We landed with a thud, and as we realised we were in the town square of our own hometown, we let out short laughs of triumph and relief. We were home safe in our own reality, and Victoria had been defeated. A sudden pang of guilt hit me. She may have been an insane demi-god who'd tried to brutally murder us, but she was still our sister. She deserved a dignified funeral; even Laurence and the Cardinal had been given that honour despite their crimes.
I scanned the area for what would have been Victoria's remains, but couldn't find even the slightest trace. With her only being half Eternal I wasn't sure if she'd have turned into the pile of dust that Ashley did, or whether she'd be reduced to the mass of blood and gore that ordinary vampires became when they died. I was prepared for either, but found neither. Suddenly a large advertising billboard flickered into life.
"Tired of worrying about your children? Looking for a reliable babysitter at an affordable price? Why not try Fletcher Wainwright? Here's what one of our satisfied customers had to say:" The voice changed, and it became distorted the way Talia's was.
"I left my son with Fletcher, and by the time I came back, he didn't even miss me... Miss me... Miss me..."
Those last two words echoed, getting louder and less distorted until... Victoria's face appeared on the screen, now screaming the words as a question. "MISS ME???" She laughed her trademark cackling laugh and Elizabeth squeezed my hand reassuringly.
"It's okay. I've seen this done before, it's just a pre-recorded message. She's still messing with our heads." The laughter stopped suddenly.
"No, sister dear. This is not a pre-recorded message, not an illusion or deception. I'm very much alive and kicking. Which is sadly more than can be said for poor little Fletcher..." I shot a worried glance at Elizabeth before I called out.
"Fletch?" No answer. "Fletcher?" Still nothing. I turned and ran back to the Palace at full speed, Elizabeth following right behind. We tore through every room, yelling out Fletcher's name to no avail.
This had to be a trick. Victoria had known she'd die in the alternate reality and must have sent one of her followers over here to record that video. We'd get to Christian's nursery, Fletcher and our son would be completely safe, and we'd find Victoria's remains on the floor. Eventually we turned the corner that led to Christian's nursery, and Elizabeth let out a horrified scream.
On the carpet in front of the door were certainly the remains of a dead vampire, but not the one I was hoping for. Because Victoria certainly wouldn't have worn Fletcher's leather waistcoat, and Fletcher's decapitated head sat on top of the mess like a flag on a child's sandcastle. I tore my gaze away from his fear-widened eyes, up to the message daubed on the door. It was written in blood, presumably Fletcher's: "This is what happens when you drag your friends into this crazy little game of ours."
We burst into the nursery knowing full well what we'd find. Sure enough, Christian's bed was empty. Empty except for a note in Victoria's distinct handwriting.
"Hello again, family.
So sorry about the mess, but I'm sure you can afford the cleaning bill. I admit I didn't need to kill poor little Fletcher. But then again, I didn't need him alive either. All I needed was your son, and my favourite big brother. Call it a little psychological experiment. Meet me at St. John's Church at midnight, ALONE.
All my love,
Victoria."
I dropped to my knees, the weight of all the rushing emotions pulling me down. Anger. Grief. Guilt. Fear. All dragging me down like an anchor around my neck. I spoke aloud, barely above a whisper.
"I know you can hear me Victoria, so listen to this. You keep pushing me and pushing me, but you have no idea where the edge is for me. In the space of one day you've killed three very good friends of mine and kidnapped my son; my day can't get much worse. Let's see what I can do about yours."
I waited for her inevitable smug, self-assured response. Silence. And then the laughter. Victoria's distinctive, twisted, sadistic laugh pierced my ears, getting louder and louder until it surrounded every inch of my brain, squeezing tighter and tighter until I blacked out...
When I finally awaken I find I'm strapped to a chair in a room I've never seen before. I can't be certain how long I've been unconscious. Hours? Days? Weeks? In my peripheral vision I can make out Victoria's figure lurking in the shadows, motionless, almost as if she's waiting for something. She finally notices that I'm awake and steps into the light.
"Oh good, you're up. You can relax by the way; I'm not going to kill you. That'd be too good for you. I'm going to break you."
"Wh-what is this?" I ask groggily. The room goes dark for the briefest of nanoseconds, and when the light returns Victoria has been replaced by a young blonde-haired woman in a doctor's uniform.
"This? This is a simple psychological manifestation of all the latent guilt you seem to be harbouring, a reminder of the ghosts you left behind. Or, to put it another way..."
Another flash of darkness and the psychiatrist is gone, and in her place is the demonic creature Victoria disguised herself as for the Asylum, a straightjacket over her torso, her hair split right down the middle with jet black on one side and fiery crimson on the other.
"You're going MAAAAAD!" the creature finishes, cackling like a banshee. "See, it can take six years to build a palace, but only a day to burn it to the ground. This happy little life of yours is your palace, and this time I'm the one with the matches. You've been living in a dream-world, Kier, and when you live in a dream you forget what it's like to truly scream."
She closes her eyes and the room blurs, and when it settles it has changed entirely. At first the room is unfamiliar, but gradually it starts to become clearer as a memory from my human life returns. This was the living room of my family home before my parents' murder.
A strikingly beautiful blonde in a stunning silver ballgown steps into the room, and I let out an audible gasp of shock when I remember that this mystery woman is my biological mother. A gasp that is instantly eclipsed by the realisation that my father had followed her. The Cardinal himself. But... He looks different. He looks the same age as I know him, yet his eyes are those of a much younger man. He seems genuinely happy and content with life, and when he kisses his wife it is with nothing but love and adoration.
I can't make out his words but they're enough to make my mother silently giggle like a girl half her age and blush deeply. He kisses her cheek and steps outside. She delicately applies another coat of scarlet lipstick, and as her head turns I sense there's somebody at the door. She steps over to answer it, and I just make out a hooded figure on the other side. My mother takes a few cautious steps back then turns to run but the stranger catches her with ease and throws her to the ground.
I try to get up and help her but I'm still restrained by the ropes around my wrists. And so I'm forced to watch as my mother is savaged repeatedly by this beast, more and more gaping holes being torn into her flesh until she lets out the first sound I've heard from her this whole time. A blood-curdling scream of sheer agony. A scream that is cut short as the creature tears out her throat with a spurt of blood.
The creature finishes its meal, leans back, and I snarl with animalistic rage as the hood falls down to reveal Victoria's face, my mother's blood dripping from her grinning mouth. I struggle in vain against my bindings, and she laughs bitterly as the room shifts again.
I can smell the sea air; I'm clearly at the beach. My vision moves as if I'm walking beside someone, headed towards the cliffs. Suddenly, I hear something. Music, getting louder and louder the closer I get. I begin to recognise the song; it was one of my band's unreleased demos. A love song, written for a very specific individual. I try to close my eyes, knowing what happens next. Victoria's hold over me prevents my eyes from closing, and so I have no choice but to watch Talia Takamoto burning every single photograph we ever took together, the silent tears pouring from her eyes threatening to extinguish the flames.
"Can't go on... Can't go on..." She keeps sobbing to herself. "I love you, but this can't go on... Can't go on..." she mutters as she starts to walk forwards. I try to let out a scream that refuses to come as Talia pauses then lets herself fall forwards onto the jagged rocks below...
...and then the scene rewinds itself like a video cassette, and it's as if Talia flies back up to the cliff edge. Before she can take that final fatal step, I see Victoria approach her.
"Talia, sweetheart. You don't have to do this." Talia turns so I can see her face, her mascara running like warpaint from her eyes.
"Yes I do. The only man I'll ever love just tore out my beating heart and stabbed it. There's nothing here for any more."
"Kier Lenoir? You're going to end your life over that piece of dirt? Trust me, he's not worth your time. I learned that the hard way. He's a toxic, manipulative waste of space who drains anyone foolish enough to fall for him. I found out he was cheating on me with you, and then I found out he was cheating on both of us. Take a look." Victoria holds out a stack of photographs to Talia, and as she takes them I can't help but snarl with rage. They're all photographs of Elizabeth and I, taken at various points in our relationship. Talia's hands start to shake with anger.
"That.. That monster! I'll kill him! I'll tear his head off! I'll-" Victoria placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her.
"As it happens, Talia my dear, I can help you with that. I came up with a plan to get revenge on Kier AND his new little tart. We'll just need to be a little patient..." I slump in the chair, a dull ache where my heart used to beat. In my reality, I'd killed my first love. In Eternia, Victoria had poisoned her against me. I wasn't sure which outcome was worse. Luckily I don't have too long to stew over this, as Victoria clicks her fingers and sends us away on another journey through my past.
I recognise the room instantly this time; we're in the kitchen of the old Palace. Lawrence and Christina enter, clearly in the midst of a colossal row.
"For God's sake, Lawrence! Kier is his own man! Yes, he's made a couple of mistakes, but who of our kind hasn't? How many villages did you slaughter in your first century?"
"That isn't the point! I have a name to uphold! Your son is an embarrassment to my legacy!" Christina raises herself up as tall as she can and slaps Lawrence hard across the face.
"How dare you? OUR son is nothing of the sort! Kier is intelligent, he's caring, he's charming. And you know what? He's twice the man you'll ever be. He may be a little different, but I don't care! I love him as my own. He wants to play rock music? Good, I'll be at all his shows! He wants to court Elizabeth? Perfect, she'll be the luckiest girl on the planet!" Lawrence barks a humourless laugh and strikes her with the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry my dear but I'm afraid Elizabeth is spoken for. You see, a gentleman of my social standing must be seen with only the finest of female company, and while you may have been quite the catch back in your day, I'm afraid you just simply aren't enough by modern standards." Christina flinches back at his words.
"W-what are you saying? You don't love me anymore?"
"That implies I ever did. You were merely a status symbol. A trophy to be paraded and displayed to the general populace. A trophy that is no longer relevant I'm afraid."
"But... But we're legally married! 'Till death do us part', remember?" Lawrence smiles that sadistic smile of his, and I wince as I remember walking in on what happens next.
"That was the general idea, yes." And with that he grabs a meat cleaver from the rack and, in one fluid motion decapitates Christina, throwing her headless corpse into the open stove. I still remember this scene as vividly as if it were yesterday, but this time it plays out slightly differently. Because when Lawrence turns around to face me, I can clearly see that his face has been replaced by Victoria's, still laughing maniacally at my torment.
Another room shift, this time we're back in the Cardinal's mansion. I recognise this as the last few moments of Ashley's life, and I hear Victoria's voice despite her not being in the room.
"This one was a personal one for me. I'm sure you can't begrudge me a little sentimentality, can you? Well, it's not like you have much choice!" That brutally sadistic laugh again. "Didn't think much of his replacement though... Oh! You didn't get to see what happened to him! That one was fun..." Once again the room spins, and I find myself in the corridor leading to Christian's nursery. The scene moves in front of me; looks like I'm being given a first-person view of this encounter. The door is kicked open, and Fletcher jumps up.
"What are you doing here? What do you want?" I hear the laugh, and I shudder when I realise I'm watching this from Victoria's point of view.
"I want what's legally mine. Ashley was my husband, and since Christian is technically his son, I have custody rights." Fletcher shakes his head and steps defiantly in front of Christian's bed.
"Not a chance. Kier and Elizabeth don't trust you, so neither do I. You want him? You'll have to go through me." Victoria pulls out a diamond dagger and Fletcher starts to panic. "Wait! I meant that more in the metaphorical sense! I mean sure, you could kill me. But then Kier will come after you. And there'll be nothing to stop him landing the killing blow. You keep me alive, you then have a hostage, something to play against his compassion." She strokes her chin thoughtfully.
"Well played. Yeah, that's actually a pretty good point. But here's another: I'm totally insane, remember?" She plunges the dagger into his heart, pulling his head from his body before it disintegrates, giving its forehead a patronising kiss before resting it on top of Fletcher's remains.
The room dissolves one last time and I'm back where I started. Just myself and Victoria this time. A knock on the door catches her attention and Elizabeth warily steps inside, naturally suspicious.
"I got your message, is it true? Kier found a way to banish the Eternal side of you?" Victoria smiles and nods.
"It's true. He used his little psychic link trick and pulled the old Victoria back. I'm so sorry for everything sis..." Elizabeth smiles and hugs Victoria tight, blissfully unaware of the symbols carved into the floor.
"There's just one small thing. I lied. Kier Royle is dead! I killed him myself with my bare hands; he didn't stand a chance!" Elizabeth's smile fades to be replaced with pure untempered rage. She steps forward to make her attack, her foot making a connection with the sigils and sending an electrical current surging through her entire body. She lets out a scream of agony as she bursts into flames before crumbling into a pile of ashes.
Somewhere deep in my brain, something snaps. My sense of self-control dissolves, vengeance and bloodlust taking its place. My arms break free of the ropes holding me in place, and I lunge for the laughing god before me. My diamond Winchester is just inches away from my hands, but I'm too far gone for that now. I don't just want her to die, I want her to SUFFER. I snatch up the lead dagger from the side table and slice into her flesh repeatedly, each laceration only making her more and more amused. Finally I can't handle it anymore and grab her by the throat, my other hand gripping her hair, ready to twist...
"Do it..." She whispers. "All the lives I took, come take your revenge..." I let out an animalistic scream of grief and hatred, and with a sickening crack that echoes like a gunshot, Victoria's neck snaps and her body falls to the floor like a ragdoll, her head still in my trembling hand.