Elisabeth

by Liviania

Chapter Two

Sealing the Present

Elisabeth walked into another alley. The tenth one she had come upon without any sign of Ian. Where are you? How many alleys am I going to have to walk tonight to find and bring you home?

As she had in the previous nine alleys, she walked out and marked another x on her mental map. It didn't matter how many places he wasn't, she was not going to give up. It was tiring to wait at home and be told she couldn't go out. To be told her body wasn't completely healed yet.

Well, Anna, I feel fine. So you can stop getting oh so concerned about me. I know you don't truly care anyway.

Ian unlocked his door and entered quickly; he could hear his daughter crying. He stepped into her room, wondering why Elisabeth hadn't gone to quite her yet. "Shh, shh, daddy's here." He picked her up, trying to comfort her. She wouldn't quiet until he figured out what she wanted.

He glanced around the room desperately, searching for the panacea. Where was Elisabeth? She often came running the instant her child started crying. Apparently even Vidas had maternal instincts. He walked with his daughter, hoping to calm her down with the sights.

The coat closet was open. Elisabeth's coat was gone. "No," he breathed.

Anna, he called, Elisabeth is gone. I need you to watch the baby so I can go after her. He sat on the couch, waiting nervously for the Smoke witch to arrive. Elisabeth was probably just looking for him, but there was no doubt in his mind—if his wife found trouble, she would throw herself headlong into it.

"Hello," a girl's voice wafted through the shadows. The brothers had come upon the thin young woman not long after setting out. Seeing their faces, so utterly alike, she stammered out, "I-I found you. I've heard that you'll…that you'll let me die. I don't want to live here, like this, the way I have been. Will…will you-?"

You need to feed, Nikolas reminded his brother. He knew the girl's fear would turn the younger twin off. But prey was here, and willing. They shouldn't need to go farther.

I won't kill her though, Kristopher told him, his mental voice laced with the bloodlust, Both you and I can tell she doesn't truly want to die. She just thinks so, in this moment. Kristopher stepped forward, approaching the girl. As she tilted her head to the side, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Leaning into the bared stretch of skin, he fed, to sate the inescapable hunger with in him.

Elisabeth came onto another street, ignoring a stitch building in her side. Okay, so I'm not as in shape as usual. I'm still faster than most of the others. She spotted yet another alley, and wished for her husband to be contained within. The chase was rapidly becoming tedious. She had a great long speech in her mind prepared to yell at Ian when she found him.

She walked into the mouth of the alley, and hissed. Right in front of her, a vampire was feeding from a girl. Running up before the feeding vampire noticed her, or she noticed the second one lurking, she took a knife from within her boot and plunged it through the preoccupied vampire's back. She missed her target of the heart though, as a body hurtled into her and knocked her to the ground.

Kristopher gasped in pain as the knife entered his back. He fell to his knees, taking the no longer trembling girl down with him. Knowing Nikolas would protect him, he lay the unconscious girl off to the side. Then he went to join in the fight. It was practically over though, by the time he came in.

Nikolas almost hadn't notice the witch in time. The instant he had noticed her heading for his brother, he had reacted with his superhuman speed. As soon as Elisabeth hit the ground, he had his knife pulled out of his back pocket. Flicking it open, he swiped open her right arm, not giving her a second. The way she had come at his brother…the girl could be nothing more than a witch.

She got up before he got in another strike, and dodged the second he aimed at her. The third managed to strike her right arm.

Elisabeth started to go for he Vida knife, but remembered her coat. Ducking away and rolling, she grabbed her the knife from her other boot and started fighting in earnest. Now she could truly feel the weakness from her injury, but the young witch didn't dare back down.

Nikolas parried several blows, and landed several. Then Kristopher came from behind the witch, and the vampire had his opening. He darted forward, and drove his knife upward into the witch's heart. Glancing at Kristopher, he smiled with relief. With a little blood his twin would be fine. Before the left to find him more blood, there was one thing left to do… Carefully, Nikolas carved his name, a flower, and a strand of ivy onto the witch's arms. His brother had matching symbols, but wasn't in a state to decorate the dead witch. He gathered up his brother and took him away. It looked like they would be moving again. It was an ugly house.

It was not Ian who found Elisabeth. When the girl Kristopher had fed upon awoke and found the dead woman, she had run instantly to the nearby house for help. But so she wasn't blamed for the murder, she ran away before any one could find her.

Ian was called to the morgue to identify his wife's body-until then, he had held hope of finding her. But he knew without a doubt the dead Jane Doe was her. Not that he told the authorities that.

Nikolas…Our line shall hunt you until you are dead, for what you have done to Elisabeth.