It had been several years since the random reports of missing girls had been displayed on the daily news. Young and attractive girls of varying professions and classes had gone missing with no notice of where or how long, and no visible trace of wrongdoing. After seven years of a person missing they were declared dead, that was state law. Now, since it had been decades, cases were being reopened and gone over with a new sense of purpose and with a varying array of new science.
Alice Hartford sat in her desk across from her new partner, Relius Wulfstan. Her desk was scattered with many piles of various heights of cases with missing persons, mostly young women. Alice lifted her gaze over the edge of her open folder to look at the man sitting across from her. She had no idea why she was pegged with this guy; three weeks ago there was an accident with her partner, while off duty. A friendship of five years ended tragically in a car accident. His wife hadn't even found a plot for his grave before she was placed with Relius Wulfstan.
"You like to stare, Hartford?" Relius' voice always hit her hard. It was a rich baritone that rumbled with something dark and forbidding; and he was too damned good-looking to be an agent. He lifted his rich green eyes up from his computer screen to look at the woman across from him; there was always something about her that made him stare.
"Yeah, still trying to figure you out, Stan." It was a name that she gave him; first names weren't common in the unit, and there was no way she was calling him anything with 'wolf' in it. She'd go to hell first. When he smiled at her, she felt the heat in her cheeks rise and she felt an itch to draw her gun and shoot him in the eye. Damn him.
Alice returned to looking at the case of Elinor Brinton. The woman had been young, living amongst some of the richest in Chicago. Her parents were both wealthy and well to do; her father had died of a heart attack before her disappearance. Her mother spent a small fortune trying to find her daughter, but police reports at the time said it was just for show. There was no indication that the woman really wanted her daughter back. The officer in charge really took good notes. Alice continued to flip through the pages, engrossed in what she was reading and memorizing the words on paper so intently that she hadn't noticed when her partner stood up to come around to her side of the two joined desks.
"Alice." His voice was like sweet molasses sweeping over the shell of her ear. Coming in so close to her, he was so very lucky he hadn't died in that moment. She had spun around in her chair so fast that folders went flying off her desk and there was her favorite blade from her lower back poking at the edge of his chin. She was on her feet in less than a second. Relius loved doing that to her.
"You dick." She grunted stepping back from him and pocketing the knife, sheathing it behind her at the waist. A hand ran through her hair and she was vaguely aware of the way his rich green eyes studied the paleness of her hand as it crept through her long overly red hair. There was a streak of natural silver at her temple that was genetic; his eyes were studying her hair. He had often asked her about the streak, finding it intriguing.
"It's late and there's no one left in the office. We should call it a night." A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, with long lips holding just enough thickness to make them appealing. She really hated him.
"Yeah, yeah. You go, I'm gonna clean this up." Alice muttered under her breath and sunk down to her knees, sliding her hands along her thighs to wipe her palms dry as she rested back on her heels taking in a deep breath. She heard Relius' breath hitch and looked up at him. Long black lashes fluttered a moment as a mismatched gaze of green and blue rode up the long line of his body to his face. Dear god, she had never seen him in such agony. "What?"
"Nothing." Relius muttered and went back around the two desks to his side. She saw his hands clenched into thick fists as if he were fighting to control himself. Alice merely rolled her eyes and began picking up her papers. When she was done she stood and tapped the files on her desk to straighten them. Relius was still at his desk looking very strained.
"Thought you were going?" Her head canted to the side and she studied him. He was lost in contemplation while staring straight forward at something on her desk. It was the file of Elinor Brinton. His face seemed a little distraught, as if he knew something about the case but wasn't going to share; ever.
"We've been partners for three weeks and I know nothing about you, Hartford." Slowly his gaze lifted from the file and looked at her square in the eye. There was that look that made her nervous and her fingers itch for a weapon. He was dangerous and not just to women, but to all humankind.
"Not much to tell." Her shoulders shrugged and she pulled the brown leather bomber jacket from the back of her chair. It had to be specially tailored to her figure, because she wasn't a typical woman; she had thick curves and a narrow waist. Her chest was nearly too full and heavy to be natural and her hips were perfect for child rearing. It didn't help that she was taller than most women with pale white skin and shocking red hair. She belonged on a fifties cover of Vogue or something.
"You got a family?" Relius stood up as well, adjusting his tucked in black shirt and straightening the red tie that had been loosened a long time ago. He was watching Alice far too closely. The careful watch of his heavy gaze made her feel uneasy and on edge. She didn't like how he looked at her and if she didn't think that he was some secret serial killer she might just bash his face in for looking at her like that. Alice knew to choose her battles wisely.
"Nope. No one that'll miss me when I'm gone and I like it that way. Not like these missing people." Her eyes narrowed at him after her hand swept over the stacks of manila folders, each being a case of missing persons, and it was the first time that Relius had seen danger in her eyes. He knew in that moment that Alice was a force to be reckoned with; there was so much that he didn't know about her, regardless of what her agency file said, and he wanted to know more.
"What drove you to be an agent?" He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over the wide expanse of his chest. He crossed his legs at the ankles and stretched them out in front of him. Alice immediately got the image of a wild animal stretching out lazily, seemingly unimpressive, but able to kill you in less than a second. He was dangerous.
"I don't know, just something to do. You've read my file just like I've read yours. What's with the sudden interrogation, Stan?" Alice didn't get him. Every day there was a small attack of questions that came out of nowhere, and they were too personal or random to just be trying to idle conversation. She had zipped up most of her coat, the zipper stopping just under her bust line. It gave the plain grey button down she wore a chance to emphasize her chest. Alice always wore plain clothes.
"Yes I have. There's a complexity about you I'm trying to figure out. You're college educated; and you hold more degrees than some of the department heads here, but not in this field. It's amuses me that you have many other odd qualifications; what gives?" Relius had pushed up from his desk and come closer to her, his gaze going dark as he revealed parts of her past that defined her as a strong woman, a dangerous woman.
"I have a soft spot for putting people who do bad things in their place." The tone that left her full pink lips was something of a warning and a promise; Relius smirked at the tone. It reminded him of the wild beasts from back home. Alice Hartford was going to be dangerous and worthwhile. He would chase her to the ends of the earth.
"Good night, Alice." He had moved so close to her now that she could feel the heat of his body pushing against her, trying to take her over. She would have nothing of it. There was no unease in his face when her hand drew back to the blade at her belt behind her; he was no fool to think that she wouldn't use it on him, call it sexual harassment and self-defense. Alice had a reputation among her peers, and while he could pull all the strings he wanted, there was no way he'd win in a case against her; unless she was the one that went down and stayed there. "Do be careful of those lonely nights."
Alice drove home in her dark blue Ford Fusion, taking one of her several routes to ensure that she wasn't using the same tactics over and over again. Her time in the military taught her to never be too careful in the simplest things. But she still couldn't shake that warning tone Relius' voice when she left the office. The inflection of his tone was a warning to her and she didn't like it; the sentence played over and over again in her head. The ride down the elevator with him was in silence and there was a rich static between the two of them that was as thick as pudding. She knew in those few moments that she could find herself getting lost in the man, and she had a feeling that he could do the same with her.
"Fuck that." She uttered to herself as she turned the key to her apartment. She opened the door to the smell of books, fresh night air, and immediately she was greeted with a soft meow from her best friend in the world. The solid grey Russian Blue had pushed up against her left leg, winding itself around her black jeans and head butting into her shin. "Hey Spook."
Sleep was pulling hard at her the minute she dropped her keys on the small door side table. She'd sworn so many times never to stay at work that late again, but regardless of her vow it happened almost every day. Her coat was the first to go while her feet worked at the heels of her boots to get them off. They were kicked against a wall that held several scuffmarks from the abuse she gave it with her varying shoes. The trek to her room couldn't be fast enough to rid her body of her work clothes. A shoulder holster was deposited along with her black G17 9mm was placed on her bedside table with a modicum of care. After the gun was off, the knife that she kept in her pocket and the other that was sheathed at her back were plucked from her person and slipped under her pillow, both blades exposed.
"I know Spook, I gotcha." The evil glare that she was receiving from the blue-eyed cat on her deep red bedspread was the look of death. But the moment that the cat was acknowledged, the creature meowed at her and flopped his tail with a heavy thud. With her shirt pulled from her jeans and her sock covered feet stepping across the floor, Alice made her way toward her kitchen where she opened a can of cat food and plopped it into a two-dish bowl. Water was put into the other dish and the two-part feeding trough was set on the floor near the fridge. Spook attacked it immediately, devouring the food in only a few bites.
"Yeah, if life were only that simple, hmm?" Alice bent to pet the cat once from head to tail and returned to her room where she began to disrobe and get ready for her nightly shower. She needed to rinse off the stink of old files, the sweat from a non-air conditioned storage facility, and the mold from so many boxes that were hefted up from basements to the trunk of her car.
Standing under the blast of heated water was amazing. Alice must have stood there for at least ten minutes before she found the motivation to being her nightly ritual of cleanliness. She started with her hair with fruity shampoo and matching fruity conditioner. Her face was scrubbed, then her shoulders and arms, all the way down to the space between her toes. She had always liked the look of the deep purple polish on her toes; it was the one truly girly thing that she did regularly. Shower care was important to her and a nightly ritual. Being unclean was something that greatly bothered her. When she got out of the shower she wrapped her hair and body in a towel to dry off. She then flopped on her bed and curled up on top of her sheets, a moment later she was reaching to plug her phone in with the eternal alarm that was set for five in the morning. That was in four hours and would come too soon.
The blast of the alarm went off and Alice hadn't moved from her spot. In fact, she hadn't moved at all from her spot during her short time sleeping. One minute into the blaring alarm and Spook hopped on the bed and gave Alice a few rough tongue licks to her cheek. Essentially, it was his way of saying 'Bitch get up.' Alice was slow to move that morning and started daily routine. She washed her face in the bathroom, put on matching satin undergarments in navy blue and got dressed. Her clothing choices for today were black slacks that flared just a bit at the hem so that her boots were mostly hidden and a navy blue button down with only a few buttons left undone at the top.
The coffee was already brewed by the time she reached the kitchen. She popped a can of food and fresh water for her cat, then poured herself a cup of coffee while bread toasted in the four-piece machine. Leaning against the counter top, Alice thought about her conversation with Relius while sipping at her coffee: black. Relius had to have some kind of ulterior motive; she knew that now. Finishing her coffee she put peanut butter on the two pieces and sandwiched them together, wrapped them in paper towel, then headed down stairs, wishing Spook a good day bird watching.
"Hartford," Alice answered her phone while on the elevator ride down from the eleventh floor of her apartment building. She was shuffling for her keys when a low rumbling answered her on the other end. Fuck. She knew that rumble. It was Relius' 'How can you be awake so god-damned early' voice.
"We got the approval for New York. We're going today." He sounded very displeased that the information had been delivered so early; hell it was only five thirty in the morning. Alice smirked and she heard the rebuttal of grumbles on the other end. "Don't pack a bag, it's just the day." He hung up after that and Alice looked at her phone, appalled that he would take such an authoritative tone with her. She had the inclination to give him a good sock in the jaw, maybe the shoulder too.
"So, what do you mean 'no'?" Relius was looking at Alice as if she had sprouted two heads. He had never heard that word come from a woman's mouth before, not in this place let alone back home. He was attractive, strong, protective, came from a good family, and knew for a fact that's what girls wanted out of their men. Why was Alice so defiant? It made him want to press further. The eight-hour drive turned into a three-hour plane ride and they were seated next to each other the whole time.
"It means what it means. No. God, you'd think that you had a chance to begin with." Alice rolled her eyes at him, the nerve to think that he had a chance if he asked her out. Sure he was good looking and had a way to make part of her warm up to him. The fact was the man was her partner and no matter how much she might want to scream his name, there was no way in hell she was crossing that line, ever.
Going through airport security was simple enough when you had badges to flash and papers from higher ups that allowed you to carry while on the plane.
"You're a hard one to figure out, you know that Hartford?" Relius had closed the door after getting out of the car. They had taken a trip to New York and were standing outside of the New York field office in order to make introductions. The last thing they wanted to do was to step on toes. They had taken the flight from Chicago to New York City that morning and were on their way to question Mrs. Brinton, who was astonishingly still alive and well. The woman was nearly ninety years old and still chasing men half her age.
"Get over yourself, Stan. You'd think you were worth it or something." Alice poured as much monotone in her voice and offered a roll of her eyes. Even as Relius held the door open for her, there was no way she was going to let this man get under her skin. She was better than that and better than him. He wasn't going to get to her nor was he going to ruffle her feathers enough to get her to snap; she was too collected for that. The heel of her boot hit hard on the polished stone floor of the New York office and Alice stopped dead in her tracks. Holy shit. There were people all over the place and security was top notch. Detroit really needed that budget they'd been asking for since Christmas.
"Relius! Good to see you! It's been a while." The man could have been her partner's twin. Except that his skin was tanner, his hair was darker, and his eyes were a shade of silvery gray that looked like a storm. He was taller by at least three inches and there was more moving muscle and strength under his finely tailored suit than was legal. Get your shit together, Alice. He had come out of the woodworks behind a crowd of people and she didn't know how she could have missed him given how tall he was. This guy must have been used to blending into a crowd, or he had mastered the technique. Maybe Relius should take a lesson from him.
"Alice, this is Max, my old partner. Max, this is Alice, my new partner." The strange emphasis on the word was forgotten when a large masculine hand shot out at her and she took it, amazed at how small her hand was compared to his. But she gave him a firm grip that was a reminder of her size and stature and matched him smile for smile, shake for shake. She found herself nearly mesmerized by the grey of his eyes, the smile that sat on his lips reached his gaze and made it darker, something far more possessive and dominating. She saw a look like that in Relius the first time she met him. But she shot that look off his face the second day in the gym when he watched her take down three men during a high-stakes training course.
"Damn, Rel. You shoulda told me your new partner was this hot. Any more like her over there in the Motor City?" There was a flush on her cheeks that she quickly beat down. She felt the heat rush through her from her face down to her toes. This was not the place for this. The man was just too easy going. His smile was too real and too dark. There was a connection between the two men that went beyond partners, but seemed more like a brotherhood. Maybe they are brothers? Alice kept the thought to herself.
Sinking her hands into her back pocket, she quickly took on an expression of haste and boredom. If there was one thing that was true about her, Alice could bluff better than anyone she knew; Relius had agreed with that. She looked between the two men as they exchanged a glance between each other and then regarded her with mild interest. Yes, there was a connection there that she had seen between very few people. Her parents had that kind of connection before they both passed away.
"It's nice to meet you, Max. Do we talk to you about why we're here, or someone else?" The red head took on the tone that Max was low on the totem pole; but his designer suit told her differently. She gave herself a mental fist bump of triumph when Max looked shocked at her tone and wording. It amused her that she could shock this man.
"It's all set. Your people already called my people and arranged things. There's a car out back for you to use to get where you're going. And you're both expected for dinner tonight. Dress pretty." Max winked at Alice when he spoke the last part. His smile was too white, too straight, and too perfect. Oh this was not going to be a good idea at all. And what was it with that order he gave her, as if he wasn't giving her a choice about going; she should not go just to spite him, not only just to remain in her slacks and bomber jacket. Dress pretty? But who was she to pass up a free meal?
"Sure Max, we'll be there, thanks. We gotta jet now. Check ya later." The wording coming from her partner was just weird. It was like he was trying to sound too hip or modern. Relius gave him a wave off and set his hand to Alice's shoulder to guide her on and back toward the door so that they could make their way back to the car and to the address on file for Mrs. Brinton. She shrugged him off the moment he had touched her, turning her head up to him and glaring at him with eyes reflecting the promise of bodily injury.
Alice was quiet the entire car ride there. She hadn't even looked at her partner, merely studying the file that they had on Mrs. Brinton. The woman had more wealth in her than a regular person should have. She was the head of several charities that ranged from saving the quail to pro-choice campaigns. She was no stranger to younger men, having been married and divorced nearly ten times since Elinor Brinton had disappeared. Alice felt like she was reading a Forbes article on the woman. It turned her stomach to see how the lady went through partners, not all of them men mind you, like dirty laundry.
Pulling into the long stone packed drive way, Alice lifted her mismatched gaze up from her folder and the stack of papers inside to look at the very large Hampton's type mansion that sprawled out in front of her.
There were at least three floors that she could see easily and aside from the middle section, a west and east wing. The stone drive way was made of packed pebbles, with a lawn that stretched out for yards on either side of the two lane area. Trees were off in the distance, but their presence was ever looming. A circular drive split off in two directions, Alice could only assume they were for multiple garages. The wealth of this woman sickened her.
A small man came out of the front door when they pulled to a stop. Alice got out of the car before the man could open it for her and he looked a little hurt that she had denied him of this service. Alice was quick to pull her badge from the inside pocket of her bomber jacket. She flipped it and the badge was offered first, a turn of the wallet had shifted to reveal picture identification and standard credentials.
"Alice Hartford, FBI. This is my partner, Relius Wolfstan." Her voice was monotone and entirely unreadable. Her posture was inoffensive and almost inviting. All in all, there was nothing to be afraid of. Well, the little man was still a bit scared of her. His bright blue eyes had widened a great deal when he saw the badge and heard the words come from her lips.
"Is the lady of the house home? Mrs. Brinton?" Relius had shut the car off and come around to Alice's side. He stood behind her letting her take the lead. She started the questioning so they could play the good and bad role; but who was which was yet to be determined. The small man seemed to shrink when Relius had come up from the car and took a step back from the two of them. He paid little attention to the flash of identification that Relius gave but returned to looking at Alice. It took a moment for the man to regain composure before he spoke.
"The Mistress is in the parlor. I shall announce you." There was a hint of Britain in the man's tone; it made Alice smile warmly. The man turned on his heel, polished shoes shifting among the pressed pebbles, and headed for the stairs that lead up to the front door. Alice followed him with a hand in her front pocket and Relius hot on her heels.
"That was utterly useless." The interview took all of ten minutes. Mrs. Brinton was so wasted on various narcotics and alcohol that Alice would be very surprised if she knew what day of the week it was. They discovered nothing regarding their case other than the fact that the woman just didn't care. Elinor wasn't a son, and so she was essentially a hole in the proverbial pocket of their parents. Mrs. Brinton blamed Elinor for her first husband's death, but thanked her for the fortune that was the old woman's to claim.
"You're telling me. So, since you didn't pack anything, where do you want to go get a dress for dinner tonight?" Relius turned his head to glance at her as he waited at the stop light for the light to turn green. His lips pulled into a flirty smirk when Alice rolled her eyes at him.
"You're joking, right? I'm not buying anything. I'll wear what I've got on. If he doesn't like it, then I don't care. He knows we have a flight to catch tonight." Alice hadn't even looked at Relius while speaking. She was flipping through the pages on her phone and looking up information regarding their workload of cases. There were a few other missing girls in the area that she might be able to skip dinner and go dig around about.
"Well actually…" Relius' voice trailed off and that brought Alice's attention to his face. She had the itch to sock him in the jaw.
"Actually what, Stan?" Her voice was so flat that you could roll dough on it.
"Max set us up in a hotel and changed our flight to tomorrow. He thought we might like to dig around a bit since we're here." The anger rose up on Alice so suddenly that the tension in the car changed from annoyed to utterly wrathful in moments. She stared at Relius with a gaze that made the man uneasy and he shifted in his seat. He didn't like the fact that his attention was split between driving the car and the wild animal that was ready to kill beside him.
"And you didn't think it wise to inform me of this change or ask if it was okay? I do have plans tomorrow." Alice could easily envision strangling him while he drove and the car swerving and crashing into the median. She could totally see him gagging for air as she pulled the life from his body with her bare hands. That's what this guy made her feel like on a constant basis. He did this kind of crap to her all the time.
"Well no. All you do is work, so I know you don't have any plans other than that, and you've never been to New York." Relius was starting to sound flat, as if he were trying to control his own temper. She saw his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel. That amused her. Alice pulled out her cell phone and began writing text messages and emails, engrossing herself in those menial tasks before she killed the both of them.
"I'm not dressing up. He'll have to deal with what I've got on." Alice spoke up after nearly twenty minutes of silence when they were back in town. The comment made Relius smirk and shake his head as he pulled the car up to the front lobby of one of the cheapest hotels that she had ever seen. This is where people died and were forgotten, Alice thought to herself.
There were two beds in the motel room. One of them had a coin machine for vibrating fun. Alice took the other bed. They hadn't been settled in more than five minutes when there was a knock on the door. Alice already had her hand on her gun and the other poised to take up her blade in hand from the back of her belt. Relius shooed her paranoia off and opened the door to a comfortably dressed Max holding two bags of take out. Alice couldn't believe how amazing he looked in a t-shirt and jeans.
"Rel mentioned that you didn't like the arrangement. So, I hope this works out better." It seemed like the guy was really trying. There was no table in the room, just a dresser with a broken television. Max set his phone on the dresser and put the MP3 player on to shuffle through an eclectic list of songs that ranged from classic rock to modern R&B. The two men sat on Relius' bed and Alice sat on hers, picking through the food that was brought. Chinese.
"I'll bet he did." She grunted stealing the sweet and sour pork with no rice. Alice sat in the middle of her bed with her legs crossed in front of her, using one hand to go through her phone and the other to feed her mouth. She didn't pay the two men much attention as they talked amongst themselves, and almost felt bad when Max tried to include her on a few of their conversations. But she made it apparent that she wasn't appreciative of their sudden change in plans, nor that she was even there with the two of them. Normally she would have her own room, because Alice did not bunk with her partners, let alone a man, and most definitely not with Relius Wolfstan.
The hour became late and Alice was pulling back her covers with her back to the two men when Max stood up and announced he was leaving. She didn't turn around to wish him a good night, merely began her ritual of disarming herself. Placing her gun on the bedside, and the two knives under her pillow. Alice had looked over her shoulder when Max made the comment that he wasn't going to mess with her; guns were one thing, but knives were something else. She smirked at him and shook her head, then sat down and pulled her hair out from her braid and tail that it had been in since mid-afternoon.
"Stan, you can leave too. I'm going to take a shower. You can come back in about twenty minutes." Alice gave the man a cold hard stare as he looked at her with a confused look. Max laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, offering to wait with him so that he wasn't so lonely. Giving the two men the most contemptuous smile she could offer, she marched the two of them to the door and slid the chain on the lock so that she had some privacy. Closing the curtains was next and then she began to strip herself of her clothing while starting a hot shower.
Fifteen minutes later, Alice was out of the shower and pulling on her pants and shirt. She had to hand wash her undergarments and hang them on the back of the door in order to let them dry overnight. Alice went to the door and slid the chain off the slot; from there she went to her bed and crawled under the sheets and blanket. Alice fitted the pillow between her arm and her head and snuggled down, lying on her side and curling her legs in close to her body. One hand curled around the hilt of one of the knives while the other lay out along the line of her body. She couldn't believe just how heavy she felt, how tired she had become. She wanted nothing more than to sleep.
When the door opened, Alice barely had the strength to open her eyes. She saw Relius step inside but he looked funny, a little hazy. Max was still with him. She grunted and turned her face more toward the pillow. There was a light behind them that made her feel uneasy and she fought to push herself up from the bed to square off against them and that foul light.
"What..?" Alice grunted when a heavy hand fell upon her shoulder and held her in place so that she couldn't sit up. It didn't take much strength in order to keep her still, but it was obvious that she was still fighting the daze. They had drugged her. Somehow they had drugged her, and she didn't know why or how. She didn't like the feeling, being helpless and at the mercy of these two men.
"How much did you give her, Max? She should be out right now." Relius was talking. Though she couldn't make out all of the words, she knew that the man was in on it. She felt his hands pull the sheet and blankets away from her body and start to work her pants off of her. Her legs shifted, attempting to fight him while he stripped her of her clothing leaving her naked and helpless.
"I gave her just as much I give anyone else." Max seemed surprised, but his voice wavered while his eyes roamed over the naked body of Alice Hartford. He was amused that she was fighting the drug; amused that she was able to this long.
"I told you that she wasn't typical." Alice felt pressure around her left ankle. She felt her body being pulled as she was straightened out on her back and her ankle held in place as something cold and metallic was slipped around it. There was a clink of chain as her other ankle was apprehended and the cold steel was placed around it. Alice groaned and attempted to move her legs but found that there was little give between her ankles and her legs were held close together.
"Do you have any idea how much money she's going to make ussss.." The word slithered from Max's mouth as a last minute effort had pushed forth all of her strength. Alice shot up from the bed wildly swinging her arm with her fist clamped around her blade. The knife sliced against Max's face, marring his perfectly sculpted chin and cheek, slicing down to the bone. "Sleen!" Max had cried out and retaliated with a fist to her pushing Alice over the edge into the world of unconsciousness.
"How.. dammit Relius!" Max ran into the bathroom and grabbed a towel to press it against his face. It wasn't his first scar, and surely wouldn't be his last, but the woman got his damned face. Relius laughed at the man, clapped him hard on the shoulder and returned to putting Alice in shackles and chains, securing her body while Max left to get the large crate that they would put her in for transport.
"Alice Hartford, welcome to your new life." Relius said the words rather fondly as he closed the lid of the wooden crate that the woman was fashioned inside of. There was a bruise forming on her left cheek. Her arms and legs were secured to the walls, they had fashioned a tube into her bladder to save her from self-defecating too much, and had her waist and neck fastened to the wall of the crate leaving little room for movement. Relius pushed his hand through her long red hair and shut the world as she knew it out of existence.