The frigid water was a complete shock to Erik's system. His eyes snapped open and he realized his lungs were burning. And while the freezing water had been enough to wake him up, the cold was already making him drowsy and if he didn't warm up soon, he would get hypothermia.

One of the perks of living beside a lake for most of his life meant that he was a decent swimmer. Fighting his every instinct to breath and beginning to become slightly disoriented, Erik began to swim, hoping to that he was actually going up, and not further down.

Just as he was about to give in and take a breath, Erik's head broke the surface. He took several deep breaths, trying to make up for the lack of oxygen, before swimming for shore. With great effort, he hauled himself onto dry land.

His breath came out in white puffs as he coughed, sputtered, and panted, trying to get the water out of his lungs and catch his breath, as his body shuddered with cold. Erik tried to push himself to his feet, but found that he lacked the strength to do it. The only thought that went through his mind was to find warmth. There was something he needed to do, but Erik couldn't remember what that was for the life of him. He was just too cold to think right now.

Desperate, Erik began to crawl towards the house. He could only make it a few feet before he collapsed. Just before everything went dark, Erik looked up to the sky and saw snowflakes beginning to fall.

"Katja!" Fredrick called, as he pushed the door open. "Erik?" He, his parents, and stepsister had been knocking for over five minutes without any sort of answer. "Katja, where are you?" He walked into the sitting room followed by the rest of his family. "Katja? Erik? Hello? Anybody home?"

"Maybe they forgot and went somewhere else?" Tanja suggested, less than helpfully.

"Shush," Brigitte replied. "They have to be around here somewhere."

His father looked around the room. "Outside perhaps? It's getting too cold to stay out there for long though."

Fredrick walked towards the kitchen and right outside the door was Katja and Erik's kitten, which was mewling loudly like something was wrong. He pushed open the door and was horrified by the sight within. There clearly had been a struggle inside. A pan had been knocked into the sink, the backdoor was open wide, and a bloody knife lay on the floor. He stood there for a moment in shock before the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "What did that son of a bitch do to her?!" he roared before sprinting out the open door.

He had gotten all the way to the lake's shore when he stopped dead in his tracks. "What's going on?" his father puffed as he bent over, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath from running after Fredrick. "Where's Katja? Where's Erik?"

Silently, Fredrick pointed to the bank. Lying there motionless was a soaking wet body that was slowly being buried in the falling snow. Drawing closer, Fredrick saw it was his unconscious brother-in-law. There was a large lump on the back of his head, only the left side of his face was visible, and his hand was extended out, like he was trying to reach something. "My God! Where's Katja?!" his father cried. He ran to the lake's edge, completely panicked. "Is she in the water?"

"No, she's not," Fredrick answered, partially relieved. "We'd be able to see her." Almost instantly that relief evaporated into fear. "But if she's not there, where is she?"

"I don't know," his father roared. "But we have to find her!"

"Erik's got to know!" Fredrick knelt next to the unmoving man and shook him frantically. "Wake up! Where's Katja?"

"Katja," Erik moaned softly, though he remained unconscious.

"Where is she?" Fredrick screamed. "What have you done with my sister?! Wake up God damn you!"

His father pulled him away. "If we don't get him warm and dry, he'll freeze to death and then we'll never find Katja. He's the only one who may have any idea what's happened to her."

Realizing that his father was right, Fredrick nodded. He rolled Erik over to his back and gasped loudly when the man's unmasked face was revealed. "Scheiße," his father whispered. "No wonder he wears the mask."

"What the hell is wrong with his face? What caused him to look like that?"

"Your sister told me that it was from birth. She didn't tell me it was this bad."

"She knew?" Fredrick cried. "She knew that he looked like this and she still married him?"

"Apparently it doesn't bother her. Now come on. We have to get him inside or he'll die. And whether you like it or not, he's the only one that can help us find Katja." The two men pulled Erik to his feet and draped his arms over their shoulders and led him to the house.

"Guten Himmel!" Brigitte gasped when they brought him inside. "Was hat passiert? Wo ist Katja?"

"What happened to his face?" Tanja asked.

"It doesn't matter right now," Dieter snapped. "Brigitte, he's going to freeze if we don't do something and he's the only one who knows where Katja is."

She nodded and motioned for them to go into the bedroom. "Get him in dry clothes quickly." As they pulled off his soaking wet clothes, the family found long white scars down his back. "What on earth would cause something like that?"

"A whip," Dieter answered his voice barely above a whisper. Horrified silence descended on the family as they got Erik dressed in warm clothes and into bed.

When they finished, Brigitte put her hand on Erik's forehead. "He's got a fever, and a pretty bad one at that."

"But what about Katja?" Fredrick demanded.

"I don't think he's waking up until the fever breaks," Brigitte replied. "Which means we can't do anything but wait."

"No," Fredrick snapped. "I'm not waiting. I'm going out to find my sister."

The two gypsies slowed their horses when their new hideout came into view. "You're going to have to carry her," Garridan told his brother as they dismounted.

"Why don't you do it?" Cato countered. "You're the one who had to take her."

Garridan held out his arm. The sleeve was stained with blood and there was a deep cut. "Bitch got me with a knife," he explained.

Cato threw the unconscious girl over his shoulder. "Why the hell didn't you say anything before? You'll bleed to death if we don't get that taken care of!"

"We're here now aren't we? There are bandages in the saddlebag. You can treat it inside." The building, like Garridan had said, had clearly once been a sumptuous vacation home for some long dead noble. The rooms were well-furnished, but everything was long out of style and covered with a thick layer of dust.

After tossing the girl in a corner, Cato began to bind his brother's arm. Almost instantly the blood was seeping through the bandages. The cut must have hit a vein. "She got you good," Cato murmured. "I can't do this on my own. We need someone who can stich your arm shut."

"And who the hell do you think you're gonna find that isn't gonna turn us in the second they see her?" Garridan snapped. "This is going to have to work."

"You'll bleed to death first," Cato replied. "I'll think of something. Just…just stay here." He ran out the door, hopped back on his horse, and began riding in the direction of the camp.

When he arrived, Cato stopped the first person he found. "Chavi! I need your help! Garridan's hurt!"

"Where is he?" she asked. "What happened?"

"Come with me quickly! He can't move! He'll die if we don't hurry!" Chavi nodded and climbed onto the horse behind him.

Katja's head was pounding. She didn't feel like getting out of bed today, and she didn't think Erik would mind if she didn't. She reached out for her husband, but to her surprise he wasn't there. Opening her eyes, Katja realized Erik wasn't there. In fact, she wasn't at home at all.

She gasped when she saw the gypsy leering at her. "Well it's about time you woke up," he sneered. "I've been getting rather lonely, but now I have you to keep me company." He pulled her to her feet and forcibly kissed her. Katja tried to claw or hit him or do something, do anything, but her wrists were tied. All she could really do was pathetically bang on his chest, which did nothing to help her.

"No!" she cried, when he threw her forward against a table. Katja could feel him growing hard behind her as he unbuttoned his pants and pushed her skirts up. Twisting to one side, she saw one of his arms was heavily bandaged and bloody. Desperate to escape, Katja threw her full weight on that arm.

"You little bitch!" he roared in pain. With his good arm, he pinned her wrists in front of her, preventing her from moving. She began to scream as he roughly entered her and began thrusting behind her. "Scream all you want," he grunted between thrusts. "There's no one to hear you."

"Stop!" she sobbed. Tears of pain leaked out of her eyes and slid down her cheeks. "Please, I'm begging you!"

His hand clamped over her mouth. "Shush," he purred in her ear. Somehow Katja was able to quiet herself, save for a few whimpers. "If you're going to scream, then scream. But I'm not going to put up with any of that blubbering. Understood?" She nodded and he took his hand away from her mouth to stroke her cheek. "That's better."

The gypsy's pace increased to an unbearable speed. Katja let out another scream as her hands clenched into fists. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and sank his teeth into her soft flesh. Katja let out another cry of pain as he grunted and came.

When he released her, Katja's legs gave out from beneath her, and she collapsed where she stood. The gypsy buttoned his pants back up as he stood over her. "That's it? You know, you're out of practice. We ought to remedy that, or you'll never survive life as my whore."

"My husband is going to kill you," Katja murmured, wrapping her arms around her aching stomach, in a futile attempt to protect the baby. "When he finds you, he's going to rip you limb from limb. He'll make sure you suffer."

He pulled something out of his coat and dropped it on the ground before her. In the moment before the porcelain hit the floor and shattered, Katja recognized it as Erik's mask. "I'm not too worried about him."

Katja's hands flew to her mouth. "No!" she screamed. "No, it can't be true! It's not true! You're lying! This isn't happening! Oh God no!" She dissolved into bitter, heartbroken sobs. "This can't be happening! Oh Erik!"

The door opened and two more gypsies walked in. One was the other man who had attacked her at the house, but the other was a girl who clearly didn't want to be there. The man had a tight grip on her upper arm and dragged her into the room. "You're supposed to be dying of blood loss. You could've waited at least until we got your arm stitched up," the man snapped. "She heard the screams and tried to run."

Looking up, Katja realized she knew the girl. "Chavi!" she gasped.

Chavi's eyes grew wide. "That's why you wanted to come back to Germany! Well I'm not going to stand aside and let you hurt her! I refuse to help you! I can't! I won't!"

She turned to run, but the gypsy whirled her back around, pulled a gun from his belt, and pointed it straight at Chavi. "You're going to fix his arm or I'm going to shoot you right now."

German Translations

Scheiße- Shit

Guten Himmel!- Good Heavens!

Was hat passiert?- What happened?

Wo ist Katja?- Where is Katja?