Scorpion's touch

Victor Frankenstein

~Vanessa's point of view~
Ivy awoke and rolled onto her side to face me. "Morning." She grinned.
"Did you sleep well?" I asked.
"It was the best nights sleep I've had in my entire life." She replied, her long dark hair falling into her eyes as she lowered her head in embarrassment. I disguised my flattery at this comment and changed the subject. "Sir Malcom has gone back to the vampires nest to get the body. We need Victor to examine it so we can see what we are up against. He should be back any minute now."
"Ok. Are we taking the body to him?" Ivy asked. "Yes we need to have it examined in his lab where there are the proper tools. We can't risk missing out on important information if we really want to find Mina." I said firmly.
"I'm back and I've brought the body." Sir Malcom called.

~Time skip to Frankenstein's laboratory~

"Please can you help me get the body onto the table?" Victor asked. Ivy quickly walked forward and helped him hoist it up. "I understand that you stabbed him in his lair Ivy?"
"Yes."
"Do you have the knife you stabbed him with with you right now?" He enquired. As if in answer to his question, Ivy put her hand into her coat pocket, retrieved the knife and handed it to him. "Vanessa?"
"Yes?"
"Were there others there?"
There were at least fifty of them in there but this one seemed to be the leader." I answered.
"And you think they are building an army?"
"They seem to be. Their attacks are becoming much more frequent and violent and we need to put a stop to this now before it's too late and they have done very serious damage."
"Ok I will see what I can do then." He replied, carefully slitting the skin from the vampires chest to his pelvis open. Victor carefully peeled the vampire's skin apart, revealing strange markings below. "What on earth are those?" Ethan enquired with a perplexed expression on his face. "May I have a look?" Ivy asked.
"You may." Victor Answered before stepping back so Ivy could examine the marks. Ivy frowned peeling the skin back a little more. "I know where these are from." Ivy murmured.
"Where?" I enquired.
"It's an extract from the Egyptian book of the dead but I'm not sure how they got onto him..." she trailed off.
"Well we have what we need to know now at least. Thank you Victor." I said.
I smiled before nodding at Ethan,  and Sir Malcom and Ivy before leaving the building.

~Three days later~

Ivy and I were sat at the kitchen table, carefully examining pictures of the hieroglyphs that had been on the body when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." I said, seeing Ivy was deep in thought. "Ok." She replied looking up at me momentarily before focusing her attention once more upon the pictures in front of her. I ran down the stairs and opened the door revealing Sir Malcom standing on the stone steps. "Hello Vanessa. I was wondering if you and Ivy might be interested in a gathering that is happening this evening. It's being held by Dorian Gray at his house. Dorian is quite an extravagant gentleman so I'd wear something a little fancier than usual."
"Ok we'll be there." I answered.
"I'll see you two tonight then." He smiled, before handing me a piece of paper with some italic script on. "Here. That paper has the address, time and everything else you need to know written on it. Goodbye." He said, before walking off. "Goodbye Sir Malcom!" I called after his retreating form before shutting the door and going back upstairs to Ivy.

"Vanessa!" Ivy exclaimed when she came back into the kitchen. "I know exactly what they mean. They are a resurrection spell invoking Amunet and Amun-Ra, who will bring about the apocalypse if united and-" she broke off, going pale. "What is it?" I questioned. "Are you ok Ivy?"
"I think you might need to sit down before I tell you this." She said slowly, pulling out a chair for me. Once I was seated she began to speak. "Do you know what this means?" Ivy asked me. "What does it mean?"
"It means that you are being hunted. Hunted by vampires and I don't know how long I can protect you from them." She whispered, her voice cracking slightly as she looked at me with worry in her eyes. "Hey, Ivy it's ok, it's really ok." I said gently, putting my arms around her and pulling her close to me. "I'll be fine, really." I assured her.
"But this is my fault." She said, lowering her head her words catching in her throat. "I was supposed to protect you and stop anything like this happening to you but I couldn't. I failed you and I'm so sorry." She muttered brokenly. It shattered my heart to see her like this. Ivy had a talent for not letting on when she wasn't ok and for once, it wasn't working. "Oh Ivy." I whispered before putting my arms around her once more and rubbing her back. "Oh Ivy." I repeated, at a loss for words. "How is this your fault? You put your life on the line and got yourself hurt for me. You've been protecting me since day one. It's not your fault that a load of vampires are after me now, is it? You have been doing your level best and no  one could have prevented this. As for all of this being your fault, how could it be?"
"Mmm..." She replied, looking up at me. "Thank you Vanessa, really." She smiled weakly before gently brushing my hair out of my face. It was the little things like this that made my love for her even stronger and deeper than it was last time. I don't think I can ever remember a time since I first laid eyes on her when I was not in love with Ivy Black.