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(Intro)
To Lacey Ritter, the Shadow Hunters were just a game she perused in her spare time. But without warning, Lacey's double in another universe--who happens to be a Schattenjaeger--traded places with her.
The reason is that Lacey's universe had no one to fight an insidious evil clawing its way up from the darkness.
The terrible price for both girls is that neither of them will ever be able to return home.
Now, to keep alive the new world she is beginning to care for, Lacey must become a Schattenjaeger herself, balancing her heart and mind lest the shadows she hunts seduce her.
(Disclaimer)
Gabriel, Gerde, Von Glower, Hennemann, the Hunt Club guys, and anything else related to the Schattenjaeger business belong to the Sierra company/Jane Jensen. No copyright infringement is intended. I am not currently affiliated with Sierra, I don't know Jane Jensen, I'm just an overzealous fan of this wonderful series and I blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah...
Warning: The character of Lacey and everything not related to Bloodlust or the GK series are mine. Mine, mine, mine. Don't use them in a story without my permission or I just might tell my mother. I know that doesn't sound intimidating, but.. what if I told you she was a six-foot-tall kickboxing lawyer? Huh? What then? That'd fix your little red wagon. *lol* To further expand, blah, blah blah blah blah, blah blah...
Thanks: to the Bloodlust/RoT writers; those of whom I contacted graciously allowed me to "borrow" Zack for comic relief in my fanfic. I hope my inclusion of his torture diary will delight them. Also, thanks to Knight Angel for her detailed and helpful feedback, Soriya for her essay on female Schattenjaegers which so inspired me, as well as her answers to my questions and the brief use of her character.
Prologue
Eight months.
Today was the last day of the eighth.
A full two-thirds of one year had passed since the day Lacey Ritter had taken up the identity of someone who had only one thing in common with her--
A name. One simple, unassuming name, and with it a host of responsibilities; duties that Lacey had never dreamed would belong to anyone but the infamous, fictional Gabriel Knight.
The only thing she remembered before the chaos had broken loose was smiling at her mother and father... a brief flash of happiness before the images in her mind twisted to reveal her view of the woods as she ran blindly, fighting away the trees and the underbrush... screaming for mercy from some unknown ethereal nightmare... the Thing that chased her... and then, faintly, she saw the open sky and sea as she hurtled off the cliff into nothingness.
Only now, standing in the mysterious Schattenjaeger library with the condemning note in her hand, was she beginning to piece together the events that had caused this impossible rip in reality's sturdy fabric; why she was here in this strange place she should not even know existed.
The chaos, as she thought of it, began when she first opened her eyelids to incredible pain.
The light was burning, but cleansing... something that hadn't had contact with her naked eye in what felt like a long time.
"Lacey!" The shocked cry of elation came after several minutes... hours? She wasn't sure.
Lacey rolled her clear grey orbs to fix on the location of that voice. But the face that went with it filled her with horror, not joy. He shouldn't be there. She shouldn't know him in real life, only in the game.
Hennemann.
It took Lacey a full three weeks of screaming at the top of her lungs, sobbing into her paper nightgown, and fighting off complete hysteria before she began to calm down enough to accept her situation. Only later did she see that part of it was the trauma of what she had gone through in running from the... Thing... which made her react so very violently to her circumstances. Eventually, when her terror faded, she began to understand--being a fairly clever girl--that none of them would ever believe she was anything but crazy if she kept this up. She'd be locked away in this disgustingly... sterile environment forever. So, mustering whatever shreds of sanity she still possessed in this world gone mad, Lacey played their game, and she won.
They told her "Uncle" that she had amnesia caused by the fall from the cliff, and that it spawned some kind of temporary insanity. Of course, he and they believed it. But Lacey didn't. Not for a moment. She would always remember, and she would always know the truth.
She arrived at Hennemann's opulent, pristine home cynically determined to hate everything and everyone she met.
It didn't quite work.
Over the many months she spent at the politician's mansion, Lacey grew fond of the old fellow. He actually did... love her, in a peculiar sort of way. It seemed Lacey (the other, who belonged here) shared a surprisingly amount of similar traits with her (the one who didn't belong here). Time and exploration showed her that their lives were much different, though... the other Lacey, she gathered, had been the one to take up the role of Schattenjaeger after her cousin had refused. This universe's Gabriel was a coward. So her double had been the one to expose the cult and write The Voodoo Murders while he hid in the shadows doing research and other harmless activities. Wolfgang was her grandfather, and his son had married Hanneman's sister. Both parents, Americans by immigration, died when she was very young. She lived with her mother's parents until old enough to wish for independence, and her own home in New Orleans. After Wolfgang's death, she later returned to Germany so that she might see to Schloss Ritter's welfare.
But this Lacey had no such aspirations. She was frozen in place.
Hennemann nearly drove himself silly trying to make Lacey happy, sparing no expense. He gave her a beautiful room filled with all sorts of presents. He allowed her to decorate it herself in exactly the way she wanted. It held a bookshelf with hundreds of hardback novels, built securely into the wall; her own entertainment center complete with tape player, CD player, TV set and VCR; and her own computer, including modem and all the latest software. She had a pet dog--a Skye terrier named Blue, as well as two sweet little speckled mice. It was wonderful... but not what she wanted. Deep down she only longed for home.
Yet Lacey had to admit that, behind it all, the time she had spent here had made her grow to almost... love him. He treated her with incredible kindness and patience. The long weeks and months had let him grow to become like family, filling slightly what would have been a complete void in her heart in his absence. She now harbored a grudging affection for the endearing old fellow. When he found out what happened to his beloved niece, he gave up his drinking habits cold turkey. Lacey held respect for him because of this; she watched her mother give up smoking, and it wasn't easy for anyone in the family.
In fact, when she left for Schloss Ritter a few days ago, Lacey had been almost floored by the realization that she would really miss this makeshift uncle of hers.
A strange thought.
Chapter 1-New Blood
Gerde had greeted Lacey with a strained smile at the door.
For a while as Lacey followed her into the imposing Schloss Ritter castle, she was puzzled and almost hurt by this attitude. Then a few things occurred to her. She remembered Wolfgang's death and Gerde's love for him in the story. Even after all this time, was the poor thing pining for him still? Did Lacey's presence remind her of him?
It appeared so.
The other thought which came unbidden was that Gerde looked anxious; perhaps she wasn't quite prepared for a female Schattenjaeger. The one she knew had been male, as his ancestors had been. It made Lacey feel uncertain of her position. Some part of her knew her purpose, but she wasn't sure if she was worthy, not to mention ready.
Lacey felt an unexpected pang of sorrow as she pondered anew the other aspect of her thoughts; Wolfgang's death. In this universe, he would have been her grandfather. To learn he was dead before she ever arrived--his heart ripped out as a sacrifice just as she'd feared--well, it hurt more than she could have imagined. Some part of her was starting to finally accept this reality as her own, and that part of her held a gaping wound of loss.
Lacey's first task at the castle was already clear by the time she found her way into her cozy new bedchamber. Sure enough, the library door was locked... for now. She had grown certain of her next actions--not only from the details of the game that were coming back to her as she took in the familiar surroundings firsthand, but from an odd feeling in her abdomen.
Following the panels in the chapel, one by one, she set about her task. Her small, pale face was grave; her eyes cloudy, her mouth set in a determined line. Inside, she felt a growing sense of meaning. She might just belong here after all...
1-- Lacey rubbed her hands together in the morning light, washing them thoroughly with snow until her fingers were numb through and through.
2-- Taking up the scissors, she grasped a raven-black lock from the base of her hairline close to her neck and stoically, mercilessly snipped it off. "Needed a haircut soon anyway," she muttered to no one in particular.
3-- Bringing the necessary items with her, Lacey marched downstairs to the Schloss Ritter chapel. She didn't even stop to answer Gerde's inquisitive stare. Once inside, she stood at the altar almost reverently. Cold fingers relinquished the bowl, allowing it to rest in the proper place and adding a dash of salt. Steady lungs hauled in a deeper breath.
4-- Careful to avoid veins and arteries, Lacey wielded the ornate jeweled Ritter dagger, slicing into her arm. Grimacing, she held it over the bowl, the crimson line spilling a few drops into its receptacle. She stared. Her lifeblood trickled from her veins, poured out as a seal to the covenant she was making.
5-- Briefly tying up her arm to avoid excessive blood loss, Lacey knelt and gingerly unrolled the scroll of St. George. She began reciting the contents in a voice that slowly grew stronger and more confident as she spoke...
"Saint George, patron of the light,
Who hunts the shadows of the night,
Upon my blood, I call thee now;
Purify me, for I avow,
To set my feet upon thy road;
Thy sword I take up as mine own."
The ritual complete, Lacey cleaned up and left the chapel.
*** That night, as she had expected, she dreamed of the dragon. It was far more frightening than she had expected when awake, since her dream-self did not know what her concious mind had known. Yet in the morning, she did awaken (albeit rather late in the day) to find a key clutched limply in her slender fingers.
"Well, what do you know?" she said softly, palming the key and turning it over, examining its length. It was golden and beautiful, with a dragon's head at one end.
It fit the keyhole of the locked door in her room.