Janine's Point of View
I'd heard many things about Rosemarie over the years, but the most notable had been her beauty. Looking at her now I could see why.
She had grown into such a beautiful young woman, so was it any wonder that Victor was obsessed with her?
"Hello Rosemarie." I told her stepping a little closer so she could get a better look. It had been years since we had seen one another; 12 years to be exact.
Rose was staring at me like I was a ghost and I watched cautiously as her friend reach over to steady her on her feet.
"Perhaps we should sit down." I suggested when it became obvious she was too stunned to speak. However I think the sound of my voice was what she needed to break her out of her revere.
"I don't want to sit." She hissed. "I want to know what you did with Frankie!"
There was such a fierce and protective note to her tone whenever she spoke of Frankie.
"Like I told you before, she's safe." I told her but her furious expression told me she wouldn't be placated.
"She's with your father." I added and her face contorted in rage.
"My father?" She shouted.
"Rosemarie, take a seat." I told her, this time more forcefully. She scowled at being ordered around by her absentee mother but after exchanging a skeptical look with her friend, she begrudgingly took a seat on the couch.
"Start talking." She ordered and I had to hold back a small smile. She was every bit as ornery as I'd heard and reminded me so very much of her father.
"It's a long story Rose, but before I tell you anything I need you to promise me you won't over react when you hear it. I need you to promise you'll listen to everything I have to say before you judge me. Can you do that?" I asked.
She seemed annoyed by my request but agreed.
"Fine. Now talk."
"I'm not sure how much you know about when I was taken, but your father explained he told your boyfriend the gist of it."
She gave me a curt nod of her head to let me know to continue.
Victor always harbored an unnatural affection for me and after I was taken, I was so certain he would turn me. Of course I should have known what he wanted wasn't that simple.
"Despite what everyone else always thought, Victor had bigger plans for me than just to see me awakened. He wanted to build an army, an empire, and to change the future of the Moroi world as we know it. He had a lot of ideas about how to do this, but he found his true purpose in his desire to create a better breed of Moroi. He wanted to create one that was stronger, more powerful, with the added benefit of immortality."
The whole idea had been sickening.
"For years he experimented on creating these children, holding me prisoner until the time was just right. Every time one of his test subjects failed, he'd want to terminate them, but they were only innocent children and I begged him to let me send them away to the academies.
The first time he let me go alone to drop one of them off I thought I'd finally get my chance to escape. But right before I left Victor pulled me aside and showed me all the surveillance he'd collected of you. There were photos and videos of you and your life at St. Vladimirs and he promised me that if I failed to come back, he'd make sure you took my place instead.
I hated to go back to him, but I couldn't imagine you being in that place. So I went, and by the time I returned from my trip he told me that the right formula for what he wanted was now complete. 2 weeks later I was inseminated."
Rose looked like she wanted to open her mouth to say something, but her friend took her hand and shook his head, encouraging her to let me continue.
"Unlike the test subjects before me, my body didn't take to the pregnancy very well. I was sick all the time and lost quite a bit of weight. I spent 8 months struggling through an unbearable pregnancy before suffering a horrific birth that nearly killed me."
"I have a sibling?" Rose exclaimed, clearly too stunned to remember to hold her tongue.
"Yes, but there were complications with the birth." I told her, trying to remind her this story wasn't complete. "After the birth, there was little chance that I'd ever be able to carry another baby to term again, and needless to say Victor was furious. He was counting on me to give him the impeccably breed children he so desperately wanted, after which he had every intention of awakening me."
Rose made what could only be described as a clearly disgusted sound, reminding me that this was a part of the story she'd unfortunately heard before.
"But Victor being Victor wasn't about to let a little thing like infertility stop him, so he called in a spirit user who was unwillingly forced to heal me. Her name was Sonya Carp and after endless years in captivity she became my only friend. Even after she was granted permission to leave, she stayed behind to look after me. With an extensive background in medicine and chemistry, Victor was more than willing to oblige her request."
Thinking of Sonya now broke my heart, but I knew I had to keep going.
"The first few years after the baby was born, Victor was quite pleased. She showed great promise in her advanced abilities, but as her progress began to slow, so did Victors approval. By the time she was three he was sick of her. She had stopped advancing at the rate he'd been hoping for and as his frustration grew, I knew he was beginning to think she'd been a waste. We'd yet to be able to conceive another child and after several terrible attempts I'd begged him to let me stop trying. Of course that was all about to change now, because as I saw his resentment grow I knew I had to do something.
I went to Victor one night and told him I'd be willing to try again if he'd let me send the baby to an academy. She clearly wasn't the child he'd been hoping for, and I assured him our next child would be a success. Little did he know that would never happen, because when I left for the academy this time I knew I wasn't coming back."
I saw Rose's eyes darken as a few pieces of my story started to fall into place.
"Let me guess, this happened right before Victor found me in Spokane?" She asked darkly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I'm so sorry Rose, you were almost 18 by then and I was so sure your father would be able to protect you."
I should have known that wasn't the case. He hadn't been able to protect me, why would Rosemarie be any different.
"Whatever." Rose replied rolling her eyes. "Just tell me what happened next."
"Once Victor realized I wasn't coming back, he lost it. He slaughtered half the people under his command, including Sonya, and that's when he set his sights on you. I guess he decided to make good on his promise that if I wouldn't give him what he wanted, he'd settle for taking it from you."
"Well thanks for that." Rose remarked dryly, and honestly I couldn't blame her.
"I know how you must feel about me Rose, but I never meant for any of this to happen."
I was desperate to make her understand, but if I'm honest with myself even I have to admit I hadn't really thought it through. I took one look at that innocent little girl and I just knew I had to protect her, even at the cost of Rose. I had saved one daughter at the expense of another. I was no better than Victor.
I was a monster.
"Of course you didn't mean for it to happen MOM, but you clearly didn't care what happened to me either!" She shouted, standing up from her previous spot on the couch. Her hands were clenched in tight fists at her sides and she was shaking.
"That's not true and you know it!" I shot back, feeling my own ugly temper rise to the surface. I loved Rose, I hadn't meant to hurt her!
"The hell I do!" Rose shouted back. "After today I'm not sure about anything anymore! My moms actually alive, my dads been lying to me my whole life, and apparently I even have some sort of crossbreed half sister I've never even met. The only thing I am sure of is that I'm done with all the secrets! Now I listened to your pathetic life story like you asked, so now it's time for you to give me my answers. Tell me right now, what the hell is Frankie doing with my father!" She demanded.
I looked into the furious and beautiful face of my daughter and I wasn't really sure how to tell her this. Something told me blunt honestly would be the best approach.
"Rose….Frankie is your sister."