AN: Hello again folks. So I'm back sooner than I thought, but this story won't let me rest. Thank you for the comments, follows, etc so far, much appreciated.

Here is chapter 2, as ever, italics signify a flashback.

Enjoy.

…

Sinner rider, rides in with the storm

The devil rides beside him

The devil is his god, God help you mourn

Judas Priest, Sinner

…

Nichols is circling her as if she's some sort of circus freak; eyes wide, mouth slightly agape. It's the quietest Alex has ever known her and considering they met in kindergarten, that really is testament to the shock value of the horns.

'Well blow me down with a fucking feather' she finally musters and flops herself down heavily on the couch.

'Gee, thanks for the input' Alex replies, brushing her hair back over the horns, so once again they are barely visible. 'You actually got anything useful to add?'

'Listen, my expertise lies in problems with chicks, how to score decent hash, that sorta thing, this…' she says gesturing in the direction of the protrusions, '…well this is some otherworld bullshit, way outta my comfort zone'.

She's silent for a couple of seconds, still slightly dazed, before adding, 'maybe it's a medical thing?'

'A medical thing?'

'Yeah….although, out of the two of us, I always thought I was the horny one' she grins.

'Really, you're making a joke?'

'Well what else do you want me to do?'

'Oh I dunno, be a friend? Suggest something useful?'

'Who else has seen them?'

'No one' Alex says, wondering how she feels about a lifetime of hat wearing.

'And you only noticed them today right?'

'Yes'

'Well maybe they'll go in a couple of days, maybe they're just a reaction to something, I mean you have been under a hell of a lot of stress the past year'.

She doesn't mention Piper's name; she doesn't need to. It's the sole thing that's being hanging in the air around Alex, since the blonde's disappearance, making everything else fuggy and meaningless- the yoke of a crime she didn't commit, but for which the townsfolk have already found her guilty, despite what the outcome of the court case was.

Lack of evidence

That was what Detective Sparks had told her, 'it's the only reason you got off, you sick fuck'.

And Alex finds herself caught between stifling a scream and yelling an obscenity, because lack of evidence to a rational mind would surely mean she didn't do it?

But she's from bad blood you see, just as Eve was borne of the rib of Adam, she was spawned from the seed of Lee Burley, petty thief, drug addict and all round deadbeat, who'd bailed on Alex and her mom over two decades ago. But bad blood is sticky, like tar and time can't wash it away, not for the 'good' townsfolk around these parts.

And so, at least a few times a week, Alex finds a cop car tailing her, watches as people make a u-turn when they spot her walking towards them and it would all be bearable, just about, if she knew Piper was still alive someplace.

They'd found the blonde's bloodied scarf, no body (thank fuck) no other clues, nothing. Just a discarded garment on a patch of wasteland, down by where the old elementary school used to be.

And yet Alex was the last person to be seen with her (arguing no less), her alibi sounds like a joke (I was at home after 10pm officer, I fell asleep in my clothes and didn't wake up until 7am the next morning) and quite honestly, she has no idea who would want to hurt Piper in any case.

Unlike Alex herself, she was (is she reminds herself, past tense will be reserved for a time they find a body…) from good stock. The Chapman's had family history dating beyond the establishment of this shit hole town and Piper was everything a daughter from that sort of lineage should be; Smith grad, bright, attractive….but her temper was fearsome, only matched by a stubborn streak that even Alex could barely handle at times.

'Coping mechanism' she'd once told Alex, 'otherwise you'd go nuts super quick with a family like mine'.

She wasn't wrong. 'Proper' folk like the Chapman's had pasts murkier than the depths of the old creek. Bill Chapman was having an affair with his secretary and Carol Chapman spent most of her time downing gin to block it out, to create a safer alternate universe where her only concerns were which handbag to take to which gala dinner, or when her kitchen would need remodelling.

'I saw him once' Piper had told Alex one evening, as they lay on the bonnet of Alex's cutlass, the hood still warm from the day's heat.

'Saw who?' Alex asks, pulling the blonde in closer.

'My father, with his mistress'. She'd said it wistfully almost, no anger, no upset, as if over time she'd just absorbed the concept.

'Did he see you?'

She'd shaken her head, nuzzled into the brunette's neck a little, 'but I told my mother….she just blanked me, asked me what I wanted for dinner, made her drink a little stiffer'. And then Piper had laughed, but there was a distinct sadness in her eyes. So Alex had kissed her, firmly, for her shitty family, kissed her deeply, for the injustice of it all, but more than that, she'd kissed her because she could, and there was something so lovely about that, that even years after they'd been together, she never could quite get her head around it.

…

She rues it though, that the last time she saw Piper they had argued and some of the last words she said to her were laced with such anger and hurt. But life is about consequences and now she's living with hers.

…

'The movie is starting in ten minutes Al, can we not wait until tomorrow to have this discussion?'

'Are you fucking kidding me?' Alex is beyond pissed, her temper is white hot and so she slams the plastic soda cup onto a table in the theatre reception hall and it topples onto the floor, creating a muddy puddle.

'Fucks sake…' Piper mutters, eyes darting around the room, conscious that everyone is now watching them and in a town like this, it doesn't take much for gossip to spread. She grabs a handful of napkins from the counter top next to the table and crouches down to try and mop up the sticky mess.

'Leave the fucking soda will you?' Alex spits and if anything, her tone is louder and more shrill than before, so that even more people have stopped to stare. Two older couples ordering popcorn both tut in disgust and Alex can vaguely hear the name 'Burley' being muttered, but she's too pissed at Piper to deal with a bunch of pensionable busy bodies right now.

But Piper continues to ignore her, focusing her attention on the spilt cola. And Alex can feel her temples begin to throb, a crimson tidal wave crashing against her skull. She grabs the napkin dispenser and flings it across the room. It bounces off an automated ticket machine and clatters loudly to the tiled floor.

'The fuck?!' Piper says wincing at the sound it makes.

A man who looks like he's barely graduated high school, approaches them and introduces himself as the manager of the movie theatre. 'Everything ok here?'

He acts like he asking both of them, but he's only looking at Piper. The blonde nods, 'we just made a bit of a mess of your floor'. She dumps the sodden napkins onto the tabletop.

'Don't worry about that Miss Chapman' (of course he knows her Alex thinks, everyone fucking knows her) 'we'll get that cleaned up right away' and then he glances over at Alex, any warmness to his brown eyes now gone, as they narrow slightly to regard her, before turning back to Piper, 'just let me know if you need anything, ok?'

Piper nods, still evidently embarrassed and Alex's heart is hammering so fast she's sure she's gonna pass out.

'Let's go outside' Piper hisses. So they trail out into the gloom of the night.

It's raining and the wind has picked up so Alex can only see Piper in movie reel type frames, as her dark hair whips across her face, restricting her vision.

'You can't pull shit like that Al….you just can't' the blonde says, but her voice is no longer angry, it's shaky and yielding and now all Alex wants to do is hold her, tell her she's sorry and start over, but it's too late for that.

'I know what my father said to you was wrong, but what can I do about it? We're leaving town in a couple of weeks aren't we? Can't you just hold out a little longer?'

'I don't have a choice in this Piper, Bill has made it clear that if he sees me near you again, then it's my mom that will pay the price, can't you see why that's not ok?'

'So what do you want me to do? I can't grant you and your mother fucking immunity, this is hard on me too!'

The rain is pelting them now, purposeful and unrelenting. Damp tendrils of hair framing Piper's face, making her seem younger somehow, more vulnerable: like she is the one that needs protecting. And that's the frame that embeds itself in Alex's mind, so that months later, she still wakes with it in the middle of the night, as if it's been woven into the fabric of her brain.

But they haven't found a body yet and as far as consolations go, it's all she's got.

…

Nichols had left an hour ago and it's only really then, a full seven hours after she has been awake, that Alex realises that gnawing feeling in her stomach is hunger. She checks the cupboards for anything remotely edible, but can only find an empty box of Graham Crackers. Fucking Nicky, never has developed the habit of throwing away empty cartons.

She checks her pockets for change and finds that she only has enough cash to buy maybe a loaf of bread and some milk. She figures it will have to do, she doesn't fancy heading into the main part of town to find an ATM.

So she pulls on a top over her t-shirt and walks down to the local store, hood up, hands stuffed into her pockets, ear buds in (best way to drown out the gossip) and allows Judas Priest to lull her into a world where nobody knows her name.

Do you hear the thunder?

But then she's crashing straight into the warmth of another body and before she can fully gather her bearings, she's looking straight into the eyes of Carol Chapman.

In her head, she's come face to face with Carol multiple times since Piper's disappearance and in those make believe scenarios, she'd delivered a whole verse regarding her innocence. But now, faced with the reality of it all, her throat feels raw and painful and the practiced verse merely a jumble of random words.

But Carol doesn't speak, she merely takes a step back, catching the heel of her shoe on the kerb of the sidewalk and goes toppling backwards. Without further thought, Alex grabs her arm and hauls her back, but in that second, something strange happens. A current seems to pass from the older woman through to Alex, an electric sort of jolt that makes the hairs on the back of brunette's neck stand up.

And then suddenly Carol is speaking, eyes intense and vibrant and Alex can't quite believe what she's hearing.

'I know you didn't do it' Carol says, 'But it's easier this way'.

And the shock of the statement makes Alex release Carol's arm just as suddenly as she had grabbed it and then the woman's eye's change, become more vacant….lost even and she turns and walks away, as if nothing ever happened.

Alex reaches up under her hood, to touch the horns and then it hits her, the only way to the truth has been staring her in the face since this morning and for the first time in a long while, she can feel herself smile.