The monster keeled over, loosening its grip from Elizabeth, who would have also slumped to the ground had Jefferson not grabbed her. He wrapped an arm over her shoulder, holding her frail frame upright, though his trembling hand still clutched the gun. Elizabeth's breath was a whisper against Jefferson's neck, her instability frightening Jefferson more than anything.

"Come on Elizabeth," he muttered, pressing his forehead to hers, but Elizabeth still gave no sign of life, and for a moment Jefferson was gripped by fear as he realised he couldn't feel her breathing. Suddenly Elizabeth gasped as she took a sharp breath, her half closed eyes fluttering open.

"Gerhardt, he-" Elizabeth was cut short by the sight of her blood stained brother lying on the dungeon floor. She stifled a scream, clasping a hand over her mouth. Tears brimmed in her eyes, her shoulders shuddering as she choked back sobs.

"It's okay," Jefferson said soothingly, pulling her back into him so that her head rested against his chest, her sobs out of time with his own racing heartbeat.

"What on earth is going on?" A furious voice demanded.

Startled, Jefferson glanced up at the doorway, where Victor stood; his eyes ablaze at the sight of Jefferson holding Elizabeth, though they soon trailed down to the gun, then to the dungeon floor. Upon seeing Gerhardt's body, Victor rushed to his brother, carefully turning him so that he was face up, before placing a finger on his neck, though he could see it was hopeless. Suddenly Victor looked up at Jefferson, glowering with anger as he spat:

"You murdered him. You cannot deny it: the gun is in your hands. How could you? When I was so close to truly bringing him back!"

Jefferson stared at Victor, unable to hide the disgust in his reply: "Shouldn't you be more concerned about the fact that your monster almost killed your sister?"

Untangling herself from Jefferson, Elizabeth took a shaky step towards her brother. She gingerly rubbed at the dark bruises that had begun to form on her pale neck.

"Why didn't you tell me about Gerhardt and our father?"

"I couldn't admit what I had done to you," Victor replied guiltily, before softly adding, "I'm sorry."

"Apology not accepted!" Elizabeth cried, her fury strengthening her as she strode over to him. She drew to her full height, though Elizabeth still had to glare up at Victor to meet his eye.

"You didn't have to lie."

With that, the pair began to argue vehemently, quickly becoming lost in the quarrels, stood over their dead brother. Shaking his head, Jefferson excused himself, though he knew both Elizabeth and Victor had forgotten his presence.

'Only the gods know how long they'll be fighting.' Jefferson thought as he strayed down the gravel drive of the Frankenstein residence towards the gardens.

Even in the cloudy, dismal weather, the flowers bloomed, sensing a summertime that Jefferson couldn't feel in the gloomy realm. Somehow the fresh air was calming, driving away his thoughts that circulated from Victor and Elizabeth's rows to the closeness of Elizabeth's wedding. Jefferson even managed a brief smile at the sound of birdsong in the trees that hung over from the woods. Their chirps were not quite loud enough to drown out of the commotion coming from the castle: something being smashed, a door slamming shut, infuriated accusations and shouts that were verging on being hysterical. Jefferson tried to ignore the din, drowning out everything by studying the different plants that Elizabeth had been growing. Many of them were common varieties that Jefferson had passed in plenty of realms, though he couldn't find a single rose in the whole garden.

'I'll get Elizabeth some, red ones from Wonderland and enchant them so they'll never lose their colour.'

Jefferson thoughts were disturbed by Elizabeth's bitter sobs that were accompanied by unlady-like cursing, growing louder as she reached him. In anticipation, Jefferson straightened up to greet her. But nothing could have prepared him for the whirlwind of a girl that stormed around the corner. Elizabeth sank into the bench, silently seething. Her body was hunched over as she rubbed at her eyes with trembling fingers. Cautiously, Jefferson sat down beside her and reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. Elizabeth shook him off and twisted herself away without a word. Eventually she hoarsely announced:

"I want to leave."

Jefferson frowned, hoping she wasn't implying what he suspected.

"Elizabeth, I really don't think-"

"I want to leave," Elizabeth firmly repeated, slowly turning to face him.

The end of her nose and rims of her eyes had darkened from crying and Elizabeth dug her nails into the palms of her hands. Her expression was contorted between anger and desperation.

"You mean you want to leave with me: in my hat?" Jefferson said.

She nodded and swallowed back the tears that were welling up.

"I hate it here. This place, it isn't my home, it's a prison," Elizabeth wept sulkily; "there's nothing here for me. I hate it!"

"I know, I know," Jefferson murmured quietly, removing his hat and fumbling with the edge between his fingers, "but you cannot come with me. The hat has rules: if only one goes through, only one goes back. It won't work otherwise."

"But you've taken Victor to your realm before, so there must be ways to get round the rules," Elizabeth pointed out.

Jefferson ignored this and continued:

"You can't leave: at least not with me."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not just a portal jumper, Elizabeth, I work as a thief too. You wouldn't be safe with me. I have plenty of enemies and they would all do you harm. Trust me; you're better off staying here with the Count."

"So that's it?" Elizabeth demanded, "You have no qualms about kissing me, making me feel like I was something special and then you're going to just leave me here with that vampire?"

"No," Jefferson snapped back, frowning in irritation, "look, that's not the point- you cannot leave here, what about Victor? I can't be the reason he loses you, the only family he has left. After all, you don't abandon family."

"What do you know about family?" Elizabeth snapped back scornfully. Her comment snapped the last of Jefferson's tethered patience.

"What I know is that I was abandoned by my own parents!" He retorted sharply, making Elizabeth shrink back in shock. But Jefferson was too riled to notice:

"They didn't even want me, and unlike you I wasn't then adopted by some rich family. I spent the first fifteen years of my life treated like complete dirt, made to feel as though I would never amount to anything, with nobody to comfort me, nobody to care for my wellbeing. And here you are thinking your life is so awful because you're being forced to marry a vampire! Yet you don't understand just how lucky you are: you never had to want for anything, you were given an education, but most importantly you grew up with a family who loved you. That's far more than I ever got: which is why I will not let you abandon Victor."

With that, Jefferson rose from the bench, jauntily tipping his hat to signal him leaving. His jaw had clenched too tightly for him to speak to Elizabeth, though Jefferson had nothing left to say to her.

"Don't use that as an excuse!" Jefferson heard Elizabeth yell after him, though the rest of the sentence was lost in the low rumble of thunder that echoed over their heads.

Suddenly Elizabeth had caught up with him, grabbing hold of his arm, her nails digging into his skin as she forced him to turn around.

"You're just too afraid to make this relationship last," she hissed venomously, "my brother told me that you only sleep with women for one night and then walk back out of their lives. I thought I could be different."

The look on her face changed, her anger vanishing as Elizabeth spoke, her voice close to breaking:

"I thought that you loved me."

"Love is weakness," Jefferson said indifferently, roughly dislodging his arm from her grip and walking away.