Thanatophobia | VICTOR ZSASZ [DISCONTINUED]

forty nine | they who hide behind masks

Victor only smirked in response before he patted Annabelle's arm as he turned around and left the nightclub, but not before he closed the doors behind himself.

While she leaned up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, Annabelle watched as Oswald quickly limped over to where Edward was frozen and practically threw himself onto the platform to grab Edward's hat that was left behind.

After repeatedly gasping to himself, he asked in a whisper, "Where are you, Ed?"

After she simply raised her eyebrows at Oswald's behavior, Annabelle shook her head to herself before she walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of scotch.

With how desperate Oswald was to have Edward taken back to him, she figured that it was going to be a very long day for her and knowing how Oswald was when he got like this, she would need to be drunk just to get through it.

* * *

Annabelle was in the middle of talking to Oswald about how she would be of much more use helping Victor with finding the person that had freed Edward from his icy prison, only to stop and narrow her eyes when Barbara Kean walked into Oswald's office and said to him, "There's a knife being sold at your auction tonight. I was thinking you might be kind enough to sell it to me ahead of time."

After Barbara sat down in the chair across from Oswald, Annabelle slowly tilted her head, while Oswald said 'hmm' before he leaned forward and folded his hands together as he asked Barbara, "And why is this knife so important to you?"

Barbara told him, "It's not. I have a client who's interested. Gave me a ton of cash. So, I was hoping to get it for a lower price and make a profit."

Oswald asked her, "That start with the attempted five-finger discount last night?"

While Annabelle chuckled at Oswald's question, Barbara said to him, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

As he leaned back into his chair, Oswald replied, "Of course you don't."

Barbara told him, "I'll triple the opening price. It'll probably go for less at auction."

Oswald chuckled before he stood from his chair and limped around his desk and towards her as he said, "My dear, wherever you disappeared to these last few months has not made you a better liar. If anything, it probably made you an even worse liar. I mean, I don't even need Annabelle to tell me that you're lying because of just how terrible you are at doing it. It's clear that this isn't about profit, but about your mysterious benefactor. He is your client is-is he not?" When Barbara didn't respond, he chuckled once more and limped towards her before he crouched beside her and said to her, "Reveal his identity to me and you have a deal."

When Barbara slowly turned her head and simply stared at him, he laughed as he said, "Wow. He's really got his hooks into you." As he limped back towards his desk and leaned against it, he said, "See you tonight, I guess. Don't forget to bring your checkbook."

Barbara slowly stood from her seat and stood in place as she stared at Oswald, which got Annabelle to take a step closer to them, only to stop when Oswald raised a hand at her.

With a slight shake of her head, Barbara said to him, "Always a pleasure, Oswald."

Then she calmly left the office and closed the door behind herself, which got Annabelle to eye the now closed door before she turned to look at Oswald and said to him, "She seems different, compared to how she was prior to her disappearance. It's bothersome. I don't like it."

Oswald didn't respond and limped over towards one of the boxes in the back of his office.

Once he reached the box, he opened it and reached into the box to grab the apparent knife that Barbara was asking for.