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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 5, 2017 22:10:45 GMT -7
Katherine's eyes go wide at the stain on her dress, she quickly looked down to the night stuff she had on now and thankfully there wasn't any blood on it at all. She knew that she had had some blood at the parlour but definitely hadn't spilt anything on her... right? She remembers Edric practically slamming her hand to the table and taking the drink from her but she didn't remember seeing anything on her.
There was a fear in her that she couldn't describe especially when she couldn't remember how the blood had gotten on her. However it had gotten there she was sure that someone would've seen it it was a big enough stain that someone would've noticed. Jon or Edric would've said something but they didn't, right?
No the last thing Jon had said to her was that he loved her. His hand slowly on her cheek as he said it. Katherine had said it back and then had pulled the covers over Jon when he got into the bed and she had followed not long after, right? Katherine couldn't be sure because she couldn't remember getting into the bed.
She quickly moved to the mirror and found that she had specks of blood on her skin and she let out a soft whimper before putting her hand to her mouth. She was aware of someone knocking on the door and it opening. It was Edric. Katherine could sense him a lot better now than she had done.
She must be coming down from the high of drinking the glass of blood at the parlour, but she knew that there was something else to this. There had to be a reason why she had blood on her dress and why she couldn't remember how it had got there.
Oh god what if... Katherine couldn't think like that, she couldn't afford to think like that especially when she was sure there was another explanation as to why it was there in the first place. She had to believe that she hadn't just fallen off the wagon because she didn't want to see the look on Jon's face if he found out. She was going to have to get rid of the dress, it was the only way she could really keep this away from Jon.
Katherine had told him that she was fine and he had to believe that because finding out the truth would hurt him. It would hurt to know that his girlfriend, the very careful Katherine Stark had fallen off the wagon and doesn't even remember doing it.
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Post by Ray on Dec 5, 2017 22:32:18 GMT -7
For a moment, Jon wants to be satisfied with that. The idea of Edric working at his side once more, like old times, is appealing. But the same questions from last night creep back upon him, reminding him of the answers he never got, the suspicions that never waned. Perhaps he can trust Edric, but the others... Jon wets his lips, moving to set the paper aside, folding it so that the headline is hidden. "And Abraham?" He asks, a little cautiously, steeling himself for the same explosion that had happened between them outside of the Parlour.
"It's not him." Edric replies. Jon looks to him.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I'm fucking Camilla," Edric says, uninhibited, giving a slow exasperated blink. Jon's brows lift a little in surprise at his uncouthness. "She's his familiar, if something was happening, if Abraham was butchering women in the streets, she would tell me."
"Familiar?" Jon asks, not recognizing the word, shaking his head a little in confusion.
Edric sighs, stepping into the sitting room where Jon is, glancing momentarily towards the large portrait of Katherine hanging on the wall and rolling his eyes subtly. "Abraham is an occultist. He...practices witchcraft. Camilla is bound by blood to him," he explains, setting his eyes back upon Jon, "She serves him, as a...muse, a source of power, a font of magic so to speak. She aides in his spells, gives him the energy necessary to conduct them. She's a demon, of sorts. A fox spirit."
"You're..." Jon says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he tries to wrap his mind around this, "Fucking a demon fox?" He blinks, pressing his brows close.
Edric huffs out an unexpected laugh, looking away and scratching lightly at the scar upon his cheek, a smile twisting at his lips. "In a way."
"Okay." Jon mutters. "So not Abraham. But he does get his blood from somewhere."
The smile fades from Edric's lips and he sets his grey eyes back on Jon, the humor lost. "Jon, I'm not pretending like he's a good man. Even a decent one. And if you're really all that concerned, then these Ripper murders..." he says, motioning to the newspaper, "Are not the only ones in this fucking city. A girl was beaten to death in Hyde Park last week, middle of the day. Dead children have been washing into the harbor for months. And yes. Abraham gets the blood from somewhere. But you can't save everyone. And you sure as hell can't stop death."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 5, 2017 22:52:55 GMT -7
Nothing about this made any sense, the amount of times she has known what she was doing and what had been the last thing she done before slipping under the covers but last night... last night she didn't even remember getting into bed yet somehow she had ended up there in her nightgown next to Jon as if she had been there since he got into bed.
She moved away from the mirror and knew that if she carried this to the bathroom to try and soak the blood out of it then it would be noticed but she could try leaving it under the bed for now and when the house was a bit more quiet she could put it in a bag and throw it out or even burn it but she knew that that would probably cause too much attention to be put on her and Katherine had told Jon not to worry.
The bed was big enough that the dress wouldn't know but if anyone was to look under there say like Jon is If he was missing any clothes and found it then she would have him worrying, if Maria found it then she would have her on her back so now she was stuck with an impossible decision. So she moved to the wardrobe and put it on the bottom, grabbed another dress and locked it up, taking the key out she made sure to keep it with her at all times.
Katherine looked back at the mirror and saw her reflection in it but this time she looked so much more healthier, her hair looked a bit more shinier and she was sure that she felt so much better in herself but it didn't stop the nagging at her mind that she had killed someone the night before. She never wanted to keep anything like this from Jon because in the end it would get out but how could she sit him down and tell him that she thought she had killed someone? That when she woke up this morning there was blood on her dress and she didn't remember getting into bed?
This was not happening to her, not to her of all people. Yet here she was freaking out that she had killed someone. Katherine made sure that she had a wash, that she got all of the blood from her skin before she slipped into a new dress. It felt like she was looking at two very different people in the mirror. Herself and the vampire that wanted to come out, the vampire that wanted to rip into people's veins.
She felt a little bit light headed and was sure that vampires didn't get that but it was there, it was also at that moment when she could feel hot blood filling her mouth. The quivering of a body as she held onto their waists and then the movement stopped. She had ripped her fangs from the persons neck and licked her lips. Katherine shook her head and put her hand back to her mouth.
"No," she said as tears filled her eyes "no, nononono please god no" she shook her head.
Katherine had fallen so far from the wagon that there was no way she could get back on it without admitting to Jon what had happened even if she doesn't know who or why she had killed. Her hand started to tremble and she had to clench it up to stop it.
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Post by Ray on Dec 5, 2017 23:13:04 GMT -7
"So what? You think this is impossible? Finding the killer?" Jon asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I think you want to be a hero, as you always do." Edric replies, "But that you're also forgetting one simple truth. Heroes do stupid things. And they die." Jon lets those words hang in the air, unable to argue. How many times has he fallen on a knife's edge? Gotten himself into a fight he could not win? Put himself in a situation far over his head for the sake of saving someone else? Death has almost become routine. He chokes on the blood rising like bile in his throat, feels it empty his veins, watches as the darkness creeps in from every corner, lets the cold consume him. And then he wakes. Sucking air into starved lungs, untouched and whole as if it had never happened.
Katherine has stopped mourning him. Now she just waits.
"And if I do nothing, what will I be then?" He asks, looking up to him once more.
"A normal man in an unkind world," Edric replies, "You owe nothing to anyone." Jon rolls his jaw. "But like I said...I know you. Just don't go hunting killers without someone to watch your back." The wolf turns to head back towards the door, seemingly done with this conversation. Jon turns to watch him go, letting his words circle around his mind.
"Where should I start?" He calls after him, as Edric pulls the door open. The wolf sighs out a breath.
"There's a man. A detective in central London. Holmes. He's eccentric but he might know something." Edric says. "Find Ollie. She'll lead you to him." And Edric steps out, closing the door behind him without another word. Jon stands there for a moment longer, before his feet carry him towards the stairs, his meal forgotten.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 5, 2017 23:25:50 GMT -7
Katherine knows she has to compose herself because if she started to freak out more then everyone would know that she's done a bad thing. Something very very bad that she promised never to do and that was to take a life. Going against everything a vampire knows is hard especially when they crave human blood. The warm red stuff that fills their mouths everytime they bite into the skin of a human. Animal blood wasn't enough for Katherine and she knew that but she refused to go to a human and get their blood so animals would have to do.
Now she might not have any choice, she would crave human blood until it took her over and then anyone was fair game. She has seen vampires lose control, hell Adrian had been one of them but she prided herself on not being like them, of keeping herself clean and in control and now she wasn't. Now she was losing control.
Katherine heard the door shut downstairs as if it was right behind her and she knew that Jon would be up any moment. So rather than look like she had been crying she quickly wiped her eyes and sat down at the dressing table quickly and before long the door opened and she looked at him through the mirror. She put on a smile and raised her eyebrow "If you're going to ditch me for Edric then let me know next time so I won't get myself too excited" she said and winked at him before she pulled a brush through her long dark hair. Her eyes moving away from Jon to her own reflection and she prayed that he wouldn't see anything wrong with her.
She put the brush down and then pulled her hair back, all of this making her feel nothing. Katherine just wanted to tell him not to come near her, to get out of this room, this house, because she couldn't bear to look at him. She opened her mouth to say so but decided to not say anything. It was probably better that way because if she let on something was wrong then she would get questions that she wasn't sure she could actually answer without spilling everything to him.
"So did you two kiss and make up? Am I going to lose my lover to him?" She teased softly.
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Post by Ray on Dec 5, 2017 23:34:18 GMT -7
As Jon steps into the bedroom, he finds Katherine sitting at her vanity, brushing out her long hair, already dressed. She chides him lightly through the mirror, giving him a quick wink. Truth be told, in those few moments speaking with Edric, he had forgotten her earlier tease as he'd left for the kitchen, a half-hearted promise to be naked the next time he stepped in.
"Sorry about that," he replies, smiling a little as he closes the door softly behind him. Of course she knew it was Edric at the door. Sometimes he has to remind himself that her hearing is far better than his, along with just about every other one of her senses. It surprises him still, when she knows something that seems impossible, like the identity of a man who had remained three floors below her. Edric is the same way though. But his level of perception is somehow different from hers. Not necessarily better, but more honed.
"He...wants to help." Jon says, simplifying a complicated conversation. He takes a seat upon the edge of the bed. "Thinks I'll inevitably end up in trouble so it's better to watch my back then let me walk into a fire, headfirst." Edric is not wrong. Six centuries and about as many wars have proven that. "Says there's a man in London who may be able to help. A Mister Holmes."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 5, 2017 23:49:43 GMT -7
Katherine listened to what he was saying especially about Edric wanting to help, she remembered the conversation from the night before about how he wanted to find out about the killer of Whitechapel. She bit on her lip and then turned in her seat so that she was looking at him. "Jon.." she said softly. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked him and waited. "You might not like what you find"
She couldn't deny that she thought it was her especially after finding the blood on the dress. It would be karma is she had asked Adrian if it was him and it turned out to be her, she was sure that she didn't lose much memories but last night, God last night she couldn't remember much. Katherine knew what he was like, knew that if he set his mind to something then it would be hard to change it and she loved that about him. Loved that he was passionate about finding the truth or helping out friends even if everyone else thought he was crazy.
But this was something she didn't want him to find out about. This wasn't how she wanted him to know it could be her and she not know. She leaned forward and took her hands in his. "I love you and you know that" she smiled "just not... everything is down to you to find out. The police will hopefully get their killer and then it'll be the end of it so please Jon.. please just let this one go" she muttered and watched him. "No good can come from this only pain"
Katherine looked over his face and then then a flicker happened and she blinked because she was sure she saw Drake's face but that was ridiculous because Drake had nothing to do with this. She was sat with Jon and not Drake. Katherine sat up, letting Jon's hands fall from hers and cleared her throat.
She knew he wouldn't pass this up, she knew he would find out who the killer was and she just hoped he wasn't looking at them because Kat knew it would destroy him if it turned out that it was her. "If you do go out and I'm not back when you get home it's cause I had to pop out to do some business but I shouldn't be too long"
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Post by Ray on Dec 6, 2017 0:20:07 GMT -7
For the second time that morning, Jon is told not to pursue this. Katherine takes his hands, her eyes big and full of worry as she asks him to let it go. A sinking feeling fills his chest. He's not sure what reaction he expected, but this wasn't it. He's done foolish things before, pursued foolish things, and he knows this could be another one of those times. He's not so distant from the world to know that he's talking about walking into a lion's den. But he also knows to trust his gut when it is this twisted into a knot. Something about this, about these deaths, these murders, does not sit well with him. And a part of him already knows that the police will be able to do nothing about it. Not with their resources, not with their lack of love for the impoverished of this world.
Dead prostitutes make for good headlines, but rarely find justice.
But the look on her face and Edric's reluctance to get involved makes him doubt himself.
What if he is making a mountain out of a hill, a normal occurrence of this god-forsaken planet into a catastrophe.
Yet he remembers his dream. The city spread before him, the great wings, the blood pouring into the street like a river of crimson...He has not had dreams like that for years. Ones so vivid, so antagonizing, so violent. This is more than just the desire for heroics. This is more than wanting a little excitement. This is something right beneath the surface of his skin telling him to move.
He looks down to their hands for a moment, clenching his jaw tightly but letting his thumb stroke across her knuckles gently.
"I won't get myself into anything I can't handle," he says as a promise he may not be able to keep, lifting his dark eyes back to her face. "If anything, I just want to know what's happening. For all our sakes." He admits.
She tells him of business she has to attend to, and Jon nods a little, releasing her hands slowly. "I think I may go for a walk. Clear my head." He replies, rising to his feet. He goes to grab his jacket, tugging it on and up to his shoulders.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 6, 2017 4:35:08 GMT -7
Katherine looks over at him and watches as he stands and puts his jacket on. She gets to her feet and walks over and pulls the collar of his jacket out and straightens any creases that might be on there. She gently pulls the jacket more around him and then keeps hold of it for a moment, her eyes on his. Not for the first time that morning she says "I love you but you have to be careful" she said with a soft smile. "You can't die true but that doesn't mean you're completely invincible."
She wasn't sure what she was going to do if it turned out that the murderer was in fact her. All she knew was that she had to be dealt with whether she liked it or not. Katherine wasn't sure if Jon would be able to do it but Edric would. If there was one person who would deal with her it would be him. She also knew that Jon had to do this and no amount of her saying that he should stay away from it would stop him from going to look into the murders. She dropped her hands from his jacket and then leaned in and kissed his cheek softly, the warmth of his skin underneath her lips.
Katherine wasn't sure if she was going to lose herself in all the blood and that's what made her afraid especially when she hadn't known she had done anything in the first place. She pulled away from his cheek and said softly "You find this Mister Holmes and get the information you need" she said with a softer smile this time. Katherine knew that Jon would do it anyway so it was probably better to be on board with it but at the same time she knew that she was afraid of what he would find. She was afraid of herself being the murderer and she couldn't bear the thought of it because she couldn't look him in the face if it turned out that it was her.
She was praying that it wasn't for obvious reasons... but what if?
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Post by Ray on Dec 6, 2017 13:10:04 GMT -7
After her warning and her kiss upon his cheek, she lets him go in much the same way Edric had -- with resigned acceptance. It is not a fact that leaves him with any good feelings about this, and perhaps if he were a smarter man or a less reckless one, he might have decided to heed their warnings, heed their concerns, and stay here where it is warm and comfortable and safe. But in his life, he's learned that there are very few things he can hide from. And one or another, between the dreams and the twist of his gut and the darkness lurking all around them, this would find them no matter what. Of that he's sure.
Jon cups her cheek in his palm and kisses her tenderly, lingering upon her lips for a long moment before he draws away. "Who knows," he says with a small smile, stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb, "Maybe he'll know nothing at all, and that will be the end of that." He presses a kiss to her forehead before letting his hand fall away and turning for the door.
He carries himself down the stairs and out into the street, the world long awake and moving about its business. He glances up towards the house once more before turning and following the line of people busily making their way through the city, not knowing precisely where he will end up, but knowing where he might want to start.
Heading east, he walks the road towards Hellsing's Parlour.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 6, 2017 13:25:39 GMT -7
Jon cupped her cheek and they kissed for a long moment and she could feel his heart in his chest like the most stable thing she's ever know. It makes her yearn for him, yearn to just leave this place behind and have them go somewhere else that wasn't London but she knew she would stay for as long as she could. His thumb stroked her cheek and she leaned into his touch.
Katherine had a bad feeling that this was going to lead him to a place where she didn't want him to go and while she didn't like him being so reckless she knew he would go there anyway, knew that he would end up finding out more about the murders than the police would because Jon was determined to do something.
He kissed her forehead and she closed her eyes for a moment until he pulled away. She slowly opened them and watched as he left the room. Katherine heard his footsteps doing down the stairs and then out the door. She moved to the curtain and watched him walk down the street from the house and she bit on her lip.
Looking around the room Katherine knew that she had to do something herself, had to find out if she really did kill anyone but there wasn't many people she could ask. There wouldn't be many people who wouldn't look at her as if she was insane. Then her eyes caught on something on her desk and she moved over and picked it up. Letting her eyes look over the card she wondered if she went to Drake then he would believe her, maybe he could make her understand just what the hell was going on.
Katherine felt like she was going mad, felt the insane feeling in her yet she couldn't explain it to Jon. He was so determined to find more out about these murders but if they lead him back here then would he be able to do anything to stop her? Would he be willing to put her life to an end? She prided herself on staying clean but the bloody dress and the taste of human blood at the back of her throat wasn't very clean. It wasn't in control, Katherine was a monster and maybe she needed to die the way that monsters died.
In the same way they killed their victims.
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Post by Ray on Dec 6, 2017 13:45:31 GMT -7
As he had found it the day before, Hellsing's Parlour stands closed and empty in the narrow street, no sign of the pub remaining other than a locked door. Jon stares at it for a long moment, that uneasy feeling in the base of his gut once more. He wonders, briefly, what he would find if he forced his way in. Would the pub still be down there, filled with its monsters and its eerie singing, filled with the lingering stench of blood, filled with its secrets. He wonders if Abraham keeps his things there, the items of his witchcraft. He wonders if there are people hidden in the walls, veins filling vials with blood.
"You're back." A voice speaks, interrupting his thoughts.
Jon blinks and looks away from the door. Standing just a little ways away, walking towards him with her newspaper bag slung over a shoulder, is Ollie. She smiles a little and comes to a halt several paces away, adjusting the weight of her heavy bag. With all that has happened, Jon suddenly feels a flood of worry pulse through his veins. She's young. Far too young to be near a place like this.
"They're still not open," Ollie says matter-of-factly, pointing towards the door and lifting a brow a little in amusement.
Jon's lips pull in a half smile. "Yesterday, the man I was with said that you watch the door for a Holmes." He says, getting to the point.
Ollie's expression turns a little wary, her tone cautious, "Aye."
"Can you take me to Holmes?"
She turns her head a little, glancing back slightly over her shoulder before setting her eyes back upon Jon. "Why?"
"I think perhaps we have the same questions."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 6, 2017 14:09:15 GMT -7
Katherine made sure that she needed everything she could for her trip to Drake's house. If she was honest there was two emotions in her, an excited feeling that told her she was making the right decision and the very bad feeling that told her to stay away, to run even. To leave Jon a letter explaining everything and to just leave. With her gone then maybe everyone would be safe. But there was always someone out there that wouldn't be.
She explained to Maria that she would be gone most of the day because she had business to tend too and left it up to her imagination as to who she was doing business with. Maria had said about it being Mr Richards and she had swore under her breath because she had forgotten about that man but just smiled and left it to her.
Katherine made the trip to Drake's house and was actually surprised to see that he owned an estate. A bloody estate and the man went to the Parlour? It was hard to comprehend but in the end she managed to push those thoughts away and headed up to the house. She felt a little bit of relief at being here but there was something pulling far her mind about how familiar all of this seemed. How all of this she was sure she had seen before even though she had only come here.
She knocked on the door and waited for a moment until it was opened by a servant. She introduced herself and then held up the card that Drake had given her the night before to show that she had been invited and in the end she was let in and told to wait for a momen.
Katherine couldn't help but feel like she had been here before and that she felt this overwhelming relief and not worried at all. It almost felt like the felling she would get when she stepped into her own houses. As if she was home. It was a very odd feeling and one she couldn't shake right now but the other half of her didn't care that she couldn't shake it because it seemed like nothing else really mattered right now.
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Post by Ray on Dec 6, 2017 15:41:16 GMT -7
His estate sits on the edges of London where the city begins to give way to countryside, a large and imposing place surrounded by gardens with gothic statues mingling upon beds of rose bushes. The same dragon upon the card sits as a steel crest above the door, marking this as the right house. The servant leads her in with a bow and a somewhat puzzled expression, guiding Katherine into the foyer where she will wait for his master to arrive. If the exterior is grand, the interior is absolutely lavish. There is not a single penny held back in the construction and decoration of this estate. The floors are white marble, veined with red, and the walls are dark cherry wood, polished and clean. Light bathes in from windows built from stained glass, turning the room shades of rosy reds and vibrant golds, as if dusk has already set in upon the sky outside. But it's warm. Comfortable. An expensive show of wealth that feels more like the entry-hall to a castle than a mansion for London's elite.
On either side of the hall two large paintings sit singular on their respective walls -- one a painting of St. George slaying the dragon, the other of the fall of Lucifer, both signed by the names of Renaissance artists. They are accompanied by twin swords sitting above each, long blades still sharpened to perfect points and ended with expensive leather hilts that look like the makings of something old and forgotten. Red twine hangs from the hilts' end, the color of dripping blood.
"Katherine," Drake's voice carries through the hall as he steps down the staircase at the head of the foyer, arriving in absolute silence. He smiles a little, surprised to see her, as he descends. He wears a black suit, different to the one he wore the night before at the Parlour, this one less formal but still creating a striking dark image upon the stairs. "I was not expecting to see you so soon," he admits as he reaches the ground floor, taking the few steps towards where she waits. He fixes the buttons on the cuffs of his sleeves, his surprised smile turning more warm and friendly as he approaches. "What did I do to deserve this pleasure?"
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 6, 2017 16:00:44 GMT -7
Katherine can't believe just how beautiful this place looked it was so much more amazing than her brothel even if she had gone for a nice looking place but this estate it could take someone's breath away but there was still the nagging feeling that she had been here before, yet she wasn't sure when. She moved over to the paintings and tilted her head slightly and wondered just why there wasn't anything like this about Westeros, there was so many stories that would be forgotten because of the fact that this was now called something else. Kings Landing was London and that wasn't the only place that had a name change. Winterfell did too but mostly that had been taken over by another country in the North.
She was deep in her thoughts when she heard Drake's voice call to her and she turned to look at him, a soft smile on her lips. "I am so sorry to disturb you" she said softly and licked her lip. "I can come back if you would like" but something in Katherine knew that he wanted her to stay and stay she would for now. "I was just admiring your paintings," she admitted and turned to look at them. "It's sometimes sad when things get forgotten but I guess that at the same time it has to be when something so bad happens that it would put a country to shame" she sighed and then shook her head before looking back at Drake.
"I was hoping that we could talk, at the moment I'm not sure I can turn to anyone else" she admitted. Katherine had always been on at Adrian about keeping himself clean and to make sure that he didn't kill anyone else and here she was thinking that maybe she had done just that. The blood on her gown from the night before had definitely suggested that. Yet she doesn't remember doing it. To her it was all a dream, a dream that she had had when she had fallen asleep. Katherine had slipped under the covers not long after Jon and then had the dream and now she was here while she was awake.
Katherine looked up and down the hall and saw it was empty except for the two of them, she leaned in slightly and said "I think I killed someone last night but.." she sighed. "But I was sure that I had been in bed with Jon, I just don't remember doing it, and then this morning I found the gown I had been wearing last night and it was full of blood and I don't remember getting any on me, something is happening to me Drake and I'm scared"
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