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IT FELT LIKE A VIOLATION THAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN, THIS PHONE CALL, AND CHRISSY FELT THE SEEDS OF GUILT EATING AT HER STOMACH.
So much needed to be said about what had been going on the past few days. How River felt distant as ever, evading every question about what her bosses were like - aside from Caius, who seemed to Chrissy to be a pretentious asshole.
Now there was a cold spot at the pit of Chrissy's throat that threatened to break off and blister and split her fucking head open.
There had to be something now, some words that could come out now that Carlisle was on the other line. But her voice felt trapped, the seeds of paranoia eating at her voice box and leaving her momentarily mute.
"Chrissy, is everything alright?" Carlisle said, that honey sweet voice of his helping the young woman calm down. "Did something happen? To you? To River-"
"I think River has feelings for the guys she's working for over here, Carlisle." Chrissy's breathing was heavy and she could barely keep herself upright. "Carlisle, the guys have weird eyes and skin. They're like statues. They look like..."
She couldn't - wouldn't - say his name. That name should be dead and gone, lost with time and memory. Not brought back to life with the latest chapter of River being in over her head.
"Chrissy, what are the names of River's new employers?" Carlisle asked with an edge that Chrissy hadn't heard in a long time. Not since when they first met six months ago, when the two of them were still trapped. "I know Volterra. I know the people in Volterra."
Right, right. He knows all the people here. He lived here for some of his younger years. He probably knows these assholes, Chrissy breathed a sigh of relief as she thought about his past. If anyone could put a stop to this, it was Carlisle.
"Chrissy, the names," Carlisle insisted. "I know you're in the heart of the city, but there's dozens of places River could be working right now."
"Their names are Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They're brothers who work together in the clocktower. That's where River and I have been staying," she felt as if her voice would break at any moment.
Genuine fear plastered itself all over her young features. Anxiety is something Chrissy has had to battle since the beginning of her nightmare, and she doesn't know if she'll ever defeat it.
"The ones I'm most worried about are Aro and Caius. The blonde asshat has been nothing but rude. But Aro, he gave her something - it was fucking expensive too, Carlisle. A tiara, as if he were making her a princess..." Chrissy didn't even know how to feel about that crested item worth more than her net worth. "I've seen the look in River's eyes. When she came back with the tiara, it was as if her whole world had suddenly come together."
More so than it had ever been before coming to Volterra. When River denied it, it seemed so innocent, like a child getting affection for the first time. But it wasn't innocent, it was dangerous, and Chrissy had to keep reminding herself that.
