Victor

IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT. READ THE AN AT THE END, IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT FUTURE CHAPTER CONTENT. THANKS.

I waited until midnight to leave the house. I checked in on all the children and Trudy, making sure they were sound asleep, before I pulled on my jacket, said goodbye to Corbierre, and headed over to Isis to meet Bess and Eric. I noticed that my hands were slightly shaking as I walked, but I told myself it was just the cold and moved faster.

The door was unlocked, as she had promised it would be. Normally Bess set our meetings, but this time I had called it, and as such I hadn't been entirely sure she'd agree to it. Eric was at the door when I arrived. We gave each other brief nods before entering, and walked over to her office where students' tests appeared to be grading themselves. I frowned, watching through the window. She sat in her chair, relaxed, head tilted back and arms on their rests. In front of her, a red pen whizzed across sheets of paper, seemingly self-suspended, and every so often a paper would transfer itself to a different pile. Eric and I were accustomed to such displays, but they were still off-putting.

"Come on in boys, the water's fine." Even without seeing her face, I could hear the smirk in her voice.

I clenched my fists, straightened my shoulders, and opened the door, following Eric through.

Bess didn't raise a hand, but the pen gestured impatiently at the chairs before returning to its papers. We sat and waited for her to finish, by now well used to her dismissive mannerisms. Eric however, didn't seem willing to wait much longer. I estimate less than two minutes passed before he started talking.

"You don't regret it at all do you?"

"Shush." Bess didn't even open her eyes.

I glanced at Eric, raising my eyebrows, but he ignored me. "I asked you a question Bess."

"And I ignored it." Finally, she lifted her head up to glance at us. "Why should I reply when we all know the answer? Now please calm down, Mrs. Green is down the hall and a very light sleeper."

"A student was shot and almost died, and you're telling me to calm down?"

"I had a contact at the hospital monitoring her progress, and I have been keeping an eye on her since she got back," I jumped in. "Believe me, Eric, Nina is fine."

He laughed. "Oh, she's fine. That's wonderful, that's just wonderful. Nina Martin was legally dead for seven minutes but she's just fine."

"Seven minutes? Really?" Bess sounded interested.

Eric nodded sharply. "The doctors filled me in. She coded in the ambulance due to blood loss, and there were complications during the surgery which caused her to flatline." Bess looked pleased about this which only seemed to heighten Eric's distress. "I told you not to do this. I told you I would not stand by it, but you assured me no one would be hurt and so against my better judgement, I agreed. Victor didn't even have time to find the Book of the Dead, leaving us with less than nothing, and me with the problem of hiring a new French teacher."

"That man was a pedophile and you know it. Or do you need to see his phone again?"

"Eric try to calm down." I put a hand on his shoulder but he ignored me.

"Try to calm down?" He looked at me in disbelief, seeming more than a little betrayed. "Victor this is one of your students, I would think you'd show a little more concern."

"As I told you before, Miss Martin is fine, and I will continue to check up on her and make certain that she stays that way." Even before I finished talking he was shaking his head.

"How am I the only one who sees anything wrong with what happened?"

Bess had resumed her former relaxed position. "Honestly Eric I really don't see what all the fuss is about."

"YOU DON'T SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT?"

"Would you be quiet?" I hissed, leaping up to check down the hall, making sure no one had heard anything. A few tense moments passed, and then I resumed my seat. I turned to berate Eric only to find that his mouth was opening and closing furiously, but no sound was coming out.

"Once you've decided you're capable of using your indoor voice, you'll be able to speak again." I wanted to ask Bess if this was really necessary, but the ice in her voice told me that wouldn't go over well. Eric started to stand up, but my ears popped as the pressure dropped and some invisible force slammed him back into his chair. I wrinkled my nose, trying not to breathe too deeply as the scent of sulfur filled the room. "You want to know why I am entirely calm Eric? I will tell you. The girl is fine and the police believe they have apprehended the person responsible. After receiving an anonymous tip, they found the gun and the clothes in his apartment. Tonight, or early tomorrow morning, the man they have arrested will be found to have hung himself in his cell. The text messages I showed you with one of his students should be more than enough to satisfy you that a, shall we say bad person, is going away for his crimes. Even if the crime he was arrested for was not one he committed, if anyone deserved to be imprisoned it was him." Her eyes turned to slits, and when she smiled she appeared to have fangs. "My partner feels very unkindly towards those who commit crimes against children."

She waved her hand and Eric made a choking noise as his voice was restored. "I'm assuming that concern doesn't extend to children named Nina Martin." Bess smiled and Eric's scowl deepened. "You know I'm still not sure you didn't plant those texts just to appease me. I interviewed Jacques Duval personally, he is a good man."

"A good man who was sexually harassing one of his students." Bess raised her eyebrows and opened up her drawer, pulled out a phone and started reading out fragments of texts. "'The moment I saw you sitting there, I knew I loved you.' 'Please start wearing longer uniform skirts unless you want to meet me in the copy room, dot dot dot,'" she paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "'And we won't be making copies.' 'I know you're worried about the age difference and that you say you're only 17, but when I kissed you after class today I've never felt more alive. I know you'll eventually feel the same way I do.' 'Now that I know the taste of your lips, how much longer must I wait to taste the rest of you?' 'I'm still waiting on those photographs. Come now darling, I thought you wanted to pass your French class.'"

"That's enough." I was growing nauseous just listening. "He gets it."

Eric still seemed unconvinced however. "If you'd just tell me who the student is so I could confirm it —"

"Sorry but no can do. I think the poor girl's privacy has been violated enough, don't you?"

"Can we move on please? We are wasting time." After losing his voice Eric seemed more cautious than before of provoking Bess, and so I took this moment to draw the meeting back to the reason I called it. "I interviewed Miss Martin, and I am confident she is in the dark as to who her true attacker was. As far as I can tell, she remembers everything else, and so there is no danger of it coming back to her at a later date."

"Right, so the poor girl is going to think she's safe, when really the person who shot her is going to stand right in front of her in a classroom and teach her history five times a week."

"Would you rather I stood right in front of her in a classroom and taught her biology five times a week?" Bess somehow managed to inject equal measures of acid and humor into her question.

"I'd rather you hadn't shot her at all, but I think it's safe to assume we're well past that point." I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat impressed with the spinal cord Eric seemed to have sprouted.

"Why did you do it?" They both turned to look at me.

Bess gave a graceful shrug. "I was conducting an experiment."

"An experiment?" Bess swiftly glared at Eric, and his jaw slammed shut.

"What did I say about using your indoor voice?" she asked sweetly.

"Considering the fact that I wasn't able to find the Book of the Dead in time, it must've been a pretty important experiment. I think we have a right to know what it was."

She laughed, high and cold. "You have a right to know? Victor, as of right now you barely have a right to live, let alone ask questions. You know, considering the help I'm giving you with that little problem of yours, I think you forfeit any 'rights' you may have had to demand answers from me, don't you?" I didn't respond. I answered to her and we both knew it. I was as good as a puppet.

"Well I'm not taking any of your damned medicine, and I would like to know why you shot one of my students." Eric's voice was tight, but the volume was controlled.

Bess frowned, considering him carefully as the last of the papers was graded and the pen fell to the desk with a clatter. "If you can give me a good reason as to why I should tell you, I might actually do just that."

Eric straightened his shoulders. "I'll go to the police and tell them they got the wrong man if you don't. I'll tell them you told me your plans and that I didn't stop you."

Bess gave a girlish giggle that seemed more suited to Amber Millington than it did this… woman. "Oh, you are fun, aren't you? So self-righteous." She propped her elbows up on the desk and leaned forwards. "You're not going to go to the police Eric. You're not going to go to anybody, and do you know why? Your son is already furious at you for what you did to his girlfriend and housemates two years ago. How do you think he'll react if he finds out you're the reason Nina Martin got shot? You know how Osirians are, always so overprotective of their precious Chosen Ones. I don't think he'd ever forgive you, and so you'll do everything in your power to make sure he never finds out you had anything to do with this." Eric rubbed a hand over his eyes and Bess laughed again. "Oh, what the hell. Since we're on the subject of your son anyway, I'll tell you."

"What?" Eric's back straightened and he looked up at her. "What do you mean about my son? Are you going to shoot him too?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said coolly. "I'm talking about how he saved that girl's life."

Her words seemed to ring slowly through my head, each causing more and more confusion. I wasn't the only one. "He… what?" Eric had gained the appearance of a man drowning. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm a very good shot. I knew exactly where to shoot Nina so that she'd bleed out in a matter of minutes. Nice, and slow, and messy." I recoiled slightly as she smiled, seeming to relish the words coming out of her mouth. "Now her powers aren't that strongly manifested yet, not strong enough to save her by themselves, proving my theory that the accident that killed her parents was a fluke. This time, all she could do was try to hold on. She held on to her Osirian. Your son." Eric started shaking his head but she kept talking. "The two of them are connected. They can track each other, see through each other's eyes and into each other's minds, save each other's lives if it comes down to it and it came down to it. I wanted to see if the bond was strong enough; if Edison was strong enough to hold onto her and she to him. The fact of the matter is, Nina Martin could have died on Halloween, but she didn't, almost like she should have died seven years ago. And now I have the answers my partner and I needed."

"You're mad," Eric whispered.

"So it's been said." She smiled innocently. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have calls to make and a man to hang."

I could tell Eric wanted to stay and argue but I grabbed his arm. "Thank you for meeting us, we'll see you tomorrow. Won't we Eric?"

Looking furious, he allowed me to lead him out. I thought we would part ways at the exit and he would head back to the other faculty dorm. Instead however, he followed me back to Anubis and into my office. I sat down and gestured for him to do the same, but he stood there glaring at me.

"Isn't there anything you're going to say?"

I sighed, rubbing my temples. I could already feel another headache coming on. "What am I supposed to say?"

He folded his arms and I suddenly longed for the days of the Society, back when it was Eric and Daphne and me and the others, working together, answering to me. Back when immortality seemed not just attainable, but reasonable. "How about you say you're happy Nina's not dead. That would be a good place to start. Or how about you tell me you had no idea that she was planning to shoot the poor girl, to use her and my son in some twisted experiment. I don't even know the questions she was asking."

"I'm happy Nina is not dead, and I had no idea Bess was planning to shoot her." The words were true, but came out sounding robotic, automatic. Insincere.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Eric," I started, but he cut me off.

"Victor you heard what she said in there. Nina should have died. Bess could have murdered a student, a seventeen-year-old girl, and been perfectly at peace with herself. How are you all right with this? How do you follow all her orders without question?"

"I owe her a favor," I ground out.

"For what?" he demanded. "What could possibly be so important that you would willingly compromise the safety of these children?" I didn't answer, and Eric sighed impatiently. "If she's going to go around executing students at random, I will have no part of this, no matter our history Victor. Do you understand me?" I nodded. "Good." He adjusted his jacket and made for the door before pausing and turning back to me. "You know there was a time I would have done anything for you."

I ignored the tight feeling in my throat. "I know. There was a time I would have done anything for you too, old friend."

"So you understand why I have to draw a line in the sand?"

"I do."

"Victor." I looked up at him. "Whatever she's helping you with… I sincerely hope it's worth it."

I closed my eyes and heard the door open and close, straining my ears to hear his footsteps down the stairs of the otherwise silent house. Once I was certain he'd left, I lifted a shaking hand up to my head. If I concentrated, I imagined I could feel it there, pulsating under the skin. Brain aneurysms had no symptoms, I knew I was beyond lucky to have caught it when I did, and not during a potentially fatal stroke. On the other hand, I missed the days I hadn't known I was a dead man walking.

I sighed, leaning over to stroke Corbierre. "It's not that I want the children to die," I explained. "Besides, it's not like Bess would actually kill them. She expected the Miller boy to save her." He stared at me unblinkingly, and I let the feeling of his feathers under my fingers soothe me. "Eric will come around eventually and everything will be just fine Corbierre. You'll see."

AN: short chapter, I know. Sorry guys. This was mostly meant as a catch-up so you could see what's going on with these three. Should I call them villains? Or bad guys? The terrible trio? I'm open to suggestions.

Now for the IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT.

I have the story's plot pretty much planned out, but I'm struggling to come up with more rooms/trials. So, I am opening a contest submission thing. If you can think of a room, or a trial, or a dream task Sibuna has to complete, put it in a review or PM me or both, (I'm more likely to see a review) and if it winds up in the story I'll give you full credit. Thanks in advance. College still sucks, I'll write when I can.

Favorite, follow and review please. Let me know whose POVs you'd like to see.