Dimitri

"Did you do this? Did you poison her? Rosalie is only eight, how could you even think of doing something like this to her? I swear on my life, I will do this right now! I will kill you! You are a fiend, a monster, and I knew I could not trust you!" I am shaking as I shout at Alessa, the full force of my anger directed at her.

One, two, three glasses leave the table because of me, aimed in Alessa's vicinity. Despite being less agile, the girl somehow manages to avoid being harmed by the assault. She is screaming at me, though the sound is accompanied by no words. She sounds nearly animalistic, like a wild beast of some kind that has failed to get its way.

I scarcely notice what is going on behind me, that Theo is leaving the room with Rose. When he conveys this, I give him a noncommittal response, telling him that I will be right behind even though I know I will be here a while.

Alessa is going to pay.

She will pay for hurting Rosalie, for making Theo so upset, for bringing harm to yet another person I am close to.

I could not avenge Katerina's death, or my uncle's. Those, I've come to realize, were accidental.

This, what Alessa has done, was the farthest thing from an accident I have ever witnessed.

I begin gathering the utensils from the table, throwing one of the more menacing knives at Alessa.

This one meets its mark, sinking into her shoulder as she throws herself at me in a clumsy imitation of a common battle move.

She pulls the blade forcefully from her shoulder, slipping it into her pocket with a devilish glare.

"I will use this to stop anyone who gets in my way. Thank you for that, at least, but you will still pay for doing that!" she shrieks, somehow managing to tackle me, "I do not harm those who avoid harming me. Rosalie didn't listen to me, and you ... you have to face the consequences that come with trying to hurt me."

With one hand, Alessa catches both my wrists,effectively preventing me from releasing the knife I still hold. She pulls it from my fingers with the other hand, a sinister smirk playing across her face as she reaches for a pitcher on the edge of the table. She sets it down next to her as she sits on me.

Struggling proves feudal; while Alessa may have a disadvantage in the form of her limp, she weighs more than I do and she is not perturbed by any of my numerous kicks.

"So, poor Theodore has taken Shorty away." Alessa purrs, picking up the knife again with her free hand, "Maybe he can find the rest of your friends, convince Emilio to continue his trend of leaving us. Maybe they will find the apothecary in time. Maybe. Even if they do, you will never see them again. I will make sure of it."

Alessa brings the blade of the knife to my forehead, pressing it firmly against the skin until she manages to draw blood.

"This will be fun, won't it?"

She smiles at me, her gaze slightly unfocused as she makes another slash mark on my left cheek. A few seconds after this cut forms, the first one begins to heal.

Alessa glares at me, her face beginning to turn red.

"So you are one of those Superiors." she sighs, "That would be a nice power to have, I imagine. Healing yourself? How does that work if you take a knife to the brain? The chest? I bet you cannot heal from that. But, that would be a boring way to die, don't you think? I am a lot of things, but I am not boring."

"You have gone mad, Alessa." My voice is little more than a snarl as I glare at her.

"I have a plan for you." she continues, "But first-"

She glances away from me, at the nearby table and chairs. A few moments after she sets her eye on them, they are engulfed in flames.

Her talent, I realize with a shiver.

I have to get away from her.

I am so transfixed by what Alessa has done that I don't notice the pitcher in her hand, don't see it as it makes its way toward me.

I only feel the impact, the force of the blow making me see first white, then black, then white again.

Alessa hits me again as the smoke makes its way to me, the smell infiltrating my nose and mouth in a matter of seconds.

"Up!" Alessa barks, "You are coming with me."

My head feels as though it is splitting, and while the external bruise will disappear quickly, I wonder how long the effects will linger.

I stumble to my feet, nearly falling again as Alessa shuffles toward the door, still gripping my wrists in one hand and the pitcher in the other.

She opens the door, pulling me along behind her as she attempts to keep her own balance.

"ServantS!" Her voice is sharp, commanding any servant in the vicinity to show themselves.

It takes a few moments, but a handful of gray-clad children emerge from the shadows.

"You," Alessa shouts at the oldest one, "Take this."

She hands over her pitcher, the evil gleam never leaving her eye.

"And you, did you get the rope?" Alessa asks the smallest of the servants, who nods timidly.

He steps forward as Alessa maintains her grip on me, only releasing my wrists when the boy has them tied securely behind my back.

"Hit him again." Alessa orders the oldest servant, "And take him upstairs. I am going to be accused of murder, and I have to get away from this city."

The pitcher is brought down mercilessly on my head again. Once, twice, three times, until I begin to lose a grip on reality. The smoke is filling the hallway, the entire world seeming to spin around me as the servants half drag, half carry me along the corridor, up one flight of stairs.

We are on the second set of stairs when I give in to the pull of unconsciousness, the darkness a perfect contrast to the pain of a moment before.

I will find her ...

She will pay ...

When I wake up ...

She will...

She...

Lilian

Shemik, Theo, Jason, and I are standing in front of the DiLorenzo mansion, each trying to get a handle on things well enough to figure out the next step. I am wearing both mine and Dimitri's jacket, the extra item of clothing seeming to swallow me up in its seams. The sleeves are too long for me, and being four or five inches shorter than Dimitri, the fit isn't the greatest. One of our supply packs rests on my back, giving off the illusion that we're ready to move again.

Jason is holding Dimitri's boots, the other pack thrown haphazardly over his shoulder.

We have been waiting here for at least fifteen minutes since Emilio left, and paranoia has my mind playing tricks on itself.

I keep smelling smoke, undoubtedly a figment of imagination and my anxiety.

Where is Dimitri?

What on earth is keeping him?

My brother is staring off into space, like he's already checked out of reality and he's looking for the next best place to drift off to in order to forget.

Theo is sitting next to Jason on the mansion's front steps. He's gotten past the stage of crying, and now he too is a silent observer. At least, he has been.

"Why haven't we seen anyone?" he suddenly asks, "DImitri should be here by now, and where are Emilio's parents? Shouldn't they be... I don't know, trying to keep us here or something."

Shemik doesn't answer, continuing her ceaseless pacing. She is standing on the bottom step, walking back and forth along it without stopping, as though somehow that will give her an idea of what to do.

I can't stand this anymore, can't take staying here and waiting for one more second, can't handle smelling this imaginary smoke and ...

"Does anyone else smell that?" Theo asks quietly, as though he's afraid to say what's on his mind, "I-I might be imagining it, but I keep smelling smoke."

In that moment, a shiver of pure dread makes its way down my spine.

How could I be so illogical? I'm not overly tired, not drained enough yet that hallucinations like that could be an option. Why didn't I say something when I first noticed?

How long has it been now? Five minutes? Ten?

I'm suddenly terrified, one of Mom's old sayings coming back to hit me hard as the words involuntarily leave my mouth.

"Where there's smoke, there's fire."

"Alessa." This time Shemik does stop pacing, whirling to face us as all color drains from her face, "Fire ... she can control it, the way Rose manipulates the air."

"You can't be serious!" Theo looks ready to burst into tears again, and my brother doesn't appear to be doing much better.

In the blur of the next few minutes, I can't quite remember which of us had the idea to go look for Dimitri first. As it ends up, Shemik and I are the two who enter the mansion, if only for the simple fact that the others look ready to lose it at any second.

I'm not quite sure why I haven't stooped to that level, why I haven't at least started crying over what happened to Rose. The only logical answer I can think of is the adrenaline, the fact that things still need to be done and it won't help anyone if I dissolve into an emotional mess in the middle of it all.

As I step over the threshhold, I tell myself that Jason and Theo will be fine. Jason, like me, has an array of throwing knives in the pack he wears, so the two of them have a decent chance if a fight comes their way.

I should be more worried about myself, I think. The smoke is no figment of the imagination, and as I follow Shemik through the entry hall it makes its way into my nose, down my throat, and seems to be making my eyes water.

A slight sense of panic begins to take hold of me as I realize that, if smoke inhalation starts to set in, I won't feel anything. I won't know it's too late until it actually is.

No.

Come on Lili, you aren't allowed to think like that right now.

We have four floors of mansion to search, and only two of us looking, so the pair of us end up splitting the responsibility. I end up keeping the pack of supplies, though we divide the throwing knives inside evenly between the two of us.

Shemik takes the two upper floors, and I'm left to search the first and second. I start out on the ground level, trying to remember each turn I take through the haze of smoke.

I can't get lost in here, I just can't.

I'm about to turn down a new hallway when the sound of the fire reaches my ears. I stop abruptly, glancing down the corridor as the crackling sound continues, accompanied by the smell of burning wood. I can see it, now, engulfing nearly the entire distance of the corridor, preventing me from going any further.

The study is out, I decide, taking several frantic steps backward, and if there's no other way to get to the adjoining hallway, I can't check the dining room either. Then again, knowing Alessa's last perceived location, this fire probably started in there.

The smoke tickles my nose, making me sneeze as I turn around in a blur.

Where? Where do I even start?

Everything seems hazy, distorted by the smoke that threatens to suffocate me and cover everything in sight.

How am I supposed to see straight when there's so much smoke?

It almost seems unnatural.

Second floor, Lili. You have to find the stairs.

I stumble around, disoriented as each turn seems to look exactly like the last. I'm getting dizzy, the smoke the only thing around me that seems to be visible. It fills my mouth, my nose, forcing me to breathe more shallowly to avoid the oncoming coughing fit.

Eventually I find the stairs, tripping over my own feet as I climb to the second floor.

More hallways, more smoke.

The walls all seem closer together than I remember, springing forth from either side in their attempt to trap me. I'm dizzy, so dizzy, and I wish I could feel something that would let me know how bad off I truly am.

"Dimitri?" My voice sounds unusually hoarse as I feudally shout the name, "Dimitri! Dimitri?"

I trip over something, going down in a heap. Regaining my feet, I realize sluggishly that no, this isn't a something. It's a someone, two someones, sprawled out face-down on the floor.

I stoop next to the first one, gently trying to move them onto their back. Eventually I'm successful, what I find making me feel even more lightheaded.

Francesca DiLorenzo.

There are multiple slash marks on her cheeks, though somehow through all the blood I can recognize her. Someone has also slit her throat, a scarily clean cut that makes me shiver. Next to her is Giovanni, in the same state as his wife.

Dead?

Not breathing.

Yes, undoubtedly dead.

I feel like I might pass out as I scan the floor for any more victims, any clues. It takes me a few seconds, maybe a minute, to notice the words carved into the carpet, but when I do I am on my feet again and running.

'They got in my way.'

Alessa? Would she? Could she?

I instinctively know she could, and would, do something like this if she wanted to.

"God," I can't breathe, a combination of smoke inhalation and the awful thing I just saw, "God, oh God..."

More stairs, I'm going up again I think. I stumble, fall, force myself to get up again.

Come on, Lili, you can't do this yet. Not now.

The sound of coughing draws me down a third-floor hallway. I find Shemik standing next to an open door, looking about as awful as I feel. Next to her stands Dimitri, both hands tied behind his back and seeming pretty unsteady on his own feet.

Dimitri blinks, taking me in as Shemik continues coughing.

"Alessa ... She ... She did this." he finally manages. I step toward him, shaking all over as I try to keep myself from dissolving into a panic.

"D-Don't m-move." I stammer, "I-I'll cut th-that off."

My hand goes to my pocket, withdrawing a throwing knife.

"Turn around."

My hand won't stay steady as I try to cut the rope from his wrists, but eventually I do it.

The world around me keeps spinning, and I can't decide whether my best option is to cry or pass out.

"We have to get out of here." I vaguely register Shemik's voice, "Now."

Dimitri's hand goes to my wrist, and a second later I feel Shemik's fingers ensnaring the other hand.

"Lilian?" Dimitri is shouting, "Lilian! Lili?"

The words seem to escape before I can stop them as I force my feet to take me back down the stairs.

"Th-The DiLorenzos ... E-Emilio's p-parents ... Dead ... Alessa ... Awful, it's awful!" I whimper, feeling the tears on my cheeks now, "Sh-She s-slit their throats and ... and ... their faces. I c-could barely r-recognize-"

"Lili!" It is the second time in as many minutes that Dimitri has used my nickname, something I never thought he would do, "You have to breathe. You need to stay calm until we get out of here. Please!"

Breathe.

The word goes round and round in my head as I try to take the advice.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Second floor.

Ground floor.

Front door.

Fresh air.

We're standing on the steps again, Jason and Theo in front of us. Shemik is coughing again, and Dimitri has let go of me to take his boots from my brother. I take the pack off my back, give it to Dimitri along with his jacket.

Then I stumble down the steps, all but falling as my boots find the grass near the bird-shaped fountain.

Rose, the DiLorenzos.

The DiLorenzos, Rose.

I'm suddenly reminded of the day Katerina died, feeling the same suffocating weight crashing over me.

My crying intensifies, followed quickly by the feeling that my airway has narrowed to the width of a straw.

Breathe.

I can't do it anymore, my breaths coming in the form of unnatural-sounding gasps as my ears begin to ring.

There are dark spots entering my field of vision, and someone has both of my hands in a death grip.

Jason is shrieking somewhere in the distance, asking what's wrong with me.

Shemik, the one with the death grip on my hands, is the one to answer.

I catch the words "panic attack" and "be fine" as I try to drag myself back to reality.

Inhale, I tell myself, count to ten, exhale.

It feels like an eternity later when I find myself able to breathe normally, though I'm left feeling incredibly shaky on my feet as we move. I don't know where we're going, exactly, and I don't know that anyone else does either.

We have to find Emilio, have to go downtown and hope he found the apothecary.

This night is already bad enough, it doesn't need to get any worse in the form of Rose's death.

~~~~~~
A/N:
So, it's another update. Bananabrains13 I promised you I'd finish this today, and it's 11:57 so I'm not past the deadline yet.
This would have been finished a lot sooner, but I went shopping for my new phone today instead of waiting till tomorrow like I thought I might.
Anyways, thoughts on this chapter? Any guess at whose POV will be next?
Let me know in the comments.