Victor was walking to the address on the card Elizabeth had left with him the previous night, so they could both head to the local records office and investigate the holdings of the late Evelyn Poole. As he rounded the corner and the flat came into view Victor found his palms were sweating a little and his heart was doing skips in his chest. He shook himself a bit and made his way to the door and knocked twice. After a few curious bangs and curses Elizabeth opened the door with her raven curls flowing about her face and a pink blush on her cheeks.

"Victor! So sorry but I wasn't keeping track of time and I am running a bit behind, would you like to come in a sit down for a bit while I finish getting ready for the public eye?" Victor stammered a bit as the sight of the young woman so adorably flushed and nervous sent a little jolt of happiness into his heart,

"O-of course Elizabeth," she smiled at him and stepped back while opening the door to allow him through, the flat wasn't the smallest he had ever seen but it seemed stuffed to the brim with papers draped over every flat surface and books piled waist high around every corner, "How did you and your father manage to live here?" Elizabeth's smile faded and the light in her eyes dimmed at his question.

"We didn't….Live here I mean, we have a house outside the city, still within reasonable riding distance, only a few miles but…I can't bear to be in that house without him. I walked out the night they came, and I haven't been back since." She finished with a poor imitation of a smile.

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea," he tried to apologize but she waved him off and walked deeper into flat, as he trailed behind trying not to trip or knock anything over, "Just where exactly did you get all these books?" Elizabeth turned back and gave him an impish grin,

"Most of them were acquired legitimately, some however had to be liberated from their homes."

"Ms. Reid!" Elizabeth laughed at Victor's exclamation and he was shocked at how much he wanted to hear the sound again. She gestured to a small sofa in the corner of the room they were in for him to sit on while she went to wrestle her hair into submission.

"Make yourself at home, feel free to look around if you like." With one final smile she walked away, presumably to her bedroom to finish her hair. After a few minutes Victor stood and made his way around the room, occasionally opening one of her books or looking at one of her papers. They all seemed to be focused on one thing, monsters that attacked in the night leaving nothing behind but the blood of their victims. Some were first hand accounts, some were pictures others had drawn from descriptions, but almost every paper had what Victor assumed to be Elizabeth's handwriting all over it, the books and papers were her own notebook, every single piece laid out for her to look at whenever she wished. Victor was brought out of his musings at the sound of footsteps approaching him from behind, he turned to see Elizabeth with her hair somewhat corralled into a messy bun atop her head. She wore, just like the night before, trousers tucked into her boots, a white button up with a black vest instead of corset this time, and her black coat was slung over her arm. She raised her brow and asked him,

"Did you find anything interesting?"

"Not really no, but I would like to know how you manage to read all of these books and make all of these notes." she gave him a teasing grin and replied,

"I live on catnaps and tea, woken up more than once to ink stains on my face that everyone loved to laugh at but no one wanted to tell me about."

"Then let me promise here and now to tell you about any ink stains I happen to see on your face." Elizabeth's face took a serious look and she replied,

"I will hold you to that Victor." However she could only hold her face for a few more seconds before her mouth began to tremble and she giggled, while Victor smiled at the sound. "Now then, shall we make our way to the office?"

"Yes we shall." Elizabeth led him back to the front door and put her coat on as soon as they stepped out. Victor offered Elizabeth his arm and once her coat was on with a coy smile she accepted.

It took them fifteen minutes to walk to the records office and they were both nervous as they walked through the doors, because if there was nothing here for them to find then they were all back at square one. Elizabeth approached the nearest clerk to make her inquiry.

"Hello, I'm here to see if you might still have the records for the late Evelyn Poole? She died a little over 3 years ago." The stout, balding man in front of them looked them both over for a solid minute before he responded,

"And why might you be inquiring about the late Mrs. Poole so long after her death young lady?"

"She was a distant relative on my mother's side," Elizabeth began to wring her hands and her eyes teared up, "I've recently lost my father you see and since my mother left us shortly after I was born I've never met any of her side of the family." uShe cleared her throat a little and let a few tears drop before continuing in a choked whisper, "I'm just trying to find out if I have any family left at all." She gave the clerk a trembling smile as he looked slightly sympathetic to the young woman's plight before he replied,

"Anything we have will by now be in the archives, which means that it will be at least three weeks before we can tell you anything, fill out this request form and we will notify you if we find anything." Elizabeth filled out the paper as quickly as she could before handing it back to the man while thanking him for helping and making her way back to the door with Victor, once they were outside Elizabeth cursed.

"Damn it! Three bloody weeks! What are we going to do in the meantime?" The tears which had been present for the clerk's benefit were now absent and her cheeks were flushed in frustration. She ran a hand over her face and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm herself down.

"Well our first priority should be to head back to Grandage Place and tell everyone the new developments, however I think you and I should take a walk and try to clear your head." He held out his arm and Elizabeth heaved a bone weary sigh before she took it and let him lead her away from the building.

Unknown location

"So you really expect me to believe you aren't part of this Monster?" Vanessa spat from her position against the wall. Her hands were chained to the wall and given only enough room to eat the stale crust they brought each day. There was no light in the room they were being held in, only brief flickers when the door was opened. It was cold and damp and a miracle she hadn't fallen ill from it all.

"Vanessa I swear to you I have no idea what's going on, I've spent the last 2 years trying to live my life in peace." Alexander pled from his similar position against the opposite wall.

"You don't know the meaning of the word, all you do is bring pain and chaos wherever you go."

"You're right, but it doesn't mean that I'm involved in this mess. I'm as much a prisoner as you are. Hell I was here before you were!"

"And when you're free? Will you begin tormenting me and those I love once again? Mark my words creature I will tear your throat out myself before I allow that to Ever happen again." Alexander heaved a sigh and rubbed his face rattling the chains that bound him to the wall before he answered her,

"No, Vanessa, believe it or not I have found my peace and happiness in this world and I only wish to get back to it. That is assuming my dearest Brother hasn't gotten to her first."

"Her? You've managed to entangle another innocent in this mess?" Her voice was filled with choked rage and if she could reach him she would kill him now.

"I did not bring her into this all on my own Vanessa, and I only wish to keep her away from it for as long as I can. She's only 2 years old." His voice tapered off into a tear-filled whisper as he spoke his last sentence. His pleas had piqued her curiosity, she certainly didn't Believe him when he said he wished no harm on the girl but she was concerned that a child was being brought into this game the brothers had been playing since the time before time.

"Who is she? To you, I mean who is she to you?" she heard him take a shaky breath before he opened his mouth and spoke a sentence that shook her to her very core,

"She is my Daughter."