Downloads Page is Up! & Other Foo

♥ Zomg HAI! ♥

First: yes, I am currently working on fixing up the site theme. There's obviously a lot I need to fix on the sidebar and some of the colors are still in the tweaking stages. If you  have any suggestions, feel free to scoot them my way--I wanna make sure this is all is as easy for people to read as black-on-white was.

(And yes: temporary header is temporary. I'll replace it once we get a bit closer to S7 starting, which maaaaay be sooner than I initially planned. I'm kind of excited!)

The main reason for this post is, though: the Downloads Page is now up! (Link also added to the links-bar for convenience.)

As always, if something is missing that you want, please let me know; the TWO things I cannot provide right now though are (1) Naomi and Amelia's household and (2) Jeb and Meredith's household. Feel free to download their .sim files and hook them up in your game, for now; I'd rather wait until Season 7 ends to upload them, for various reasons--one of which being that both of them are getting new houses built by mwah, and I'd like to be able to upload all those together at once. (That and I don't see many people wanting Jeb and Mere as elders?)

The Family Tree has also been updated, for those who are into that sorta thing. ^^

Margo's biography should be up sometime within the next couple of days, and then I'll be off working on a couple of photo shoots... and then, it's back to the story! I just finished writing the outline, and it's gonna be a quicky (10 episodes + 3 shorts).

One last thing: if you have a family you wanted me to have, don't forget to upload it! (Also feel free to include their house, if they have one.) I've also still got room for a couple more, so anyone who hasn't donated/offered to donate any new genetics to my hood yet... *puppy eyes?*

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Season 6 Wrap-Up

HI GUYS!

As usual, I have a lot of things I wanna mention before I start taking my siesta between Season 6 & 7, so without further ado: let's get crackin'!

♥ First ♥ 

Thank you. I really don't know how many times I can say it before it stops sounding genuine, but really, I mean it every time. I pour my heart and soul into this story, the screenshots, and the writing, so when I receive such overwhelming support I seriously overflow with gratitude. I've also gotten so many new readers this season I don't even know what to DO with myself--seriously, I've had moments where it's kind of overwhelmed me. T_T But, honestly, you guys have given me SUCH courage and enthusiasm, two things I've had a hard time having in my life lately. So truly. From the bottom of my heart--thank you.

♥ Second ♥ 

I have no idea how long it will be before Season 7 starts. Could be 2 weeks, could be a month or more. I have a lot of other stuff I'd like to do--as you will hear about shortly--as well as need to piece together the next part of the story. I will be posting updates occasionally so please, no poking and prodding. I need a break. XD

♥ Third ♥

You may have noticed that the finale suggests two of the 'main characters' of the story--Amelia and Travis--more or less being taken out of the picture: one moving, and one going to prison. Although that's mostly just the way the story went, it is true: I am beginning to phase the rest of the family out of being main focuses of the story.

No, this doesn't mean they're leaving the story, much less that I won't write about them at all! That would be preposterous! They're part of the family, and I'm not about to chop off one of my limbs, here! Unfortunately, there's just no way I can carry the stories of Brad AND Amelia AND Travis AND Jeb PLUS Margo and Korva all mixed together without losing my freaking mind.

The solution: the main story will follow Brad&Co, but occasionally I will do "Shorts", a single dedicated post, about each of the other family members. That way I can still give you a glimpse into their lives without giving anyone phantom limb syndrome. XD

♥ Fourth ♥ 

Unlike some of the previous occasions I've taken a break between Seasons, I don't plan on really disappearing; there's a lot of things I'll be working on between then and now that you'll hear a fair amount about, including:

• Site Makeover: I always do this between seasons, so this isn't anything new. New header, new colors, update images, yada yada. This'll also include updating everyone's Bio, adding some new ones (prepare to learn more about Margo!), updating the family tree, about page, etc etc.
• Master Page of Kaleeko Uploads: Since I get lots of requests to upload families and lots I've built, I'm going to be working very hard to upload everything I've made to Mediafire, starting with Brad&Co and working my way down. If there is something specific you want that you don't think I'll include, let me know! I will make sure to add it to my list of stuff to upload.
• The Deadly Sins of Desperate Sims: I've had it in my mind to do sort of a 'poster set', and create one for each of the 7 deadly sins using the main characters of DS. Cool, right?! I am way excited about this. I know these will have absolutely NO application anywhere, but... Maybe I'll make wallpapers or something? Who cares, it'll be fun!!
• Photo Shoots: I've got shutterbug fever, what can I say--so I'm gonna be buzzing around setting up some shoots with various sims/families, so I can mess around with all those new pose packs... >:D
• Behind-the-Scenes: I'm gonna be putting together a couple of posts on how I do various things for DS, from plot-building to character-building to screenshotting; I know this won't be particularly interesting for most people, but I get enough questions about that shtuff it'd be nice to have somewhere to point to for answers.

♥ Fifth ♥

If you have a family with a sim in the CHILD stage you would like me to add to my hood, now is the time to link it to me. These children will end up being Margo's classmates until she graduates high school, and while I have enough sim kids in my hood right now to make it work, I'd rather replace them with the sims and families of people I know. It'll make me feel like I'm surrounded by the peoples I love. ^-^ These sims may end up working their way into the story, as well!

(Also, if you provide me with a family, it gives you another option of who to interact with Margo as when her spin-off blog goes live during Season 8... Just sayin'. Coughcough.)

♥ Sixth ♥

Closing notes! Hopefully I didn't bore you to death too badly with that uber block of text; we all know how many issues I have keeping things concise. ;) This go around, I don't have too much to say in regards to the story, so if you have any questions/comments about it overall, feel free to leave them in the comments and such. Until next time:

Alesha, Brad,

Amelia, Naomi,

Jade,Travis,

Meredith, Jebidiah,

and Lilobot (of course!)

all want to remind you, Don't Forget to Be Awesome~! Cheers!

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After the Storm

As Saturday morning drifted into Saturday afternoon, Bradley Kane found himself fading in and out of consciousness with the warm breeze blowing in through the open window. He hadn't meant to take a nap, but the week had been long and his body was obviously just trying to recuperate. With what the last couple of weeks had been, he knew he probably wasn't the only one.

Still, the noise of his two giggling little girls--and his two giggling Big Girls--kept him from completely falling asleep, so after a few failed attempts of taking his nap, he reached towards the coffee table and brought yesterday's newspaper to his knee.

He really couldn't help it. Even though to him it was all old news, he found something oddly humorous about the amount of times the name 'Kane' appeared on the front page. Alesha had joked that he should just circle them all, but it wasn't until then that he realized how slightly morbid a fascination he was having with this paper.

In reality, it was far from funny to see what his family had become. Until lately, he never had realized just how prominent the 'Kanes' were in Twinbrook. He always thought he was just part of another family--but that was far from the case.

However, if they had been something before, this paper seemed to embody one simple fact: the 'empire' the Kanes had built had fallen.

♪ "Buh-raaaaaddd~!" ♫

"Mm."

"Brad! Put that silly paper down, already!"

"Huh? What--why?"

"Sweetheart--we're ready! It's time!"

---

~ click here for music ~

And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.

 And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
But oh no more.
That's why I hold,
That's why I hold with all I have.
That's why I hold.

I will die alone and be left there.
Well I guess I'll just go home,
Oh God knows where.
Because death is just so full and mine so small.
Well I'm scared of what's behind and what's before.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

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Little Secrets (Part 2)

There may as well have been weights in Jebidiah's shoes. Each wooden step was a mountain for his heavy stride, held down by the weight of his broken pride. To say his age had finally caught up with him would be an understatement; tonight, he felt twice his years... He felt gray, shriveled, and weak.

The warmth his son's house emitted seemed to melt this away as he approached; it radiated the same hopeful, tender emotions you'd expect to feel looking at a lighted tree on Christmas morning. Just beyond that door was the laughter of children and the happiness of a family reunited--and yet here he was, an outsider, looking in as if he were Ebenezer Scrooge recounting the error of his ways.

He really couldn't help but notice that he had a lot in common with Mr. Scrooge, lately.

He gathered his courage, but Jebidiah still felt his finger quiver as he lifted it to gently press in the doorbell. It rang, so he waited as patiently as he could.

After a moment, he finally heard the sound of muffled voices and pounding feet; he could see Bradley descending the stairs to greet him, but the moment he saw his son's face he knew he shouldn't have come.

"Dad," Bradley said in a dull tone as he pulled the door open. Jeb nodded, waiting for more, but it ended up being his son's only greeting.

"Son," Jeb offered with a weak smile. "I--I uh... wanted to come and see how Margo is doing, after everything that's happened. I feel dreadful, Bradley--this is never something I would have wished on anyone, let alone my granddaughter."

"I sure hope not," Bradley mumbled under his breath as he looked away, averting his eyes towards something within the house. "Look," he finally continued, this time audibly. "I really appreciate you stopping by, and showing concern, but Dad... Alesha and I have been doing some talking, and we decided that... it's just best if  you don't come by anymore."

Jebidiah scowled, opening his mouth to respond, but before he could Brad continued.

"Dad, I'm really sorry. I know you never intended for any of this to happen, but as long as you're in our life, things like what happened to Margo could keep happening, and I don't want that for my family. I want them safe. I want my girls raised away from--well, Dad--your influence. Until you change your life around..." Brad took a deep breath, casting his gaze to the floor. "You're not welcome in ours. I'm... I'm sorry."

"I understand." It was all Jeb managed to say; he knew it was coming, but actually hearing it spoken aloud cut him deeper than a father ever should feel. His own son didn't want him in his life. He shouldn'tve been surprised--it had happened before--but this time, it wasn't an overreaction. It was what any sensible person would have done.

Bradley's eyes seemed sad as he nodded recognition to his Jeb's words, but as if saying 'I gotta go', he pursed his lips and ducked his head, silently pushing the door closed as Jeb turned away. He was lucky; he didn't have to see the pain on his father's face as he descended each mountainous step home.

The frustration had bubbled and curdled by the time that Jebidiah returned home, but what was waiting for him there was not the loving support of his wife; in fact, he'd barely made it through the door when Travis hurtled in from another room, his face panicked.

"Travis, whatever it is, it needs to wait until tomorrow," Jebidiah growled as he began to slump into the living room. "I really do not have time for this right now."

"Please, Dad, you don't understand... I really need your help."

This was the last thing Jeb wanted to deal with. If he had it his way, he'd sulk on the couch silently with a scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other, but Travis just wasn't going to make it that easy. "Alright, fine," Jeb groaned as he turned towards his son, who was still trailing on his heels. "What."

"I know this is a lot to ask, Dad, but--you're the only person I know with enough connections to make this go away. See, this girl--Lisa--she got some really compromising pictures of us together, and she said she was going to make them public if I didn't get Carolina's record cleared. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, Dad--I mean... I could lose my job over this."

"Your job. Your job." The frustration already consuming Jebidiah's mood boiled over. "Your sister is looking at spending the rest of her life in prison, your mother could lose the business we poured all our assets into, your niece was kidnapped by the very woman you're asking me to get a pardon for--and you're worried about your job?!"

If Travis were even able to get a word in edgewise, he would have had a hard time of it; his mouth fell open in horror at the rage on his father's face, and the incredible volume of his voice. Jebidiah had never quite lost it, before--but tonight... tonight was different.

"I have never been so insulted, so disgusted, in my entire life. To think my own son is so selfish to ask this--" Jeb's eyes closed over, as if trying to contain the fury from pouring from his sockets. "--and not only that, but jeopardize his family by doing it in the first place?! You know, if you could just keep it in your pants, this wouldn't be a problem--but no. You couldn't just love your wife. You needed more... because it's never enough, for you."

"You're saying this about me?!" The insults seemed to reawaken Travis's tongue. "ME?! You think I'm the selfish one? This entire family is crumbling apart because of what you have done, and you think you have the right to call me that? No, Dad, you're the one who should be ashamed. You're nothing but a giant, self-absorbed hypocrite--I never should have expected anything from you. When have you ever done anything for your family."

"Travis, I--"

"No. Dad, just... No. We're done. All I wanted was your help, but I guess you can't even give that much."

"Please, Travis--don't go. I didn't mean to--"

"Yes, Dad, you did." As Travis paused in the doorway, preparing to walk out the door, he looked back over his shoulder to send one last dark glance Jebidiah's way. He didn't have to say it--that look said everything he ever could, and more--but even the pleading look in his dad's eyes couldn't stop him. "I don't know why I ever expected any less; you never were much of a father."

Brad had stabbed his heart, but Travis had turned it and wrenched to from his chest--and yet, it had been Jebidiah himself who had given them the knife.

Carolina was right. There was little she had had to do; just line up the pieces and watch as, one by one, he himself pushed his own children away.

And now, he got his wish. With a sigh, he sat on his couch and began to lament his choices and mistakes. There was no scotch, there was no cigar, but there was the picture of his little girl--who was not so little now--to remind him of what little he had left. But soon, she too would no longer be his, once she put the pieces together and realized that all her misfortunes were his fault, as well.

In the quiet of the night, Jebidiah took a deep breath, hung his head, and cried.

---

~ click me for music ~

Naomi tentatively signed her name on each piece of paper the policeman handed to her. She should have been relieved, that after all the strings she had to pull to get to this point, she was actually able to make it this far--but part of her wasn't. She could pull all the strings she wanted, but it'd never be enough.

She handed it all back, but as she did so, the utter seriousness of everything that had happened finally began to sink in. It was as if all the color had been stripped from the world.

"This way, ma'am," the officer said softly, noticing that his charge had begun to become distracted. "The room is just down the hall."

As if awoken from a dream, Naomi breathed deeply, nodded, and followed. Truth be told, it had been hard to stay focused the last week. Reality had never been much of a pretty thing in Naomi's life, but this was just bordering on cruel; it was as if the world was just trying to find a way to break her.

She would never break, though. Not today, tomorrow, or any other day she had to drive up to this lonely police station--because if she'd inherited anything from that dreadful mother of hers, it was unmovable willpower.

"This is it, Ms. Leman," he said over the jingle of keys as he began to unlock the door. "I'm afraid, you don't have long--half hour, max. Just... try to make the best of it."

The door slammed loudly behind Naomi, leaving her in a rather small room divided down the middle with glass several inches thick. On one side of it was Naomi. On the other side,

"Am... Amelia?"

 Naomi swallowed, unsure of what else to say. "Amelia, are you okay?" she finally managed, as ridiculous a question it was.

When Amelia finally spoke, it was raspy and cold; she still didn't lift her head, either. Besides her lips, she was motionless. "My Dad... he stopped by earlier today. Said there was  nothing he could do, Naomi. Absolutely nothing. All the money, all the leverage... and there is nothing he can do."

Naomi's face fell even further. "I'm so sorry, Mia. I wish I could--" she began, but the words caught in her throat and threatened her composure, so she stopped. What was she supposed to say to that? Jebidiah had been the one person who could have possibly changed her fate--if he was as helpless as the rest of them, there could  be no worse a verdict.

When Amelia continued to remain silent--outside of the occasion sniffle--Naomi carefully made her way to the seat across from her and sat down.

Naomi glared a little at the speaker on the wall as she moved. Their voices couldn't carry through the glass, so they were forced to talk through a mic that made 90's cellphones seem extraordinary; it made speaking to Mia even more frigid than it was already. And--if the one-way glass on the side of the room was any indication--their conversation was anything but private. Naomi struggled with it for a moment, but for both their sakes she tried to ignore it.

"They say I don't have long, Mia, but I needed to--" She paused. Bit her lip. Swallowed. "Needed to see you. I wanted to make sure you were..." Naomi stopped again; that would have been a stupid thing to say. Of course Amelia wasn't alright. "I wanted to make sure you knew that I'm here for you, if you need me."

After a few moments, Amelia's sniffles gradually turned to quiet sobs. She couldn't handle it. She stood up and walked away from the glass, trying to put some distance between herself and Naomi as she wiped away the tears that were falling from her eyes.

"Mia, please--talk to me," Naomi pleaded. "I can't stand this... I need you to at least say something."

"W-what could I possibly say, Naomi--except th-that you shouldn'tve come. I... I don't want you to see me like this."

"Oh, right, because after holding your hair for you every time you've thrown up the past two years, seeing you with a set of pointy teeth is gonna send me straight--"

"It's different Naomi, and you know it!" Amelia wailed, cutting her off. "It's not the fangs--it's what I did, because of them! I'm a... I'm a... I'm not someone you want to be with, anymore."

Amelia spoke the magic words to finally break Naomi's temper; she immediately stood up, arms flailing. "You have absolutely no idea what I want, Amelia! Clearly haven't the faintest clue--I did not spend the last few years of my life caring for you and loving you so that I could throw it all away when something goes wrong! You should know better by now!"

"But... I c-could  be spending the rest of my life in here--you deserve better. We may as well e-end it now, before it b-becomes too hard--"

"Why, why, do you always act like there is something threatening our relationship? First it's thinking no one will accept us for being two girls together, then it's your depression and 'how could anyone love someone as broken as me', and now it's this--don't you have any faith in me, Amelia?!"

"Of c-course I do, it's just--" Amelia's sobs turned into painful cries as she tried to continue, but she couldn't. Her hands pressed against her face, hiding it despite the fact that Naomi couldn't see it anyways; she had never been more ashamed in her life, and here she was, just messing it up all over again. "I'm a murderer, Nammi!"

"No. Amelia. You are anything but a murderer. I know you better than anyone in this world, and I know, it wasn't you that did those things. They have to see that--and even if they don't...? I'm not going anywhere."

"I d-don't know why. I've n-never been good for you--"

There was some truth in Amelia's words. And, really, she may have been right. Naomi knew this, underneath her stubborn nature, but even deeper was something more that she couldn't comprehend nor explain--and without even thinking, it took ahold of her voice.

"I'm not with you because you're good enough for me, Amelia--I'm with you because I love you!" Naomi roared. "Can't you see that?! That this isn't just some spin around the block for me?! I am in this relationship because I want to become old next to you! Grow wrinkles with you! Drive kids around in mini vans with you! ... Because I want to see you in white and tell me 'I do', damn it!"

Amelia's heart stopped, dead--or at least went silent in her chest. The entire world fell away, in that moment; she wasn't in a holding room, she wasn't awaiting trial for the murder of two men, and she wasn't a vampire. All that existed, now, was Naomi and what she'd just said. "W... what?"

"I... I want to MARRY you, Amelia"!

"And yeah, maybe you aren't perfect for me. Maybe we never were meant to be together. But you know what?!" she yelled defiantly. "I don't care! I don't bloody freaking care! I love you, Amelia! I love you more than the blood in my veins and the air in my lungs--because I would rather die without them than die without you!"

"Here--I'll prove it," Naomi said angrily when she saw the confused look on Mia's face. "See this?" She pulled a large box from her pocket, and held it up high enough for Amelia to see, clearly. "I've had this for weeks. Been trying to come up with the right way to give it to you, but nothing I thought of was good enough for you. You may not think you deserve it but I do. You deserve the best, Mia, and... I want to do my best to give it to you."

"You're... you're serious."

"Dead freaking serious."

"Can... Can I see it?"

Amelia had never seen anything like it. Sure, it was just a ring with a diamond on top--but to her, it was so much more. The way it looked in Naomi's hands as she held it up to the glass for her to see, the way the water in her eyes made the ring seem to glow and sparkle... it was surreal. In Amelia's life, she had never been more happy--nor more sad.

"I..." Amelia began, her voice shaky. "I thought you would never ask." Her fingers reached out and touched the glass that separated her from taking the greatest gift that anyone had ever wished to give her. "Naomi... I love you."

Those three words--they left her lips again, and again and again and again. Her body was enveloped by them, sending the weight of her against the glass as tears streamed down her face and left streaks on her pale freckles.

I love you. I love you. I loveyou Iloveyou IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou. The words became unrecognizable the more she said them, but never once lost their meaning. For the first time, Amelia truly knew what she wanted--but, as if irony laughed in her face, there was but three inches that seperated her from having it. Three inches that felt like the world.

When sobs had left their bodies weak, Amelia and Naomi collapsed to the floor. Each had their eyes averted towards the ground, eyelids closed, but behind those they dreamed of better days. Perhaps of dance floors and lounges, of stages and music, of hot tubs and missing swimsuits, or the cold evening breeze as they huddled by firelight--those memories may be the last true ones they could ever make, so they clung to them tightly.

But--never more tightly than they clung to each other.

Their last few minutes together passed silently, but eventually the long hand creeped up on midnight and reminded them that not even a fairy godmother's spell could last forever.

They said goodbye not with words, but with touch that was not touch; fingertips against the glass, weary expressions on their faces. It was over all too soon, but those last few moments would live forever in their hearts.

Live, forever, happily ever after.

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Little Secrets (Part 1)

Kanes and their secrets, peas in their pods. From her grave, Farah Kane would have been amused how the legacy of her great-grandfather seemed to carry on, as if he'd laid a curse upon his children to never have freedom from the skeletons in their closets. Would she be amused, though, at what her granddaughter had become because of a skeleton so hidden she didn't even know of it herself?

No, perhaps she wouldn't... But if Farah still breathed, she wouldn't be silent. "You reap what you sow," she would have said in her matter-of-fact voice. "And if you sow secrets, you'll never grow peace."

This night was certainly anything but peaceful.

In the darkness of the sunless road, the lights from the science facility stood out like a beacon. The street got little traffic, but many who drove by recognizing that they shouldn't be on tried to puzzle why the building was open so late. It was strange in Twinbrook, a place where no one ever stayed at work after hours--even if they had to. Something important definitely had to be happening.

Luckily, no one in Twinbrook had a good enough imagination to figure out quite what was going on.

Amelia had never been so hungry in her life. She could even feel the drool slipping down the corners of her lips, which she impulsively wiped away as her eyes turned to follow Bradley running away from her with all his dear life.

"What's wrong, brother?" she spoke in a voice that wasn't her own; it almost had a purr to it, like a rumbling tiger ready to stalk its prey. "I just need a snack..."

Bradley ran and he ran, but everywhere he went Amelia was only steps behind him; he'd never seen such speed before. If he wasn't fearing for his life, he might have actually been impressed at what her transformation had allowed her to do... But at the moment, he was... slightly distracted.

Unfortunately, there was no where to go; he'd locked the door to the stairs when they'd arrived, and couldn't get through them now without pausing long enough for her to catch up to him. Everywhere else? A dead end. He was cornered, with no options.

... Almost no options. Kanes may have their secrets, but they also have luck--and whether it be that or fate, something seemed to weigh heavier in his pocket as he watched his sister's glistening teeth growing closer and closer to his neck.

He tugged it out: Lil's remote. Brad had had it since he'd repaired her at the station, but it'd been nothing but a useless set of buttons until this moment.

Knowing it was the best he had, he said a prayer to the Maker above and pressed a red one near the top.

Several miles away, Officer Walker stood up from his desk when he noticed a suspicious amount of movement from within Lilobot's cell. "She better not be trying to eat the bars, again," he muttered to himself as he tentatively approached. Her back was turned to him when he stopped, which irritated him further. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Her head swiveled around. "I am afraid so, sir. And I must apologize, but I have to leave."

"... Leave?" He tried not to laugh.

"Yes, sir. I have greatly enjoyed my stay here, but there is something much more important that I must tend to." When she saw the very displeased look he was giving her, Lil continued,  "You are welcome to join me--in fact, if you would meet me at the Science and Research Center in due haste, you would have my gratitude. Now if you could please back away from the cell bars, sir--I would be quite upset if I happened to injure you."

"What the heck are you ta--" Officer Walker didn't get the opportunity to finish his statement. Before he could even reach his hand out to unlock the cell door, a blinding light erupted from the opposite side of the cell, sending such a violent explosion of heat and wind that he felt himself stumbling backwards, his hands shielding his face. "What the--?!"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! KA BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!" Lilobot's mechanical voice was lost within the sounds of stone crumbling and exploding out from her cell's back wall, but it didn't stop her from giddily dancing in delight at the amazing surge of what--to her--was like adrenaline pumping through her oil-driven veins.

"It's amaaaaaaaaaazing!"

"Wait--wait, stop!" Officer Walker choked on the smoke as he lifted a hand out towards her, trying to stop her; but the bars to her cell were too hot to the touch for him to come in and tackle her. "You can't do this!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but where Lilobot is needed, Lilobot goes!" With Walker doing nothing but blubbering nonsense at her response, she began to jog through the rubble she'd created, giddily saying, "Don't worry, sir, I'll be right back!"

The police station stirred to life as Lilobot escaped, sirens blaring and alarm bells waking citizens up for miles around; Lil didn't have time right now to worry about that, though. Her legs carrying her away faster than any human could possibly match, Lil bounced into the sky and, with what could only be described as a smile on her face, flew off into the night.

Back at the science facility, Brad was having no such luck escaping. He'd managed to continue to keep a few steps ahead of Amelia's chase, but it was obvious she was doing it on purpose. Every lap around the hallway was one more lap until he was too tired to run, and another lap she got to watch him skitter away like a mouse whose tail was trapped safely in the cat's paw.

Brad's exhaustion and clumsiness finally got the better of him. He stumbled to the floor, hopeless. With  no help in sight, all he could do was plead. "Please, Mia... You don't know what you're doing. Wake up... I know you're in there!"

"You always were so horrible at being funny," Amelia giggled as she slowly stepped closer and closer.

"Step away from my father."

Amelia swung around quickly, teeth bared. "Well well well," she hissed. "Looks like your friend's come out to play!"

"Lil... Please..." Bradley groaned as he collapsed feebily against the wall. "Try not to hurt her."

"I will try," she spoke in a low hum, very much unlike her normal bubbly synthesized voice. "But I make no promises."

All it took was for Lil to take one step, her eyebrows furrowed in anger, for Amelia's face of hunger to fade into one of fear.

Amelia fled, but the speed of a vampire was no match for Lilobot's mechanical strength; she got only a few steps before Lil had already gained the distance and reached out to grab her.

No one hurt her family.

"Put your hands up! Both of you!"

Behind them, Lilobot's entourage had finally caught up; they'd taken their willy nilly time, but they had had to decide whether Lil actually went to the Science Facility like she said; they were lucky, then, that the security guard there had finally figured out something was awry and had given them the call.

Guns out and all business, the cops waited for the two to comply with their command, even repeating it when neither one seemed to have heard it.

"Sorry, officers, I was just finishing up some important business," Lil said calmly, her voice now back to normal. "I had to make sure my Dad was alright--I'll come back, now."

"Miss, up off the ground! Now!"

Her body aching all over--and weakening as her thirst continued unsated--Amelia slowly began to rise from the floor, clearly none-too-happy about her current predicament. Things just couldn't be going any worse, right now.

"Hah," she smirked, wiping the dust off her thoroughly-kicked bum. "And all I wanted was a bite to eat."

---

"She should be calm, now that she's... eaten," Bradley said slowly to the officer next to him. They stood inside a small room, staring through a thick piece of one-way glass at his sister, who knew she was being watched well enough to not want to look up. Now that her 'hunger' had faded, all that was left was shame.

"Why do you think she waited until now to confess? I mean... you know her better than any of us."

"Honestly?" Brad said, pulling himself away from the window; it was too painful to look at her. "I don't think she remembered until now. The virus... it causes some incredible regeneration properties. I don't think she could forget anything now if she tried."

Bradley had no idea how right he was. Amelia was doing everything she could to forget, but each sip she took of plasma just made everything more and more clear. The memories she had didn't feel like hers, but they were. It was the most terrifying thing she'd ever felt... Yes, even more terrifying than looking up into the eyes of a man about to kill her.

There was no where to hide from the truth.

"Are you ready to continue, Miss Kane?"

She nodded, ready as she'd ever be. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Let's start from the beginning--there's a few things I want you to clarify."

Amelia swallowed, hard. This felt like a time to take a deep breath, to take the plunge with as much courage as she could muster, but every breath she took felt useless. "Like?" she asked in a sheepish voice, exhaling slowly.

"You went to the Bottega the night of Shark's death... You said you were looking for blood there--now, why exactly would you do that, Miss Kane? An art studio is hardly a blood bank."

Breathe in. Breathe out--so unnecessary, but she needed it to feel alive. "It's complicated."

"We have time for complicated. Elaborate."

"Well, see... My dad. He--he--" She looked up at the cop, fear coating her eyes. How could she do this to her father? Amelia knew he had connections, but would they go far enough to protect him? "He had a shipment there. Stuff he stole from the black market trade with the vampires in Bridgeport. He told me... a while ago... that he stole it from them, to try to keep their population down. So I knew, he had to be keeping it somewhere--"

"And... why the Bottega?"

"When I first moved home, my Mom said that she was doing some sort of favor for my Dad, to repay him for buying her the studio... I just sort of put two and two together. Well. I didn't. ... She did."

"'She?'"

"Yeah... The... Me that's not me. It was... it was like a dream. I keep thinking on these memories and they're real, but they don't feel like mine. I mean, until a couple hours ago I didn't even know what was in those crates--or, er, didn't remember. I guess there was something inside me, trying to get out..."

"Well--this isn't particularly relevant at the moment, Amelia. Can you explain, what happened to Shark?"

"I killed him. I mean... obviously I killed him, but--" Amelia felt herself shaking; how could she be saying this?! She wasn't a killer! "--well, see, someone interrupted me the first night I went looking for the stolen plasma. I remember being so hungry, that when I came back and discovered the shipment had been replaced by a decoy, I was angry--angrier than I've ever been. Shark popped outta no where, accusing me, and then... then..."

"You attacked him?"

"I didn't mean to! I mean... I did... But..."

Amelia stopped. It was useless; they didn't understand. Her hands had done the slaying, so how could it not have been 'her' that had murdered him? Maybe having fangs had lent her a small ounce of courage, but the sickening feeling in her gut that no one seemed to believe her made her emotions run even colder. She wasn't even sure she cared, anymore--especially if she really was behind all of this.

"He was in the way. He scared me, I was hungry... But when I threw the lid at his face and watched him fall to the ground--I couldn't do it. I was so hungry... But I couldn't use him, after ending him like that. Some part of me stopped myself."

"Mhm... What about Harris de Wynter, then?"

"The night of my concert, after the hospital released me, I was weakened... I guess at this point I really needed to... drink... some... stuff." Flinch. "I remember feeling... really desperate. Desperate enough to trust de Wynter, that he'd actually help me."

"But he didn't, so you attacked him, didn't you?"

"No, no, not at all! I mean... Sort of, but not the way you think I did! When he saw me, he freaked--he was going to call the police, started running around his office like a lunatic, and all I was asking was for him to steal some plasma for me so I wouldn't starve! But he was so afraid of me... so afraid..."

"Amelia--he couldn't fallen through that window without help."

"But I--I didn't push him! I swear!"

"So you're saying he broke the window and jumped of his own free will?"

"I don't... I don't know!" Amelia began to cry; as the memories continued to flood back, and the cops swarmed her like hawks in such a dark, ominous room--all her emotions seemed to endlessly blur together. "Maybe I pushed him... But I didn't push him hard! I was just trying to knock the phone out of his hands, so he wouldn't turn me in..."

"But..."

"But--I didn't know my own strength. I was just so angry and blind--even... Her, the me that... you know, wasn't me? She was mortified--all she wanted was help, and yet, as he fell, it just all went away. Her last lifeline."

"You mean, your last lifeline."

"Yeah, whatever," Amelia groaned. "I remember watching him fall, though. Reaching after him like I could actually catch him, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. He just kept falling... falling... Took forever. Didn't even have to be slow motion. And then when he hit the pavement... Even she--me--wanted to die."

"And so you just left?"

"I... I... I sat there for almost an hour, just staring at his body... But I had to go home. I was so tired... So scared... I don't even know how I got back to normal again, I was so hungry--but I woke up the next morning with nothing but a bad headache.. At least, until now."

As the last words left her lips, she felt her entire body become consumed by sobs; there was nothing she could say to prove her innocence, and she knew it.

No... She knew, she wasn't innocent. She was guilty. Even if it wasn't the actions of the Amelia Kane she had always been, it was still done by her hand. Done by a fragment of her that, as much as she hated to believe, WAS a part of her.

"I think we're done here," the cop behind her spoke in a low voice, his arms crossed. She couldn't see his face, but she could sense his expression--sense all of them. The disappointment, the hatred, the shame... it overwhelmed her too much to resist.

Tonight, the truth could not set her free.

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