: Who is Nikki?

Hint: There are three clues already hidden in the text of last chapter (Chapter 19). Good luck!

Nevermore

Chapter 20:

The Excruciating Screech of Evil's Pain

Artemis rushed out of the door with his wife in his arms. She was protesting, and he had no clue why. "Wait, Artemis! Please, James-" She yelled. Artemis sighed. What if he had hurt her? He held her protectively to his chest and for once she stopped squirming and held on. He could still hear her murmuring something, but he just kept running. This place really was a maze.

The huge network of rooms called a metal hospital, or Artemis's private hell, was still dark and frightening. The route that had took him hours to search, took him only five minutes to get out of. He could vaguely remember where everything was, like where to turn. Holly looked snug in his arms and warm. He prayed to God she was okay. Once he reached the doors, it was only a few more steps towards the car. He placed Holly against the car door.

She looked up at him. He was panting and tired, yet still reaching hurriedly for his keys. "Artemis…" Holy said softly. "James didn't do it." Artemis looked up at her. He once was calm, but now was startled by what she had said. James had raped her, what was she talking about?

"Holly-"

"No Artemis. It's a long story, but he was right. I wasn't thinking straight. I had gotten everything all wrong. Please, you have to get him out of there." Holly grabbed onto his hand and looked up in his eyes. He hated it when she looked at him like that. It looked like she was begging him. How could he resist? Artemis looked down at her and sighed. It was Holly; he couldn't resist.

"Get in the car and wait." He growled and then left into the building. Artemis grumbled as he walked intentionally slow to the two unconscious bodies. He picked up the supposedly not-guilty rapist and walked back, but faster this time. Well he tried to. He was heavier than anything. Artemis was practically dragging James. He breathed a sigh of relieve when he walked into the cold fresh air.

Without hesitation, he pushed the unconscious James into the backseat of his car and got into the driver seat. Holly handed him his keys and he shoved the right one in the emission. Artemis was already speeding down the road in two seconds. Holly gave him a distressing look.

"Artemis, are you mad at me?" she asked quivering slightly. Artemis had never been mad at her before. She could pace back and forth and yell at him for hours, but he would just sit there and listen, as if he didn't mind. He told her once that he really didn't mind if she screamed or yelled at him, because he knew that she loved him and that they would figure it out. Now Artemis seemed frustrated. All Holly wanted was for James to be safe. She owed him so much. Yet she had no idea why she believed him. Maybe it was because she was never very sure of herself in the first place.

Artemis raised an eyebrow and then his face softened. All traces of stress vanished the second he looked at her heartrending face. "Why would you ever think I was mad at you?" he asked, placing a hand on hers. Holly felt a little relived. But she could never get the picture of Artemis's scowl and his agitated voice as he told her to get in the car. He had never spoken to her like that.

"It's just…" she said quietly. "You looked so angry before. I've never seen you like that." Artemis closed his eyes and sighed, gripping her hand tightly.

"I'm… sorry Holly. There's a lot going on right now, and when you told me to bring back that man." He shivered. "I just snapped I guess. Please don't be upset. I'm sorry. Really, I am. I'm sorry, Holly. So sorry." Artemis looked like he was on the verge a cracking alright. Maybe this was a lot to put on a person. But Holly didn't even know what was going on. She decided it was best if she didn't know. Too much stress for the baby, or that's what Artemis would say at least. He would bring her to Section 8 and make sure she was protected before going to talk to Foaly and the commanders.

Holly may not have known what was going on, but she was sure they would be alright. Her sense of a soldier was tingling; her sense of a wife was burning with fear, but her mothering sense was calm, because she knew that someway, somehow, they would pull through. Holly clutched Artemis's hand tighter. They would pull through.

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Nikki turned the knob of the door and silently pushed the door open the slightest bit. She would have pushed it open all the way and walked in but she heard a sharp hiss from behind her. Nicole blinked and spun around with her steal panel at the ready. A pale- no- this girl wasn't pale, she was grey. A grey girl looked at her with eyes that were pitch black and a gaze of hatred and disgust. Nicole blinked. She was shocked and frozen in the spot where she stood, so it was the only thing she could do.

"What are you doing here, girl?" Isis snarled. Nikki was speechless. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came. She just looked from the vampire's chaotic curls to her grubby leather boots. Nikki thought this girl was with the man, Jacob, but she couldn't have been any more wrong.

The girl sighed and grabbed the panel from Nikki's hands. The panel was pulled away from her easily. "How do you know? Don't be frightened. I believe we're here for the same reason." Nikki let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. The girl gave her back the panel and motioned for her to proceed. Nicole took another unexpected deep breath and pushed the door open wide.

A huge screen that almost took up the whole wall was the first thing she spotted. It did its job of displaying four different camera views. One looked like the interior of her home. The living room, to be exact. Another showed a room with seven people sitting around a table. They looked dead serious and filled with grief. She recognized Artemis and Holly right away, and then Foaly with his wife and son. She didn't know who the other two were. The third camera she saw had a news program on. It was muted like the rest of the screens, but the headline read, 'Passageway to the New World?' The forth and last screen held an office. It looked to be the only room in the whole building that had light. A lone person sat at the desk and had the same look of despair as the other people around the table.

Things did not look good.

A slight chuckle illuminated from under the screen where a short greedy gnome stood gazing fondly at the chaos. "Perfect…" he whispered to himself, a lonely plea of insanity. Nikki looked behind her and saw that the girl was no longer there. She was now alone. Nicole took daring steps forward. She was silent like and alley cat, but the room was already as quiet as the grave. She took that last step behind him and held the panel up high.

She swung the panel, but only to be stopped as he caught her arm and forced her backwards. Nicole almost tripped over a wire, but she grabbed on the nearest table and supported herself up. Jacob looked infuriated. He took a step closer but the grey girl jumped out of thin air and shoved him into the wall. Had she been hidden in the shadows? Jacob was grimacing with pain. It looked like the wall had cracked. Could a girl of, what looked like fifteen be that strong? The answer was yes when the girl in question was Isis Hunt.

Another man- maybe Jacob's associate- was creeping up behind Isis. Nikki grabbed the panel which had fallen to the ground and rushed forward to hit him on the head with it. "Ugh!" He shouted. Nikki groaned. She was aiming for the temple. He glared at her and lunged forward. She dodged his hands and looked for something in the room that could help her- anything. Nicole's eyes landed on some wires. She grabbed them, yanking them out of the plug and ran around him. The big screen and a few other machines went black. "No!" Jacob screamed. Nicole hesitated and that was her mistake. He had enough time to turn around now, but Isis had enough time to grab the back of the collar in his shirt.

Isis tightly pulled on the collar with unimaginable force and Nikki watched the man sink to his knees. He was wheezing and gasping for air. His hands clutched Isis' but he couldn't loosen them. After a second of huffing, Isis let go and he didn't have enough time to put his hands around his neck to help him breathe. Isis placed both her hands on his cheeks firmly and snapped his head quickly to the side. Nikki could hear the crack from his neck and stared with disbelief as he fell to the ground. Tiny drops of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth as he gaped into space.

Nikki was so shocked she didn't even hear Jacob trying to sneak away. But Isis did. She ran with what seemed the like the speed of light and jumped on his back as he turned around to run. Surprisingly, he still stood. He crashed into the wall and then into the desk and other things in attempt to get her off. He yelled and crushed his back into the large screen. Isis howled in pain, but she still had her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and her hands firmly on his shoulders. She reached her head forward and Nicole could swear she saw… two gleaming fangs. Isis bite into Jacob's neck and he let out a piercing scream that shattered the air. He was running around the room rapidly now, but it was already useless. More blood poured down his neck. Nikki watched the blood plummet down, down from his neck and collide with the floor tiles.

The screaming of pain and agony… Nikki put her hands over her ears and looked away. She could still hear his cries. And then- they stopped. Nikki slowly dropped her hands at her sides and turned around. Isis stood over Jacob who was on the floor. There was so much blood, so much blood... Nikki forced back tears. She mutely did a quick sign of the cross to bless their souls. Isis bent over and suddenly all his blood came spluttering out her mouth. Just another blood puddle on the floor. She spitted on the ground and gave a look of disgust to the puddle. "Ick, fairy blood. Too sicky sweet." She turned to me and read my freaked-out expression. This girl was a vampire.

"So, let's go contact the authorities."

Nikki sighed with relief. "Let's."

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Okay peeps. Did you like that? Good, I'm glad. Hope I didn't scare you too much. Please review! There's only one chapter left!

Your VERY evil (and now violent) authoress,
Shannon