Chapter Five
Quinn POV
Turns out finding Montmarte wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. Every time we had ever come into contact with him, he came to us. Or Solange more likely.
"Has anyone thought to call Mom and tell her anything?" I said. We all stared blankly at each other. "I didn't think so." I muttered as none of them got up to do so. I guess that leaves me. Mom and Dad had left to renew the treaty with the Helios Ra and I wished more than anything that they would've come before Lucy was taken. I called my mother (who was on speed dial) and waited for her to answer.
"Hello?" she answered. I hated that I was going to ruin this moment for her. Everything was still okay in her world and I was going to shatter it to pieces.
"Mom. Something's happened." I said quietly.
"Oh lord, what is it this time, Quinn?" She sounded frustrated. "Your father and I have told you boys repeatedly that running out of Lucky Charms isn't a crisis-"
"Mom! It's Lucy." I choked out. "She's gone…they took her."
Silence.
"We're coming home. Don't move until we get there. How is Nicholas?" she asked, her voice shaking.
"Well considering the circumstance, not so well. But he's managing. We all are." I replied.
"Okay, hang in there. We'll get her back. I promise." She said. Her voice was determined and growing strength by the word.
"Bye, Mom. Hurry, though, I don't know how much longer I can hold down the fort." I said.
"Tell everyone I said I love them and I will be there soon. Goodbye, son." I could only hope they had a plan, because right now we sure as hell didn't. I walked back into the living room. Logan was sitting on the couch looking bewildered. Solange went into the kitchen to make hot chocolate but she didn't fool anyone; we could all hear her smuggled sniffles. Nicholas was pacing in an endless circle, clenched fists, and his eyes were stricken with guilt.
"Where are Duncan and Conner?" I asked.
"Outside, making sure there aren't any more Hel-Blar in the area and trying to find anything Lucy's captors might've left behind." Logan said.
"Mom's on her way here, she said not to do anything rash. Oh and she said she loves you guys, but I'm still the favorite." I said glumly. Solange came into the room, eyes still red and raw, but she looked determined.
"If they had taken me, and she were in my place, Lucy would never sit around and wait to go save me. She would immediately go out and try anything, no matter how stupid, to get me back. She'd do it for all of us." Solange said softly.
"What are you saying Sol?" I asked her. Honestly, I didn't want to know but I had to ask.
"She's saying that we know who took her, so why are we still here?" Nick said as he came to a sudden halt.
"I'm sorry, but do you know where Montmarte is? We have no clue where the bastard is or where he's keeping Lucy. Our best bet is to wait for Mom." I tried to reason with them.
"What can Mom do that we can't?" Logan asked. Great, three against one. Now I was the voice of reason. I just now realized how horribly our family functions without Lucy, if it had come down to ME making sense and obeying my mother. This brought me to my senses.
"Alright, I'm in!" I chirped. "Now, what would Lucy do?" I asked no one in particular. We all stopped to think and no one said a word. Yup, I was right. Pigs are flying and hell is one huge, freaking icicle right now, if we were seriously considering to find a plan by imagining what Lucy, of all people would do.
"I can't believe I didn't think of this before! Someone grab the Yellow Pages, maybe he's listed!" Solange squealed as we stared at her.
"Someone check her temperature, she's a little…you know." Logan said while making a circular motion towards his head.
"I'll bet you both twenty bucks he's listed." Solange said confidently. I looked at her and felt bad for cheating her but hey, it was easy money. While Nicholas grabbed the heavy book, Duncan and Conner walked in, a new layer of dust clinging to their coats.
"There were two more Hel-Blar in the woods and no sign of Lucy anywhere. These people covered their tracks well." Conner said quietly.
"Nick, this is no time for reading. Your girlfriend is still missing." Duncan said commenting on the noise of flipping pages.
"I can't believe it." Nicholas gasped and then his face broke into a huge smile. "Well boys, looks like you both owe Solange twenty dollars and an apology. He's in here alright, address and all."
"I'm not paying 'till I see proof!" Logan said. As soon as I saw the defeated look on his face, I pulled out my wallet, and handed the money to Sol. Then Nick decided to tackle Solange in a bear hug as he kissed her cheek repeatedly.
"Finally!" he said to himself. "This time we really are bringing you back home Luce." Funny, how everything comes together in the end. I took a glance at Montmarte's name (no first name sadly, I was hoping for something embarrassing like Teddy or Bernard.) when his address caught me off guard. 666 Devlin Drive. How appropriate.
Lucy POV
I woke up from my much needed dreamless sleep, only to fall back into a nightmare. I awoke with a groan and tried to open my eyes, but there was a blinding light burning into my retina. It made my headache reappear in an instant and I felt my body finally catch up with my mind. My face throbbed from its beating, my neck stung from Mateo's not-so-gentle bite, and my stomach roared with hunger. I have to find a way out of here, or be killed. I tried thinking of all the events leading up to this, why am I here? Cassandria seemed to want to gain knowledge that she believed I had. And what was that all about? What abilities was she talking about earlier? I'm only human.
"Good morning Lucy. Would you like breakfast?" A woman who looked exactly like Cassandria asked. I looked at her more closely. This woman was most definitely a vampire but unlike her evil twin she had blue, intelligent eyes and spoke as if she cared. Everything else was eerily the same, down to her angelic features. I knew better than to expect anything different though. I remained silent and just stared straight at her.
"Never mind that, how silly of me, of course you must be starving. And besides I already went to the trouble of acquiring a plateful." She set down a plate of hash browns, eggs, bacon and even a glass of orange juice. "I've forgotten my manners! My name is Alara. You've already met my twin sister Cassandria, I presume." She said as she eyed my bruises and winced.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? I see you sick people decided to play up the whole good cop, bad cop thing right?" I rasped.
"Not at all Lucy. I completely understand your uneasiness towards me, but believe me when I say that I am nothing like my sister. Where she finds humans disgusting, I find them fascinating. She does not recall what it was like as a human, you see we were turned well before your time, and she has lost her humanity. Whereas I might not remember having human instinct, I do not hold myself superior to you. I am only here to satisfy my curiosity of you, Lucy." Alara said calmly, while I inhaled my food greedily.
"Why me? Why am I so damn special? What the hell have I done to deserve this?" I asked her. My circumstance made the tears fall angrily down my cheeks and I wiped at them furiously.
"I- I'm afraid I cannot say. I'm only allowed to ask you to what extent you know about yourself and your abilities." she said. As I lifted my head I saw the sympathy in her eyes and I despised it. I can't say I'm proud of what came next.
"What I know of myself?! Let me make this easier for you! I am not a normal teenage girl who does normal things, like going out with normal boys, or have normal parents who love and cherish me! Instead I'm a messed up girl with anger issues, who keeps all her feelings inside so she won't be on the receiving end of that- that stupid look you're giving me! Who lives in a houseful of vampires who love and accept me regardless of all those things Iam! But you sick, warped people decided to rip away the only people I have to bring me here! I have no goddamned abilities! Trust me, if I did I'd use them to get the hell out of here." My voice got louder with every word and my mind felt as if it were bursting from all the pressure. I was sobbing by the end of my rant, my breath coming out in little, pained hiccups as my heart pounded against my ribcage.
"Lucy, you must listen to me! There is a greater force at work here, and if that force decides you are too difficult to work with, this person won't hesitate to destroy you and anyone that has ever come into contact with you, just to be sure there is no memory of Lucy Hamilton. Now, are you completely sure you have no knowledge of any strange talents you might have?" she pleaded with me.
"No! I have no idea what the hell I'm doing here. The only thing I can think of is my blood. Mateo tried taking a sip and he died seconds afterwards." I told her truthfully.
"Yes, that must be something. I'm going to need a sample of your blood, if that is alright with you?" she asked politely, but I was sure I had no choice in the matter since I was still tied to a chair. I couldn't even remember how long it had been since they took me. I tried wrapping my head around it, the fight with the Hel-Blar seemed like ages ago.
"You're going to feel small pinch, but nothing to worry about. I will test your blood and be back with the results later on, alright?" she gave me a small smile, then scurried out the door with her small legs. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, when the creak of the huge iron door forced me to open them again. I saw Alara strutting towards me. Well, that didn't take long.
"That was quick. Did you find anything strange?" I asked her. Then I looked into her eyes and they were an icy green. Not the gentle blue I was expecting.
"Hello, Lucy, did you miss my company?" Cassandria asked, she cackled and took my chin in her cold, strong hands.
"No, but I'm sure Mateo misses you, and is pining away for you in Hell." I said harshly. What can I say? This vile woman brings the worst out in me. And by the looks of it, I had struck a nerve.
"Do not speak of Mateo, you insignificant, little wench! I will avenge his death, by bringing you a slow, painful one." Cassandria screeched baring her fangs. I cried out as she slapped me once again. But this time she didn't stop. Cassandria undid my restraints and watched as I got up into a defensive position. "It isn't pleasant to kill a human when they are unable to beg and plead." I began to remember one of Helena's training lessons.
"Lucy, you have to take this seriously, if you are up against a vampire by yourself then your chances of survival are minimal. I am not going to sugarcoat this, because I don't want to lie and say everything will be okay. The way of surviving a fight is never giving up. You're going to feel pain like never before but your life depends on you getting back up. Also, you have to know when you're outmatched and when it's time to surrender and run for your life."
"But isn't running giving up? You just told me never to give up but run when I'm the underdog. If I'm fighting a vampire, won't I always be outmatched."
Helena smiled, "The real key is being able to differentiate between the two. A vampire against a human will always believe they have already won, so they underestimate you. THAT, Lucy, is their fatal flaw. Don't let it be yours."
The burning sensation snapped me out from the past, as Cassandria raked her claws across my face. I gasped at the stinging sensation, and looked around the room for something I could defend myself with. The chair. If I could manage to break the legs off, I could use them as stakes and end this earlier than both us anticipated. I dived towards it but Cassandria grabbed my ankle and pulled with all her strength. I twisted and kicked her knee inwards, but I wasn't fast enough to stop her from snapping my ankle, or so it felt, in half. I let out a small scream and it was followed by the Ice Queens harsh laugh as she kicked me hard enough that I flew three feet away. I dragged myself towards the chair once again ignoring my body's protests, and Cassandria's heels clicked slowly, stalking me.
"Why are you so persistent child, you must realize by now there is no happy ending for you. There is no Drake who cares enough or thinks enough of you to come risk themselves to save you. Not even your parents care enough. You have no one." she laughed once again. I finally reached the chair and used it to stand. Her words were like knives to my heart, but I tried ignore her taunting. I finally stood up keeping my hands on the chair, hoping she wouldn't notice.
"Do you realize what the most depressing thing is Lucy? I believe that you have no idea who you really are and you are going to die alone for nothing. At the very least you should thank me, really. Your death shall come from me rather than the Drakes. They'd have killed you as soon as they realized you were a stupid, useless, human." she spit out that last word, as if it were poisonous.
At this point I began to cry, and I slammed the chair down onto the floor with my remaining strength. Despite the adrenaline rush boosting my strength only one of the legs broke off. I backed away as Cassandria snorted and came towards me. My back hit the cold, unforgiving wall and I was clutching the stake in my hand so hard, I could feel individual splinters stabbing my hand.
"Last time I checked these are as effective on humans as they are to vampires." Cassandria snarled as she effortlessly broke off the remaining three legs. She looked at me and threw a stake so fast, all I saw was the flick of her wrist, but I felt it sink deep into the wooden wall besides my head. "Hmm, let's try again shall we?" She flicked her wrist and this time the stake ripped a piece of my worn out dress, and grazed my thigh. She was toying with me, and I had frozen. "No luck. Third time's the charm." I closed my eyes and waited for impact.
Nicholas I'm sorry, I can't fight anymore. I'm not strong enough and they keep hurting me. Tell your family and Sol I love them. I love you, Nicholas. I wish I would've told you earlier. Goodbye. I prayed he could hear me like the last time.
I waited a few more seconds and then I heard Cassandria's startled, child-like gasp. I opened my eyes but there was a person's back blocking me defensively, with what I think was Cassandria's stake.
"What is the meaning of this Cassandria?" the figure said calmly. His voice was smooth and full of authority.
"I- The girl, she killed Mateo, my liege!" her voice changed from cynical to distressed, and it shook under the figures glare. I tried to peek around him, but I didn't want to avert his attention to me.
"Mateo was an idiot who couldn't follow orders and got what he deserved. I told both of you I wanted the girl unharmed." His voice cracked out like a whip.
"But…my liege. She killed my Mateo!" She yelled at him.
"Yes, I heard you the first time, and I will give you the same answer. I said to leave the girl unharmed, and both of you disobeyed. Do you know what that means Cassandria? If you miss him so dearly you can join him."
"You bastard!" Cassandria's voice shrilled and she rushed forward to attack. I slid to the floor and covered my eyes after she stopped midway, and screamed bloody-murder. He hadn't even touched her but she was screaming in pain. As soon as it came, she fell to the ground and sobbed in the fetal position. Finally, the man faced me and I was surprised by his appearance and the gentleness he used as he put one arm behind my head and the other under my knees to carry me out of the room. My heart pounded so loudly I felt it vibrate deep into my bones.
"Calm down, Lucy, deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Maybe Mystery Man won't leave you writhing in pain on the floor." I thought to myself. And then my world shattered when I heard a voice, not my own, answer in my head.
"It'll be okay Lucy. I won't harm you. Oh and Mystery Man has a name."
Holy. Shit.
Author: Hello! Thanks for those who have read this far, and a huge thanks to those who review! I seriously jump for joy and have a big cheesy smile on my face when I read them over and over again. Anyway, down to business I write really long chapters accidently cause I write and write until I realize holy crap this is long. So…yeah. Am I doing a good job capturing Lucy's personality? What do I write in these things? Idk I'm weird. BTW the summary isn't really accurate because I'm just figuring this out as I go but it will be along those lines with more of a…twist on Lucy. Leave a review if you think where I'm going with this is good or not. I don't own any of the Drake Chronicles everything belongs to Alyxandria Harvey (I should have added this earlier).