This is the beginning of some fairly depressing chapters. I'll try to crack a joke or two to lighten the mood though. Enjoy!

I own nothing.

Chapter 27: First Blood

When I came to I was in the back of a car. Man, was that some nightmare. I thought to myself. Wait, why am I in a car?

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." A raspy, almost cat like voice, chuckled. Suddenly the memories of the previous day came rushing back. I quickly sat up hitting my head on the head rest. Yesterday was no dream, it was real. The clothes were the same as before, my hair was still silver, there was no way it was a dream. The driver was Basta, but Saint Dane was nowhere to be seen. I looked around; we were stopped on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, in front of a bridge that did not look like it could hold the weight of a car. The bridge was blocked, and a man dressed in all black, with a shot gun, was walking up to the car. Basta rolled down his window.

"Well look at what the cats dragged in! Basta, where have you been? You better have a good explanation, Capricorn is pretty pissed." The man asked.

"Just move the damn road block out of the way. And my excuse is sitting in the back seat." Basta replied. The man peered through the window, and whistled. His nose looked as though it had been broken in several places and flattened.

"Wow. Where the hell did you pick her up? She's no village girl, I know that much. So, maid, or booty call?" He asked, his eyes undressing me.

"Want to say that again?!" I snarled as I tried to get up. It was only then that I noticed that I was cuffed to the seat belt.

He just laughed and said," She's a spitfire alright."

"Move it Flatnose!" Basta roared. Flatnose chuckled to himself as he went to remove the barrier.

"I leave for three days…" Basta muttered to himself.

"So, who's this Capricorn?" I asked, after I had calmed down.

"You'll find out. Dane left quite an agenda for you." Basta said with a hint of laughter. Flatnose waved us through and we sat in silence for about half an hour until we reached a parking lot. It contained a few old cars, a truck, and a surprisingly new and well cared for black car. I don't know what type, but it didn't belong with the others. That must be Capricorn's. I thought to myself.

"Welcome to the Devil's village." Basta laughed.

Basta got out of the car, unlocked the trunk, pulled out his shotgun, and then opened my car door. He then pulled out a set of keys and un-cuffed me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the car.

"I have two legs you know." I snapped.

"Just walk." He said as he tapped my back with his shotgun. On the edge of the field there was some tumble down houses. We walked toward there and the piles of rubble gave way to some houses with caved roofs, knocked out windows, crooked shutters, dirty peeling paint and even some were missing doors. As we got farther in to the village, the houses' appearance improved. Unfortunately, as the houses improved, the number of men in black increased as well. And as they increased, the jeers and taunts increased as well.

After an hour of twists and turns we came to a paved plaza. This plaza was swarming with the black clad men; each had a gun of some sort. There was a large, well kept, two story house and a church that had a tall spire. He steered me towards the church. We walked in, and it felt like I had walked into the belly of a monster.

The first thing that caught my eye was the blood red walls. The alter had been removed and replaced with large throne that was currently occupied. There was a statue of an angel, but a wing was broken off, the other wing was covered by a black jacket, and devil horns were stuck inside the halo. This truly is the devil's village. I thought to myself. But, that statue was simply dwarfed by the one next to it. It looked to be a statue of the man who was currently occupying the throne, but looked nothing like him. It had the cookie cutter face that all dolls had and the colors of the paint were not accurate. To make up for this, the statue was twice a tall as the original. Instead of pews there were tables and benches, like your average school lunch room.

"Well then have a man watch his house till he gives up the dog!" The man on the throne commanded.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" He continued. Basta prodded me in the back once again to tell me to keep moving.

"Basta. So you finally decided to show up. You better have a good explanation." The man said as the man he finished yelling at left. He sat up a little straighter when he saw me. He was tall, and fair haired, or was it gray? I couldn't tell. No doubt he wanted to keep it that way. He was as white as a sheet of paper, and had light blue eyes, much like Dane's, except that his eyes only examined and did not pierce the soul like Dane's. He wore a canary yellow suit that did absolutely nothing for him. He was also as skinny as a twig. The skin on his face was taunt and hugged his cheek bones and jaw; I assumed that it was the same everywhere else.

"And who might this be?" he said with a smile.

"Part of my explanation." Basta replied.

"Cockerell, go find this beautiful young woman a room." He said, attempting to sound as sweet as honey. A man, who was standing guard, began to leave his position to escort me to an empty room.

"If you want me gone so you can yell your head off at Basta, you are just wasting your time. To be honest, I have no idea what is going on, so I'd like to hear this explanation of his as well." I told him.

"Very well, Cockerell, get her a chair." He commanded.

"I have two legs." I replied.

"Basta, I'm waiting." He replied.

"You see, Capricorn sir, I was abducted by an immortal man three days ago. He wanted my help in acquiring someone, and needed an intimidation factor. Not only was this man immortal, he was also a magician. He could change his appearance at will, and transport himself and others to where ever he wanted." Basta began.

"And you expect me to believe that." Capricorn interrupted.

"He's telling the truth. I have seen this man myself." I said standing up for Basta. He was forced into this like I was. I thought to myself.

"Continue then." Capricorn sighed.

"Thank you, sir. We tracked down the girl he was looking for and found her on a ship in the middle of the sea. Only it she turned out to be a fake, lucky us the real one was sitting right next to her. He offered her a deal, and she said no. He tried everything, he bribed her, threatened her, and she still refused. So her punishment was to come here. It only took a day to get back with his powers. And her name," He said pointing at me, "is Elizabeth."

It was only then that it had dawned on me that since my transformation. I had been called Elizabeth. For some reason, I felt as though that was my name. When I thought of Helen, I thought of that scared kid being choked to death, not the confident woman I was a few moments later. What exactly happened? Why was he wearing gloves? Did I begin to transform once Helen punched Dane? I asked myself. Unfortunately, I had none of the answers.

"Is it true?" Capricorn asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yes. I was there for that." I replied.

"Do either of you have any proof?" He asked skeptically. Basta and I were still standing next to each other.

"I have plenty." Basta said as he pulled out his knife and stabbed me in the side of the neck. Intense pain filled my body. I couldn't breathe. The pain was too intense to even scream. Basta pulled his knife out of my neck and took out a cloth to clean it.

"What was that for?! Idiot!" Capricorn screamed, but I paid no attention. I fell to the floor and coughed up a large amount of blood just so I could take a small breath. I felt blood filling my lungs. I watched as my blood dripped onto the floor make a pool. The strength in my arms slowly drained till I could no longer hold myself up. I fell to the floor and wallowed in my own blood. I could hear people talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. I could feel nothing, nothing at all. All I could do was watch my hair turn to the color of rust from the blood. I closed my eyes, I stopped trying to breathe, and the pain stopped.

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