Heroes of the Past and Present

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious, do not own the video game

A/N:

Chapter 38 (A Woman Scorned)

There was a lot riding on this hunch that her father had. Trina was flying out to Chicago, Illinois with Tori, Sinjin, and Jade to meet up with her father's contact. A woman who claimed to know about not only the country that Kirkwall was a part of, but of the Lamont family, and this woman was so full of rage that even her father said he was frightened of her. Yet, if this woman knew anything of Erin Lamont and how to find her, Trina had to know.

They arrived at a small house on the outskirts of town, it was a countryside home with many acres of farmland. The woman they were meeting was on the front porch. She didn't appear too old, just in her early thirties. She had short brown hair and narrow eyes. The name on the mailbox was Blanchard. "Are you Denise?" Trina asked while walking up to the porch. "I'm Trina Vega. My dad said you knew about Erin Lamont and of Kirkwall?"

"Yes, but it's not Kirkwall anymore." Denise stepped off her porch and looked to the right where one of her three horses were overlooking a wooden fence. "The Lamont family moved up here a couple years ago at Erin's request. I no longer have anything to do with them…"

"I take it you moved here as well?"

"Yes, I had family here. This was my family's farm, after all…They came after, following after the royal family." Trina raised an eyebrow and waited as the woman motioned them inside. "Your father entered into some chat room looking for information regarding that bitch." There was a great amount of hatred in the woman's tone, and anger in her eyes. Trina also noticed a ring around Denise's finger, but her dad said Denise claimed to live alone. "Your father said he was looking for her arrest? Maybe even death? Seriously, the bitch needs to burn in hell for what she did!" Trina was taken aback by the sudden outburst, but kept it all in stride and followed Denise inside the house. "I have some tea on the stove, if you'd like some."

"That would be great. Thank you." As the woman left for the kitchen, Trina exchanged nervous glances with Tori. The interior of the house wasn't that large, the living room had a three-seat couch and two recliners on either side, framing a coffee table. The floor was wooden and the walls were painted in ember color. It was a warm home, but with a very cold presence inside. They sat on the couch and waited until Denise came back out with a tray and a couple cups of tea.

"I'm sorry for all that, I should probably explain…" She set the tray on the coffee table and sat down in the recliner. "I'm not sure exactly where to begin. Your father said she was trying to overthrow that country?"

"Yes, but it doesn't exist anymore?"

"Oh it does. A lot has changed though, I'm guessing you're referring to a country before it became some neutral place. It's Sviederbach now, neutral land created back in the early 1700s after a war between two neighboring countries."

"Sviederbach?" She recognized the name, it was on the news a year ago. Some king had been assassinated and his grandson had to step up. "Some kid rules it now doesn't he?"

"Gunther Hessenheffer and his queen, Cece. Yes…He was the heir, apparently they don't like for their kings to be anyone other than someone who is a child of the last King. His line goes all the way back to the founder and first king, and every king or queen since then. Hell, even before that a few hundred years before, I think he had another ancestor that was a king of some country. Alistar or whatever his name is…" While it sounded familiar, Trina wasn't concerned with that ancestry lineage. She had one goal in mind, and if Sviederbach was in danger, this Gunther would have to be made aware. "Gunther took the throne last year and started fixing things up since his grandfather was an apparent douchebag."

"Why is Erin so interested in this country? Any idea?"

"You got me. All I know is that the Lamont family are distant cousins to Gunther and could be the next heir to the throne if something were to happen to the royal family. Erin could possibly be trying to wipe them out to take the throne? I don't know, but that bitch got her bloody palms all over them. I think she could be controlling them, but I've got no proof…"

"What makes you think that?"

"This." Denise held up her hand, showing off the ring on her finger. Trina's heart sank as she began to sense a tragic tale coming on. "Eric Lamont, the eldest of his brothers. He and I were not quite engaged, but this was just a small ring with him saying we were exclusive. I loved that man with all my heart." Denise lowered her hand and dropped her eyes towards the table. "Inseparable. All throughout childhood and everything, I thought he was going to propose to me soon, to make it real, we talked about marriage…even his family wanted us together…"

"What changed?"

"That bitch, that's what!" Trina flinched as Denise cried out in anger. She put her hand to her forehead and sighed, slowly shaking her head. "I thought I forgot all about them, I thought I moved on. Then your father comes into that chatroom…I was helping the police with some case when he came online." It was a nation-wide police chat room of course, where both law workers and citizens could enter in. There was nothing exclusive about it. "Eric and his brother Steven met Erin at some gas station back in 2009, apparently she needed some help, looking like she'd been beaten or something…I'm sure it was just a ploy, but again, no proof."

"Moving on please…"

"Right, so anyway. Everything changed, Eric's personality just completely spun around. His entire family fucking changed! They cast me aside like I'm nothing, like I was never anything to them, and it's all thanks to that witch! She tainted them, I'm sure of it…there's no other explanation for them just suddenly turning from nice, pleasant, people, a happy family…to being so vileand disgusting! They abuse their own children now!

"Damn…" Still not the worst crime she'd ever heard. In the previous year her father worked a very serious case. A group of high school girls murdered this boy, a lawyer's son, and butchered him like common meat products. They went to prison, but the leader of the group, a girl named Kelly, vanished mysteriously. "I've heard some pretty bad things in my life, and while that's not the worst…it's still pretty terrible. I can't do anything for the family off a hunch though." Even worse still was what happened nearly two years ago when a secret crime organization, led by a man named Chogan, tried to wipe out every celebrity on earth by way of mind control. His organization was brought down by a group of martial artists, an inspiration to Trina like no other.

"I know, I just…I'm coming out with all this because of the bitch that took my man away from me, took my family away from me. I'm not usually so hateful, it's just-"

"No I understand. I'd probably react the same way. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, you know." She had her mission though, to find and subdue Erin. She already tried to take Kirkwall, and chances were it wouldn't be her last attempt at doing so. "You know, you might be onto something there…Erin does practice witchcraft."

Denise raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, scoffing slightly. "Can't say I'm surprised…there are some people who practice, even I've dabbled a bit in magic. Though it's mostly spells and stuff."

"Dabbled?" Sinjin inquired, his eyebrows rising up with sudden interest. "Is it possible to like…remove magical powers from someone? Do you know?" Denise looked over at him and Trina sighed. She wasn't going to complain though, as she was right with Sinjin and Tori in regards to their wanting to be rid of these 'magical' abilities.

"Remove? No, but I do know of a spell that can put a block on magical abilities. It's in a spell book, I've put it away like a long time ago because I just wasn't interested in witchcraft. Why?"

"Cause some of us don't want to have magic powers. One of our friends back home included, myself, and Trina's sister here." Denise hummed and glanced towards the hallway entrance. Her shoulders rose and fell.

"I could make a copy of the spell for you and you could use it whenever you feel like it. That's the best I can do. As for Erin…what do you guys intend to do about her? The family itself still lives here. Though they used to live in LA…kind of wish they still did. So they wouldn't be anywhere near me…"

"You don't like them anymore?" Tori asked. A forlorn expression crossed over Denise's face, and for once, her eyes grew misty.

"It's not that, I love them all, but…they're not the same people that I used to know and love. So whatever they've become…I don't care for…Right now you're just not seeing me in my better days. So I apologize for that."

"We will try to put a stop to whatever it is she's doing, but I don't know what we can do." Trina was not sure if fighting Erin was the answer, but whatever it was she had to do, she had to act fast. An entire country could very well be at risk, and while she really didn't want to get involved with another country's affairs, she couldn't just sit idly by and do nothing. "I'll try and get in touch with Gunther, to see if maybe there's something to be done. If anything, he'll know what to do. I mean he is ruling the country right now, so…he must have some ideas…"

"Yeah, just bear in mind, I have personally met the woman. As evil as she is, she seems like someone who won't ever give up whatever plans she has in mind…so whatever she's up to now, I'm not sure it'll be the last we see of her."

"I know, and I'll keep looking around for her. The best thing I know I can do is to warn Gunther. We've already screwed up her plans, so it's likely she's put herself off the radar. We will put a stop to her, and if you're right…maybe whatever spell you think she's got on that family will go away."

"I hope so, for their sake. I can't see how her involvement in their lives will be good for them. Tell you what…" Denise leaned forward and clasped her hands together, sighing heavily as she closed her eyes. "I'm scared for them. I just…I envision them being wiped out once Erin's done with them."

"If she married Eric, or as you suggest somehow forced him into marrying her instead of you…then they live together obviously. Any idea where they might be?"

"No, I've pretty much made an effort not to look him up."

"Sounds fair…I'll see what I can do. If they can be saved."

So we're learning more things about this Erin woman, and it isn't good.