Convergence of Paths
Riccardo carefully laid Fiona down on the operating table. He recalled with a smile the last time, almost exactly like this, when he had been checking her ovulation... He watched for a moment as she lay there, breathing softly, her chest rising and falling ever so slightly. She looked so peaceful now... but he knew when she woke up, he'd still see the fear in her eyes. She may never warm up to him completely... They'd had a little more than just a rough start. But she would at least learn to trust him. If nothing else... then for the sake of their child. He needed an heir, he needed to survive.
The thought of leaving nothing behind in this world was one of the few things that actually scared him, though he would never admit it. He knew that their time had passed, alchemy was long forgotten, any prestige the Belli family once had had fallen into ruin. Lorenzo had ignored that fact, blind to it, blind to everything around him except for his beloved Truth. And that was what had ultimately led to his demise... The power-hungry bastard, I hope he burns in hell, Riccardo thought savagely, still staring at Fiona's placid face. Lorenzo had never tried to be a father figure, never been there to help him, to raise him... It was his fault, in Riccardo's mind, that he'd turned out like this. He had ended up hating the old man, hating his family, hating his very existence... until Fiona came along.
The well-off, teenaged daughter of his so-called brother, Ugo... Ugo was always favored... What little excuse for love Lorenzo gave was always toward Ugo, never himself. He hated Ugo nearly as much as the old man. He wasn't a failure, he was the perfect clone. He had gotten out, escaped, become somebody... yet he still inherited the entire castle. Well, now Riccardo was the one laughing. He'd fallen for it, he'd come back... And Riccardo, mad with envy, had killed him, and taken his daughter. It was that simple. Why did the old fucker even keep me around, he thought, his anger rising. Why hadn't he just killed me when I hadn't turned out right? Why am I forced to live this way?
He gripped the rail on the side of the operating table, trying to calm down. Everything was going to be better now, though. Everything. When he had first seen Fiona, first seen the pictures on the desk of Lorenzo's study when the old man had been gone... He was intrigued, he was enthralled. The perfect woman, and Lorenzo using her as just another body for his cause... He found out about the plan made by Lorenzo and Leonardo, to kidnap her from Ugo, to use her inherited Azoth to find the secret... and he knew that each had their own agendas. He would have to get to her first... and she would have his child. Not another Belli created as a pale imitation, not another failed experiment... just a human child.
He had no idea why he wanted this so badly... somewhere deep inside, he knew he loved Fiona, no matter how much she hated him. He wanted to be normal, he wanted to be remembered... but most of all, he knew it was because he wanted the child to have a real father and mother. He didn't want another life like his. He didn't want to become like Lorenzo, like all the other Bellis... he wanted somebody who could remember him, who could carry on his legacy. He just wanted to escape his own past.
He brushed Fiona's light hair out of her face. She was so beautiful... he closed his eyes, recalling earlier, when she and her body were all his... It was what he had wanted all this time. It was all he had dreamed and fantasized about, and although he had wanted a child, he had wanted her, too. God, how he had wanted her... They would do it again, many times... soon, if all went well... and he would wait for the day when his precious Fiona bore his heir. And she would learn to like it, to want it, beg him for it... He smiled at the thought, and knew that time was far off yet. But it would come.
He finally walked away from her side, making his way to the door, and opened it, stepping out into the hallway. He turned and stuck a large brass key in the lock, turning it and locking it from both the inside and the outside. Fendari had told him that this was one of the only rooms in the mansion that had a lock like that, but it suited Riccardo perfectly. He didn't want his prize escaping if she woke up, and it would also keep a certain unwanted visitor out. He turned the corner and headed for the foyer, planning on going back out to the car and retrieving Hewie. As he walked, he thought about the whole unlikely situation he found himself in.
Fendari had revived him somehow, using some secret only he knew, only he, being the way he was, could perform... but he had never particularly liked Riccardo, and had always been a loner, a servant to Lorenzo and then Leonardo. Riccardo wondered idly how old the man was, because he still appeared so young, but more so why he had bothered to bring Riccardo to Fiona. He knew that he must want a favor, but what? What could Riccardo have that Fendari could possibly want? And why did he suddenly want to kill his own master? Maybe it was a lie, a ruse, but he had appeared very anxious, even nervous when Riccardo had talked to him. He had not been lying. What was going on here right now was their business, and Riccardo wanted no part of it. But little did he know that their business was coming to meet him at that very moment.
He heard shuffling footsteps ahead of him, and stopped. It wasn't Fendari... he hoped to god it wasn't Leonardo returning yet, he wasn't ready... But it almost sounded like an injured person, somebody having difficulty walking. He saw her appear at the end of the hall from the foyer, and stopped dead. At first he thought Hewie had somehow escaped, seeing a canine by the girl's side, but that wasn't what had surprised him. It was the girl herself. Gears turned in his mind, trying to figure out what was going on. This was impossible...
"Daniella?" He called, thinking his mind was playing tricks on him. But he saw her clearly, coming toward him...
"Please, help me... I'm going to faint... I can't..."
The girl with a voice distinctly different than Daniella's swayed a bit, then fell to the floor. What was going on? Just when Riccardo thought he had things figured out, god threw him another curveball. He ran toward the girl, the large dog that was not Hewie by her side beginning to growl at him. Why did dogs have to hate him so much? He reached his hand out, slowing down.
"Don't worry... I want to see her. She needs help."
He expected the dog to lunge at him, and put his hand on the handle of his flintlock, but amazingly it seemed to understand, and keeping a suspicious eye on him, backed off. Riccardo walked over to the girl and crouched down, rolling her face-up and taking her into his arms. She was so young, and her features were fair, but besides that she looked like that wretched maid, Daniella. She had the same hair, the same structure... He wondered how this could be when the realization finally hit him.
"Oh, dear god," he said softly, shaking his head in disbelief.