Trembling, Elizabeth walked to the window as if she was in a trance.
She couldn't believe what had just happened. It was surreal, wild and completely out of the blue and that wasn't just the sudden disappearing act she had witnessed. She felt like Star had taken a pin to the balloon that was her life with the pack. So shattering, so oddly crushing but over as suddenly as it had begun.
It was disorienting.
Her room was empty, the house was still and silent.
It was as if the girl had never even been there.
If it wasn't for the way her hair was mussed, windblown and hanging uncomfortably over her face she could have maybe tried to deny everything, to say that she had fallen asleep and dreamt it all. She glanced at her bed, seeing the way her sheets had crumpled from where Star had sat down and she swallowed, still feeling the thudding, thumping and panicked beat of her heart.
The quietness of the house told her that all was well and usual but it was impossible to deny that it had happened.
She hadn't been dreaming. It was all real.
Shakily righting her hair, she touched the window frame.
It was rigid and set in its frame, unblemished.
She blinked, running her fingers over the chipped wood, then the cool glass.
How had...how had Star left? She had been uninvited and then..then there was an ice cold wind, whipping and stinging followed by nothing.
"Jesus.." Elizabeth whispered, taking a step back from the scene before her. The cloudy day remained unchanged, the window still firmly shut.
Her whole world had just been toppled upside down but everything outside of it was normal.
"...Jesus..." she whispered again.
She moved to her bed, neatening the sheets and smoothing her pillows as she tried to steady herself.
What the hell? What the hell had just happened?
"...oh my God.." she mumbled, holding back a sob as she stood, crouched and hunched over her bed.
Star was a vampire? She was one of the pack? She had been one of the pack? What was going on there? And then Michael, Michael...her poor brother he was? Jesus, where was he? Had the boys hurt him, really and truly? Had they hurt him, had they really done the things Star had said. If felt impossible, it felt like something that just couldn't be but...
"Oh my God..." she repeated, shaking her head as she took a shuddering breath, her knees collapsing.
Star's exit was the epitome of supernatural and proved there was no lie.
What else was true?
She couldn't fathom that what Star had said about Dwayne could be anything other than a lie.
It just couldn't be.
As she pressed her head into the soft, plush blankets that she had only just righted, she tried to steady her breathing.
Nothing that Star had said could be true, nothing at all because Dwayne...Dwayne would...
He would never.
He loved her, he was her mate.
He would never, ever think about kidnapping her.
There was no way, no possible way Dwayne or the pack would ever consider killing her family.
It was impossible, unfathomable.
Star had to be lying, she had to be.
"She has to be..." Elizabeth whispered, curling her fingers into the blankets next to her head.
Dwayne would never betray her.
Blinking, Elizabeth pushed herself away from her bed with a frown.
Betray?
Where the hell had that come from?
"Stop.." she whispered to herself, trying to clear her thoughts.
She had no idea why on earth that word had popped into her head, not once did she think that Dwayne had or could betray her. It was such an odd thought, such an odd choice of words and she sat back on her heels, rubbing her hands over her face.
She just needed a clear head.
She needed to think, to think clearly and concisely.
This wasn't the time to panic, this wasn't the time to stress or loose her cool.
She had to be calm.
Calm.
Star...clearly Star knew some things. Star...something was going on there, something...
Something wasn't right.
What Star had said, the things she had said...there was no way it could be true, none of it could be true but..maybe...maybe there was a nugget of something, somewhere. Star knew what they were, she had said..fuck, hadn't she vanished upon being un-invited?
Elizabeth couldn't stop thinking about it.
Star wasn't lying about that.
She was one of them.
What else had she been truthful about?
And what about Michael?
She hadn't seen him in ages, she hadn't...Jesus, she hadn't really thought of him in...she just didn't know.
What the hell? What was happening?
Had the boys made her stop thinking about her brother?
It didn't make any sense, why would they do that? They had no reason to, no possible reason. Unless, of course...Star wasn't lying about that, either. Maybe they had hurt her brother and then made her forget him?
Why else would-
"-no" she said loudly, rising to her feet.
She felt like she was going crazy talking to herself but hearing her voice in the stillness of the room was good.
It helped her, it helped clear her racing and confused thoughts.
Star had said some terrible things and she was getting carried away. That's all it was. She was too in her own head. The boys would never hurt her, Dwayne would never hurt her.
That was that. It was final, that was all there was to it and right there and then, she knew what she had to do, she knew what needed to be done.
She needed to speak with Dwayne.
Dwayne and Marko.
She needed to ask questions, she had to find out where the line between true and false was drawn.
She needed to find out if what Star had said had any basis in truth, any at all.
Dwayne would tell her anything she wanted to know, he had to. She knew that she could count on Marko to be truthful and blunt with her because he had always been that way. He was kind to her but he didn't keep secrets, he didn't sugar coat. She needed to speak to them. She needed to think of what she wanted to say and then she needed to meet them.
Should she speak to them together? One at a time?
One at a time would be good, perhaps. Wasn't that was the police did? Detectives in the movies and TV shows? Separate suspects to find the truth? That was it, that was the key.
She needed to speak to them.
Marko first.
He was a conniving, horrible man but he had always shown her that side of himself and she knew that he would be honest again-
"..wha-" she blinked down at her bed, stunned by her own thoughts, "Jesus Christ" she whispered.
She loved Marko, she respected and cared for him.
Where had that come from?
She looked around her room and took a breath.
Too much had happened, she was overwhelmed.
Star had invaded her personal space, she had bombarded her with information, she was shaken, stunned.
She was hurting.
She needed a clear space and a clear head.
Clarity.
Twitching her legs a little, clenching the muscles of her calves, she took another deep breath.
She just needed to leave her room.
Turning, she made her way downstairs without another thought.
She was going to go to the kitchen and fill a glass with cold water. She was going to sit down at the kitchen table and take a long, deep drink. She was going to stand up, return to the sink and re-fill the glass. She was then going to sit down at the table once more with a piece of paper and a pencil and write down her questions.
She was going to think clearly and calmly.
She was not going to succumb to panic. She wasn't going to react in the way she knew Star wanted her to. Whatever was going on, she was going to be in control of herself and her reactions.
No tears. No fear. No panic.
She was going to write down everything she needed to know and then, when night fell, she was going to speak with Dwayne.
She was going to get answers and she was not going to loose her head.
That's exactly what the pack wanted her to do but she wasn't going to fall for their tricks.
As she entered the kitchen, she snatched up the memo pad and a pen that lived next to the phone in the hall.
Sliding into the seat, she looked down and nodded.
"OK...ok..."
Tapping the pen against the blank pad, she tried to think where to start.
"Why didn't you tell me Star is a vampire" she said to herself before shaking her head.
Did that matter? Was that a question she needed to ask?
It sounded like...well...it was hard to deny that Star sounded like she was a victim.
"..why did you let my brother involve himself with a vam..." she trailed off.
No. She didn't need to focus on Star, she wasn't the problem.
The pack was.
"Why did you hurt my brother" she murmured, unthinkingly doodling on the paper.
That was a good place to start.
Why had they hurt Michael?
Why would they hurt him?
What possible reason could they have to have messed with his head, to have made her forget him?
"...did..." she said slowly with a frown.
What was wrong with her?
"Come on.." she whispered, shaking her head.
What the hell was wrong with her?
The question she should be asking was, did. Did, did, did. Did they hurt hurt her brother?
She wanted to figure out the truth, didn't she? Why was she being so hostile?
"God, what is wrong with me?" she asked, dropping the pen.
She was thinking clearly, she was trying to think clearly but it just...God, it wasn't working.
She felt so confused.
Her thoughts were clear but they were the wrong thoughts.
She knew that.
She needed the truth but she needed to keep her cool. It was like she couldn't stop jumping to the conclusion that everything Star had said was true and why, for the love of God, why was she being so damning?
What she was thinking wasn't right, it wasn't her.
She knew what she wanted to think but it felt like she just couldn't do it.
"OK..OK..." she murmured, closing her eyes. Taking a breath and then taking one more, she leaned her head back, "..take a breather...you're fine...this is fine..."
She opened her eyes and blinked up at the ceiling.
It was still light out, well...as light as such a dark day could be.
The point was, she had a few hours until she could see Dwayne, until she could see the pack. She was on her own for now and she was going to have to help herself. She was going to have to sort herself out and calm herself down.
Nothing was wrong. Everything was fine. She'd just had a shock, a horrible and unpleasant shock.
She needed a breather.
More than anything, she needed a breather.
Perhaps now wasn't the time to try and figure out questions, perhaps all she needed was air?
"I'm fine" she repeated, trying to sound firm and confident.
She shook her head once and then looked down towards the pad of paper and pen she had abandoned and, as she gasped in shock, she pushed the chair away from the table, jumping to her feet.
There, scribbled on the page over and over and over again in her familiar writing was the word liar.
Liar.
Liar.
Liar.
Over and over and over again.
"What the hell?" she whispered to herself, staring down at the paper in horror.
Had she written that?
She didn't remember.
She just...she didn't remember writing it. Why would she write it?
"What the hell..." she repeated, heart beating.
She needed Dwayne, she needed help.
Something was wrong.
Something was really, really wrong.
Scrabbling to tear the defaced sheet of paper from the memo pad, she stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans and dashed to the front door.
It was clear that she couldn't stay in the house, not after everything that Star had said. The whole place felt like it was closing in on her and, as she tugged on the first sneaker of hers that she could find, she held back a whimper.
It felt like her mind was closing in on her, too.
Star had said the pack had messed with her memory of Michael..what else were they capable of?
Elizabeth stumbled as she tugged on another sneaker.
She had to leave. She couldn't stay in the house, not after she'd found out the truth. She needed to confront them.
She needed to confront the pack.
She needed to help her brother, to help Star...
"Ah-"
She cried out in pain when the front door hit her sneakered foot. She'd been so lost in her thoughts, so focused on thinking about all the ways in which she had been wronged that she hadn't even realized she'd tried to slam the door while still being stood on the threshold.
"What did they do to me?!" she whispered, stepping back and slamming the door shut with heavy finality.
She was going to them.
She was going to their cave, she was going to find them and confront them and not wait for them to make up some kind of story. That was probably something they would do. She needed to get there first, to surprise them into honesty.
She knew that it was the only way.
"Hey, all I'm saying is that if you wanna pick a genre, like a good genre? A solid, long lasting genre then you gotta go for action"
"No"
Sam scoffed, "look I'm gonna stop hating on your horror. This is competition aside OK, guys. Spiderman? Batman? These guys have been around forever and they're gonna stay around forever-"
"-not a chance"
Sammy rolled his eyes, looking at Alan for backup but the dark haired brother just shrugged, giving a little bit of a sheepish smile. He seemed to be more aware of his brother's craziness and it was almost an in joke between the two of them. Sammy knew that they were both hopeless cases of crazy but sometimes it was nice to be able to look at Alan after Edgar said something totally off kilter and stupid and share a knowing smile.
Edgar was definitely the wildest of the two.
"Name one horror comic icon" Sammy challenged, grinning as Edgar blinked stupidly.
He knew he had won.
"We getting lunch or what?" Edgar asked instead.
"You don't wanna just wait for dinner?" Alan queried, flicking through some of the dusty stock they had been looking through.
Sammy was beginning to wonder if he should get paid for all the hours he spent helping his two doofus friends in their shop but then he felt a little bad for the thought. The Frog Brothers never had any interaction with their parents, not that he had seen, anyway. The few times he had seen them, they were totally spaced out and it made him uncomfortable. He thought it was more than just a bit of pot, not that he was a drug king or anything. He knew that his odd friends probably didn't even get much money themselves and they slogged away in the comic shop. The situation did kind of suck balls for the brothers but Sammy had to admit it was fun to have a base to hang out in. The Frog Brother's shop and the huge apartment above it was a good place to chill, better than his house because it actually had a TV and a grand total of zero stuffed and long dead animals.
Plus, the shop was quieter than a graveyard. There were barely any customers around.
It was a wonder their drugged up parents could even afford the shop, really.
"Well, I'm hungry?"
It was a fair bit past lunch but still a way off until dinner, too.
"Well, there's food in the fridge if you wanna eat"
"Hardly..."
Sammy glanced up at the clock. He had seen the contents of the fridge upstairs and it made him feel a bit guilty for how stocked his own was. Grandpa had it bursting to the brim with everything, Lucy too. It would probably be better to just wait until dinner but Lucy had given him two tens the other day and he could feel them burning a hole in his pocket. He could pick up hot dogs or something, they were like a dollar each. He could swing them all a snack and still have cash left for his savings.
It was nice to have his Mom working, that was for sure and he felt like it was the right thing to do by his friends.
"I'll go get some dogs or something"
"With mustard?" Edgar asked immediately, grinning widely.
"Sure"
"Pickles?"
"'kay"
Sammy began tugging on his cardigan, popping the collar as he did. He hadn't wanted to get it all dusty and musty when looking through the considerable amount of stock that had yet to sell. He didn't think it ever would but if the guys wanted it in rotation, he was good to help out. He was hoping to stumble upon a miracle collectible, anyway.
"Can you make sure they get the balance of onions and pickles right? They always mess it up here"
"How does one do that?" Edgar sounded so serious about it and Sam had no idea what he even meant. How were they supposed to be balanced?
"Even layers of onions, even layers of pickles" both Frog Brothers intoned at the same time and Sammy snorted a laugh, wondering if he would ever hear a thanks.
"I'll see what I can do"
As he left the shop, he looked up at the gloomy sky.
He hated gloom.
Grandpa said there was going to be a storm soon and he hoped it would hurry up. He headed off into unusually subdued boardwalk, guessing the families must have been too weary of rain to make a day of it.
"He's OK. Do you think he's ever gonna be in our army?"
"He's good people" Alan agreed, looking up as the bell in front of the door tinkled, wondering if their friend had forgortten something.
"Yeah, but he's not one of us, is he?"
"Too pure to be a warrior" Alan nodded before shrugging, "but fun to hang with anyway"
As a girl made her way into the belly of the shop, Alan looked away, feeling embarrassed. It wasn't often that such a pretty girl came into their store and he didn't know how to conduct himself.
"Are you the Frog Brothers?" she didn't wait for them to answer, instead she just spoke a little breathlessly, without waiting for them to respond, "I was hoping you could help me?"
"Archie comics are at the side there" Edgar gruffed and the girl shook her head, "..you killed that dog, didn't you? You said it was-"
"-it was a werewolf" Alan replied, taken off guard as Edgar dropped the comic he had been looking at, "that's-there was a court order, you can't-"
"-please, I'm not here to joke about it" the girl stepped behind the counter, looking behind her nervously, "I have to leave in, I have-" she glanced at the clock, "-I have tickets but I need you to help me. Werewolves aren't real but I know something that is..."
Elizabeth looked at the sky, shoulder smarting a little from where she had bumped into a middle aged woman taking up way too much room and walking way too slowly. It was so frustrating, people just wandering the streets like turtles. She wondered what the time was, wondered for how long she had been walking. She was feeling a bit breathless, she had left her house and hadn't stopped but she found that she did't want to stop, to rest or take a breather.
She didn't know what fire had been lit under her but she was a woman on a mission.
She had to get to the cave, she had to find the pack before sunset, before they could leave, before they could put their heads together and make a plan.
She had to get to them before they could make up more lies.
She'd already passed the boardwalk, bypassing the attractions and booths.
She didn't want to go into the boardwalk, she didn't want to see it.
It just made her heart ache.
She had met Dwayne for the first time on the boardwalk. They had seen the concert, he had taken her home.
It was all a lie.
Her happy memory was a lie.
They were liars.
God, she was a fool.
"We don't tell Sammy" Edgar said lowly and seriously.
"No?"
Edgar shifted on his seat, frowning at the comic he had retrieved from the largely untouched displays in the main area of the store.
"You said yourself he's too pure to be a warrior..." Edgar said, sounding somewhat regretful, "he's our friend..he's not our colleague. He's not our brother in arms"
Alan nodded nervously, "but we might need all the help we can get?"
"It's personal for him. He won't be able to help us...we're on our own. Maybe at the end when it's done we can let him in the loop. Hey, maybe we could get payment!"
"Edgar-"
"-truth. Justice! Alan, this is it! This is our mission. Truth, justice, the American way. It's what we fight for, it's what we're gonna fight for!"
Alan nodded, a small smile breaking out onto his face.
It was their mission.
It was finally happening.
"Keep it natural, Edgar. Don't let Sam know"
Edgar nodded, trying to smother his own excited smile.
Elizabeth grunted as her sneakered feet hit the floor of the cave.
She forgot how steep the drop was and it did little to quell her anger.
She hated the cave.
Stupid cave.
Who the hell lived in a cave, anyway?
She didn't know what the time was but it was dark out. She had no idea how long it had taken her to arrive. She'd gone from her house, down into town, past the boardwalk and then down into the beach, trudging until she'd come to the isolated, cold and oddly silent cliff that she knew the pack called home.
Night had fallen just before she approached the thickening of trees signaling the end of the sandy beach.
"Lizzie?! Girl! Hey, what you doing all the way out in our neck of the woods? Your man's not here, popped out at the crack of darkness but I think we're a good enough team without him, hey?"
Elizabeth froze, closing her eyes as Paul's happy go lucky voice met her ears.
"God, this is such a fuckin' treat! You came here!"
She couldn't stand to look at him, not in that moment.
He sounded to thrilled to see her and it made her feel itchy.
She was there, in his cave but she wanted him to leave. She had come to see him, to shout at him, to confront him and now, seeing his smile, hearing his happy voice...she found that she just wanted to punch that ever loving smile clean from his bright, handsome face.
It was a new, horrible feeling and she whimpered for a moment.
She opened her eyes.
He was standing tall but kind of swaggering as he walked towards her. Usual, typical Paul. He was smiling, his eyes bright and he looked so happy, so content and so him, that for a second it broke her up inside again. The sun had set only minutes before but here the exuberant blonde was, happy as a clam.
Just a perky blonde, ready to enjoy the night.
She loved Paul.
She knew she did. She loved Marko, too and knowing that they had hurt her brother, knowing what they had done, what they had all agreed to was tearing her apart.
She couldn't even begin to think about Dwayne.
She didn't know what she should do, where her loyalties should lie or even if she had any loyalties in this situation but more than that...she was angry.
God, she was so angry.
She closed her eyes once more, clenching her jaw.
She'd never felt anger like it. It was a thousand shades of messed up and Paul...Paul was oblivious to it all.
Did he even care about Michael? Did he even remember? Was her brother nothing to him? Was Star? Was she? How could they trade her?
That's what she was, wasn't she? An exchange? Nothing more, nothing less.
She was nothing to them.
"Space cadet? You OK?" Paul's voice was closer, though she hadn't heard any movement and she said nothing as he asked, "what's with the mis-matched sneakers?"
God, they were monsters, weren't they?
"Liz...you wanna open your eyes?"
She shook her head as she ground out, "I don't think I can even look at you right now"
She could imagine him opening his mouth, readying himself to ask something goofy, something silly but the cold, disgusted tone of her voice must have hit him pretty hard for she was met with silence.
Setting her jaw and turning her head to the right, she did open her eyes but kept them steadfastly on the darkened ground at his feet.
"Liz? What's going on?"
She clenched her jaw again and tried to count how many specks of dirt she could see mingling with the floor but it was too difficult.
"Elizabeth?"
He sounded cautious now and she hated that. She hated to hear Paul sounding cautious, it didn't suit him and then she hated that she was feeling that way. He was in the wrong, they were all in the wrong. She shouldn't care if he was hurt by her tone, they had hurt her brother. They had messed with him, they had fucked with him, they had made a deal with Star to get her into the pack, trading Star's captivity for her own freedom and it made her sick.
They made her sick.
Paul made her sick.
Marko made her sick.
Dwayne...she paused, taking a shaky breath.
"I'm leaving. This was a mistake" she said, her voice as cold as David's.
As she turned, Paul made a confused little grunt before murmuring, "hey-w..why do you smell like-"
And immediately, reacting with fury Elizabeth spun on her heel to face him, eyes open and wide "what?"
He watched her, much like one would watch a wild animal.
"What do I smell like?"
He frowned at her, some form of understanding forming on his face.
"Who do I smell like, Paul?"
"...Liz..."
"Don't" she said, taking a step towards him. For a second, the splittest of split seconds, she knew that he was gearing up to call for help and it enraged her, "don't call for backup, don't be such a coward. Tell me. Who the fuck do I smell like!?"
"You smell like Star"
Shaking her head, lips trembling, Elizabeth turned away, swiping at the tears of fury that had fallen from her eyes.
"You're all assholes. God, you're such a fucking asshole"
"No, hey, Liz-LIZ!"
She had made a lurching step towards the entrance and she heard how he moved towards her in response. Reacting furiously, she spun to face him once more, ready to lash out at him if he tried to reach out for her.
"Stay the fuck away from me Paul-"
"-no, hey come on-"
"-I'm serious-"
"-talk to me-"
Sniffing, Elizabeth wiped at her eyes again seeing him stood before her, wild hair and wild clothes and a desperately concerned face.
"Talk to you?! Talk to you, you fucking asshole! I can't even look at you! What am I? Am I a mate? Am I a-a-a fucking exchange?-"
"-wha-"
"-did I ever have a choice? Did Michael have a choice? You tortured him you-you-"
She shook her head, giving a sob before breaking off into an angry shout, "you're all fucking assholes. All of you! Get out of my way, this was a mistake.."
He wasn't in her way, she wasn't even facing the entrance anymore but she couldn't think.
She was so angry.
"No, hey-fuck, Liz, stop this-"
"-leave me alone"
"Talk to me. Please, obviously whatever she said has upset you-"
"-fuck you!"
"Elizabeth, please" he said, stopping in his tracks, "I'm out of my depth here girl-"
"-you're out of your depth?! What the fuck does that even mean you piece of-" she moved to side step around him but he matched her, his hands close to touching her.
She wasn't even facing the entrance, she didn't know where she was going but she was so angry, she couldn't think.
"-it means I'm not smart like David" he said, interrupting her acidic insult.
"You mean calculating"
"Fine, calculating"
"Sly"
"OK, sure. Calculating, sly. A fucking cunting sneak, whatever insult you want to throw, that's him-"
"Just...go away" she took a step forward, not even knowing where she was walking.
He lurched to the right, blocking her path once more and it was the first time Elizabeth had ever seen him look close to ungraceful, despite how casually he presented himself.
"-and I'm not balanced, like Marko, I'm not attuned or, like, comforting or whatever he is-"
"-he's also a-"
"-and I' m never gonna be able to comfort you like Dwayne can"
She froze upon her mate's name.
"-but I swear, I'm an open book. I told you that, you know that-"
For a moment, Paul's words gave her pause.
A moment of calm, clarity washed over her.
Paul was an open book. He was the most open person she had ever met. The most open, the most accepting.
If she could talk with him, talk to him, she knew that everything would be alright. It would be OK. She just needed to breath, to be calm.
Perhaps she could have held onto that thought, perhaps her anger may have dissipated if it weren't for the interrupting voice.
"-what's with the shouting?"
It was Marko.
She watched with narrow eyes as he made his way into the main room of the cave, easily dusting some debris away from his shoulder.
Seeing him...something in her snapped.
"Fuck you!
Her eyes were welling again and she didn't know why. She didn't know why she was shouting, why she was so angry but then she did.
It was them.
They had hurt her, betrayed her.
They had...hadn't they?
She was sure, so sure that they had betrayed her...but she didn't know how.
All she had were her feelings.
"Wha-" for the first time, Marko seemed utterly perplexed.
"You lied to me!" Elizabeth shouted, her words sounding even louder in the still of the cave, "you hurt my brother. You made him think he was-you! Agh! You-you-you used my brother to try and get me! Dwayne had me, I love him but you were going to kill-"
"-Elizabeth, stop" Marko said, his voice hard, "why are you so angry? This is-"
Why was she so angry?
She didn't know.
"-I am angry. Maybe!" Elizabeth paused, taking a breath. She wasn't sure what was happening, she was so confused. She was furious, she was absolutely incensed with rage but for a moment, for a fleeing second she didn't know why. Glancing at Marko, she took a shuddering breath, the anger overtaking her once more, "maybe you went too far this time. Maybe you were always going to far but I didn't see it? Maybe I'm just an idiot. I played right into your hands, didn't I?"
"You're being an idiot now" Paul told her, voice barely raised. He was staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time, "Jesus, Elizabeth-"
"-fuck you!" she yelled, feeling her eyes well and seemingly unable to stop the hateful words from spilling out of her mouth, "you're a monster! I should never have trusted you! Any of you!"
"Tell us what's happened" Marko commanded.
"As if you don't know! Do you think I'm stupid? Did you think you could-"
"-what did Star say?"
"You can't trust her, Lizzie-"
"-I can't trust you! Any of you!"
"Not even Dwayne?"
At those words, she turned to face Paul.
How dare he, how dare he even mention his name?
He was peering at her and she knew that he had deliberately chosen to use that name. He was pushing her and prodding her and he wanted her to hurt.
Dwayne had broken her heart and here Paul was, just reveling in it.
"You like this, don't you?" she hissed at him and this time she was the one looking as if she was seeing him for the first time, "you like seeing me in pain, you like to see me hurt-"
"-I think you've hit your head-"
"-you're just feeding off this, aren't you?"
"You need to calm down"
"You need to fuck off!" she shouted at Marko, still staring Paul down.
She could feel the way her body was trembling, the way her heart was pounding with the power of her anger.
"Sit down" Paul said, holding out his arm, "you're body's-"
"-what are you doing to me?!" she shouted, backing away.
"Nothing!" Paul retorted, barking a shout himself.
"You're exhausted" Marko said, also approaching her, "how did you get here?"
"Stay away from me" she commanded.
"No, you need to sit down"
"I need the truth!"
Her legs dipped for a second and Paul reached out to steady her.
Acting reflexively, she did lash out at him, trying to swat his hands away but fully intending to scratch and claw at his face, too.
He had lied to her, his friendship was a lie.
He was a lie. Everything about him.
"Wh-" Paul ducked, backing away from her swinging arms.
"Elizabeth!"
She ignored Marko's panicked rebuttal and launched herself forward, absolutely wanting to slap the blonde she had once confided in, trusted. She had told him about her first time, she had listened to his lies about his past. He was a manipulative monster, he was horrible, a terror, a disgusting excuse for a human...except he wasn't a human, was he?
"I hate you all!"
Paul jumped away from her, "if you hit me, you're going to hurt yourself-"
"-stop, Elizabeth-"
She could only scream in frustration, watching as Paul took himself out of her line of sight.
Had he gone to the entrance? Had he run away?
Coward!
She had come to confront them and they couldn't even defend themselves?
"This isn't you" Marko told her and she spun to face him.
"You're not you!" she replied, voice quivering, "the man you showed me is a lie, the man Paul showed me is a lie! At least David was honest, he showed his true colors from the start you fucking-fucki-fu.."
She didn't know what to say, what insults she could throw.
"See? This isn't you"
She wanted to hit Marko, too.
He had lied.
It was all of them.
It was Paul, Marko, David and...she paused, her wild eyes stopping on a familiar jacket.
It was so casually dumped on the back of the sofa that Elizabeth could see the scene clearly. A moment of still peace and clarity in her muddled, angry thoughts. Dwayne had left the cave, she didn't know when, it must have been immediately after the sun had set but on the way he had shed his jacket, dumping it without thought onto the nearest surface.
But he had lied to her, too.
He was..he had hurt her.
She wasn't the first girl, she wouldn't be the last, would she?
"He lied to me, too..." she whispered, her voice thick from shouting.
"...no..." Marko murmured and she jumped, brought back to her feelings or anger.
"Yes!"
"Oh shit..." there seemed to be a dawning realization in his voice, "Elizabeth, Elizabeth this isn't you"
Vaguely, faintly she heard Paul's voice from high up but it felt odd. She dimly assumed that he was, in fact, standing at the mouth of the cave but it felt like she was sinking in deep, dark water.
So suddenly, she felt the weight of everything pushing down on her and suddenly, it hurt.
She was so angry, so filled with hate and rage like she'd never felt before but something about Dwayne's jacket had stilled her, giving her pause and a moment of clarity. She loved him. She loved him, she trusted him and she needed him but...God, why had he hurt her so much? Why had he destroyed her family and her trust, why had he done it? How could he have done it? How could he do it-
"It's a fucking lure!"
- how could Dwayne do this to her? She felt like she was being crushed by the weight of his betrayal, her anger and her love for him. It hurt so bad, she didn't know what to do, what to think, what to say. All she could think about was the love she felt but the anger she felt was there, too, strong and powerful-
"-Elizabeth?" a loud snap resounded from in front of her face and she jerked, blinking rapidly.
Marko had snapped his fingers in front of her face and she stepped back from him in disgust, hating that he even had the audacity to address her. After everything he had done to her? After he had destroyed her family and her trust? Why had Marko done it? How could he have done it? How could he-
- she backed into Paul and gave a cry of surprised rage, spinning on the spot to stare up him. She hated him! She had trusted him, she had opened her heart to him and he had betrayed her. How could he stand there, how could he just stand there like that? After everything he had done to her? After he had destroyed her family and her trust? Why had Paul done it? How could he have done it? How could he-
"Elizabeth?"
"I hate you all, how could you do betray me like this!?" she screamed as she choked on tears, balling her fists as she spun once more to look with hate filled eyes up at Marko.
She was so confused, for a moment she didn't understand where she was or what she was doing but then, once again, the anger came.
She hated him. She hated him! She hated him, she hated him, she hated him-
-the young blonde slapped her, hard and fast across the face.
The sound of his un-gloved hand meeting the pale and pallid flesh of her cheek rang through the cave as she stumbled back into Paul's waiting arms.
Her cheek hurt, it stung so bad but more than that...her head was clear.
Body completely limp, she burst into tears of confused relief.
"It's OK, you're OK.." Paul assured her as he lowered her heavy and boneless body to the ground, following to crouch himself. Marko followed too, kneeling before her and watching her intently as Paul continued, "you're OK, come on..s'OK..s'OK..."
"Elizabeth?"
Marko's cool hand reached out to touch her clammy and stinging cheek and she couldn't help the way her body was wracked with sobs and trembles.
What had happened to her?
With a clear head, clear thoughts and wide eyes, Elizabeth could only sob in relief and in confusion, "what happened to me?"
A/N: Poor Star, causing all kinds of problems in her quest for freedom!