Who: Jill, Rose, Lissa, and the ghosts What: Haunted When: nowish Where: inside the prison Warnings: ghost on ghost violence and probably language
When the invasion from the other side began, Jill felt like her head was suddenly in a vice grip. Someone seemed to be turning it tighter and tighter and all she could do was grip at her hair and try not to scream. She hoped she was scaring Vera, but the younger girl didn't indicate she realized how bad her roommate was plunging into the dark. Shadows appeared everywhere. Outlines at first that suddenly materialized into something more visible and distinguishable from each other. Most were strangers to her. They meant something to others inside the prison, but they were just nameless faces to Jill.
"You shouldn't be alive," one said. Angry eyes shooting accusations at her.
"Cheater of death," another agreed. Hands reaching out, but they couldn't touch her. They could only make her curl into herself and wish she could banish them away. Leave her be. She didn't want this.
A man was in the corner of the room, watching with keen clear eyes, a bemused expression on his face. It took Jill a long moment to weed through the others that left to look for those they were here for before she could focus on him. One look at Rose's face and she knew her friend could see him too. Instinctively, Jill reached for Rose's hand. Not out of fear for herself, but because she knew the history between Victor Dashkov and her friend. The history between Dashkov and her sister and of course she remembered her own time with Victor. It was her introduction into becoming a royal after all. However, it was Rose who had made him go away. She lost control for a second, and while Jill didn't blame her in the least, she wondered if Rose still blamed herself. Or blamed the dark spirit that had infused her at the time.
The spirit that seemed to be coiling up inside Jill like a cobra ready to strike. "Aren't you a pair? Where is my sweet niece?"
Lissa. Jill tensed and felt something hit Rose too. Tension? Fury? The protective need to throw herself in front of the sisters even if the enemy wasn't corporeal.
The room got cold. So cold and Jill hoped that meant Vera knew to leave. Had she? Jill couldn't focus her vision. She felt like she was spinning in so many directions. So many hands reaching from all corners of the room trying to reclaim her for death. "The mark of death on you, Jillian. They know where you belong." The problem with Victor was he was so skilled with words that you never knew if it was a lecture or a compliment. If it was a threat or a warning. It just was. "He'll go away," she said, more to Rose than to herself. And he did. At least far enough that he wasn't in Jill's clear vision.
"Hello, Lunch," a cold hard voice said. Jill felt Rose tense again and she knew who this was. Just from the marks on his chest. This was who had kidnapped Rose and Dimitri's sister. Who had helped turn her. He was a lone. Did it mean the girl was with Viktoria? Or was she having a go at Dimitri? Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and tried to slip into a safe place. Tried to reach Adrian's mind, but she couldn't get through. She doubted he shut her out intentionally so he was either defending himself from intrusion naturally, or Jill was losing her grip on her own abilities with the bond.
Lissa had dropped off a charm and Jill remembered finally to slip it on. When she did things felt different. She still couldn't touch Adrian's mind, but the pain and pressure were not dragging her under any longer. She was grateful Rose was there. Only Rose truly understood what she was going through, and Jill clung to her the way a little sister would cling to a big sister. The air in the room shifted slightly for her. It made it easier to breathe. She wondered if Rose felt the same. Before she could ask she saw the tall handsome blond man appear from another corner of the room. He was studying them both.
His eyes, the pale green that marked Jill's family line, looked equal parts sad and mesmorized as he took a careful step forward. "Hello, Rosemarie." The smile he bestowed on to her was a paternal warm one. It was obvious to Jill how much Eric Dragomir had loved Rose. The entire family had. It was Jill who was the outsider. Except the way he looked at her now, she realized he was taking her in like he was truly seeing her for the first time. Was he? She hadn't had time to ask if he ever visited when she was a child. She doubted the answer was yes. "Hello, Jillian."
"What do you want?" She managed to ask, hand still tightened against Rose's despite being on the ground. Knees to her chest. Hair half hiding her features. She just wanted to disappear and make all the ghosts go away.
"To see if you were al..." his words cut off as he suddenly caught sight of a new arrival. Lissa stood in the doorway of the cell and their eyes locked. "Hello, my beautiful girl."
Lissa wasn't alone, but Jill couldn't even register anyone else. Seeing her sister and father staring at each other, she was struck by the intensity of their bond. How would Lissa handle seeing him again? Now that she knew his secret. The dirtiest secret of all.
Daddy hadn't just had an affair and created a child, that would have been okay and acceptable if it had been with a dhampir woman for a dhampir child, no, he'd had an affair with a Moroi woman, and on the floor clinging to her best friend, was the product of that affair. Jill wondered if maybe she should offer the charm back to Lissa. Her sister's face was unreadable right now.