Chapter One - Invitation Into Darkness

“Please, remain seated in the tramcar.” the monotone voice proclaimed over the intercom. Lady Lia Biccalup waited patiently in the turquoise vehicle, suspended over a magnetic rail by a long mechanical limb, the rail stretched ahead, leading into the blackness of the tunnel ahead. 

Fitfully she sighed, twisting her ivory umbrella in her grasp, she had waited so very long to take the automatic tour, it was quite the difficulty to travel to Florida that time of the year, but the idea of declining an invitation to an exclusive tour of the renowned Professor Legrand's new Aquarium was an intolerable idea, the thought of experiencing it alone was a depressing thought that made her lips quiver in a pout.

Thankfully she heard the loud shoe steps of her valet, the roguish gentlemen, Darius Benedict, a primp and proper scotsman whose burgundy lion’s mane required several dozen candlesticks worth of wax to slick back. She caught sight of the valet as he appeared in the entrance hallway, just as the tramcar automation began to shift.

“Please, no more passengers, the doors are now closing.” Lia heard the monotone voice say, then the sight of her trusted manservant became cut off by the closing doors.

“Darius!” she cried out, just as he started to rush towards her.

“Lady Biccalup, don’t panic.” she heard him say, as he started to climb the tramcar.

"The tramcar is now in motion, please stay seated." not heeding the voice, Lady Lia was flung backwards, her backside slammed down hard on the metallic floor.

Scrambling for a seat, the tramcar began to speed, as she heard the sound of Darius climbing the outside of the vehicle. “Darius, please don’t take any silly risks.” She feared her voice would be drowned out by the sound of the mechanisms at work, propelling the car forward, plunging the tramcar and its occupant in sudden complete darkness.

Unable to hear Darius moving around outside, she began to call out his name, becoming more upset with each utterance of his name, “Darius. Darius. Darius!” till a small light turned on in the ceiling, and something large dropped close to her, making her nearly leap from her seat in shock.

“Here is your bottle of sparkling water, My Lady.” the valet had climbed through the ceiling roof, dropping down next to her.

Flustered, she raised her umbrella and struck Darius multiple times in a fury of lashes, till she got over the sense of embarrassment and anxiety. Unfazed, her valet held out the bottle of sparkling water, which she took with anger in her eyes.

“You forgot the--” she stopped when she saw Darius hold out a bottle opener, taking it, she popped off the cap, and swallowed the lemony water.

Taking a seat next to his charge, the dutiful Scotsman folded his hands on his lap, and watched as they propelled past the passage of darkness. “Is it everything they promised in the brochure?” His cheeky remark earned him a swat across the face with the ivory umbrella.

“We haven’t reached the main hall yet.” Lady Lia became annoyed by Darius’s passive aggressive objection to their vacation in the Florida Everglades. “If it was up to you, we’d only get to read about the marvels we are about to see.”

Not responding as he did not wish to be struck again, Darius sat quietly, as Lady Lia finished drinking her water. “Finished, My Lady?”

“Yes, it was quite humid outside.” she still felt a sticky dryness in her mouth and throat.

“It is like that in Florida, particularly when they offer us no refreshments on the boat ride out here.” Darius was spared a swat for that negative comment because he was absolutely right.

“You’d think they want a better impression of their first patron.” as she felt the boredom mount on her once awestruck mind, as she noticed the tramcar was still riding through a long stretch of darkness.

“I suspect Lady Biccalup, they haven’t finished building the facility as of yet, and are offering early admissions as a way to finance the rest of the construction.” The valet had many suspicions ever since the gaudy invitation entered his Lady’s postbox, his first instinct was to tear it up, but he had an earful the last time he intercepted his employers mail--now he wished he would’ve just done so, sparing them the trip.

“I believe you might have a point Darius.” she bit her lip, feeling the embarrassment of having been fooled like a child buying a mail order item from a comic book. “Still I suppose there are still going to be displays featuring wonders of the sea for us to gawk at.” Her self-deprecation brought her some humility, which made her enjoy their folly enough to look forward to what lies ahead, even if it was a disappointment. “Look there is light ahead.”

Teal light glowed at the end of the bleak darkness, before they got there the tramcar started to make a skidding sound, till it slowed and finally stopped.

"Apologies, there has been an unforeseen error, please remain seated, we are working on the problem."

“Blasted robot.” Lady Lia swore. Darius turned to look sternly at her, as she pretended she didn’t say anything a common harlot would utter on a daily basis.

“That is unbecoming Lia.” his other stiff lips had become an almost apathetic sneer.

“Don’t forget yourself Darius, I am Lady Biccalup.” she teased.

“Not when you--” the light above their heads began to flicker, before an audible pop heard, following a strong smell of something burning. Then there was a grinding sound, not from the tramcar, but further up, something was wrong with the mechanism.

“Stay calm, everything…please stay in your…in case of emergency…emergency…emer--" the monotone voice died in a swarm of static, as the darkness around them was lit up by flashing scarlet lights. 

Screeching erupted, the sound made Lady Lia’s eardrums shudder, the screech became a harsh grinding sound, and before she could say a word to her valet, the tramcar propelled forward. Sparks and smoke surrounded them, as the lights continued to flash, as they shot into a well-lit chamber, where they were dislodged from the track, and smashed into tempered glass.

Chapter Two - Downpour

Filtered sea water poured out of the large hole made by the impact of the crash, the torrent caused the smoke to die down, and short circuited the suspension mechanism causing it to recoil and remain stiff. Both passengers of the crash were mostly unharmed, Lady Lia’s sports honed body was cushioned by Darius’s imposing steely frame. Neither suffered grievous harm, the only one with a few bruises was Darius, because his back slammed against the wall of the tramcar.

“You alright, Lia, are you hurt?” The social barrier of mistress-servant relationship had faded momentarily, just so concern can be allowed full sway in such a tumultuous circumstance.

“Me hurt? What about you, you silly ass!” her concern was palpable on her tomboyish face, speckled with sweat soaked freckles, as her pale italian skin had become flush with worry. “You took the brunt of the crash, let me check how badly you were hurt.”

She tried to pull up his shirt, but two firm hands took her wrists and held them away from his body, “Lady Biccalup, that is most improper. Besides there are more perilous matters to attend to, I fear this nigger-rigged mechanism is going to give out.” the stiffened piston groaned loudly, bolstering Darius's statement.

Cautiously they rose up together, and moved to the doors of the tram, Lady Lia momentarily returned to her seat to retrieve her umbrella, before joining her valet. The Scotsman's face contorted in dumbfounded contempt, seeing him make that look told her that he didn't believe her umbrella was worth the risk.

“It was a gift from my father.” Her words stunned Darius as he wasn’t sure if he was being predictable or his Lady was developing telepathy.

Reaching the door, Darius tried to open the door, it was sluggish to open, applying more force he pried it open, straining it till it snapped off, and fell to the water covered floor below. Fortunately the span between the tramcar and scaffolding was one good leap away, judging the distance, Darius estimated he could make it, with a little extra weight to carry.

“Lady Biccalup, please wrap your arms around my shoulders.” She obliged the request, making only a small “eep” when Darius flew her over the short span. Balancing himself as he landed, he held Lady Lia, the tightness was noticed by both, but their modesty didn’t pry them apart till their footing stopped shaking. “Come, let's use the ladder there to clear out of here, before the tram falls.”

Descending the scaffolding, they saw the waterfall of seawater emptying from the colossal aquarium tank. Along with the flood of water, swam out small fishes comprising of many exotic colors, some of which Lady Lia never seen before in any of her magazines and books. Reaching the bottom, she was glad she wore long leather boots, they worked just like stylish galoshes. Straightening her umbrella, she opened it to cover herself from the downpour of water that still drained from the tank.

Darius led her away to the far side of the chamber, both trudging through the ankle deep water as they did so--he was the one that pointed out the water drains built into the stonework floor. “They’re barely keeping pace with the flood.” he stated, as they saw the small, toe sized fish start to be flushed away down the drains, as they tried to swim against the current in vain.

“Poor things.” She couldn’t stand watching so many rare species being obliterated by the carelessness of their caretakers. “Please Darius, can’t you do something for them?”

“I'd rather do something for us.” He led her to the far end of the chamber, farthest from the tramcar. “Wait here, I’ll try to find a way out, don't worry I won't go too far off.” heading off, he passed around a bend leaving her sight. She stayed as she was told, ankle deep in water, her former ideals of marvelous day observing the fascinating creatures of the unknown depths, had been sobered by the bitterness of flawed reality. There didn’t seem to be an end to the flood of water coming from the hole in the tank, as she stared at the incoming flood, she saw something in the water.

Its oblong silhouette made a steady course towards the rupture in the tank that previously kept it contained; the new opening has offered it freedom from its expansive prison. Lady Lia felt a pressure at the back of her head, a paranoid caution that told her to be worried of the dark shape coming towards her, her common sense to dissuade such thoughts was still shot by the crash of the tramcar. Taking a step onto an elevated platform, she looked around for Darius--she couldn’t see him, she wanted to call out to him but growing anxiety kept her lips firmly sealed.

Loud humming was all she could do, hoping it would carry to the ears of her valet, the silhouette now seemed to propel to the opening, like a torpedo shooting out to sink a battleship. Breathing hard, she let out gasping cries, she didn’t scream till the head of a gigantic sea beast emerged from the opening, with gnashing teeth that could grind her to an easily digestible pâté.

Chapter Three - Death’s Many Forms 

“Shark!” she screamed, as the flailing sea-devil had only managed to get its head through the opening, its bloated black body had blocked the water flow, its head thrashed about as it snapped at the open air; its death-pale eyes trained on its next meal, Lady Lia, who had retreated to a higher elevation in the floor, that rose slightly above the water.

Terrified, she called out for Darius, her voice getting shriller and more panicked with each call of his name. “Darius! If you don’t come here, I’ll be eaten alive!” the cry for aid would have reached the ears of her valet, if he wasn’t otherwise detained. For that moment Lady Lia was alone to deal with the shark, an unmerciful slaughterer of the seas, she never had seen one so menacing before, even in the fantastical stories she read. If she was stranded in open water, the obsidian sea beast would surely be her end, luckily however she had solid ground beneath her from which to face the threat.

Pressure behind the shark built, lengthening the cracks on the tank’s glass, till it shattered allowing it to dive into the rapidly flooding chamber. The rush of downpour outpaced the drains, and water rose up to the soles of her boots, just as she watched as the shark’s fin, protruding from the water, started to swim to her right, then making a hard turn directly towards her, the demonic leviathan’s pale eyes poked over the parting waters, as it opened its mouth, letting loose a mute roar, as it leapt at her with jaws wide open, seeking to swallow her hole.

If she wasn’t an Olympic trained gymnast, she would’ve been crushed by its snout as it crashed into the wall, and devoured soon after, she cartwheeled away, keeping her umbrella ready at hand, for it was a gift from her father, a precious memento. Memories of the day she received came to her mind, it was after the Lady’s Fencing competition in New York, having coming in first, she was gifted a valuable present, not only for its practical use of keeping one dry, it also has a defensive use, by turning the gold ring at the end of the handle, the guise of an umbrella is shed, revealing a dueling rapier--only used in self-defense of course.

Raising the blade against the unreasoning beast, she thrusted the blade as it closed its mouth, flicking her wrist at the end of her follow through, driving the blade into its nose. Blood gushed from the fresh wound, and before it could lunge at her she leapt away as if she were a swashbuckler from a pirate story.

“Proteggiti e preparati a morire.” she spoke in her father’s tongue while slashing rapidly at the shark’s face, the shark's blood dyed the water around her feet a fruit-punch red. Then she noticed the water level was rising faster than the drains could take, most likely clogged by the bodies of hundreds of tiny fishes, she needed to get to higher ground. The scaffolding was the only way she could get out of reach of the shark, but she had to swim to reach it. As suicidal as it would be to try and outswim a shark, Lady Lia conjured a plan, one that would at least give her a head start.

Luring the shark towards a seam in the stonework floor, she maneuvered about, sidling left and right, waiting for one of its fins to be at the precise place for her scheme to succeed. After it lunged at her with the frenzy of a demon freed from the gates of hell, she rolled towards the beast's side, then aiming her blade she drove through the shark's fin up to the hilt, impaling it to the seam in the floor.

Eyes bulging from its socket, the shark let out a silent scream, a gruesome crimson eruption came from the fresh wound as if it were a geyser. Taking her chance and wasting precious little time, she dove into the water, and implementing her skills as a silver medal swimmer, darted towards the scaffolding like an otter down the river stream.

Meanwhile the shark became irate from the futility of its struggling, but the water had risen enough to elevate it from the floor, alleviating the pressure of the blade that pinned it down. Thrashing about, it deepened the wound on its fin, unconcerned with the blood loss, driven to feed, it tore free, leaving a deep gash on its appendage. Jaws stretched wide open, it charged towards Lady Lia, the water around it became a dark crimson, a gory sight akin to when the Pharaohs angered God.

Reaching the lowest platform of the scaffolding, she pulled herself from the water and managed to climb out of reach of the shark, just as it crashed into the metal frame of the structure. Feeling its fangs just barely scraping on the heels of her boots, she climbed higher up, not stopping to even breathe, she made it to the top and looked down at the biblical monster that had set its sights upon her.

Driven by hateful instinct, the shark slammed its body at the already damaged scaffolding, the metal groaned from strain, the wood splintered, and it shook violently from her merely standing on it, seeing only a gory end if she fell, she had no choice, she had to jump ten feet upwards, to reach the stone ledge above her head, if she failed, ‘no failure, come on Lia.’

Bending her knees and flexing her ankles, she leapt upwards, missing it by the length of her fingertips, chipping her fingernails in the process. Again, the shark rammed the structure she stood on, causing it to sink down, lengthening the distance she needed to jump by a foot.

Disheveled, stained head to toe in bloody water, and gasping for breath, she saw the shark was pulling back, preparing a desperate charge, to put the quarry to an end. There was no other way, it was the fatal duality, success or death, crouching down low like a jack-in-a-box, she put her all into that one last jump.

When she heard the rush of water, signaling the shark's charge, she sprang upwards, just as the shark crashed at full speed. The chamber shook from the impact, this collapsed the scaffolding completely, but it also brought about the end of the shark.

Vibrations from the impact jostled the electrical wiring in the tramcar, sending sparks flying about as the piston that is suspending the car started to work again, the mechanism breaks down however, and within seconds the whole haphazardly constructed apparatus falls into the water, crushing the shark. 

Effervescent by the running electricity, the crimson water began to emit a dense white haze. Buzzing of the exposed wires stopped eventually, as it shorted out. As the haze dissipated, a seared corpse floated to the surface, the shark was dead. Pinned down by the weight of the tramcar, and boiled alive in the electrified water, the ferocious consumer of all life, had been cooked as if it were being prepared for a traditional Japanese dish.

Power was once again shut off, and the chamber was in momentary blackness, till the emergency lights came on, casting out the darkness.

Lady Lia, having made the jump seated herself on the ledge, overlooking her accomplishment—to be a survivor is very rare these days, and the only thing she truly lost was the present her father gave her, but then again she had a manor house filled with presents, so it was ultimately not a big loss.

Standing up, she sidled her way along the wall, till she made her way to a set of stairs that were around the bend. Jumping down to the top step, she began to notice the foul odor of burnt seafood filling the air, the stench soured her raised spirit, as did finding out her hair was dyed a light red from the bloody water—it bothered her that she probably looked like an Irishwoman.

“Darius!” Her voice had a tone of barely restrained rage, “when I see your lazy a—” her voice was cut off by the sound of the door leading out of the chamber opening loudly, and a pair of large men with intense glowered expressions appeared.

“Come with us little lady, the boss wants a word.” Before she could say anything, she was grabbed by the lumbering, Neanderthalic goons, and dragged off. Weakened from overexertion she had no choice but to be taken away.

Chapter Four - Dining With Peril

“You see Lady Biccalup, we would’ve helped you sooner, however your man here detained us.” their host gestured towards Darius. Lady Lia was mortified to see her valet's face covered with blood and bruises. The entirety of the front of his shirt was stained with blood, though thankfully not his own. “He gave us…a lot of trouble.”

Darius said nothing, but gave his Lady a reassuring look that told her that 'if they didn’t tie him to his seat, he would’ve strangled the man to death.'

Lady Lia was given a towel which she draped over her shoulders, then taken to a large dining hall, with a dazzling chandelier that hung from the ceiling, and a large octagon table filled with various Mediterranean delicacies.

Their host as he introduced himself, was Vittorio Nica, a man who looked as though he was going to the annual banquet for circus midgets, he was a dwarfish man, with boney child legs, long uneven arms, and a face that reminded Lady Lia of a grade school bully--mean and quick to change from sweet to vindictive when provoked.

“I apologize for the tramcar malfunctioning, I didn't think it would put you into such danger, that's what I get for using cheap labor.” the sicilian chuckled as his long arm reached for his wine glass. “At least the dining hall is finished”, he gestured to the exhibits that were displayed on the wall. Each showing a large habitat for various aquatic creatures, six in total, all were deadly creatures of the deep.

One was a squid, as large as a house, its eye was perpetually stuck to the glass of its tank. Next to it was a barracuda, its tank was littered with bones and scraps of meat that didn’t look like it belonged to an animal. After that was a tank swarming with piranha, their water had a hue of red to it, probably due to them eating frequently. Next on was what seemed like an empty tank, but a keen eye would see a silhouette stretching over the wall of the tank, it was the fabled phantom jellyfish, a behemoth of a creature that appears to be completely invisible while in the water.

Disappointedly, the next tank was nearly empty of water, “That tank held the black shark, Muda, Terror of the South Asian Seas, well, former terror. I guess the thousand souls of the fishermen it ate would finally be laid to rest, according to legend.” mused their host, as he noticed her eyes looking at the tank. Neither Lady Lia or Darius took mirth from his brand of callous humor. “But thankfully I still have this fella, and to be honest, he’s my favorite.” right behind Lady Lia was the sixth tank, and unlike the others the creature inside was something that could be on either land or water.

It was a gigantic crocodile, a rare albino, with deep blood red eyes that were half open, tired after having just eaten. Over twenty feet long, it nestled on the artificial sand beach on the far end of its enclosure, leaving the rest of its tank to be filled with deep, fresh water. “I call him Georghē, how are you doing Georghē!” he called out to the croc, who remained in its zen state. “Oh, he’s too full to answer.” he sucked back his cigar, and blew smoke towards Darius.

The valet wanted to leap from his seat and beat the little man to death, but two of his remaining four men stood at his back, knives in hand--the other two stood alongside Lady Lia, and he was far more concerned for her than himself.

“Why are you holding Lady Biccalup captive?” The question earned him a hard smack across the face by one of the thugs.

“Do you always allow your help to speak out of turn?” Vittorio pointedly asked Lady Lia, as if he showed them nothing but courtesy and hospitality.

“Then I’ll ask the question, why do you hold us captive? We were invited here to take an early tour of the Aquarium, is it your intent to hold all your paying customers at knife point?”

“Now there’s an idea.” the small man mocked, as he pretended to give the suggestion some thought. “Ah no, besides this place needs a lot more funding. What if word got out that the renown Lady Lia Biccalup died…almost died at this facility? Imagine the scandal.” The slip of words didn’t give her hope of getting out of there alive if she left things to the mercy of the Sicilian Napoleon wannabe. “I have an idea.” he snapped his fingers, and one of the men by her side came around the table to his employer, who brandished a booklet and a pen. “You could write me a cheque, become an investor in this marvelous attraction.”

Opening the booklet he scribbled down a promissory note, officially distributed by the bank, and filled out all the president details, leaving only Lady Lia’s unique signature to be signed at the bottom. Tearing the paper from the booklet, he handed it to his goon with the pen, who rushed it to her side, where he slapped it on the table before her.

“Five million dollars?!” she exclaimed after seeing the total, “you must be mad.” she then started to chuckle at the absurdity.

Then the gleeful teasing face of Vittorio Nica morphed into his sinister alter ego, a cold eyed killer of men, and plunderer of heiresses fortunes. “The last man who laughed at me like that—” he rose from his chair, and jogged over to her, where he spun her chair around to face the crocodile tank behind her, making sure his rough hands cupped her face roughly.

Her being touched lit a menacing fire in her valet’s eyes, if he got free, he was going to kill the little man. Forcing her to look into the half-closed eyes of the albino crocodile, Vittorio’s sinister side eased to his more jovial facade. “This place took a lot of money to build, Professor Legrand spent every penny of his fortune to get it started, he'd hoped to make it back by charging an admission to the general public, but to get it up and running, well it requires money, so he came to me—" he paused to take a drag of his cigar as he stood next to Lady Lia. "--he needed a finance partner, which I agree to since it was a convenient way to...enhance my portfolio. And of course I am always happy to invest in the dreams of others.”

“And turn them into nightmares.” Lady Lia cut Vittorio to the bone with that remark, something Darius wished he could do with a dinner knife.

“No, up until his recent accident it was a cozy partnership.” the Sicilian’s eyes examined her expression, making sure she understood his meaning. “You see he had misgivings about offering exclusive tours of the facility before it was open to the general public. Granted in hindsight the automatic rail system needed some more work done, but I put a lot of cash into this place, and it was about time it paid off.”

Seeing the grimace on her face made Vittorio smile, he enjoyed having a captive audience, it made him nostalgic for his days in the circus, where he worked as a child-sized harlequin, roaming around the crowd, picking pockets, selling overpriced treats.

“I came a long way.” he stated, biting down on his cigar, inhaling deep the fumes of success.

“On the backs of others.” Lady Lia tested her luck one time too many, and the dwarf lost his temper and slapped her, cracking her lip. Even his goons were speechless, as he dared to lay hands on what was practically American Royalty. “Pensi di spaventarmi piccolo uomo?”

“Ti farò paura, bambina.” he put his scowling face right up to her defiant glower, ripping his face away, he looked at the croc’s tank. “The Professor was like you, he threatened to call the police, said people will know what we are up to... then he had his accident.” Walking towards the croc tank, he climbed up a staircase and opened the sliding glass door to the tank. “He fell in here shortly afterwards, not sure why he was in there, perhaps he wanted to feed Georghē. Well, Georghē was fed.”

Turning on his heel towards her, he snapped his fingers and tilted his head towards the tank. Realizing what he intended, she tried to get away, but the arms of the two large men restrained her, and carried her towards the crocodile tank.

“If you hurt her—” Darius tried to burst out of his confinement, but he was throttled into submission by the thugs that guarded him.

“Don’t worry, I just want her to see what we intend to do with her investment, you know the cost to feed the exhibits isn't cheap. Come here missy, let's see if we can get Georghē’s attention.” As soon as the tank was open the albino crocodile’s eyes widened with interest, he moved his head around as if he were a cat sensing a mouse running about.

The two thugs carried the resisting Lady Lia to the open tank, and obeying their bosses instructions, held her head into the croc’s tank. Upon seeing the potential morsel, smelling of blood being tangled over his domain, the croc slowly started to waltz into the water.

This was the last straw, and now was the time to counterstrike, sliding the dinner knife he snatched from the table before he was restrained, Darius with combat-trained dexterity cut the binds around one of his arms, spinning in his chair he lashed out with the blade with force enough to slit the throat of one of the thugs—the large man clutched his neck, as he desperately tried to keep the cascade of crimson from leaving his deep wound.

Before the other could get over his shock, the valet freed himself completely, and he dug the knife into the second man's eye socket till it pierced his skull; death was instantaneous. After delivering the lethal strike, the blood drenched valet placed his hands around the second thug's head, and before he could succumb to blood loss snapped his neck till the head was facing the other side.

Barely able to believe what they saw, the two thugs let go of Lia who just managed to pull herself out of the tank. She only had a moment to try to overcome her anxiety, when she saw Vittorio pull from his jacket pocket a four-shot derringer pistol, which the murderous dwarf aimed at Darius’s head! Tackling the deranged dwarf, she struggled to keep the end of the pistol barrel away from her faithful servant and friend.

Two marble bullets were fired in the struggle, and both whizzed past the valet’s head, who had retrieved another knife from one of the dead men, and was fighting the last two goons, this time the dwarf's men were not to be taken by surprise. The long arm of Vittorio held the gun, the other was crooked like a chicken’s wing, but it had strength which he used to strangle Lady Lia's throat, squeezing the fight from her.

Seeing her face start to turn from red to blue, Darius, livid with rage, lunged at the largest of his opponents, digging the knife deep into his heart, an exacting strike that went through the goon's defenses. Bitterly the goon cried out, as he clutched the knife wound, which streamed out blood like water from a fountain.

The last man in Vittorio’s gang lost his nerve, seeing the lethal rage in the valet’s eyes, he turned and fled, to disappear into obscurity forever fearful that death may set his eyes upon him once again. Darius allowed that one to escape, he instead was obsessively focused on saving Lady Lia, whose eyes started to flutter close, dashing towards her, the cackling dwarf no longer inhibited by her fired a bullet at the loyal valet.

Undeterred he ran right into the shot that struck his shoulder and kept coming. The dwarf would need many more bullets of much larger size to even slow the steely framed valet. Stunned at Darius’s resilience and athletics, he didn’t notice that the woman he thought he held in a subduing grip, had regained herself--witnessing the bullet pierce Darius’s mythologically majestic body, gave her a second wind. Using her training as a champion female wrestler, she rolled, lifting the shrieking dwarf into the air, and sending him flying into Georghē’s exhibit.

Coming to his Lady’s side, relief was in the Scotsman’s affectionate eyes, as he gently rubbed her neck. “Lia, are you alright?” gently he lifted her till she found the strength to stand on her own power. In that moment in his arms, she thought Darius was the most magnificent man in the entire world.

“I’m fine, Darius.” she said holding his bloodied hand, “but you’re getting blood on me.”

“Apologies.” he tried to get a clean handkerchief from his jacket, but they were all covered in blood. It was then that both noticed the screams of their host, who frantically splashed about in the tank water.

“Please, Lady Lia, don’t let me die!” He struggled to climb the slick walls of the tank, as he looked back in panic, as Georghē started to leisurely swim towards his next meal. “I beg you, in the name of Jesus, forgive me! I’ll turn myself in, I’ll give you money, all the money I have, every cent, just please--” Darius coldly shut the door to the tank, leaving the dwarf to help himself, Lady Lia had pity and wanted to help, but her valet placed his hands on her shoulders, and guided her out of the dinning hall.

Leaving Vittorio Nica to learn what Captain Hook did when his own crocodile caught up to him, that eventually all our sins are held to account, when our time is up.

 Epilogue - 

The newspapers have plastered Lady Lia’s, unflattering appearance all over the front pages for what was going on the third week. Exposés on Vittorio Nica’s mafiosos connections started to be the bulk of the articles, it seems the reporters were getting tired of recounting the story of how an America aristocrat, and her valet, managed to escape the clutches of what would’ve been the largest robbery scheme the country has ever seen.

Forcing the American uppercrust to sign away their wealth, then absconding with the ill-gotten gains, it was a miracle no one Vittorio targeted suffered the demise he planned for them, already they estimated the remains of over a hundred people were found in various exhibits at the aquarium, whose specimens are being relocated to either their natural habitats, or to new facilities that can better care for their needs.

Letters of thanks from those who also received invitations to the aquarium were cramped into her mailbox, still letters poured in, and she hadn’t the patience to deliver a reply to every single one.

“Goodness sake, most of these are sent by relatives of those who were on that awful little man’s list. Darius read through them all, set fire to the marriage proposals.”

“Lady Lia, with your new found notoriety, perhaps you should look over what is on offer?” The twisted, sour expression on her face was enough for him to drop the subject.

“If I were to do that, Darius—” she trailed off, as she sipped her cappuccino, before continuing her thought “—if I were to marry Darius, it would be a man who’d have the guts to call me by my first name.” her eyes mischievously peeked over at the valet, as he was folding freshly laundered dishtowels.

“I suppose you're out of luck then, Lady Biccalup.” keeping a straight face, he didn’t expect Lady Lia to be so offended by that irksome remark, that she’d reach over with a rolled up newspaper and whack him on the shoulder where he was shot.

Wincing at the pain, Darius let out a clenched teeth whimper.

“Sorry, Darius—” she said feeling instantly guilty, “—there was a bee on you.”

“Thank you for getting it then, Lia.” the valet smiled through his pained expression.

Lady Lia smiled back, and went back to reading her paper, “anytime Darius.” Both of them, content to be back to their usual lives.