Prisoner of War

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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.

"I have seen no joy so far. I have experienced nothing but fear and loss." Ramona told him honestly. "I see nothing to be happy about in that."

"We could stay here if you like and simply avoid your sister. or perhaps kill her...if it would please you." Shane said with a sideways smile.

"Your father has been at the root of that." Justin replied. "He kept you a prisoner and even convinced you it was nothing unusual. The world can be a wonderful place, Ramona, if you will just let me show it to you."

Ophelia looked positively horrified. "Of course that isn't what I want!" She insisted. "But..." It was as she chewed on her lip in thought and her new predator teeth cut it somewhat that she realised her life needed to be far from Ramona. The younger woman would never forgive herself if she lost control. "I want to help Ramona find the happy life she deserves, then you can do as you wish with me."

"I'm not a replacement for my mother if that's what you're thinking." Ramona answered warily. "And besides, your people hate me."

"That's asking a bit much." Shane snorted. "Your sister will be fine."

"My people don't know what they want." Justin snorted. "The whole damn lot of them don't have an independent thought between them!"

Ophelia folded her arms across her chest and glared up at Shane. "You don't know that."

Ramona stared at him for a long moment and finally sighed. "I'm not sure I belong in your world. But since I agreed to stay...I am yours to do with as you please." Ramona said softly.

"My brother is a kind man. "He will not hurt her. And since she is the daughter of Annabelle, he will let no one else harm her."

"Please don't talk like that..." Justin breathed. "You make me sound like a slave owner, you are a free woman, Ramona." He insisted. "But... I only wish you would stay here until you realise what the world is truly like."

Ophelia snorted at this assumption and rolled her eyes. "He locked you in here with me, knowing full well you were starving and I was bleeding. What does that say?"

"The world was fine in my home." Ramona whispered. "I felt useful and...I feel lost now. I'm worried about my. father and my sister. They need me."

"It says he hates your father. Don't tell me you dont." Shane said as if it were so simple.  He turned to her, reaching out for her. "You are all right. Are you not? Better than all right."

"You were a slave to them." Justin reminded Ramona. "Your father punished you for the way he had treated Annabelle and made her leave. You were forced to be a mother to her youngest, when in reality he should have hired someone to care for the both of you if he was unable!"

"Because of events your bother set in motion here tonight, I can't be with my sister anymore." Ophelia breathed sadly.

"I've cared for her since she was born. I wouldn't know how to be different." Ramona admitted. "SHe needs me now."she added. "May we go?"


"You think if she knew the way you think of her she be too thrilled to keep you around."  Shane reminded chuckling

"Maybe it's time your learned?" Justin suggested gently. "You can't live your life for her, nothing will change that way."

"And what way is that?" Ophelia asked thinly, again glaring up at Shane. "I only want for her to have the life she deserves!"

Ramona finally nodded. "I can't imagine life alone. Who will I take care of?" She laughed softly. "You don't need anyone...do you?"

"You've often wished your sister would die or get locked in a closet. Remember, we share thoughts. You dream that she gets kidnapped. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that you are the reason Justin came for her." Shane snorted.

"If I told you yes, would you stay?" Justin asked, rather seriously. "You've seen the creatures that live here... They are shallow and vindictive, nothing at all like you."

Ophelia was shaking her head and backing away from Shane now. "I would never intentionally think that!" She hissed. "It is your blood that made such dark, horrible thoughts possible!"

Ramona chewed on her bottom lip in thought. She wasn't sure what to make of this man. "You don't even know if it's worth the cost. Father says I am rather worthless." She finally returned his gaze a tiny dimple appearing in her cheek as she gave him an impish grin. "I imagine it will be fun watching you discover this for yourself. Yes, I will stay."

Shane's laughter was louder this time and filled with darkness. He held out one of his hands which had not yet healed. It was nothing but skeleton. "And who's blood could strip the flesh from a man's body while he screamed for mercy and death. It was not mine child."

"I could use a little fun in my life." Justin confessed, completely smitten with that adorable smile. "And you could use a little danger." He added with a devilish grin of his own.

It was clear from the look in Ophelia's pale green eyes that this accusation horrified her. "No! That wasn't my blood that did that!" She insisted. "My father did something to you! I am not a freak!" She shouted louder than was really needed.

"If you're looking for fun, you will not find it with her." Lilith purred, running a hand up Justin's chest. "Look at her, I'll bet she's a prude. Probably blushes and everything." She held out one of the many clothing suits he'd ordered for Ramona, her lips curled in hate. 

"As you wish." Shane said, clearly mocking her. "You are more like your father than you seem to realize. You never seem to take credit for anything. Be proud of being a monster my dear. I am."

"Jealous that you can no longer blush?" Justin snorted, slipping Ramona's hand into the crook of his arm before taking the clothing from Lilith. "Tell me, how happy are you right now, Lilith?"

Ophelia took another step away from Shane. The only people she had interacted with her whole life, aside from her family, were the servants her father hired. Nearly all of them had seemed to avoid her, and she had heard them often whispering to each other about how there was 'something strange' about her, why couldn't she 'be more like her sister'? "How proud can you really be, when you were caged like an animal all these years?"

Ramona didn't hear the exchange. She was far too busy looking at the pant suit Justin held in his other hand. It was beautiful and strange. Nit at all like something she should wear. But she wanted to. Her father never would have allowed it.
Lilith actually didn't say anything at all. [size=32]She was watching Ramona with an odd expression. "She acts like she's never seen those before." She muttered to Justin.[/size]


Shane pulled her against his chest, knowing the fact that he was still not complete would not bother her. "I intend to show you just how proud I am of you." He breathed, pulling her into a heated kiss before she could protest.

"She probably hasn't." Justin reminded Lilith quietly, allowing Ramona the time she needed to accustom herself to the clothing he had had brought for her. "There is a lot she will not understand just yet." He continued to watch Ramona, more than a little taken with the way such simple things amazed her.

Though she had never been kissed before, the feeling wasn't entirely alien to Ophelia. The young woman had had many 'dreams' of this man, and sometimes they did more than kiss. She was not to know they weren't exactly dreams. No one had ever been proud of her, and that was the reason Ophelia didn't push Shane away liek she knew she probably should have.

"May i.." Ramona couldn't  hold herself back any longer. For the moment, her sister was forgotten. She had no way of realizing that was not entirely her own fault. 
Lilith took the outfit and handed it to her. "Of course you can, my future queen. Let's see how lovely it makes you. I'll even let you borrow my make up."

Shane moaned against her mouth, once again having to fight the wild desire to take more than just her body. He wanted Ophelia on so many levels and had for so very long.

Justin was watching the exchange with an amused expression, knowing Lilith would remember this all too clearly later that day. He was rather curious himself what had just happened, though that could wait. He wouldn't wish to bother Ramona with his thoughts right then, not when she looked so happy.

Ophelia finally pushed her hands against Shane's chest and stumbled back a few steps, something she would not have been able to do had he been at his full strength. "I'm sorry..." She breathed, her pale green eyes betraying how little self esteem she had. Shane was someone her beautiful sister deserved, not the strange little bookworm.

"My sister wears makeup. I can't imagine myself in it." Ramona said, making a face. She took the outfit from Justin and came back a few minutes later, looking like she'd come in her under clothes. Lilith instantly began to fume. The slender red head looked like Annabelle and was beautiful in every sense of the word. 

"As you wish." Shane muttered, smithing down his shirt. "Make up your mind. If we keep playing around here, you will never get to see your mother again."

This tiny little detail was not lost on Justin, and he smiled, even if it made him rather melancholy to remember. "You don't need make up, she does." He finally remarked with a restrained smiled as he took both Ramona's hands. "You are beautiful just as you are."

He was upset with her. Well that didn't take long, she thought silently. Most people found her annoying eventually anyway. "What on earth makes you think I want to see my mother?" She asked rather primly, folding her arms across her chest and putting some distance between them; anything to hide how insecure and vulnerable she really was.

Furious at the sight of her, Lilith turned on heel to leave. "She'll have your head for bringing her here." She hissed. 

Shane knew these feelings of hers but didn't mention them. Instead he turned to the door and waved a hand, smiling as it unlocked. "Perhaps I shall use you as bait to see the conniving little bitch for myself. She and I still have a few things left to say to her."

"I'm counting on it." Justin replied with a grin, though his gaze was still on Ramona. "Are you hungry?" He suddenly asked, realising he hadn't offered her anything.

"You don't just stop loving someone." Ophelia pointed out from what she believed was a safe distance. "You are just disguising your love as hate, but really... don't bother for my benefit."

Ramona shook her head. "I can't eat when I'm nervous." She confessed. "I just want to see my §ister."

"For one who pretends to know so much you really know very little." Shane snorted.

"Perhaps she will be hungry too? I could have food prepared for the both of you?" Justin suggested, not sure of Ramona would pick up on his irrational dislike of her sister.

"And for one apparently so capable, you hide behind your hostility like a little boy." Ophelia snapped, stepping through the door ahead of Shane.

Without knowing it, Ramona was about to buy Shane even more time to get her sister further away from her. "Can I cook her something?" She asked. "She and my father were rather fond of my Black pudding. I could make you some too?" 

"Is it so hard to believe that I never loved your mother? Maybe I just wanted her because my brother did. I have always been jealous of Justin. He is the beautiful and intelligent one. Everything he did pleased my father. He could have beaten a child, killed a kitten and my father would have praised him for it. There ìt is. It had little to do with the woman and everything to do with my brother. 
"I love Justin more than life itself but I am jealous of him. And it's enough to tear apart even the smallest things that make my father happy with him." Shane finally growled at her. "Now let's go. We are wasting too much time."

Justin was glad of the distraction and nodded in agreement. "As I recall... You mother used to make that also." He replied. "Whatever it takes to make you happy." He added, offering his arm out to her again.

Ophelia lingered where she stood in the chilly hallway. Perhaps she and Shane weren't so different after all. "Ramona is the sun, and I am the moon, our father used to say. People love and yearn for the sun... The sun is life and warmth, just like Mona. What normal person worships the moon?" She breathed, letting her secret jealousy spill free.

Ramona was elbow deep in pudding, humming softly. She was lost in thought and memories of her mother. It was Annabelle who taught her how to make to it. It made her chest hurt to think of her beautiful mother teaching her to cook. It seemed to her that her mother was good at everything.

"Not all creatures care for the sun, my dear. There are some who are nocturnal." Shane purred, passing through the hall that led to the kitchens. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

Justin had been quite happy watching Ramona cook for some time now. He wasn't thinking of anything else, other than how he would fight with everything he had to ensure she remained human and able to enjoy simple pleasures such as food.

"The few versus the rest of the world." Ophelia snorted as she followed after Shane.