12. Kidnap
Caius glared at her. Elizabeth bit her lip; she hadn't meant to goad him, it had only been a joke. He stood up and was gone in a flash.
"Caius, wait!" Elizabeth said, but he had vanished.
"Where'd he go?" She looked up to see Francis had come back down the stairs. He was looking at her, confused, "He literally just disappeared."
"Oh..." Elizabeth said, trailing off as she didn't know what to say.
"How did he do that?" Francis asked, "I know what I saw Eliza."
"Er..." was all Elizabeth could manage.
"For God's sake Eliza," Francis shouted, "What the hell is going on?! I mean the guy literally just disappeared."
"As quickly as we appeared?" Both Francis and Elizabeth turned round to see four people standing at the edge of the room. One of them was Jane, another her twin brother, Alec. The other two, Elizabeth realised, must be Felix and Dmitri.
Elizabeth felt her heart suddenly pounding so much louder. She looked to Francis. He was staring in confusion at the creatures in his room.
"Elizabeth," he said, there was fear in his voice, "I don't understand..." Jane cut across him, her voice cold and cruel.
"Kill the queer," she said, staring at Elizabeth with deepest loathing, "And the one upstairs."
"No!" Elizabeth shouted, but Francis was already bleeding on the ground, Felix bent over him. Then she felt pain consume her body. Jane's magical gift. It stopped and she looked up from where she had fallen. Alec had placed a hand on his sister's arm.
"She'll be joining us Jane," he said quietly, "Ease off." Jane stared at him then looked at Elizabeth.
"You bitch!" Elizabeth screamed as she crawled over to the dead corpse of her greatest friend. From upstairs came a shriek as Felix killed Francis's lover. "You utter bitch: you didn't need to do that."
"Just what needs to be done," Jane replied, "He is of no use to us and he can't know about us."
"Where's Caius?" Alec asked. Elizabeth stared at him, still clinging to Francis.
"Go to hell," she said and turned back to her friend. There was fear and terror on his dead features, the wound at his neck oozing blood. It had happened so quickly.
"He went north," Dmitri said turning to Jane, "I can track him. Felix and I can subdue him."
"No," Jane said, her head tilted to one side as she continued to stare at Elizabeth, "There'll be no need. He'll come to us once Elizabeth is at Volterra."
Elizabeth listened to this conversation not comprehending anything that they said. She couldn't take her eyes of Francis, her hands gripping his shoulders as tears streamed down her face. He was dead. The one person she had always been able to count on, who had understood her when everyone else snubbed her. It was her fault he was dead. All her fault.
Felix seized her roughly by the shoulders. She struggled to no avail and watched in disbelief as Francis's dead body slipped from her grip...
They travelled quickly, as fast as Caius had when he had carried her away from Volterra, but now... now she was returning.
She watched uncomprehendingly as the night flew past her. Her emotions were too strong, too painful to deal with. Slowly she fell into an uneasy sleep...
She awoke abruptly. It was day and the landscape was so different to the wilderness of the moors. They were back in Italy it would seem, running through vineyards and past derelict churches. And then in the near distance, she saw it: Volterra.
Aro would be expecting her.
A/N: Oops. I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I last updated. I've been busy and then I forgot about this. This next chapter had been written for a while but I just forgot to update it. Well here it is, and we'll see about the rest of the story. When I have the time to write it, I will. I know what is going to happen so at least there's that. :D