Scarlet Queen Ch. 12-Epilogue

Chapter Twelve

They all had gathered in Craven's study. Linzi sat beside Ellie, who had held her hand as she told her story.

Somehow, the mystery man, simply known as 'The Keeper', had become infatuated with Linzi when she was in her teens, after the tragic accident. At first, it had been fairly innocent, he had written letters about her survival being a miracle, but not long after, those same letters became delusions.

Linzi's mother took the letters to the police; unfortunately nothing could be done since he wasn't actually threatening Linzi. Unchecked 'The Keeper' seemed to believe himself invincible and his acts escalated to physical violence. Her mother's car was vandalized, every male friend was beaten up by a mysterious masked figure, and the phone rang so often that Ellie's mother had it disconnected.

A few years later and at their wits end, a modelling scout spotted Linzi randomly in the mall and it seemed like a Godsend. Both Linzi and her mother signed the contract on the spot; the only stipulation was that Linzi could leave immediately for New York City.

Linzi quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the most in-demand models. The nightmare seemed to be over as there was no word from 'The Keeper'. Linzi breathed a sigh of relief, as did her mother. During this same time, Linzi changed careers from model to pop star when she was offered a lucrative contract. In celebration, Linzi arranged to meet her mother in New York, but her mother never appeared. She simply vanished, though Linzi feared that her mother was dead somewhere and that 'The Keeper' had been the one to murder her.

Still, despite the disappearance, there was no word of 'The Keeper'. Linzi entered her first relationship since the incidents began; then, about two months later, he died in a freak accident. Six months after his death she started to receive letters from 'The Keeper' again. Linzi turned them over to her security company and decided to not let him ruin her life.

A year later, she had briefly dated another man until she found out he had been using her to further his career. Linzi promptly dumped him. She had heard that he died three months later; he had been shot, though police never found any leads on his killer.

Distraught, Linzi turned to her good friend, Jinx, who was having a rough time too. They had rallied together. Jinx knew the dangers, but had decided to act like her boyfriend in public to help draw the mad man out. Neither expected the lengths 'The Keeper' had actually gone to, though.

Apparently 'The Keeper' had gone to ground to amass a cult following. He had used the cults for his own twisted purposes and secretly bribed the security guards to leave Linzi unattended for one night. That chosen night Linzi had been kidnapped and was at his mercy.

The next week was a blur for Linzi, she only remembered bits and pieces. 'The Keeper' had appeared to her time and time again, taking great delight in telling Linzi of all his heinous crimes, the murders of her two boyfriends and the disappearance of her mother. He even went a step further telling Linzi that she'd never find her mother and no one would ever save her.

Just when Linzi had thought it all hopeless, Ellie had showed up and rescued her from his mad clutches. Ellie had also turned all the evidence of the cult over to local authorities who had arrested everyone except for 'The Keeper' who had gotten away.

Linzi didn't know that he got away until she woke in the hospital one evening with all the flowers that he had sent. She knew then that she would never be free from him until he was completely stopped.

Linzi decided to burn all her bridges, making sure that Jinx had distanced and protected himself from 'The Keeper'.

A week later the accident with Rain occurred, and Linzi knew it was 'The Keeper', though she didn't know why, she just assumed that he was trying to get her attention. Linzi secretly asked her friend, Angel, at Enigma to find the detective who had saved her and get her to work the case.

Linzi knew that Ellie would find the connection to 'The Keeper' and hopefully put an end to the nightmare once and for all.

Everyone in the room was silent after Linzi finished. Ellie pulled Linzi into a hug as Linzi had started sobbing again at the thought of her ordeal.

"I will stop him, I promise you that," Ellie vowed.

"Well, it goes without saying that everyone in the room will as well," Craven said as there was murmur of agreement.

"Count us in too," someone said as the door opened and closed.

Silver, Rafe and Jinx had walked into the room. Jinx walked over to Linzi and knelt down beside her. Ellie let her go, as Jinx pulled Linzi into a hug.

"It will be okay, Linz, we'll find an answer to it," Jinx said soothingly.

"I think I've got one," Ellie said as a Cheshire cat smile formed on her face.

Everyone turned to her and Ellie elaborated, "I'm sorry to say it, Linzi, but I think he's in the wind again based on his behaviour alone. Though I do have some good news from what you've told us, he's left a considerable amount of clues to find his identity. We're going to need an ace hacker to find it though, police systems and government databases are notoriously complicated."

"For who?" Silver snorted.

Rain laughed, "Well that's your job then."

Ellie looked questioningly at Rain, who looked sheepish before answering, "He's the one who cracked Enigma and breached all the security measures for us to confirm your identity."

"Jerk," Ellie muttered looking at Silver with a half scowl.

"Um... I'll help Silver. It didn't seem like a good time to tell you the last time we met, but I also hacked Enigma for your info on Angel. I was desperate for you to take the case, hoping you'd find a link to Linzi and help her. I'm sorry about that," Jinx apologized.

"Given the circumstances you're both forgiven," Ellie responded and then continued, "Okay, finding his identity is key. 'The Keeper' thrives on the fear of being an omnipresent shadow and if you take that ability away, he's got nothing. So, I say we need to draw him out in public and I have an idea for that, but it's going to be a huge security risk."

"Security's kind of my thing, I've got that covered," Rhyder said.

"Mine too, I'll help," Rafe said.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. Once we find out his identity, I'm sure we'll find an internet profile. After all, he's been looking for information on Linzi, I'm sure he's got an extensive profile. Anyway, I say we plant seeds to lure him to a promo party - a big industry event; I leave that for you, Rain, Dante, and Linzi to arrange with your contacts. I'd include you too, Jinx, but I want you and Silver to run interference online so he'll chase his tail for a bit. Moving on, just to bait him more, Linzi is going to post regularly about an awesome time she's having. It's also sure to enrage him because he wants her scared not happy, I also want to taunt him openly in messages. It's a safe bet to say that 'The Keeper' probably hates me the most and if I taunt him enough, he'll show up for sure, and we let the police take him into custody," Ellie stated.

"Good plan, but why not just kill him?" Rhyder asked.

"Because, in his mind he's won. He'll still have a hold on Linzi with his death. If we can bring him to justice and link the other deaths to him, I'm sure he'll get the death penalty or life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. He'll have to suffer knowing that there is no chance he can ever hurt her again. Also a few choice words into the ears of some of his fellow inmates, and he'll be target number one."

"You're absolutely diabolical, God, do I love you," Dante said with a laugh as he leaned down and hugged Ellie, kissing her forehead at the same time.

"I have one proposed change, though. He might still slip the trap that we laid by getting someone to take the blame. So we might need 'public deaths', no one is actually going to die, we'll fake it, but we need to make it look real enough so that there's no way a jury wouldn't convict him," Rain said.

"Who is going to 'fake' their own death? Me?" Ellie asked.

"No, Ellie love, Rain and I," Dante said quietly.

"Nope, I refuse," Ellie said adamantly shaking her head.

"Ellie please hear us out, we were planning on faking our death anyway. We can't be celebrities and never age, it gets really suspicious. The plan has always centred on using the bastard who tried to kill Rain and making sure he never sees the light of day. Surely, you must see that it's the perfect idea."

"But to make it real, you have to actually get injured really badly. I don't know if I can watch you do that even knowing that you'll heal quickly."

"Heal quickly? Wait they're vampires too?" Jinx asked bewildered.

Ellie looked at him, "Made dhampirs, please don't tell me you're a dhampir, too?"

Everyone looked at Jinx as he flushed, "Um... yup."

"Okay before this continues any further, I want to check something. If everyone doesn't mind, raise your hand if you're fully vampire?" Ellie asked.

Craven and Rhyder held up their hands.

"Who's human?"

Rafe and Gabe held up their hands.

"Who's made dhampir?"

Rain, Dante and Silver held up their hands.

"So the three of us are born dhampirs, good to know, though I guess I should have put my hand up for made dhampir too; this is so confusing. Anyway, any other surprises I should know about? No, good. My senses really suck though. Getting back to the matter at hand I don't like it, but if that's always what you two planned, then fine. But, if you two really die, I am going to haunt your dumb asses for eternity, are we clear?" Ellie huffed out.

"Um, Ellie ma belle, we'll be the ones dead, it's impossible to think that you can haunt us," Rain responded delicately.

"Rainier de Fortenot, I don't care if it doesn't make sense, but if it pleases you, then fine I will go into the beyond and drag your miserable hides back and berate you for all eternity, just count on it."

"Don't worry, Ellie, I'll make sure that they stay alive. I'll thrall the villain and make sure that his aim is off. We can air evacuate them, and then Gabriel can write their death certificates."

"Writing death certificates isn't that easy, they'll want an autopsy for the criminal case."

Rafe sighed at his brother and said, "I know how to get a fake one of those. I'll help you take care of that little detail."

"Do I really want to know?" Gabriel asked his brother.

"Nope, it's better if you didn't."

"Well then it's all taken care of, let's start cracking then," Ellie said enthusiastically.

* * *

Silver and Jinx worked rather quickly. Everyone sat around them in a loose semi circle, though Rain, Dante, and Linzi sat more off to the right working, through their contacts, to create the epic event . Ellie paced behind Silver and Jinx, waiting on the results to find out who this mysterious 'Keeper' was.

"We've got him," Silver said rather triumphantly.

"What are his details?" Ellie asked looking over his shoulder.

"Murray Kempner, age 42, currently unemployed, though he sold his father's rather successful construction company about eight years back for quite a tidy sum. He has quite an extensive internet profile too just like you suspected. He's currently running seven different fans sites for Linzi. Oh, hello there... he just signed on. Well, Ellie what do you want to do now?"

"I want to taunt him; you got an IP for me?" Ellie asked.

"Yup," Jinx said rattling off an IP address.

Ellie typed it into her special phone, and then entered the appropriate code that would make her internet presence impossible to track, though it would mirror on Silver's computer. Ellie started to type a message directly to him on the site that Silver had given her.

<Hiya, still want to play?> Ellie messaged.

The reply came back fast and furious from 'The Keeper', <you bitch! I know you're that detective who's been ruining all my plans. You're a dead woman mark my words!>

<Pfft, dream on, you're really just an amateur, I've seen all your tricks and they're quite sloppy.>

<You're just trying to antagonize me, you don't know who I really am.>

Ellie snorted as she typed, <Murray Kempner, 42, from Dal Hill, MO, likes to go by the name 'The Keeper'. How am I doing so far? :) >

<Bitch, you're gonna pray for death.>

<*Yawn* You're starting to bore, :( You keep repeating yourself, which shows you've got nothing. Admit it, I've got you running scared and you're also running out of places to hide.>

<You wait, you'll see, I've got more tricks up my sleeve than you think.>

<Only a coward attacks someone from the shadows. A real man actually shows his face when he fights.> Ellie typed, trying to needle him more, as she heard Silver and Jinx laugh at her exchange.

<I'll kill those who matter the most to you, right before your very eyes.>

Ellie was angry but she knew better than to let it show to, <like you'll ever get the chance. I'm your worst nightmare and I know it. After all, you said it yourself, I've ruined everything for you and it really wasn't all that hard. Case in point, I've ended your little project cult in just three days, found your identity in a matter of hours, and I destroyed the big bad scary image you built to terrorize Linzi in a matter of minutes by beating the snot out of you. So the original question still stands: do you still want to play?>

<We'll play later, count on it.>

<Sure, I'm really looking forward, bye for now Murray,> Ellie typed then ended the conversation.

Ellie sighed, sat down on the couch and muttered, "I should have killed the bastard when I had the chance."

That earned a few chuckles from those in the room.

Craven looked over at Rain and asked, "How are we doing on the promo party?"

"Booked, we managed to arrange one for this coming Saturday. We're going to keep the list super low just in case, but we made sure that it will be well advertised; that should draw him in."

Ellie nodded and spoke up, "Right, phase two begins, Linzi, you're going to need to do some pre-comeback tweets. You're going to need to make it believable. Hold on though, an idea just struck, Silver and Jinx, can you relay it to look like the posts are coming from various areas in New York City? Let 'The Keeper' chase his tail, while we complete our trap. Someone's also going to go on those celebrity sighting pages, and post random tags of Linzi's location."

"You've got it boss, we'll have fun with this one, won't we, Jinx," Silver grinned as he winked at Jinx, who blushed then looked away and starting typing furiously.

"I can't wait for this party," Ellie said as she rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

Everyone stopped to look at her, and Dante was the first to speak after the shock, "You're going to the party?"

"Without question," Ellie said without missing a beat.

"But it's a public event; you can't hide from the attention, you'll be centre stage," Rain pointed out.

"I realize that there will be a lot of people there, and if you're really asking me if I'm terrified of being centre stage then the answer is yes. That won't change overnight, but I want to see this through, especially since you two will be willingly putting yourselves in mortal danger," Ellie declared.

"We've got to go shopping then, you're going to need the right outfit," Rafe said with glee at the prospect of shopping and spoiling his lovers the whole week before the event.

"Why do we need more clothes? I've got enough upstairs to last for at least the next ten years."

Rain sighed, "Oh Ellie, you poor deluded darling, those should really only last a couple of weeks at most. Any who, ma belle, those clothes are for Ellie our fiancee, but you need an outfit for another role you shall play for that evening. You need clothes to be 'la femme fatale' detective."

"Is this another of your kinky fantasies?" Ellie asked suspiciously.

"Absolutely, though that's not why I suggested it for this situation. As I see it, his sick obsession with Linzi is fuelled by fear and torment. If you play the role of 'la femme fatale' detective, not only are showing him that you are capable of destroying him, you'll ruin his little sick fantasy further, and it will drive him absolutely mad. Which, of course, will put the ball firmly in our court," Rain said.

"Oh I get you, it's like I'm needling him more. I like that idea, especially since he tried to piss me off, exactly when can we go shopping?" Ellie said gleefully.

* * *

Ellie was focused on playing her part to the letter. She was so intent on catching the villain that the crowd, who would have terrified her, appeared to be merely a blur in front of her eyes. Ellie wasn't listening to any of the murmurs around her; she was focused on something being out of the ordinary.

If she had listened to the conversations, she would have heard many of the men at the party trying to get her details from different contacts, or most of the women's jealous remarks about her appearance. Though there were some trying to get in her good graces for her supposed contact, no one was brave enough to say anything to her face; apparently Ellie was too unapproachable. Rain had been right in telling her that she needed to play 'la femme fatale'.

Ellie was holding court from her seat between Rain and Dante, as she sipped a glass of wine, looking like a suitably bored aristocratic lady, far above the mere plebeian entertainers in front of her. Rain and Dante were teasing her mentally about how realistic her acting was, but one didn't survive the regency period's ton, without learning certain survival skills.

Rain and Dante were also playing their roles as mighty rock legends to the hilt. They were arrogant enough that they didn't need to bow to pretence or the pecking order in the entertainment business. No, everyone bowed before them and they even went as far as to openly flaunt their relationship with Ellie. In Ellie's opinion, it was quite amusing to watch Rain and Dante work, though she kept her game face on.

He just broke in through the backdoor, get ready he'll be on his way to you lot in a moment, Rhyder mentally whispered to all the players in the room.

Any sign of anything being tampered with? Ellie asked.

No, though it looks like he's going to try to burn down the building with everyone in it, he's trying to block all the exits, not that it's working, I've fixed that personally. I'm going order the club evacuated now, once I do, dawdle like we planned.

Everyone mentally murmured agreement, and each gave the signal look to Ellie to show that they were ready.

Rhyder suddenly shouted "Fire! Get out!"

The alarm and sprinkler came on with a supernatural push from Rhyder. Everyone started to scramble out the hall.

Once most of the people were out, Linzi, Rafe, Silver, Jinx, Dante, Rain and Ellie, started to move towards the main exit. All waiting for the entrance of 'The Keeper' - and they didn't have to wait long.

"You bitch, you had to ruin everything!" came an angry shout from behind them.

Ellie stopped and turned around. Rain and Dante stood right beside her. 'The Keeper' looked crazed. He hadn't bothered with his mask, obviously that he hadn't planned to let anyone live, not even Linzi the object of his obsession, not even himself.