Whitehall Manor was the type of building Eva's mother would talk about wistfully when she reminisced about her glory days in France. But the manor was greater than the images Agatha filled her daughter's head with. The furniture was upholstered in velvet the color of country wine, accented with polished bronze. Great carpets from India lined the first floor of the manor and old Scottish rugs covered the stairs to the second floor. There was something in every room, not that Eva went to any of the other rooms. She and her grandfather were always escorted around the house but seldom went outside. A grand estate also served as their prison.
They were kept warm, fed, and clothed; it could have been worse in reality. No, it was worse. Her mother was gone, they got to say goodbye at least. Her father was, well, she didn't know exactly what he was, just that he wasn't himself anymore and never would be again. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye to him. One evening he was just gone from the manor, as well as one of the large men who kept them locked away. There was no pomp and circumstance, people would just come and go.
Eva was old enough to understand that she was in danger and her age was the blessing that kept her grandfather alive. She was old enough and smart enough to understand that their benefactor was really their malefactor. She was old enough to understand that her defiance agitated her captor. The only thing she wasn't old enough to understand was how they could get away.
After nearly a year of being kept in the manor that lost its appeal too quickly, Eva met Elizabeth Lavenza and Alfonse Frankenstein. She did not, and still did not, understand her connection to them. Elizabeth was kind but bitterly sad. Her eyes were consistently red, it made a stark contrast to her paling skin. Eva was sure that she would be the next person to die. Alfonse, however, was a survivor. He was someone who had seen too much death, someone meant to endure it. What, then, was Eva?
Alfonse spoke with Eva at every moment they were allowed to be around each other and helped her learn English. Despite the pain he shared with Elizabeth, Alfonse maintained his pleasant disposition, always looking forward to the freedoms they were seldom granted. Only he seemed to bring a smile to Elizabeth's face. At least, while they were together they could forget their suffering.
"Miss Eva!" Cried Lady Adler as she rushed into one of her many rooms. Eva shuddered at the sound of her name and the sight of an exalted Lady Adler. "Splendid news! Frankensteins, you will be leaving soon. Miss Eva, I will keep you on as a servant. Oh, but your grandfather will be going to the poor house." Each statement she spoke was with a smile dripping on her lips. She was excited to declare each other their futures, a queen designated the lives of her subjects.
"How is that 'splendid'?" questioned Eva incredulously. Her accent was thick with a French air, but she would not shirk from her determination to challenge her captor, even at the humiliation she received at her malefactor's hands.
Lady Adler's smile faltered and her emerald eyes flared for a moment. "Eva, dear, talk like that is was got your mother killed." She adjusted her dark, curly hair. "It is splendid because Victor Frankenstein has secured my future. He'll be bringing me my prize soon. Ooh!" She sucked in a pinched breath as her excitement was causing her to lose control of her tight restraint. The animation brought to life in her harsh features caught Eva by surprise and sent a new wave of dread through her fellow prisoners.
She clapped her hands together and demanded they follow her into the Blood Room, so named for the violent red that adorned its walls. A sofa sat at one end of the room and around it were several small round tables. Lady Adler sat on the sofa and directed all her captives to sit on the floor. Eva's grandfather struggled and were it not for Alfonse, the elder De Lacey would not have been able to do it. Alfonse sat close to De Lacey while Eva sat apart and a foot from the frightened Elizabeth.
Lady Adler adjusted the collar of her dress and then pulled the cuffs of her sleeves down, closer to her hands, She then rested her hands on her lap in the manner after that of high-ranking women. Eva watched her hands and wondered if she did anything with them. They were clean, physically, but Eva knew they were as red as the room. Blood practically dripped from them. The girl could not stop from staring in disgust.
"Eva," continued Adler. "You do not know Georgia, but she has grown into quite the woman, beautiful really. Such a trusting woman; it was rather fun to ruin her in the eye of the public. And it was a wonderful revenge to utterly destroy my brother's name. Well," she added, acknowledging the facts she had forgotten, "he ruined himself. Smearing the Daniels name; father would have been so furious. A degenerate hiding in a false union! I admit, it was a shock to me when I learned that he romanced Sir John Lafoy. Scorned lovers do love to talk, especially if it protects their dirty little secrets.
"Did you know, Eva, that Georgia fell in love with the hideous creature that once lived outside your simple home. She yearned so much to be special. Playing the piano wasn't enough, she took up her country singing to woo her audience. She tried so hard. Then she falls in love with a ghastly who makes his fortune in salvaging! Victor's firstborn is quite the crafty entrepreneur and he settles his sights on my niece!" A fit of laughter escaped her. "Every time I think about it I can't help but laugh. I ruined her life and she finds some horrid wretch who gives her the world only for her to lose it all again. Divine justice. Tell me, Miss Eva, you've seen the creature, is he truly as terrible as I've heard?"
A lump formed in Eva's throat. After months of Adler saying the same things to her, Eva had become desensitized to her rants. Multiple lamentations were issued at every bit of news or thought of Georgia, Adler blamed her for every woe her family sustained. But from where Eva sat, Adler seemed to have everything she could ever want. The only thing Lady Adler's rants managed to inspire in Eva was utter loathing and disdain. She crinkled her nose and looked to her grandfather. "Kindness is never ugly."
Adler scoffed. Eva would be disciplined soon enough. Her mind would be turned from thoughts and towards obedience. "Monsieur De Lacey, I thought your family were once Bourgeoisie, but it seems you've raised a simpleton. I suppose that is how you ended up in a burnt down cottage."
"Lady Adler, I've got your wine, ma'am." A meek servant entered the room carrying a tray with a small glass of amber liquid. Her hands trembled as she approached her mistress and she kept her eyes down while she walked.
Adler's smile soured for a moment. "Denise, you are relieved from your position in this house. Deliver me my wine and then be gone. Eva will take your place." Her smile reappeared when Denise placed the tray on a table next her now former mistress. Denise then fled the room with tears falling, either by relief or fear.
"Mr. Frankenstein will be in shortly with my prize and then all this dreadfulness can be behind us." Adler then brought the wine to her lips. The chalice holding the liquid was perfectly polished silver except for the oily fingerprint facing Eva. It was a blessing for Denise that her mistress hadn't seen it and a greater blessing that she was no longer her servant. Adler sipped the wine and grinned with satisfaction. She took several more sips, her face flushed from the liquid.
"Mr. Frankenstein, ma'am," introduced an elderly servant from the other end of the room. Adler demanded that he enter at once. Her eyes flashed to Elizabeth's pale, horrified face briefly before watching as Victor entered carrying in a bloody bag. He was pale and grim and the grievous looks from Elizabeth and his father nearly broke his resolve.
Each step Victor took was undeniably painful, his ribs burned and the arm he held out his package to Adler threatened to quit on him. "I have what you want. Delivered as promise. Let us go."
Adler threw back her head and laughed wildly. "I do hope! Mr. Frankenstein, that she didn't cry and whine too much. Her snivelling has always been so contemptible and unladylike. Barbaric! Give it to me. I want to see her."
Elizabeth wept horribly, Alfonse merely stared at the stranger his son had become. When he gave Adler the bag he pulled away from her and rushed to Elizabeth who shrank at Victor's touch. They struggled a moment before Victor managed to restrain Elizabeth. He was grateful she wasn't too strong, the bruises from his fight with Rossignol launched another violent attack against him. Every inch at him hurt and the less Elizabeth struggled, the less he felt inclined to scream in pain.
Lady Adler untied the bag but was far too preoccupied with her gruesome prize to notice three other people walk into the Blood Room. Eva, however, did notice. Her eyes lit up as she saw the only familiar face of the three and it was the only one of its kind. Eva smiled widely, she hadn't forgotten her dance with the creature or his sorrowful speech about not having a family. It was impossible for her to ever forget him; every decision her father has made was out of fear of this odd looking man. If only her father had not dragged them away from the creature, perhaps he and her mother would still be alive.
Behind her, Lady Adler gasped in disgust while Alfonse began laughing. "What is the—" She was then made aware of the three strangers. In the bag was Deliah's head, Adler dropped it, causing it to roll towards a frantic Elizabeth who was swept up into Victor's sore arms.
"Father, come," instructed Victor as he reached out to grab onto Alfonse's arm.
"Do you think any of you will be able to get away?" She laughed. "I hadn't planned to kill all of you— it is a rather messy endeavor— but if I must, then I shall. At least, Mr. Frankenstein brought his beautifully hideous monster. Oh, the things he's done to you all," she mused spitefully. "Especially Georgia." She was aglow with marvel at her plan. She would shoot them with the gun hidden her dress and cut them up. It would be gory, but how she did miss those days. One had to keep up appearances while one hunted for meat.
Georgia would die, not so she could obtain her niece's wealth, but because she hated her. She hated her own brother. But truthfully. she loved killing, she loved the games she played until her prey begged for death. Having a family made the game fun. torturing strangers just didn't have the same appeal. The people now gathered around her were no longer strangers to her, they were all connected to Georgia.
"Yes, aunt," declared Georgia. She was bundled in Rossignol's cloak and used him as a support to approach her aunt. "And the only monster in this room is you. You're already dead. Sometimes you can't trust the people in your household." Her eyes rested on Deliah's decapitated head.
Adler snorted. "Poison," she concluded as she took a whiff of her drink. She smile curtly and reached into her dress pocket. "Fair enough." The pistol was a terribly wonderful companion and a perfect executioner. It came free from her pocket, but as she lifted her arm to take aim she felt herself falling backwards. Her ears were filled with mad shrieking.
"Enough of this!" Alfonse Frankenstein had his hands wrapped around Adler's neck. "You destroyed my son, you destroyed Eva's family!" His grip around her tightened.
Victor leapt for his father while Rossignol reached for the pistol Adler dropped. He pulled it away from the scuffle and returned to Georgia. "She is dying, father, let her go," he pleaded. Frightened by the scene, Eva ran towards her old friend and hid behind his large frame. Each moment became painfully slow as Eva watched Alfonse lose himself to a fury he'd kept a secret.
Alfonse was red, tears streamed down his face. Here was a man broken by unimaginable loss, reconciling the evils in the world that were both created by man and born to it. Beneath his fingers he felt the desperate, fiery pulse of Adler fighting to stay alive and if he were as attuned to all of his senses like his son's creation, he would have been able to feel the flicker in Adler's pulse telling him that the poison her servant had given her was doing its job. All he could see was red from heartbroken rage. He'd spent months with this vile woman, watching her taunt Eva and verbally abuse Elizabeth. Her jabs at Victor facilitated his decline into haunted madness. All this was meant to end in the death of a girl who had done no one any harm.
He pulled her neck towards him and then used his momentum to thrash her head against the ground. As his grip around Adler's neck tightened, Alfonse's face grew deep red and the vein running along his temple and forehead burgeoned warningly. "This woman is responsible! She murders innocent people for fun." Once again, Alfonse lifted her by the neck and prepared to thrash her head against the ground.
Before Alfonse could deliver another blow, Rossignol grabbed him by the arm and ripped him away, leaving Alder to gasp and cough, clutching at her neck. "Monsieur, no. Please," he begged with his watery eyes. The fury he held towards Victor was lost and forgotten, it was replaced by compassion and sorrow. "Do not kill her, you are not a murder. Her death will not bring you peace, I know this."
Alfonse's lip trembled. "You— you're the one." Alfonse's eyes swept over Rossignol's face, understanding the torment it had brought to his family. Knowing what he was and seeing him so unmistakenly alive filled the elder Frankenstein with a new sense of anguish. Rossignol, however, did not let this rejection wound him as it would have in the past; he held onto Alfonse.
"I have hurt you, Sir, unimaginably. You are an innocent victim of my crimes, and I can never make up for it, but I can keep you from feeling what I feel. Come, Monsieur, come away from her. We must all be gone from her. Please?" He beseeched, gently tugging Alfonse away.
A croaked laugh filled the room and eyes were once more set upon Adler. "Not— ah— dumb creature after— ah— all." A fit of coughing ensued as Rossignol pulled Alfonse to Eva and her grandfather. Georgia quickly reached out to her beloved with her trembling, pale hands. "But foolish— eh. You planned to kill Elizabeth if you never got your—"
Adler never finished her statement. She never finished anything else. For what seemed like eternity, the world stood still. Dust and gunpowder swirled around itself like a slow-moving whirlpool. For a moment, they all watched the dust while it remained visible, thinking of the irony of how beautiful it appeared. Silence followed the staccato shot of the gun, which had the power to snuff out even the dripping sound of snow melting outside the window. It was powerful enough to stop the heart and restart it on a new beat. It was also powerful enough to ensure that Adler would never speak again. Her body hit the floor with a soft thud, one that her death seemed almost beautiful and delicate. The carpet of her precious "Blood Room" soaked up the dark liquid pouring out of her neck. A soft groan passed her lips and forced the scene to move once more.
"Oh, good God, Elizabeth! What have you done?"
A/N: I have it in my head to write a sequel where Georgia and Rossignol will uncover the reasons why Adler was able to convince so many to do her bidding. There is a bit of a subplot that I created here but chose not to explore it. I felt that doing so would cause the story to become overstuffed since the story is about Georgia and Rossignol. I love writing about them and I want them to have a few adventures before I say goodbye. However, my writing a sequel is entirely up to you, my readers. There is no point in continuing or adding to the story if there is no one interested in reading it or if you all think it is a bad idea. I am perfectly content to give Georgia and Rossignol this story only, so either decision works for me. Thanks :)