Hi there! This a translation of my oneshot "Das Band". I translated it by myself. Feel free to tell me, if you find some spelling or grammar errors. English is not my mother tongue but I tried my best on this.
Original story (German): www . fanfiktion . de/s/55da3fdc000012101e10ee86/1/Das-Band
Rating is because of violence (crime scene description), no sexual content!
Deep within
Jane took another look onto her mobile which was lying on the car seat next to her. It was as unusual for Maura to oversleep as not to answer her phone. She maybe had a long night afterwards the charity ball. Of course she could have attended the event with Maura though her friend asked her, but in fact she hated ballrooms. She neither owned an evening gown nor could dance a waltz. Before heading off to the ball Maura had sent her a selfie. She looked stunning in her long fir green dress. The silken fabric perfectly fit her slim body and it had a plunging neckline that revealed pretty much of her smooth white skin. Jane smiled tenderly for she was pretty sure Maura had been the most beautiful woman on that event. When she reached her friend's house she parked her car in the drive and walked over to the front door. Maura did not open even after she ringed the bell several times. She still wasn't answering the phone, so Jane decided to use the key Maura had given her once. It was quiet inside the house. She saw the large carapace of Bass nearby on the floor.
"Maura?" Jane called out to become noticeable. "C'mon this is not funny! You're holding me off my morning coffee."
Her sharpened cop-senses told her something was very wrong. In the living area she found a handbag and high heels fitting to Maura's fir green dress. Her friend never left things somewhere in the house, she always put her clothing, shoes and accessories properly into the cupboards and shelves where they belong. Once more Jane pressed CALL on her mobile and this time she heard a slight ring coming out of Maura's handbag. With her free hand on the holster she passed the kitchen heading to her friend's bedroom. The door was not fully closed and first she hesitated to intrude Maura's privacy.
"Are you in there, Maura?" she asked. An icy breeze touched her face. Suddenly she sensed a heavy and putrid smell which felt very familiar. It was the odor of death. She pushed the door open to enter the room, but when her view met the large bed she immediately froze. She was too terribly shocked to move further. The mobile dropped out of her hand.
Maura was there. She lay on the blanket with her hands bound above her head. The green fabric arond her wrists could have been a silken blouse before. The expensive dress was brutally ripped open. One deep red cut led from Maura's collarbones between her beautiful breasts and along her abdomen until her pubic bone. Streams of blood covered her bare porcelain skin and the blanket below her body. Jane nearly fainted, in her shock she had forgotten to breathe. She quickly crabbed the door frame to prevent herself from falling. Maura's long legs were slightly bended and straddled like she was just waiting for her lover. The blood on their inside revealed the torture she had gone through before she finally had been allowed to die. Her honey blonde hair was wet from the ruby arterial blood that soaked from the single stab wound within her throat until her heart had given up beating. Splashes of red covered the light grey fabric of the bed's top and the wall all around. It looked like a macabre painting. A faceless phantom had taken possession of Maura. He had fulfilled his perverted appetite on her and as soon as he had been done he had given her the finishing stroke like a hunter does to his defeated prey.
Jane felt the urge to vomit. Her stomach was very strong under other circumstances but this time she threw up bitter bile. Of course this was still a crime scene but at the moment she didn't feel like a cop. She just was a woman who lost the one she truly loved. Overwhelmed with disbelieve, sorrow and despair she wanted nothing more than holding her friend's maltreated body in her arms. Finally she found the strength to step further into the room. With a few big steps she headed over to the bed. Maura's hazel eyes which used to be full of intelligence, tenderness and warmth stared lifelessly at her. Frozen in pure agony. The intense odor of death let her retch once more.
"No, no, Maura, no!" Jane croaked. Her throat was dried out. She sank down on the upper end of the bed and her trembling fingers opened the bondage around her friend's wrists. When Maura was free she gently pulled her head onto her lap. Her body was stiff and cold as ice. She tenderly stroked a sticky blonde strand of hair out of her face. Burning tears dropped from Jane's eyes onto her friend's nose and slowly ran down her cheeks. As if Maura cried with her.
"I'm going to kill that bloody bastard, I'm really going to kill him" Jane hissed with bare hatred. "I will let him suffer as you had to!"
After she had closed Maura's eyelids her friend's barely hurt face was silent and somehow peaceful. Like a fallen angel, Jane thought, my beautiful angel. She placed a kiss on Maura's forehead and another on her mouth. Just once she wanted to do that. She often had wondered how it would feel to touch these lips with her own. Loving. Passionate. Gentle. It was too late now and Maura would never know how she truly felt. This was a farewell kiss.
An ear-piercing and also very familiar sound came from the open bedroom door. Jane noticed Bass over there, whose odd reptile eyes were staring at her. It seemed he had eaten her mobile up, the ringtone she used for Maura came out of the tortoise's wide open mouth. Scared she looked down at her hands which were all red covered with blood. Maura's blood. With pure terror she jumped back from the bed's edge and crushed onto the floor.
...
Screaming with panic Jane finally woke up. Her heart pounded wildly against her chest and it felt like her ribs were going to break. Tangled up in her blanked she had fallen out of the bed. It took her a few moments to get free and she panted for air. Her sweaty fingers quickly switched the bedside lamp on. The sudden light brightening the room dazzled her. She still felt the sticky wetness of blood on her hands but when looking down she found them all clean. The scars located on both of her palms prickled. In her mind she saw the images of her nightmare again and again like a cruel echo. She was used to have terrifying dreams but mostly they were about Hoyt. None of them scared the hell out of her like this one. Every inch of Maura's broken and violated body was still clear in her eyes. She took the mobile in her trembling hand. The tiny digits on the display's upper side let her know it was half past two a.m. In her dream the phone had rung with Maura's ringtone but there was no missed call. When checking her messages she saw the selfie again which Maura had sent her before heading to that charity ball. Her eyes remained on her friend's stunning gown. It was the same tan green fabric which had been ripped from Maura's body in that horrible nightmare. Jane began to sweat again and she suddenly felt nauseous. She had to know now that Maura was fine. Of course her friend would laugh at her and would probably find some explanation for what she had gone through in her dream, but this time she didn't care. She just needed to hear Maura's voice or she won't get any sleep till morning. Her clammy fingers moved over her mobile's touchpad since she heard the dialing tone. On the display the contact photo of Maura was showing up on which she was flirtatiously smiling. After a short time the mailbox responded.
"Damn! Answer the phone!" Jane grumbled when she heard Maura's taped voice for at least the fifth time. "It's me. I'm right on my way. Call back now!"
She hurriedly got dressed, took her badge and weapon. There could be a few reasons why Maura was not answering she tried to ease herself. She probably had drunken some wine at the ball and was sleeping like a hog now so she didn't hear the phone. Or maybe she had met someone and was not alone in her bed. Jane didn't like this possibility, she felt slightly jealous about some guy touching Maura. On her way out of the apartment she typed a message to her friend. With her eyes fixed onto her mobile she nearly tripped over Jo Friday. The little dog barked indignantly.
"No dear, you can't come with me. Go back to sleep" she told Jo before she rushed out of the door.
There was less traffic late at night but Jane felt like she had to wait forever at every red light. She still tried to reach Maura by phone but didn't succeed. By now she was really worried. Since her nightmare she was hyped up because her body didn't stop to produce adrenaline. She just thought about to ring her Mum up and ask her to look after Maura but her cop sense told her not to do so. And most of the time it was right. Finally she reached Maura's house and left her car on the drive. The guest house was all dark but there was a dimmed light inside Maura's living room.
Damn, Jane swore, something must be wrong in there. Maura would have answered her nearly thousand calls, if she had been at home. With her weapon ready she unlocked the front door and cautiously entered the house. Inside it was dark and quiet. As she sneaked further into the living area she stepped on something soft under her shoe. In the flaring candle light probably coming from the couch table she saw Maura's handbag on the floor. The fitting high heels were lying right next to it. She nearly freaked out when the terrifying imagination of Maura's dead and tortured body popped up in her mind. As silently as she was able she moved on and peeked into the room. A man's voice whispered words she couldn't understand and in the same breath a masculine silhouette was raising behind the couch's back. Jane suddenly saw a metallic object in his uplifted hand.
"No!" she yelled. "Don't dare to touch her, you asshole!"
The man panicked. She heard something drop on the floor when he jumped up. She wasn't able to react quickly enough when he ran towards her and they collided. Jane who weighed far less than the guy crushed onto the floor. While falling she stroke him with the barrel of her gun but it wasn't hard enough to let him struggle. He fled through the front door outside onto the nightly streets. Jane decided not to chase him. Her heart was pounding hard when she quickly approached the couch. Two glasses of wine were placed on the low table next to a bunch of candles. But what really scared her was the large hunting knife on the floor. A weapon that was made to cut open the warm flesh of the prey after hunting it down. It cost her quite an effort to look up to the couch.
Maura lay there lifeless with her hands tied up above her head. Her beautiful tan green dress was cut open along her chest. It was a load of Jane's mind when she noticed her friend's ribcage was slightly moving. She freed Maura's wrists from the silken fabric that probably has been a blouse or a scarf before. Carefully she caressed her cheek. She was fully knocked out, staring glass-eyed into nowhere. At least she seemed to be unharmed.
"For god's sake, Jane, what's going on here?" Angela's voice was upset. She had been woken up cause of the noise next door including her daughter's enraged scream.
"Ma, help me! We need to get Maura into her bed." Jane commanded. She didn't take the time to explain to her Mother what had happened.
Together they moved Maura across the living area as if she was a sack of potatoes. The tortoise rested in front of the bedroom door maybe asleep. They carefully stepped over Bass and lifted Maura onto her neatly made bed. She was awake but still seemed absent minded when Jane gently covered her half naked body. That bastard had obviously drugged her to hold her off fighting back. Jane asked her mother to call Frost. The evidence in the living area needed to be secured as soon as possible, but she was unable to move at the moment. She sat on the bed with Maura's head resting on her lap and gently stroked her honey blonde hair. She slowly calmed down when she finally it was over. Her friend was save and unharmed.
"Jane" Maura mumbled weakly.
"I'm here." She felt deeply relieved. "Take it easy. I'll stay by your side."
Maura tried to lift her head. She was terribly exhausted but life came back into her eyes. "Damien... He seemed to be so nice. We shared a dance at the event, we chatted for a long time and he took me home afterwards. We had some more wine. Then he tried to... He wanted... But how did you know, Jane?"
"I maybe had some kind of presentiment. I'll tell you everything in the morning. Try to get some sleep now, honey."
"Okay" Maura agreed barely awake.
This night Jane held her friend in her arms. She stayed awake to keep her from dark memories. Deep from the heart she wished it could just be like this every other night. Falling asleep next to Maura and looking into her beautiful face right after waking up in the morning. She didn't understand where the disturbing images of her nightmare came from. It seemed she had subliminally known about Maura's cruel fate to avoid it. She would never let anybody harm her best friend. The one she truly loved. She deeply inhaled Maura's perfume mixed up with the slight smell of wine. The odor of life.