SERAPHIC BLISS

38. Dumb Blondes.

"Victoria? Hey , Victoria? Please wake up"

She comes around after an unidentified time , at first all she sees is white. Her eyes take time to open , her arms lift to rub the sockets of her eyes , her wrists mottled in red and sore. It takes her time to register the sting at the back of her neck , eyes closed-her fingers make their way to the place of most throbbing. She winces as soon as her fingers come in contact with the site of injury , the pain is enough to wake her up.

"No-no , just sit back. It's patched up-don't touch it."

She wasn't sitting before.

Her eyes snap open , at first the light is almost blinding , but soon images take form. Her eyes are met with Elizabeth's damp ones. Tears staining her lashes , as she smiles through them. she looks like she could collapse out of relief. She holds Victoria's jaw and observes for any damage turning and twistingher head gently, like a mother looking after the scratches of her playful child .

Victoria tires to vocalize herself but her throat is dry , after gulping back a few times she manages to choke out hoarsely "where is Ace?"

Elizabeth smiles , "He's dead"

"What..?"

"He was the guy from the cartel , when I was actively using in my teenage years" she pulls out a dusty copy of Snow White and the seven dwarfs .

The words are faded and the spine once was sturdy , is on the rim of breakage. Some pages give out and some stick to it like their life depends on it.

"He was the one....who sent those syringes that night. In moscow , he killed those innocent twins , and the women with my wedding dress "she says "it has been him all along , he hired Martha to -"

"-Kill Myla" Victoria completes her. As Elizabeth nods

The dread settles like dust after a storm , images flash in front of her eyes like headlights. Her fall from reality and into the door , the white , the flowers , the dead bodies , the organs , the red, Myla's eye balls pocketed out , Ace strangling her and Elizabeth holding him at gun point.

Victoria scrambles to her feet , getting away from Elizabeth who holds her under a questioning gaze.

"Where is Ace?"

"I...i shot him. There was a tracker in the necklace on Myla....it lead me here. He dug up the body i think- That is how i found you.."

"Elizabeth!" Victoria retorts "His body , Where is Ace's body?"

Elizabeth's hands make a grabs of hers , "Let me show you"

Victoria is dragged to the corridor , Elizabeth's grip securing the expanse of her bicep , her vision still dizzy and her feet perform solely on muscle memory. Elizabeth stops abruptly , making Victoria collide against her back , her legs giving out. Elizabeth keeps a steady hand on her waist helping her stand. Her expression is of pure and brutal shock.

"He...he was right here...he-"

"Escaped" Victoria completes her sentence as there is a huge red stain in the middle of the Russian carpet. The trail leading to the exit of the fortress.

"No no he...i shot him ! I shot him in the chest" He voice is desperate , desperate to convince that she had killed him , but the evidence was screaming in their face depicted otherwise , "Okay , okay....I have called the police , they are on their way...they can catch him , I'm sure. He couldn't have gone far"

Victoria sighs "How long has it been?"

"Twenty minutes...? I-i was patching you up , i had a first aid kit on me in case I found...Ms. Collins"