Sitting high upon the throne was a woman who had developed a flair for the dramatic, her long black dress meticulously embroidered with vermillion. The Blood Queen sat there in all her glory, a delicate silver crown resting upon dark brown hair that had been intricately braided and tied back to reveal the terrifying beauty of her timeless face. Full ruby lips curled up into a smile that was as harrowing as it was welcoming, her hazel eyes seeming to glow with a wickedness that knew no bounds. There was a distinct difference between the person who Alice had once known and the one she saw before her now, the sophisticated business woman having completely transformed into a horrific tyrant whom she no longer recognised.
Forced down upon his knees by Katherine's feet, Sam looked like a man who had been utterly defeated. His eyes were blank and lifeless, his usual clothing replaced by loose fitting robes that were grey in colour and far from his normal attire. He didn't seem to be aware of what was going on around him, his mind seemingly closed off by whatever Katherine had done to him. He looked so vulnerable there, trapped and helpless; unable to escape from her clutches. It was enough to remind Alice why she had come here to the belly of the beast, to bring home the only friend that she had left. There were no other choices left; no backing out. She either had to save Sam from the Blood Queen, or she would die trying.
"You made it right in the nick of time!" Katherine sounded pleased by Alice's arrival, her expression clearly reflecting the fact. "I knew that you wouldn't be able to stay away for long, my dear girl!"
The large golden doors slowly closed behind Alice as she began the long walk towards the throne, a look of sheer determination upon her face. Getting into the palace had been far easier than she had expected, and the guards had willingly escorted her directly to the throne room before leaving without saying so much as a word. She knew that she had played directly into Katherine's hand, but that didn't matter. The game had only just begun, and there was no way that she was giving in without a fight.
"You didn't exactly give me much of a choice!" Alice called out from across the room, making sure that the queen heard her clearly.
Placing a hand on Sam's shoulder, Katherine looked down at him impassively. "Oh, you mean this?" She delicately ran her fingers through his hair before wrapping them around the back of his neck, tugging on it to pull him a little closer. "I needed you to come here willingly, so this Forsaken thing wasn't completely useless after all."
"His name is Sam!" Alice's resentful shout echoed throughout the great hall, drowning out the sound of her own footsteps for just a moment. "He's not just a thing, and he's certainly not someone for you to play with!"
Alice wanted to rush forwards, but she couldn't risk her friend being hurt in the process. She was much faster than a mortal, but she knew that Katherine was even faster, especially due to her own currently weakened state. Whatever she did, she had to bide her time until the moment was right. It was Sam's life on the line and she couldn't bear to be the one responsible for getting him killed.
Katherine squeezed Sam's throat for a moment, his eyes bulging from his skull as her sharpened nails pressed into his flesh. "I honestly don't care about the boy or what happens to him." She tossed him to the floor by the side of her throne, discarding him as if he was nothing but a piece of trash. Sam grunted as his head hit the stone, but she paid him no mind; instead directing her full attention towards Alice. "You however… You are so very special to me."
Alice was infuriated by the way in which Katherine treated her friend, only just managing to hold herself back as he curled up into a foetal position. She kept having to remind herself that this wasn't the time to do anything rash, but her patience was wearing dangerously thin.
"Because of what? My visions?" Alice demanded answers as she approached the base of the stairs, stopping just shy of the first step to glare at her enemy. "Or is it due to the fact that I'm one of your descendants?"
"Both, of course. We're of the same blood in life and in death, but your abilities have intrigued me since the night I learned of your existence." Sitting herself up straight, Katherine took on the bearing of a true monarch, seemingly taking great pride in her answer.
Alice didn't quite share the same appreciation for the response, her frustration bubbling away just beneath the surface. "And what of my family?" she said with a level of forced patience that was beginning to wane. "My mother? My brothers? Were they not of your blood as well?"
Katherine waved a hand dismissively, showing little care for the atrocities that she had committed against her own people. "They were agents of a disobedient child who refused to step in line. As such, all of them were deemed expendable."
It was difficult for Alice to believe that anyone could be so callous, even her old mentor. She had experienced Katherine's memories through her own eyes and knew that she had been different once, even though that had been quite some time ago. Perhaps she could get through to the person that Katherine had been before the fall and appeal to whatever semblance of humanity she might have left. If Alice played her cards right, perhaps she could avoid conflict and end this confrontation some other way. Or maybe she was just lying to herself by trying to avoid a certain fate that was simply unavoidable.
"They were still your family..." Alice spoke as calmly as she could, trying to push down any anger that she was feeling for as long as she could. She believed in forgiveness and the repenting of one's sins, but she wasn't sure that Katherine felt quite the same way. If she could just remind the woman of her past, of the love that she had once held for her son, then she may yet be able to talk her down. As with everything else, it was a risky maneuver, but it was one that she had to take. "How do you think Oscar would feel about all of this? What would he think of what you've become?"
"Don't you dare speak his name!" Katherine snapped, the mere mention of her son getting a rise out of her. Even after all these years, the woman still had a soft spot for the one human being who had ever truly held a place in her heart. No matter how far she had travelled down the path to damnation, it seemed that she still loved him even now.
"So it's true..." Alice peered up from where she stood at the base of the steps, feeling a renewed sense of hope and vigor. "You actually once cared for someone other than yourself."
Katherine nodded slowly, her expression somber and earnest for the first time since Alice had arrived. "I loved him with all my heart…" A soft smile followed, her lips curling at the edges in a surprisingly warm manner, as if she remembered something that she had previously forgotten. "The same way that I love you."
"Love?" Alice felt a surge inside her, the beast starting to scratch at the back of her mind. "You have an odd way of showing it. You destroyed my life, Katherine… You killed everyone that I ever cared about!" It was difficult for her to keep her own emotions in check, no matter how much she tried; especially when confronted with the culmination of everything that had happened to her throughout her entire existence.
Shifting forwards in her throne, Katherine perched on the edge so she could get a better vantage point. Sam's body was still slumped nearby, moving ever so slightly as she replied. "I freed you to follow your destiny... To rule over the world by my side."
Quickly realising that she was losing control of the conversation, Alice calmed herself a little and tried another avenue of questioning. "What about Queen Marquette? She won't stand by and let your reign continue unchallenged."
Katherine looked amused by the mere mention of her old rival. "Queen Marquette? Hah! She's no queen."
"Well she claims otherwise." Alice replied as she glanced over at Sam. He seemed to be muttering something to himself, as if he was having a conversation with someone only he could see, his eyes glazed over and unblinking. She desperately wanted to help him, but knew that she wouldn't make it up the stairs in time. If she could only get closer, perhaps then she would be able to get between them.
Standing up from her throne, her exquisite black and red dress trailing behind her, Katherine b
egan to rant emphatically. "It's said that any who look upon Renita's true face will go blind from her beauty, but I can assure you that those rumours are false. She's just a plain girl who grew too big for her own boots. There's nothing special about her at all." She pointed at Alice, her arm outstretched towards her. "You however, my beautiful girl… You are different."
"So you keep saying; but that doesn't change the fact that I won't be one of your puppets, not again." There was obvious irritation in Alice's tone as she struggled to disguise the animosity that she felt towards her mentor.
Alice was tired of hearing how special she was, like a broken record that kept on playing over and over until she could stand the sound of it no longer. She had never felt important, nor did she want to be. All she wanted was to be a normal girl, living a normal life back home, but she had even been robbed of that opportunity. There was a deep resentment within her for the immortals who had ruined her chances of normality. She had tried so hard to forgive them, wanting nothing more than to forget all the terrible things that she had endured at their hands, but time and time again even that small remission had been denied. She had tried to leave all her troubles behind in Calgary, only to end up right back where she started. It seemed that history was doomed to repeat itself, and her only hope of escaping it was to embrace death itself.
Noticing that Katherine was too engrossed in their conversation to pay her full attention, Alice moved up to the first step; slowly closing the gap between them. She silently prayed that she could get close enough to take the woman by surprise, moving up to the second one as the Blood Queen began her overly dramatic response. "You will stand by my side again one day, Alice; I can promise you that. After all, it is and always has been your destiny."
Taking the third step a little faster this time, Alice focused her full attention on her target, keeping an eye out for an opening as she kept the conversation flowing. "No, I won't. I refuse whatever destiny you have in store for me. My path is my own to choose!" She was growing tired of reasoning with a mad woman and raised her voice as she moved ever closer.
"Is that so?" It seemed that Alice had grown too bold, as a look of disappointment crossed Katherine's face. She grabbed Sam by the arm and swiftly yanked him to his feet. "You will change your mind, even if I have to force you to do it!" She almost screamed her words before pulling him close and plunging her sharp fangs right into the soft flesh of his neck.
"Sam, no!!!" Alice cried out in horror. She was already halfway up the stairs, but still too far to stop Katherine from drinking deeply. Breaking into a sprint, she darted up the rest of the way as swiftly as she possibly could.
Without even looking, the Blood Queen was ready for her, swatting Alice away with the same effort that she would a pesky fly. Tumbling back down the stairs, Alice hit the marble hard, sliding to a stop just a few feet from the bottom. She hastily scrambled to her feet again, preparing herself for another charge, but it was already too late; Sam had already been drained dry, his limp body tossed to the side and left to die.
Alice couldn't believe what she was seeing, her oldest and only friend left as little more than a dried up corpse. Just like Matty before him, she had failed to prevent his death. In the briefest of moments, Katherine had taken away the last person that she truly cared for, but this time she wasn't left as a broken, quivering wreck. Instead, she was overcome with a fury greater than any that she had ever known. It spread throughout her entire body, causing her insides to burn with a fiery rage that threatened to engulf her in its flames.
Katherine dabbed a splattering of blood away from her mouth with the long lace sleeve of her dress. "A little bitter..." she commented, her face twisted up in a sour expression. "But I expected no less."
"You monster!" Alice yelled, pushing back any tears as her temper flared. "I thought I could reason with you, but you're beyond my help!"
"Oh my precious little Alice…" came the cold and callous reply. "What makes you think that I need help?"
Alice's horrific scream transformed into a roar that bellowed throughout the halls of the palace, sending both guards and staff reeling in fear. It was the sound of a pure and unadulterated fury, birthed from somewhere savage and primal. The glass cage that she had only just crammed her beast back into shattered into a thousand pieces, unleashing a terror upon the world like no other.
As Alice closed in on her enemy with leaps and bounds, Katherine let loose a victorious grin, as if she believed that she had somehow won. It didn't take long for that smug look to fade however, as she raised her hands to release a burst of energy that never came. Her powers faltered, her knees giving out beneath her as she was hit with a sudden realisation that something was seriously wrong.
It was then that Katherine realised she had lost the upper hand, her control of the situation failing as she was set upon by a vicious and wild animal that she herself had created. Her eyes opened wide with sheer panic, her mouth ready to cry out before it was silenced. Something was in her blood; a slow and debilitating poison that had left her depleted. It was a poison that she had ingested through Sam's ultimate sacrifice, for he was far more than her shameful Forsaken spawn; he was the key to her downfall; the vessel of vengeance that the red witch had promised.
When the red haze finally lifted from Alice's eyes, she found that she had Katherine at her mercy, kneeling down at her feet all battered and bloody. Her clothing was barely holding together, the dress ripping at the seams. The silver crown still clung to her hair somehow, the tangled brown locks entwined with its dented, yet intricate design. Just behind her, the marble throne had been split asunder, the crimson fabric that had once laid over it tattered and torn. Alice had no recollection at all of what had happened since she lost control, or how much time she had missing, but she had somehow overpowered an elder vampire who should have been able to fend her off without much trouble at all.
There was a large gap in Alice's memory, just like the ones that she had when she was a child. In fact there were several occasions throughout her life, even through to early adulthood where she had experienced a similar loss of time. Back on the farm, at the hole in the woods, and in the bathroom of the diner. If this really was the same type of incident, then perhaps they had never been a symptom of the beast inside or the visions that she received, but something else that had been within her all along; a leftover of her time alone as a child in the wilderness, fighting for survival for so long. People used to say that something about her wasn't quite right and that she acted stranger than most. Perhaps this was the proof to show that they had been right about her all along.
Despite being drained of the ancient blood that had made the beast inside of her far stronger, Alice knew that those same instincts were still there and that she would have to battle them for control. She could never let her guard down, not again. The primordial voice had already made her commit awful acts from which she could never truly repent, but what she hadn't realised was that there was a second more primitive entity that had been with her for far longer than she had realised. Whatever she did in the future, wherever she went, she could never let them win. For the sake of her loved ones long deceased, and to honour the memory of Sam and Matty, she had to keep fighting for as long as she was able.
Looking down upon the defeated face of her foe, Alice could see that the woman's movements were severely hampered by Sam's blood. She was sluggish and sickly; so fragile in fact that she almost looked like another person altogether. In this weakened state, it would be far too easy to bite into her flesh and drain her of everything that she had within her, but Alice knew that in doing so she would lose yet another part of herself.
The memories that Alice had shared of Katherine's past had showed her a different side to her mentor that she just couldn't purge from her mind, no matter how much she wished it. Even though the vindictive woman had taken everything from her, Alice still couldn't bring herself to kill her in cold blood; to steal her essence in the same manner that she had taken Sam'
s. She just wasn't capable of hating someone so much that she could take their life, even someone so unmistakably evil as the Blood Queen, and that was the tragic truth of it all.
Even with all the cuts and open wounds that she had amassed, Katherine somehow found the energy to smile through broken teeth. It was an unsettlingly sort of smile that chilled to the core, her words surprisingly calm and steady. "That's it, Alice… Finish what you started."
The sudden change from abject fear to a look of subtle pride caught Alice off guard. She had expected Katherine to beg for her life, not to ask for it all to end. "What? No! This isn't what I want at all!"
Katherine seemed to be agitated by the lack of action, her bloodied brow furrowing with dissatisfaction. "I won't ever stop coming for you, not unless you finish this."
As the muffled sounds of gunfire erupted somewhere else in the palace, Alice wondered if this had been the plan all along. Had Katherine been grooming her to take her place as queen? The very thought of it caused her to stumble backwards a couple of steps in disgust, her mind swirling with a mass of confusing thoughts. "I can't do it... I won't."
"I'll kill everyone you ever get close to." Katherine hissed, trying to drive home the fact that they were still enemies. "You'll be alone forever, unless you finish it now!"
Alice didn't know what to do. The woman had chased her across the continent and murdered her loved ones, just to plead for death herself? She considered carrying out the request for the briefest of moments, only to waver a few seconds later. There was no way that she could harm Katherine in her current state, nor would she want to. Not that there was anything left for her to say to her mentor either. As broken as she was, Katherine seemed to be damaged further still. Alice wondered if she herself would be the same way in a few hundred years, the centuries taking a greater toll than anyone ever cared to admit.
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