The Greyback Manor

Chapter fourteen

Alexandria looked at me in shock as Moriarty walked into the jail cell like she owned the place.  The smirk on her face could light up a whole city and destroy it at the same time. Her footsteps echoed in the hall and were like slaps on cement. I could hear Alexandria hold back a whimper while my body went numb. All the times I had looked at the mysterious host of the dinner party I seemed to never put the pieces together. She had always been suspicious but I never caught on to who she might really be. 

"He was always spineless but dependable at least he got his wish,” Moriarty said as she looked at the corpse of Victor.  

"You...you just killed him,” Alexandria stammered. I stood there frozen as Moriarty simply shrugged it off.  

"It was unfortunate, and I will miss him, but it had to be done. Sometimes things are better finished than being left alone. Isn't that right, Clara?" she asked. The expression on her face sent shivers down my spine, and it was hard to breathe. 

"You know our host from the hotel?" Alexandria asked. Before I could even open my mouth Moriarty answered for me.  

“Oh, she and I are from the same time, the twenty-first century. I just went by Marina then, which was why I'm surprised my dear friend Clara didn't catch on to everything," she said, mocking me. This made me snap out of my frozen state, and tears of betrayal clouded my vision.  

"You did it. You were the one who killed Alex. How could you? She was our best friend!" I cried. She gave a look of defiance at my question but gave no response.  

"Why would you try to kill your friends?" Alexandria asked. Her eyes glowed yellow, and I saw her change into a white wolf. I couldn't move, as I was numb, so I didn't stop her from lunging into the air to pounce on Moriarty. In response, she took out the red book and wrote “freeze” on a blank piece of paper. Then like magic, Alexandria was frozen in midair. This knocked me back.  

“Marina, answer the question. How could you?" I said. All the breath from my lungs was gone as I asked that question. That was a hint of regret in her eyes as I accused her of that.  

"That was an accident, I was actually after you. Besides, after I had Dracula send you back here, I decided to perform some magic of my own," she responded. A huge weight was lifted off my chest only to be replaced with a hundred more.  

"So, she's alive but you want to kill me! Why what did I ever do to you, Marina? You were my friend!" I exclaimed. My heart felt like it was being crushed a hundred times inside my chest only to rebuild and fall over.  

“Here, yes, she's still around, and you really don't know who I am or how different I've always been!" Marina screamed back. Her volume switched from a train wreck to just above a whisper in a millisecond.  

"That doesn't answer the question. I saw your past. I know that you think that book can help you, but that book you made is evil," I said. She scoffed at my lame attempt to reason with her.  

"You saw what you wanted to see, not what you needed to see, Clara. There was something else you never saw, which is why I had to bring you here," she responded then petted the frozen Alexandria on the furry head. It all felt like a nightmare, and I tried to close my eyes to escape the scene. When that did nothing, I tried to shake my head to wake up.  Of course, no matter how many times I tried nothing changed.  

“No, not until you tell me why you've killed all these innocent people. I know you, and you would never hurt anyone," I said. She growled, and I saw her teeth clench at my statement. The red book in her hand gained another page, and she looked at it.