Ethan inspected the revolver in his hand. The weapon was similar to those of modern-day, despite its antiquated aesthetic. His experience with the platform was minimal, but not non-existent. He had shot a few before, which helped him recognize the cylinder release switch on the left side. The lever jutted out like the lock on a black powder rifle, which allowed his thumb to depress it with ease.

The cylinder popped out and inside were the six spent cartridges. He utilized a small rod located in the center of the cylinder to push the casings out. Upon inspection, Ethan observed the dimensions of the dulled, brass shell. "Wait a second…"

He reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the five boxes of ammunition that they had obtained during their search. Bela watched as he opened the box and withdrew a live round from it. Holding the shells together, Ethan quickly deduced that they were a match. "I think we have enough to keep this gun going," he said.

"I guess so." Bela softly shut her lips as she watched Ethan throw the bullets into the cylinder and shut it, briefly pulling on the trigger with the hammer forward. "Isn't it going to fire if you do that?"

The hammer began to rear back, but he withdrew his finger before it could reach its mark. "Apparently so. Guess this one is a double-action, then."

"What?"

"See how this little piece moves back when I pull on the trigger?" He demonstrated it again.

"Yeah?"

"This gun looks old, but if it was a single-action, you would have to pull this hammer back before each shot. Since the pulling of the trigger does that for you, you don't have to worry." Ethan removed his forefinger from the trigger and used his thumb to cock the hammer. The trigger locked back as soon as he did.

"See that?" He asked. "Now, you can pull the trigger with just a little bit of force and it will fire." Ethan kept his thumb on the hammer as he depressed the trigger, de-cocking the pistol as the hammer slowly fell forward. "Might make it more accurate since you're not tilting the muzzle as much with a heavier trigger pull."

While she could not understand all of his terminology, Bela nonetheless met him with a warm smile on her face. "You seem to know your stuff."

Ethan pulled a tiny grin across the side of his cheek as he glanced down at the gun in his hand. "Chris taught me all about all these kinds of things. It got interesting, after a while. Never had the biggest interest in guns. Shot some when I was younger, but that was just with friends at a range once or twice. This guy had me shooting three or four days a week."

"I could tell," she said with a giggle. "You landed a few hits on me when we first met."

Ethan chuckled, but the way he did showed that he was not the keenest on discussing their initial encounter. "Yeah, I think so."

"So…" She rolled her lips before cutting him another amber-infused glance. "When you get back, this Chris-guy, what happens to him?"

"I uhm…" His eyes fell to the ground. Ethan clearly wasn't too certain of what he would do to Chris once they returned. His heart told him to put a bullet in that man's skull the second he could. He knew Chris was a skilled warrior, who would easily kill him in any fight. Another part of him wished to interrogate Redfield and find out where Rose was and why Mia had been killed in the first place.

Revenge was tempting, like the breasts of a goddess to a virgin's eyes. The desire to just dive in head first and act without thought was great. Impulse could carry him as far as the road would go, but in the end, he knew that no matter what he did, it would not bring his wife back to life.

"I really don't know," Ethan confessed. "One step at a time, I guess."

"I'm sorry that you had to watch him murder your wife."

Ethan only froze more. "Me too."

Why did I say that to him?

Bela slowed her roll, seeing as how he was not ready for personal subjects. She had only wanted to express her condolences. It was her way of showing him that she cared, for whatever that was worth. With a hum, the blonde turned her attention to the surrounding room and set her sights on a new topic.

"I guess we should go find some more ammunition for that thing," she told him. Ethan's attention snapped back to the gun like he had been awakened from a long stupor.

"Yeah!" He handed the pistol to her. "I'll trade you."

"What?" She raised her eyebrow to the weapon, surprised that he offered it to her.

"I'll keep the other pistol as a backup," he said. "I trust you with this, plus, you have more ammo to spare." Ethan removed the bandolier from his body and dumped the contents of the pouches into his coat. As soon as he did, the boxes of bullets were emptied into the vacated sections. "Here, all yours, cowgirl."

"What did you call me?"

He sighed as he kept his arm with the bandolier held out. "It's not an offensive joke, I promise."

She snatched the bandolier with some suspicion. "I'll hold you to your word," Bela said as she donned the gear. With the pistol in her hand, she depressed the release lever and sent the cylinder out to the side. Her finger glided against the capsule, rotating it accordingly as it moved along. "Interesting…"

"You'll get the hang of it soon enough," he said.

With the gun now in her hand and her sickle tied to the bandolier, Bela took hold of the lantern and gestured ahead. It was the cue for them both to get moving and despite her earlier distress at the risks involved, the revolver provided her with an added sense of security that she did not have before.

It was weightier than the LEMI, which made it feel stronger. The bullets appeared to be of a larger diameter than those of the semi-automatic. It would surely pack a bigger punch upon impact. All she needed to do now was place those bullets where they belonged.

.

As they moved through the armory, Bela and Ethan managed to collect an additional ammunition box along the way. Unfortunately, there were no other guns to be found, which rendered the armed infected as a lucky find, even though he almost killed them. With the most valuable section of the station a near bust, there was little hope in what else lay in store.

Still, they had to obtain a better understanding of their surroundings. The lobby held no decent escape route, as it only led to the outside world – not to mention the doors were sealed up.

Bela held the revolver in front of her, ensuring that it did not pass by Ethan as they walked along. The hallway was wider than the previous one, which allowed for the both of them to walk side by side as they progressed. With her light guiding his way, the man kept his firearm aimed ahead as usual. His eyes surely were scouting out every inch of this place, searching for whatever they needed to see.

And as fate would have it, he caught sight of another placard along the side of the wall. "This says the captain's office is close by," he told her.

"Sounds important to me," Bela agreed, watching as Ethan stepped over toward the brass plate.

"Down the hall, past that, is the detainment center." Ethan briefly pulled his head away to gaze down the hallway. At the very edge of the lantern's light, he could make out the faint shape of the intersecting hall that would lead to where the captain worked. Straight ahead would have been the detainment center, which sounded like a haven for corpses.

Bela echoed his thoughts, "If anyone is there, they are either dead or infected."

"You can say that again." Ethan faced the hallway again and tilted his head to the left. "Captain's room it is?"

"Please."

.

The door to the quarters had been locked, but not with the intention of withstanding a riot. A few strikes from the butt of Ethan's gun blasted the metal bolt across the wooden door frame. The entrance flew open in an instant and both of them had their guns drawn as soon as the air hit their cheeks. The second that lantern was held outward, its flame illuminated the entire office room.

Not a soul to be found.

"Thank God," Ethan said with relief as he lowered his gun and stepped inside. Bela followed suit, briefly inspecting the shattered lock as they passed by.

"Not closing this door anytime soon, are we?"

"I wouldn't count on it," he replied.

"So…what are we hoping to find in here?" She asked, watching him as he advanced toward the desk.

"Anything, hopefully." He got to work on opening the drawers. "Someone with the title of Captain would normally have a few nice things sprinkled about. Some privileges to go along with it, I suppose."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "In the movies, the captain of a police station usually keeps his gun in the desk drawer." Ethan's face soured as soon as he found the contents of the desk to be void of any weapon.

"You can't tell me that you're putting your faith in stupid films, Ethan?"

He shut the drawer as soon as he heard her say that. "Not anymore."

Occasionally turning her eyes toward the opened door, Bela felt a little uneasy that this room had not been secured. The hallway ahead could have housed many untold terrors, but this diversion was a risk worth taking. They had to account for as much as they could. Resources were more valuable than ever and whatever they could find mattered greatly.

The blonde set her lantern on the desk as she joined him in his search. "Do the people in these movies ever have anything else worth looking for?"

"Eh…a bottle of liquor stashed away?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think you're in the mood for any of that."

She giggled a tad as she let her thoughts run by. "A bottle of wine wouldn't be too bad right now, if I were to tell you the truth."

"I thought you weren't the biggest drinker." He raised an eyebrow, only to watch her chuckle with that dark grin on her supple lips.

"Most days, no. But, that doesn't mean that I don't know how to enjoy myself," she spoke almost teasingly as she reflected on some of her favorite evenings. "Ah, to what I would give for a pleasant, warm fireplace and a nice glass cradled in between my fingers. Some music played on the record player and the candles lit in all the correct places. My feet kicked up on my favorite cushioned stand that I never get to use."

Bela filled her lungs and released them just as slowly. "That would be just perfect right now."

Ethan slowly shut one of the drawers as he leaned his side against the desk. "Honestly, I can kind of go for a glass myself right about now."

Her eyes turned to him with a slight gleam along her smile. She was intrigued, as well as amused. "My family's signature blend is worth the taste." The corners of her mouth pulled to expose her bright teeth, curling her eyelids with a semi-devious look, even if she was well on his side. "Who knows? Maybe you will end up fancying it as much as I do."

Ethan felt a chill rise up his neck as soon as she said that. He had read the inscription in that little book her family kept in the Wine Room. "Sanguinous Virginis," it read. He knew enough of the language to understand what it may have meant.

"I'm not the biggest fan of red wine," he accentuated the color to drive the point home that he knew what it contained. Bela's little antics ignored the fact that her castle was torturing countless young women. What irked him the most was that the blonde continued to find humor in it, despite how grounded she was in this new world.

She could admit her own fears, but to cast a joke at the expense of those who died alone and afraid for their lives – at her hands – couldn't go unnoticed.

He wanted to say something, but this wasn't the time to argue. They had done enough of that already. Just like his wife, there was nothing that could be done to bring Bela's victims back to life. The least she could have done was show them a little respect.

"White wine is good too." She turned and shrugged her shoulders. "But, you really don't know what you're missing."

"I'm good," his voice spoke with a little more firmness this time. "Thanks."

"More for me."

"Fine by me,' Ethan mumbled as he continued to sort through the desk. There were so many notes and papers to be found that it momentarily deviated his attention from the aggravating conversation. With a sigh and closed set of eyes, the man leaned over it as he collected his thoughts.

Bela stood beside the portraits of various lawmen on the walls, gazing at them like a spectator in an art gallery. Her interests in the art were fleeting, but the painting of a large, grey dog quickly snagged her fixation.

'Deacon, hound of the 5th.'

I guess that monstrous animal was this building's beloved pet. He looked nothing like that when we met him. How can Vikcia's dust change something so drastically? It's insane.

Ethan shuffled through the letters that he found, reading them as they came into view.

"Captain Sandersvick,

It is our duty to bring to your attention our findings of what has come from our meeting with the woman in our custody. At this current point in time, our findings are minimal. She has regressed to not speaking with us. Any words that she does utter are simplistic, or incomprehensible. The only word that we could decipher today was "shadows," but we do not know why she is saying that.

My constables are expected to remain with her throughout the night. Two Peak Bishops are also here, but their progress is less than ours. She will not even speak with them. We have employed every measure possible, short of causing irreparable harm to her.

It is at our request that you come down here and interview her yourself. At this moment, we do not believe our second-hand testimony will suffice. We remain faithful to our beliefs, but we must warn that there have been strange occurrences inside this holding area that we cannot explain.

The Peak Bishops are quick to dismiss it as trickery, but again, please see for yourself. Something is not settling well with us.

Constable Dowling, Sergeant, 12th Patrol."

"Weird," Ethan muttered as he set the letter aside. It spurred more questions than he had expected, with Kyia around to answer none of them. This wasn't the first time they had read about a woman who had arrived here from out of nowhere, followed only by shadows and dust. Vikcia was a creature of strange origin, but the more he found notes like these, the more he wondered if it was possible to strip her of her abilities.

It had happened to Bela, after all. Why couldn't the same thing be done to her?

If they could accomplish that, then there stood the chance that they could undo her influence over this city, returning it to the state that it was once in. The light would shine and the darkness would go away. Any remaining creatures would be burned alive in the streets. Those who hid in the buildings would not be guaranteed an unending night.

It had to have been doable, he thought. The key to finding out how was to uncover just how that demon summoned her abilities in the first place. There had to be a way to reverse it, if so. The more that thought sat in his head, the more he dwelled on it.

He just wanted to end this whole thing so badly that the slightest glimmer of light was comparable to the sun.

And did he need light…

Bela casually walked around the back of the desk as he stood there. With Ethan's head down at the papers, the blonde turned an eye to his frame. He barely seemed to register that the woman was skulking around behind him. He might as well have not cared at all.

She sized him up, curious about the differences between their bodies. Ever so inquisitive, the woman wanted to understand him more. She had come across several muscular men in the course of her life. Foreigners, who traveled to the valley for whatever cause. Miranda would invite them to the castle, where Alcina welcomed them with the most heartful smile.

Of course, this was back in the days when her mother's height was somewhat normal. As she grew taller, the matriarch of the castle ditched the façade of kindness, as she knew they would run away at the first sight of her. That left the daughters to take up the role. Bela excelled at it, while Cassandra lacked the patience to pretend for long.

Daniela, well, she got a little too into it…

Blondes were a rarity in some of those men's lands. It was no wonder why they gravitated toward her. A little bit of wine in their visitor's systems often led to them getting handsy. That was the moment when the act would drop and the true fun would begin. Intoxicated men didn't fight as much as she preferred, but the taste of their infused blood was…delectable.

She hated the idea of having a man touch her, as did the other sisters. Alcina did not keep the routine going for so long due to her own dislike of the matter. So, the family simply resorted to allowing the men to be killed as soon as they stepped foot inside. Women were another story entirely.

They could be kept alive and bled out. Some were forced into servitude. Others were also killed on the spot if the need for food was too great.

Admittingly, the taste of women's blood had grown dull over the years and as the presence of men in the castle grew scarcer, she admired their crimson even more.

Ethan was nothing like those men. He was of an average build, but it was a build that she enjoyed, for some reason. The blonde often preferred the larger muscles because of the more plentiful blood source, but his body offered a different sense of hunger inside her. Oddly, she still could not figure out what was going on.

It caught her eye longer than she would have expected it to. The only thing that she could rationalize was how his shoulders and back width were wider than her own. That left just one image in her mind.

Him holding her.

Why did I just think of that? Disgusting. Get a grip on yourself, Bela. You're delirious.

Shaking her nose, Bela turned her eyes back to the wall ahead of her. The captain had to have enjoyed the reputation that all these certificates above must have conveyed. She could barely make out the words on the papers, but the name on them was all the same. She pondered the importance that people held regarding their reputation, having emphasized her own over the last number of decades.

It must be a very basic trait for some people. So much accomplishment that the entire world has to see.

She wore her certificates of daughterhood on her soul. The only way that she could show them off was by continuing to excel and meet Alcina's expectations. Dinners had to be made. Messes needed to be cleaned up. Orders to her sisters were required to be handed down.

The more she fell in her mother's favor, the more accomplished she felt. That must have been the curse of her reward, she figured. She could never hold it in front of her. The only way to know it was there would be to earn it all over again. That's probably why she never stopped.

If she did, she would have forgotten what it felt like to be loved.

That very thought stung as it came to mind. She paused, allowing her eyes to drift away from the certificates. Bela did not want to think about it anymore.

As her eyes passed by the shelf, she noticed a small, glass cube, sitting on a tiny, black display stand. It would have faded away in the background – if it wasn't for the shard of metal in the center of it.

Wait…isn't that…

"Ethan!" Bela picked the cube up and showed it to him. "This has to be one of those metal fragments that Kyia was going on about, right?"

The man inspected the contents of the cube as soon as it was in front of his eyes. He was so caught off guard, but as his focus began to reform, there was an urgency to be seen inside him. His expression widened as he peered closer to it. "I think so! Kyia said that this stuff must be linked to another world!"

"Why would this be in the possession of one man?" Bela asked as she looked at it. "Didn't the church keep everything?"

"At the rate the cops and the church work together here, I wouldn't be surprised if some high-ranking guys got to keep shit like this," he remarked as he took hold of the cube. "Alright, we need to get this back to Kyia. She will know what to do with it."

"I-I guess." Bela wasn't sure what the brunette could do with the shard. It wasn't going to bring them back home on its own. Last she checked, the plan was to reassemble the dagger, using the assortment of fragments located in Vikcia's clock tower. Then, they could slay the demon and create a rift in the realm barriers, thus allowing them to escape this hell.

It all sounded so dumb the more she thought about it.

Ethan lowered the cube as he stared at her with a look of concern. "Are you alright?" He asked. "You sound a little troubled."

Bela dangled her gaze around the wall opposite of him before she parted her lips and breathed out to relieve her of some of the weight on her shoulders. At the cut of her breath, she leaned her tailbone against the desk, similar to how she had postured herself during some of their most joyous conversations in the past.

She kicked one foot around the other and dipped her chin, ensuring the hood on her head would obscure his sight of her for just a brief bit. Quickly after, she turned her head back up and looked away from him a second time. Methodical sheepish acts, but true to the heart. This wasn't a lie or an attempt to mislead him.

Bela wanted him to care, but she was genuinely upset. But, why?

She breathed out again, settling down with a shake of her head. "Do you like Kyia more than me?"

Ethan didn't know what to say. This was the last thing that he had expected her to ask, especially after a discovery such as this. "W-what do you mean?"

She lowered her chin with a short nod, curling the corner of her mouth in awareness that she had initiated this in the dumbest way possible. "What I mean is: I just hate feeling like I don't matter. I see you two always talking and having fun, and here I am – off to the side."

Ethan stumbled around answering the question. He still couldn't gather the correct words. Part of him thought that this was all high school-level drama that didn't need to exist. The other part recognized that she was upset by this and needed to speak with him.

Bela picked up on his hesitation and spoke for him, "I know you think this is stupid. But, before we go back there and I have to relive that idea, I just want to know. I get that I was terrible to you. To tell you the truth, I enjoyed our conversations quite a lot. You're more fun than I expected and I don't mind discussing my life with you. But, with Kyia, I just get the impression that she's someone you prefer to be around."

Her shoulders raised and fell as soon as her final words came out, "If so, then tell me…tell me why I'm not good enough."

Ethan sat the cube on the desk and lifted his hand to massage his brow. A subtle groan escaped his mouth and he relaxed his posture to mirror hers. "Bela, is that what really goes on through your head?"

Her amber eyes drifted toward him, only to fall back down. "You don't know how selfish I am, Ethan. I don't share. I just want everything for myself. It irks me to think that I'm failing."

"You need to stop thinking like that." He dropped his hand and shot a stern glance back at her. "Shit, Mia was just the same way. She got into her head so many times and it would break her down. She would ask me if I was out of the house because of her. I didn't understand at the time, but she thought her personality was driving me away. That wasn't the truth, but she believed it."

Ethan cleared his throat as he thought about his interactions with the blonde woman beside him. "Kyia is not like us. She didn't run head-first into violence. She's innocent because that's what people like her are. They find themselves in these shitty situations and need to be saved."

He could see the flare in her chest. It rose sharply and fell just as fast. That was when he asked himself why he was even staring in the first place.

Bela's lips swirled to the side. "And that's the problem: You separate her from us. By that measure, you put her life above mine."

"Would it be fair if I put your life above hers?"

"No, but…" She didn't know what else to say. "She hasn't earned it, in my opinion. I've worked hard to repair our interactions. I've come around, haven't I?"

"This isn't a contest, Bela," he reminded her that there were greater things at stake. It was clear that her habits from back at home had not died on the way here. "You handle yourself better than she does. I don't have to worry about you as much."

Anger crept in. Her heel kicked against the table with a moderate force. She could have gone harder. She could have gone softer. "Sorry. I'm just…" Bela stopped short on her words again.

Ethan could see that she was getting frustrated. The part of him that thought she was being immature was only growing now. He wanted to address this behavior and tell her that she needed to stop. It would lead to another shouting match that he didn't want to have. That part of him was just as angry as she was, but he fought to keep it down.

That was when it dawned on him how angry he had been at her this entire time. She acted like she could hold a grudge, but so could he. Maybe, he thought, there was a greater reason behind all of this – one that he wasn't seeing.

"Fuck," he muttered. It grabbed her attention with a slight tilt of her head, only for her to turn it back. "Would it make sense if I told you that I was angry at your anger?"

"Huh?" She couldn't turn away for long. "What does that mean?"

"Ever since we met, you were always at my throat," he explained. "I realize now that you have a better side to you. I didn't think you were anything else besides a bloodthirsty lady, who enjoyed causing others pain. Even your laugh was maniacal."

Bela's grew defensive in her expression. She seemed offended; put back by the way he described her. "You're still not over that?"

"Maybe I'm not," he replied.

"You know something, Ethan, I'm not looking to argue right now." Her face grew angrier. "I thought we made some progress back there, but apparently, I was wrong. You like to keep bringing that up as if I can change the past."

"I think my problem with you is that you continue to show that side of yourself to Kyia, so how can I believe that it's all gone? How am I sure that you're not going to kill anyone else when you get back?"

Bela pushed herself off the desk and waved her hands around in the air. "Okay, you're wrapping your head around this a little too much. I think we should probably focus on getting home first, and then we can worry about what happens after, hmm? Does that sound good?"

Ethan didn't scream, but his voice grew louder, "No, it doesn't!"

Bela, in turn, was the one who screamed, "Do not yell at me!"

"I'm not yelling at you!"

"Argh!" She paced around like she wanted to punch him. Maybe she did. "What is it with you? You accuse me of acting in whatever way, but you look for confrontation with me at every turn! After all I've done to try to work together with you, you dwell on the past. I don't get why!"

He broke the truth to her right there and then, "Because I'm not bringing a murderer back home!"

With a shocked glare, Bela stood there with raised brows and parted lips. The slightest gasp of a breath trickled out through her teeth, but the blonde stood paralyzed for a few seconds as she stared at him. She was so taken aback, robbed of every response she could've conceived.

All of me just goes away…

Ethan caught himself in his break from control, but it was already too late. The damage had been done. He hated himself for constantly falling back into this hostile state with her. The world just kept offering reasons as to why they were never meant to coexist in the first place. Each attempt to do so was just a futile defiance of fate itself.

How could Bela Dimitrescu, a blood-drinking killer, ever find peace with a man who was once set up to be on her dinner plate? He would always see that part of her, she believed, just as she would be bound to her nature. Rage was nothing more than an extension of her violent will.

He wasn't innocent, as his dormant anger basked in her presence when it was time to come out. Even Mia had not spiked such ferocity in their worst of fights. Whatever he had going on inside him would not diminish as long as she was there.

Maybe that was why Kyia was easier to tolerate, regardless of how ineffective she was. There was no ill will to be felt with a woman who had never tried to kill him. Ethan felt like a heartless prick for overlooking the good in the Bela, but a sea could not be drained in a single night.

The tension between them would last until it was gone – if it could ever go.

And his response to her ensured that the water would only keep flowing.

With a broken voice, Bela's expression did not change, "I've tried to be better…with you…but I was never a fool…to think I could change the past."

"Bela, wait…" He tried to calm her down, knowing how upset she was.

"That's the problem with you, Ethan," she spoke slowly and quietly, yet, still audible enough for him to hear. "You want to change things, but you forget…somethings just don't go away." The blonde took a deep breath, existing in the silence around them as he gave her the floor to speak. "I never asked you to change me. I asked myself, 'What can I do better, for him?' Now, I don't know if you saved me because it was of necessity, but I saved you because I wanted to. I'm a killer, but is that what a killer would do?"

He hated that it had come to this. It was always the same showdown with her. What really got to him was the fact that she wasn't tearing him apart with hate. No. She talked to him just like Mia would in the heat of their worst evenings. He couldn't escape how it made him feel.

They didn't argue like strangers or friends.

They argued like a couple – holding on as best they could to the threads of their relationship, hoping it they would not break.

Ethan could see that Bela held him close to her heart. Maybe as just an ally, but he meant something special to her. She had considered him a sort of friend, as they evolved through the masses of these nightmares. She could confide in him, speaking of things that were not perfect in her life.

She seemed downright hurt whenever he raised his voice to her, as well as regretful whenever she did the same thing to him. It wasn't a bond that she would easily cut, but these fights had worn her down.

Ethan fought his conflicting thoughts in his pursuit of answers. The enigma of her past clawed at him endlessly, alleviated only by her compassion. When that fell, it was nothing but oceans of crimson left underneath. "I read the notes in your castle. I saw the bodies. I smelled the blood. Tell me that another innocent girl isn't going to suffer when you return. Tell me that I'm not going to have to live with the knowledge that I brought that fate upon her. That's what keeps bothering me, Bela."

Bela shook her head as she moved away, dismissive of it all. "You put the whole world on your shoulders and you wonder why you struggle to stand."

"Is that too much to ask?" He grew impatient. "Can you at least give me an answer?"

"I don't know, okay?" She spread her arms out as she stepped back. "I need to eat, Ethan! My whole family needs to eat!"

"So, you're just going to keep murdering everyone that comes into your castle?" Ethan took a stand. He knew he could not allow her reign of death to keep going. Unless she could change, he would not entrust a villain to run free in their world. "All those people you and your sisters tortured? Where's the necessity in that? That's not 'needing to eat,' Bela. That's murder!"

She stood still, only to have her feet pace back and forth. Her shoulders matched the rhythm of the beat, moving up and down as her mind spun around in circles. "Then change the past, Ethan. You go and bring them back." Bela ended with a shrug, only to point at the wall behind him. "While you're at it, go undo every other mistake of mine, or at least yours, since that's how reality works! Go change every bad thing in life, because you can't handle the way things are!"

"You know what?" He finally lost his patience with her. "I try, okay? It's called 'giving a shit,' which you clearly don't! There are ways for you to go about your life, but the evil you and your family practice is a choice, and your list of bodies is proof of that. It's all just one big party to you!"

Ethan dissected her livelihood with each scornful remark. She could only look on as he unleashed a verbal tirade against her. "You looked me right in the eyes when we first met. You just laughed and giggled like it was all in good fun! How many other people had to see that smile before you ended their lives? And you want to know something else?"

She did not say a word.

"You had no right to do any of that to those people!" He screamed. "What made you think you could just hurt those girls the way you did? You think because you're away from the world in some castle, that you can just do whatever you want to people and get away with it?"

Bela remained quiet, but she did shed another tear.

"That cruelty doesn't just go away, Bela," Ethan stated. "You just can't hit a switch and turn it off. There is no pretending that it never happened. Worst of all, you joke about it like it's just an afterthought. What if someone did that to one of your sisters? Would you forgive them? Would you?"

She finally spoke, "Ethan…"

He just kept going, "If somebody strapped them to a spiked chair, or hoisted them up in whatever fucking contraption that was hanging from the dungeon ceiling, would you think of their actions the same way I think of yours? What if they told you they 'had to eat'? Would that make it better?"

"You need to stop talking about my sisters…"

Ethan caught his breath, but his discontent had not been quelled. "But you get it, right? Those were people's families. Those were their sisters and daughters! If they were here, right now, what would you tell them?"

"Nothing!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "I would tell them nothing because they are not here! Damn it, what do you want from me? I can't change any part of that! You're never going to be happy with it because it is over and done! You said it yourself: Apologizing will not wash my hands of what I've done, so what do you expect? Do you want me to cry at your feet, begging for forgiveness? Would that make you feel better?"

"A little remorse wouldn't be too bad!"

She grit her teeth. "Is that what your wife had to deal with? Did she have to be perfect for you? Like the women I killed, nothing is going to change what has happened to her! It is your choice whether or not you can accept it!"

"Do not bring Mia into this!"

"Then do not bring my sisters into this, either!" Bela clenched her fists, resisting the urge to swing them at him. "Argh! I have tried so hard to work with you, but if a simple question is what spurs this, then I am at a loss! I give up! I'm not going to wear myself down trying to make you happy."

"Blame everyone else but yourself, Bela. It must be rough to live in a world where there are consequences, for once."

You have no idea what –

Bela sped over to him and snatched the glass cube off the table, her eyes briefly glimpsing at the metal fragment that was allegedly part of a greater picture.

Take me home, please!

She held it out to him before throwing her arm down by her side and turning to the door. "We're going to give this to Kyia, and she can figure out what to do. I am done talking to you, Ethan." The tear in her eye had traveled all the way down to the bottom of her jaw. "And you know what the worst part about this whole thing between us is?"

Now, he was the one who kept silent.

Bela offered him one more glance of acknowledgment before she would turn away, just to let him know that he is – or was – something to her. "I was willing to break the rules if it meant being your friend. Now, let's go. I have the lantern. You can walk in the dark if you want. I really don't care anymore."

She stepped out of the room as soon as she finished her sentence, ensuring that her face was the first thing that turned out of the door frame. Ethan would leave and follow her with urgency, but she wouldn't turn back. He had already seen the tear on her face.

He didn't need to know about the second one that appeared on her way down the hall.

NOTES:

Hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter! I didn't intend to end this one on yet another fight between these two, but I wanted to provide a definitive explanation as to why Ethan is still reluctant to trust Bela completely. This fight isn't their breaking point, but it serves to throw Bela's past directly in her face.

Were both sides right in this fight? Likely not. But, both have very charged emotions and acted on their perspectives.

And something big just went down once they found that piece of metal. Trust me, the next chapter and the one that follows are about to be explosive. I won't include any spoilers besides expect a flashback or two, and a very big change in direction.

When can you expect this next chapter? You already know. See you next week, same time.

On a side note, more work is being done on the Leon and Ashley story, and I'm hoping to release a preview and expectant release date soon!

Thanks again for all the positive reception that this story has been getting. It means the world to me to have such an enthusiastic group of readers following my work. You are all the best and I truly mean that! Hope you all enjoy your weekend and stay safe out there! 😊