0 comments/ 2393 views/ 1 favorites Scarlet Queen Ch. 04-05 By: angellily Chapter Four Ellie was sipping her morning cup of English Breakfast Tea, and snacking on a glazed raisin scone. She had already been ribbed once by Detective Winston over the matter, but she didn't care. A scone and cup of tea was the best way to start what she knew was going to be a long ridiculous day. She sat in front of the components of the bomb, studying them from every angle. Ellie unfortunately had a lot of experience with bombs; she had worked for Scotland Yard, during the height of the bombings in London in the seventies. Judging by the components, it was an uncomplicated build, and notably an amateur creation. If Ellie had to hazard a guess, she would say that it had been originally a plastic explosive, and had been wired to detonate from the vehicle clock. Ellie looked up at Detective Winston, "It's not a complex build, guy was a real amateur. The components aren't hard to come by though, unfortunately. There is one the bright side here, it does tell me quite a bit about the bomber." "Go on," Detective Winston prompted intrigued by her remarks. Ellie swallowed a piece of scone and spoke, "The bomber is a loner, this isn't a group cause bombing. Generally speaking, someone will claim responsibility quite quickly, or they have a bomb signature. This bomb was also improperly wired too, that means that the criminal didn't really think this through. He was probably just lashing out in anger. This leads me to think that this might be a crime of passion." "Whoa there, you got all that from these scraps? How could you tell that it was improperly wired too?" Ellie put down her scone on the wrapper, and put on a pair of gloves, before picking up the detonator to show Detective Winston. "The green wire and blue wire are crossed, see?" She said pointing out the crossed wires. "Holy crap, you're right. You got anything else?" "I don't think the bomb was planted at the studio. To wire a vehicle, even incorrectly, it would take quite a bit of time. I checked the security logs that you had for the parking garages; nothing suspicious was ever reported. I need to speak with Rain, and see where he had the vehicle serviced last, or where it was stored." "I could ask him for you if you like, though I doubt he'd know, because the vehicle was registered to the record company." Ellie looked up at Detective Winston in confusion, "Hold on, did you just say that the car was the record company's not Rain's?" "Yeah, I spoke with a rep at the record company, apparently Rain was given the vehicle that night. He was supposed to use it for a promo party the next day." "It was for a promo party?" Ellie asked trying to make sense of what the detective was saying. "Yeah, it's the newest thing for product placement, celebrities are contracted to drive certain cars, or brand certain things, it's like a living billboard." "So who contracted Rain and was this car ever used before?" "That I don't know, though the company rep Melissa Smith would. Hold on, I have her number." Detective Winston looked through his phone until he found the number, then he dialled it and waited. "Hi, Ms. Smith? It's Detective Winston of the NYPD, I have more questions for you. Would you be able to answer them today? ... Later? Hold on I've got a meeting then, but I have an idea, I have colleague here who could meet you at the event," Detective Winston looked over to Ellie who nodded in agreement. "...Right thanks, I'll tell her where it is. She goes by the name Ellie. Good bye." "She's at the 'Party in the Park,' It's a huge urban promo concert. You're going to need other clothes, though, those business clothes will definitely stick out. Here's the address to it." Ellie thank him, and left the precinct heading directly to the nearest small urban clothing shop. She grabbed a purple hoodie with NY stitched across the front, a pair of black skin tight leggings and high-top white running shoes. She paid for the items and changed in the bathroom. Ellie stuck her things into her backpack and took off to meet the company rep. Later... Ellie mingled into the crowd, trying to look like an average person. When she came across the first promoter, she asked for Melissa Smith. The guy pointed Melissa out to Ellie, and she walked towards the tall woman with a clipboard. "Melissa Smith?" Ellie asked. Melissa frowned at Ellie not recognizing her, "Do I know you?" "No, but you know of my colleague, Detective Winston. Is there somewhere where we can talk?" The other woman nodded and she led Ellie over to an empty booth. "So you're a detective, too?" "Yes, that's right," Ellie said using the 'voice' so not to draw unwanted questions about where her credentials were. "Oh, okay then how can I help you?" "I wanted to know about the vehicle, when was it contracted to Mr. De Guerre?" Ellie asked. "Um, about mid afternoon on the day of the explosion, it was a last minute switch." "Really? Who was supposed to be driving the car?" Ellie asked very intrigued by the new turn of events. Melissa Smith pulled out her PDA and scrolled through her calendar, "Ah let's see,... oh here it is! Jinx was supposed to drive it, but he couldn't make the promo event. He had a lucrative photo shoot in the morning, so we asked Rain who agreed provided he could have it for the week. He was thinking about buying the same model, apparently." "Jinx, who is Jinx?" Ellie asked Melissa frowned at Ellie, "Surely you've heard of him, Jinx is the hottest rising star, he's had two number one singles over the last year. He's quite popular with the starlets too, he's been linked to: Hanna, Emily, Anna, Linzi..." "Hold on, you said Linzi, as in Linzi Arbinell?" "Yes, they were quite an item before the whole cult kidnapping incident. Apparently, since her return, Linzi broke up with him and went into hiding because of what happened. She doesn't want to have anything to do with fame. Kind of a shame, she's really talented and, God knows, the public loves a 'survivor' story." Ellie chose to ignore the last part as she felt the odd sensation of missing something that was glaring her in the face. Maybe she was still missing too many puzzle pieces but she had a feeling that Jinx was the key. "Where's Mr. Jinx now?" Ellie asked. "He's going to be on stage shortly he's on in two acts." "Do you have a backstage pass for crew or something that I can use? I really need to speak with him." Ellie said, again using the 'voice' to get what she wanted. She hated using that power so often, but she had a feeling of dread building up in her stomach. Something was going to happen here, Ellie just didn't know what it was yet. Melissa handed an all access pass to Ellie, who tossed it around her neck and took off into the crowd. She wove quickly through the crowd, eventually making her way up a small flight of stairs that lead to the back of the stage. Ellie hid near the side of stage, staying in the shadows as much as possible and watching the crowd. Something sinister was in the works and she didn't have to be a dhampir, nor a detective, to realize it. It was kind of terrible to say, but it was the perfect place for a crime to happen. There were pyrotechnics, loud music, and crowds of people who were all intent on enjoying themselves and not paying attention to one another. Not to mention that, when something did happen, there would be utter pandemonium. No one would notice the culprit; it would take days if not weeks to piece all the events together. Ellie shook her head at her thoughts. She really needed to go on a vacation soon, somewhere completely quiet, because now she was starting to see evil intent everywhere. She blamed Rain and Dante, as they had thrown her off her 'A' game, because whatever they were plotting for her loomed in the back of her mind. Ellie half listen to the announcer introduce Jinx. She looked over to see a man with dark green spiked hair walk on stage and start singing. Ellie went on high alert, ready for something to happen. She was distracted by a thump, thump, thump noise that sounded like the bass, but something was off with the rhythm. Though it could have been the way the song was meant to be Ellie wasn't sure. She'd never heard the song before, but it didn't sound right. The thumping continued to stand out against the song, but the singer didn't show any signs of something being wrong. Ellie focused in on him and noticed that he had something in his ear. Using her supernatural powers, she listened in to it, only to realize that he was listening to the song through an ear piece. He couldn't hear the thumping that she could, in fact all the musicians had ear pieces in. Ellie reached out with her powers and shorted the device, to see if Jinx noticed it. Just as she suspected, Jinx stopped and stood still mid-performance, though he continued to sing/ He frowned and then he looked back at the bass. Focusing on the noise, Ellie listened to the pattern once more; she realized that the sound was coming from both up above and below. Then it all became clear - it was a signal that the stage was collapsing. "Shit, Everyone off the stage now!" She shouted issuing a mental compulsion to everyone to run away. She ran for Jinx, who had frozen up on stage and had disregarded her command. She fly-tackled him to the ground and rolled with him, just as one of the centre beams fell through the middle of the stage. A large piece of metal debris pierced her arm and some smaller pieces ripped across her back. Though in pain, she used her powers to form a barrier against more debris and protect Jinx underneath her. Feeling the drain from using too much, compounded by the combination of the approaching new moon and her injuries, she didn't have the strength to hold the shield. Instead, she formed a physical barrier, using some of the heavier pieces to form a cocoon to protect them. The collapse stopped, and Ellie was exhausted. She could hear the screams of the people around them, and, realizing that she probably only had a few moments before someone unearthed them, she spoke quickly. "Someone is going to great lengths to try to kill you Mr. Jinx. Don't bother to deny it, this was obviously no accident, though it's in everyone's best interest to think so. This is attempt number two that I count. The first was the incident with Rain de Guerre, because you were meant to drive that vehicle, not him, and now this has happened. Care to enlighten me on anything I should know, so I can help keep you alive?" "It's gotta be some psycho from the cult that took Linzi. When Linzi came back she told me that some guy was going to kill me like he had with her other boyfriends. Apparently, this madman confessed to her, but she couldn't remember what he looked like. The cult had drugged her pretty good. He said he'd come for her, and she was real spooked. Linzi told me to distance myself from her as much as possible, to save myself. I was worried about her, but nothing noticeable happened until three days after she disappeared. I started getting messages, though they didn't start off threatening, more like inquires as to her whereabouts, which I chalked up to sympathy, you know? Anyway, they got much worse, then accidents started happening. I became paranoid, but I didn't want to involve anyone, because I kept seeing Linzi's face. I knew that, if I went to the police, they'd find her and then whoever this sicko was, he'd go after her again," Jinx blurted out. "You did the right thing by telling me, I'm going to find the rat bastard, and I'll keep both of you safe. Now, how good is your memory?" "Pretty good, I only have the ear piece so I don't hear the crowd, it's pretty distracting." "I want you to remember this number, and make sure no one finds this phone, I want you to call this number and listen to the person on the other end of the line, he knows what he's doing in situations like this - plus I trust him with my own life." Ellie said, then whispered the number into his ear. Jinx nodded slowly and pocketed the phone. Ellie knew that he'd hold onto that number like a lifeline. Ellie moved off Jinx and ducked into a small void in the debris, where there was a hole big enough for her to get out. It was safer for Jinx not to be found with her, because the culprit wouldn't be aware that she was on the case and would assume that the authorities would write this off as an accident. "Hey, before you go, answer me this, you're Linzi's 'Detective' aren't you? You're the one who saved her from the cult. You know, you really do sound like an angel." Ellie smiled in the dark, knowing he couldn't see her, "I'm no angel." With that she ducked fully into the hole, and pulled out the piece of shrapnel that had lodged in her arm out then she made it through the twisted metal to a small opening. Ducking out, she grabbed a new hoodie from the back of a promo golf cart, and ripped off her old one. Ellie chucked it a nearby blaze that was probably started by the ensuing chaos. Ellie ran right into the gigantic crowd of people, trying to get away from the venue. Then she did what she did best; Ellie simply vanished anonymously. * * * Rain and Dante were sleeping peacefully when Silver burst into their room. Both instantly woke up and looked over at the intruder. "Get up, something big has happened to another celebrity and I have a feeling that you need to see this." Rain and Dante looked at each before getting up, summoning clothes to them in case they needed to go out into public. They followed Silver down to where the television had been paused. All three sat down on the couch as Silver unpaused the news report. "...Breaking news, a stage collapsed at an outdoor promo event. Rising star, Jinx was on stage at the moment of collapse. Seven people are in critical condition, Jinx is missing, and presumed to be ... Wait! We're getting news, Jinx has been found alive..." The camera panned off to show Jinx being pulled out of the rubble, looking shaken but relatively unharmed. The three of them continued to watch the coverage until Rain's cell phone rang. Picking it up, Rain glanced at the caller ID, and then answered, "Hello, Detective Winston, any news?" "No, none, but Detective Ellie had a lead, she's gone to meet Melissa Smith to follow it up at the 'Party at the Park' festival." Rain had shiver of fear run up his spine, "The festival on the news?" "On the news? What are you talking about?" "A stage just collapsed at the 'Party at the Park', didn't you hear about it?" "Damn, I hope she's okay," Detective Winston muttered. Rain murmured agreement, and bid Detective Winston farewell. "Silver, I need a favour? Can you check to see if there's footage on Youtube of the collapse, someone's got to have posted something about it." Dante frowned at Rain; it wasn't like him to be morbid enough to watch a video of an incident where someone might have died. Silver didn't question Rain, he grabbed a laptop that was on a nearby table and immediately started searching. After about a minute or two, he found one was posted. "Here, got one," Silver said. Rain sat down in front of the computer and watched the grainy cell phone footage . "Shit! Everyone off the stage now!" A familiar female voice rang clear as people started to clamour away from the collapsing stage. At the tail end of the clip a small blurry figure in a hoodie ran and tackled Jinx, just as a the main steel beam collapsed and the clip ended. "Shit! Ellie really was there!" Rain swore. "What the hell do you think happened?" Silver asked. "I've got a bad feeling that I don't really want to know. Come on Rain, we've got to search for Ellie, something tells me she's in trouble and I have a feeling that she's going to disappear." Dante stated. Chapter Five It was official, Ellie was temporarily human much earlier than she should have been. Given the amount of power she used to protect Jinx when the stage collapsed, it wasn't really surprising. Normally, Ellie liked being human, though she forgot how much it hurt when she got injured. Especially when this wasn't likely to heal until she became Dhampir again. This was worse than normal because the wounds throbbed horribly, and she had a feeling that an infection was starting to set in. After leaving the festival, Ellie had quickly bought some essential items before checking into a cheap motel. Wandering into the bathroom with her purchases, she lined them up on the counter. Stripping naked, she took stock of her injuries. The worst one, by far, was where the metal had pierced her arm and, coincidentally, her side as well. It was wicked looking, she could see that there was still shrapnel inside, and she knew that it was probably too deep for her remove herself. Eyeing her sweaty brow and sallow skin, Ellie knew she needed medical attention ASAP. Unfortunately, she couldn't go to just any doctor. She needed a specialist, she needed Ellington's brother, Gabriel, who was a world famous Harley Street doctor in London and who secretly specialized in treating dhampirs. Picking up the phone, Ellie dialled Ellington's number and waited until he picked up. "Ellington? It's Ellie, password is Griffin," Ellie said uttering Wednesday's password. "Lady Prescott, what's wrong you don't sound like yourself." "You're right friend I'm not, and I need a pick-up. Also, I need to ask you for another favour." "Anything, you needn't ask." "I need you to go to ground for a week or so and protect someone for me. He's going to call you tonight, his name is Jinx." "I will protect him with my life." Ellington swore. Though Raphael Ellington was a CEO of a gigantic company, he had also joined the army and done a couple of years in the special services. He still took missions now and again, when Queen and Country needed him. "I've got a private plane on standby at LaGuardia for you, I'll send a security detail to pick you up and I'm on my way to New York, right now. Never fear, Lady Prescott, everything is in hand." "Thanks Rafe," Ellie said tiredly. "Ellie, are really ok?" Ellington asked worriedly, Ellie hadn't called him Rafe since he was a child. "I'll live for now, but it's probably for the best if I see your brother soon." "I will ask him to be ready for you at Heathrow." Ellie thanked him and rattled off the address of the hotel. Ellie knew she probably had ten minutes before they arrived, so she had a really quick shower to clean off the dirt that could infect the wounds and doused them in rubbing alcohol. Ellie shook as the agonizing burn ripped through her, but, once the burn subsided, she bandaged it as best that she could and got dressed. Just as soon as she was dressed and had bagged all of her personal effects to erase her presence, someone knocked on the door. Peering through the peephole, she saw two men dressed in suits, looking like bodyguards, but then one could never tell for sure. "Password?" Ellie called, getting ready to run to the other exit, if they were there to kill her. "Excalibur," one of the men calmly answered. "Good," Ellie said when the 'pick up' password was uttered and she opened the door. "Lady Prescott, please come with us," the man on the left said. The man on the right took the garbage bag from Ellie and they escorted her to a waiting bulletproof limo. Ellie would normally hate riding in a limo because of all the attention it would bring, but, then, given her current state of weakness, she liked the extra safety precaution that bulletproof glass provided. Scarlet Queen Ch. 04-05 Thirty minutes later, they were given special clearance that Ellington must of have arranged. Ellie had no idea how he did it in such a short span of time, but some things were not worth dwelling on, especially in the state that she was in. The car stopped in front of a small Gulfstream airplane, Ellie dragged herself out of the car, stumbling slightly then climbing the stairs to board the plane. Sitting down in the nearest seat, she buckled herself in and leaned her head against the glass. Not long after, the plane was lining up on the runway to take off, Ellie swore she could have spotted the forms of Rain and Dante. It was impossible though, they couldn't have known where she was, could they? Just as she pondered that, Ellie felt exhaustion take over and she gave into sleep, leaving that worry for another day. * * * Rain and Dante cursed themselves as they watched the plane, take off into the sky with Ellie aboard. "Where the hell is she flying off to now?" Rain demanded, but Dante didn't answer him immediately because he had his phone out and was placing a call. "Hi Silver it's me, can you see if you can find a flight manifest of a plane for me please? I've got it's tail number, let me know when you're ready. ... Okay, it's DC-984. ... It's heading to London, England? Please set up a private plane for us too, same destination, and we need it out of LaGuardia, preferably, since we're already here. ... Thanks, Silver, we owe you one." "Right, Silver says he's got a private plane enroute to meet us here in the next hour." Rain sighed in frustration, "Why is she going to London?" "I have a feeling that she's seeking out medical help. You smelt it too didn't you? The huge loss of blood, I mean at the festival grounds. Ellie's probably seriously injured from the collapse, she panicked and the first call she made was to her man of affairs, Ellington. He's probably got a doctor who specializes in dhampir on his payroll." "Merde, this ridiculous, Dante, why didn't she just come to us? We would have taken care of her," Rain said raking a hand through his hair in frustration. "She probably did even spare us a thought," Dante responded, feeling just as upset over the matter. "You're damn right she didn't, well, that is changing because it's to go with plan B," Rain announced. Dante eyed his lover. Of the two of them, Dante was the rational one, and Rain was the dramatic one. Rain's dramatic nature could often lead them into trouble, but, whatever he had in mind right now, Dante was a hundred percent in favour of. It was time to finally sort this all out so that they could be happy together. Dante slowly nodded at Rain and said, "Alright, I'm in, we just need to find out where she'll go in London. It was hard enough tracking her tonight; something was off with her blood." Rain suddenly smiled really brightly and Dante was suspicious again. "What?" He asked Rain cautiously. "Her scent was different tonight, if I'm not mistaken, I'd say it was almost human-like." Dante was shocked, though as he thought about it, it didn't seem so hard to believe. Rain was right again, her scent was super faint, and it had almost completely blended into the rest of the human population, that's why it had taken them so long to find her. If she had been her regular dhampir self, they would have been able to find her in a heartbeat. Born dhampirs were very rare, Dante had heard a rumour that there were only five in the entire world. In the last couple weeks, he felt like he had sensed another one, but he wasn't entirely sure. The other possible dhampir was weaker, which meant that they were younger and not in complete in control of their magic yet. Ellie, on the other hand, had been taught to use her gifts since birth, and she was also well over two hundred years old, which made her scent potent. Dante was both angry and elated at the thought of her being human. If she was human and severely wounded, then it was really stupid for her to get on the plane, not being able to receive medical support for at least five to six hours. On the other hand, it helped their plans. They stood in silence for half an hour, both men lost in thought, until Dante couldn't bear it. "I'm so mad right now. I'm going to call Silver again. The plane was registered to one of the seventeen different corporations under Ellington, so it stands to reason that Ellington knows where's she heading and will be there to meet her. If we find him, we find her." Rain nodded his agreement. Dante dialled Silver's phone number again and Silver picked up on the second ring. "Hello, Dante, miss me so soon?" "Very funny Silver, a thought just occurred to me, can you see if you can find out the whereabouts of Ellie's man of affairs, Raphael Ellington?" "Sure, that's not hard at all. Give me a second ... he's on a plane bound for New York City, right now. Its ETA is approximately five hours out." "How the hell did you find that out so fast? Wait why would it be bound for JFK, if Ellie's bound for London?" "Well, to answer your first question, I'd like you to believe my hacker skills are that epic, but I already had the aviation flight manifests for planes owned directly by the conglomerate that Rafael runs. There are seven planes in total. Four are on the ground in Tokyo, Paris, Berlin and Los Angeles. Three are in air. Number One is enroute to Newark International Airport from Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport. Number two, is currently enroute to London's Heathrow from NYC LaGuardia, so safe to say that it's Ellie's flight. The last is going from Heathrow to JFK. I pulled the flight log for the plane and saw that he's listed as soul passenger." "I'm seriously impressed, though it doesn't answer question two." "Well I can't really answer question two right now, but I can in a couple of hours. Hacking phone records are tedious especially when one number is unknown, and it's probably safe to assume that Ellie used a prepaid phone." "Hold on, it shouldn't be too hard; the number would still be a New York number." Silver sighed, "Yeah, except when I checked Rafael Ellington's background, he has more official links than your girl does, but it looks like he's pretty paranoid too. The man's got nine cell phone numbers, four land lines and a ridiculous number of business listings that go to different peoplethen route to another point. Yadda, yadda, yadda, you get the point. It's going to take time, though I'm searching the cell phone numbers and landlines first. I have a feeling your girl got a direct number to him. It'll take me about four hours." "Can you do it in under two and a half?" "What! Why?" Silver asked. "I want you to shadow Rafael Ellington once he gets here. I feel like something fishy is going on because none of what's happened so far is making sense. To top it all off, the only person who can make sense of it is on a plane nearly three quarters of an hour ahead of us right now." "Oh, I'm so in, I love a good mystery. Oh, and by the way, your plane should landing in five, four, three, two, one." Dante watched as, sure enough, a small Gulfstream plane touched down on the tarmac. "I hate when you do that," Dante grumbled. "You're just jealous of my awesomeness. Right, I've got work to do; I'll talk to as soon as I can." Rain looked over to Dante with arms crossed, but neither spoke as the plane pulled up near their location. They climbed aboard quickly and buckled in. "So, Ellington's enroute to the Big Apple? You're right, none of this makes sense. Do you think he came on his own to find out what happened to Ellie or do you think she asked him to come here for a different reason?" Dante pondered this for a moment, as he watched, the pilot locked the hatch and the fuel crew filled the tanks. "I think she asked him here. If you look at his track record, Ellie is always his first priority." Rain leaned back and gave Dante a ghost of a smile, "I think we're in the wrong line of business, love. This detective business seems much more intriguing." "You're right, but first I want to find Ellie. Then, I want to keep her in our bed so long that she'll never want to leave us," Dante stated his intent. The plane started to roll on the tarmac again about five minutes later. Rain leaned forward and kissed Dante. Drawing back after a moment, he whispered, "I like the way you think, mon amour." Dante shook his head at him. Rain often reverted to French when he was scheming, seducing or highly stressed. Dante didn't think that Rain was stressing that much anymore, which left scheming and seducing. Dante could only imagine what erotic torment Rain was plotting for Ellie, especially given that he probably had seven hours to think of something truly diabolical. Dante turned to look out the window and grinned. He didn't dare interrupt a master at work, it was unsporting, really. * * * Ellie woke up to an annoying beeping sound; blearily, she looked around until she spotted the hateful machine. She weakly pulled at the closest cord to get the stupid thing to turn off but it didn't help as it erupted with a louder noise. "Oh heaven's sakes, shut up will you," Ellie said to the machine belligerently. Someone came bursting into the room, and she vaguely recognized him. It was Gabriel, Rafe's younger brother who was a famous doctor on Harley Street. In fact, Ellie recognized her surroundings as being part of his private clinic. "Lady Prescott, don't pull at wires at random," He chided setting the machine to rights. "Turn it off will you, it's annoying me." "You need it," he retorted. "What does it do?" "It tells me your oxygen levels and heart beat." "Then I don't need it, I can tell you that I've got the constitution of an ox." "More like a stubborn mule, you should have gone to a hospital in NYC, we could have covered it up later. You nearly died; there was a small sliver of metal that nicked your heart. I know you were severely weakened but a small part of your powers actually worked to keep you from bleeding to death. It stopped working when you landed, if the plane had been delayed by even an hour, you would have died. You're not out of the woods right now either. Your blood levels are low and you're fighting an infection. Your arm is about three times the size that it normally is. Not to mention you have a couple of compression fractures with your rib cage and other debris-related cuts on your back that required some stitching." "How long was I out for?" Ellie asked, licking her parched lips. "Surprisingly, not as long as you should have been. You've been out in total twelve hours, seven on the plane, and the rest here. You still need more rest, until your dhampir powers kick back in." "Okay," Ellie said weakly as her eyes started to close again. "I'll be back in thirty minutes to check on you." Gabriel murmured quietly. Ellie's eyes fluttered back open, "Please turn the machine off, I really don't like it. I can't sleep with it on. Besides I'm not human, my levels are different." Gabriel looked at Ellie, fiercely debating with himself, before he finally gave in and unplugged the machine. Ellie closed her eyes again and pretended to sleep. Waiting until she heard Gabriel walk out of the room and shut the door. She sat up as quickly as she could without doing any more damage and unhooked the blood bag from her arm. Gabriel hadn't run a saline solution because it was determined long ago that it hindered dhampir recovery rather than helping. Ellie felt very dizzy, but she knew she couldn't stay here; anyone could kill her in her sleep here, though Gabriel would protected her as best as he could. Ellie was still really weak, and, with only one good arm, she somehow managed to lift the window enough for her to crawl out from the basement. Standing up, she leaned against the fence, catching her breath, then walked into the back alleyways. The destination that she had in mind wasn't that far away. Ellie kept a secret World War II bunker in the city for a place to go when she was injured or needed to feel safe. It was only a few blocks away. She didn't know how she did it, but Ellie made it to the entrance, which was a storm drain on the Thames, without attracting any attention. She walked a few more feet into the drain and pressed the secret button as a door swung open to a secret elevator. Getting in she closed the door and pressed the down button. Just as she started to disappear from view she swore she saw Rain and Dante again, she could even hear them shouting at her. Panicked by the surreal image, Ellie got off the elevator and limped over to the hatch door and twisted it open with what remained of her strength. Once it was opened, she quickly limped in and shut it, using another secret button to seal it completely. At the same time, a light flicked on and a clean, surprisingly bright room that was big enough to be a cozy studio apartment with full separate bath, lay before her. Sighing, she sat down on a nearby couch, overcome by the dizziness of her adventure. Ellie felt really sick suddenly, and she stood up, moving as quickly as she could to the bathroom, to throw up. Ellie made it to the bathroom and, after a few moments of retching violently, she stopped but felt so warm. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the cool tile behind her, hoping to absorb the coolness of the tile into her. Ellie felt two large hands stroke her cheek. Gasping in surprise she opened her eyes wide and saw Rain in front of her, though on her right side, crouched so that he was eye level. Dante had also knelt down beside her on the other side, looking at her. It had been their hands on her face. Dante grabbed the mouthwash from the counter and gave her some. Ellie, beyond the point of being humiliated, used the mouth wash to get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth; then Rain handed her a small glass of cool water. Ellie drank a few sips, before setting the glass down, looking at them. "Naughty, ma cherie, you've been very naughty," Rain muttered as his eyes hardened. Dante looked more concerned at the present moment and asked, "Tell me something, Ellie, do you really want to live?" Ellie's reply came swiftly, "Of course, I do." "Well now, ma belle, you've made your bed, you will lie in, plus tard." Ellie's beleaguered mind tried to make sense out of what he said, "Later? Why am I'm going to be lying in bed later? I want to sleep now." "No, love, wrong conclusion, but you'll see soon enough," Dante corrected. Both he and Rain showed her their fangs before lunging at her neck. Ellie felt the sting of the bites on either side of her neck. In shock, she slipped into a blissfully ignorant oblivion though she knew that her life would never be the same again.