Victor and Elizabeth had been walking for almost 15 minutes and had ended up walking in a nearby park. Elizabeth had been silent since her outburst at the office and Victor could tell from her stony expression and crossed arms that she had not calmed down in the slightest. He decided to take a more direct approach before Elizabeth could go further down the rabbit hole in her head and directed them to a small bench underneath some trees and sat her down.

"Ms- Elizabeth, you don't need to get so worked up over this, he didn't say they didn't have anything just that it would take time for them to find out." Elizabeth wasn't looking at him and was instead choosing to glare into the distance so he reached over and uncrossed her arms so he could take her hand in his. "Tell me what's really bothering you." He implored. Elizabeth looked at their hands before she took a deep breath in and looked him in the eyes.

"This is the closest I have ever gotten to these monsters the entire time I have been hunting them. I would track them for days or until I physically collapsed under the strain. They would always either slip away from me or notice me and I would have to run start all over. You remember I told you Evelyn's mansion was my final hope? I wasn't kidding, they knew to keep an eye out for me by then and were better at hiding from me. I hadn't seen them in 2 weeks when I finally came back to London with my tail between my legs, and it was another 3 before I managed to find out about Evelyn. If this doesn't work out, then the last five months of my life have been wasted."

"You have not wasted anything Elizabeth, you've done more in the last 5 months than most people do their whole lives and without you we would still be at square one. One thing I don't understand however is why you're so desperate to find them, most people would have mourned their father and tried to move on, but you've worked yourself to exhaustion hunting them, why?" Elizabeth broke eye contact with him at his question and she had to swallow the lump in her throat before she could answer him.

"My father was everything to me, he was all I had and they took him from me. The one constant solid presence in my life that I could depend on….vanished, like smoke. There was so much that we meant to do, so much we put off because we thought we had forever to get it done, and I don't know if killing these creatures will bring me peace but I know I'll feel a hell of a lot better knowing they can't take anyone else." Tears had built in her eyes as she spoke and when she blinked they began to fall. Victor wasn't made for comfort, but he was going to try so he took his free arm and wrapped it around her shoulders and Elizabeth followed his lead and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tell me one thing you never got around to doing with him, and I'll do my best to help you do it myself." Elizabeth loosed a wet laugh as she replied,

"He promised to teach me dancing, as a child I stood on his feet as he waltzed us around the room and when I got older he said he'd teach me to do it on my own." Victor smiled as he leaned his head down to hers to whisper,

"Then you are in luck, for dancing is one of my specialties." Elizabeth smiled and raised her head from his shoulders to look at him and even with tears streaking her face, her eyes and nose red from tears, she was beautiful.

"I shall take you up on your offer Victor, however we do have some rather crucial information to share with your colleagues and I do believe my little fit has taken up enough of our time." She stood and offered him her hand which he gladly took and placed upon his arm when he was next to her.

"Then let us make our way back to Sir Malcolm's."

Grandage Place

When Elizabeth and Victor made their way into the study, Ethan, who had been brooding over the fire with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand made his way over to them.

"Did you find anything?" Elizabeth answered his question as Victor was worrying that his friend was once again going to have to be forced to eat something.

"Yes and no, it will take them three weeks to uncover Evelyn's records and there was no guarantee they'd find anything. I'm sorry Ethan, where are the others?" Ethan's mouth thinned to a tiny line and he downed the rest of his glass in one quick swallow before he responded,

"Don't be sorry Elizabeth, Sir Malcolm went out to get supplies and Dr. Seward went to see some of her patients, Mr. Lyle and Catriona went to the museum with your journals to see if there was anything in the archives. You said it would take three weeks? That should be plenty of time."

"Time for what?"

"To teach you to shoot. You didn't have a gun on you when we met and they're just about the most effective method we have when it comes to killing those things." He finished with a grin tugging from one side of his mouth. Elizabeth laughed as she raised a hand to her forehead with a wry grin and asked,

"So, when do my lessons begin Teacher?" Ethan answered her grin by letting his own take over his entire face as he pulled his gun from its holster and started walking towards the basement,

"Right now." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him as she turned to Victor,

"Can you tell the others when they get back?" Victor nodded at her,

"Of course I can. Please try not to shoot Ethan as Vanessa would be rather upset with you." Elizabeth laughed as she turned to follow Ethan into the basement and she replied,

"I will do my best." Victor made his way to the kitchen to make Ethan something simple to eat as the man wouldn't entertain eating or drinking anything that couldn't be finished quickly while Elizabeth quickened her pace to catch up with Ethan who was setting up bottle targets for her. When she had caught up and was standing a few feet away from the bottles she asked,

"Are you sure we should be doing this indoors?" Ethan smirked at her as he offered her his revolver and replied,

"Why of course it is, taught the good doctor to shoot down here a few years back, and since there's no one to inquire about the noise this time round we shouldn't be interrupted." Elizabeth took the revolver and adjusted her grip to be more comfortable as she asked,

"So, how do I do this without killing anyone on our side." Ethan came to stand next to her and adjusted her stance and aim as he began his instruction,

"Make sure to aim for the torso, you have a better chance at hitting your opponent than if you were to aim at the head or limbs. Don't jerk your arm when you aim or else you could fire the gun without meaning to," Elizabeth took her aim carefully as Ethan continued, "When you're ready to fire take a steady inhale and as you begin to exhale squeeze the trigger-Gently you're not trying to strangle it." She took a deep breath in and fired off two shots in quick succession that in turn shattered two of the glass bottles. "You're a natural!" Elizabeth gave him a smile as she told him,

"Thanks, I'm not sure that's a good thing." Ethan laughed and asked her,

"You don't like shooting?" She shook her head as she took her aim again,

"I think I like it a little too much," she fired off another shot and shattered another bottle, "Do you think we could go somewhere else and do this with different targets and guns?" Ethan grinned at her as he replied,

"Let's master this one first, it's probably the one we'll use the most when we're fighting these things. After two years we could all use some practice so you'll have a lot of time to perfect it." Elizabeth turned her head to look at him as she asked,

"It's been two years since they've bothered you?"

"A little over but yes, after our last big confrontation we managed to find some peace."

"What happened Ethan? The full story this time if you can manage it." Ethan's brow furrowed as he looked down at the ground before beginning his tale.

It was over, the darkness had been defeated and they day had been won… but Vanessa was dead. Dracula vanished after Ethan revealed himself to be holding his beloved's corpse. He was slowly making his way down to the rest of them, careful not to dislodge Vanessa from his arms. Tears were abundant amongst the group, however none of them were as distraught as Ethan. He was looking down at Vanessa as if she'd fade into dust before his eyes, in a way she already had. Sir Malcolm was the first of them to get control of his limbs and make his way over to Ethan who was standing in front of them. He opened his mouth to speak but the words would not come. There were no words for this, his child in the arms of the man she loved with every fiber of her being, lifeless. He managed to, slowly, reach his hand out to touch Vanessa's forehead. He needed to feel the cooling skin under his palm to convince himself this was real, that the battle was won but the woman they fought for was lost. And that's when it changed, as his hand made skin to skin contact Vanessa did something Remarkable, she took a breath.

"And what happened after that?" Ethan had not taken his eyes off the floor as he recounted the day he almost lost the most important person in the world to him.

"We took her home and Victor patched her up, Sir Malcolm and I didn't leave her side until she opened her eyes a few days later. She couldn't remember much of her time while she was turned but she did say that she heard a voice speaking to her when she d-died. She said it told her that her time had not yet come and that it was up to her to break the cycle."

"The cycle?" Ethan took a shaky breath as he scrubbed his face with his hand and began pacing the basement floor.

"Those monsters have been chasing her for longer than we could ever imagine, they want her to be the Mother of Evil and help them conquer heaven, they haven't succeeded, so they keep chasing her all throughout her lives until and tormenting her and those she loves so she'll give into them."

"And for two years after…That, she was given peace?"

"Aside from a few nightmares about her memories from her time with him yes. For two amazing years we were all given peace." Elizabeth's brow furrowed as she focused her attention on the gun in her hand, running her fingers along the length of the barrel and the chamber. She seemed to be considering something when she took a deep breath and stood in front of Ethan interrupting his pacing.

"I'm sorry your peace was taken from you; I'm sorry that you've all been dragged back into this and I promise you Ethan I will do whatever I can to help bring Vanessa home to you all." Ethan regarded the young woman standing in front of him with determination in her eyes reminding him of the one he was desperate to have back in his arms again. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he replied,

"It's not your fault Elizabeth, but thank you all the same." He clapped her shoulder with his hand as his smile grew, "Now I think we can call an end to the lesson for today and go back upstairs so Victor can shove another sandwich and broth down my throat." Elizabeth cackled as they began to walk back to the stairs and she asked in a exaggerated whisper,

"He is a bit of a mother hen isn't he?" Ethan snickered with her as he replied,

"That he is kid, that he is." The two shared a smile as they made there way back upstairs to face Victor in all of his mother hen glory.