Chapter 7:
Victoria was furious. Weaver was too dangerously close to finding out her involvement in the attack on Detective Rogers. She knew if he found out that things would not end well for her. She knew who Weaver's other self was and if that man came out to play, well she might as well leave the town she was so desperately trying to make her own.
She was impatient because the man she wanted dead hadn't succumbed to his injuries yet. Victoria needed to come up with a way to be rid of Rogers. He couldn't succeed in getting out of this alive.
So, she made the decision that it was time that Rogers would receive something he couldn't win this battle over. It was a little piece of magic that would render him helpless in the face of it. The only problem is that she couldn't figure out how to locate the ingredients for the required spell.
It was high time she talked to the one being in this world who would know what she was talking about and could help her.
The elevator ride down to the basement was the slowest it had ever been. Victoria had thought at one point that the elevator had suddenly dropped in its speed. But she was ripped from her thoughts when the doors opened, revealing the interior of the room.
She walked through it and through the room to where she would make her presence known. The fans became mesmerizing as she waited for the being in question to make herself known.
"I know you're in here so you'd better come out if you know what's best for you."
The rattling of chains caught Belfry's attention and a young female walked out looking rather frustrated at the sudden appearance of her captor.
"What do you want Victoria?" Eloise, or Gothel as she preferred to be called, emerged and tried her best to put on her best smile.
"There's someone who's been looking for you." Victoria smirked, "And I put a stop to that. Now I need your help in making sure he doesn't survive."
"And who is this individual you need help with? And how can I help you?"
"His name is Detective Rogers, but you may know him by his true name; Captain Hook." Victoria watched many emotions overcome the young lady's face. She knew exactly who she was talking about which made her extremely happy, "You would help me by helping me recreating the curse of the poison heart. However, this version needs to make sure that they aren't awake."
Gothel looked confused. Why would she need a poison that is immune to curse deactivations?
"I would have to wake him up to reactivate that poison." Gothel walked backward pointing her finger in the air as she thought about what she could do.
"Not if it's just a poison that would still be active inside of a curse. Right now, that man lies still in a hospital bed, while his partner, Detective Weaver comes ever so closer to finding the truth that it was I who ordered the hit on Rogers. If he succeeds, then I will have no choice but to leave this town and everything I worked hard for behind. What I want is Rogers' own daughter, your daughter to be the one who would kill him. If I succeed at that, then maybe I won't be the center of attention."
"Tell me first, what exactly happened to Rogers to make him such a priority target?"
"I hired on someone to kill him, but he lays in a hospital right now still very much alive, but still very injured. I need something that we can use to finish the job."
"And that's where the poison comes in?"
"From what I recall during our time in the Enchanted Forest, is that the poison was fast acting and quick to activate. If we can do the same thing now, or something similar in this world, then maybe his partner will be more busy trying to find the cure for it rather than looking into who attacked Rogers."
"And why is him discovering that a bad thing?"
"The man I hired has been known to reveal things when he's under pressure. If that man speaks a word that I was the one to give him the contract, then it would be over for me."
"Why don't you have the man killed after he finishes the job?"
"Do you know what that would look like? It could still be easily traceable."
Silence ensued between the captor and her prisoner like it had been an interrogation scene not a two sided conversation. Gothel then started to walk away again fiddling with her hair.
"I will help you on one condition." Gothel looked straight at Victoria with a scowl, "That you grant me my freedom."
"I will do no such thing."
"Then I can't help you." Gothel walked back to where she had been hiding.
Victoria clenched her teeth in frustration. She had to think fast.
"I can't exactly grant you your freedom, but I can grant you a nicer place to stay."
Gothel stopped in her tracks as she observed the other lady and Victoria observed her.
"That...is acceptable for the time being." Gothel turned back around, "I will also require a few ingredients from you. One, being some of Rogers' own blood."
"Tell me what else you need."
It took the rest of the day and into the night before she was able to gather everything on Gothel's list. Once she was satisfied that this poison was being worked on, now she had to hire someone again to administer the killing blow.
And that's how Victoria found herself in the same restaurant as she had the night she hired the man to kill Detective Rogers. She needed the job done.
"And what does the illustrious Victoria Belfry want with me a second time?" Victoria jumped at the sound of the man's voice. Her heart was filled with relief when she realized that it was her hitman who had approached and not Weaver or any one of those insufferable police workers.
"I need your help."
"And why do you need my help again?"
"I need you to administer a poison to your last target."
"You want me to go after the police offer again? Come on! You have to be joking."
"I can't have his partner focused on me anymore. If he finds out that I was the one to hire you, then it will mean game over for me. I couldn't pay you what you asked for either." She hoped that by throwing the last bit into the equation that maybe, just maybe, this man would see reason.
"Where is this poison? I assume it's somewhere I can pick it up at."
"It's currently being made at the moment. But," Victoria picked at her fingers a bit before completing her sentence, "There is a slight complication with that."
"There's always complications with anything involving you. What is it this time?"
"In order for the poison to be complete, we need some of his blood."
The man began to clench his jaw. He never liked to have
"All you have to do after you retrieve it, is pour it into the vial that I will give you with the poison and get him to ingest it."
"And the poison will do the rest. Are you sure this is what you want?"
"This is exactly what I want. Now, are you up to the task? Or shall I put my money where someone would actually listen?"
"I'll do it on one condition. That once I am through with this job, we are done. You aren't good for business."
"It's a deal." She held her hand out and he shook it, "Oh! And a little word of warning, Detective Weaver came to me this morning asking about you. If he finds you, just make up a lie."
"With pleasure. I couldn't keep killing otherwise."
Once this man was through with Rogers this time, the detective would be dying a slow and painful death. And Detective Weaver will be so distracted that he would have no time to focus on her.