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Eliza!

Note: Rewritten but not triple checked for spelling and grammatical errors. If you see any feel free to comment

"I have a question."

"And I may have an answer. What is your question my dear?" I saw the fear in her smile, as if she knew my question would unravel her secrets. But she attempted to act unbothered just in case she was wrong and it was a random or innocent inquiry. I wasn't sure which it would be.

I opened my mouth to ask but snapped it shut when a blood curdling scream echoed in my ears. It was high pitched and uncontrolled, like a sirens screech it penetrated my eardrums, nearly making them bursting open. Everything else went silent in the seconds that followed. Though it ticked by in the amount of time it took to blink, it felt like a lifetime. It was me and Loraza, our gazes locked as it came and went. She was the first to move.

We turned, peering over to where she and a group of other women had been sitting when I was dragged up to the loft. I found the screaming girl and the reason behind her panic. Splattered in a thick red blanket of blood, she screamed again, this time hysterically. She shook like a flag in the wind, staring at the girl that was with her on the couch.

There sat a bloody body. The corpses head was in an unnatural position, turned all the way around to look behind her. A giant hole went clean through her dainty chest, right where her heart should be. It showed all the way through to the blood stained sofa pressed to her broken back. Looking at her opened and covered in fresh blood, I felt sick to my stomach. I have never seen such a horrific sight in my life. I had never seen a dead body. I wasn't ready for this. And as the pain stuck my abdomen, I swore I was going to throw up. I felt it rise and press at my throat.

"Eliza!" This time it was Loraza who screamed, as she ran to the dead body. Taking the girl into her arms, she collapses to the ground. I could hear the sorrow resignating through her voice, could see the pain trembling through her body as hugged the woman to her heaving chest. I had only heard a cry as devastating as Loraza's once in my life. And it had been yesterday when Giovanni asked for his brother. "Eliza! No!"

Stumbling, I fell backwards, plummeting to the ground onto my back. The air was knocked from my lungs with such force I thought I might black out. For a moment I thought I was going vomit and choke on it. But laying there, gasping for breath, trying desperately to keep it all on, I looked up at the ceiling listening to Loraza muffled cries. The image of the broken girl was stuck to the forefront of my mind as if I had never looked away.

Moments later a blurry figure came into view above me as hands grabbed the sides of my face. The person was talking but I couldn't quite understand what it was saying. It was as if I were underwater. They spoke louder but I still couldn't understand.

When the blurry person left me, it got harder to breath. My heart began to beat out of control. It thumped like a rock against my ribcage. Pounding, rampaging against reality, it wouldn't stop until I felt the familiar touch of a specific pair of hands. With one touch to my cheek, everything became clear. I was pulled up out of the water and brought to shore, brought to look directly into a pair of sad green eyes.

My lungs filled with air as my vision was filled with him rather than death. Dominik's face hung above, watching me with concern blazing behind his soft gaze. It swept over me to make sure I too wasn't attacked. Tears pricked at my eyes as I took a few breaths, waiting for him to move so I could sit up.

"Is she-" My eye sockets stung, hot clumps sliding down the side of my face. I knew what I had seen, I knew there was no surviving what had been done to her, but still, I had to ask.

Closing his eyes he nodded his head slowly.

She was dead. Eliza was dead.

I had no idea what had happened. One second we were talking and the next the girl started screaming. But there was no one except her near the body. Logically, despite the fact she had been the one to alert us, she should have been the prime suspect. She should have looked guilty, she should have been trying to get away. But instead she knelt beside Loraza and grieved like a loved one.

"We need to get out of here, to get somewhere safe" Dominik spoke softly. He tried not to show me his true emotions, ultimately failing to hide the turmoil and confusion from his eyes.  He plucked me up off the ground and held me tightly to his chest. Carrying me effortlessly, he began to walk to the stairs, ready to leave this all behind us.

"Lord Dominik!" Loraza cried after us.

Stopping we turned to her. I couldn't keep from sketching the image into my mind, making it permanent and final. Her blood soaked hand reaching desperately toward us, the dead woman pressed to her chest. There was an informal death sentence reflected in her gaze. I could see that her soul had been torn apart, the majority of it leaving along with Eliza. It hurt seeing the torment filling her, it hurt knowing that there was nothing I could do turn back time and fix it.

My hand grabbed at Dominik's shirt, all the emotions that filled me through her in the tightness of my grip. He seemed to understand, letting me down so that he could better assess the situation.

"Please stay! Find who did this to my darling Eliza!" She cried, looking down at her beloved limp in her arms. I watched in horror as she stroked Eliza's face.

Looking at the woman breaking to pieces before us, Dominik had a decision to make.