To who ever was reviewing as Gregory Sackville-bagg on Changes, you made my day. That is all!
Get out Alive by Three Days Grace
If you want to get out alive
Whoa-oh, run for your life
If you want to get out alive
Whoa-oh, run for your life
'So…' I thought as I continued to crawl through the dank hole. The sharp rocks digging into my skin, "How should I do this? If I knock her out, I might get to Tony…but what if this is the only way to vacillate? Then I would be stuck here with Tony. I highly doubt I'll be able to avoid hurting myself or Tony trying to get back…" I sighed and listened to the 300 year old vampire's advice: I rolled on to my back, ignoring the pain that shot through my back, and sent a kick towards Canada's nose.
Canada had been caught off guard and collapsed instantly after the blow. Blood oozed quickly from her newly broken nose. I stared at her for a moment before rolling back onto my hands and knees and continued my crawling towards, to what I hoped, Tony.
"Okay, Elizabeth." I hissed out as a jagged rock jammed its way into my hand, "I did want you wanted…now what." I felt silly for talking to myself, even though I was talking to Elizabeth…even though she's dead…and I can't see her.
A soft laughter filled the depths of my mind, "Very good, very good." She left my mind for a few seconds before returning, "Her family has hunted my family and the family of my beloved for generations. It was no doubt that it would not end once the blessed curse had been lifted."
"Wait…what?" I scowled menacingly into the dark, "Her family?"
"You silly girl. You have not put two and two together?" She puffed, "I thought when Gregory chose you, you would be more…sagacious. Oh well. She looks nothing like her father. Not even her sister. Your mistake is excusable." Elizabeth clicked her tongue.
"Excuse me?" I snapped, "More sagacious? Excusable?" I slapped my hand against the wall, "OUCH!" I howled, clutching my hand, "Blasted, three-hundred-year-old dead vampiress." I snarled as I held my injured hand to my stomach.
"Watch—" Elizabeth spoke too late.
"AHHHHHHH!" I screamed as the rock in front of my hand shifted and I began to tumble forward. I closed my eyes and felt a sharp snap in my wrist as I nose-dived into a mess of rock. I slumped against my knees, crying out in pain as everything began to vibrate with agony.
"If only you weren't busy name calling me…" Elizabeth hummed.
"Shut up." I bawled into my knees.
"Get up…you are almost there." Elizabeth hissed at me.
I cried out again, but stood up. This time I listened for Elizabeth's voice to direct me towards Tony. "Ah, this way. Towards this shallow bed of water…"
I followed her voice to the pool of lapping water, "Now where?" I sniffed, cradling my injured arm. "Keep going straight, there is another cave ahead."
Stepping into the polar water barely affected me. I was already drenched with skin-numbing water and I was almost positive that I would be getting pneumonia from walking around fridge water.
"As I was saying before…" Elizabeth purred, "I'm surprised you haven't made the connection…but I do suppose you were more, what is the word…unliking towards the girl before Gregory was."
"What are you talking about? Iona?" I breathed as I came to the back of the cave wall.
"Go to your left and dive under. It isn't a long tunnel."
I stared bugged-eyed at the cavern walls, "What?" I squeaked, "What if there are dead bodies there? Or I can't get back to the surface and I drown?"
"You won't. Do you want to save your brother?"
"Yes." I mumbled, took a deep breath and dived under. I opened my eyes in the murky water and spotted the cave surprisingly quickly. I hesitated for a moment at the mouth of the under water opening before Elizabeth whispered, "Go."
My body swayed back and forth against the rocky walls as I tried to keep my body up by running my hands against the side, ignoring the burning pain in my wrist. "Almost there."
Moments after Elizabeth whispered in my head, I broke the surface of the water, "LEONORA!" A shivering, cold body attacked my face.
I began to cough, "Tony?" I sputtered.
"Nora!" He wailed, "I was so scared!"
I carried him with my good arm to the shore, "Are you okay?" I asked. His skin was a tint of blue and he could not stop shaking.
"That lady asked if I wanted a ride to Rudolph's and then she took me and got me in here!" Tony sobbed into my chest. "It's okay I'm here." I rubbed his back.
"Now, if I may finish…" Elizabeth hummed once more, "Iona, is the youngest daughter of the late Rookery."
"Iona is related to Rookery?" I gasped, they looked nothing alike.
"What?" Tony mumbled and looked at me, hugging me tighter.
"It's Elizabeth. She's talking to me again." I mumbled.
"Yes. She is. Canada is her elder sister, but by only a mere five minutes."
"How is that even possible?" I scoffed, hugging Tony tighter against me as he began to shiver uncontrollable, "He wasn't even married…was he?" I questioned as I tried to remember if I ever spotted a wedding band on his hand.
"Hah, a man does not need to be married to produce children." Elizabeth sneered, "He was sleeping with many, many, women. He manage to get two of them pregnant, therefore, he had two daughters: Iona and Canada."
"Okay that I understand. What I don't understand is why Tony was kidnapped and put into a cave that you nearly have to kill yourself to get into." I bit back sarcastically.
"Hmm…you are terrible. You constantly interrupt stories that hold the up most important information…even that girl, Canada, tried to tell you." Elizabeth hummed once more, but there was a trace of hubris in her voice.
"Then keep talking." I sighed.
"This is were I found my beloved. Von. He was nearly dead, if you could say that, when I discovered him."
"You were the beautiful women in that story?" I interrupted.
"Shush. And yes, this is my cave. Continuing the story before that though, Rookery was not one to be tied down, not in the least bit. Iona's mother was traditional; she wanted marriage. Rookery denied her request and nearly struck her down, but he did not. He left her alone to take care of the child on her own. Canada's mother, on the other hand, did not care about being pregnant. She cared for nothing at all, really."
"She was abuser of drugs. She did anything and everything. She drank constantly. She did not care about the child." Elizabeth paused for a moment, "I will show you the rest."
I felt a hot, searing pain in the base of my head that quickly spread to the front causing my vision to blacken. It is quickly replaced with images of a woman who I never met:
She has long sandy blonde hair that is stringy and matted. Her face is shallow and hallow, like she hasn't had a proper meal in days. She is smoking: I am not sure what the substance is.
She is lounging in a dirty back alley behind an old cathedral. Her arms look like opaque white twigs all covered in weeks of dirt. She is obviously pregnant, but the baby bump looks so weak that it is nearly impossible to figure out how far along she is.
"Scarlett." A voice called out.
The woman moves slightly but instead of answering the stranger, she takes a deep gulp of alcohol.
"Scarlett." The voice called again and a shadowy figure stepped out of the blackness of the night. "What are you doing?" The figure asked.
Scarlett laughed, "What do you think I'm doing?" She sneered, "Having a good time!" She took another drink of the bottle.
"Stop it. Now." The figure snatched the bottle from Scarlett's hands before she could take another drink, "The cigarette out, now." Scarlett made no move to take out the cigarette; instead she takes a long, deep puff of the tobacco stick and blows the smoke to the stranger.
The stranger, clearly upset, rips the cigarette from Scarlett and smashes it into the ground. "How far along are you?" The stranger asks.
"Hmmmm…" Scarlett thinks for a moment before smiling, "eight months as of today."
"Do you want this baby to even live!" The stranger snaps.
"Nope." Scarlett grins mincingly.
"I'm taking you to the doctor right now!" The stranger growls and moves to pick Scarlett up off the ground. Scarlett began to fight with the stranger, but with such little muscle and no body fat she does not have the upper hand.
The scene faded but was quickly replaced with another one:
"It's a baby girl…" The doctor whispers, clearly surprised.
The child is silent. Everyone assumes she is a stillborn until a wailing pierced the small, white room.
"She's…alive?" A nurse gasps, "That's impossible!"
"Obviously not…" A different nurse gasps.
"Physically, the little girl is a bit small. She does not seem to have any other physical abnormalities…" The doctor stared at the baby. "I'm unsure if there will be mental damage though."
"That's not possible. Not possible at all. She had almost no nutrient that a normal baby needs to develop to that level. She even had the drugs affecting her!" One of the nurses argued over the wailing child.
"She's special…too bad her mom wasn't." the other nurse commented looking at the dead body of Scarlett. Scarlett's body was even thinner than before, her skin now had a grey-ish tint and her eyes were glossed over.
"Does she have any one else?" The doctor asked.
"She might have a half sister…but it also may be a coincidence that two women gave birth, minutes of each other and claiming the same father." One of the nurses spoke up again, covering Scarlett's body. "And the other child is healthy…with a healthy mother."
The scene faded again. The next scene to appear was one Iona and Canada meeting Rookery for the first time. They are seven.
"You aren't my dad." Iona states quickly on meeting Rookery. Rookery just chuckles and stares at Iona. Canada stares quietly at Rookery who is sitting on a park bench looking extremely out of place.
"And you aren't my sister." Iona's baby blue eyes glared at Canada before running away, her long pale blonde hair shimming against her light skin.
Canada doesn't bother looking at Iona as she runs away; instead she continues to stare at Rookery.
"You are my dad?" Canada asks meekly.
Rookery chuckled, "I suppose. That is sure what your Mum said."
"My mum doesn't say anything. She's dead." Canada statement with no emotion in her voice.
"Who takes care of you?" Rookery asked.
"My grandmother, at times." Canada said, with the same empty voice, void of all emotions.
Rookery looks like he's contemplating something, then he hands Canada something. "Here."
Canada is taken back by the item, "What is it?"
"Just take it girl." Rookery snaps. Canada obeys his commanded without another comment.
Blackness filled my vision again and this time I open my eyes to the cave that I was temperately stuck in.
"So Iona denied both of them?" I asked out loud.
"She did." Elizabeth's voice filled my head.
"Did Canada ever see Rookery again?" I asked.
"Oh yes. Once a year until his early demise." Elizabeth sighed, "Once a year he would come around and tell her about his tales on hunting vampires…the tales include you and our family, by name."
I rubbed my hands against Tony, "So…she knows?"
"She knows." Elizabeth answered.
"I see you found Tony…" Canada's voice shook the whole cavern. I looked behind me and Canada was up to her shoulders in water, glaring angrily at me. Her hazel eyes sent daggers my way.
"I did…" I said meekly. "Tony says you took him." I placed Tony on the ground.
"Mhmm." Canada nodded, " I did."
"Why?" I asked slowly. Canada started to walk closer to me, "You killed my father!" the little blond girl screamed in my face with a thick Scottish accent.
"I did, what?" I looked at her like she was crazy. "You and your vampire killed him!" She spat in my face.
"Vampires don't exist!" I grinned.
Her anger brought out her natural accent that was obviously well hidden. "You did it! I know you did!" Her face contorted, she looked crazed. Canada moved towards me, "They found what you and your vampire did to him!" She whispered hoarsely, "They found him, in this cave…they say he drowned, fell off a cliff a few miles away!"
Canada cackled, "But I knew better. I knew, of course…no one believes me. No one does…but he told me all about you. I knew you before you even knew me!" She her smiled widen even more, her creepy hazel eyes did not leave my own, "I knew where he was that night. I told them, but they didn't listen! No one ever LISTENS!"
I flinched as she screamed "listens" and slowly began to back away, dragging Tony with me.
"He was always there…always. He listened. He listened…" Canada began to shake uncontrollably as her eyes rolled back into her head.
"Shit…" I began to panic, "How do I get out of here?"
And the truth is out...
Time to REVIEW!