"I don't know where you're going, but have you got room for one more troubled soul/ I don't know where I'm going, but I don't think I'm coming home/ And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead/ This is the road to ruin and we've started at the end/ Say yeah/ Let's be alone together/ We could stay young forever/ Scream it from the top of your lungs, lungs, lungs//

- Alone Together - Fall Out Boy

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"I'm not going to fight you Olalla", Dance exclaimed, holding a hand out to her. "Not my own daughter".

"Then give my sister back and we won't have to", Olalla replied, twirling the blade in her palm. She looked up at the MIO office and Dance followed her gaze. Quickly, he put two and two together.

"Hold on. This is not about Fedora; you never knew her that well, let alone cared about her. Have they...? Have they turned you Olalla? Have MIO finally turned your pretty face away from me?"

"I was promised someone. Someone I do care for".

"Robert? Robert Jekyll? I could have found him in half the time, and I wouldn't ever make you do something you didn't want to do".

"Who said I didn't want to hurt you? Who said I cared about you? Who said I cared about anyone?"

"Because you're at a disadvantage, Olalla. Unlike Louis Hyde, unlike Bulstrode, unlike anyone else, I know that face the best. You're my daughter, Olalla, and I don't care how loud Louis Hyde shouts from the rooftops, you will always be one to me".

"I- I suppose you were the only family I ever had. But I always wanted... something more".

"Olalla. I can't love in that way, I'm sorry. I can be a father, I can be a friend, but I can't be your lover. It's just..."

"Weird? I don't care what people think, and I don't think you do either, so what's stopping you?"

"Because I will break you Olalla. I will use you up and take everything from you, not on purpose, I admit, but still. I take lovers that I don't care about and use them as pawns in my fight against humanity. I don't want that happening to you; I want you to step into my new world in one piece". Olalla could only look at her feet, jaw locked with dismay.

...

"I'd like my sister back please", she said finally.

"Fedora is in the Puzzlebox, a place where no man has ever escaped. I have no influence over her in there".

"See that's always the thing with you. Is it that you can't or that you don't want to?" She could feel her Hyde surfacing, but not out of anger or pain, just out of disappointment, and perhaps, embarrassment? Olalla could sense Semira hiding in the shadows; she knew she was going to strike at any given moment. "And I see you have your little pets scattered around. Surprised you didn't bring your Vetala".

"Who says I didn't?" he lilted, raising his eyebrows.

"See now this is your choice, Dance, are you killer or coward? You have the means of destroying me, so... are you?"

"Is this always going to be the same song we dance to Olalla? The lyrics change, but the melody stays the same".

"Killer or coward? Answer the question", she riposted, her voice raising.

"Temper of your mother", he commented quietly to himself, and then smiled. "Oh, I'm more than a killer, darling. But then again, you could call me a coward for keeping you alive all these years. You've made me... weak".

Silence rose among them. Olalla could hear Lily shouting at her, but she couldn't hear what she was saying. She guessed it was along the lines of "Throw the bloody knife". If she walked away now, they would never resurrect Bella, she would not be getting Robert back in a hurry. But if she attempted to kill Dance, well, bang goes twenty years of their relationship being... friendly. Could she really give up on a chance to get Robert back? She thought about how happy Maggie would be, to find her grandson in his lab again. That's when she made her choice. She threw the knife.

It flew for a moment, whistling as it cut through the air. But then it stopped, frozen by Lottie's telekinetic powers. Dance just looked at it; it hung in the air in front of his chest.

"Why?" he asked finally.

"Because I had to".

"Then I've won, Olalla. I've wiped every last drop of your mother's influence from you. I hope you will forgive me, but like I said; more than just a killer". Before she could ask him what for, Lottie turned, striking at her with iron force. She hit out at her abdomen, and Olalla bounced back from it uneasily, grabbing the blade from the airspace it hung in. She swiped it across Lottie's face, leaving a long cut down her cheek, and she spat out the blood that had collected in her throat. From behind her, Semira wrapped a long, satin draped arm around her neck. Olalla could've sworn that she had pledged allegiance to herself; she was a mercenary after all. Lottie took this chance to strike, hitting out at her face with ringed fists that felt like steel knuckledusters. Again and again she hit out at her, cutting her skin. After what felt like ages, Lottie stopped for a moment, but Semira wrapped her arm around her arm around her throat tighter.

"Semira", Olalla murmured, wheezing. "I thought you hated Tenebrae; you were only in it for the money". Semira chuckled.

"I may be just a mere, sharpshooting, shapeshifting, multilingual, surprisingly stunning merc. but I am not a fool. MIO was just an organisation to use, Tenebrae on the other hand..." she whispered. "Well, that's a different story".

"So now you're Dance's pet, and you're not getting paid anymore".

"Dance will lead us to a new world, a world free of humans. That's better than money or possessions, this is war, and it will start with your death".

"Then you better start postphoning, 'sugar'". Smiling, Semira nodded and Lottie grabbed her by her shirt collar, then threw her into a nearby wall. Olalla's Hyde was now fully awakened, and for good reason too. Taking the Jekyll Ring out of her pocket, she slid it on her finger. "Right then, sister dearest, playtime's over". Lottie immediately curled one of her hands into a fist, then a glow of dark green energy swirled itself into a sword. She ran towards her, sword outstretched to the side of her. Putting her hands in front of her, Olalla just thought, and then two beams of scarlet energy ran from her fingers. They intertwined around her arms and spread up into the air above her, creating an almost bubble-like structure around her. Lottie struck out with her sword, but it didn't touch Olalla; the bubble protected her like steel. It was taking its toll on Olalla though, the bloodlust seemed to be stronger. Though she wanted to wield this power, not just use it for a bubble. She wanted to create fire and ice; battling with an iron fist, but she could feel an itch in her gums and her fangs extending out.

"Oh, for God's sake", she whispered as she sunk her teeth into her wrist, leaving two gaping that seeped crimson blood. The energy bubble broke around her and Lottie swung her sword...

...

She stopped. With her blade cutting into the side of her neck, she dispersed her sword and stepped back. Dance looked at her with curious eyes.

"Coward", she lulled under her breath.

"We'll see", he answered, and put an arm out to her. "Have some blood". Without thinking, Olalla immediately pounced on it, sinking her fangs into his arm. She sighed with relief as her Jekyll regained control and her fangs retracted back into her gums. Looking down herself, she saw the effects of this fight. Blood seeped from her mouth, face and chest, and there were the beginnings of bruises up her arms. Her limbs ached from her wounds, and the Jekyll Ring seemed to burn at her fingertips.

"Why?" she asked. She gazed upwards to see an MIO agent with a sniper rifle in his hand pointing at Dance.

"I hate to see monsters suffering. Especially you". He smiled slightly, looking from Semira to Lottie to Olalla. "That's what Tenebrae was for. I wanted, well still want, to make a world where monsters don't need to suffer. And you may hate me for it, but to do that, I'll have to break the old world down. The humans will not give up without a fight, though, and that one fight will become a war, that we will win. I'm doing this for you, Olalla, to learn from the past".

"You sentimental idiot", she retorted, stuffing the Jekyll Ring into her pocket.

"True, perhaps. But we find ourselves in the past, and that helps us make our decisions in the present and forge ourselves in the future. We are our past, so it helps to look back on it once in a while. It's good to be sentimental, Olalla", he lulled, taking out a gun and shooting the MIO sniper down from his roost in the window of the office. Olalla watched as he fell down and hit the ground. "It's even better to be mental".

:/:

Olalla had left after that. She was tired and hurt and didn't really mind if Dance was captured or escaped. Though she had an inkling that he got away.

She was walking down the cobblestone streets of London up to the house, getting rather strange looks off the people she saw. Sometimes she did wonder whether there was anything for her in London, and sometimes when MIO really got on her nerves she regretted not taking Renata's mantle up. This was one of those moments; Longbarrow sounded like such a peaceful place.

The streets of London were quiet today, probably why nobody noticed a government organisation's building being torn apart. There was only one people walking up the street towards her now. It was a man dressed in smeggy, grey clothes, with long hair hanging out of a colander? Were her eyes deceiving her? No, she was right. There, perched on his head was the silver kitchenware, and two brown eyes glared at her from underneath it. In his hand was a green bottle that she guessed did contain some sort of alcohol.

"You!" he shouted as he passed her. He grabbed her arm, not fazed by the blood that was smeared down them. "Vampire girl, right?"

"I'm not a vampire", she answered, freeing her arm from his grip. He was stronger than he looked.

"You are. I saw ya. In Old Fleet Street 'bout half an hour ago. Ya bit someone, I saw". Dance. He saw her bite Dance.

"Have you been following me, sir? Because I can report you to the police for it".

"No, no. I need to tell ya something. Oh yes!" he called, then went closer, as if he was trying to whisper something to her. "Ya need to go to the Empire Hall".

"May I ask why?" Before he could answer, a similar looking man, slightly taller perhaps, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away.

"Come on, that's no way to pick up women", he muttered, then turned to talk to Olalla. "Sorry, um, ma'am. He's a bit loopy. Been on the drink".

"Empire", the man with the colander whispered and with that, they walked off down the street, bottles in hand.

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