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| She caught the scent at the top of the stairs. No human would notice it and the Kai's wouldn't pay any attention to it. It was soft, almost flowery, barely there. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the scent triggered a response. The bloodlust she had spent her time battling drained away, replaced with a black burning rage. Gasping, she leaned against the wall behind her, her legs shaking. She didn't know the scent, but the DNA of her Original did. The intense hatred had seared itself into the Original's every cell. Caught in the emotional overload, she could do nothing but heed it's command, *KILL*. Once the black haze had lifted, she found herself infront of a door. The scent was strongest here. Testing the knob, she found it unlocked. She opened the door and stepped into the darkened room. The scent almost overpowered her over-sensitized brain. Moving quickly around the rooms, she found herself alone. Taking a position near the closed door, she waited. In the back of her mind, the whisperings grew louder, more distinct. Her Original's voice grew stronger, reaching across the void of time, repeating over and over, "Finish my work.... Kill her!" Saying goodnight, Heather watched Lily walk away. Picking up the mail left outside her door, Heather opened the door and flicked on the lights. Kicking it shut behind her, she flipped threw the mail, "Bill, bill, junk, I've won 10 million dollars." Heather mumbled before tossing them on an end table. Opening the balcony doors, Heather took a deep breath of the cool night air. Just down the hall, Lily was gasping for air. In the dark, she clawed at the hand squeezing her throat. She tried to scream but the hand only tightened. Her unseen attacker chuckled darkly in her ear, "Well, hello cousin, long time no see." Lily tried to make sense of these words as one of her arms was grabbed and twisted around behind her back. Crying out in pain, she was roughly pulled across the room, to her full length mirror. The pale moonlight revealed the face behind her. "There now, better?" She smiled at the wide-eyed Lily, "Ahhh, I see you do remember me." Lily, still fighting for breath, felt the icy fingers of fear running up and down her spine. She'd seen this face only twice before. Once, in the cloning labs, still in a vat off by itself. And again, in her dreams. "Oh! How thoughtless of me, we haven't been properly introduced. Your've probably heard of me, they call me the Realityville Ripper." She watched Lily's face, delighting in the fear shining in her eyes, "But you can call me by my true name. I am Thorn." "Wha.." Lily gasped out, "What do.... you want?" A cruel smile spread across Thorn's face. "I'm going to finish what my Original, Fields of Crabgrass, started." The whisperings in her mind grew louder, feeding her rage, "I'm going to kill Fields of Heather, then..... I'm going to kill you." ***** Lily's sobs had turned into soft sniffles. She still refused to loosen her deathgrip on Heather, her face still pressed into Heather's shoulder. Heather wrapped one arm around Lily's shoulders as Maritas finished the bandage on her forehead. Kai13 stood silent behind the couch she sat on. She closed her eyes, waiting for the great Hall to stop spinning. "So??" said dgre, sitting on a chair nearby, "Are you gonna tell us what happened or what?" Heather looked up threw pain dulled eyes at those standing around. She felt Kai13's cool hand on her shoulder, quietly lending his support. Her voice was weak and shaky, "I guess I do owe you all an explanation for this bit of excitement." Heather gingerly rubbed the bandage on her head, "You'll have to forgive me, but some of the details are a bit... fuzzy..... "Well, well, well, we meet at last." Heather spun around at the strange voice. She hadn't heard her door open, but she watched the young woman kick it shut behind her, Lily held infront of her. Heather's blood ran cold as the woman smiled cruelly at her. Her dark green skin and black/green hair spoke plainly, she was a clone, but like none she had seen before. Her eyes glowed an acid yellow and seemed to bore into her. Heather take a step back as the creature moved forward, it's clawed hand around Lily's neck. Backing onto the balcony, Heather found her voice, "Who are you? What do you want?" Thorn smirked, "Why, I'm just a long lost niece, come to visit her Aunt Heather." Heather paled at those words. She didn't have much time to find some meaning to them, before Thorn turned her attention to Lily, "Thanks for your help, cousin Lily." With that she let Lily go, only to strike her across the head with her fist. Lily crumpled to the ground, stunned and gasping for air. Stepping over Lily, Thorn turned her attention back to Heather. "Now where were we? Ah yes, getting acquainted. Why don't you come give your niece a hug?" Heather moved back as Thorn stalked towards her, flexing her clawed hands. Heather's mind whirled, as she thought, "No weapons, no Kai13, no Jade, no Baby. Oh Sh*t." With her legs back against the railing, Heather did the only thing she could think of....... She jumped off the balcony. "YOU DID WHAT?!?!?!?!" Heather looked at the shocked faces around her. "I jumped." She said it calmly, as if she hadn't done something that might have killed her. "What? It's not as bad as it sounds...." The jarring impact sent waves of pain up and down her legs. She fell forward, onto her hands and knees. Tears stung her eyes and she bite back several nasty words, it hadn't hurt this much last time. Almost directly under her balcony, one floor below, a large stone slab jutted out from the castle. It served no purpose, had no window or door leading to it, no stairs to get to it. Heather had noticed it not long after moving in but never told anyone about it. During one of her and Kai13's rare fights, Heather had jumped off the balcony onto the slab below. If it wasn't for the fact that the dead didn't poo, she would have scared the sh*t out of him. He had almost jumped after her, sure she was dead. After being reassured she was fine, he didn't speak to her for almost three days. |
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