Prisoner of War

Ramona Von Trapp stared at her younger sister as their father spoke, almost wishing she could read her thoughts. Victor Von Trapp had been going on for over an hour about the importance of keeping up their studies and remaining studious above all else. At least he was no longer mentioning her part about keeping the house clean or turning away gentlemen callers. And of course the part about staying far away from their enormous home's basement. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't even hear the servants coming in with the food or notice that she'd began to drift off. Her long red curls were beginning to slide over her shoulders and into her soup but her mind was on the strange roars she and her sister could hear late at night when they ignored their aging father and sneaked down to the dungeon stairs anyway.

Ophelia wasn't really listening to their father either. She had a book open in her lap at the dining table, something she was constantly scolded for. Dark lashes brushed her pale cheeks as she continued to read the beautiful and haunting words on the aged paper. Both girls were known within high society as the most beautiful creatures that no man would ever have. It was common knowledge that their father wouldn't even entertain the thought of marriage, for reasons he would not divulge to anyone.

Ramonas nose touched the squash soup and her head shot up. Unfortunately the fast movement sent soup from the ends of her hair splattering her father's with the hot liquid. He spluttered and began to yell at both girls for never listening to him. She was certainly awake then.

"I never did anything!" Ophelia declared in protest, slamming her book on the table, which only served to cause it to shake and ultimately spill the water pitcher all over their father too.

"Get out! Both of you!" Victor's voice was little more than a childish squeal at this point. His hands waved and his face turned a shade of red that was almost purple. "Get out!" 
Ramona was quick to grab her sister's book and then her sister and obey. She knew better than to mess with her father when he was in this state. She herded Ophelia into the hallway and sighed heavily. "We are never going to win with that man." She muttered, shaking her head at the younger girl.

Below them a creature was twisting his head, listening to the sounds of Victor's squeals and the two pairs of tiny running feet. He smiled. This was an everyday occurance but soon that would stop. His master would come for the girls and all the sounds in the mansion would stop one by one. And the old man...it would be fun to take care of the old man...to taste blood again...

Ophelia was pouting as they walked one of the many long hallways in their vast home. "If he hates us so much, why did he even have children in the first place? I wish mother were still here... She always knew how to tame him." She confessed.

Victor would regret his actions towards his daughters. His home wasn't the air tight fortress he thought it to be.

"Mother is dead." This was one of the things that Ramona would not discuss. Their mother had left them when Ophelia was four years old and the elder girl was eight. Annabelle had left in the middle of the night. A man had met her at the door way. A man Ramona had invited in the house. Her father had screamed at her for days and blamed her for killing her mother. He claimed that the man was a murder and he had taken the girl's mother and done terrible things to her. 
But Victor had not seen what his eldest daughter had seen. The soft and gentle way the man spoke or the way he smiled at Annabelle when she came to greet him in the hall. The way they'd embraced as if there were no one else in the world but the two of them. The way his crimson eyes had lit up when she'd spoken his name. Justin. 
A warm tear slid down her cheek and she closed her eyes, trying to forget the memory. Her mother hadn't even looked back, hadn't even said goodbye. It was like her daughter's had never even existed to her. Only...Justin. 
"Come on. It's time for your music lesson." She whispered, sliding a hand around her sister's shoulders and turning her toward the study. "Father will be cross if you don't play that Sonata he loves so dearly." 

The creature below was shaking. He was weak, starving. He should have listened to the Master and stayed away. The time was not right but he couldn't. Their blood sang to him. The sonata that played nightly was the tune. It made sense to him. And when he got out he would sing it in all their blood.

"Why should I? When did he ever let us do anything we like?" Ophelia replied sulkily as they pushed open the heavy study door. "Why do I have to learn the piano and practice so much if we never have anyone I can even play for?" The younger sister hadn't seen what her sister had that night, and had forever blamed their father for simply chasing their mother away. Despite her protests, Ophelia was indeed seated at the piano, a heavy sigh escaping her as she began yet another flawless rendition of the sonata she had no idea had a hidden admirer. "I heard the screams again last night." She breathed as she played. "Doesn't it seem odd to you that father seems to be somewhat more... irritable, at certain times of the week?"

"He's just tired, Ophelia." Ramona put away the book her sister had been reading, ignoring the sound of the piano. "The screams aren't as loud or as often as they have been in years past but...perhaps that is a good thing. The ghosts of our childhood are finally leaving us." While her sister played she moved to the dark floor to ceiling window and swayed to the dark refrain. She closed her eyes and danced with a mysterious partner; a handsome stranger with long hair and eyes only for her.

Ophelia saw her sister swaying and closed her eyes as she played. The song had been perfected years ago, she had little need to look at either the music or the keys anymore. The younger sister wanted more for Ramona than this life. The elder girl had had responsibility forced upon her without a reason why she couldn't simply find the husband or lover she clearly longed for. Ophelia on the other hand... She had little need of either. People always went away in the end, either by choice, or Death's cold hand. "You do realise it's almost that time, don't you?" She breathed after some moments of the haunting melody. "He will have more of those strange shaped boxes delivered, and will have us locked in our rooms as it happens."

Ramona stopped dancing and opened her grey eyes, looking sadly at her sister. She nodded once and turned to the window to see headlights approaching the road. "It's tonight. Sooner that even he planned, I guess. Come on. We'd better get things ready so that we are comfortable in our rooms for a few days. His songs can wait." She meant business when she pulled her mass of red hair back into a messy bun and brushed her hands down the front of her skirt. "Hurry now, Ophelia. There is much to be done."

"No." The lid of the piano keys suddenly slammed down and Ophelia's own forest green eyes were staring back at Ramona. "I wont do it, not again!" She insisted. "I refuse to be a prisoner in my own home any longer!" The fierce eyes that were glaring back at Ramona rather defiantly were somewhat of a curiosity; neither parent it seemed had the gene for such a colour.

Ramona stood where she was for a long moment. To her credit she was doing a good job of hiding her shock at her sister's sudden outburst. "Oh yes you are." She hissed after a moment. "We obey father as we always have because he is the only one who loves us." She added firmly. "Now come on. You're going to your room and I will bring everything to you. I don't know what's gotten into you tonight, Ophelia." She held out a hand, flinching when a heavy knock sounded in the hallway bellow them.

"Girls! To your rooms!" Victor practically squealed with joy and anticipation. The packages were earlier than he'd expected. In fact, they weren't due for another few days. But that didn't matter. His aging body was beginning to feel everything. He was running out of time. The fact that they were early was a blessing for him. 
He practically ran to the door and threw it open, his grin splitting his face. "Gentlemen!" He called out. "Come inside! I am ready!"

Ophelia was digging her heels into the carpet as Ramona pulled her along. "This is absurd!" She insisted. "Ramona, we are not children! And if this is his way of loving us... I don't want to be loved!" She shouted. Their father often said it was unbecoming for a woman to read to much, it would give her ideas of fancy.

The two men who were at the door were not the same men who usually brought the delivery. They smiled politely, but didn't seem to know where to leave the delivery. "Sorry it's early, but we had a bit of a mix up. Better than late though, right?" One of them chuckled.

"Ophelia. Hush." Ramona's ears pricked at the sound of a deep melodic voice below them and slammed a hand over her sister's mouth. She yanked the younger woman to the edge of the staircase above their father and peered over. Her curiosity of the delivery men getting the better of her. 

Something inside Victor warned him that this wasn't right and he moved to close the door. "I will call your employer in the morning." He said, his tone suddenly sharp. "You seem to be missing a box. A most important item indeed."

All these long years neither of them had ever seen the packages being delivered, let alone what was inside of them. Despite her earlier protests, Ophelia was indeed quiet now as she joined her elder sibling in sating her curiosity.

The man who had spoken placed a foot in the door way, preventing it from being able to close all the way. Once glance would prove these were not the boots of a delivery man, they were finest handcrafted leather than came at a pretty penny. "No, you will accept this delivery or no more will follow." He insisted, golden eyes glittering in the gaslight of the porch.

"No...No...No..." Victor's aged hands shook as he held onto the door, horror sweeping over him. He realized far too late what he'd done. He'd invited in the devil himself. There was no taking it back now. "Get out. I have nothing you want, sir." 

Ramona's knuckles were white as she gripped the railing with one hand and her sister's shoulder with the other. Her father's sudden panic was like tangible thing and she reacted to it. "Room. Now." She hissed in her sister's ear, turning her toward the hallway.

Ramona's reaction came just a little too late. Golden eyes seemed to hear hear speak and glanced up to where she had just pushed her sister out of view. "Why... I think you have exactly what we want." The visitor purred as his gaze met Victor's once more.

Ophelia hadn't seen the man look at her sister, though she too was set on edge by the fearful way their unflappable father had reacted.

Victor turned his head and looked at the stairs, hearing the retreating footsteps of his daughters. "Get out, creature. I will not tell you again." He hissed. "Do not think I am without ways to protect myself."

Ramona shoved her sister into her room and fumbled for the keys on her dress belt. "Under the bed. It will be okay." She whispered.

The golden-eyed man simply pushed his way back through the door. "You really thought you would go unpunished for what you stole?" He sneered, nodding to the other man to head in the direction of the girl.

Ever the defiant younger daughter, Ophelia flat out refused. "Those men are trying to invade our home! I wont just cower under my bed!"

"I stole nothing! I was taking back what he took from me! There is nothing you need here. I have cleaned out my home of anything you'd be interested in." Victor snapped stumbling to keep the taller man from passing him. He failed miserably. The other manight leapt over him and landed on the floor above. 
Ramona would have no time to answer her sister. The man threw her over his shoulder and leapt back down, in front of his master. "There is another." He said gruffly. "Justin."

"RAMONA!" It was as the other reported back to the one he had addressed as Justin that Ophelia came tearing down the hallway, an ornate letter opener in her hand and ready to defend her sister.
"No..." Justin stared up at the dark haired girl, disliking the feeling of familiarity he had when he saw those eyes. "Get her in the car, I will deal with this." He suddenly barked. Their task had been to take Ramona, the other one was a surprising complication.

"No! Please!" Victor all but fell to his knees, pulling at the ornate coat of the tall man. "You cannot take them from me!"
The other man did as he was told, sweeping from the room and out into the dark night.

Juston looked down at Victor with nothing but resentment. "You think we didn't know what you do to our kind? You are a pathetic parasite, and now..." He paused and smiled thinly. "Your own flesh and blood will sustain us in the same way you stole life from my kin." There was little more than the blink of an eye and Ophelia was suddenly slumped unconscious in Justin's arms. "Such sad little birds..." He remarked, staring down at the young girl's face with a frown.

"You will not win. I will get them back and I will crush you the way I crushed your brother!" Victor screamed, knowing that there was little else he could do. "You should hear him as I tear the flesh from his bones. He is little more than a monster. Perhaps the two of you will understand one another better now!"

Justin looked at the girls in his arms once more before offering Victor another thin smile. "Perhaps I will make them both like us and send them back... See how long you can resist using them for your own selfish need to prolong your miserable life." As he said this he turned back to the door and stepped out into the night.

Victor's screams of anguish could be heard for nearly a mien and soon after the screams of another. The loss of his daughters sent him back to his task with a vengeance.

Not far away the second man had lost his prey. He was standing near the car, his head cocred and listening for the sound of the escaping young woman. "I am sorry, sire." He said when Justin approached. "She heard her father's screams and was fighting a little but...when we arrived at the car she...reacted as if it were a monster or something. I was not prepared for that. She headed toward the woods."

Justin sighed heavily and thrust the unconscious sister into the other man's arms. "Take her back to the complex. I'll follow on foot with the other one." He insisted. "This is my fault. I should have known better than to trust you with such a simple task." He snapped.

The servant showed the tips of his teeth, knowing better than to do more. He glanced down at the girl in his arms, his own blood singing. Everyone knew what a taste from a Von Trap would gain them. The very idea had his heart racing. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Just one taste. No one had to know. 
The howl of agony from inside the enormous house forced the servant's eyes opened and he scowled. If Shane were still among them, none of this would be happening. But sadly the younger brother of their master had disappeared some time ago. 

Ramona ran until her lungs felt like they were going to burst out of her chest. She was trying to find her way back to the house before those men and their strange beast could hurt her sister and father. Her fuzzy mind wondered if that was what had become of her mother. If the beast had swallowed her whole. It was probably the very reason no one had even heard from her again. And the noise it made...
She didn't have time to dwell on it as a branch caught her hair and jerked her off her feet. She didn't stay that way long. The ground gave way beneath her and she was left hanging, struggling to free herself before her long locks and her scalp tore free of her head. She didn't dare scream. The men and their monster were a worse way to die.

Ophelia was moaning in her sleep, her limbs twitching slightly as though she were trying to run from something, or fight something off. "No... I'm sorry... Father..." She thrashed a little more violently now. "I never saw anything!" With that shout her green eyes snapped open.

Justin had no need to run blindly through the trees. He could smell every tiny leaf Ramona had brushed against, her scent clinging to it. He had to admit, he was surprised she had gotten away, and was actually enjoying having to chase someone down. Hunting in the city was far too easy. One smile and young woman would follow him anywhere. "Well now..." He was looking down at Ramona in her current predicament. "Still think you made the smart choice?"