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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"I don't know where you go off to every night and, frankly, I don't care," Dorian seemed to materialize out of thin air, blocking Alison's path to the castle doorway. "Tonight, however, you must stay here."

"What? What do you mean? Why?" Alison demanded. She had been on her way to visit JPG and Dorian's sudden arrival onto the scene had caught her very much off guard. But before she could try to skirt around him, he grabbed her arm. She pulled back, her time with JPG allowing her loyalty to Dorian to erode enough that she could physically rebel more easily now, but Dorian wasn't about to give in just because Alison was fighting back now. He had indeed noticed how their fights were becoming more physical and were no longer just morose and bitter remarks, but he was adamant and continued to cling to her arm even as she tried to tug away from him.

"I am having a rather... special guest, coming tonight," Dorian responded sharply. "This guest could be prepared to offer me the deal of a lifetime and I will not allow such a magnificent opportunity to slip through my fingers just because you could not control yourself!" he continued to drag her back towards the throne room, temper ill-concealed because of how outward her defiance was becoming.

"And can you not, for once in your life, act like a proper princess!" he continued, voice growing louder and angrier the longer he and Alison carried on in their physical and verbal battle. Why did she have to be so stubborn? So impetuous and impudent?!

"But why, then, father, keep me around if you fear that all I will do is jeopardize your negotiation?" Alison argued, still tugging.

"Because! She has demanded to see all of us," Dorian snapped back. "She instructed that the entire royal family be present and if we fail to do as she commands, she will not offer us anything!" Alison couldn't help but scoff at this.

"Since when did you take orders from strangers?" she demanded, but Dorian didn't answer, having noticed that Alison was no longer struggling to pull away. Apparently, her amusement and disdain at him confessing to obeying the words of a stranger had caught her ears long enough to convince her to stop fighting. He took the chance to lead her back down the long, dark corridors of the castle and to the throne room.

"And what is this deal, anyway?" Alison demanded as soon as she and Dorian were seated in their respective thrones. It was not Dorian who answered this question, however. Instead, it was Susanna, his wife and queen, who was already seated upon her throne. Hers and Dorian's were the exact same while Alison's was a few sizes smaller. Susanna sat on Dorian's right hand and Alison on his left. Susanna looked over her husband to give her wayward adopted daughter a withering look. It was a sharp, chiding glare, laced with disgust and disdain, and the irritation was clear in her voice when she answered Alison's snide question.

"Our visitor is a woman from a far away land, far more powerful than your father and I combined," Queen Susanna began and Alison was surprised by this remark. Her parents never admitted to being the weaker ones in any situation! Yet here they were now, admitting openly that this visitor was stronger than both of them, combined no less! Alison couldn't help but feel slightly curious, if not intrigued. The visitor must've been quite captivating indeed if she was able to get both of her parents to submit so fervently.

"She has promised to grant us an immense amount of fame, fortune, land, subjects, servants, and prey, if only we allow her to speak with us for this one night," the vampire queen continued. "She has offered private property for us to rule over and immorality and power beyond our wildest imaginations, but only if she can meet us all tonight. That is why you, Alison, must be here as well!" Susanna then bared her fangs at her troublesome daughter, her tone going from disdainful to downright angry. "And I am warning you now, child. Keep your mouth shut! Do not ruin this for us!" she snapped, but Alison gave her no reply.

Alison knew her mother hated her just as much as her father did, so being yelled at by Susanna was no different than being yelled at by Dorian. Susanna didn't scare or bother Alison anymore than Dorian did and they all knew it. Susanna gave another hiss as she watched Alison slump back in her throne and cross her arms. Just as Dorian had asked himself minutes ago, Susanna found herself wondering why their child was so impudent and impetuous all the time.

But after a moment of silence, Alison piped up with another question. Unlike the last one, however, this one was serious and sincere.

"Do you not question the legitimacy of this claim?" she asked. "Do you not wonder if this promise, this meeting, might be a trick or trap? Is your new friend really all that she claims to be? Or is this just some lie to try and steal power from our kingdom?" Alison pressed. It was an honest concern asked in an honest manner, but because neither Dorian nor Susanna wanted to think about that, they both waved Alison's fears off.

"She has proven her vast power and estate, she has our faith, trust and loyalty," Dorian answered simply.

"But can she, and will she, really make good on all that she has promised?" Alison tried one last time to reason with her parents.

"If she attempts to betray us, we will answer with all of our forces," Susanna promised, licking her lips a little at the thought.

But then, before anyone else could speak, the entire throne room was suddenly illuminated by a blinding flash of light, almost like a lightning bolt. Once the light died back down, however, what met the eyes of the three vampires was beyond words. It was the strangest looking woman that any of them had ever seen...

"Your majesties!" she cried dramatically. "I am so glad you agreed to my meeting! Shall we commence with our deal?" then, without waiting for an answer, she made them all a most interesting proposal.

ooo

Over the rest of the night, Alison came to learn that this woman, who went only by the title "the Sorceress", had traveled across space and time itself, honing her magic and looking for a good place to settle down and set up a base. It was her goal that, once she became strong enough, she would have enough magic to subdue the entire universe and every single dimension within it. She was out for universal conquest in which she would build and empire that spanned from dimension to dimension, and she would be at its helm. But she had not come to Dorian's castle in order to threaten him or demand that he surrender his castle for her benefit. Instead, she had come to forge an alliance.

The Sorceress claimed to have met Dorian at one of his more recent parties, picking up an invitation along the way and deciding to stick her head in for a few hours, though from the shadows at first, which was why neither he nor Susanna nor Alison ever remembered seeing her. She told Dorian that she had been awestruck by his raw strength, wealth, power, splendor and fame and now she wanted him by her side when she went forth in her universal conquest. He was not expected to give up anything at the moment, except his word that he would be willing to stand by her.

In exchange for a pledge of allegiance, Dorian would receive a hundredfold of what he already possessed. He would receive a newer, bigger, better home filled with all sorts of priceless treasures and he would have an entire estate of servants at his bidding with an endless supply of humans to feed from. His name would live on forever, just like he would. The Sorceress promised that, as long as her conquest and control continued, so too would his own and, together, they would do a great deal of powerful things. She would give him power if he gave her loyalty. She would give him part of her future empire if he gave her a part of his present kingdom.

And as the midnight meeting carried on, Dorian and Susanna both grew more and more intrigued with this Sorceress lady. They began to lean forward in their thrones, stroking their chins as their eyes lit up with interest. It was clear that her honeyed words and wild promises were starting to get to them. It was a most interesting proposal in their eyes, and one that was attractive enough for them to want to seriously consider! Dorian's eyes were flashing with greed and glory while Susanna's flashed with a desire for power and control. They both seemed enraptured by their guest and all of her vivid promises.

Alison, however, remained tight-lipped, hard-hearted and stone-faced. In the face of the Sorceress' promise, Alison was unmoved, far too skeptical to see the woman as anything other than a loon with a stick. In Alison's eyes, the Sorceress was no goddess, but a common warmonger. She was a charlatan and Alison didn't trust a word she said. Instead, the youngest vampire only narrowed her eyes warily and continued to sit with a guarded expression. She even crossed her arms, a bold display of distrust and contempt. While her body language closed her off from the Sorceress, her parents continued to listen in with interest, their body language displaying the opposite opinion.

Even if the Sorceress meant every word she said about total domination and an alliance with the vampire kingdom, she was still nothing more than your typical, average aristocrat, offering promises and compliments with one breath while demanding undying loyalty in return with the next. Maybe Dorian and Susanna were smitten, but Alison saw right through the Sorceress' flattering lies. She was nothing but another aristocrat with money and a dream. She was just another wannabe dictator looking for powerful friends to recruit. She was nothing Alison hadn't seen before.

But what really cemented Alison's distrust and disdain with the Sorceress and her lies was one little habit that she noticed the Sorceress had. She would not stop staring at the pendant hanging around Dorian's neck. Maybe Dorian didn't notice it, and maybe even the Sorceress herself didn't notice it, but Alison did. She could see the way the Sorceress' eyes were glued to the red gem at Dorian's throat and it almost made her laugh. Although it was typical of one royal to ogle the wealth of another, the Sorceress was probably the least subtle out of anyone Alison had ever met before. She was amazed Dorian couldn't see it. Or maybe he did, and he relished the positive attention. That sounded like something he'd do. But a small part of Alison couldn't totally disagree with the Sorceress. Dorian's pendant was pretty special, after all.

Dorian had found this precious red gem while braving some of the more treacherous mountains several miles north of the castle. The stone had been buried in the face of one of the mountains, so Dorian had dug it out. He was so impressed by its beauty that he wasted no time in consulting several jewelers to try and find out its value. Every single one of them had promised him that the gem didn't have a price, not because it was worthless, but because it was so very rare that none of them had ever seen such a stone before. Instead, it was priceless solely because the amount that it was worth was impossibly high.

Intrigued by such an idea, Dorian then decided to keep the gem as the ultimate symbol of his wealth. It was the one item in his dragon's hoard that nobody else had. It was his most prized possession. Maybe it looked like a normal garnet, but it was worth far more than all the garnets, or even all the diamonds, in the world. Dorian turned it into a necklace after finally understanding just how priceless the red gem was and it hadn't left his neck since. That had been decades and decades ago. It was now a token and a trophy that never ever left his neck.

And now the Sorceress was eyeing it like a starving dog eyeing a bone. Alison had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing, not just because it was funny to see how obvious or typical the Sorceress' greed really was, but because Alison knew there was no way in this dimension, or any other, that the Sorceress was going to get Dorian to surrender that gem. It was one of his most prized possessions after all, and for all her flatteries, even those wouldn't be enough to get Dorian to give the Sorceress his necklace.

ooo

But despite this fact, the Sorceress continued to advertise herself and her cause to the vampire monarchs and, in the end, it worked. They were finally sold and they agreed to the Sorceress' terms that, in exchange for an alliance, they would receive an abundant amount of wealth.

"You have offered us a most interesting proposal," Dorian said at last. "And we accept!"

"Excellent!" the Sorceress cried triumphantly, then she waved her wooden staff and a contract suddenly appeared in Dorian's lap. He didn't even bother reading it before signing it. As soon as he finished writing the last letter of his name down, the Sorceress waved her staff again and the contract vanished once more. Alison was unimpressed and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Now, your majesties, your carriages await you!" the Sorceress gestured with her wooden staff to the door that led out of the throne room. Dorian and Susanna got up at once, not even looking back as they headed outside. Alison, however, finally dared challenge the Sorceress.

"And what about all of our things? And the rest of our court? You can't really expect us to just go and abandon them now, can you?" the vampire princess almost demanded of the Sorceress. The Sorceress gave her a smile, but Alison could see the poison it in and she knew full well that the Sorceress was outraged at her authority being questioned.

"There are other carriages waiting outside for them as well," the Sorceress promised through her teeth as she walked over to Alison, grabbed her shoulder, and then led her outside. Her grip was surprisingly gentle, but that didn't mean it wasn't commanding and Alison fought the urge to shrug the woman off of her. Maybe the Sorceress wasn't hurting Alison, but Alison hated feeling the Sorceress' hands on her body.

"All of your toys and trinkets and the rest of your little vampire friends will be sent for immediately!" the Sorceress promised in a patronizing tone as she continued to lead Alison back down the dark, winding halls of the castle.

Sure enough, waiting right outside in the courtyard was a line of black carriages. They vanished into the darkness, but before Alison could even try to start counting, the Sorceress ushered her into the carriage at the front of the line. Dorian and Susanna were already inside.

"Your things will arrive with you shortly," the Sorceress told them, then without another word, she shut the door. Alison didn't even have time to look out of the window at the life she was leaving behind before she heard the driver utter a cry for the carriage to start moving.

Alison was sure that the carriage had been enchanted, for although the ride physically felt normal, it ended far too soon to be a realistic travel length. It felt like barely 10 minutes had passed before the horses slowed to a halt, but when Alison peeked out of the carriage windows, sure enough, she was in an entirely different world. Gone were the gray mountains and gone was the stony castle that seemed higher even than the sky itself. Instead, she was staring out at a massive mansion resting atop an endless sea of emerald grass, surrounded by divine gardens and other outdoor amenities. No more were the endless stony hills, surrounded by withering forests. Instead, it was nothing but grass, garden and forest, full of life and greenery. They definitely weren't in the mountains anymore... or anywhere even close to them! And it had all happened in mere minutes!

And as for the mansion itself? It was not a castle, but it was almost as grand. Although it was not anywhere near as tall as the old castle had been, it was far long and wide enough to compensate. It gave off a warm, glowy, welcoming vibe, quite different from what Alison was used to from the castle back home. The driver hopped down from the carriage seat and opened the door and Alison took her first step into her new home. Dorian and Susanna entered the mansion first, arm in arm and chattering eagerly about all that this new and exciting future would hold. Then, in time, just as the Sorceress had promised, all of the rest of the castle arrived. All of Dorian's possessions, living and non, were successfully relocated, carriage after carriage pulling up and dropping off more and more vampires and other treasures and trinkets.

By the time the last black carriage had pulled up, delivering the last of Dorian's possessions, Dorian and his court were already in the new ballroom, partying the night away in celebration of their new alliance with the Sorceress. Using magic, the Sorceress had quickly set up the mansion to Dorian's liking and then she made an honorary appearance at his party, all the vampires cheering for her as Dorian introduced her. Alison took that opportunity to leave. While all the others were drunk with pleasure, blood and excitement, the princess of the vampires slipped away through the nearest door she could find and back towards the main part of the mansion.

Alison wanted desperately to go back to JPG, but because she had no clue at all where this mansion was in relation to where JPG lived, she didn't have the foggiest idea what direction she should head in. At last, the vampire decided to try and find a library. Surely a mansion this large possessed at least one, and surely that library would have a map, or something, that would help her triangulate her position. So, with a goal in mind, Alison wasted no time in leaving her father and his festivities behind to run down the long, brightly-lit halls of the mansion.

After an indefinite amount of time, the vampire achieved her goal. After exiting the ballroom and stumbling into a Green Room and then the Lounge (which held a large portrait of the Sorceress herself hanging right over the hearth), the young vampire finally found the library. Just as she'd hoped, she managed to find several maps. It still took her awhile to get her bearings, but in the end, she accomplished that goal as well. According to all the maps she had studied, Alison was still in England, but much farther south. Her old castle had been very far north, JPG's workshop being in the town 20-some miles southeast of the castle. Now, according to the maps, this mansion was even farther southeast than JPG's shop! From what Alison could tell, this mansion was almost 250 miles south of her castle/JPG's workshop!

And, along with being 250 miles south from home, this mansion was also literally located out in the middle of nowhere. An odd place to build what was possibly meant to be a military base, or at least a central hub for the Sorceress' allies... But Alison was so focused on trying to figure out how to get home that she didn't even think to question why the Sorceress owned a mansion that was so isolated from the rest of the world. Instead, Alison was more focused on an "escape" attempt. It quickly became clear to her that the only way out would be to use one of the Sorceress' black carriages. Alison could only hope that they wouldn't be too hard to find and that she would be allowed to go. She didn't plan on asking permission, not from someone as shady as the Sorceress, so she could only hope to find a generous driver, or that she would learn how to use the carriages to get her back home herself.

Alison left the library without another look back, only taking a single map before heading outside in search of the stables, or wherever the black carriages might've been kept. She didn't make it far, however, before she ran right into the Sorceress herself.

"And what are you doing out her all by yourself? Shouldn't you be back inside, partying with the others?" the woman asked the vampire with an eerily calm smile. Alison, caught dead in her tracks, was sure that if she'd had a heartbeat, it would've been pounding like mad right now. But even in the face of such surprise and danger, Alison managed to keep her composure and not even the tiniest bit of an emotion flitted across her face. Nor did any inflection at all enter her voice when she dared to answer the Sorceress' reply with seven sharp words:

"I could say the same for you."

The smile the Sorceress gave Alison would've made most vampires quake. Luckily, Alison was not like most other vampires, and even as the Sorceress continued to close in on her with that creepy grin, Alison refused to give the woman so much as an inch of her courage. Instead, if it was a confrontation this crazy old bat wanted, then it was a confrontation that the princess of the vampires was going to give her!

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But after that one little midnight meetup with the werewolves, Alison never really interacted with them again. She did see them from time to time, but it was only ever in passing and they were always in human form, now making especially sure to be far away from her neck of the woods whenever a full moon rolled in. Then, in the rare events that they did meet face to face, the werewolves would always intentionally avoid speaking to her. Whether it was from fear or anger, Alison didn't know. All she knew was that whenever she saw them, they were always mysteriously busy looking at something in the opposite direction. For that, Alison never actually got to see what their human faces looked like, or what their human voices sounded like. She didn't really mind that much, though, because, to be fair, she never had much to say to them either.

Or at least, that was what she told herself. Even though life carried on the same as always, Alison still couldn't forget about what the brothers had said about other chosen people, beyond regular servants, living in the mansion. The vampire actually desperately wanted to talk to the werewolves about this matter, but she could tell from the way that they always avoided her that even reaching out to them to ask the question was going to be hard. Besides, even if she did manage to get them to stay around her long enough to chat, there was still no guarantee that she would get an answer out of them, let alone one that was honest and clear. But despite her low odds of success, Alison's curiosity finally got the best of her.

Alison made sure to tell JPG that she was going to be busy with Dorian tonight and vice versa because she did not want to arouse any suspicion, nor did she want another fight. Instead, once again, she went alone through the mansion's estate, headed to where the groundskeepers lived with nothing but herself and the dress on her back. To her, that would be a clear sign of only wanting a conversation, and not wanting to start another fight. And it was not a full moon tonight, so Alison knew the werewolves would be in their human form. For that, she hoped that maybe she could talk some sense in to them and clarify upon just what they had meant when they had told her that she was not the first person to live here. She knew it was foolishness to try and pursue answers from them, especially after how she'd treated them last time they met, but she still wanted to try.

Besides, Alison wasn't just going to visit the werewolves to get answers. She did also feel obligated to apologize for their first interaction. Though they had been very rude to her, even going so far as to try and kill her, she still didn't have to be so aggressive with them either. She'd just lost her head in the heat of the fight! So not only was she going to the wolves again to ask questions, she was also going to try and make peace with them and apologize for her own violent actions. Alison still had a very good heart, and she disliked leaving issues unresolved, especially when there was a chance for peace. She had yet to try and talk to these werewolves on their terms, so she had yet to know whether or not peace was possible.

Sadly, Alison would never get to find out if reconciliation was possible or not because, halfway through her walk over to their part of the estate, someone else cut her off. It all started when she felt a gun being dug into the back of her head. In tandem, a voice, with a very strong accent, gave her a rather simple, but chilling, ultimatum.

"Come quietly, or I blow your brains out!" and Alison decided to comply. Though she was a vampire and, thusly, really hard to kill, Alison still wasn't immortal and she didn't want to take her chances with a gun that was pressed directly into the back of her skull. Besides, even if she did somehow survive such a direct hit, it would probably hurt a lot, so Alison decided not to resist this time. Instead, she took her unseen attacker at his word and allowed him to lead her in another direction, silently cursing her miserable luck all the while.

"Now I don't know you who are, little missy, nor do I care to find out," the man growled as he continued to lead Alison on, gun still digging into the back of her head. "But the Dark Army will never prevail over my glorious Confederate soldiers! Arlyn is a fool if he thinks sending one little spy, such as yourself, is going to do him any good. Tonight's victory is mine! My army will rise, triumphant and supreme!"

"Army?" Alison echoed as they continued to walk through the dark forest.

"Quiet, you!" the man jabbed his gun into Alison's head again and she felt her temper flare. This man had a lot of nerve to be manhandling her so! Alison wasn't scared of this man, she just wasn't stupid enough to think she could outrun a bullet, but that didn't mean she wasn't seriously offended and outraged by this man's coarse treatment of her.

"And don't play dumb with me either!" he continued angrily. "You cannot hide the truth!"

"What truth?" Alison snorted.

"I said QUIET!" the man repeated, yelling at Alison again. Alison managed to swallow down the venom rising up in her throat.

"How can you expect me to be open and honest with you if you silence me every time I open my mouth?" she demanded, fighting hard to keep her voice calm, quiet and level. "Besides," she continued. "You're being far louder than I am, and I am sure that if you aren't careful, this Dark Army, or whatever, will catch you..." this second remark from Alison was a total bluff on her part, she had no idea what the Dark Army even was, but she hoped that it would at least get this brutish Confederate soldier, or whatever he had called himself, to stop pushing her around.

No sooner had the vampire said this, though, when a small band of figures, all clad in black cloaks and wearing black makeup on their faces, appeared. They jumped straight out of the shadows, all wielding weapons that glowed a brilliant and almost sickly green.

"Ah ha! Cash! How very like you it is to be harassing innocent women!" the man leading the charge pointed an accusatory finger at the man who still had his gun digging into the back of Alison's head. She managed to turn her head enough to catch an eyeful of the man who had spoken in her defense. He looked Asian, but Alison couldn't be totally sure. For one, it was dark. For two, the man had black paint smeared across most his face. For three, it wasn't easy for Alison to see because her captor, Cash, was still keeping her firmly in place with his gun. But that was about to change.

"Arlyn!" Cash whipped around the moment he heard Arlyn speak. In that same movement, he removed his gun from the back of Alison's head to point it at Arlyn. This gave Alison the freedom to turn around properly and get a real look at this mysterious Dark Army. One look was all she needed to understand why Cash had mistaken her for one of them. Although she lacked any of those glowing green weapons and she didn't have any black paint on her face, her trademark black dress could've been mistaken for the black cloaks the soldiers of the Dark Army wore.

"And just what do you think you are going to do with that?" Arlyn sneered at Cash and the gun in his hand.

"Only this," Cash replied, then he pulled the trigger. Arlyn went down in a second and Alison reared back, getting ready for what was sure to be a vicious battle, but nothing happened. Instead, Arlyn's body began to convulse and he sat back up.

"Really? That's all you got?" he demanded and Alison could only stare in awe as Arlyn rose to his feet again, the bullet hole in his chest sealing up right before her very eyes. In a matter of seconds, it was like Cash had never shot at all.

"Foolish Confederate scum! Do you really think you can defeat the Dark Army? This is our land!" Arlyn declared, puffing out his chest as though to brag to Cash about how ineffective his bullet had been. Alison could only stare with a mix of wariness, interest, awe and respect as Arlyn continued to taunt Cash. What sort of magic was this that a man could recover from a bullet wound in mere seconds?

"Weak, cowardly Dark Army!" Cash replied, lowering his gun but not loosening his grip on it. "Maybe this used to be your land, but no longer!"

"It was given to us by the owner herself!" Arlyn argued. "My army will rise to the occasion and prove it! This land rightfully belongs to us!"

"And us as well!" Cash bellowed over him. "The Sorceress favors us now! You and the rest of your Dark Army are all washed up, old news, dead in the water, and as soon as my men regain their strength, we will send you back to the dark depths that you belong in!" he snarled.

"The Sorceress?" Alison cried suddenly, turning to look Cash in the eye. Was this one of the other inhabitants the werewolves mentioned?

"Oh, you've heard of her, haven't you, sweetheart?" for just a second, a smile flickered across Cash's face, but it was disgusting and cruel. The way he bared his teeth and raised his lips signified his sense of self-superiority and Alison suddenly felt as though she were looking at Calvin, if Calvin had had brown hair, a beard and a gray soldier's uniform.

"She invited me to live in the mansion with her. My father runs the estate," Alison answered evenly, regaining her composure.

"Oh, does he now?" Cash seemed amused. "Well, little darling, I don't mess with none of that. I'll let y'all stuffy snobs do the paperwork around here. My men and I? We live off the land. Strong and brave and free! Unlike you stuffed-shirts back home, safe in your little beds, my men and I live in the wild outdoors, braving every danger we come across and conquering anything that crosses our path!" Cash's chest became more and more puffed the longer he bragged about himself. "We are a mighty and brave people! Y'all and the cowardly Dark Army ain't nothing but worms to crush under foot! Why do you think the Sorceress chose such a noble soldier like me to join her at this here estate?" he demanded.

Alison didn't reply. Instead, she only continued to study this rude and ruddy man who seemed to think so highly of himself. Alison noticed an array of medals and badges gleaming across the entire upper half of his uniform. Some of the medals were gold and some were silver. Some were big and some were small. Some had fancy ribbons of every color and some were only pinned onto his uniform. And they came in an array of shapes too. Some were round, some were square and some were star-shaped, but each and every one of them was engraved with some sort of honorary message, title or symbol. Clearly, this was a man of great skill and even greater ego.

The only thing Cash wore that did not appear to be an award of any type was a rather large diamond that was pinned on his lapel right over his heart. Despite herself, Alison smirked. For all of Cash's talk about toughness and rawness and all of his alleged disdain with the rich, snobby, lazy upper class, he, himself, was clearly not above such things. That diamond was proof! Clearly, he liked flattering himself with jewelry and gems as well, despite acting like such luxuries were vanities that only the rich and airheaded indulged in. What a hypocrite! (Though what Alison didn't know was that the diamond actually was an award in some sense. It was a spoil of war Cash had taken off the corpse of the Union general he killed, though if anything, that was even more disrespectful than if it had been a mere pretty piece he'd picked up to make himself look better).

As if reading Alison's mind, Arlyn, the commander of the Dark Army, finally spoke up again.

"What do you know of living off the land? You cowardly and lying fool!" he spat. "It is my men who have scourged and scournged across the face of the earth, laying waste to all those who dared oppose. What have you done except fought a few little battles and arrived here because the Sorceress brought you? You did nothing to earn this position here!" and Arlyn's soldiers all began to boo and hiss at Cash, but Cash had a reply.

"She may have hired you first, but she only did so because she needed an army. But me? She came to me personally! She commended my strength and skill on the battlefield! She wanted me! I bet she only ever hired you because you were the first halfway decent army she could find. Well guess what, punk? She's finally found a better one!" Cash gave Arlyn a cruel and toothy grin, spitting on his foot before continuing his spiel. "The Sorceress came to me personally. What are you but hired mercenaries, there only to fill the gaps until the real army could arrive? After all, you aren't the ones who are considered guests of honor on her estate, are you?"

For the next few minutes, Cash and Arlyn continued to trade insults and bragging remarks about their own achievements in combat, trying to decide who the Sorceress liked better. Alison remained silent, however, paying attention not to the bickering soldiers, but to what Cash had just said... So, just like Alison, JPG and the werewolves, he had been invited here by the Sorceress herself, after displaying a very impressive skillset. And this particular skill set was, in Cash's case, great skill in combat. And from what Alison could garner out of Cash's bragging speech, he was a soldier from the south half of North America. Alison couldn't help but be privately amazed by this. So, the Sorceress wasn't even just recruiting people from the UK, she headed overseas to bring people all the way from America!

Alison really couldn't help but wonder and become suspicious now. Sure, maybe she might've believed that the Sorceress was just trying to build up a powerful empire by finding the most powerful people she could and having them all live in her mansion, but going overseas to find allies? It wasn't unheard of, but it seemed a bit excessive, even for someone as dramatic as the Sorceress. Besides, the real red flag for Alison didn't just come from how far the Sorceress was willing to go to find allies and followers, it was the fact that she was kept on choosing large groups of creatures that seemed to have a knack for fighting.

First, the werewolves. Even though there were only two of them, at least as far as Alison knew, they were both formidable fighters (when they weren't being total idiots). Next was Alison and her entire vampire court. Now, the Confederate and Dark armies (though Cash and Arlyn would've disagreed, Alison had serious doubts that the Sorceress was going to replace either of them. The more obvious thing would be for her to keep both of them and try to combine their forces, if they ever stopped fighting one another)! Even JPG, though not technically a fighter, had been employed to help build robots for the Sorceress. Alison couldn't help but wonder if the Sorceress wasn't intending upon trying to turn everyone in the mansion into her personal army... And what's more, Alison had no clue how many more people the Sorceress was planning on bringing in!

But before Alison could muse more on the matter, a gunshot from behind her rung out and she turned around in time to see another Confederate soldier, rifle extended and the muzzle smoking a little bit. The sound of a falling body echoed in Alison's head and Arlyn uttered an outraged cry. His other men raised their glowing green weapons.

"You cowardly Confederate mongrel!" the Dark Army leader pointed another accusatory finger at Cash. "Distracting us like that! Where is your sense of honor? How can you demand a fair fight when you are just as cowardly as the Union you so despise!"

"All is fair in love and war, my friend," Cash gave Arlyn a wicked grin. Then he cocked his gun again and took a shot at the Dark Army leader.

While the Confederates and Dark Army went at it again, Alison took the opportunity to slide away, climbing up a nearby tree and escaping through the leaves and branches while Cash and Arlyn, below, were distracted with one another. The sounds of screaming and gunfire, and even canon fire eventually, rung in Alison's ears as she darted away. She could hear Cash's southern accent ringing through the dark, spitting and swearing against the Dark Army, vowing that the Confederacy would never quit. Alison couldn't hear any of Arlyn's replies, but the occasional flash of bright green was enough of an answer.

Chapter Text

After the incident with the two armies, Alison hadn't been too keen upon exploring the outer edges of the mansion's grounds again, but it seemed that any appearances from the Dark and Confederate armies were rare because, after that first incident, Alison didn't manage to see so much as a single soldier from either side of the quarrel ever again. This was fine by her, but she still couldn't help but wonder what the Sorceress was doing, keeping two large armies at the edges of her estate like that. Were they really all just living out in their in the wild like Cash had said? How were they all able to fit? And who thought that such a living arrangement was a good idea? And why?

At most, Alison figured that, if the Sorceress really was trying for some type of mass-conquest, it would make sense for her to want to bring in some real army men. That much was logical. But as for why she chose to have them live on the outskirts of her forests? Well, at best, it was to keep them far away from her so that they would never think to rebel against her. And perhaps that was why both of them lived in the same area instead of being kept far apart. Alison was guessing that perhaps the real reason the Sorceress kept the Confederates and the Dark Army close, but not too close, was to ensure that they would spend most of their time squabbling with each other, which would keep them distracted.

Dorian had used similar tactics, after all. Every once in awhile, whenever any of the court vampires seemed to be getting too antsy, or ready for some sort of uprising, Dorian would quickly arrange for some other dispute to rise and that would always distract any negative attention away from himself. It was part of the reason he'd been able to keep his throne for so long without any major rebellions. Of course, Alison couldn't say for sure whether or not this really was what the Sorceress was playing at, but it seemed like the most logical conclusion at the moment. She was keeping two armies ready for war, but also keeping them distracted with one another so that they would never think to rebel against her and would not be bothered by why it was taking so long for anything of real significance to happen within the mansion.

But then, at long last, something somewhat exciting did finally happen within the mansion, and that was that the mansion finally got its next honored guest! It all began on a typical night, Alison and JPG relaxing together in the automaton lab.

"-going to see if it works," JPG was right in the middle of showing off her latest invention to her vampire companion. It was a periscope, of sorts, the base connected to her work table and the top reaching all the way up to one of the windows in the foyer. In short, it was a spy device. It was JPG's way of trying to see anyone who was coming into the mansion without ever having to actually go upstairs to check. It was an impressive feat because even though it wasn't particularly hard to build a periscope, given that this one had to go all the way down the red hallway and then through the floor to an open window, all while remaining undetectable, it had taken quite a bit of effort and engineering on JPG's part.

"Ah! It works!" JPG declared, eyes glued to the periscope's bottom. "I can see the front doorsteps and part of the road leading outward. It's not a very wide view and it's kind of hard to see because it's so dark out, but it works! The door's lights cover at least a foot in all directions!"

"Let me see," Alison replied, hopping off of where she was sitting on JPG's workbench to join JPG at her side. The body of the periscope was tied to a pipeline that went from the ground of the corner of the lab up through the ceiling. JPG's periscope did not emerge from the same place the pipe did, but JPG had since turned that pipe into something of a support column for the periscope. Alison extended a hand to gesture for JPG to move aside, but JPG quickly held up her own hand to stop Alison.

"Wait a sec! I think I see... a black carriage? No, wait! A whole bunch of them!" JPG sounded genuinely confused.

"But the last ball was two weeks ago! My father shouldn't be bringing in more human prey already!" Alison voiced JPG's confusion.

"I don't know," JPG's eyes were still glued to the periscope. "Give me a sec and I'll see what comes out of the-HOLY COGS AND GEARS!"

"What?! What?! What is it?" Alison fought the urge to just shove JPG aside, all of her internal alarm systems going off in reply to JPG's panic.

"SPIDER! GIANT! HAIRY! FEMALE! SPIDER!" JPG replied, then she shot backward away from the periscope, accidentally activating her jetpack at the same time and nearly sending herself right through the automaton lab's walls. (She'd since upgraded her jetpack while in the new lab, giving it the ability to hold more fuel for a longer, steadier period of time). From the look on her face, though, it seemed like she wouldn't have minded if she'd shot through every wall in the mansion and right out the other side and far away from the spider woman.

"What!?" normally, Alison would've been more concerned for JPG's wellbeing at the moment, having never seen the girl looking so panicked in all her life, and her having literally just crashed into the wall at top speed, but the periscope overrode Alison's concern so, instead of going over to JPG, she ran over to the periscope. The vampire's jaw dropped.

"Spiders..." JPG hadn't been lying, bluffing, misinterpreting or overreacting. Sure enough, emerging from that long line of black carriages was an entire swarm of the half-woman, half-spider creatures that Alison hadn't seen in a very, very long time...

After making sure that JPG hadn't broken anything after crashing into the wall, Alison exited the lab at once to go talk to the spiders.

"Are you mad?!" JPG cried, chasing after Alison before she could reach the door.

"They're friends of mine," Alison replied. "I have to go see them, ask why they're here," then before JPG could say more, Alison had exited the lab entirely and begun making her way down the red hall. JPG was too nervous to go after her, so she instead resorted to going back to her corner of the lab and peeking out of the periscope again, hoping Alison didn't get eaten alive by these savage and terrifying spider-freaks! JPG was so freaked out, in fact, that she hadn't even noticed that she had cracked one of her jetpack tanks and squished the other in her impact with the wall!

But while JPG stayed back, hidden deep within the automaton lab, Alison climbed the staircase to the foyer. She was recognized at once.

"Alison?!" and the ones who recognized her were none other than Kira and Haruko, Alison's two favorite spider-women. Alison felt something tear at her heart as she looked at her two old friends, but she didn't know if it was guilt, sadness, longing, fear, embarrassment, distaste, distrust, regret, nostalgia, or some combination of all of that. Instead, she could only stare as two of her oldest, closest companions flocked over to her.

"Surely it is! Alison!" Kira cried in amazement and joy. She and Haruko smiled broadly at the vampire and Alison could only smile weakly back.

Although Kira and Haruko were treating her politely now, who could say how they really felt about Alison? She'd pretty much just up and vanished from their lives and she had been gone for at least a few years by now! The vampire really had no clue at all what they thought about her. What truth lay behind those friendly smiles? Where they mad that she had just sort of vanished from their lives? Were they sad? Did they miss her? Were they hurt or indignant? Confused? Interested? Angry? Had they even noticed? Or did they just not care at all? So many questions, and not a single answer and Alison wasn't even sure how to even start to ask. They had just been apart for so long! Alison didn't even know where to start, let alone how! And in that moment, a morose laugh echoed inside of Alison's head...

And to think! Once upon a time, these two spider-women had been some of Alison's closest friends! Once upon a time, she'd known them almost as well as she knew the back of her own hand. Once upon a time, they would spend hours and hours together, talking and playing cards. Outside of a few woodland fairies and sprites, these two spider-women had been Alison's most trusted companions. They had talked about everything together, playing any manner of card game imaginable! But now, it was like she was meeting them for the first time again. Oh, sure, physically, they looked no different. They were still both stunning and sexual, hands intertwined like always, and they still wore the same skimpy black outfits that they always did, but there was an unspoken aura of change between them now and Alison almost didn't recognize them. She remembered names, faces and long nights spent drinking and playing, but it was all rather distant and hazy.

But at last, Alison finally found her voice long enough to reply and stop staring.

"Kira! Haruko!" the vampire gave the spider-women polite but guarded smiles and another flash of guiltiness tore at her heart. Polite but guarded? Since when had Alison ever not trusted Kira and Haruko enough that "polite but guarded" was all they got from her? They used to get genuine and elated smiles, but now Alison couldn't bring herself to do more than treat them with the same distant respect she usually reserved for the others that visited Dorian's court. It made Alison feel bad, but luckily, neither Kira nor Haruko seemed to even notice this change in Alison's demeanor.

"Oh! Yes! Alison! It's good to see you again! It's been so long, hasn't it? Where have you been, anyways? What have you been up to? Why haven't you come to see us sooner? We've missed you! Have you missed us? Do you remember how we used to play cards all the time at your father's parties? Will we ever go back to doing that again? We miss it! We really should take some time to catch up! Unless you've already moved on to bigger and better things? Oh, you must tell us everything! It's been far too long!" back and forth, the couple went, both of them trying to engage Alison in polite and friendly conversation. It was actually kind of sweet of them because it told Alison that they bore her no ill will for all of her years of silence in their regard, but Alison found herself unable to answer even the more simple and superficial questions.

Instead, the vampire gave a rather vague and general reply before slowly turning the conversation around to the spider-women.

"How about you?" the vampire asked, after she gave an oversimplified summary of her life up to this point. "What brings you here?"

"Ah well, it was all thanks to Jorogumo, really," Kira began.

"She's our leader," Haruko interrupted, to explain for Alison. "She was in the first carriage. She's already gone to the roof to build her web."

"Ah," Alison nodded. Although she had missed Jorogumo, JPG having been at the periscope when Jorogumo came in, Alison could already guess what the spider goddess had looked like.

"Yeah, well, you see, she was invited to live in this place by some weird lady called the Sorceress," Kira continued once Haruko finished her explanation and Alison sucked in a breath. Although this did not surprise her in the slightest, she still couldn't help but feel that old curiosity and suspicion ignite in her heart once more.

"She promised us all a great deal of power, protection and prey if we moved in here," Haruko chimed in.

"So of course Jorogumo agreed!" Kira nodded.

"You know Jorogumo would never turn down an offer of a steady supply of fresh meat!" Haruko laughed a little, a sadistic grin crossing her face.

"And nor would we!" Kira smirked in agreement. "So here we all are! Your new roommates!"

They seemed quite pleased, but the moment they mentioned the Sorceress, Alison was on guard again. Adding to the list of vampires, werewolves and soldiers, the Sorceress was now recruiting an entire nest of giant, man-eating spider-women. Not suspicious at all, huh?

"And why did the Sorceress invite Jorogumo, exactly?" Alison asked once Kira and Haruko finished telling their tale. "What was it that Jorogumo had that attracted the Sorceress to her?"

"Well, to be honest, we don't quite know," Haruko answered, sounding a little bit self-conscious.

"The Sorceress only spoke to Jorogumo," Kira explained. "And we only know what Jorogumo decided to tell us. She is our goddess, after all, so she isn't likely to have told us everything that the Sorceress said."

"But don't you at least have a guess about why the Sorceress chose Jorogumo?" Alison tried not to let her questions seem too obvious.

"Perhaps she found our race impressive?" Kira suggested.

"So, for an alliance?" Alison replied.

"Perhaps," Kira repeated. "May I ask why you are so interested?"

"Because I've talked to a few of our other housemates and I'm trying to figure out what we all have in common," Alison replied, managing to answer everything and nothing with that openly honest, yet also deceptively vague, statement.

"Hmmm, well, in that case, I'm assuming that the Sorceress chose Jorogumo for a reason similar to the one for why she chose your father," Kira said slowly as Alison gave a brief description of the other chosen people who lived at this estate.

"It could be that she's trying to start up her own little kingdom," Haruko agreed. "She did mention something about conquering and creating an empire, so she probably is just choosing all of us to act as her first batch of allies!"

The two spider-women continued to bounce ideas off one another while Alison only listened. Although she did remember the Sorceress promising universal domination, hence her reason for coming to Dorian's castle in the first place, Alison just hadn't ever really thought that the Sorceress had been serious. Now, though, she was having second thoughts. Alison remained silent for a little longer, trying to listen to what Kira and Haruko were suggesting, trying to see if any of their other theories about the Sorceress' plans made more sense than Alison's theory.

But after awhile, Kira and Haruko grew tired of theorizing, unbothered by it the way Alison was, and they brought up a new subject.

"Sorceress aside, we are your new housemates from now on and I think it high time we took the chance to catch up!" Haruko said.

"Yeah, Haruko and I were thinking you could join us for a game of cards next time Dorian has a party. Like old times?" Kira added. Then they went back and forth again, but this time they were pleading with Alison instead of trying to theorize with her.

"You always liked to play hard, and we miss that!" Kira said first as she began to plead with Alison.

"Yeah! Some of the men who play with us now can't take it! They get so weak so fast that it's not fun anymore!" Haruko agreed. "But you, Alison, you had always been so much stronger than them! You could always last far longer, and that's what made it fun!"

"So please, come play with us again! Even if only for a little while! Do it for old time's sake!" Kira begged. "We need a proper reunion party! It's high time we got to see each other again! It's been far too long!" Alison, meanwhile, took it all in with an unreadable smile.

To some degree, it relieved her that Kira and Haruko were so adamant about all of them getting back together again just because it meant that neither of the two spider-women bore any ill will towards her even though she had ostensibly shut them out of her life for years on end. But at the same time, their eagerness discouraged her too. Their eagerness reminded Alison that, while she might've gone through a big emotional change through her relationship with JPG, Kira and Haruko hadn't changed at all. They were still the same flirtatious creatures Alison left behind.

While Alison, herself, felt like an entirely new creature, they were still the same unrepentantly man-eating monsters that they always were. They never had the same realization that Alison, herself, did, and because they did not know about Alison's little change of allegiance, they thought it was all too easy for her to come back to them. They were able to go back to the good old days because, for them, those days never left. Those days were only a memory away. They didn't realize that Alison was too far gone to ever be able to fully go back to the way they used to be because the Alison that they had loved back then had been a very different girl. For her the good old days were lifetimes away, a far greater distance than for Kira and Haruko, and neither of them even knew it.

Alison had had good reason for ditching the spider-women after all. Kind, gentle and friendly as they were with Alison, the same could not be said for their human victims, and even though their method of eating wasn't as violent as that of a vampire, it still resulted in innocent blood being shed. It was something she couldn't overlook anymore. Nice and polite as they were to Alison, Alison could never forget what they did to their prey. Now, Alison did respect the spider-women's rights to eat whatever they wanted, Alison just didn't do it herself.

What's more, Alison knew full well that this card game was going to double as a reunion party and, no doubt, the spider-women were going to grill her for every last little detail she could spare. They wanted to know what she had been up to for so very long, and Alison couldn't blame them. But at the same time, there was just so many things that she could not share. There really was a lot to talk about, that much Alison didn't disagree with, but she didn't even know where to start. Since she no longer truly knew where she stood in relationship to Kira and Haruko, she wanted to put some thought into every question they threw at her. She didn't know what was safe to say and what she ought not to reveal.

But in the end, despite feeling emotionally distant from her two old companions, Alison finally allowed herself to be suckered into one little game of cards. The next time Dorian threw a party, which was bound to be very soon, Alison would play one single game with them.

"I suppose just one couldn't hurt," Alison had said slowly, and she really did mean it. As different as she and the spider-women were, one little card game wasn't going to jeopardize her newfound sense of mortality and allegiance. Kira and Haruko had been delighted to hear this agreement.

Two nights later, Alison found herself inside Dorian's throne room for the first time in a very long time.

"Ahhh, just like old times, eh Alison?" Haruko sighed happily, shuffling her deck as Alison finally stepped onto the scene.

"Sure," Alison replied with a weak smile, sitting between her two friends-turned-strangers.

"Awww, our princess still not feeling very well?" Kira teased. She chalked Alison's reluctance up to her general sense of introversion, not having a clue that the real reason went far deeper than that.

"Well, don't worry about that! We have a cure!" Haruko laughed. She nodded at Kira who obliged to raise two large bottles of whiskey out from underneath the little table at which they sat. Then she produced a few wine glasses and several shot glasses.

Three card games, multiple removed articles of clothing and a lot of shots later, Alison was feeling a lot better than before. The drinks were going to her head now and her previous worries were beginning to float away. She managed to keep herself focused and alert, but she could feel herself getting lighter and lighter. It made her feel nice, but it definitely made playing cards a bit trickier, especially when the game was against the likes Kira and Haruko, who practically lived off this kind of thing. It was a struggle to win the game, and they weren't going easy on her.

"Remember, Alison, you can't outdrink us!" Haruko sang, taking two shots at once just to make a point.

"You're out of practice!" Kira agreed with a laugh as she tossed another card onto the pile. Alison could only glare because, technically, they weren't wrong. While Kira and Haruko had been drinking and playing cards every night of their lives, Alison couldn't remember the last time she'd had any sort of alcohol. Her tolerance was embarrassingly low while the spider-women's were as high as ever!

"So, any cards?" Kira demanded playfully when Alison couldn't think of a witty remark to give in response to her earlier jibe.

"Unfortunately not," Alison grunted, but her anger was only a show and they all knew it.

"You know what that means!" Haruko purred, leaning in closer to Alison the moment she heard Alison's rueful confession. Alison's frown slowly turned into another mysterious smile, then she nodded. Almost seductively, the vampire princess reached downward for a piece of clothing to remove, but then, just to mess with her two companions, she made sure that her article of choice was only a sock.

"You're no fun!" Haruko pretended to grow cross as Alison made a big deal out of slowly removing her one sock before tossing it aside.

"Better luck next time," was Alison's only reply and she gave Haruko a downright devious little smirk.

"Now that's the Alison we know and love!" Kira declared, slapping the vampire's back playful and Alison actually laughed in reply.

In the end, however, the spider-women still got what they wanted. Alison managed to win the game, but not before stripping down to a point in which all she had on was a bra. It had been with great delight that Kira and Haruko had watched Alison remove her corset and they had fawned and swooned loud enough for half the ballroom to hear.

"Shut up," Alison growled good-naturedly as she tossed her corset onto the ever-growing pile of her removed clothing.

"Make us!" came the teasing reply, making a big deal out of eyeing Alison's bra. Alison only held up her remaining hand of cards.

But in the end, she did manage to win. By this point, Haruko and Kira were both totally naked, pale skin almost glowing in the candlelight of the ballroom. Alison had to admit that they had incredibly amazing bodies. But at least some of the awe was lost in amusement on Alison's part because it really was never too hard to get Kira and Haruko to strip down completely. They hardly ever wore that much clothing to begin with! But that was just how they liked it! So while the spider-women sat around in nothing but their own skin, giggling like fools and waving seductively at anyone who looked their way, Alison reclined in her seat, proud of the fact that she'd been at least able to retain once piece of clothing...

The drinks were really making her head spin now and, just for a moment, neither JPG nor the Sorceress nor anything else in or about the Sorceress' mansion existed. Instead, it was only Alison, the vampires, Dorian's castle, the spiders, and a wicked game of strip poker with a lot of whiskey to boot. Through a drunken haze, Alison had been transported back to the past and she almost thought that she was in the old ballroom for a second, completely forgetting how different this ballroom looked in compared to the one she left behind years ago. She was lost in a time when her life had been far simpler, though also far more boring and empty...

The lights were bright and the music was loud as Alison contemplated her two old companions. Suddenly, it had only been a few days instead of a few years since last she had engaged in such playful foolishness. The spider-women were grinning seductively at her, just like always, just like before. Alison actually almost felt happy. Maybe she hadn't quite enjoyed the life she used to live, but maybe the alcohol was doing something to her sense of nostalgia as well because, just for a moment, Alison felt good to be in this situation. Despite her past discomforts, Alison found herself thoroughly and genuinely enjoying getting the chance to catch up with Kira and Haruko. But the vampire supposed that was what enough good liquor did to a person. Even the worst memories could shine brightly with nostalgia after enough drinks.

The vampire continued to smile serenely, sharing a few more laughs and drinks with her companions, but then at last Kira seemed to think that it was time to take Alison away. She was too drunk for her own good so, gesturing to Haruko, both of the spider-women quickly got dressed and, after helping Alison pull on her clothes again too, they helped her walk from the ballroom. For all the fun they'd shared this night, it was time to go. Alison needed to sober up, or she'd be drunk even into the next night, and that was so not a good look for her.

From a distance, Dorian watched the trio go, puzzled but pleased to realize that his daughter had not only come to one of his parties of her own free will, but seemed to have enjoyed herself. Or at least, that was what he'd assumed, given how much time she'd spent playing that game with Kira and Haruko, not that he spent too much time watching it when his adoring court was a far better sight to behold.

Kira and Haruko led Alison from the ballroom and back to the foyer with the intent of taking her upstairs to where they knew her bedroom to be. Alison, though still being supported by them, had slowly regained some small amount of sobriety during their short walk away from the ballroom, and managed to ask a coherent question.

"You two live on the roof, right?" she asked. Kira and Haruko both nodded. "Do you think I could see your webs?" the vampire asked next. It was a strange, random question, but as Kira and Haruko knew no harm would come to Alison, they agreed at once and took the vampire up to the roof.

Two things startled a bit more sobriety back into Alison then. The first was just being greeted with the cool night air, far different than what had been passing around the stuffy little ballroom earlier. The second thing was Jorogumo's master web.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Kira sounded proud when Alison made a noise of awe at it. "We all helped make it too! After you left us, we came up here to join Jorogumo and the others and each of them were helping build the web. It really was a group effort!"

Kira and Haruko both continued to extol Jorogumo, the web, and how every spider-woman had helped make it, but that wasn't what had incited the reaction from Alison. It was what lay tangled in one of the web's knots. A big, bright, red gem, just like the one in Dorian's necklace, only this one was a shade brighter. To put it simply, if Dorian's gem had been a garnet, Jorogumo's was a ruby, though Alison somehow already knew that, in the same way Dorian's was no ordinary garnet, Jorogumo's was no ordinary ruby.

"Oh! That little number?" Kira asked after Alison pointed it out. "Jorogumo said she found it on the body of one of her victims back near the start 1915. Just earlier this year, in fact. It had been some pompous, arrogant little adventurer, not much of a looker, and next to nothing to his name, but that gem had caught her eyes and she decided to take it. The adventurer was just an afterthought, a little snack. The gem was Jorogumo's true objective and subsequent prize!"

"She said that the adventurer had gone through some great trial to get it. A fierce naval battle! But, well, we all know that when Jorogumo wants something, she gets it, no matter the deceit and trickery she must use to get it..." Haruko trailed off, a wicked smile spreading on her face.

"Anyway, after Jorogumo managed to seduce the adventurer and eat him, that little gem became a trinket, a trophy, and it's been with her ever since. She always spins it back into her master web just because she likes it so much," Kira finished, looking up at the dark red object that glittered dimly in the moonlight overhead. She could still remember the day Jorogumo had returned to the spider court with that gem, so incredibly proud of it that she threw a little celebration for it. It had, literally, become a crown jewel in her collection after that, always resting near the center of her web on a little pedestal she had made just for the gem...

The drunkenness slowly began to wrap itself around Alison's mind again, the initial shock of seeing that eerily familiar gem fading away. With nothing else to see except other, less impressive webs, Alison allowed Kira and Haruko to take her back downstairs and inside the house. Other spider-women, some still in human form while others had returned to their hybrid states, watched the trio walk by their webs, but just like Kira and Haruko had already known, not a single one of them made any attempt to harm Alison. They only ate men, after all, and Alison was no man. Additionally, since Kira and Haruko still did consider Alison a friend even after all this time, they would've protected her even if any of the spiders had tried to take a bite out of the vampire. But they were able to pass on safely, so it really was a moot point anyway.

Kira and Haruko parted ways with Alison once they were back inside. She had made it clear she wished to go to bed, but Kira and Haruko were not done partying yet, so at the top of the foyer steps, the trio parted once more. Kira and Haruko were very fond in their goodbyes and even Alison couldn't help but offer up a smile. This time, it was genuine. Or at the very least, the liquor had put enough of a stint on her mind that she was suddenly living in the past once more, when she and the two spider-women were still very close.

"Goodbye and goodnight, my dear," Kira told Alison, kissing her cheek warmly.

"We wish you all the best and we hope to see you again soon," Haruko said next, kissing Alison's other cheek once Kira was finished.

"It has been a great pleasure getting to see you both again," Alison replied, smiling. She continued to watch them go even after they were out of her line of sight then, at last, she slowly turned back to her own bed in the master bedroom. By the time her head hit the pillow, she had forgotten all about Kira and Haruko's rooftop tour and Jorogumo's web. She had forgotten all about the big red gem that rested within the web's silky strands and the fact that it was now the year 1915, about two decades since Alison had first joined the mansion...

Chapter Text

Alison slept through the entire rest of that night and the subsequent day and she did not wake up until nearly 20 hours after her head had hit her pillow. On the bright side, though, she woke up without a hangover, having slept right through it by mistake, and now she was free to spend the whole next night with JPG. Alison found herself feeling far more relaxed with JPG than the spider-women and she knew then that, as fondly as she regarded Kira and Haruko, JPG would be the only one able to make her feel this safe and happy now. Her days of card games with the spider-women were over. She even made sure to tell the two as much. It had saddened, and even hurt, the spider-women to hear Alison ending their relationship on such a formal and, in their eyes, sudden, note, but there was little they could do to stop the vampire princess. Instead, they only took Alison's request in stride and promised that even if they were no longer to be good or close friends, they would still remain on good terms.

"At the very least, will you promise not to entirely forget us?" Kira had requested in response to Alison telling her and Haruko that there would be no more endless nights spent drinking, talking, laughing and playing.

"Only if you promise you bear me no ill will for my decisions," Alison had replied with a sad smile.

"Of course not," Kira nodded and Haruko echoed Kira's response. "As long as you will remember us, we will remember you," the pair vowed, and that was where the three friends departed.

"But if you ever are up for another card game, you know where to find us!" Haruko added and Alison nodded back with a slightly happier smile.

From then on, although Alison did stop in to chat with the spider-women every now and then, most of her time remained with JPG. And that was how it carried on for a good time longer. At least until yet another guest made her arrival into the mansion. But this time, she didn't come from anywhere that Alison or JPG had ever heard of. Instead, she came from a dimension entirely her own.

It all began upon a night when Cedric had made some special new technology and he, in his excitement, had not only decided to stay up all night working on it, but he demanded that JPG do the same. As employees of the Sorceress, they had no need to keep a tight schedule. They could sleep as long as they pleased so long as they could prove that they were still making progress in a security system for the mansion. The only reason Cedric retained his early bedtime was due to how easily he tired, but he knew he could afford all-nighters whenever he wanted. Now was one of those nights, and JPG was going to help him. He had commanded it of her.

"This is a revolutionary new invention!" he had cried. "I already know you stay up late cavorting with the other guests, so it's not like my request for your help is unreasonable! Besides, you are my employee first. You are under obligation to stay and help me! You can go party later, or some other night. One night will not kill you!"

"Yes sir," JPG had replied with a frown on her face. Her boss could be a real jerk! Then the old man turned to Alison, who was only down there because she had come to see JPG, under the assumption that they would've been able to spend some time together that night. Apparently not.

"I am afraid that I am going to have to ask you to leave, Ms. Alison," he told her curtly, eyes narrowed.

"As you wish," Alison gave him a very tight-lipped smile in response, even curtseying just a little, before excusing herself from the lab quickly. It was not due to any fear or nervousness on her part, though Cedric seemed to think so because he watched her leave with a grim satisfaction upon his aged face, but rather, it was Alison's way of trying to keep her composure. She'd only directly interacted with Cedric a few times before, but none of them were ever fun and it always took at least a little bit of her self-control to not get mad whenever he treated her so rudely.

Compassionate as Alison was, and though she would never harm Cedric, she still hated to be treated so rudely by him. It didn't matter if that was how Cedric treated everyone, as far as Alison was concerned, such blatant disregard of simple etiquette was preposterous and inexcusable! But what could she do about it? Even from their very first meeting, Cedric had been totally unafraid of her and refused to give her even an ounce of politeness or respect. Alison still remembered that day with great disdain and distaste...

It all began only a few days after JPG and Cedric had joined the mansion and it had all been JPG's idea.

"I think it's high time you met Cedric properly!" she had declared one night.

"Do I have to?" Alison asked, looking less than excited by the prospect.

"Well, I mean, you can, so why not?" JPG replied.

"Because every time you speak of him, you speak of a man who is either foolish, stupid, selfish, rude or prideful. Do you really think that I would have any interest in meeting someone like that?" Alison scoffed at the very idea, but JPG was stubborn.

"Ok, so maybe I do complain about him a lot, but he's not always that bad!" she defended, but when Alison only raised an eyebrow, JPG conceded. "Ok. So yeah, he is that surly and grumpy," she admitted. "But I still want you to meet him!"

And the reason JPG was so insistent upon Alison and Cedric finally getting to meet properly was because she wanted the two biggest people in her life to know one another. As good as JPG was at keeping secrets, she was far too chatty and open to enjoy doing it. She'd kept Alison hidden from Cedric for many years, coming up with excuses whenever Cedric seemed to catch on that JPG was seeing someone. She never breathed a word about the vampire to her boss, but now JPG finally had an excuse for knowing her. The way JPG saw it, they were both workers for the Sorceress, so JPG could just lie and say she met Alison on the first day here and the two became fast friends! That way, JPG would no longer have to keep Alison a secret! And mostly, JPG just wanted for these two figures that were so important to her to finally meet one another.

So, despite Alison's protests, JPG finally arranged a meeting and Alison reluctantly caved in. The meeting took place in the early morning, just as the sun was rising. While Alison waited in the lab, JPG fetched Cedric.

"I still don't know why you insisted upon waking me up extra early today!" the old man yawned in annoyance as JPG dragged him to their lab.

"Because!" she replied eagerly. "I want you to meet a new friend of mine! She's a new housemate of ours, also invited by the Sorceress to live here, so I think you should get to know her!" the younger inventor told the older as she shoved the door open and pointed at the vampire already inside.

"Hello," Alison greeted cautiously as a tired Cedric walked slowly over to her, eyes still half shut with sleep.

"Morning," he grumbled, but this was not out of displeasure, just tiredness. His tone would turn sour soon enough, though, because despite Alison's best attempts at a polite first impression, Cedric just wasn't in the mood. Instead, after JPG turned on a light and Cedric was able to get a better look at Alison's face, he began to frown, and this time, it wasn't just from tiredness.

"Say! You're with that group upstairs, aren't you?" he demanded in recognition. "The loud ones, who are always throwing those late-night parties in the ballroom! Are you one of them? Are you one of those party animals?" the man spoke the words with venom in his voice, even throwing Alison a harsh and accusatory glare. Alison, stunned by how rude he was, could only nod. They'd barely even met and he was already treating her like dirt! It was just such a surprise to her that she could only blink as he continued to scowl and curse at her and the rest of her group. She didn't even have the chance to explain the nuance in her relationship to the other "party animals" upstairs.

"Ah! You are! I thought you were! You are one of those dreadful, obnoxious and overly loud fools who insist upon throwing a ball almost every single night for the whole night when a poor old man is just trying to get his sleep!" he despaired. "I knew I recognized you! Disgraceful lot! I should've known! I bet you're just as bad as the others! Loud, rude, idiotic! Yes, I see it now! You even look like trouble!" Cedric growled.

"Now Cedric," JPG finally interceded as her boss continued to disparage Alison and her court. "You and I both know you sleep through their parties every single night. There's no need to be rude to our new friend," she cast an apologetic look at Alison who had somehow managed to keep a relatively straight face through the entire thing.

When her surprise began to turn to outrage, she found herself inwardly relieved that she had since taken a more peaceful path in life. Had she been anything like the vampires, the "party animals", upstairs, retaining their temperament and lust for blood, Alison would've ripped Cedric's throat out by now. That man had a lot of nerve to be so rude and assuming right out of the gate! He didn't even seem to realize who he was really talking to and it took all of Alison's strength not to let him know right then and there. If he wanted a "party animal", she could give him one!

But Cedric wasn't done. Instead, he missed the tranquil fury on Alison's face and began to disparage JPG.

"Don't you 'now, Cedric' me, young miss!" he snapped. "You know I don't appreciate you bringing this unskilled, untrained riff raff down into my precious lab space, so unless you can keep her under control and make sure she doesn't go around touching or messing with my stuff, then we are going to have some serious problems! Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir," JPG responded at once, by pure instinct alone. Although she was unafraid of her old boss, it was just habit for her to respond as though she were a soldier and he was the drill sergeant.

Alison, meanwhile, was in a blind rage. Although Cedric's words had been directed at JPG, it was clear that the message was meant for both of them. And to hear this man saying that Alison needed to be "kept under control" and not "touch or mess with anything" as though she were some sort of wild animal or immature child was where she drew the line! She didn't need to be kept on a leash to behave! What an insult! The vampire took such offense to the remark that she dug her nails into the nearby wooden worktable and actually left deep scratches in its surface.

Cedric took leave of the lab after that, getting dressed and ready to work. Alison remained in the lab until she heard him returning, then she took a very, very quick leave of the area and went back to the tactic of hiding at once. She never visited JPG in the daylight again, instead going back to the times when her visits were secret. She had made a silent vow to herself that she would never speak with Cedric again unless it was absolutely necessary. Luckily, JPG seemed to agree with her on that, so they went back to the nightly visits and Cedric was none the wiser.

The same rules applied even still today and as Cedric demanded that JPG stay behind in the lab to work with him, Alison darted out as fast as she could before her temper could get the best of her. She had no problem with fighting humans, but the problem was that Cedric was so old and brittle that even a few light blows from Alison could do lasting damage. Not wanting to accidently kill him, this meant that Alison was forced to take whatever he said in stride, no matter how mad it made her. Had he been Calvin or Vera, she would not have hesitated to start a fight!

But now this meant that Alison was to spend the night alone. For once, Dorian wasn't throwing a party, so Alison didn't even have that as an option. She supposed that she could go to the roof to visit Kira and Haruko, but she finally decided against that, choosing instead to take a walk around the gardens. Sure, the last two times she'd tried the estate, she'd run into werewolves and armies, but this night, she was planning upon keeping it small. So the vampire took leave of the mansion and entered into the cool night air. But if Alison met werewolves and armies before, then it was only fitting that she would meet another strange and wonderful creature again tonight. This time, however, the person Alison met was beyond that of a werewolf or a mere human soldier. Instead, the person Alison met upon this night was another sorceress. Oh joy of joys.

Alison's walk around the garden began well enough, but when she reached that old fountain where she had defeated the werewolves so long ago, she noticed someone else perusing the area. And it was not someone Alison had ever seen before! It was no common servant or gardener and it was no vampire or spider-woman. Alison approached her quietly, wanting to see who it was before she made her presence known. If she was able to do this correctly, this would mark the first time Alison got the drop on this nighttime visitor as opposed to the other way around.

Alison walked stealthily over to the woman and noticed her performing what appeared to be some sort of magic. Alison, though she could not make out the words, could hear the stranger chanting and waving her hands and blue and white lights danced off her fingertips. Yup. Another sorceress. Suddenly reminded of the strange lady that had forced Alison to live this life before vanishing away from the estate entirely, Alison found herself feeling uncharacteristically bold and she dared to speak out at the stranger, voice authoritative and threatening.

"Who goes there?!" she demanded, but the new sorceress seemed unphased by Alison's sharp tone. Although she did turn around to look the vampire in the eye, there was no fear, anger or defensiveness in her face. Instead, there was only openness, honesty and even a bit of sadness that Alison had not expected to see. Despite her prior reserves, Alison felt her wariness fade at once. That world-weary look in the stranger's eye was something Alison had seen far too often in her own and Alison, at once, felt that this witch, though another sorceress she may have been, was trustworthy. This one, Alison felt, was better than the one who owned the mansion.

"My name is Sireen," the new sorceress said. Even her voice was soft and gentle, honest and pensive. It wasn't as loud, dramatic or commanding as the one in charge of the mansion. But her appearance was definitely just as extreme and extravagant!

While the Sorceress who owned the mansion dressed in a very gawdy outfit, covered in fancy feathers with a V-cut practically down to her stomach, what made this new sorceress odd was in how other-worldly her outfit appeared to be. Maybe the Sorceress' outfit was loud and gaudy, but Sireen's was not. Its strangeness came from how foreign and unusual it looked. She had brown skin, purplish makeup covering her face from the cheeks upward. There were two black lines coming from the bottom of her mouth. Her hair was a wild, tangled mass of brown and, resting within it were two big antlers. Alison briefly wondered how she had missed this woman's arrival to the estate. Although Alison had seen an array of weird creatures, she was certain that she had never seen this one before.

"Were you invited here by the Sorceress too?" the vampire asked the witch once she finished her little inspection.

"Not I, but an old enemy of mine. I only came with her, to try and stop her..." Sireen trailed off, eyes darkening.

"And who was this old enemy?" Alison pressed. Great. Was there going to be another internal conflict within the mansion now too? As if the two armies weren't bad enough! Now was there going to be a magic variant too?

"An Ice Witch," said Sireen. "She was the one the Sorceress really wanted, because she possessed such a great power over the ice. The Sorceress offered her land to conquer and freeze in exchange for her service, and the greedy Ice Witch did not hesitate to agree," she sounded bitter.

"And you?" Alison asked, she could feel it that she was about to broach a sore topic.

"I came along, snuck onto the back of the black carriage that drove them away," Sireen replied.

"But why?" Alison asked.

"Because she, the Ice Witch, froze my dearest friend and companion, Torhil the Undying, and I wish to free him again," she then gestured, with an elegant arm, to what Alison had totally missed before. It was a large ice sculpture of a giant man, his weapon still raised over his head. Or rather, it was a tomb. It was no sculpture. Seeing the grief on Sireen's face, Alison realized that the reason the statue looked so detailed was because it was a real man, frozen over completely, entombed in the ice tighter than corpse in a coffin. His name rung like a cruel irony in Alison's ears. The Undying. Ha! But Sireen seemed so sure that she could save him. Despite herself, Alison felt compelled to help.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Alison asked cautiously, and for the first time since Alison had met her in those short few minutes, Sireen began to smile. It was weak and sad, but there was a genuine gratitude and affection within it.

"Not you, but others," the mysterious woman replied.

"Others?" Alison echoed. "Are you trying to bring more of your people here?"

"No, not others from a different realm. Others from a different time..." then the woman explained.

According to Sireen, she, Torhil and the Ice Witch had all come from a realm outside of Alison's world. It was a place one could reach only through intense magic, hence why the Sorceress and her black carriages had been able to do it, but no one else. But because it was a different realm, the timeline had gone differently and the laws of reality were slightly different there than here. In Sireen's world, prophecies and soothsayers were the norm. Maybe in Alison's world, fortune-tellers were much rarer, but in Sireen's, although it still was not a common practice, it was something of a career there. Sireen, herself, was such a prophet and had received a prophecy concerning the Sorceress. The prophecy spoke of nine heroes from another time and place. They would come to the mansion one day and they would be the ones with the power to defeat the Ice Witch and save Torhil from his frozen tomb.

"And you're sure this prophecy is true?" Alison asked. Once again, in her world, soothsayers were not taken quite as seriously. Though real fortune-tellers did exist, everything they said was often taken with a grain of salt.

"Yes," Sireen responded. Although she understood Alison's skepticism, she was absolutely resolute in her belief that the prophecy would come to pass just as she had seen it in her dreams back in her realm. "The moment I heard that prophecy and the moment the Sorceress arrived, I knew I had to go with her and the Ice Witch. If I wanted any chance of saving my beloved Torhil, I had to go after them," she said.

"But how did you get Torhil here?" Alison asked and, despite herself, Sireen laughed a little.

"It may sound silly, but I took up a sled and tied it to the back of the carriage before tying Torhil to the sled," she confessed and even Alison smiled a little at the mental image of this giant man sledding along after a black carriage straight out of a winter wonderland and right into the mansion.

"But as comic as it sounds, it had to be done," Sireen continued, growing serious again. "The risk was worth it, because those nine heroes from this realm will be the only hope against the Ice Witch's tyranny in mine. If I want even a chance to save my home and my Torhil, I cannot allow this opportunity to slip through my fingers!" Sireen finished with a grim expression, but when she turned back to look at Torhil, Alison almost thought she saw a tear sparkle in Sireen's eye. Just for a moment, Alison imagined what it might've been like had she been Sireen and Torhil been JPG. The thought made her colder than any Ice Witch ever could have.

For a moment, silence reigned between the vampire and the witch before the vampire remembered something else.

"You said the nine heroes would come from a different time," Alison said. "What do you mean by that? How long will we have to wait?"

"I cannot answer that exactly," Sireen confessed sadly. "But from what I understand of the prophecy, the Sorceress has not only found the strength to manipulate space, hence her cross-dimensional travel, but she is attempting to manipulate time as well. If that is true, then I can live here, ageless and unchanged, until the day that my saviors arrive, however far in the future that may be. The world outside the borders of this mansion continue to live normally while we are subject to all the reality warping the Sorceress can muster up. We will remain here, frozen in time, until those heroes come to us to set us free..." Sireen made a face while Alison's eyes widened. In one sentence from Sireen, a great mystery had just been solved.

Although everything about the mansion was strange, one of the strangest things of all, to Alison, was time itself. Time seemed to flow normally, day turning into night turning into day turning into night, but for some reason, the vampire's perception of the passage of time was still shaky. She could remember what she did in the distant past, like what she did yesterday or the party she attended last week or the hunt she went on last month, but for some reason, all those memories came to her in a series of days instead of in years. It was like the longest unit of time her brain was able to process anymore was months. She couldn't remember what year it was anymore and she couldn't tell how many years she might've been in this mansion even though, as logic dictated, she should've only needed to count in increments of 365 sunrises or sunsets.

But for some reason, no matter how hard Alison tried to do this, her sense of time would always slip back through her fingers, leaving her with the feeling that she had been here for a very long while, but also, at the same time, she felt as though not a single day had passed since her arrival, though this was entirely unfounded! Or was it? Because even though the sun continued to rise and fall every 24 hours, some of the mortals living on the estate, like JPG and Cedric, never aged. For all the days and nights that went by, which Alison was sure were enough to constitute decades even though she had no way of confirming this, JPG never looked a day older and Cedric, though ancient, didn't look a day closer to dying than he did when he and JPG first arrived to the mansion long ago.

JPG, herself, had guessed that the Sorceress had thrown ageless immortality in with the deal since no other mortal on the estate seemed to age either, but Alison hadn't been entirely sure. Now, though, the answer was clear. The Sorceress had somehow put a time spell on the estate, keeping it frozen in one single year over and over again so that while the inhabitants of the mansion did experience full years, the calendar, for them, technically never moved ahead beyond whatever year it had been when the Sorceress first cast the spell. That was why Alison could only remember months passing, but never years, even though she was sure she had been here for far more than one, or even 10! JPG and the other mortals technically were still aging, but because of the time loop, they all only aged one year before restarting again.

That was why Alison's sense of time had been so off! All the times when she couldn't remember how long it had been! All the times when days somehow became years without her even realizing! All the times she couldn't remember how many birthdays she'd celebrated! All the times when she could only remember in months and not years! That was because of the Sorceress' time spell! She had kept them all stuck in one year for decades! It was why Alison couldn't remember the passage of time in units of years, because this mansion only had one year! It was stuck in an endless loop of the same year, so while months would pass, in some sense, years technically did not. It all made so much sense now!

"Yes," Sireen confirmed the time-lock spell. "The prophecy foretold of the Sorceress' coming and promised that, if we were patient, nine others could come along, and they could be the ones to stop her. I've even heard rumor that there is a better, clearer copy of this prophecy that is hidden within the very walls of the mansion. I've heard it said that the true key to defeating the Sorceress is hidden in a journal resting within the mansion itself!" Sireen added. "I have yet to find anything," she confessed. "But perhaps you will have a better-" but before Sireen could finish, a loud and angry screech filled the darkness and she and Alison both whipped around in time to see two giant bird-women, one orange and one blue, lunging at them, sharp talons extended.

Chapter Text

"Look out!" Alison cried, then on pure instinct and reflex alone, she shoved Sireen backward with one hand and swatted at one of the bird-women, the blue one, with her other hand. Alison was nobody's fool when it came to combat. No matter how spur-of-the-moment the fight was, the vampire was always ready with a counterattack. It was why she remained undefeated across the land.

"Be careful!" Sireen cried as Alison shielded her. "Those are the Ice Witch's harpies! Their claws are coated with a highly poisonous substance!"

"So are my fangs!" Alison replied without turning around to look at Sireen. Instead, her eyes never left the harpy in front of her.

Alison allowed the implication of her statement to sink into Sireen's head while she lunged again, this time at the orange harpy. The harpy screeched and took a swing at Alison, but she easily deflected the blow with one hand before coming in with a punch from her other hand. She hissed all the while, fangs extended and ready to sink into a throat. The blue harpy took the opportunity to jump onto Alison's back, but that was when Sireen finally intervened. Though she was mortal, unlike her companion, who was a vampire as she had come to know, she was no coward. Instead, she picked up a large stick off the ground and swung. It didn't do much in the way of damage, but it surprised the harpy so much that it accidently released Alison, freeing the vampire from all that added weight.

"Well, well, well! What have we here?" a voice, soft and low, suddenly echoed from a few feet behind the quarreling quartet. Instantly, the harpies backed off, leaping away from Alison and Sireen and then retreating backward towards the voice that had spoken out to them. Sireen and Alison, regaining their bearings, also turned in that direction. Alison sucked in a breath at what she saw. Although no one said it, no one needed to. As sure as she was the princess of the vampires, this ethereal and godly woman standing before them, emerging from the shadows with the harpies flanking her sides like bodyguards, was the Ice Witch. Alison wasn't normally affected by temperature, but all at once, she felt deathly cold.

The Ice Witch seemed to have emerged from the night itself, appearing practically out of nowhere. But once she was there, it was impossible to miss her. For one thing, she radiated cold. Ice and snow seemed to follow her like a fog and it didn't take more than a few seconds for the entire area to gain a light coating of frost. A cold white fog hung in the midnight air as ice hissed across the emerald sea of grass beneath everyone's feet. But for another, the Ice Witch was such an intriguing individual, visually, that Alison was certain that even without the cold, it would be impossible to ever overlook someone such as her. She was tall, thin, lithe and powerful. Her frame was slender but sturdy. Her skin was as pale, smooth and white as snow. It was speckled with flecks of ice. She wore a long, silver dress that gleamed white in the moonlight. Whether it was crystals or icicles that made the dress so silvery and reflective, Alison didn't know. It could've easily been a mixture.

And the dress' shoulders spiraled upwards into several silver tendrils, each speckled with ice and snow as well. They framed her face, alongside long shiny, silky locks that were done up in a messy but gorgeous white bun. Her face was just as unnaturally white and smooth as the rest of her skin. Ice dotted her cheeks, glittering like crystals. She was incredibly beautiful, but incredibly terrifying too, just like a snowstorm. And just like a snowstorm, she came in through a flurry of bitterly cold ice. The shining icicles and snowflakes adorned her silvery-white gown like gemstones seemed to flash as she made her approach.

"Karin. It has been far too long," Sireen growled, unfazed by the Ice Witch and her stunning entrance.

"It is Queen Karin to you, my dearest Sireen," the Ice Witch, Karin, responded calmly, slowly, voice just as soft and gentle as a flurry. She continued to saunter towards Sireen and Alison, movements slow and graceful, while the harpies awkwardly hopped and flapped along after her, doing a very poor job of emulating the control and poise she so naturally possessed. It was almost a comical difference. While the Ice Witch was beauty and grace, the harpies were ugly and awkward. Where the Ice Witch glided, they staggered and slumped.

"Queen? Bah! Even our land's worst tyrants were better, more capable leaders than you!" if the Ice Witch's magic wasn't freezing the very air they were all breathing, Sireen's tone would do the trick. She continued to glare daggers, arms crossed in contempt, as Karin drew even closer. Sireen's eyes were just as cold as Karin's magic. Alison said nothing and made no movements, only watching with the fiercest of concentrations as the Ice Witch continued to approach, every footstep she took freezing the ground beneath them. All around them, a snow had begun to fall.

At last, the two witches were face to face, noses only inches apart. Sireen continued to gaze unflinchingly at Karin, angry and fierce.

"Oh, my poor, dear, brave, silly little thing. Still so jealous that I was always a better sorceress than you," Karin crooned. Her voice might've been soothing, good for singing a lullaby, had it not been so filled with venom, hatred and disdain. "You never did like how I was always so much better than you, so much worthier for the throne. But really now, do you honestly think that you could ever hope to defeat me? Even in a realm outside of our own?" the Ice Witch titled her head and the icicles that adorned her long, silver-white gown and crystalline crown rustled softly as she did so. It was amazing how soft and quiet she managed to be, despite how obviously prideful and angry she was.

"I did more than hope, Karin," Sireen growled again, narrowing her dark eyes as the Ice Witch continued to taunt her, smiling coldly.

"Well, I must admit, it is bold of you to recruit a vampire, but even she will not withstand the bitter cold of my icy wrath!" Karin promised, then she turned towards Alison. Even though her tone had been cruel, morbidly determined, the face with which she gazed upon Alison was anything but. It almost took the vampire aback. While Karin's words had been evil, her face was empty, expressionless, unreadable. Instead, she only looked into Alison's eyes and, suddenly, it was just the two of them. That was all that existed anymore. Then the Ice Witch exhaled.

All at once, Alison felt her face begin to freeze and, slowly, the rest of her body followed suit. She could only continue to stare as the Ice Witch's freezing breath ghosted across her face, chilling her to the bone. Her mind began to slip away from itself as well as her body locked up. Alison knew Karin was trying to freeze her to death, but she could do nothing to stop it, body totally unresponsive. She thought she could hear Sireen calling to her. Or maybe it was the harpies, screeching in their horrific unison. She couldn't really tell at this point. Her body and mind weren't responding. They were hardly registering anything. Instead, she could only stand there and take it as her world got colder, darker and smaller with every passing second as Karin continued to exhale a merciless and endless winter wind over her body...

But then, right before Alison could freeze over completely and share Torhil's cruel fate, who should arrive but a strange, scrawny little man. Like Karin before him, he seemed simply to appear right from the heart of the night itself. With what was either a battle cry or a shriek of terror, he swung what appeared to be a large peel, an object used to retrieve food from an oven, at the Ice Witch. It hit its mark and caused her to collapse. She was by no means dead, scarcely even wounded, but because the blow had been so unexpected and so hard, despite how scrawny the man who had hit her was, the Ice Witch still collapsed to her knees. Unable to complete her icy magic, Alison quickly began to thaw and her mind and mobility returned to her as fast as they had left.

"Whoa! Who is that?!" the vampire demanded once she finished thawing completely. She stared in confusion at the trembling, gangly man who was now clutching the large peel and shaking like a child. It almost looked like he was trying to hide behind his peel and he was so thin that Alison thought he might actually be able to pull it off! Alison felt the strong urge to protect him, but it was Sireen who made the first move.

"Sampson! Thank goodness!" Sireen cried. At her own feet were the Ice Witch's two harpy bodyguards. She must've dispatched of them while Sampson went to save Alison. Now, like their mistress, the two bird-women were face-down on the snowy ground.

"Ah! Yes! Ma'am! Sampson! That's me! I'm here! Sorry I'm late! But I made it!" Sampson's voice was trembly and high-pitched. He sounded more like a frightened child than an adult! He tried to salute Sireen and only ended up slapping himself in the head with his own peel. Alison wasn't sure whether to laugh or cringe. She opened her mouth to ask how Sireen knew him, but didn't get the chance before the Ice Witch and harpies all began to stir, slowly rising up from the icy ground. Sireen took charge once again, tone going from relieved to urgent.

"Sampson! Nå!" she cried, then she held out a hand and the man responded immediately. With shaking fingers, he tore something off of his neck and tossed it to Sireen, whimpering as he did so. The moment the object flew out of his hand, he went back to clutching at his peel like a lifeline while the Ice Witch and her minions slowly got to their feet.

"What sort of foolishness is this?" she hissed, voice sounding like a winter wind. Though it was clear she was enraged beyond words, for some reason, her tone still never rose above its soft and gentle hiss. Maybe she couldn't physically speak any louder? Alison didn't know. What did know, however, was that they were all in big trouble...

"Tyfonas, Thyella, attack!" the Ice Witch waved her hand and, at once, the harpies both lunged at Alison and her two new allies.

"Get back!" Alison thundered, clawing at the blue harpy, Tyfonas. Thyella, the orange harpy, leapt right over Alison and towards Sampson and Sireen. Sampson yelped and brought his peel up again. Thyella slammed right into it and, at the same time, Sireen forced a bit of her own magic out of her hand and right at the harpy. She was nowhere near as powerful as Karin, but some magic was better than no magic.

"Oh! You stupid little fools!" Karin growled, though whether she meant the harpies or Alison and company was up for debate. She said no more, however, choosing instead to wave her long, pale arms towards the dark sky. All at once, the falling snow became razor-sharp hail and the winds kicked up in speed, intensity and chill. Alison, Sireen and Sampson all cried out in pain and shock as they were suddenly attacked by a far fiercer foe than before: the winter wind itself. Karin, meanwhile, only chuckled softly, but it permeated through the howling winds and her three attackers heard her laughter loud and clear. Meanwhile, the harpies came in for another attack, unbothered by the gale raging around them.

"Pathetic, puny mortals! Do not dare defy your Ice Queen! I, Karin, am the one true leader of Isenhjelm. I am all that ever was and all that ever shall be and I will soon lead this realm as well! Kneel, and perhaps your deaths will be quick!" she commanded, trying to use the winds to force Alison, Sampson and Sireen to bow. "You cannot defeat the most powerful sorceress of two realms! Don't even try!" Karin continued, scoffing a little as she continued to wave her arms over her three struggling opponents. Her harpies screeched gleefully, also tormenting the trio in what was almost their way of bragging about their own superiority due to their relationship with the Ice Witch.

Alison hissed in pain as the ice stung her skin. She crouched down, extended her fangs and drew her shoulders back, ready to attack again, but no more violence was needed on her part. Instead, Sireen finished it off. She forced herself off her knees, holding up the mysterious object from Sampson's neck. The woman began to chant in some foreign language that Alison had never, in all her years and travels across the globe while being a vampire, heard even once before. Slowly, the thing in her hand began to glow, emitting a pink light. As though in a reply, something on the Ice Witch's chest began to glow as well, though it was a light blue instead of rosy pink. Then, the two harpies suddenly clutched their ears as though they had just heard a horrible, piercing noise. That was when Sireen uttered her next command over the buffeting winter wind.

"Alison! Grab the gem!" and Alison somehow knew what Sireen meant. She lunged forward at once, colliding with the Ice Witch.

"Ah! What's this?!" the Ice Witch hissed, but her anger turned to amusement quickly. "Foolish little vampire! Do you really think that just because you defeated death once that you will do so again?" she demanded. "What prize has my dear, foolish little Sireen promised you in exchange for your services? I warn you now that she will not be able to keep up with her promises to you. She was never even as half as powerful as I!" Karin raised her head haughtily. "Serve me! The better queen! And I can give you riches and powers beyond anything someone like you could ever even dream of!" Karin insisted, waving a hand and creating a glittering arch of snow over her head.

Alison felt a million replies dancing on the tip of her tongue, but her forced herself to swallow them all down. She still opened her mouth, but not to speak. Instead, she lunged forward again, sinking her fangs right into Karin's chest, teeth encircling the glowing object, the gem, embedded within smooth white chest. Alison then began to bite down, ignoring the Ice Witch's outraged and agonized screams. As Alison bit down, fangs sinking deeper and deeper into the Ice Witch's skin, she couldn't help but think about what a weird sensation it all was. Alison had bitten many people before, but none like this! Not only was the Ice Witch's skin cold and hard like ice, which meant it was actually really hard to break into, but it even tasted a bit like snow, cold and flavorless.

Then, once Alison did finally manage to pierce Karin's flesh, a cold stream of water met her mouth instead of the familiar tang of blood. Of course Alison knew it was going to be a very cold experience, but the fact that it didn't even taste like blood was what made it feel so strange to her. And whatever liquid it was that ran through Karin's veins, it was so cold it was more of a slush than a liquid. Then Alison had to continue to crack though the rest of the skin surrounding the gem. That really did feel like trying to bite through a solid block of ice. In short, it was one of the strangest experiences of Alison's life. That was saying something.

"Ah! You horrible, disgusting little monster!" Karin snarled, clawing at Alison and trying to get her off. Alison ignored these attacks.

"Me? A monster? Never!" the vampire tried to say sarcastically, but since her fangs were still buried in Karin's chest, it was hard to enunciate.

But at last, Alison finally got her fangs all the way around that chunk of skin and managed to crack it off of the Ice Witch's body. And that was another weird thing. Normal skin cut and peeled, this skin actually cracked. Alison felt it break off in her mouth and when she snapped her head back to finish the job, she left a small hole in the Ice Witch's chest. It was just a black circle, edges jagged, that lay within that pale, smooth, white skin. It might've been comical had the situation at hand not been so dire. The moment the gem tore out of the Ice Witch's chest, she gave an infuriated growl and she prepared herself to grab the gem back from Alison. Sireen, however, issued another command before Karin could attack.

"Nå!" and Alison somehow knew that it meant "now" and that was all the signal the vampire needed before tossing the gem right over shoulder, not even bothering to turn around to face Sireen. She knew she had thrown it hard enough that Sireen would catch it. And she did. All the while, Alison never took her eyes off the Ice Witch, still silently daring her to attack. At the same time, Sampson had attempted to take his own battle stance, still shaking, but holding his peel like a battle axe as the harpies staggered towards him, in pain but trying to protect their queen.

"Foooool!" Thyella croaked. She slashed weakly at Sampson and, unsurprisingly, missed.

"We will kill you! Rip your skin off your bones and send you back to our realm in pieces!" Tyfona managed to get a bit closer to Sampson, but like Thyella, she still wasn't able to land her hit.

"Oh no you don't!" Sampson squeaked bravely as he tried to fend off both of the harpies all by himself. He swung his peel back and forth threateningly. The Ice Witch finally turned her attention to Sampson and she began to exhale her icy breath over him.

"I've had enough of these stupid games!" Karin hissed. "You will submit to me one way or another!" she insisted, then she blew.

"NO!" without even realizing what she was doing, Alison lunged for the Ice Witch again, only this time, she did aim to hurt. She sunk her teeth into the back of Karin's smooth, flawless neck and, just as with her chest, the skin chipped away into a black hole. Sampson yelped, whipping around and whimpering again, reverting back into trying to use his pitiful paddle as a shield. He would fight the harpies, but the witch was scary.

"RUN!" Alison tried to command him, but he only shook his head, swinging the paddle again and slapping Karin right in the face before she could try to freeze him again. The Ice Witch shook this blow off better than before, however, and gave one sharp twist of her body, throwing Alison into Sampson and sending them both crashing to the ground. Instead of killing them, however, she turned back to Sireen.

"Thyella. Tyfona. Dinner is served," the Ice Witch hissed to her bodyguards, waving a dismissive hand towards Alison and Sampson.

"Yes, your majesty! It will be our PLEASURE!" they shrilled obediently in reply before turning on Alison and Sampson with hungry smiles.

While the bird-women closed in on the cowering Alison and Sampson, Karin made her way over to Sireen.

"Give them to me," she said simply. She extended a hand. All around them, a white storm raged. It was not as fierce as before, Karin's loss of the blue gem weakening her power slightly, but it was still blinding and bitterly cold.

"I did not surrender to you back home. What makes you think I'll surrender now?!" Sireen snarled in reply, clutching both gems to her chest.

"Foolish girl," was Karin's only response. "You did not win the war back home either. What makes you think you'll win now?" but Sireen only clutched the gems even closer to her chest, growling threateningly at the other witch towering over her.

An amused expression ghosted across Karin's deathly calm and pale visage before she shrugged disdainfully.

"Very well then," she said, but instead of trying to use her breath to freeze Sireen, she instead went for something faster. She snapped her fingers and conjured up a blade made of solid ice. She thrust it forward, aiming to skewer Sireen right through the heart, but even this attack was too slow because, while Sampson and Alison had been distracting the Ice Witch earlier, Sireen had been muttering another chant and when Karin finally went to confront Sireen, Sireen had the spell already ready.

Sireen thrust both of the gems back towards Karin, but not to surrender them. Instead, as she moved them forward, they both began to glow as brightly as twin suns. Karin hissed in pain, covering her eyes and dropping her ice blade, but it did no good. The light from the two gems only got brighter and brighter. The two rays of light, one pink and one blue, began enveloping the Ice Witch and squeezing her tighter and tighter until she was totally gone. In one last flash of light, Karin had vanished.

When the light from those two mysterious gems finally dimmed down, only the moonlight remained to illuminate that part of the forest. The Ice Witch was not the only thing to vanish, however. Instead, all of her ice and snow vanished as well. The ground was totally dry and hard again. The air was warm. Not a single speck of frost remained anywhere. The harpies were the only thing left and they, weakened and terrified by the defeat and the fact that they had been left behind by their mistress, fled at once. And they fled without so much as a single caw or screech, fear clouding their minds and making escape the only thing that mattered to them at the moment. Alison and Sampson survived totally unscathed just because the harpies had been too afraid to do more than run, no Ice Witch to save them now. Slowly, then, the vampire got to her feet, helping Sampson up to his. Sireen approached them both with a relieved and grateful smile. The Ice Witch was gone.

"Did we do it? Did we kill her?" Alison was the first to speak. Not even the smallest of snowflakes was still in the air or on the ground.

"Alas, no, but we did send her back to my realm," Sireen promised, looking satisfied enough.

"And that's a good thing?" Alison was mystified. Hadn't this woman just finished explaining what a plague Karin was to her country?

"Not good, but better than leaving her here," Sireen clarified, understanding Alison's confusion. "She cannot be killed without finding a very special source of fire magic and that fire magic can only be properly wielded by the future nine that I was telling you about. For that, I think it better to send her back to my realm for the time being, where she can do no harm to this world, and wait until the nine can arrive," Sireen did sound remorseful, leaving her people to suffer again at the icy hands of Karin, but she had a point about it being best if they left Karin away from the mansion so that, whenever these future nine heroes would arrive, there would be a mansion left for them to save.

"But Alison, could you check and make sure the harpies have totally gone?" Sireen asked suddenly. "I know they will return eventually, but I want to know if, tonight, they will try to attack us again."

"Of course," Alison replied, then she darted off into the night after where the harpies had fled. While Alison was gone, Sireen turned to Sampson at once, a serious expression on her face. She hadn't just sent Alison to make sure they weren't being spied upon, she had sent Alison away in order to have a private and secret exchange between herself and Sampson.

Firstly, Sireen returned the pink gem to the cowardly man, tying it back around his neck. Then she slipped a small scroll into a pocket on the inside of the old shirt he wore. Lastly, she handed him what looked like a compass, something blue shining inside of it. She whispered instructions into his ear about what to do with the compass. Once she was done, she pulled away and thanked him with a smile and a kiss to the forehead and he giggled bashfully in reply. He really was so like a child!

"I think we are safe for tonight, Alison," Sireen called as she pulled away from Sampson. The vampire heard Sireen call to her and came running back. She still didn't look convinced, but Sireen managed to assuage her fears. "I think that this defeat will be crushing enough to them that they won't attack again tonight and, with any luck, will be too afraid to attack again unless they have someone more powerful behind them. It will happen eventually, especially since we will need to open up a portal to reach Karin again but, for now, I think the harpies are a neutralized threat. They'll be too scared to attack anyone on their own. At least for awhile."

"And you're sure about that?" Alison double-checked, still trying to hear the strains of the harpies' screeching.

"I am," Sireen promised. "And now, I think it's time you and Sampson returned to your mansion..." she added with a look at the large building.

"But what about you?" Alison asked.

"I will stay here. With him. Until the heroes arrive," Sireen answered with a small, sad smile, looking back at Torhil. His body had miraculously remained unscathed during the chaotic battle with Karin.

"Surely you could come inside at least once?" Alison continued to press, not wishing to lose one of her new allies just yet.

"I would rather not," Sireen continued to pull, not wishing to go into a place full of strangers she didn't trust and leave her closest friend behind. Besides, although she was no ice witch, she was still from an icy realm, so the idea of going into a warm mansion instead of remaining in the chilly woods was quite unappealing to her. She had set up home outside for a reason, besides keeping Torhil's frozen body company.

"Well, if you're sure then," Alison still sounded reluctant to go, but when Sireen only waved her on.

"You do have to escort Sampson back safely, after all, Alison. You cannot remain out here either," she reminded the vampire. Alison conceded to this. Though she would've been happy to spend the night outside with Sireen, Sireen had a point that Sampson was going to need someone to help him home safely, especially if the harpies were still around. Even if they weren't keen on another battle, they would still be likely to try and attack Sampson if he was entirely alone. This thought nestled in Alison's brain and her protector mode switched on at once.

"You're right," she told Sireen seriously. "I'll go back with him. I can keep him safe. I'll look after him."

"Good, thank you," Sireen sounded genuinely grateful as she smiled both at Alison and Sampson, affection in her dark eyes.

"It was an honor to fight by your side," the vampire told Sireen with a respectful curtsey.

"The honor was all mine, brave, warrior princess," Sireen replied. Not to be outdone, her curtsey was even deeper than Alison's had been. The two exchanged looks full of respect, admiration and a desire to work together again some time, then Alison turned a much gentler, sympathetic gaze to Sampson. She put an arm around his shoulder and when he met her eyes, still shaking a bit, she looked back over in the direction of the mansion.

"Shall I escort you back home?" she asked him and he nodded in relief, relaxing for the first time that night. His shoulders seemed so much lower now that they weren't all bunched up by his ears from fear. Sireen smiled at him fondly and watched him and Alison go back to the mansion. She didn't stop watching until she saw them shut the door behind themselves.

But while Sireen remained outdoors, going back to her private little house in the forest, Alison took Sampson right back to the kitchens.

"Ah, thank you milady, but this is where you can go!" he stuttered, voice still high-pitched and shaky. This time, it wasn't from fear, but rather, general nervousness. He wrung his hands. He felt bashful, standing in the presence of another one of his brave, selfless, sacrificial and caring protectors. He wasn't used to having positive female figures in his life, or any positive figure at all for that matter, so to find friends and guardians in both Sireen and Alison had been like a miracle to him. He was almost feeling overwhelmed by it all. No one had ever been so nice to him before!

"Actually, Sampson, before I go, I'd like to just ask you a few questions," the vampire replied and, all at once, Sampson's nervous smile became a nervous frown. "Oh, don't worry, I promise I won't pry, I'm just curious to know how you came to this mansion," Alison promised gently, seeing the way he had shrunk down under such an open remark of scrutiny.

"Oh! That! Well, y'see, miss princess, I came here with my boss and old mum, the Gingerbread Woman!" then the nervous man was off, speaking through stuttered sentence after stuttered sentence about his life...

He had spent his whole life in London's underbelly, living on the streets. It was a very scary, lonely, miserable existence, but there came a time in his early years that he got the wild idea to go to France, believing life might be better in the fancy and majestic streets of Paris than here in the dingy sewers of London. He managed to stow away on a cargo ship and reach France, but life wasn't much better there either. At least not until he met the Gingerbread Woman. (Her real name was Jaqueline, but she claimed that the name was "too serious" and instead preferred to go by her title of "the Gingerbread Woman". Her nickname, Jackie, was ok, she said, but it still wasn't as fun as her title).

She and Sampson crossed paths when Sampson had been staring longingly into her bakery, a hungry look in his eyes. Taking pity on such a poor, scrawny, ugly little boy, the Gingerbread Woman became his mother from that day on, having him help her run the bakery. But it wasn't nearly as nice a tale as it sounded, for as pretty and sweet as the Gingerbread Woman was, she could be terribly cruel and she had picked on Sampson all his life, mostly for being too slow, scared, stupid or scrawny to do what she'd asked properly, but with nowhere else to go, Sampson remained at her side well into adulthood, leading to today. He wasn't exactly happy with her, but he still had no other option, so...

He could not remember how long ago it had been since he had first set foot into this mansion, but he did know for a fact that it was after the arrival of Alison, but before the arrival of Sireen (who had arrived sooner, about a week ago). Alison just hadn't noticed Sampson or Sireen's arrivals since they had both come during a day hour, when Alison would've been asleep, and JPG would've been too busy to keep a lookout. Additionally, since Sireen was hidden in the outdoors and since Sampson and the Gingerbread Woman were always in the kitchen, that would explain how Alison never met them even after they'd moved into the mansion.

So Sampson had no clear date for his, or Sireen's, arrival to the mansion. He just remembered living in Germany at the time, the Gingerbread Woman having set up her latest bakery there. That was when the Sorceress came in. She had offered the Gingerbread Woman all the dough she could ever want (both in literal and monetary terms) in exchange for her cooking. The Gingerbread Woman, intrigued by some of the recipes in the Sorceress' cookbook that she had conjured out of thin air, had agreed. Sampson, himself, never got to see the recipe, but apparently it was a really good meat pie, and meat pies were the way to the Gingerbread Woman's heart, so she had sealed the deal with the Sorceress and, after dragging Sampson by the ear with her into the black carriage waiting for them outside, the two had been living in the mansion's kitchen ever since.

"Now, it's just like it always used to be!" Sampson shrilled nervously, twiddling his fingers as he spoke to Alison. "She and I bake all day and eat and sleep all night! Just like old times! Hehehehe!" but he sounded very nervous. It was partly because he was worried that the Gingerbread Woman would hear him and yell at him for either being up past his bedtime, bad-talking her, or talking to a stranger he'd just randomly let into the kitchen. But the other part of his fear stemmed from something that Sireen had told him...

"And how did you happen to meet Sireen?" Alison asked next.

"Well, she ran into me one day when I was disposing of some of the trash we'd accumulated from that day of baking the Gingerbread Woman's special meat pies!" Sampson explained. "She caught me struggling through the dark to throw the waste away and offered to help me. She was so very nice and friendly to me and she offered to help me with the trash for every night after if I would help her find that mean old Ice Witch bully and get rid of her, and so we did!" Sampson bounced a little on his feet, clearly feeling quite happy about the outcome of their little adventure.

Underneath that smile, however, Sampson was still hiding a secret. It was what Sireen had told him. What he failed to mention to Alison was that what really attracted Sireen's eye wasn't just his predicament, it was the pink gem he wore around his neck. She had come to him, telling him that it was a very precious gem indeed and that she needed to borrow it.

Of course, at first, he had been horrified by such an idea, the necklace having been a gift from the Gingerbread Woman. She'd given it to him when he was just entering into his teen years. Apparently, she'd nabbed it off of some kid whom she'd caught thieving from her store. She never did say what happened to that kid, but she decided to take the necklace as a bit of revenge, but then she gave it to Sampson not long after. So when Sireen was asking for Sampson to give the necklace to her, she was asking him to give away something that did still technically belong to the Gingerbread Woman and, as Sampson well knew, she did not take kindly to thieves. What's more, he didn't dare ever get rid of any gift the Gingerbread Woman gave him just because she would've, doubtless, seen this as a great offense. She had a knack for punishing him whenever he committed these crimes, so he tried not to ever commit them in the first place. In short, that necklace was his and his alone.

But that had been when Sireen had promised that she had no interest in keeping the gem, just borrowing it. And she even promised that he could wear it the whole time because she didn't really need to wear the necklace herself, she just needed to be able to have the gem nearby when she worked a magic spell. This had alarmed Sampson again, but when Sireen was able to prove she was a good and kind witch, unlike the crazy and creepy one that had brought him into this mansion in the first place, and once she promised to help him deal with the Gingerbread Woman and her abuse, he had agreed to let her use his necklace just this one time. That led to the whole event Alison had stumbled upon. In exchange for being around Sireen when she used his necklace for her spell, Sireen would try and pacify the Gingerbread Woman and divert her wrath from Sampson more often, should such incidences ever occur.

That had been why this night had been Alison's first time seeing Sireen. Sireen had, before this night, spent most of her time in hiding, but because she had finally conjured up that plan to steal the Ice Witch's main power source, the blue gem, she had forced herself out of hiding to go and find another gem to use, leading her to Sampson, leading her to make a deal to have him help her get rid of the Ice Witch in exchange for more protection against the Gingerbread Woman. Alison hadn't run into Sireen by chance, she'd accidently walked in on an ambush. She, in the end, however, proved to be a great asset to that ambush and Sireen had no doubt that the plan might not have gone as smoothly if it hadn't been for Alison's unexpected, unplanned arrival. But as useful and helpful as Alison had proven herself that night, because Alison was still not originally or technically part of the plan, Sireen had made Sampson promise not to tell her about the gems, hence their private exchange while Alison made sure the harpies were truly gone. Intent upon keeping that vow, Sampson never once mentioned any of this as he answered Alison's questions. So maybe Alison knew that the gems were magical. What she didn't know was that one of them belonged to Sampson and that the other had been hidden away in the little compass device Sireen had left him...

Alison, meanwhile, nodded slowly. It didn't even occur to her that there were some parts of his story he was intentionally leaving out due to his promise to Sireen. It saddened her to think that someone as sweet and innocent as Sampson was, in effect, stuck in an abusive relationship with his parent, but because she really could not do much to help him except keep him company, she forced herself not to show too much grief over the man's predicament. Instead, she tried to revert her thoughts back to the summary of his story, rather than the tragic details.

"Very well," she muttered at last. "I suppose that was all I wanted to ask you," then she straightened up, taking a step away from the nervous man. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, making sure to hide her fangs. She wasn't sure how well he would take it if he found out she was a vampire. Sure, he'd befriended Sireen, but Sireen was still technically human. She just knew a few spells. So, with a closed-mouth smile, Alison patted the baker fondly on his shoulder before excusing herself from the kitchen.

"Oh! And would you like a cupcake before you go? They were all freshly made today!" Sampson cried out before Alison could get too far away. Genuinely touched by the sincerity and earnestness in his voice, Alison had pretty much been forced to say yes, even though she did not eat human food. But of course she couldn't say no when Sampson looked so proud to be giving Alison something in exchange for the protection she'd given him during their battle with the Ice Witch, so Alison took the cupcake graciously.

"Thank you, Sampson, it looks wonderful," she promised. "And if you don't mind, I think I will eat it later. I'm kind of tired right now. Will that be alright?" she asked him politely, gently.

"Oh! Yes! Of course! Just as long as you like it!" Sampson nodded, grinning from ear to ear as Alison took the cupcake. He just looked so proud of himself that Alison could only nod.

"I'm sure I'll love it," she promised, then she took leave of the kitchen, Sampson eagerly waving her goodbye as she left.

Chapter Text

"So what do you think she's planning?" JPG asked Alison as she finished the last of Sampson's cupcake. She had been a little more than surprised when Alison had come into her automaton lab bearing a cupcake, but she wasn't going to complain! JPG just hadn't even realized that the mansion had a bakery! Sure, she'd eaten the food that came from the normal kitchens, but it sounded like the place where the cupcake had come from was a special kitchen that only Sampson, or the Gingerbread Woman herself, could access. That made a bit of sense, though. The Gingerbread Woman wasn't the mansion's one and only cook, she was just the main proprietor of sweet stuff, and JPG supposed that she was highly protective of her recipes, hence why her kitchen was separate from the main one where JPG, Cedric and all the other humans of the estate got all their food.

"Who? The Sorceress or the Gingerbread Woman?" Alison replied, JPG's question rousing her from her thoughts.

"Both, honestly," JPG shrugged. "Think the Gingerbread Woman will give me more cupcakes if I ask?" she joked, but she did look quite forlorn as she tossed the now-empty cupcake wrapper away.

"I don't think I would go there," Alison replied seriously. "There's something not right about that woman..." the vampire shook her head darkly. She'd already told JPG about the incident with the Ice Witches last night, and then she told JPG about her run-in with Sampson in his kitchen, so JPG at least had a bit of understanding that the Gingerbread Woman wasn't exactly the warm and fluffy type, like the way her cupcakes were. But JPG still smacked her lips hungrily, regretful that the Gingerbread Woman wasn't more open about her kitchen. But, the young inventor supposed, the regular kitchen could produce pastries too, so it wasn't like there was a sugar shortage within the estate.

"You can't blame a girl for trying," JPG replied to Alison with a small smile and, despite herself, Alison chuckled in agreement.

"But that Sorceress, though," the vampire sobered up as she continued to think about the Gingerbread Woman and the Ice Witch, both of whom had been employed by the Sorceress over these past few... well, years, Alison was going to guess. But it could've been more or less than that. And since neither Sampson nor Sireen seemed to know what year it was, or what year it had been when they arrived to the mansion, who even knew?

JPG, however, pretended to put on a despairing face.

"Oh! No! Not the Sorceress again!" she pretended to swoon over her workbench. "Seriously, Alison, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love with that woman, all the thinking and talking you do about her!" the inventor joked. Alison knew JPG was only teasing, but the mere thought of being in a relationship with someone like the Sorceress was enough to make Alison hiss. She would rather be in a relationship with Vera! And that was saying something because Alison couldn't stand Vera! (But at least Vera was kind of pretty...)

"Absolutely not," the vampire muttered at last, JPG laughing heartily at her involuntary hiss at the idea of dating the Sorceress.

"I think it would be cute!" JPG replied, trying to egg the vampire on more, but Alison only rolled her eyes.

"It would be as bad as you and Cedric," she replied, and all at once, JPG's humored expression changed to one of abject horror.

"I'd rather be with one of those spider-women! At least they're hot in human form!" JPG cried, looking thoroughly repulsed at the idea of being with Cedric. Now it was Alison's turn to laugh heartily at JPG's expense will the young inventor pretended to puke.

At last, however, the joke ended and Alison returned to her original topic. The Sorceress.

"Just like always," JPG sighed under her breath, but she continued to listen to Alison's speculations. Although the inventor still had serious doubts that the Sorceress was any real threat or villain, she was at least starting to agree with the vampire that there was definitely something big going on here. The evidence was all too clear. Bringing in vampires, werewolves, spiders, armies and witches? Maybe the Gingerbread Woman seemed a bit out of place, all things considered, but perhaps the Sorceress just liked sweets? But who could blame her? The Gingerbread Woman was a killer cook! And although JPG really was trying to focus on Alison's talk, she found herself longing for another cupcake...

More time passed and while JPG did eventually get her wish of obtaining more cupcakes, thanks to Alison's friendship with Sampson, Alison, herself, was left unsatisfied. She continued to try and learn more about the Sorceress' plans, but the woman was way too secretive for Alison to be able to find anything more than tail ends, dead ends or clues to nothing. It was frustrating, a wild goose chase, but what could Alison do except keep trying? She didn't want to just wait around until another clue popped up!

Alison did attempt to make contact with Sireen again, but Sireen refused to show herself, insisting that the only solution to this puzzle would come with time. It hadn't been an answer that Alison had liked, but when enough years came and went without success, the vampire finally had to agree. She still wasn't admitting total defeat, but she did acknowledge that maybe Sireen had a point. Maybe, instead of wasting time and effort trying to solve this mystery alone, it would be more beneficial for her to help prepare the place for those nine heroes? If they really were going to be the ones to take on the Sorceress, they were going to need all the help they could get, and Alison wouldn't be able to be a good guide to them if she spent more time trying to track down the Sorceress than make things ready for the heroes.

Though, Alison's patience was somewhat rewarded in the time to follow (was it months, years, decades or even centuries?). There finally came a time when no more new inhabitants came to the mansion. Sure, black carriages still came in every month, but those were only the ones containing humans for the inhabitants to eat. Alison still hated knowing what those carriages contained, but even she wouldn't be reckless enough to defy the entire vampire court to save a carriage full of humans.

Much as she wanted to, she knew such open rebellion would likely land her in hot water either with the Sorceress or Dorian and neither of those people were good ones to anger. Not if Alison wanted to be around long enough to meet and help the nine heroes from the future. For that, Alison could only hope that they would arrive soon and that, when they did, Alison would know which group it was so that she could save them from Dorian's fangs. (Admittedly, Alison had tried to save a few guests before and, over the years, she did actually manage to get quite a few people out of harm's way, but the number of deaths far outweighed the number of lives and they never stopped being a burden on Alison's mind. She couldn't wait for Sireen's heroes to come and put an end to the monthly slaughter!)

But that was where at least one small good thing came out of all of it. With the black carriages only being used to transport human meat, that meant that there were no more new, dangerous inhabitants. At long last, Alison dared to believe, and maybe even hope, that the Ice Witches and Gingerbread Woman were the last of it and that there would be no more new employees to the Sorceress. It had been a long time now, after all, since the mansion last saw a real member come in through its doors, and even though there had often been long pauses between each visitor, from what Alison could tell, those gaps had never been as long as this one.

Something in Alison told her that the last visitor had arrived and even though she couldn't tell for sure, the longer the time stretched on without anyone else coming in, the surer Alison became. She may not have been able to mark exactly how long it had been since the Sorceress had sent someone to this mansion, but she was able to tell that it had been long enough that saying that the Sorceress was done bringing in more goons was now realistic. Alison took that time to make a list of all the mansion's inhabitants. Maybe the Sorceress was ready to start a Phase Two?

But before Alison even considered that as a possibility, she made a little mental list of who was already in the mansion. Of course, Alison knew that the number was insanely high, but most of that came from the menial labor. It came from the cooks, maids, cleaners, groundskeepers and servants. Alison wasn't counting them. She was counting the honored guests. The ones the Sorceress had come to personally, offering a deal to in exchange for some valuable service. These were the people that the Sorceress had finally decided upon titling as her lieutenants. From what Alison could tell, there were seven of them now living in the mansion.

Number one was Dorian, number two was Jorogumo, three was Cash, four was the Gingerbread Woman, five was the Ice Witch, six was Cedric and seven were the werewolves. And Alison knew for a fact that she had numbered them correctly because she did manage to eavesdrop on the Sorceress and one of her personal, private guards once and she found out that the Sorceress was not ranking the lieutenants based on order of arrival. Instead, there was another deeper pattern. Alison just had yet to crack it.

But, as if to make things more complicated, Alison once heard a rumor that there was also supposed to be an eighth lieutenant, though no one was able to give anymore information than that. There was no description of location or origin or appearance, just a whisper that seven was not the Sorceress' final number. To be honest, though, Alison didn't even know if this eighth lieutenant had been found yet at all, or if it was just someone voicing a future goal of the Sorceress' or if it had just been a hoax/joke/trick/rumor all along. All Alison knew was that there were currently seven, maybe eight, lieutenants in the mansion, each of them receiving a number not based on when they arrived here (if that had been so, Dorian would've been fourth lieutenant after Cash, the wolves and Cedric, not first), but upon something else that Alison just wasn't getting.

"Maybe it's based upon job status within the mansion?" JPG had suggested once. "I mean, your dad's a king and he's the top lieutenant. Cedric's a lowly clockwork builder and he's six and the only one below him are the wolves who, according to you, are mere groundskeepers, practically serfs!" the inventor smirked a little, levitating a foot off the ground. She was still refining her jetpack, trying to get it to float in one place without catching the ground beneath it on fire. It appeared that she'd finally found a good fuel source to allow such levitation to be possible.

"That's actually a really good theory," Alison allowed.

"But you're going to shoot it down anyway?" JPG snorted, coming back down. "And don't lie, I can hear that tone in your voice."

"Ok, I confess," Alison admitted apologetically. "But I just mean that if that were the case, I feel like the Ice Witch should've be higher up and the Gingerbread Woman lower down, so it's got to be some other pattern between them."

"True," JPG allowed. "Maybe it has to do with proximity to the heart of the mansion? Like, your dad lives right on the ground level and-"

"But then that leaves us the question of why Karin is five and Cedric is six since Cedric lives within the mansion itself," Alison cut JPG off.

"Oh. Right," JPG's shoulders slumped a little, but then they perked right back up again. "Oh well! Can't think of anything else!" she said. She really wasn't anywhere near as invested in this conspiracy theory as her vampire companion was, and it was showing. Instead, she went right back on tinkering with her jetpack! It really didn't need any touch ups anymore, but JPG was too fond of it to not work on it pretty much every day.

"Nor can I," Alison replied in frustration. "Nor can I."

"Well. The Sorceress hasn't even been here in a long time, has she?" JPG asked next. Although no one kept track of anyone else's coming and going, JPG had to admit that it felt like it had been an unusually long time since last she'd seen the Sorceress prowling around the mansion. "Maybe she is looking for that eighth lieutenant, or maybe she's building new mansions. Or do you think she got tired of us? Were we a collection she wanted to complete? Or just one of many other bases of operation?" JPG continued to speculate but Alison could only shake her head. It worried her, the idea that the Sorceress was, in fact, building other mansions, but how would any of them have any way of finding out? The only way to leave the mansion was if one had access to the black carriages and the only way to get access to those was to have the Sorceress around.

As the Sorceress had been absent from the mansion for quite awhile now, no one had been able to leave the estate. Even Alison was stuck inside now, her old hunts out into the real world coming to a stop. Now she was forced to join in Dorian's sickening hunting parties, though she flat-out refused to harm any of the guests. Instead, she only drank what the other vampires saved and bottled up after the main slaughter was long-over. It still made Alison sick to her stomach to drink the blood of innocents, but with her access to the black carriages gone, she had no other option for a viable food source. JPG would occasionally donate some of her own blood, but Alison tried not to indulge in that too much.

"Who can say?" Alison replied at last to JPG's theories about where the Sorceress had gone. Although all of them were reasonable, not a single one could actually be proven by any of them.

Alison had spent the past indefinite stretch of time trying to learn more about the Sorceress' motives, taking advantage of her mysteriously long absence to explore every nook and cranny of the mansion, but still nothing had revealed itself to her. That journal Sireen had mentioned was nowhere to be found, nor was Sireen herself. It was just Alison and JPG, and sometimes Sampson, but his boss was even stricter than JPG's. At least Cedric let Alison hang out with JPG. The Gingerbread Woman wouldn't even do that, punishing Sampson whenever he brought uninvited guests into the kitchen. They had all learned that the hard way when, one night, the Gingerbread Woman had caught Alison trying to sneak JPG into the kitchen to meet Sampson.

"And just what is going on here?!" the large woman boomed, flicking on the lights to the kitchen. Alison, Sampson and JPG all covered their eyes on reflex. "Sampson! Have you been bringing guests in here without my permission?! And past service hours?!" the woman sounded aghast, as though some great scandal had been revealed to her.

"What? No! Mum! No! Never!" Sampson tried to plead, but his legs were shaking so badly that his lie was brighter than the lights illuminating the large kitchen. The Gingerbread Woman, towering over JPG, Alison and Sampson all, put her meaty hands on her wide hips and scowled down in disgust and anger at all of them, tutting sharply.

"Now this will never do! I will have to punish you!" she insisted. She grabbed a nearby rolling pin and raised it over Sampson's head.

"NO!" for a second time, without even thinking, Alison lunged at Sampson's would-be attacker.

"Ah! Good gracious me!" the Gingerbread Woman exclaimed, dropping the rolling pin as she felt Alison grab onto her neck.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" Alison snarled. Maybe to some, it would be unfounded to ever harm a measly cook, but Alison did not care. This was no ordinary cook. This was also an abuser, and abuse was never, never, NEVER justified. Alison's rage nearly got the best of her and she felt her fangs extending out of her mouth, right over the Gingerbread Woman's flabby neck.

"NO!" it was only JPG's cry that saved the Gingerbread Woman that night. Hearing JPG call out to her, Alison came to her senses at once and quickly hopped off the Gingerbread Woman's back before the temptation to bite came back. She instantly bowed her head, but she did not apologize, nor did she plead forgiveness or innocence. Instead, although she addressed the Gingerbread Woman with respect and politeness, she spoke very, very curtly. This speech was not her way of apologizing to the crazed cook, it was her way of warning her.

"Although I do regret allowing my control to slip, I do not regret what caused it to do so," Alison began frostily, eyes cold and hard. "You threatened to bring physical harm to an innocent human for a small mistake that he has already apologized for. I see no reason for you to continue to press your charges against him, especially in such a physically brutal manner!"

"And what right do you have to tell me what to do in my own kitchen?" the Gingerbread Woman spat back. Although Alison's attack had surprised and scared her a little, it didn't take her very long to regain composure.

"I am the princess of the vampires, daughter of the king who runs this entire estate, put in place by the Sorceress herself! I have the highest right of all! What right do you have to be asking this of me?" Alison shot back, giving the Gingerbread Woman a villainous and fanged grin. She always loved when people would demand what right she had over them. The answer was always: quite a lot.

For a split second, the Gingerbread Woman looked scared, almost humbled, but once again, it didn't take her long to regain composure.

"Well then you, of all people, should understand the importance of discipline and keeping those beneath you in line!" she cried. "You of all people should support my desire to punish my unruly child!"

"There is a difference between punishment and abuse, ma'am," Alison crossed her arms, hissing a little.

"What does it matter to a vampire?" the Gingerbread Woman was growing annoyed now and she waved a dismissive hand at Alison.

Behind Alison, JPG finally opened her mouth to speak, outraged by the Gingerbread Woman's harsh remark about Alison's species. She had just been about to engage the Gingerbread Woman in a new argument to defend Alison's honor, but Alison raised a hand to stop her.

"A vampire though I may be," she began dangerously. "I do not harm my victims. And the ones who do suffer do so only to feed our kind. We kill to live, the same way a farmer slaughters his cattle for meat. I do what I must to survive, but what about you? Do you need to harm Sampson in order to survive?" Alison narrowed her eyes.

And that had been the first time Alison had ever told Sampson that she was a vampire. Although he had been afraid at first, JPG was able to calm him down and remind him what a good person Alison was at heart. What's more, JPG had reasoned, Alison had already proven her goodness and loyalty during the battle with Karin. And even tonight, Alison's sharp tongue and quick wit had managed to make even the great and mighty Gingerbread Woman submit. Although she hadn't wanted to, after hearing Alison threaten to tell her father about the Gingerbread Woman's transgressions over herself and her friends, the Gingerbread Woman had been forced to let the issue drop. Cruel as she was, even she wasn't dumb enough to challenge a vampire, let alone one who was also the princess of the estate. Instead, wanting to keep her job, and her life, the Gingerbread Woman skulked off, grumbling a surrender to Alison's demands in defeat.

The Gingerbread Woman had gone to bed after that, but in a last-ditch effort to retain some level of power and control over the situation, she made tried to threaten Sampson just one last time.

"If I ever catch you pulling a stunt like this again, I won't be so forgiving next time, you got it?" she demanded, trying to look as scary as possible. JPG and Alison were unfazed, but Sampson nodded hard enough that they thought his head would fall off.

"Yes mum!" he whimpered.

"Good!" the Gingerbread Woman glared at him, but behind him, Alison let out a very loud scoff, reminding the woman that she had no power here anymore. The Gingerbread Woman, knowing that her glares wouldn't work on Alison, proceeded to turn away from her and Sampson and JPG, exiting the kitchen and returning to her bedroom right next door, making sure to slam the door loudly, but Alison and JPG were still unfazed.

From that night on, Alison just made sure to be more careful when she visited Sampson.

"We aren't just going to stop visiting you!" she promised as soon as the Gingerbread Woman was gone. "How could we be so cruel as to?"

"Yeah! She did say if she ever caught us again she'd punish you, but she has to catch us first!" JPG agreed gleefully, and so Sampson was able to keep his newfound friends, which was a great relief to him. What's more, in time, Alison and JPG came to realize that the Gingerbread Woman discovering them on that first visit to Sampson had been nothing more than bad luck, a glitch in a spell...

"Don't worry!" Sampson had chirped one night after JPG had dropped a rather large pot to the ground. "Sireen kept her promise and put a spell over the Gingerbread Woman so that every time she goes to bed, as long as no sunlight touches her afterward, she remains asleep! Sometimes I leave her asleep for days at a time!" the man seemed very pleased with himself and even Alison had been forced to smile, glad that Sireen was keeping her promise to protect Sampson even though she had since gone back into hiding.

Alison was also relieved to hear that Sampson now had some small way of controlling his abuser. Turns out, that first night Alison and JPG came to visit, the spell hadn't been "fully on" so to speak, and that had been why the Gingerbread Woman had heard them creeping in. Her bedroom was right next to the kitchen, after all. But every night after that, the spell had held strong. That was why JPG could drop a large pan and Sampson wouldn't be troubled by it.

"She's fixed her spell up some!" Sampson continued to singsong. "So that close calls like the first time won't happen again!" that had been very good news to Alison and JPG.

"I'm still sorry I made such a mess," JPG laughed embarrassedly as she picked up the pot. There had been some jelly filling in it. JPG had knocked it over in her attempt to scrape some out of the bottom.

"Don't worry about that! It's just nice to have friends to talk to!" Sampson hummed in reply, cleaning up JPG's mess with a merry smile upon his face. He handed her another cupcake, which she was more than happy to wolf down on, despite feeling bad for making such a noise and such a mess. But hey! If Sampson was ok with it, then so was JPG! Alison could only roll her eyes, silently wondering how it was that JPG had yet to gain a single pound after all the sweets Sampson had loaded her with.

"My blood is going to be so sugary next time you feed!" JPG had whispered to Alison in delight as she devoured another little cake.

"Shhhh!" was Alison's only reply, but JPG only grinned cheekily before taking another giant bite into her latest pastry...

Meanwhile, in the bedroom attached to the kitchen, the Gingerbread Woman continued to snore, just as promised by Sireen's magic. Of course, Sampson never left her asleep for too long, knowing that even Sireen's spells had their limits and the Gingerbread Woman would always wake up again eventually, but he took advantage of Sireen's protection where he could and it made his lowly life just a bit better. He had also tried to use the Gingerbread Woman's now-heavy sleeping habits to help Alison and JPG in their own little quests, but he had yet to find anything regarding the lieutenants. He had no idea why the Gingerbread Woman was the fourth lieutenant, he just knew that she was. He also had no clue where the Sorceress had gone either, but he was certainly glad she wasn't in the mansion anymore.

"I don't care if she stays away forever!" he declared to Alison and JPG one night. "Even if I don't think she's that evil, she's definitely mean, and a lot like the Gingerbread Woman, so I don't mind if she never comes home!" and he seemed so passionate about his opinion that Alison didn't have the heart to remind him that if she ever failed to return, they might all be stuck in that mansion forever. Without her, there were no black carriages. Without the carriages, there was no escape. Alison had tried once before out of sheer curiosity and she had since found out that it was literally, physically impossible to walk out of the estate.

When Alison tried to just walk out, there came a point when she hit a wall of endless fog. She walked through the fog for hours and hours, but got nowhere. When she finally admitted defeat and turned around, it had only taken her minutes to see the edge of the estate once more... Alison had wondered if the mansion itself wasn't in some alternate dimension with the boundaries of the estate being the entirety of the dimension. It would explain why the carriages were needed to leave. Alison wouldn't put it past the Sorceress at this point.

Upon a later night, though, when Alison and JPG chose to hang out in the lab instead of with Sampson, JPG came up with another theory.

"Hmmm, well, maybe she's visiting other realms again and got stuck in one?" the inventor laughed at the idea. Although she was even less wary of the Sorceress than Alison or Sampson, she couldn't help but enjoy coming up with the funnier theories, like this one. It amused her to imagine the Sorceress stuck in her own spell, kind of like when Cedric got stuck in his own dress-pants invention that one time! That had been funny!

"Doubtful," Alison replied darkly. Although she knew JPG was trying to make a funny, she still treated that possibility as a real one and decided that it was incredibly unlikely. There was no way a woman with the power to jump dimensions would be careless or unskilled enough to find a way to hop back out of them after entering. Right? But maybe she was dimension-jumping. Perhaps she was looking for her eighth lieutenant? Maybe it would come from another different dimension, just like the Ice Witches? Or maybe she was trying to build other mansions in other worlds and she had left this one in Dorian's care while she went to build those other mansions? It would go with the theory that there was more than one mansion, each acting as its own little base of operation. Alison had already since begun to wonder whether or not this mansion itself wasn't in some new dimension that the Sorceress had created specifically with the intent upon keeping them all stuck inside.

"But whatever it is, she's obviously building an army to conquer the world," the vampire continued. All theories and interdimensional mumbo-jumbo aside, that much was clear. Even timid little Sampson had agreed with the vampire on that, especially after that night he helped Sireen vanquish Karin. Alison then cast a sideways glance at the work table of Cedric. At long last, he'd finished setting up all the security in and around the estate and had started working upon the second thing that the Sorceress had asked him to build: robotic soldiers. They were underway, their giant metal frames sitting slumped up against one another on his table. The blueprints lying in front of them called them the Promethean Men.

"Well what? You want us to try and stop her?" JPG asked, seeing the way Alison was eyeing her boss' creations with such distrust. Although JPG honestly couldn't blame Alison, the Prometheans were pretty vicious-looking after all, she still took some level of pride in them because she'd helped build them and seeing Alison look at them with such obvious distrust stung just a little. Besides, it's what the Sorceress had hired them for! What did Alison expect? That they were just going to blow off their paid assignment just because they thought she was creepy?

"No, no. Not yet at least," Alison replied, missing JPG's hurt face as she continued to inspect the robotic soldiers that were being built. "I think we should wait and see where this goes, see if it really is all that bad. I don't want to make any rash or hasty decisions. Besides, if we do act too quickly, we run the risk of ruining our chances to know how to stop all of this if it does reach that point," the vampire continued to reason. "Better to wait and see than rush in blindly and do something regrettable..." she tapped on one of the Promethean's giant metal feet. No doubt, the monster would be terrifying once it was complete. It already looked kind of creepy and it was only a metal endoskeleton right now!

"Well, whatever you say, boss," JPG muttered, still a bit hurt by Alison's assessment of the Prometheans. Alison continued to remain too focused upon her conspiracy theories to notice the way JPG was frowning at her, hovering protectively over the Promethean Men. They were her babies! It wasn't their fault they were supposed to look intimidating! They were security bots, after all!

Chapter Text

But then, after one particularly disturbing discovery, JPG finally got on board with Alison's little pre-planned rebellion. After all that time, JPG finally began to see the evil that Alison had been theorizing about for the past indefinite stretch of time. For once, the inventor could no longer brush off Alison's petty little conspiracy theories as only that. Instead, she could only agree that not only was the Sorceress planning universal domination, but that she would get it too, and that she was a psychopath who would make a terrible leader once she managed to obtain such power! At long last, JPG went through a change of allegiance and decided, once and for all, that she was against the Sorceress.

Funny thing was, this change of allegiance happened on a very calm, gentle night. JPG and Alison had just been out, exploring the gardens, when the dark discovery was made.

"Hey! Alison! Check this out!" JPG was standing in a very, very tall tree, about to jump.

"If you fall, I'm not catching you," Alison deadpanned, looking up and crossing her arms. She did not fear for JPG's safety, knowing exactly what JPG was about to do. She was going to leap off, but activate her jetpacks at the last second and then go flying back up into the sky.

"I won't need you to catch me!" JPG replied proudly, then just as Alison had suspected, JPG jumped. Right off of the tree, she jumped.

Inches before she hit the ground, however, she switched on her jetpacks. Red and golden flames shot from the bottom of the jetpack and suddenly, JPG was airborne again, sailing through the night sky like a shooting star. A very large, very loud shooting star.

"Woo hoo!" she cheered as she arched across the sky. Alison, still stuck on the ground below, chuckled and rolled her eyes fondly.

"You reckless creature, you!" Alison whispered up at JPG's darkened outline.

For a few minutes more, JPG continued to fly circles around Alison, teasing her.

"Betcha wish you could fly too, huh? You jealous yet, Alison? Jealous that there's finally something a human can do that you can't?"

"Of course not," Alison shrugged, not even bothering to try and focus in on JPG because of how fast she was flying. "This isn't the first time a human has proven capable of doing something I cannot."

"Really? What other humans have you met that can fly?" JPG was genuinely interested.

"I wasn't referring to the power of flight," Alison replied. "I was referring to all the other skills that humans seem to possess, particularly you, that I, myself, cannot fathom. The first and foremost of those traits is unimaginable stupidity."

What followed was Alison teasing JPG on all the dumb and dangerous things she'd done in her life before talking about all the hilarious and embarrassing mess-ups the young inventor had endured as well.

"You're impatient, ignorant, foolish, stupid and hotheaded," Alison counted on her fingers. "Trust me, there are a lot of things you can do that I can't, like being crazy enough to jump off a tree, jetpack or no jetpack. I'm not jealous at all."

"Jerkface," JPG replied with a pout, but Alison only shrugged innocently. "Alright then, princess, let's see if you're so tough!" the inventor muttered, but before Alison could ask what that was supposed to mean, JPG had grabbed her by the armpits and lifted her straight off the ground.

"Whoa!" despite herself, Alison cried out when she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet.

"I added in some extra thrusters so I can carry someone else with me!" JPG shouted over the wind as she flew Alison higher and higher up. Alison lacked the voice to respond, a mix of fear and exhiliartion rising up in her chest as JPG soared her over the mansion. It was a beautiful view and a great sensation to fly, but being carried around by her armpits kind of hurt and JPG already admitted that she wasn't strong enough to carry Alison bridal style. It probably would've been better if JPG had let Alison use the jetpacks so that way Alison could carry JPG, but JPG was so possessive of her jetpacks that not even Alison was allowed to wear them, so the flight continued the way it began, with Alison being carried by the armpits by JPG as they soared across the starry sky...

At last, towards one area of the mansion's grounds that Alison didn't often visit, JPG spotted something in the far distance.

"Hey! Is that a house with a light on?" she asked, speaking louder than normal to be heard over to wind. Alison didn't respond at first, only narrowing her eyes to see. Yes! It was! There in the distance, high over the treetops, was what appeared to be a little house, and there was a candle flickering from within the house. Alison could see the light leaking out of the house and into the darkness surrounding it. It wasn't a very bright light, but it was enough for both her and JPG to see.

"Shall we explore?" JPG asked after Alison had confirmed to JPG that she wasn't hallucinating.

"Might as well," Alison replied, her own curiosity peaking as she and JPG continued to fly on. At last, they landed right within the doorframe. What met their eyes was the last thing they'd ever expected to see. It was a girl. She had gold hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and she wore a white dress. What really caught Alison and JPG's attention, however, was not the way the girl looked. Nor was it the fact that she was here in this little treehouse. It was the fact that she was trapped in what appeared to be a glass box. The moment she saw Alison and JPG land in the doorway of the tree house, she began to pound wildly on the glass holding her in place. The message was clear. She wanted out.

"Holy sweet nuts and bolts!" JPG muttered as she brushed past Alison to inspect the glass box. It was totally flawless and seamless, like one giant, solid cube of glass instead of six rectangular panels all attached together at the edges. The girl inside was still crying, still banging frantically on the glass walls of her tomb.

"What is this?" Alison demanded softly, joining JPG at her side. So many emotions were in Alison's voice that even she couldn't tell what she was feeling right now. All she knew was that something was very wrong here.

"What is this?" she repeated. "Who is this? And how and why did it happen?!" now she was starting to sound angry, but when the girl met her eyes, Alison saw so much misery, fear and hurt that her own anger changed to pure sympathy and protectiveness.

Alison's scowl of anger and disbelief morphed into a frown of gentleness and concern at once. She raised her hands and tried to get the girl in the box to look at her again. She mouthed for the girl to calm down.

"Shhh, shhhh, shhhhh, it's ok, it's ok!" she murmured, stepping closer to the glass and trying to keep the girl's eyes focused on her.

"No it's not!" the girl replied, lashing out and striking the glass as though she were striking Alison, but although the sudden coherent sentence startled JPG, Alison didn't even flinch. Instead, she continued to approach the box, hands up, still crooning to the girl stuck on the other side. In the back of her mind, while she continued to soothe this imprisoned girl, Alison couldn't help but remember the very first time she met JPG so long ago when JPG had called her "caring". Back then, Alison would've scorned and scoffed at such an idea. But now?

"Hey, hey, hey. It's ok, it's ok," Alison continued to speak softer and softer until the girl in the box followed her lead and fell silent as well. It was clear she was still very angry and afraid, but she was no longer pounding wildly against the glass. Once Alison fell totally silent, however, the girl began to speak.

"Who are you?" she demanded. Her voice was sharp and angry, but it sounded wet, full of unshed tears. Because of that, the anger in her voice was overpowered by her fear and misery. Alison's heart went out to her.

"My name is Alison," she said gently. "And this is my friend, JPG," Alison pointed to JPG, who still could only stare. Brought back to life by Alison's acknowledgement, however, JPG managed to wave and give an odd half-smile. It was in JPG's nature to be a friendly greeter, but now didn't seem like the best time to be all smiles and laughter.

"I'm Riley," the girl in the box replied. "And I want to get out of here."

Before Riley could start having another meltdown, Alison quickly began to ask her how she'd even gotten stuck in a glass box at all.

"Do you have any memory of how you got here?" Alison asked calmly as she began to tap and scratch the glass, looking for some kind of opening or weak spot within the panes. JPG copied her and both of them circled Riley, looking for some weak spot where they could break the glass.

"No. None at all," Riley sniffled as Alison and JPG circled her box. "I have no idea at all. I just remember suddenly appearing here, right on these very grounds, in this very box. And the Sorceress! She was there too. She did this to me," Riley finally began to cry, tears streaming swiftly down her thin cheeks. "She did this to me. She's the one that trapped me here, in this box, in this tree house. She hurt me! She hurt me!"

"The Sorceress," both JPG and Alison recoiled in unison, hissing as Riley sniffled. Riley managed to give a weak nod, still weeping.

"So that proves it, then?" Alison demanded of JPG at once. "The Sorceress is a monster and she is up to no good and she must be stopped!"

"Right!" JPG agreed, with a similarly fierce and determined expression. All of her past respect and indifference to the Sorceress had, in just one instant, changed. She just undergone a change of allegiance and what was once an apathy had just turned into a burning rage and a desire to kill. In one second, JPG became just as anti-Sorceress as Alison had always been, but unlike Alison, she wanted to take a more direct approach. Now she wanted to do something about it! She wanted to fight! And attack!

"But how exactly are we supposed to do that now?" JPG asked, her rage vanishing the moment she realized she had no clue how to fight the Sorceress. She inwardly cursed herself for not believing Alison sooner.

"I don't know!" Alison admitted in anger. "But we can't just let a Sorceress like that live freely. Not if this is what she does to innocent humans!" the vampire cast a glare at Riley, but the anger was not directed at Riley. Instead, it was angered at the one responsible for Riley's suffering.

Alison shook her head, the last two words of her declaration left a sour taste in her mouth. Whatever this woman really was, it was worse than any vampire Alison had ever known. Even aggressive Morgan, or sadistic Calvin, or violent Vera, or her own selfish and disdainful parents had never been this terrible. While a vampire might've tormented their victims and relished it, they never did it needlessly or mindlessly. Their violence against humans only happened at mealtimes, which only happed because even vampires needed food to survive.

Additionally, a vampire never enslaved or entrapped a human. The closest it ever came to that was any time a vampire tried to keep a human alive in order to create a lasting food source, but these living blood bags, these Warm Ones, still never lasted maybe a year at most. It was physically impossible to keep a human enslaved as a feed-bag for a year and expect the human not to die of disease, weakness, or outright despair. But even a year was pushing it because, normally, Alison would catch when one of the vampires tried to keep a Warm One and she would make sure to kill the human herself. This was not out of cruelty, of course, but it was a mercy kill.

But this Riley girl, she was no Warm One, it seemed. The glass box in which she was trapped had no discernable openings for feeding to occur. And Riley had even said that after the Sorceress placed her here, she'd received no contact from the outside world whatsoever. This meant no one was using her as a Warm One at all. She had no master that would come to her every few days to drink. It was literally just her, stuck in a box day in and day out, no one else to talk to. What's more, given what she'd said about being here because of the Sorceress, Alison could guess that this girl had been a slave for at least several years, if not several centuries. No Warm One ever lasted so long.

Putting all this together, Alison was pretty sure Riley was not a Warm One. But if that were the case, what was she? If she had no visits, not even from the Sorceress, it meant she was of no use to anyone. If that was so, then why was she being kept alive and imprisoned? To Alison, there was nothing more sick or sadistic than this: a senseless but brutal punishment that seemed to serve no purpose, even to the one responsible for it. What pleasure or use was the Sorceress deriving from Riley's pain? If the answer was none, why was Riley here? This kind of torture was worse than anything Alison had ever seen from the vampire court. And it was all the Sorceress' fault. She had done this. To an innocent girl. Locking her away alive and leaving her to rot, forgotten, for all time. And why? For no apparent reason at all!

Alison shook her head again. This made Dorian look like a saint! Alison had never wanted to kill anyone so badly before...

"Alright, alright, alright, first things first," JPG muttered at last. She seemed to be taking to herself Alison and Riley all at once. "First off, we need to get this girl out of here!" she declared. Perhaps this seemed like an unnecessary thing to verbalize but, for some reason, hearing it sound aloud gave all three of them a new focus.

"Ok, yeah, let's do it," Alison agreed, coming back to the present, thoughts of her fellow vampires fleeing from her mind again. JPG, encouraged by Alison's remark, nodded in reply before drawing back closed fist... She took several hard punches and scratches at the glass and... succeeded only in almost breaking a few knuckles and tearing a couple nails.

"Nice going," Alison deadpanned. Despite the intensity of the situation, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at JPG.

"Let's see you do better!" JPG frowned, nursing her aching hand.

"Why not just go back to the lab and see if there's not just some glass-cutter or fancy, high-tech tool that we can use, hmm?" the vampire replied.

"Oh. That'll work too, I guess," JPG suddenly grinned sheepishly, then she obliged. She activated her jetpack and went soaring away, only this time, she had a goal in mind: her lab. Meanwhile, Alison stayed behind to keep Riley company.

About 30 minutes later, JPG was back. In her arms was a bag nearly as large as she was.

"Did you bring the whole lab?" Alison demanded as JPG made a rather awkward landing inside the treehouse.

"All 58,231,956 tools!" JPG replied proudly. Alison didn't even bother asking how JPG had that number memorized. Instead, she only helped the girl lower the giant bag to the ground and pick out the first tool.

"Alright, let's start simple!" the inventor declared, picking up a good old-fashioned hammer. Alison couldn't help but smile in amusement while even Riley looked hopeful, stepping back as JPG waved the hammer at the glass.

JPG smiled confidently at Riley as she stepped closer and her smile was reflected upon Riley's face. Even though Riley's eyes were red and puffy, she still managed to smile. When JPG saw that smile, she felt her face grow warm and red. She was blushing! And she was pretty sure she had never blushed this hard in her life. She hadn't even burned this bright when Alison had complimented her on her interesting stories way back when they had only just met. JPG nearly dropped her tool, too, because her hands had begun to shake the longer she stared into Riley's face. It didn't help that Riley wouldn't stop staring back, beautiful brown eyes staring intently at her. It was only when Alison impatiently cleared her throat that JPG managed to focus long enough to get back to work. She tried not to stare at Riley anymore, lest she go mushy in the head again.

Three hours and 58,231,956 tools later, JPG had obtained exactly zero results. Every single tool of hers was now broken and Riley was no closer to being free than when they had started three hours ago. The glass hadn't broken or chipped or cracked or dented or even scratched! It was still as flat, smooth and flawless as ever. There wasn't even the tiniest indication that JPG had gone through a whole lab of tools trying to crack it.

Suffice to say, morale wasn't exactly the greatest either. While JPG looked utterly crushed and humiliated, this being the first time any of her tools had ever let her down, Alison was in a tranquil fury. On the outside, she showed no emotion at all. On the inside, she was screaming in anger and she could feel phantom tears spilling down her face. She clenched her fists and teeth just to keep from having a blackout while JPG stared unseeingly at the glass separating her from Riley. Riley, herself, was a mess, having long-since curled up on the ground in her little box, going into fetal position as she wept over the hopelessness of it all.

"Oh! It's no use! She'll never let me out! She'll never let me go! And I shall spend an eternity here!" Riley continued to scream and cry in her little ball and even JPG began to collapse under the weight of such a complete and utter failure. She'd even tried to melt the glass using her jetpack. Suffice to say, it hadn't done a thing except nearly fling JPG right out of the treehouse. Now the inventor was kneeling before the glass the way mourners would kneel before headstones. She was crying too. She was a lot quieter, but Alison could hear her soft whimpers acting as a twisted harmony to Riley's wounded sobs of pure anguish. Alison, herself, remained a mask of indifference and control. She let no emotions show as she stood guard over JPG and Riley, staring hard out into the night in case anyone decided to come exploring. Some of JPG's tools had been a little loud and Alison wouldn't put it past the Sorceress to send guards out soon. But despite how unmoved she looked, underneath, she felt her heart crying right alongside JPG and Riley.

At last, however, the sun began to peek over the horizon. Alison turned back to the grieving girls who were still sobbing softly, hands now touching through the glass as JPG tried to give comfort while Riley tried to receive it. It was a heartbreaking sight and Alison knew she was about to make it far worse, but they couldn't risk anymore time here, lest they be spotted.

"Come on, JPG, we have to go," Alison murmured at last, reaching out to her friend on the outside of the glass.

"What? No! We can't just leave her here!" JPG sounded as though she had been asked to remain in that box instead.

"We won't," Alison replied calmly, hand still extended towards the girl on her knees. "At least not forever. But we can't stay here any longer!"

"How can I just leave as long as I know she's going through all of this?!" JPG hissed at the vampire, gesturing to Riley.

"Then think of it this way," Alison replied, still calm and patience. "What if the Sorceress or one of her zealots are coming? What will they do if they see us here? Or see us leaving? If we don't go now, before the sun rises, they'll see us and they will catch us!"

"I don't care," JPG turned back to the glass and the girl behind it stubbornly.

"But what use will we be to Riley if we, ourselves, are killed?" Alison refused to lose her temper, speaking with endless patience to her friend. JPG was the only one who could be this rude to Alison and never stir her temper even a little because, although Alison did not brook any disrespect from anyone else, JPG had something of a free pass just because of how long she and Alison had been friends.

"She's right," Riley finally croaked, voice weak and sore from all the crying. "Your friend, there, is right. You can't stay here anymore. So just go, please. But promise me you'll come back again someday? And that you won't forget about me?" she did not uncurl herself from the fetal position she was resting in, but she did peep one sad, lost eye out at JPG and Alison both and despite all the pain that glimmered within that eye, they could also see love and gratitude. They might have failed to save her, but she was just so thankful that they had found her and then risked their necks trying to help her that she could not be mad at them. Now she wanted them to go before they were punished for trying to help her. Maybe the Sorceress never visited, but Riley still knew that the Sorceress was always watching. She didn't want Alison and JPG to risk themselves any longer.

"Please," Riley continued to beg softly. "Go. And go now. Hurry!" then she shut her eye again, burying her head deeper within her curled up body, signifying that she would say no more to them for that night.

"Ok, Riley, ok," JPG murmured at last, slowly but surely getting to her feet. "But we'll come back for you, ok? We'll always come back for you..." then, with great reluctance, she took Alison's still-extended hand and allowed the vampire princess to lead her away from the girl behind the glass.

Alison and JPG made good on their word to Riley. Although they never managed to find a way to even mark the glass Riley was trapped behind, they visited her as often as they could, trying their best to keep her happy, healthy, sane and stimulated, despite her Hellish circumstances. They actually did pretty well for a rebellious vampire and an awkward little bot-builder, all things consider. They succeeded in keeping Riley in good spirits with jokes, stories, pictures and little robots (these being from JPG, of course). As strange as the situation was and as impossible as the odds seemed, Alison, JPG and Riley all managed to forge a very deep friendship with one another.

Now, neither of the two were ever able to interact with Riley on a physical level, she could never hold any of the marvelous gifts they gave her, but the thought alone kept her alive and well. Their interaction with her was more than enough. She still was absolutely miserable, suffering alternating bouts of panic attacks and depressive slumps due to her incarceration, but Alison and JPG both had managed to give her the most priceless, timeless gift of friendship. For that, Riley was forever grateful. She did not just stay sane for her own sake, but for Alison and JPG's, too. She felt far too attached to them to allow her sense of goodness to slip away into madness. Trying as the days were for Riley, with her newfound friends, it became easier to bear the curse and she made it her new goal to remain as kind and gentle as she could, for Alison and JPG.

The days were long and lonely, nothing but the wooden walls of the tree house to look at, but during the night, the magic began. Alison and JPG never failed to visit, even if they couldn't both be present upon the same night. But in any way that they came, they filled Riley's nights with joy and wonder, giving her the life she'd never had but always wanted. Whenever Alison and JPG were around, Riley felt normal, even if it was only for a few hours before the cursed sun would peek up past the horizon again.

"And this one's name is Bobby Bo!" JPG exclaimed, waving another scrap metal creation in front of Riley's window.

"He's very cute," she giggled shyly. It was a little metal man with a comically large, long top hat. Riley seemed to genuinely like it despite its goofy looks and JPG looked like she was about to faint from receiving such a compliment. Alison, meanwhile, bit her lip to keep from laughing or teasing JPG about her less-than-subtle infatuation with Riley. Instead, she only humored the two blonds and picked up her own little robot (Sally Sue) and engaged in playing dolls. It was something Alison had not done since her childhood as a human and although it was almost embarrassing for her to play with dolls, the looks on JPG and Riley's faces were so worth it.

Chapter Text

As the time continued to roll on, though, neither Alison nor JPG nor any of their other allies were able to make any progress against the Sorceress. Or at least, they were unable to make any direct progress, but all their hard work was not in vain. Instead, they continued to work together in secrecy to try and unravel as many of the Sorceress' plots now as they could so that when the nine heroes finally arrived, most of the work would already be done.

Sireen continued to guard the grounds and search for secrets outdoors and she used some of her magic to help the others hide easier. Sampson acted as a link between her and all those inside the mansion. And the kitchen itself became a favorite place for meetings because, for some reason, the large oven in the Gingerbread Woman's kitchen led outside. No one was quite sure what this design was for, except maybe for airing out the oven after a meat pie was done baking, but it did make for a very quick, easy meeting place, especially now that the Gingerbread Woman was such a heavy sleeper. Alison continued to eavesdrop on her father and everyone else in the estate in case someone revealed that they knew info on the Sorceress. JPG, meanwhile, built all kinds of little machines to help them spy and keep in contact safely.

The only person in this secret alliance unable to do much was Riley, but this was hardly her fault. And Alison and JPG had since agreed to keep her secret from everyone else in the mansion, including Sireen and Sampson. Part of the reason they kept Riley secret was because they were trying to protect Sireen and Sampson. In case the Sorceress ever came to learn that Alison and JPG were friends with Riley, only they would be punished for it. What's more, Riley had personally requested confidentiality. It was for the same reason JPG and Alison never told Sireen or Sampson: safety. But even though Riley was unable to directly contribute, she kept Alison and JPG motivated and they, in return, kept Sireen and Sampson motivated. So every single person in that secret alliance was needed somewhere, and all of them played their parts as best they could.

Admittedly, though, it was hard to play such a big role with so little help. Every single member of this little alliance had, at least once, expressed desire in finding new members. Sadly, it didn't seem like anyone else in the mansion was trustworthy enough. The vampires were definitely out and neither JPG nor Sampson would ever trust their bosses and neither Sireen nor Riley had anyone else to vouch for. That left a bunch of servants, some morally gray spider-women, the werewolves (which received a hard 'no' from Alison) and the two armies, though Alison also gave a 'no' to that. Like the spider-women, both of them were very morally gray. Alison was sure she'd never trust Cash as far as she could throw him and even Arlyn, of the Dark Army, didn't seem like someone she wanted to trust with a Sorceress rebellion. Honorable as he was, from what Alison understood, he was on the Sorceress' side of the fight. Alison wasn't going to try and recruit him. (Sireen backed Alison up on this choice, having met both armies serval times due to the fact that all of them lived outside. Sireen didn't like either army anymore than Alison did, finding Cash to be hideously aggressive and Arlyn to be far too shady, literally and figuratively, to make a trustworthy friend).

At most, the little secret alliance received help from some of Sireen's fairy friends, or some of the gentler, friendlier magical beings that lived in the mansion, but even they had their limits. They weren't really helping Alison or her alliance because they believed that it was for the greater good, they only helped because the help was requested of them. If anything, they were more of a neutral party and, as helpful as that was, Alison still preferred to keep the bigger secrets within a circle that seriously wanted the Sorceress gone as opposed to a group who was more neutral about her. She wasn't willing to risk any slip in confidentiality just because they wanted a few extra hands. So the group remained tiny, but their motivations were strong and the occasional help from the neutral parties was just fine as it was.

But then at last, Alison was granted another piece of the mansion's crazy puzzle. This time, it came from Riley, and according to her, it was the final piece of the puzzle, though for some reason, she wasn't willing to talk about it when JPG was around...

"And then King TomTom said to Queen Lucie-lot, 'I think you're pretty... but the duke is twice as much so!'" JPG exclaimed, finishing a mini play in which some of her scrap metal animals had been involved in a parodied and dramatized love triangle of epic proportion. It was a very scandalous love story indeed, though the fact that scrap animals were the characters made it more of a comedy than anything. But the stories were real! They were inspired off of some of the tales Alison had told JPG about the vampire court and Alison caught onto this and watched JPG's play unfold.

This particular play was based off an incident that had occurred way back when Alison was still relatively new to vampire life. She could remember one male vampire rejecting Vera for another male vampire, so Vera had retaliated by taking her rejector's sister as a lover instead. It had been very scandalous at the time, but Dorian let it slide just because trying to right the wrongs would've done more harm than good in the long run. It was funny for Alison to watch the event being played out using scrap metal animals (though of course, the names had been changed. No vampire would've kept a name like TomTom or Lucie-lot).

"That was very good!" Riley clapped politely at the end of the play, laughing a little. The laughter was a beautiful sound that made both of her visitors smile, but one more so than the other. In fact, she was grinning so hard that her companion had to warn her.

"Smile any harder and your face is going to break!" Alison whispered to JPG as she packed away the little scrap animals.

"She's worth it!" JPG replied dreamily and Alison never let the young inventor live that down.

But then, right before that particular visit came to a close, while JPG was packing up her little toys and trinkets, Riley gestured for Alison.

"Yes Riley?" Alison asked, smiling gently at her friend, but Riley shushed her quickly before pantomiming a message.

"Come back later, alone, I have something I need to tell you," and Alison, at once, put on an entirely blank expression before nodding back a silent agreement. The purpose of her putting on the blank expression had been her way of communicating that she understood that Riley was swearing her to secrecy, and not even JPG was supposed to know what was happening. Alison understood all too well the intricacy of secrecy and had no issue in swearing her silence, even hiding her emotions away again to prove it. Riley gave her a weak smile before nodding, bidding her to go now with JPG. She knew Alison would keep her word and be back soon enough...

An hour and a half later, Alison was back, standing expressionless and motionless in front of Riley. JPG was in bed, ignorant to all of this.

"Ok, Riley, what did you want to tell me?" Alison asked at once. Riley suddenly looked uncertain and ashamed, reluctant to confess.

"Promise me you'll never tell JPG and that you won't hate me for it?" the girl pleaded, a truly wounded look in her eye.

"I promise," Alison replied seriously.

"Swear it!" Riley replied, vehement.

"I swear it," Alison replied. "On my sacred and royal honor as a vampire princess," she even raised her right hand and extended her fangs. This was customary when making solemn oaths or deals in the vampire world. This was because the gesture was symbolic of someone promising not only upon their vampire selves (the extended fangs) but also upon their past, human selves (the raised right hand). It was supposed to show seriousness, both identities swearing the oath together. But Riley didn't see it that way...

"That's not good enough!" she challenged, narrowing her eyes and becoming just as serious as Alison, if not more so. "Your word as a vampire princess means nothing because you hold that title in contempt!" and Alison, despite feeling a sting of indignation at Riley's accusation, couldn't help but agree. She nodded, lowering her hand and retracting her fangs.

"Very well," she said. "Then I swear upon my loyalty to you and JPG and all of our other allies against the Sorceress. I will never tell anyone what you will tell now," she amended her vow. She made no gesture this time, but Riley finally seemed satisfied.

"Good. Your word is good," she whispered. "Being the protector you are, I know you'd rather die than betray the people you love and the cause you fight for..." as Riley spoke these words, Alison nodded her confirmation, eyes hardening even more, as though silently challenging the world itself to try and make her break that oath.

"The loyalty of a vampire is deep and deep-seeded," Alison said, thinking back to the night she first met JPG, when she had been thinking about her own loyalty to her father despite how little they cared for each other. "And once it is given, it is very hard to retract."

"And what would Dorian say about that?" Riley asked gently, the barest of smirks on her pale face. She had heard, from JPG, about how Alison would talk about wanting to overthrow him.

"I didn't give him my loyalty," Alison replied calmly. "He took it from me the night he turned me. But think, if a vampire's loyalty is so strong when it is forcibly taken, such as is my case with Dorian, how much stronger, then, is the loyalty of a vampire when it is freely given?" Alison tilted her head, eyes sparkling passionately as she thought about JPG, Riley, all of their other allies and the cause they were fighting for.

"Well-spoken," Riley almost seemed to congratulate Alison like she'd passed a test, but then all that ancient wisdom seemed to sap out of the frightened young girl and that was all that remained: a frightened young girl.

"I will tell you now," she muttered, having to force herself to speak each and every word individually. "I will tell you now that which I didn't tell JPG earlier, and what you cannot ever tell her either... Are you ready for the final piece of the puzzle?" Riley paused, looking terrified.

"I am," Alison was totally calm, voice steady as she spoke those two simple words. Riley took a deep breath before confessing.

"I am the Sorceress..." For a moment, there was only silence, Riley hanging her head in shame while Alison tried to understand what Riley said.

"You are the Sorceress," Alison said at last, repeating it slowly. Her voice was totally flat and expressionless. It gave Riley no clue as to how Alison was taking the news.

"I am," the girl tried her hardest to match Alison's calm, level tone.

"What does this mean?" the vampire asked. Even when asking a question, Alison's tone remained totally unreadable. This perfect level of emotionlessness terrified Riley because she really wanted to know how Alison was taking this confession, but Alison was so good at keeping her emotions hidden that Riley didn't know at all what was going on in the vampire's head. Shoving her personal fears aside, however, Riley answered.

Centuries ago, the Sorceress had just been a normal woman. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of the normal world was her ambition for evil. It was beyond that of any normal person's and the proof of that came in the form of one of her most daring, desperate, diabolical bids ever. She finally reached a point where she dared to pray to the Cursed God for help in her quest for power and evil. The God had actually answered, shocking as that was, but he said that until she came truly evil, until she sacrificed every last little bit of goodness and love within her heart, she would never be worthy of his blessings.

In response, the Sorceress had promised to do whatever it took to remove her inner goodness, just so that she would be worthy of the Cursed God's gifts. The Cursed God heard the sincerity in the Sorceress' voice and accepted her offer. The Sorceress had to split herself in half, literally purging the goodness right out of her very being. She would keep the evil that remained and then she would be worthy of the Cursed God's help. The Sorceress, hungry for power, did exactly as she was told. That was the night Riley had been "born". When the Sorceress completed the ritual to remove the goodness from her body, that goodness manifested into Riley. The evil that remained became the woman that Alison knew all too well... But then, to ensure that her goodness remained under her control, but still far away from her, the Sorceress did to Riley that which she did to everything she possessed. She locked Riley away, keeping her close, but distant, and hidden all the while so that no one would ever know.

"So I am half of the Sorceress," Riley admitted ashamedly. "And I know that I am the only thing that could possibly defeat her. If we are the same person, I know her weakness. I can defeat her because I am the other half of her..." Riley broke off, sounding disgusted with herself.

"But you are the good half of her," Alison replied, finally understanding why Riley had been so bent on keeping this secret, especially from JPG.

"But the Sorceress nonetheless," Riley argued, so Alison bowed her head respectfully.

"The Sorceress nonetheless," she echoed, her own promise echoing in the air with that statement.

Riley heard the submissive tone in Alison's voice and she exhaled in relief, shoulders slumping as she relaxed. Although Riley did not know the true nature of the relationship between Alison and JPG, she already knew that she far preferred if Alison knew the truth about her split identity than JPG. This was because, as Alison had long-since guessed, Riley was in love with JPG. She wasn't sure when or where these feelings began, all she knew was that there came a day when seeing JPG made Riley feel warm and fuzzy inside. JPG made her smile too big and laugh too hard and she always loved seeing JPG's cute little face. Riley couldn't really explain it in words, not having the vocabulary to do so, but she knew that she wanted to hug and kiss JPG and be with her always.

That was why Riley didn't want JPG to know the truth. The idea of JPG hating her for her secret scared her far worse than the idea of Alison hating her for that same reason. And that was because, as much as Riley trusted Alison, ever since she began to fall in love with JPG, Riley's affection for Alison had decreased. She trusted Alison, but she did not like her, perceiving the vampire to be a rival of hers over JPG's affections. Even if Alison denied having any feelings for JPG, the simple fact that she still got to spend more time with JPG than Riley did was enough to ignite a flame of envy within the young woman's heart. She did not like Alison because Alison had something she wanted: JPG. But at the same time, Riley knew enough about Alison's character to know that if anyone was safe enough to trust with such a big secret, it was Alison.

Alison was wise beyond her years and an expert secret-keeper. Much as Riley hated to admit it, Alison was the best person to tell the truth to. Alison would know what to do with the information, and she'd also know how to keep it hidden until she needed it. Riley knew Alison would be more likely to keep calm and collected with this kind of news on her mind than anyone else would. And it was news that just had to be shared! Unpleasant as this was, Riley could feel it in her bones that at least one other good person needed to know, even if she wasn't sure why. Somehow, a small part of her knew that this secret had to be told. That was where Alison came in. And Riley knew with a certainty even stronger than the glass that held her that Alison would make good on her vow to keep this secret. She'd already proven how good she was at taking dark secrets and controlling her emotions when she managed to reveal nothing to Riley about how she felt, hearing that Riley was literally 50% of the Sorceress.

Although Riley did not know the true nature of the relationship between Alison and JPG, she had a feeling that it wasn't as strong as Alison's relationship with her own sense of self and morality. Though Alison might've adored JPG above all else, Alison's relationship with herself was one she held at a much higher and deeper level than her relationship with JPG. After all, the person you knew best was always yourself! And close as Alison might've been with JPG, there were still monumental differences between the two of them. The largest and most dividing was the fact that Alison was a vampire and had been old enough to be JPG's great-great-great grandmother. Alison's relationship to herself was at least five times older than her relationship with JPG and that was how Riley knew Alison would follow her own moral code and sense of duty above any affection she felt for JPG, platonic or romantic.

In short, Riley knew that Alison's relationship with her own sense of morals, honor, loyalty, trust and secrecy were stronger than her relationship with JPG. That Riley greatly respected and admired. She found herself both confounded and inspired by it. It made her a bit uneasy to think about how beholden Alison was to her own beliefs but, at the same time, there was something really noble and heroic about her reckless and endless sense of honor. And it was understandable, given Alison's less-than-stellar past. Surely, in all her centuries of being alive, Alison had come to realize that the only person whom she could really trust at the end of the day was herself. It would explain why she was so strict with herself. She was all she had at the end of the day. It made her seem a bit inhuman to Riley (beyond the fact that she literally was inhuman) because no human Riley had ever met (though that count only included herself and JPG) was ever that morally disciplined or strict, but it was a really useful trait for someone to have, especially in a time like this.

So, with the secret out, Riley was ready to send Alison away. Or at least, she was almost ready. But there was still actually one more thing she had to tell Alison first. This one was a bit cheerier than her last confession.

"I think I know how I can escape this box," she murmured and Alison was on the alert at once.

"Tell me," she demanded, but her voice remained soft, strong and steady. That kind of iron resolve was what made Riley so confident that she had made a good decision to trust Alison with her secret. Just hearing Alison's firm, steady voice made Riley relax even further. Heaven knew that if she'd said these same words to JPG, JPG would've started freaking out (in a good way) and it would've made Riley really stressed. As eerie and uncanny as Alison's self-control was, it was also very calming and reassuring and it was just what they needed right now. JPG, love her soul, was just too hyper for some secrets. But not Alison, Alison could handle anything.

"The Sorceress sealed me into this box using these things she called Leviathan Seals," Riley explained. "There are three, hidden around the estate, each holding a magical spell that holds this box shut. Until you can find and destroy those Seals, I will remain trapped here..." Riley pressed a hand to the glass with a sad expression while Alison only looked back, calm and controlled.

"I will do my best," she vowed. And Riley knew it was true.

"Thank you, Alison, thank you," she murmured, then she slowly sank down in her box until she was sitting on the floor again, signifying an end to their private talk. Alison understood this, bade Riley goodnight, then left without another sound. Riley watched her go motionlessly.

In the back of her mind, Riley's previous jealousy of Alison about JPG began to fade a little. Tonight's talk had confirmed to Riley that, as much as Alison loved JPG, she loved her personal moral code more. That made Riley happy, twisted as it was to say this. Knowing that Alison was not as close to JPG as she had initially thought, some of Riley's gloom and irritation vanished. She no longer disliked Alison quite as much.

What's more, by trusting Alison with something that not even JPG knew, Riley had effectively forged a special bond with Alison to match the special bond she had with JPG. Now, she had pretty much forced herself to love both of them equally (though in different senses of the word of course) because now both JPG and Alison had one special part of Riley to themselves. In a weird way, they were all on even footing again.

Meanwhile, as Alison returned to the mansion, she turned Riley's confession over and over in her head. Though it was tempting to tell JPG, Alison was intent upon keeping her word to Riley about confidentiality. All Alison needed to do was think about her oath to Riley and then her own sense of honor, loyalty and trust would override her temptation to tell the secret. It was just like Riley had thought. Alison would not betray a friend or break a promise, even for someone she loved as dearly and deeply as JPG.

But even though Alison would never tell anyone about Riley directly, she still decided to leave one single clue behind. That way, if she died before Riley could be freed, or if she personally failed to find and destroy the Leviathan Seals, then someone else could come along and finish the job for her. She already had a hunch that the future heroes would somehow play a role in freeing Riley, so now all Alison had to do was leave a clue for them to find so that they could find Riley.

Eventually, Alison settled upon hiding her clue in a dollhouse, strange and silly as that seemed. She managed to find one in what might've once been a nursery for the mansion, but as no babies lived here, the dollhouse had not been touched in centuries. Alison took the dollhouse back to her own master bedroom and she hid several paper dolls inside. One doll, which looked just like Riley, was placed inside of a glass box that Alison added into the dollhouse. Snugged up against that replica Riley was a letter, written in Alison's hand, but using Riley's words. It read:

"My name is Riley and I am the child that the Sorceress once was. The child that was hurt and sealed away so that she might become a monster. I am her link to the Cursed God's magic she wields. If you free me from my prison, the Sorceress will be stripped of her power. Please save me. I just want to go outside and play like all the other girls."

"Maybe I cannot tell anyone your secret, but you can," Alison murmured as she sealed the letter into the dollhouse. Every word on it had been something that Riley, herself, had said, at one time or another. By this somewhat twisted logic, Alison was not technically telling anyone Riley's secret, she was just making it as though they were overhearing the conversation, even though the conversation was long over. But even if one tried to argue that this loophole was just Alison breaking her vow, she rationalized that this clue was really more intended for a future hero who did not know Riley. She had already placed a spell on the dollhouse, courtesy of Sireen, that would prevent anyone currently living in the mansion (read: JPG) from opening it. That way, at least that part of Alison's vow would remain true and JPG would still never know about Riley's secret.

Alison's mind, though, Riley's secret was nothing to be ashamed of. Sure, the Sorceress was evil, but that wasn't Riley's fault. And Riley shouldn't be punished for it. Besides, Alison knew from personal experience that being a monster didn't make one a monster. If that were true, she would be no different than Dorian or any of the rest of his court, but Alison couldn't have been anymore different if she tried. And just because the Sorceress was evil didn't make Riley that way. She was her own separate person even though they came from the same original form. What's more, Riley was supposed to represent the goodness and love within the Sorceress. If that were so, Riley ought to have been proud of her secret because it meant she was inherently more good than the average person who still had evil residing within their soul. But it was not Alison's secret to tell, so she respected Riley's command and never uttered another word on the topic. The dollhouse remained by her bedside, unseen by anyone but her.

After that, although Riley's story was a secret that never left her mind, Alison managed to keep it tucked away in the very back corners of her brain so that she could use the rest of her head to continue to plot and plan. With JPG, Sireen, Sampson and Riley all at her side, Alison continued to make plans to overthrow the Sorceress and, in time, she added her father's name to the list as well. It became her plan to take Dorian's crown in order to boost her own political power and to make it safer and easier for herself and her allies to fight the Sorceress.

Specifically, she planned upon overthrowing him and then forcing the vampires to fight for her cause instead. This would make it easier for everyone else to resist the Sorceress too. Alison would be able to raise up an army of her own with her new allies acting as "lieutenants" in their own way. Then, she would be able to take in the future nine heroes and ensure that they would not be harmed. And Alison had an outline of whom to look for because Sireen had received another prophetic dream. They would be nine young adults, each from the year 2017, and they would go by titles one might've seen in Alison's age (for example "Novelist", "Railroad Tycoon", "Saloon Girl", "Mystic", etc.) Sireen had seen blurry visions of them all, their faces flickering across tarot cards. It wasn't much information, but it gave Alison a cue as to who she was looking for. Dorian's parties always consisted of guests dressing up in Victorian outfits, but thanks to Sireen's dream, Alison knew exactly who to look for.

And as treacherous as it was for Alison to try and overthrow her father, as treacherous as it was for her to try and use these guests to help her save the mansion by freeing Riley and killing the Sorceress, it still did not go against Alison's character to do so. A vampire's loyalty was immeasurably strong and enduring, even when forcibly taken and especially when willingly given. Alison's loyalty, thanks to Sireen's prophecies, had shifted once more, and this time, it rested with the future nine. It meant nothing for her to usurp Dorian's throne because he didn't have any of her loyalty left. Sure, she still attended his parties, but that was only to eavesdrop on the Sorceress. Alison's true loyalties lay elsewhere and she knew already that killing him would not cause her any distress at all (a far cry from how she had started off).

Because her loyalty now lay with the future nine, even though she had yet to meet them, she knew she would do anything to keep them safe and help them on their quest to save the mansion. And if any of the nine heroes were to ask why she was like this, why she cared for them so deeply and why she was so willing to go against her own vampiric family. If any of them were to ask for her motivations at all, she would answer with her allies in her mind. She would respond while thinking about JPG, Sampson, Sireen, Riley and her own empathy and peace of mind. If they asked her why, she would say: "I'm doing this for them."

Chapter Text

In the last decade or so to come, Alison managed to find the three Leviathan Seals, but she was never able to break them.

"Guess I need the heroes," Alison sighed to herself as she stared at the large, glowing symbol etched upon one of the brick walls surrounding one of the many gardens of the estate. Although she wasn't surprised by this fact, it did frustrate her a little to think that she was so powerless to do anything without the heroes. Just once, she wanted to be able to save someone on her own, and not totally rely upon future humans to do it for her, but no amount of magic or machinery would break the Seal, so Alison was forced to wait, just like always. She glared up at the Seal, cursing it.

"I don't have the patience to wait on your stupid magical weakness!" she told it, and then that was when she got an idea...

Following Alison's successful attempt at finding all three Seals, Alison got the brilliant idea to teach Riley a bit of magic of her own. If she really was the other half of the Sorceress, then surely she'd have a natural talent with magic, right? But what was Alison going to teach her? Well, it wouldn't be anything too big, no spell could free Riley from her glass box so a big spell wouldn't do much anyway, but it was going to help the young girl communicate with the outside world. Alison was going to teach Riley a bit of telekinesis.

Alison managed to get Sireen to teach her basic telekinesis, or at least, to teach her the required spell to perform such art, but Alison herself was never able to do more than lift a few pebbles an inch off the ground. She just didn't have magical blood in her veins, but that didn't matter to her. She wasn't the one who really needed this spell anyway, it was Riley. So once Sireen's lesson in levitation was over, Alison took her newfound knowledge back to Riley's treehouse and got the girl to learn how to make things move without touching them. She had far better success than Alison had. Now Riley had a way to "interact" with the outside world. Now that she knew how to make things move with her mind, she could leave notes around the estate for the future nine heroes.

"When they arrive, you can use this pen and paper to send out notes to help them find you," Alison said, placing a pad and pen in front of Riley's glass box. To test it out, Riley waved a hand and chanted the words that Alison had taught her. The pen and paper both responded to Riley's voice at once and rose straight up and she was able to scribble out "thank you, Alison" on the first page of the notepad. Success!

Now, telekinetic communication wasn't the best of options, but it was all they had and Riley was so grateful for Alison finding the Seals and then giving her a way to physically communicate with the outside world that she didn't mind at all. What's more, in time, Riley and JPG became an official couple and that, mixed with Alison's help in finding the Seals, was what killed the last of Riley's old rivalry with the vampire. Now, there was nothing but warmth from Riley to Alison.

Alison, herself, had been totally unaware of this secret rivalry between herself and Riley. It was because she only ever viewed JPG with platonic love, so she never saw herself as a competitor to Riley. She figured that Riley's old hostility with her had just been general angst on her part and even now, the vampire still never had a clue that Riley used to envy her. In Alison's eyes, watching JPG finally declare her love for Riley official had been something she'd seen as a long time coming, not a loss of a competition.

"It's about time," Alison snorted as JPG and Riley kissed awkwardly through the glass.

"Shut up, Alison," JPG replied, voice muffled because her lips were still on the glass.

"You don't talk to your princess like that!" Alison reminded the inventor with a teasing smile.

"You aren't my princess, though," JPG replied, still looking at Riley. "She is," and even Alison couldn't argue with that one.

Alison continued to keep Riley's secret while masterminding a plan to overthrow her father and find the heroes Sireen kept talking about.

"They will be here any day now! I can feel it!" the witch once declared. "That foggy dream with the tarot cards came back to me, only this time, the tarot cards were a bit clearer! I still can't tell you what exactly everyone looked like, but I think it means that the time of their arrival is almost here!" and Sireen sounded so sure of herself that Alison didn't doubt her in the slightest. Insetad, she already made plans for their arrival.

"I will be there when they arrive. I will lead them through the mansion. I will be the one to protect them from Dorian. When they come, I will be there to guide them through their quest to defeat him," she muttered to herself, mapping out the plan in her mind.

And as the days drew even closer, Alison finally decided to do a "test run" of her plan. Although, of course, she knew she could not predict how exactly everything would occur, she ran through several mental scenarios in her mind. She paced herself from the main door of the mansion to Dorian's ballroom and then to the various escapes that she and her future companions could use. She even managed to secure a few sunstones from Sireen, the witch had created them using a bit of that mystical fire magic she'd told Alison about on the night they battled Karin, in case she needed to protect any of the humans from her court members.

"Down the hall, maybe down the stairs, maybe into the chamber in case any of them get caught," Alison chanted to herself. Perhaps all of this pre-planning was a bit over the top, but it was the only thing that kept Alison distracted and feeling like she was actually doing something worth the wait. She even ran down into the lower bowels of the mansion where Dorian usually kept his Warm Ones. Since he didn't realize that the reason they all died so quickly was because of mercy kills from Alison, he continually left them in the same spot, shackled in a back room in the farthest, lowest corner of the mansion. It was well-hidden, but still easily accessible.

Alison took a look at the door, but didn't bother to peek inside. She just wanted to make sure her father hadn't done something crazy, like installing security around the room. He hadn't! Good! So if anything were to go wrong and someone got taken, Alison would know where to go. And since she already knew there wouldn't be anyone inside, Dorian hadn't kept any Warm Ones in recent months, Alison knew because she did a body count, she left the door closed and remained upstairs without taking a look inside. But if she had, things might've gone very differently.

Although her math was correct, there was still a live human shackled away in the darkness. It was a young man who had stumbled into the estate through magic beyond that of the Sorceress. He had not come in carriage like all the other humans before him. His arrival was due to... something else. The Sorceress had found him, running through the grounds, lost and afraid, but once she was finished with him, she handed him off to Dorian as a special gift, attempting to make sure that the vampire king still trusted her. Dorian took the offering exactly as she'd expected and thanked her for it before whisking the young man away to that dungeon-like room.

Now, that particular Warm One had been locked away for a few weeks now. The only time he ever saw the light was when Dorian came down to feed on him. But because he had not been amongst a hunting party group like normal, Alison hadn't even realized he'd been locked away inside. If she had, things might've gone a bit differently for him... But, thinking that she had done all that she could downstairs, Alison returned back to the foyer, running through other scenarios she wanted to test out.

Then at long, long last, just like Sireen had promised, they came. The nine heroes of the future came. And after a near-death experience at the fangs of Dorian, Vera, Calvin and Morgan (in that order), Alison managed to whisk most of them away to safety. She lost one girl, the Explorer, but then she had come to realize that there was a tenth boy amongst the group too. His friends called him Joey. All of Alison's original nine, Explorer included, had recognized him at once. But how? Alison was sure she'd never seen him before, yet somehow, he still had arrived at the mansion, and all of his friends knew exactly who he was.

Alison's first sight of him, of this Joey fellow, had been of him strapped up to one of Dorian's blood-draining machines. It was for whenever Dorian didn't feel like feeding directly. Admittedly, it was a messy process. The machine made it a lot cleaner and it also ensured the survival of the victim for more feedings. Seeing Joey strapped up to that machine made Alison realize that he had been in this mansion for quite awhile and a chill ran down her spine. Just how long had Joey been here? And how had Alison missed his arrival? Little did she know it was because that outside source had practically dumped him right onto the estate grounds on a night Alison had been visiting Riley in her treehouse. And of course, since Alison hadn't even realized that he was here in the first place, she never made any attempt to find or save him. Until now...

Alison quickly escorted her other eight guests to safety. She regretted leaving Joey and the Explorer behind, but if they wanted any chance of saving their friends, they would have to be patient and think things through first.

"If you want to save Joey, you'll have to kill my father," Alison told the remaining eight. Although Joey and the Explorer were still in danger, still stuck in the ballroom, Alison knew Dorian and his vampires would be more concerned with trying to find her and the other eight first. She knew that Joey and the Explorer had at least a couple hours to be saved before Alison needed to start panicking. For now, it was more important to get the other heroes focused on defeating Dorian. He was Priority Number One.

"Why would you betray your father?" one of them, the Novelist, interrupted. Alison paused in her planning to look up at him. Although she did not hesitate to reply, she still felt every single person she had ever loved flash through her mind before she answered his question.

"There are other people who want out, I'm doing this for them..." JPG, Sampson, Sireen, Riley, herself... But Alison, refusing to lose focus now, only shook her head and continued to talk. "Ok, now, there's only one way to kill a vampire as powerful as my father..."

For the rest of the night, although Alison managed to maintain a fang-sharp focus on the tasks at hand, refusing even to let the deaths of the heroes sway her faith in them, that one little phrase she'd told the Novelist refused to leave her mind: "I'm doing this for them." Over and over again, for the whole rest of the night, that became Alison's moniker. It was what she said when she was scared, tired, angry, defeated, grieving or any combination of all of the above. It became a life-saving device for her, something she repeated during the course of that long, cursed night. She said it before every death match and after every loss. Before every monster and after every achievement. While they were hunting for gems that would complete the Crown of Oblivion, the only tool that could free the mansion, Alison would tell herself this. Every gain and loss, every friend and foe, every emotion she faced, Alison would continue to say: "I'm doing this for them."

But then, even when the heroes' quest required Alison to make the ultimate sacrifice, even when the last of her undead life was being ripped away by the claws and teeth of a werewolf (her first and last ever "defeat" in battle), she would say: "I'm doing this for them." Even as she told her brave companions to leave her to die, even as she watched them try to protect her after all she had done for them, even after she watched them flee, even after she was on the ground and in pain, even as the very last sight of them and the rest of the world had gone, even after Alison was totally and finally dead, her life essence imbuing itself into the werewolf gem, all the vampire princess could think was: "I'm doing this for them."

But why? Why was Alison's determination to do this for them so strong? Well, maybe this time, it went beyond vampire loyalty. As strong as that was, there was something even beyond that that Alison would feel every time she thought about all the sacrifices she had made and was making for those nine heroes. It was the crazy belief that they would actually do it. That they would actually complete their quest, rebuild their Crown of Oblivion, free Riley and kill the Sorceress. She had no reason to believe this but, for some reason, she did. So she wasn't just protecting them on idle hope or even deep-seeded loyalty. She was doing it because maybe, just maybe, she somehow knew that they would actually do it.

And sure enough, though she wouldn't be around to see it, the heroes would, in fact, escape the night. Granted, only two would survive, but they would manage to avenge their friends by defeating the Sorceress and freeing the mansion of her terrible curse using their hard-won Crown of Oblivion, all the gems, including the werewolf gem that took Alison's life, firmly in place. One of the two survivors, the girl that Alison had died for, would remember her fondly, setting up a memorial back in her own time. She would be forever grateful for Alison for dying in her place and showing such deep, unwavering, unshaking loyalty to her, protecting them all throughout the whole ordeal no matter the personal cost that had come with it. She wouldn't let Alison's love, loyalty, protectiveness or sacrifice be forgotten, ever. She was doing this, for her.

With the mansion forever in ruins, the curse broken, all of the inhabitants would be forced to go back home. It would be a bit of a culture shock for them, all of them having been inside the confines of that mansion for at least 50 years by then, but they would have no other choice. The surviving vampires would go home with Queen Susanna as their new leader (she didn't shed a tear for her fallen husband or daughter). Jorogumo and her spiders would return to Japan (neither Kira nor Haruko would mourn Alison too terribly, their friendship with her having lapsed away anyway). Sireen would finally go home to her realm to lead her slowly-thawing country. Cedric and his newly-made Automaton Bride would travel the world together using the leftover money from the Sorceress' mansion, and the Dark Army would simply vanish away...

So, everyone that was still alive was sent home while all the fallen found their eternal peace and rest under the foundation of that cursed mansion, which now was no more than a large house, all the magic and terror gone now that the monster responsible for it all was dead. This would come to include the eight heroes who perished for the gems, all of the lieutenants that died trying to keep those gems away from the heroes. The werewolves, the Confederates, Alison, Morgan, Vera, Calvin, Dorian, the Gingerbread Woman, Sampson, Torhil, the harpies, Karin, the Promethean Men. All of them, dead and buried beneath the mansion's foundation.

And as for Riley and JPG? Well, Riley and JPG would walk out of that accursed mansion together, hand in hand. Riley would shake, hardly daring to believe that she was free from her glass coffin, and the evil woman that had put her there. She would revel in the knowledge that she was finally getting to have the life she'd wanted for so long, a life with JPG. And while JPG would never fully recover from Alison's death, she would never dishonor that memory by wasting away in grief. Instead, she and Riley would live the life they deserved. They would travel around and across the globe, together. They would live their lives to the fullest because it was what Alison would've wanted. They were doing this for her.