Disclaimer: Do not own Locke and Key
Demon's Downfall
Part two
A Temporary Victory
Chapter one
Finally finding the Omega key
There was a pattern that often was exhibited by those who sought after power and won many battles in the human world.
The pattern in question?
Was that those that sought after power, and gained a great deal of victories, eventually were brought down brutally by their own hubris.
They won and won every battle, only to be brought down to the lowest depths by their downfall. A great weakness they never thought they would have.
The world of demons had experienced this every now and then.
A hero of the demon world, Latavanko, now calling themselves "Dodge," a nickname of the human Lucas whom they had possessed, was going to learn this lesson soon enough.
A lesson that perhaps, Dodge deeply needed, as she was proud and assured of herself that with Rendell dead, and with her now in possession of the Head key, she would never know anything else except victory, despite the prophecy given to her, that Rendell had brought supposedly, Latavanko's downfall into the human world.
Dodge walked for miles to reach the cliffside house. She got to the cliffside house, undressed, used the Identity key to change into Lucas, changed into Lucas's clothes, stored some of the keys away. She considered the near disaster tonight had been. So, Tyler knew what she looked like and knew her for the enemy that she was. But he didn't know that she had the Identity key. And there was no reason to think that he and his siblings knew anything about the Identity key.
And Kinsey still believed Gabe was her friend and a potential suitor.
That's all she knew of the person in her life that Dodge had invented.
And besides, it had been far from a fruitless night. She had a good portion of the keys, including the Head key and the Anywhere key.
She was closer to finding the Omega key than before.
And the upside, she finally got to relieve some of her hungers. Her ever-present hungers. Killing Sam, hurting Tyler during sex, and the sex in general, had fed a good deal of her hunger for power, violence and sex. More so the first two, than the last of those three. But some of her hunger for sex had been fed.
So, there was that much, at least.
She locked the house up and used the Anywhere key to get back to Ellie Whedon's place.
She only came out one time, in the living room, to get some food, offering a little too threatening smile to Ellie before heading to Lucas's room.
She slept for the night, ready for tomorrow.
Not even once did she lose track of the Anywhere key or the Head key.
The next morning, she got ready as Lucas.
She headed downstairs, finding Ellie and Rufus in the kitchen, making food.
She tilted Lucas's head. "No breakfast?" She asked, sounding almost playful.
Ellie said, looking down at the food in her hands, "We're making a soup to take over to the Lockes."
Ellie looked back to Lucas. As she said, "Figured it was the least we could do."
"Terrible what happened to them," Dodge said, picking up an avocado and playing with it before putting it back with the rest of the fruits and vegetables, "That kid showed up," Dodge reached out and grabbed an orange. She continued her torture as she said, "It was the same kid that murdered Rendell, right? Talk about a dog with a bone."
Ellie told Rufus to go get tomatoes and Dodge knew that Ellie was going to try to have "a word" with Dodge.
Rufus nodded and left, and Dodge watched him spitefully the whole time.
Dodge looked back to Ellie.
"Where were you last night?" Ellie asked, staring at Dodge, "Did you somehow have a hand in this, Lucas?"
Dodge said calmly, wanting Ellie to understand that Dodge being in this world was only Ellie, Rendell and their friends' fault for opening the black gate, "If anyone had a hand in what happened at Key House, it was you, Ellie."
Dodge grabbed some more fruit and headed back to Lucas's room.
She would visit Kinsey today. As Gabe. After all, with what had happened just last night, people were going to see if the Locke family was alright, weren't they? So, this was a good time for Gabe to "check on" Kinsey.
Dodge didn't even say goodbye to Ellie and her brat-especially since she knew they'd be at Key House soon enough. She went to the cliffside house, hid some of the keys there, undressed, changed into Gabe, put on Gabe's clothes, and used the Anywhere key to get to Key House. She emerged from the basement, circled around, and knocked on the front door.
Nina Locke greeted her, having no idea the threat that was in front of her.
Dodge introduced Gabe, smiling. "Hi, Mrs. Locke," Gabe said, "My name's Gabe Henderson. I'm a friend of your daughter's. I just wanted to see if she was alright."
Nina Locke looked started, but nodded, smiling and Dodge could just smell the alcohol on her breath.
That was another thing about demons. They had a lot better sense of smell than anyone else.
Nina told Gabe she'd get Kinsey and invited Gabe in. Dodge followed her inside and waited in the living room as Nina went to get Kinsey.
Dodge looked over the living room that just last night, she had rampaged through, beating Tyler and Nina Locke and stabbing Sam Lesser.
She smirked at where she saw a dark stain in front of the Ghost Door, where the Ghost key went. She wondered how long it would take for them to get the stain of Sam's blood out.
When she heard footsteps approaching, Dodge turned Gabe around, making Gabe's face completely concerned again.
Nina came over, with Kinsey in tow.
"Hey, Kinsey," Dodge said, "I'm really sorry. Are you okay," Dodge had Gabe look to Nina too, "Is everyone okay? Sorry I didn't ask before."
Mrs. Locke just offered another smile. "Oh, no, it's alright," She said, "We're managing."
Kinsey shrugged, looking like this was all difficult for her, "It is what it is."
Dodge nodded, supposing that it was appropriate that Kinsey had used Gabe's words. Because it seemed the only thing to say at the moment.
"Hey, I'll take you to my room," Kinsey said, nodding to the stairs.
Dodge nodded and followed her, thanking Mrs. Locke for having Gabe over.
Dodge followed Kinsey up the stairs, to Kinsey's room.
When they got there, Kinsey allowed Dodge to stay in her room, before asking if Gabe wanted anything to drink. Dodge had Gabe ask for a soda, which Kinsey went to get.
When she left, Dodge took this time to look around Kinsey's room. There were drawings and paintings all over the room. There was a paper on the window seat. Curious, Dodge leaned down and scooped up the paper, looking at it. It was a college acceptance letter. From Parsons.
Dodge knew that both Kinsey and Tyler had been applying to colleges. Well, she supposed that it was a good thing.
If the two of them went off to college, that would leave Bode as the only guardian of the remaining keys that the Locke family had. Unless Tyler and Kinsey took some keys with them, which she doubted they'd do.
And she could deal with Bode, when the time came, if need be.
She heard footsteps come close to Kinsey's room and looked up. Seeing Kinsey, she put the acceptance letter down and said, "Hey, you got into Parsons. That's awesome."
Kinsey tossed a soda to Gabe and Dodge caught it, putting it down as Kinsey sat on the end of her bed.
"Thanks," Kinsey said.
Dodge quickly said in as an awkward way she would imagine Gabe could, "I wasn't snooping, by the way. That was just like sitting there."
"It's fine," Kinsey chuckled.
Dodge said, "Well, you don't seem very excited about it."
Kinsey said, "Yeah, I dunno. I used to think I would be." She glanced at Gabe. "Should I be?" She asked.
Dodge had Gabe sigh, "I'm not going to tell you how to feel." She pulled Kinsey's roller stool over and sat down on it, in front of Kinsey.
"That's very smart of you," Kinsey said, smirking.
Dodge had Gabe smirk back. Considering that Kinsey had literally ripped an emotion right out of her own head, she doubted that anyone could tell Kinsey how to feel. Kinsey wouldn't stand for it.
Dodge then added, "Although if I was speaking selfishly, I can't say that I'd be thrilled at the idea of you being away the whole summer." It probably wasn't a good thing that Dodge realized that she actually meant that.
"No?" Kinsey asked, "Well, I think you'd be the only one who'd miss me."
"What?" Dodge asked, "That's not true."
"You're the only one who's here, Gabe," Kinsey said quietly.
"Okay," Dodge said, standing Gabe up, and sitting him down next to Kinsey on the bed, "Doug and Zadie, they wanted to be here, okay?" Dodge had no idea if that was the case, but she could only assume for them, "And I haven't talked to Scot yet, but I'm sure-"
"They're all still mad at me," Kinsey said, "I get that. I deserve it."
Dodge said, "No. But I think they're all just a little freaked out. I mean…it's kinda crazy what happened to you and your family."
Kinsey sighed, "Yeah. No shit."
"When I heard that guy came back…," Dodge had Gabe shake his head, "Who does that? What did he want? Was he after revenge?"
Dodge wanted to see if Kinsey was at the stage where she'd trust Gabe more.
Kinsey paused, before saying, "What does my family have that no one else in the world does?"
Dodge said, "Like nineteen chimneys?"
Kinsey chuckled, "No."
Dodge had Gabe have a look of realization. "Oh," She said, "You mean like magical keys?"
"Yeah," Kinsey said.
Dodge feigned confusion on Gabe's face, "But how did he…I mean, I thought hardly anyone knew about those."
Kinsey paused and said, smiling wryly, "That may be a story for another day."
Dodge had Gabe nod. Obviously, Kinsey wasn't willing to get Gabe that deeply involved, just yet.
"Okay," she said, "Sure. Yeah. Yeah, no rush." She then added, wanting Kinsey to deeply trust Gabe, "Your secret's safe with me. I hope you know that."
Kinsey nodded. "I do," she said, "Thank you."
Kinsey leaned forward and she and Gabe shared a hug.
Dodge held onto her, not sure why she felt warm, like she actually wanted to comfort Kinsey. She pushed that thought away. No need for it. She needed to only think about finding the Omega key. A means to an end. That was all Kinsey was.
They heard Nina call up, "Kinsey! Someone's at the door for you!"
Kinsey pulled away, looked at her door and turned back to Gabe. "I'll be right back, okay?" she said.
Dodge had Gabe nod and she watched as Kinsey got up and left the room.
She waited and heard Kinsey and Scot talking downstairs. She decided to get up and join them.
She went down the stairs, heading for the living room.
She almost wanted to see Scot's reaction to Gabe being here. If she knew one thing about humans, they got jealous. Very easily.
As she went down the next flight of stairs, she saw that Scot saw Gabe.
"Hey, Scot," she had Gabe say, putting Gabe's hands in his jacket pockets.
She watched with amusement at Scot's insecure looking face. Really? Really? All it took was another male in the house that wasn't Kinsey's brother, and he was suddenly jealous?
"Hey," Scot said, looking offended somehow.
Kinsey smiled and turned to Scot as Gabe came down the steps, saying, "Gabe just came by to, you know, see how I was."
"Yeah," Scot said.
"Come in," Kinsey said, "Hang out with us."
But Dodge already saw that Scot had made his judgment, even though he had known nothing of the kiss that Kinsey and Gabe had shared.
"No, no, no," Scot said politely, "I shouldn't. I, uh, I'm due back in a few. And my car's acting up. Also I need uh-I need a few minutes to get the old apron on nicely. So, I'll just…..I'll see you soon. I'm really glad you're okay."
Kinsey thanked him for the ice cream that Scot had apparently brought her, and Scot left.
Dodge sighed, fighting the urge to roll Gabe's eyes. So, that was how insecure Scot was?
Scot didn't even know that Kinsey and Gabe had kissed yet. And he was that jealous? Dodge didn't even need to know more to know that Scot wouldn't be a good fit for Kinsey, but simply moved Gabe down the stairs and said, "I should probably head out, too."
"Oh. Okay," Kinsey said, sounding disappointed.
Dodge didn't know why her disappointment bothered her.
She added, "But I'm gonna give him a minute's heads start, if that's cool."
Kinsey nodded.
Dodge needed to go to the psychiatric home. Get into Erin Voss's head.
Dodge told Kinsey the same as Gabe had told her before, that she could always call him if she wanted to talk.
Kinsey thanked him and after a few minutes had passed, Kinsey saw Gabe out. Dodge waved to her and headed off and when she was sure that Kinsey didn't see her, she circled around Key House, used the Anywhere key, and got back to the cliffside house. She turned back into Lucas, changed into Lucas's clothes, and headed back to Ellie's place.
When she got there, she found Rufus and Bode playing together, working on figurines.
Dodge watched each of their movements and expressions. Rufus probably couldn't hide his fears, even if he wanted to.
And that was obvious to Bode. Bode could see how frightened Rufus was of Lucas, of Rufus's "cousin Lucas."
Bode asked where Lucas was from. Dodge simply answered, "Nowhere in particular. From all over. I move around a lot."
Ellie came in with some cookies, looking worried when she saw Lucas.
Dodge had Lucas make what little and almost nonthreatening small talk with Ellie, Rufus and Bode, before leaving. She wasn't going to pretend that Rufus's fear and Ellie and Bode's unease didn't appease her.
They did.
She used the Anywhere key, got back to the cliffside house, undressed, changed into her Dodge form, put on the clothes for Dodge and went to the psychiatric home.
She signed in, again in that very ridiculous name, Chastity Peters.
She talked with the woman at the front desk, and the woman said that Erin right now was at a magic show.
Dodge almost snorted. Almost.
A magic show. How hopeless could you get? Full-grown adults couldn't remember real magic when they turned twenty-four. So, they made up fake magic and tricks.
She went to the so-called magic show, saw Erin slouched in her wheelchair.
Dodge came up to sit down next to Erin, smirking.
As the hack magician "bended a spoon in half," Dodge leaned in close to Erin and said, "Hey, Vossie. I got you a little something. Well, technically, it's a gift for me, but you get to provide the key component."
She paused and looked back at Erin, giving an expression of humor, "I made a pun." She added, smirking, "And Rendell always liked puns, didn't he, Vossie?" She watched as Erin's eyes narrowed in pain. There was definitely still someone behind those eyes. Erin hadn't checked out completely.
Dodge pulled out the Head key and held it up in front of Erin's face and watched as Erin stared at the key, dread very visible in those eyes.
"Here's hoping Rendell shared all his secrets with you." Dodge said.
Was there a possibility that Rendell had destroyed the Omega key? Sure. Maybe. But it was unlikely. Rendell wasn't smart enough for that.
If he had been smart, he would have destroyed the Omega key ages ago.
But he hadn't been smart. He never had been. He always thought that he had been smarter than he actually was.
Dodge added, smile gone from her face, "Spare me the weird stuff, though, okay? Just show me where he hid my Omega key."
She eventually wheeled Erin back to Erin's room after the "magic show" was over. When she fully wheeled Erin into the room, closing the door behind them and got Erin settled, Dodge looked at the picture of all Rendell and his friends.
"Aw," Dodge said, smirking, "Look at you guys. So happy." She slowly turned to look at Erin, "Too bad it couldn't last."
She held the Head key in front of Erin's face. She wanted Erin to suffer. She and her friends thought they could wipe their hands clean. They had another thing coming if they thought that.
"Ready?" Dodge asked, grinning.
Dodge walked around Erin and inserted the Head key into Erin's neck and turned the key. Erin's head lowered and Dodge looked up.
"Hmm. Good old Matheson Academy," she said, observing the dark brown wooden door with green frosted glass as panels that had materialized into the middle of the room. She then looked between the door and Erin and seeing no "inner Erin" anywhere.
"Where's the other you?" Dodge asked.
She looked over the room. There was no other Erin. While that was odd, that was a good thing. That meant that there was no inner Erin to pull the Head key out of outer Erin's neck.
Dodge got close to the door, saying wryly, "Way to peak in high school." She opened the door and went through, going through the hallways that looked so much like Matheson Academy, seeing vines and ivy growing throughout those halls.
Dodge smirked. It definitely looked like a cluttered mind here.
Eventually, she reached a room with a sofa, and a wall filled with VHS tapes.
There were lanterns on shelves next to some of those tapes. Dodge didn't need to be told. She knew what she was looking at.
These were Erin's memories.
Dodge walked to one stack of tapes, picked it up, opened it up and looked at it.
It was through Erin's eyes, so, "Erin" saw Lucas Caravaggio sitting across from her, and they had metal cups in their hands. Erin shifted her gaze up, and Dodge saw Rendell's arrogant face looking back at Erin. "To making the impossible possible. To us, the keepers of the keys."
Dodge watched this memory, recalling it in Lucas's own mind, as Rendell, Erin and Lucas toasted themselves.
Humanity and their arrogance.
Dodge closed the memory up, feeling satisfied that she had destroyed whatever confidence Rendell might have possessed before he died, by killing some of his friends and possessing another.
She tossed that memory back onto the stack.
If arrogance had a face, then that face that Rendell had had during the toasting in Erin's memory that Dodge had seen, would be that face.
Dodge searched through two more memories. Given that Lucas, Erin and Rendell had been the ones in their group of friends that had spent the most time around each other, Dodge knew just by looking that these were not memories she needed.
Finally, she opened up a forth memory and as she did, her eyes were drawn to it immediately, her right eyebrow lifting when she saw what was in Erin's hand.
The Omega key!
Erin asked in the memory, "Where do you want to hide it?"
Dodge shifted her head back, watching.
Erin had handed the key to Rendell. Then Rendell lifted up the Head key.
Dodge began to grin. No, it couldn't be.
But yes, it was. Dodge watched as Rendell put the Head key into the back of his neck, turned it, summoned the front door of Key House, the inner Rendell appeared, opened up the door and threw the Omega key into his own brain.
"What are you doing here?" A young woman's voice asked behind her.
Dodge closed the memory up protectively and turned to where she heard the voice.
There was Erin. The inner Erin. She looked as she had when in high school.
"Hi, Erin," Dodge said, amused, "So, you're not braindead, after all. You're stuck in here."
Dodge walked closer to Erin. "Trapped in your own poor little mind. Don't know how you managed that, but…" Dodge raised the memory up for Erin to see, "Now I do know where you hid the Omega key." She smirked at Erin's helplessness.
She supposed she must have been motivated completely by her arrogance, because she grinned at Voss and said, "You know, I find it funny that there a prophecy was about Rendell that I heard in my world. Told me that Rendell would bring my downfall into your world. But here I am. And your Rendell is dead! Rendell will never defeat me," she grinned, "His corpse rots, while I have the memory to finding the Omega key." She came closer and purred, "See you around, Vossie."
Even if Erin tried to stop her, Dodge could easily overpower Erin. She grinned still as she went past Erin and walked through the halls.
She heard Erin following her, but Dodge got through the door and closed it behind her, leaving Erin trapped still in her own mind.
She ignored the inner Erin's cries for Dodge to let her out.
She circled around the outer Erin and turned the key again, pulling the Head key out.
She walked away from Erin, having gotten what she needed from Erin, pulled out the Anywhere key and looked down at Erin's door.
She sighed. No keyhole. Wonderful. Oh, well, she knew that there were closets in this hallway.
She opened the door up and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She looked to the right, seeing the closet. She walked to it, using the Anywhere key.
She pictured the cliffside house and opened the door. She walked through it, when she heard footsteps in the hall behind her.
She slowly turned.
It was most likely an adult. And if they saw, they would forget after only a few seconds. She turned, eyes widening when she recognized Kinsey down the hall. Dodge hissed, pulling the Anywhere key out of the keyhole and going all the way through the doorway, ready to close the door as Kinsey ran forward.
Dodge's teeth clenched as Kinsey's eyes fell on her. Now Kinsey knew exactly what this form of Dodge looked like. Though, given that both Tyler and Bode had seen her, Kinsey certainly would have before from their information.
Dodge felt warmth fill her-as it had before when she had been Gabe, in Kinsey's room, anger going through her at Kinsey getting this close to this form of herself. She wasn't sure why it bothered her.
When Kinsey was only a few feet from the closet door Dodge went through, Dodge smirked at her, watching as Kinsey's shocked eyes widened at the sight of her.
"Dodge," Kinsey whispered, looking past Dodge at the living room that was right behind a fucking closet door.
Kinsey was only able to take in the sight of the woman escaping with the Anywhere key for a few seconds, but that was enough.
Even if Kinsey hadn't just seen this woman open the door to a place that couldn't possibly behind a closet door, the woman fit Ty and Bode's description of her.
Incredibly tall, slender, not white, straight black or very dark brown hair, dark eyes. And beautiful.
Beautiful actually didn't seem the right word. Beautiful didn't cut it.
To even say that the woman across from Kinsey was gorgeous, was a great understatement.
Kinsey felt a shiver run down her back at Dodge's dark eyes casting over her.
Dodge grinned and winked at Kinsey, "Hey, Kinsey. Tell Tyler I said 'hi.' And that playing with him was fun." then closed the door before Kinsey could get closer.
Kinsey lunged for the door.
The problem with having no fear in one's head, meant that they would take incredibly unnecessary risks.
Tyler had told her how this "Dodge," had knocked both him and their mother to the floor effortlessly. And then had stabbed Sam without hesitation, even though he was working for her.
And add the fact that Dodge had multiple keys and was, now that Kinsey looked at Dodge, was literally half a foot taller than Kinsey was, Kinsey's common sense was telling her that this was NOT a good idea.
However, she ran at Dodge, as Dodge spoke to her and winked at her, closing the door before Kinsey could reach her.
Kinsey hissed, knowing that if the Anywhere key worked the way Bode and Tyler said it did, then Dodge would be gone by now.
Kinsey grabbed the handle of the door, turning it and pushing the door open, stepping into…a closet.
Kinsey huffed, heart pounding in her ears.
She shivered. She had been so close.
So close to potentially being killed by Dodge. And so close to possibly getting the keys back if she had just been able to…to what? To overpower a being that apparently was strong enough to take her brother down with one blow to his throat? And take down her mother when her mother had had a gun in her hand?
Kinsey gave a weak laugh. No. It was a probably a good thing that she had just missed Dodge. She knew that.
But she couldn't help her disappointment, her frustration. It was like there were multiple stray ends of strings being offered to be grabbed in order to figure out how to stop whatever exactly was going on, and Dodge kept pulling them out of reach at the last second.
Kinsey grunted angrily, then ran quickly to Erin Voss's room. She had to see if Erin was alright.
She opened up Erin's room, to find an incredibly incapacitated woman in a wheelchair, almost unmoving.
Kinsey sighed, circling around to face Erin and introduced herself.
She picked up the picture of Erin's friends and pointed to Rendell in it and told Erin that that was Rendell.
She then said, "I'm sorry to ask this, Ms. Voss, but was there someone here? A woman? Did she use a key to get into your head?"
Kinsey stared at Erin, knowing that if Dodge had been here, then she already had the memory she wanted, if there was a memory that she needed in Erin's brain.
Which meant, as always, she was too late.
Then Erin said something that caught Kinsey's attention.
She managed out, "Dodge…"
Kinsey got up from where she had been sitting, eyes wide. "Yeah, Dodge," She said, "Dodge is her name. Did she go into your head?"
Erin was reaching out, towards Kinsey. No, not towards Kinsey, she realized. Towards the picture in Kinsey's lap. She held the picture up as Erin kept pointing to it, and saying, "Dodge."
Kinsey held the picture up for Erin to point at, her finger touching each person in the picture. She went from one end to the picture to nearly the other, till her finger touched Lucas.
As soon as she did, Erin said, "Dodge…"
"That's Lucas," Kinsey corrected.
"Dodge….." Erin croaked.
Kinsey continued, "Rendell's best friend."
"Dodge…" Erin said again, this time, Kinsey saw the desperation in Erin's eyes. As if she was desperate to convey something to Kinsey.
Kinsey asked as realization hit her, "Are you saying," she pointed at Lucas, "That Lucas is Dodge?"
Erin stared up at her, seeming relieved now.
Kinsey absorbed this.
Dodge and her father's friend, Lucas, were the same person? How?
Kinsey also realized the worst part of this. Since Dodge now had the Head key and since Dodge had just left, it was very likely that Dodge already had the memory she had been after that had included that key that would open the door in the sea caves.
Dodge exited the psychiatric home.
She went to the cliffside house, hid the memory there.
Dodge growled, displeased that Kinsey had followed the trail to Erin Voss. It probably meant they'd find out soon who Ellie and Rufus's dear old "cousin Lucas," was. She would have to deal with that. She undressed, changed into Lucas, and changed into Lucas's clothes.
She then used the Anywhere key and went back to Ellie's house.
Once there, she looked around, seeing that no one was around and closed the door, pocketing all her keys. She walked through the living room, feeling some lingering anger over seeing Rendell in those memories.
She felt Lucas's teeth grind together. She saw one of Rufus's action figures and picked it up, staring at it.
She knew how much it would hurt Rufus. And perhaps that was one of the reasons why she did what she did next.
That, and after finding that other memory, seeing Rendell's face, his arrogant face and giving that arrogant praise, toasting himself and his little band of sycophants, also probably motivated her next action.
She turned the action figure sideways, grabbing it and snapping it in half, before dropping both pieces.
She smirked, before walking off.
All anger, and Kinsey getting close to figuring out who Lucas really was aside, she now had the answer as to where the Omega key was, and all she needed now, was the Shadow key for the Crown of Shadows. She wasn't concerned with Kinsey or the rest of the Locke family knowing who Lucas was. Not now. All she had to do, was find what had been done to Rendell's body and retrieve the Omega key. The Crown of Shadows would be useful. But Ellie would be her first tool to retrieve the key, before anything else. She could feel her victory at her fingertips.
She would know no downfall, regardless of what Marvataken had told her years ago. Of that, she was sure. How could she have anything now, except victory?
