Keith stared down at Tinker bell with dead eyes, her body lay broken on the ground far below; unmoving and unnoticed. Power surged through his body like a fire, a blast wave of primal energy that had quickly started to become a craved addiction. He held power over life and death in this house. He could be a god, an omnipotent being delivering death to the unworthy mortals. There were more to kill though, many more before he got to Lacey, and so he peered down to his cell phone that displayed each of the camera feeds, the sauna caught his eye; Cruella was always in there.
"Seems you've trapped yourself." He chuckled.
~X~
Cruella loved the sauna, it was a place that had become completely hers since she'd joined Gold's little band of glorified cam girls. It wasn't often she had to share since it was no secret that she and the other girls weren't on the best of terms; true, Tamara and Zelena had sometimes joined her but not often. She glanced over to the wooden sauna clock beside the door as she relaxed further in her usual spot. By now most of the girls would either be doing or getting ready for their shows, Cruella herself liked to do her own just after dinner when most men were fat and happy to just finish off the day, it also gave her the evening to herself.
Steam tickled her skin, a towel the only modesty she had not that Cruella really needed it what with her line of work. Her eyes were closed and her skin hot, the fans do love me wet. Everything was soothing just as always … and then she thought it grew hotter. Ridiculous surely. She put it down to a trick of the mind for a moment or two but soon couldn't deny it any longer. When the steam started to burn like tiny drops of acid her eyes flicked open urgently, too hot, scolding. In hast she shot to her feet forgetting entirely about her towel and Cruella darted to the door, but it wouldn't budge, not a single inch. Locked! The Sauna didn't even have a lock on it!
"Help!" She screamed as she hoped this was one of Zelena's stupid pranks; her head a little dizzy from her day of gin drinking. "Help!"
But no one came, not a single soul. The temperature rose so high that she felt her throat tighten, she couldn't breath, it burnt, it hurt, it stung. Steam left her stood in a cloud of gray-white practically blinding her to everything around her. Suddenly an idea burst into her mind and Cruella felt around quickly for the towel she'd dropped until she stood triumphant with the damp fabric as her skin burnt. In seconds one of the flaming hot rocks was wrapped within it and the eldest girl at The House Of Scarlet slammed it against the tiny glass window praying it would smash. Three sharp, loud and desperate bangs sounded as she did all she could to get out. Her heart thundered in her chest. Cruella fought with everything she had, every single scrap of self-preservation, and finally, finally, the glass gave way letting cool air into the sauna while steam poured out like some sort of sideways chimney.
As quickly as she was able Cruella stuffed her arm out the broken window, cutting it with her speed and desperately felt around for whatever had trapped her, didn't take long for her slender fingers to scrap across something thick and wooden. She ripped away the long rod keeping the door closed and tossed it away where it bounced dramatically over the locker room floor. She was out, she was free! The elder beauty shoved the door open then raced down the halls, through the kitchen completely oblivious to the masked man she passed in her fit of horror. The sunroom's patio doors were thrown open and Cruella charged out into the night naked as the day she was born completely uncaring as to the weather before diving into the ice-cold pool. The cold, the ecstasy, absolute bliss against her overheated skin; the larva dissipated and sent away the pain.
Cruella broke through the water drawing rich night air into her lungs, peace that was what she felt despite the rain pouring heavily down on her. Her brain didn't think about what had happened she was in too much shock for thought, didn't think why no one had bothered to cover the pool what with this storm. Instead she just swam to the edge intent on calming herself down before she went to find out what exactly Zelena had been playing at... boots? Cruella's devilish eyes shot up the workman's suit past the blade coated with red and flakes of skin up to the horrific mask.
Cruella screamed, loud and desperately. Voice echoing out and reverberating off anything it hit but with the storm no one had a hope of hearing it. With the rain her cry for help would have been lost as just another odd sound amidst the tempest. The red, white and blue clown mask tilted and she knew the man who wore it grinned despite his face being hidden. Eyes like pinpricks peeked out, dead, cold eyes that looked at her with something she couldn't quite bring herself to describe. The next thing she knew air was forced from her lungs and her heart leapt into her mouth as a strong hand forced her under the water. Nottingham thrived on this, death, holding her hair under the pool water until her body stopped fighting; it would be euphoric! Until the darkness closed in around her eyes and her heart frantically raced, until Cruella's hair was pulled from her head due to his grip... and then it all went still and started to float. He watched a moment as rain flooded down his back at the way his hand tangled in her soaked hair. Odd that someone who had not a full minute ago been so alive, had fought and kicked and done all they could to save themselves now simply floated so limply, no longer someone but something. He'd turned Cruella, The House of Scarlet's veteran, into nothing more than a hunk of driftwood. Nottingham hadn't intended for Cruella to escape the sauna, she'd have been neatly tucked away if she had, but somehow he thought he liked this more.
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
~X~
"What was that?!" Belle questioned as she threw on her clothes and left the room. "That wasn't the rain, I know it wasn't."
Belle had always had good hearing and what with sleeping with the boss she'd made sure to always be aware of where the other girls were. While she couldn't be certain she was sure she'd heard someone scream as they'd run through the house. Belle had grown used to hearing screams from the other House Girls but this wasn't one of pleasure, this one had been scared. She left Gold and headed down the hall took a right then stopped at the large window between the bathroom and the back staircase to peer downwards at the pool.
"Oh my god!" A hand clasped firmly over her mouth as she stepped back a little in horror.
"Belle, what's wrong?" Gold's brow furrowed but when his beloved didn't answer but still he continued to follow her as fast as his ankle would let him to get to her side dressed in nothing but his open pants; belt hanging loose. "Belle?"
When he once again received no answer Elias' eyes left Belle's horrified blue ones and glanced out the window down at the pool through the storm and he went deathly silent.
The pool was lit up, the only light in the dark, heavy night but that wasn't what Belle or Gold noticed. A man dressed in a navy workman's suit and a terrifying fifty's style, rubber clown mask stood tall watching Cruella as she floated naked in the water, her body utterly still. Belle wanted to throw up but couldn't move, not even to shiver in horror. Rain continued to splatter against the glass as some sick background music to whatever evil had entered their home.
Gold seemed to regain his thoughts first and pulled Belle away form the window by the shoulders and took her back to her room so she could sit on her bed before her legs gave out. In an instant he flicked the lights off and pulled to plunge them into darkness and open her turquoise laptop, every single one of his cameras showed nothing but static. Elias had a team to keep malfunctions like this from happening but after what he'd just witnessed he doubted this was anything as innocent as a malfunction.
"Shit!" He growled and reached for his cell phone. "No fucking service, are you kidding me?!"
We're being jammed aren't we? He asked himself though logically knew it could have also been the storm, the nearest cell tower had been up on a hill not too far away and the last storm they'd had came with high winds which had damaged the antenna; the fucking thing still hadn't been fixed. Honestly it could have been either and neither were preferable.
Belle copied him and tried to call out – probably so she had something to do in order to take her mind off of the dead woman floating in the pool – but there was no service, nothing. They couldn't call the police, couldn't call Jefferson or Victor, they were alone.
"What are we going to do, Elias?" Her voice trembled as she tried not to cry.
"We're going to stay calm and run to my panic room." He answered quickly without looking at her.
"Panic room?" Belle's eyebrows shot up.
"Yes." He answered as though it was perfectly normal and finally turned to look at his beloved Belle.
A panic room, of course he had a fucking panic room, he had secrets to store after all. Belle's mind didn't function as the man she loved grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him down the hall into the private wing as quickly but as quietly as possible, then into his bedroom. She stood with her cerulean orbs locked on the bedroom door like it would suddenly swing open and that masked monster would come for them any second while Gold yanked his closet door open and shoved his clothes aside. Next thing Belle knew she'd been shoved inside a thin but surprisingly long room. Her legs couldn't hold her and she fell to the cold black floor as white light suddenly beamed down from the ceiling, thoughts raced through her head but she had no idea what they were; Cruella was dead. Was everyone else dead too?
The room had somehow been hidden but Belle didn't have the brain power to figure out how exactly, every inch of The House Of Scarlet's space had been maximized what with so many people living there but Gold could always keep something hidden if he wanted to.
"Belle?" The auburn-haired beauty didn't respond. "Belle? Belle!"
Her head finally snapped up to face the man she loved, he looked just as terrified as she did and Belle couldn't help but be proud of him. Fear is the precursor to bravery. He grabbed a shirt from his closet then pulled the panic door closed and crouched down as best he was able beside her as he put the red fabric on.
"Belle I know you're scared, but … I'll keep you safe, I promise."
He spoke more to convince himself than her; refused to let his cowardice inner voice take over. Azure eyes watched as he reached up and pulled two black walkie talkies from a charging station of five; Elias had built the panic room for emergencies and this certainly qualified. In all honesty he'd never expected to use it. He wanted to stay in there and hide until the mad man left or someone came to save them but he couldn't, Elias had promised to protect these girls and he'd already failed Cruella. He needed to be brave, for Belle and the girls if nothing else.
"I have to go and get Ashley." He grabbed his gun – a Beretta – from beside the charging station. "The others too. This is my fucking house and I promised to keep those girls safe."
Elias pushed a walkie into her shaking hands and then he was gone; Belle clawed at the air where he'd been stood but it was no good... he was gone. Had she not been in so much shock she'd have been proud of her sweet Elias. Zelena, Tamara and Cruella had called him a coward, they didn't have the same relationship with him that the other girls did, but Belle knew the truth, Elias Gold could be brave when he needed to be.