Chapter 24, Part 1: Destiny is a Motherf*cker

CALEB

Eliza had journals going all the way back to her time in high school. Caleb flipped through an early one just to get a sense of her personality: 

April 3, 2003

I thought Geoffrey was going to ask me to prom, but his prom-posal was for Nancy. Figures. She’s rich as sin and totally gorgeous. I heard her mom is even paying for her to get a nose job! The day wasn’t all bad. Bob left a card in my locker. I think he likes me…

He set that journal aside and picked up one from around the time the crew would have been planning the heist:

The first time I met Salim, I knew I’d give anything to have him look at me.

He didn’t even glance in my direction when I tried to get his attention, but his girlfriend asked me to take a picture of them, and at that moment, I knew.

It was destiny. 

I was supposed to meet Salim this way. 

Eliza spared no details about her feelings. Even the fact that Alice and Salim were clearly casing the place did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm. In fact, it made her more interested. She wrote about everything she did to get his attention, from changing her clothes to changing how she talked. 

Salim appeared to pay her no mind, and Eliza was depressed until she talked to one of the women in her local knitting group:

Miko says men like Salim are dangerous, and I’ve got to do something exciting if I want to capture his attention. 

A few days later, she saw her opportunity. Salim had a lead on a rare artifact that was worth a lot of money, and Eliza’s friend Miko was the curator at the museum where it was housed. She gave them maps and a schedule for the security guards. Still, Eliza didn’t have what she wanted:

The closer we get to heist day, the more Salim comes onto me. But he won’t break up with Alice. I don’t understand; if he’s in love with me and I’m helpful, why won’t he just leave her?

Through Eliza’s journal, Caleb learned even more about the heist crew. Case in point, Johnny’s role was cleaning the money. Those big comedy shows he bragged to his co-workers about? Tickets were cash-only, and he had plans to inflate the registration lists. 

So much for being the “Real Number One,” Caleb thought.

Eliza confirmed what Darrel said—Johnny was running the werewolf job on the side for an unnamed benefactor. He took Eliza along for “moral support,” though Caleb was sure that, like Salim, Johnny liked having Eliza around to stroke his ego. She dedicated three whole entries to the Mooncaster’s impressive magic skills. 

The journal was depressing.

And illuminating.

It also told him exactly who Eliza’s killer was.

VLAD

Vlad found Lilith at the fairy circles she loved so much. Anastasia was right; she was overcharged. The fact that he didn’t notice filled him with guilt. But there was no room for self-pity now.

There was only rescuing Lilith from herself. 

“You’d think after all those years of chasing you through the woods, I’d be faster at finding you,” he called out as he approached. 

His daughter hissed, the area around her pulsating with power.

“I’m sorry for earlier,” he continued. “I lost my temper. I should’ve realized what you needed.”

“Don’t come any closer,” she sobbed, “I’m furious at you, and I can’t control it.”

Vlad kept moving towards the circle of flames surrounding her, his arms outstretched. “Even when you were quite small, you were teeming with power. Did you know that? You can’t imagine how often I burned myself trying to pick you up.”

“I mean it!” Lilith cried, “I can kill you. I kill everything that gets close to me. Vampires included.”

“I’m not a vampire,” Vlad replied. At least not completely.

She shouted more warnings, but there was nothing but fear in her voice, so he kept moving. He reached the outer edge of the circle and paused, giving it a minute to see if she could subdue herself.

The flames burned higher. In a few minutes, her power would spiral, destroying everything in its path, and though Vlad could give a shit about Britechester, Lilith loved it. 

“I am coming in there,” he told her calmly.

“Please don’t!” she wailed. The magic pouring off her intensified, and suddenly, her body jerked upward. 

Donning his dark form, Vlad braced himself and stepped through the circle. 

It felt like he was being pulled apart. Whatever lived under his skin pressed to the surface as the magic tore through him. 

He thought he was walking toward her, but then there were no more thoughts. 

Just pain.

And hunger.

It was over in seconds. As the last tendrils of magic slipped down Vlad’s throat, he turned and scooped Lilith up. 

She coughed and whimpered, her hands shaking as she tried to grab hold of him and then gave up. “Why?” she rasped, “I’m mad at you, and I could have killed you.”

“I’m your father,” Vlad replied. “And you cannot kill me. So I will always be here, even if you’re angry. Even if you don’t want my help, Lily-Bear, I will always come for you.”

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CREDITS

In addition to the  CC I regularly use in the game and buildings from the Fleuralia Save File, I used the following builds and custom content. This story takes a ton of mods and cc, so if you see your work and I failed to tag it somewhere, please message me.