Chapter 9 : Morning

The table was remarkably peaceful as the three sitting bodies ate in silence.

Although it had been several days since either of them had eaten anything, both of the dark elves became full surprisingly fast and finished eating long before Anton did. While waiting for him, Fiona busied herself with trying to clean the stuck porridge from her face by scraping her chin, cheeks and forehead against the sides of her bowl. Kianna meanwhile kept a hesitant watch on Anton who seemed to have either completely forgotten about the dark elves, or decided to simply ignore them entirely as he absently clicked about on his laptop and lazily ate his food.

Kianna couldn’t help but to become transfixed as she watched Anton eat. There was just something about the process, and each of the small motions that were involved, that seemed to suddenly fascinate her. She found a strange elegance in the simplicity of it all. Such as how he dipped his sausages in his syrup and lightly drizzled said syrup over his egg and toast. In how and where he would take his next bite. How with each bite the food seemed to slowly disappear. And finally, with how his jaw seemed to effortlessly move in such a smooth and nearly soundless way as it supposedly destroyed whatever was trapped between his teeth. She couldn’t exactly say why this was so interesting to her but it certainly was. And as he got closer and closer to being finished she felt a twinge of disappointment that the show would soon be over. Glancing at her sister she couldn’t help but to feel a second round of disappointment, this time in herself, for not having paid better attention to her while she was eating as well. She wasn’t necessarily interested in comparing the two, but instead wanted to find out if Fiona was as much of a spectacle to watch as Anton was.

A level of tension hung in the air when Anton finally finished the last of his food and casually slid his empty plate to the side. The two dark elves were both becoming more and more nervous as he seemed to be content with staying focused on his laptop. Finally, after having apparently finished with whatever he was reading, he leaned back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest.

“So...” he drawled as he turned to face them “Are we ready to have a conversation now?”

The dark elves both glanced at each other and nodded slowly.

“Alright, I’ll go ahead and let you two start then” said Anton as he gave each of the dark elves a nod “I’m sure you both have some questions you’re dying to ask”

The dark elves were both silent for a moment as they each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak.

“Are you gonna kill us!?” blurted out Fiona as she grimaced down at the table.

“No. At this time I have no intention of killing either of you” declared Anton “And by that I mean I don’t plan to kill you at all. That does not mean that I can’t, or won’t kill you. It just means that I don’t plan to. As of right now”

The dark elves both shifted themselves back at the implied threat.

“W-we can pay you!” cried Kianna as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards “We really do have a lot of money!”

“No, you don’t. You did! But now you don’t” said Anton as he shifted his gaze to his laptop “You have both been getting a kind of automatic monthly stipend, or an allowance of some kind, and this had built up to a pretty high number in each of your accounts ... A stock portfolio was also set up for each of you. And I even found an apartment complex that was in both of your names. That brought in a decent amount of money every month. All together, when everything was said and done, you both would have been doing pretty well for the rest of your lives. But then you decided to abduct me. And now its all gone”

“ ... W-what!?” exclaimed Fiona as she leaned forward and got jerked by her chain “What do you mean it’s all gone!?”

“I mean it’s gone. All of it. All of your funds have been diverted over to my outer realm accounts and are currently sitting at a pending status while waiting for me to accept the transfers. So now with a simple push of a button, all of your money will be mine. The transfers for both the stocks and the apartment complex have already been set into motion as well” explained Anton as he used the nail on his pinkie finger to absently pick at his teeth “ ... By the end of this month you won’t own anything and you won’t have a dime to your names”

Fiona fell back into her seat and stared dumbfounded at Anton as he absently flicked away a bit of debris from his fingernail.

“ ... How, you! ... When!?” she exclaimed as she shook her head in disbelief.

“Why do you think I was keeping you in storage for the last two days? What did you think I was doing up here?” asked Anton as he gave her a sly grin “What you were already doing is actually what made it so much easier for me. Especially with the apartment complex. How could you possibly do that to your own sister Fiona!? Terrible, just, just terrible!”

A sickly look came over Fiona’s face as she lowered her ears and shook her head.

“ ... Huh?” questioned Kianna as she looked from Anton to her sister “Wait? What were you doing?”

“Nothing!” exclaimed Fiona as she turned to face Kianna and pointed her ears straight upwards “I was just making sure the money was taken care of! That’s it! That’s all!”

“No, that’s not what you were doing Fiona!” mocked Anton as he shook his head and met Kianna’s gaze “She’s been slowly transferring both your funds and your stocks over to herself for the last year or so. And she’s actually the one who set up the “sale” of the apartment complex. I’m guessing she was going to sell it to herself? Essentially, by the end of it, she would have had control of all of your money as well as her own”

Kianna’s eyes went wide as she absorbed what was being said.

“I really didn’t have to change much in the way of moving things around” continued Anton “Most of the groundwork had already been set up. I just had to change a few names and some account numbers. Easy enough really”

Kianna’s mouth hung open as she slowly turned to her sister.

“ ... He’s lying!” cried Fiona as her eyes locked to her sister’s and she began to struggle in her bounds “I mean! He’s, he’s!”

Kianna clenched her teeth as her ears pointed themselves straight back in anger.

Fiona smiled sheepishly as she hunched in on herself and lowered her own ears.

“I, I wasn’t trying to steal from you! Honestly I wasn’t!” she tried to explain as Kianna’s face became angrier and angrier “I just thought it would be easier to keep track of everything if it was all in one place! Seriously! That’s really all I was doing!”

Fiona cringed back and clamped her eyes shut as Kianna reached out towards her. Taking hold of her sister’s bowl of food, Kianna pulled it to herself and set it on the other side of her own and far out of Fiona’s reach.

“Wha? Hey!” cried Fiona as she realized what had happened “That’s mine!”

“It’ll be easier for me to keep track of it if I keep it all in one place!” growled Kianna and Fiona cringed back as her own words were thrown at her.

“Kianna” said Anton with a stern tone to his voice “Give that back to her”

Both of the dark elves immediately turned to him with surprise spread clear across their faces.

“What!?” exclaimed Kianna “But! She, she just!”

“You have no right to be angry at anyone but yourself” chastised Anton as he pointed his finger at her “The fact that you don’t even keep track of your own assets is just embarrassing. You’re lucky it was only your sister taking your money and not an actual thief”

Fiona blinked in surprise and quickly became smug as she smiled at her cowed sister.

Kianna’s face was torn as she looked down at the table. Scowling in frustration, she kept her eyes lowered as she reached over and set the bowl back in front of Fiona.

“That being said...” continued Anton as he shifted his pointed finger to Fiona “You are far from innocent! But I’m sure Kianna can figure out a good punishment for you. So I’ll just leave it to her”

Kianna’s eyes became vicious as she gave her sister a toothy smile.

“Wha? Wait a minute!” exclaimed Fiona as her own face became scowling towards Anton “You’re the one that just-”

“Or!” interrupted Anton as he narrowed his eyes at her “I could come up with something that I would think was appropriate ... Though I would like to think that your own sister wouldn’t be nearly as cruel to you as I will be!”

Fiona stopped short mid-speech. With a questioning look now on her face she turned to her sister and found her still smiling evilly. Unsure of who was now allied with who, the confused dark elf eased back in uncertainty as she looked back and forth between Anton and her sister.

The arrogance on Kianna’s face slowly disappeared as she looked away from Fiona and stared down at the table.

“ ... So wait, what happens now?” she whispered as she peeked up at Anton “You have all our money, and you have us trapped here! You said you’re not gonna kill us ... So what are you going to do now?”

Both of the dark elves were now staring intently at Anton.

Resting his chin in the crook of his hand, Anton’s expression became thoughtful as he stared back at them.

“I still need to ask you a few questions before I make any final decisions” he said with a sigh “But first...”

Anton bent forward and tapped Molly on the head to alert her that he was about move. Rising from his seat, he stepped around the table and made his way to the sink in the kitchen.

Confused, the dark elves remained silent as they watched him run a wash cloth under a stream of hot water and then wring it out. He then took a bowl from an overhead cabinet and filled it to the half way point with water from the sink before making his way back to the table.

“Kianna, could you please clean your sister’s face” asked Anton as he handed her the wash cloth and the bowl of water “It’s just too difficult to have a conversation with her looking like that”

“Oh! Sure!” laughed Kianna as she took the cloth and immediately turned to wipe the stuck porridge off of her sister.

Fiona lowered her ears and grimaced in embarrassment as Kianna took hold of her head-harness, and using it as a handle, twisted her head this way and that as she cleaned her face.

“Ugh, ah, hm!” grumbled Fiona as Kianna wiped the porridge away from her closed eyes “ ... Thanks!”

“ ... Yeah” mumbled Kianna as she rolled her eyes “It’s cool...”

“Don’t worry too much about her hair” said Anton as he picked up Molly and retook his seat “She’ll need a shower for that”

Kianna worked both quickly and meticulously to get her sister as clean as possible. In order to complete this task she had to soak the cloth in the bowl several times before most of the porridge was finally gone. When she was satisfied and felt she was finished, she went to move the bowl away and stopped short as she stared down at the soiled water.

“Master!?” she exclaimed as she picked up the bowl and turned to Fiona “Can I make her drink this!?”

“What!?” questioned Fiona as her eyes darted to the bowl in her sister’s hand.

“Sure” said Anton as he glanced up at the bowl and went back to scratching Molly’s ears “That’s fine”

“Wha!? Wait, no!” cried Fiona as she looked back and forth between them “That’s, that’s not funny Kianna!”

Kianna said nothing as she grabbed her sister’s head-harness, pulled her head back and held her in place against the chairs headrest.

Fiona frantically tried to pull herself free as a maniacal smile spread across Kianna’s face.

“Fiona, you thieving bitch! If you don’t drink this! Then I’m going to staple your ears together behind your head!” said Kianna in an unnervingly calm and nearly sweet sounding tone “And then I’m going to fall asleep to the sounds of you crying out in pain!”

Fiona froze as her eyes went wide in panic.

“Y-you’re not serious!?” she whimpered as she folded her ears back behind her head in an effort to hide them “Are, are you!?”

Kianna’s face remained unchanged as she nodded slowly.

Gulping in fear, Fiona’s eyes darted to Anton. Her heart sank when she found him staring at her sister with his own shocked looking expression.

“Now, open wide Fiona!” sang Kianna as she lifted the bowl to her sister’s quivering face “And say “Ah”!”

“Wait, wait! Kianna c’mon!” whimpered Fiona as her eyes became locked to the bowl of discolored water “This is crazy!”

“ ... Open wide Fiona” threatened Kianna through her still smiling teeth as she tightened her hold on the head-harness by twisting both it and a clump of her sister’s hair “And say “AH”!”

“O-okay, okay!” groaned Fiona as she opened her mouth as wide as she could “ ... Ah!”

“Good girl!” exclaimed Kianna as she carefully tilted the bowl to Fiona’s lips and forced her to drink “What a good girl!”

Fiona clamped her eyes shut and gulped down the foul-tasting porridge-soiled water as quickly as she could without gagging herself.

“Bah, ah, ah!” she exclaimed as she finished and began to shiver from disgust “You! You are such a bitch!”

Kianna said nothing as she set the bowl down and patted her sister on the head.

Turning her attention to Anton, she wore a small smile on her face as she stared at him.

“ ... So!” exclaimed Anton as he smiled back at her “Is my little dark elf having fun over there!?”

“Yes!” chirped Kianna as her ears twitched and her smile broadened across her face “She is!”

“I h-hate... !” whimpered Fiona as she hung her head over the empty bowl and continued to shiver uncontrollably “I h-hate you both!”

“Fiona, please don’t vomit!” sighed Anton as he shook his head “And if you’re going to, then at least don’t do it on the table!”

Fiona groaned in misery as she worked to steady herself. After a few moments of stillness she had finally gotten a handle on her stomach and turning to her sister she glared angrily as she clenched her teeth and pointed her ears straight back behind her head.

“Alright, now that we know that Fiona isn’t going to explode on us...” mumbled Anton as he watched Kianna smile cattily at her fuming sister “Let’s move things along...”

The two dark elves shifted their gazes from each other in unison as they both became focused back on Anton.

“Like I’ve said already, I don’t intend to kill you. And honestly, at this point, I’d say I’ve gotten enough compensation to feel justified for what you two tried to do to me” mused Anton as he sifted his gaze back and forth between the dark elves “I could, simply just leave right now and be done with this ... That is an option...”

Their eyes going wide in surprise the two two dark elves pointed their ears straight upwards as they gave Anton their full attention.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of guy who can just let a question go unanswered ... And when it comes to you two, I’ve got quite a few questions...” continued Anton as he rested his elbows on the table and cradled his chin in his hand “So why don’t we start with a few of the easier ones. Just to get the ball rolling”

Kianna and Fiona glanced at each other before looking back at Anton.

“ ... Fine!” mumbled Fiona as she narrowed her eyes “What do you wanna know?”

“What are your names?” asked Anton as he let his hand fall away from his chin and come to rest atop his other arm.

“Pfft, you know what our names are!” exclaimed Fiona “Or are you like a goldfish and you just forgot them already!?”

Anton merely stared at her for a moment before shifting his eyes to Kianna.

“ ... My name is Kianna Vale” mumbled Kianna as she sheepishly dropped her eyes to the table.

Anton nodded before looking back at Fiona.

“ ... I’m Fiona Vale” declared the dark elf with a frown “Who are you!? Or are you too afraid to say!?”

Anton remained still as Kianna raised her eyes out of curiosity.

“ ... Now why would I be afraid of that?” asked Anton as he cocked an eyebrow.

“Because you’re a thief who just admitted to stealing all our money!” declared Fiona “And now you don’t want us to know who you are!”

“No, if I was worried about that then I’d just kill you” answered Anton “I don’t have any real reason to be concerned with you knowing what my name is. I’m only hesitating right now ... because I’m just not sure if you even deserve to know who I am? I really don’t think that you do...”

Fiona blinked and leaned back a bit as her confidence began to waver.

“But then again, I did ask you what your names were ... and you did tell me...” mused Anton as he rubbed his chin “So, in the spirit of fairness ... I suppose it’s only right to give you the same courtesy”

The two dark elves went still as they became focused on what was about to be said.

“Most of the people that know me call me Anton. But my name is Antonius, Antonius Faustus North” explained Anton as his gaze shifted from one dark elf to the other “Now, just because you two know my name does not mean that you can call me by it. Neither one of you have earned that right”

“ ... Humph!” grumbled Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back in challenge “And what are you going to do if we do! Huh!? Mr. North!”

“First I’m going to reeducate you on the fact that your ability to speak is a now a privilege” explained Anton as he looked off into the kitchen and stared at nothing “And then I’m going to illustrate just how easily that privilege can be taken away from you”

Kianna swallowed nervously and turned to her sister. Shaking her head in the tiniest way she made it clear that she didn’t agree with pushing the matter. Fiona stared at her for a moment before looking away from them both and letting her ears return to their relaxed positions.

“Moving on” said Anton as he let his eyes fall to Kianna “How old are you two?”

“Uh” stammered Kianna as her brow creased in thought “Um, we’re 23! We just turned 23 last October! On the 10th”

“10th of October...” nodded Anton “Wait, you’re both 23?”

“ ... Yeah?” questioned Kianna as she tilted her head and cocked one of her ears in a curious manner “We’re twins! We told you that already!?”

“ ... You two are really twins?” asked Anton as he looked from Kianna to Fiona and back “You weren’t kidding about that?”

“No” muttered Fiona “We really are twins”

“ ... Hm, that’s pretty interesting!” mused Anton as he narrowed his eyes at them “ ... And you’re sure that you’re twins!?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Fiona as she gave her sister an exasperated look “Look at us! We’re identical!”

“ ... Yeah, you are, for the most part” mused Anton as he looked back and forth between the two dark elves “Are you two the only children in your family?”

“Yes” said Kianna.

“You have no other siblings?” asked Anton.

“No” said Fiona “It’s only us”

“Hm, and your parents are both dark elves?” asked Anton.

The dark elves hesitated as they both looked away with their eyes.

“Our Mom is” answered Kianna “We don’t really know about our Dad. We never met him...”

“ ... Your Mother has never told you anything about him?” asked Anton “Not even his name?”

“No” answered Fiona “She doesn’t want to talk about him”

“She says we’re better off without him” mumbled Kianna as her sister gave her an annoyed glare “She says that it’s a good thing that he’s gone...”

“ ... Hm, I see” nodded Anton “I’m sorry to hear that”

“It doesn’t matter!” snapped Fiona “Fuck him!”

Anton nodded as he watched Kianna shift her shoulders in discomfort.

“What is your Mothers name?” he asked as he met Fiona’s gaze.

“Olivia, Vale” she answered flatly “Why are you asking about this kind of stuff!? This is none of your business!”

“That’s true. But I’m curious about it” answered Anton “And if you’d rather not answer any of these questions then you don’t have to. I already told you that”

“Well then I’d rather not talk about this crap then!” exclaimed Fiona “If you’ve got any other questions let’s just get to them instead!”

“Okay” said Anton as he tilted his head mockingly and narrowed his eyes at the fuming dark elf “Why did you kidnap me? And what were planning to do with me?”

Kianna’s ears immediately pointed themselves straight upwards as her eyes widened in panic. Anton smiled as both he and Fiona noticed her reaction.

“Um! We, we were!” stammered Kianna as her eyes locked to Anton’s “We’re-”

“We don’t want to answer that!” interrupted Fiona “We don’t have to! You said we don’t have to!”

Anton closed his eyes and nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

“Yes I did” he said as he looked back at them “And you don’t. There’s no reason for you to panic”

The two dark elves looked at each other and eased back as well.