Persona

by Amy Lunderman

  She is just getting ready to pounce at the man before her, when Raven yells to her. Moira looks over to the other girl and follows her gaze behind her, but she doesn’t get to finish the movement. She hears the sound of something snap free and goes air born, and can almost hear it whizzing in the air. She doesn’t know what it is, but knows whatever it is, it’s coming straight for her and she won’t have enough time to move.

  She has a second to be slightly irritated that she is going to be missing out on all the fighting, when Raven is suddenly standing right in front of her.

  Moira is confused and she feels her eyes go wide at seeing her, and the other girl looks just as surprised. That is until she screams as her body jerks and falls towards Moira, who could only watch as an arrow slides into her left shoulder.

  She catches Raven to her and as they fall to the ground together, she can feel her blood already seeping into her night shirt. Raven is going more limp by the second, and Moira distantly thinks that the man she was about to attack, isn’t coming for her anymore.

  Looking up, she sees the man they met in Moorhead and his two sons Paul, and Joseph. They also seem to be brandishing crossbows.

  She pulls back her lips from her teeth, and let’s loses a bone chilling growl, that would do any pissed off mother wolf proud. In a move she is already comfortable in, she gets up into a crouch and is about to pounce at the men.

  Her body tenses and she quickly flexes her nails outward, and pushes her up into the air towards them. She is in midair when the boy Paul smirks, and aims his crossbow at her. Later she’ll think it was stupid to not remember that little bit, but she doesn’t now though.

  So she feels slightly behind in what her body is doing in her mind, and knows she wants to stop, but she can’t. She does stop and fall to the ground with a cry of pain, when an arrow pierces her in the upper thigh of her right leg.

  Raven is now lying unconscious on the floor beside her, and Moira tries to get to her feet, but a stabbing pain causes her to stumble back onto the floor. Instead, she drags herself over to her fallen friend so that they are touching, so that no matter what Moira will get the brunt of whatever comes her way. She owes the other girl that much.

  She can hear the others still around the room and she can even taste Liam’s cinnamon scent that is heavy in the air around her. Then the worst happens, her persona slowly fades away from her and takes away the scent of cinnamon with it. Leaving behind a throbbing pain in her thigh, and she can only watch as the boy Paul walks over and kneels by her head. He no longer has the crossbow, now he has a syringe and he quickly jabs her with it before she can tell him not to.

  As her vision faded in and out with bobby shadows, she feels her body being moved. Just before her vision goes completely dark, she realizes that she still has Raven in a tight hold. She tries to release her, but can’t make her hands work, and neither can the men dragging her. As her vision goes completely dark, she realizes that wherever they are taking her, Raven is coming with her.

  Then there is nothing.

  ***

  Liam spins around to the man behind him, as the one in front of him falls to the ground unconscious, and swipes out at him with his claws. He ends up scratching the guy in the face, tearing through the mask he is wearing. The man turns away from the pain, and Liam unarms him of his baton, and uses it against him.

  He brings it out and around towards the man’s already lowered head, and on impact the man is knocked backwards into the wall inert. He is about to sigh with relief, knowing that most of the men are already disarmed or knocked out, but then he hears the sound of squealing tires coming from outside.

  For reasons he doesn’t know yet, his pulse sky rockets and he tries to pick up on the too familiar scent of a girl that drives him crazy. There is nothing in the air, and closing his eyes to concentrate and taking in a deep breath, there is still nothing.

  Opening his eyes, he turns around to scan the room, just to be sure. To the left, Marty is beating two guys at the same time and seems to be enjoying himself. He had just punched one guy in the face beating him back into the wall, while he spun and kicked out at the second guy. Liam gets the feeling he’s taking the opportunity to use his pent up rage towards him, and that doesn’t even bother him.

  Figuring he doesn’t need any help, he finds Ray next. He is across the room beside Daisy, and as he watches, a man gets in a lucky hit to Daisy and knocking her off her feet. She cries out from pain, as blood pours out of her nose as the guy that hit her advances. Ray snaps then, he uses his claws to latch onto the guy in front of him, and he tosses him into the guy going for her.

  They fall to the ground and slide into the wall with such a force, that they are laid out from the impact. They boy turns his attentions to the girl now, and takes her in his arms.

  Liam turns away from the sight, and finds Gordon next. He is on the right side of the room and has just delivered a powerful blow to a guy in black gear, which leaves the man still on the ground at his feet. His back is to Liam, and he can see the other man shaking from the entire excursion, but it’s still enough to impress him.

  He didn’t think the old man still had it in him, but clearly he was wrong. As Gordon turns and their eyes meet, Liam realizes who is missing from the room. Eyes going wide, Liam scans the room a second time, then a third, and by the fourth time he is positively chaotic. He finds himself in the middle of the room and sniffing at the air, as if that would help, but in a way it does.

  He finally picks up the barest hint of apples, and closing his eyes, he lets his nose lead him to it.

  He doesn’t get very far unfortunately, and ends up on his hands and knees with nowhere else to go. Then his hands slide into something cold, wet and sticky. Opening his eyes in a flash and flexing his hands on the hard floor, he sees that there is blood on the ground; Moira’s blood.

  He can feel his own pumping through his veins, and his eyes travel up to look straight ahead. The front door is left open. He finds it hard to believe that some of the men in black ran away from them, no, they came here for a reason tonight. And they distracted them all while they left with that reason, but she isn’t alone because Raven is suspiciously missing also.

  Getting to his feet in one fluid movement, and growling as he does, he is angry with himself more than anything. He would bet his own life, that this has to do with the reward money out on her head.

  In anger Liam turns around in the room, looking for a target of his rage, any target. Most of the men that attacked them are all laid out on the ground motionless, therefore deemed useless to him. He needs a live one, and now. Then he spies Marty, the putts is still fighting one last man, and it brings a sinister smile to Liam’s face.

  He charges over to them with a shaky gait, and reaches them juts as Marty jumps on the guy’s chest and is trying to choke him out. He would find that funny under different circumstances, but right now the man is prey, and the boy is standing in his way.

  At their side now, Liam doesn’t hesitate as he shoves Marty off of the man, which causes the boy to stumble backwards cursing.

  Ignoring him, Liam just reaches down and picks up the choking man by the throat, and lifts him up into the air with the one hand. The man eyes go wide behind his mask, and this agitates Liam, who growls into the man’s face before slamming him back into the wall.

  The man sputters and struggles in his hold at the impact and Liam pulls him forward enough, so that he can slam him back again. Once the man is silent and still, Liam lets out a deep growl through clenched teeth, and reaches with his other hand for the mask.

  What he finds under it is just a boy maybe around his age or older and seeing that it’s not one his kind and too young for the law, his reward fears are confirmed.

  “Where is she and why did you take her?” He says huskily, around his sharp teeth in his mouth.

  The man is silent and still, so Liam slams him into the wall again and jarring his body around.

  “I said where is she
!” He says right in the man’s face.

  Then the man’s eyes open and he doesn’t even seem afraid that Liam is close to ending his existence, and he does the worst thing for his lifespan; he laughs. Liam leans back with a growl and is really contemplating just killing the man now, when he starts talking.

  “She is the one to help us with the cure.”

  His voice is gurgley, and blood slides through his lips as they move. Liam is confused over what he is spouting off. Cure? There is no cure, not that he knows of.

  “You abominations have to be cleansed, and she is the way.”

  He smiles again like being in Liam’s death grip doesn’t bother him, which infuriates Liam to no end. He’s about to squeeze the last bit more strength of the man’s neck, to either stops his lies or to kill him; he doesn’t know. Then he feels someone at his back a second before a hand is laid out on his shoulder.

  Only half glancing behind him, he sees that it’s Gordon and Marty is right beside him; they are both telling him without words to not do anything rash. Not anything rash, he thinks, they really don’t want to test him right now.

  And so, he fixes them with a glare, that would normally scare away any stupid human, but human they are not.

  “Son, ease up a bit. I think I know who they might be.” Gordon says hesitantly.

  Liam raises an eyebrow at the man that is like his father, and glances back to the other man his grip. He is still smiling at him with no apparent worries, and against his better judgment, he loosen his hold; but not releasing him.

  He gives Gordon his full attention now, and narrows his eyes at him to hurry.

  “That one there sounds like one of those fanatics I’ve been hearing about lately. They call themselves the Purists, and believe we are abominations and need to be cured.” His voice comes out in a sigh, like he should have known this would happen or something.

  This knowledge doesn’t change anything for Liam though, and if anything it makes him even more enraged. So the men had a halfcocked plan to take Moira and use her, doesn’t get him any closer to getting her back, though it makes him feel better to find Marty glaring at the man now too.

  Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Ray helping Daisy to her feet now, and together they head over to the rest of them and join in on the little questioning party they have going on. They both seem upset, and with good reason, two of their friends were just taken to crazy town.

  Marty suddenly has enough of all this standing around and not hitting things, to which Liam agrees with, and steps up to the man in Liam’s hold; his eyes narrowing.

  “Where did you take her, nut job?” His voice is garbled as much as Liam’s and Gordon, from his teeth.

  “I won’t give them up to you. It’ has already begun and you’re too late.”

  They all share a quick worried look, and Marty comes closer to the man, his jaw working.

  “What has begun?”

  The man just laughs and it’s such a bone chilling sound that the others step away from him; but not Liam. He reaffirms his hold on the man, and leans into him growling.

  He stops when their faces are only about an inch apart, and stares into the man’s carefree eyes.

  “You have one more chance to tell us where you took her, before I make you tell us.”

  “You can’t make me do anything boy.” The man says with another laugh.

  Liam smirks, and thinks, he really should have just told him what he wants to hear. He leans back just enough for the man to see his smirk, and then opens his mouth wide, almost like a yawn. He lets the man see his mouthful of sharp pointed teeth, and releases a deep growl.

  When the man tenses from the sight, Liam strikes at the man’s throat. He sinks his teeth into his flesh, and at tasting blood, he worries the man’s neck like a chew toy. The man cries out at the same time the others behind him do, but he doesn’t stop, and he won’t until he hears what he needs.

  No one tries to stop him either, and he thinks them smart for it. He can feel the man’s blood flow down his throat, and then he hears music to his ears.

  “Stop, please! I’ll tell you what you want to know!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The first thing Moira notices when she wakes up is pain. A pain so grand that it takes everything she can do, to not cry out from it. Her thigh feels like its on fire, and she can literally feel the arrow that must still be stuck inside it. The second thing she notices is that her hands are tied behind her back, causing her to be attached to a pole of some kind.

  That is when she finally opens her eyes, and wishes she didn’t wake up. She is, in fact tied up to a pole, one that is on the back wall of a warehouse type building, and she isn’t alone. Raven is tied up right beside her, and is still unconscious, and clearly bleeding. Her friend is slumped over to the side, with the shoulder with the arrow still in it, closest to Moira. She can see the blood still oozing out around the arrow, and almost pushes it out, but it doesn’t budge.

  Moira can feel dried blood covering her skin crack, as she struggles against her restraints. She has a feeling that all the blood on her isn’t her own, and with satisfaction, she hopes it’s the blood from those that took her. Her mind feels all muddled and weak, and she isn’t all that sure of what she had done. She has the feeling though, that she might have lost control enough to really cause some damage, she just wishes she knew what.

  She does know that she was more hurt than just the arrow still stuck in her leg, she remembers being hit in the face. She doesn’t ache or anything now and she wonders if maybe she has healed already. That doesn’t exactly make her feel any better, especially since he doesn’t really do her any good at the moment.

  Feeling numb and distantly terrified over why she was taken like she was, Moira is about to call out to Rave to try to get her to wake up. Before she can though, a strange woman’s voice from inside the room interrupts her.

  “I wouldn’t bother dear; your friend is gravely injured and won’t wake from your attempts. My apology, over the way my followers brought you in, but it was the only way.”

  Lifting her head away from Raven, Moira realizes she should have taken a look around the warehouse when she first woke up, because it’s too big not to be called that. It’s slightly abandoned looking, with metal looking walls and a large mechanical set of doors to the right, and another smaller door to the left. Of course, the gap between for Moira to even think she could even get away.

  The room is filled with people dressed in the same black gear getup, like the ones that attacked her. Only sans mask, and she can see that they must be regular Joes, by the way they give her disgusted looks. Talking with them though, is the man from Moorhead and his two douchbag sons Paul and Joseph.

  They aren’t looking at her, but she is looking at them, and if looks could kill; they’d be dead. Among them, are women dressed in white flowing robes, but not the pretty kind, more like the creepy kind that makes Moira nervous just seeing them.

  In the middle of the room, is an older woman dressed in another white robe, with long straight pale blonde hair, that hangs down her back in limp waves; making Moira think she looks a little unhealthy. She has the feeling that this woman must be the person in charge of these strange people, and the way she glares at her unsympathetically, she wonders why they took her to begin with.

  “Sorry dear, I’m being rude aren’t I. My name is Debbie and I am the leader of our wonderful organization called the Purists.” Debbie says with a sickeningly sweet smile, that chills Moira blood in her veins.

  Now why would a cult group like them want with her, she wonders? She remembers her dad telling her all about them when she was younger, much like tales of the boogeymen. She knows they are a ban of people that believe that all people like her are abominations.

  She also knows that it’s like their slogan, that all abominations must be cleansed. She has no idea what being cleansed mean, but it doesn’t exactly sit well with her, that she is here with them.

 
Only one way to find out though and that is to ask.

  “Why did you have you ‘followers’ take me?” Moira asks the woman, who is still giving her a weird smile.

  “That is easy dear girl; you are the way to cure the disease that infects you.”

  The disease that infects her, huh, now she knows these people are a bunch of crazies. Who talks like that anyway, and besides, don’t they know that there is no cure. Fletcher designed it that way a long time ago.

  “Sorry to bust you bubble lady, but there is no cure.”

  The woman’s grin widens, as she comes closer to Moira and kneels down in front of her. It takes all of Moira’s will power to not flinch away from her.

  “Not yet there isn’t, but there will be. The reward money I get from you will fund my research to make one.”

  Debbie’s grin widens to one that resembles the cat that ate the canary, and confirms that this woman is completely off her freaking rocker. It also adds up in her mind what she just told her; the reward money.

  Meaning she is going to be turned over to the law aka, Fletcher. Damn it all she thinks, and she was so close to getting away too, maybe it’s what she deserves though.

  The way she sees it, she might as well make some hell while she still can. She figures there is nothing left to lose.

  “If you are so pro cure, why are you working with people like me?” Moira indicates Paul on the other side of the room, now watching her, with her head.

  Debbie only glances at them, before turning her focus back to Moira, smiling all the while. To which Moira really wants to smack off her face.

  “Every trial run needs test subjects don’t they? Besides, they loath what they are, and I am duty bound to help them wash away the abomination.”

  This sting to Moira’s very being, since it wasn’t that long ago that she would have done anything to be normal. She just wouldn’t sacrifice the life of someone innocent to do it though, and that is what they are doing with her.