Skye took a deep, steadying breath before replying sardonically, “I’ll try to contain myself.”
5: Present Scars, Past Pain
As soon as they were past the first sound barrier beyond the medical wing of the building, Aiyana spun to face him. Miko rolled his eyes.
“And here it comes,” he said dramatically right as she started in on him.
“When are you gonna learn to keep your mouth shut?” She snapped. “What if Skye really had tried to leave? We would have had no choice but to take her out and it would have been for no reason other than that yap of yours!”
“Oh would you relax! You know I suck at being anything other than myself. How is she supposed to trust someone that she can tell is putting up a front? Besides, she’s a lot smarter than you seem to be giving her credit for. I guarantee that girl has laid this all out in her mind already. She knows exactly what we’ll have to do if she tries to leave,” he fired back.
Aiyana opened her mouth to argue, but stopped, realizing that he had a point. “You’re right...” she breathed.
“You’re God damned right I’m right!” He shot back quickly, only to stare at her in surprise when he realized what had been said. “Wait, I’m right? You’re actually agreeing with me?” He asked incredulously. “You weren’t, by any chance, hit in the head at the club, were you?”
Aiyana smirked. “No, smart ass. For once, you have a point. Skye is definitely intelligent enough to read the situation,” she reluctantly conceded, staring at the door at the end of the hall for a long moment. Her voice was distant as she whispered, “Miko... did you see the scars?”
He swallowed hard at the reminder. “Yeah,” he forced out in response.
They had both read descriptions of ‘evidence of previous injuries’ in Skye’s medical report. They had each seen a small amount at the club while trying to tend to her wound. None of that had adequately prepared them for the extent of the scarring. It covered her chest, her back, her arms, her legs, her feet...
“Somebody tortured that girl,” Aiyana said in a haunted tone. “I can’t begin to imagine how she survived, but she was definitely traumatized by it. She trusts me more readily than she does you. My guess is the ones that hurt her were men. Unless she asks directly, let’s avoid mentioning that it will just be the two of you heading over there,” she said quietly, waiting for him to nod his agreement.
“How long before you fly in?” He asked hopefully, but he already had a feeling that he would not like the answer.
“At least a week; I have to get things settled around here anyway. I’m sure you’ll manage just fine,” she assured him.
“Not really gonna have a choice in the matter,” he grumbled. “If I stayed here and you two tried to go alone, he wouldn’t even open the gates. He’s not big on strangers. Only reason he talks to me is because I killed a few vamps in his neck of the woods once and he drove up on it. Just between you and me, though? I get the feeling he wants to kick my ass most of the time.”
“Hey, that’s more contact than anyone else has. Besides – I want to kick your ass most of the time, too, and we’re still friends,” she offered, putting an arm around his shoulders and grinning up at him.
“Oh, thanks. I feel so much better now,” he pouted. “Come on; let’s go see what the brains came up with on her.”
When they entered the den of the hackers, the guys all stood from their desks – no small feat for people who averaged 20 hours a day in front of a computer.
“Did she get anybody?” Schrader asked as he tied back his long black hair. He eyed them both up for injuries over his thick black-framed glasses.
“No, everyone is fine,” Aiyana assured. “She just woke up a bit out of it and didn’t know where she was. She’s calm now.”
The hackers took a collective sigh of relief before returning to their screens.
“Wow, I am so relieved,” Creighton gushed sincerely, chewing on his straw in the compulsive, childlike way he always did when nervous. He took a choppy breath through his nose, forcing himself to continue. “I mean, I was sitting here... like, really worrying about you guys.” He confessed awkwardly, now tugging at his sleeves and avoiding eye contact at all costs.
Creighton was one of the countless strays that they had picked up over the years. In fact, it was how the Ashers recruited all of their members. Despite each of them having lived through their own nightmare, Creighton’s arrival was one not easily forgotten. A year prior, on his 18th birthday, a group of his friends had taken him out to a rave to celebrate. To see him now, it was hard to imagine that he had ever been outgoing and social. Out of the seven kids snatched from the parking lot that night, Creighton was the only survivor. When the Ashers found him, he was unresponsive and covered from head to toe with bites. It took three months before he would speak, let alone leave his hospital room. In response to the trauma, he had developed a debilitating case of agoraphobia. He had not left the compound since they wheeled him in on a gurney all that time ago. Quirky as he was, they all had a soft spot for him. He was their work in progress.
Aiyana smirked and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair as Miko patted him on the back. The physical contact caused him to blush terribly and scamper back to his desk.
Schrader walked over to them as the room filled with the usual sound of fingers busily plucking away at keyboards. He yawned and itched at his ear for a minute before asking, “So, you guys want to hear what we have so far?”
“No, we were just coming to check on the other top priority project you guys have been working on for the past 48 hours straight,” Miko answered sarcastically.
Schrader flipped him off. “No reason to be a dick about it,” he grumbled before sifting through a stack of papers on his desk for a file. “Using the info you provided, I was able to come up with only one possible candidate. I think we should all take a moment to appreciate this rare instance of you being useful,” he teased and the other hackers all applauded and gave impressed nods.
“Oh that’s nice... really fucking nice. Thanks a lot for your confidence,” Miko said dryly, pointing around to them as they cheered. “I ain’t ever heard one of you saying my aim was less than ‘useful’ when vamps were breathing down your neck. Remind me never to save any of your geeky asses again.”
“Even me?” Creighton asked with wide, horrified eyes.
Miko considered it for a moment, looking at the scrawny little hacker and finally sighing in defeat. The kid’s anxiety made it impossible to tease him. “No, you I’ll still save, but everyone else is on their own.”
Creighton let out the breath he had been holding and relaxed – at least as much as he ever could.
“Settle down there, Mongo. We’re just busting your balls like you always bust ours,” Schrader laughed. “Anyway, luckily for us, having the names Skye, Gavin, Adrian, and Marcus all listed as siblings isn’t exactly a common occurrence. So, the winner of the prestigious title of ‘first she-wolf we’ve ever encountered’ is...” he began before flipping the folder open. “Skye Faden, she would have been 24 years old this year.”
“Would have been?” Miko repeated.
“Well yeah, if they didn’t have her listed as deceased,” Schrader said, chewing his gum loudly and eyeing Miko up over his glasses. “Is it all right with you if I continue?”
Miko rolled his eyes.
“Thanks,” Schrader said with a smirk before returning his attention to the file. “Now, where was I before being so rudely interrupted? Ah, here we go. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to mother...” He squinted and brought the pages closer to his face. “Struana... huh, weird name... and father Craig. Three elder siblings; brothers Gavin, Marcus, and Adrian. No extended family, neither parent had any siblings. The grandparents on both sides are long gone. Last known address was 6132 Fairgreen Road... and that, my friends... well, that’s where things get ugly.” He sighed and handed Aiyana the printed out police report.
“Oh God!” She breathed, c
overing her mouth and quickly passing the report off to Miko.
His eyes went wide when he saw the crime scene photos of Skye’s father. The man’s throat had been torn out. His body was lying in a pool of blood in the middle of an otherwise cheery living room. Just a few feet away lay the body of her mother, killed in the same manor.
Miko swallowed hard and flipped to the notes. He did his best to keep his voice steady as he read them aloud. “The first officers on the scene stated that the front door was broken down prior to their arrival. Neighbors reported hearing screams coming from inside the residence. They witnessed several men forcibly removing the three boys from the home, using the rear door to reach a black van. The driver never exited the vehicle and no description was given. The daughter returned to the home as they were getting ready to leave. Witnesses told police...” He cleared his throat and shook his head at what he was reading. “... that the girl attacked the men and tried to free her brothers. Jesus Christ, why were the neighbors just witnessing this shit? Why didn’t anyone get involved?”
“Have you ever been to Philly?” Creighton whispered with wide eyes. “I get scared just seeing footage of it on YouTube.”
“Well I’ve been there,” Schrader said. “And people look out for one another, even if they don’t know them. But you gotta figure, this attack screamed ‘organized’, even from a civilian standpoint. A group of guys rolled up on that house, killed the parents, and nabbed the kids in a span of a few minutes. To anyone that isn’t acquainted with the darker side of life, that would look like a hit. Philly’s not lacking crime syndicates. They probably thought it was mob or gang related and didn’t want to put their own families in danger.”
“And you know what? Fuck that,” Miko said angrily. “It’s no excuse. If I saw my neighbor’s kids getting dragged out of their house and into a van, I would have done something... anything other than stand by and let it happen.” He tried like hell not to play out the scene in his mind of a twelve-year-old girl coming home to all of that, but had no luck. After a moment, his brow furrowed. “Wait... it says here that the calls came in at 5:33 pm... but the police didn’t arrive on the scene until 6:08 pm?” He asked in astonishment.
“Lickers,” Aiyana growled in disgust.
“Yeah, and high ranking ones if they managed to keep a half hour response time from making headlines in a double homicide where four kids were abducted,” Stevens said, looking at them over his computer screen. “They barely investigated it for a month before the case was completely swept under the rug.”
The room fell silent. Schrader waited until after everyone had returned from their own bad memories before continuing. They were the one thing that every member had in common.
“There’s total quiet for more than nine years following that report, like our girl just dropped off the face of the earth. No activity on her social security number, no sightings of any type, and nothing we can link to her. Then there was this little side note that Stevens spotted. Just your average B&E, except...” Schrader held up a finger as he picked up another folder. “It happened to be at the 6132 Fairgreen Road address. The place was boarded up tight and abandoned after the murders. But one night at about 2 am, a girl in her early twenties came wandering up to the house and broke in through the front door. Police responded to the residence and found this ‘Jane Doe’ catatonic in the tub upstairs, covered in what appeared to be blood and ash. Can you imagine that? You know that place had no electricity; the cops must have freaked finding her. They reported that she had injuries covering her body including... drum roll, please... a third degree burn to the side of her neck.”
“That’s her. That’s Skye,” Miko assured, “she’s got a scar from that burn.”
“Sounds to me like our girl had a little post-traumatic homecoming,” Stevens commented dryly.
“From there she was transported to the Byberry Mental Institution where –” Schrader began.
“Whoa,” Aiyana cut in. “Wait a second. You just said she had third degree burns and injuries covering her entire body; that she was catatonic. Why wasn’t she taken to an ER?”
“Well... Let’s see here... umm...” Schrader muttered as he flipped through pages of a separate report. He arched a brow and sighed before finally admitting, “Yeah, sorry, I got nothing.”
Miko pointed at Schrader without looking at him. “Who signed off on her being admitted to that institution?” He asked, already seeing where this was headed.
“Lieutenant Bruno Tar-tag-lia,” Schrader answered, stumbling over the pronunciation.
Miko sighed and rubbed his temples. “And who responded to the call nine years prior when her parents were murdered?”
“Officer Bruno... Tartaglia. Son of a bitch,” Stevens answered in disbelief.
“So, as a reward for helping them nab her when she was a kid, he got himself promoted – no doubt with a little help from the vamps’ political connections. Then he came back to finish the job when she finally escaped,” Schrader surmised. “Maybe he was trying for a seat in the Commissioner’s chair, killing his way on up the food-chain.”
“Have I mentioned lately how much I hate lickers?” Miko growled.
“YES.” The room responded in unison.
“That was the third time today,” Creighton informed him quietly.
“We were considering putting it on t-shirts for you as a Christmas present,” Stevens added with a smirk.
“Pull the cop’s name, see what comes up,” Aiyana ordered.
“Now, while he’s working on that, check this out,” Schrader said and began sifting through the papers on his desk in search of something. “This ‘Jane Doe’ was taken to the institution, but bailed on the place before the police could question her.” He handed them pictures of a torched down mansion. “She was listed as their prime suspect in an arson which took place earlier that night at the residence you’re looking at. Neighbors insisted that there were at least 30 people in the home, but it’s the damndest thing...” he said in feigned puzzlement. “Wouldn’t you know, they only found the remains of three people.”
“Because the others were already turned to ash,” Miko chuckled as he flipped through the pictures of the smoking rubble. “She wiped out the entire coven when she finally got free. Good for her.”
“I had just gotten to this part when you walked in. Let’s see who owned that property,” Schrader said as he sat down in front of his computer. After plucking away at his keyboard for a minute, he nodded and read aloud from the report on the screen. “Got it, they had it under the name of Henry Adler. Now, let’s just cross that against our vamp database and see what comes up... ah hah...” He turned the screen toward them, revealing a centuries-old portrait. The subject was a severe looking man with silver hair. His eyes were nearly the same color. “Henry Adler is listed as a known alias of Julius Cicero... and he was an oldie. Our base in New York updated his status to ‘ash’. Death was confirmed by several unrelated interrogation subjects. He’s our guy, she toasted him.”
“Got a hit on the cop,” Stevens called. “He was murdered... pfft, imagine that...” He muttered to himself. “About a month after our ‘Jane Doe’ went missing from the institution, he responded to an alarm call in the warehouse district and got himself strung him up on a light post and torched to death.”
“Serves him right,” Aiyana said coldly.
“Nine years...” Miko said to no one in particular. “They got her when she was 12 and kept her for nine fucking years.”
“You overheard the vamps at the club saying that she had already killed her other two brothers and their covens. So this Julius guy turned the boys, but left her as what – entertainment?” Aiyana asked in disbelief.
Miko winced. “The one she killed at the club mentioned showing her his new knife collection, too. Jesus, her own brothers were the ones torturing her.”
“I think it’s safe to say that our girl is gonna have some trust issues. And rightly so,” Schrader said, still glue
d to his computer screen.
“Keep digging. See if you can find anything else. We’re going to pretend we never saw any of this. As far as Skye is concerned, we have no idea where she came from or what happened – got it? She will tell who and what she is comfortable with,” Aiyana ordered and they all nodded their agreement. “Now, someone print me out everything we have on the faoil.”
6: What’s in a Name?
“I don’t think this is helping,” Skye said in exasperation and looked up at Aiyana as she entered the room. “There have to be over 400 different theories in here about the origins of the faoil.”
Aiyana smiled and set down the cup of water she had brought. “Hey, to be fair, we’re still equally clueless about where the fògaraich came from,” she laughed. “But as for the faoil, like I told you, we don’t know much. Most of it is speculation. The good thing is you’ll be able to talk to one in a couple of days. He can answer all of your questions and hell – maybe even help us understand, too. Then again, he may forbid us from hearing what he tells you. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
She sat on the edge of the bed, watching as Skye continued to pour over the pages of information. She never would have pegged Skye for being a bookworm, but she certainly looked the part in that moment. Her hair, which had been in a tight braid the first night they met, was now disheveled and frizzed. Apparently, at some point Skye had attempted to re-braid it. The task must have proven too painful, however, as it only held a small semblance of its original style.
“Do you want me to fix your braid?” Aiyana finally asked, feeling guilty for not offering sooner, for failing to realize that Skye would be unable to do it herself. The wound had nearly healed, but she was still favoring it quite a bit; wincing when she moved it despite pretending that it was fine.
“Hmm?” Skye asked distractedly.
“Your hair – do you want me to fix it? You shouldn’t risk hurting your shoulder.” Aiyana offered.
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