Chapter four

Two hours later Vicky was in a hospital room, when Crawley saw her wandering half naked in the middle of the night she immediately assumed Nelson had been drugged and possibly raped. A similar case happened a week ago, some pervert found women in bars or pubs, put roofies on their drinks, raped them and then threw them half naked in public parks, some of them made it to get some help but at least three died of hypothermia. No one ever knew who the guy was; the survivors weren't able to remember his face.

Nelson didn't looked like she was attacked but Crawley was sure she had been drugged since half the way to the hospital she kept pinching herself saying she had to wake up.

Detective Lam stepped into the hospital corridor and saw her boss wandering in front of Nelson's room where she was being examined. Crawley's orders were clear, she had to take care of Nelson's case and make sure Celucci was kept away from the investigation. Kate couldn't help being worried, Nelson was a trouble magnet and a pain in the ass but she didn't deserved to be attaked, especially with all the information she had on her father's murder since soon she would have to discuss several awkward details with her if they wanted to solve the case.

She was considering sending Crawley to hell and call Mike; if Vicky was actually raped she would need all the help available. Her musings and Crawley's muttered curses about being late for a meeting were interrupted when a young female doctor came out with a tired expression, as a patient Vicky was difficult… to say the least.

-"No sign of sexual assault, actually there's no sign of trauma or hypothermia whatsoever. She doesn't have a single mark on her body"- The doctor said surprised

Both Lam and Crawley released the breath they been holding.

-"So she's fine. That's a relief, but what the hell was she doing wandering around like that?"- Crawley asked the doctor frustrated

-"She said she drank last night, maybe the alcohol made her do this. Still, the result of the tox screen will let us know if there was another drug involved"-

-"Well Lam, it's your case I expect a report by the end of the day"- With that, Crawley left the hospital in a hurry.

Kate resigned her hopes of having a quiet conversation with the alleged victim, there's no way nelson would be easy to talk, so she entered Vicky's room and found her arguing with one of the nurses

-"How do you feel?"- Kate said neutral

-"Like I told everyone already I'm fine! I just had a little too much to drink, that's all"- Vicky answered pulling out the i.v. that was stuck on her arm.

Kate decided to let the subject go; at least until the tox screen results were ready

-"I have a few leads on your father case, would you mind if we talked about it?"-

Vicky's face fell, old wounds were now open and bleeding through the surface

-"Are you in a cult or something?"-The thick elder nurse asked suspiciously staring at her forearms, cutting the tense silence

-"No it's just a tattoo now get off!"- Vicky answered already in a bad mood

-"No it's not; you drew it with a pen didn't you?"- The woman chuckled

-"What the hell are you talking about?"- Vicky was about to show that nosy woman a piece of her mind when the nurse took a white cloth, soaked it with alcohol and wiped off the marks from her forearms in one swift motion. The signs that had been stuck on her skin for over two years and linked her with a demon more powerful than anything she had ever imagined were now removed without effort by a nagging stranger.

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Lam offered to take Nelson to her apartment so they could talk about Frank's death, she was worried about the pi, and she didn't spoke on the entire ride and keep looking at her forearms in awe. Kate also noticed a change on the other woman, she looked younger and there was an ethereal aura around her, in spite of the healthy color on her cheeks she seemed frail and her features were now more delicate. The detective shrugged; maybe it was all in her head.

Corinne was waiting for them at the doorstep, when her boss disappeared that morning she looked everywhere she could think of, thankfully Vicky called her as soon as she got to the hospital.

Before her perky assistant jumped at her with questions she asked her to get some coffee so she could speak with Lam in private, before the girl left Kate told her discreetly not to go too far, Nelson would need support after hearing what she had to say.

-"So"- Vicky said while changing into her usual jeans and t-shirt –"what do you got?"-

-"It's a really long story, to make it short it seems that Frank was carrying a lot of money when he arrived in Toronto"-

-"Sounds like a motive, why was he coming back here? "- Vicky said sounding as detached as she could

-"I spoke with a friend of his, apparently when he left the city he wandered around until he settled down in Ontario, he and a friend set up a restaurant by a lake and made a decent amount of money. Ten years ago he chose to come back."-

-"Why?"- Vicky croaked fearing the answer

Kate sighed; there was no easy way to say this

-"I contacted his friend… he said Frank told him he was coming back to his family"-

Vicky paced around the room trying to calm herself. After all those years he was coming back only to get killed, she resolved to control her emotions, and she wouldn't break down not in front of Kate of all people!

-"What was he going to tell us when he came? Sorry I went out to buy cigarettes and got lost in the way?"- she waved her hands and asked no one in particular –"I mean, if he cared enough to come back why the hell did he leave in the first place?"-

To her misfortune Kate knew the answer. The truth was bad but Nelson deserved to know so she took a deep breath and gather all the courage she could in order to tell her

-"I think I know why, when was the last time you saw him?"-

When she saw Kate's expression she realized it was going from bad to worse, so she sat into a nearby chair and told her

-"I was six years old, I was playing with some kids from the neighborhood and my Frisbee got stuck into the branch of a tree. No one wanted to take it down so I climbed up to get it, I fell pretty hard, by the time I woke up and came home from the hospital he was gone"-

With a somber expression on her face Kate handled Vicky her father's file –"Check the part where it describes his blood type"-

When Vicky saw it all the pieces clicked together and a wave of nausea threatened to rid her of all the meals she had since last week. Two words destroyed her world, AB positive.

-"I'm O negative, my mom is A positive. My mom probably has the O and negative genes on her but they are recessive so she doesn't show them, but in order for me to have that blood type my dad would have to be O negative as well. Frank is not my father; someone in the hospital must have tipped him off. I don't remember much but I think I needed a blood transfusion back then." -By the end of the sentence Vicky's face was pale and expressionless –Anything else? - She barked at Kate

-"His friend is coming to Toronto; he said he wants to help, I'll take his statement tomorrow night, I'll keep you posted."-

-"Thanks Kate"-

-"No problem, sorry for all this mess it must be hard"-

-"Yeah it is, close the door on your way out"-

When Kate left Corinne entered, shyly she gave her the coffee and asked her if there was anything she could do

-"Yeah, go to my office and clear my schedule for the next week. I gotta stay with my mom for a while; there are a few things we have to discuss"-

Corinne nodded; it wouldn't be so easy to cancel all her appointments. Her office had been crowded with clients lately, so much that the assistant decided to up the feed to seven hundred a day (many clients didn't pay her anyway). Vicky found it ironic; it took an evil demon trying to take over the city in order for her to have thriving business.

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Sei-lin stood in the center of the main hall of the mansion, Norieth faced her with a worried expression.

-"What you are planning to do is suicidal; there is no need for any of this. I agree that Arlon was a great loss but he almost succeeded the next time we might be able to retrieve the stone"-

-"No, no more unnecessary killings Norieth, time is running out we can't afford more loses."-

-"It is too dangerous your highness, if the mission fails both you and your sister will die and your father will…"-

-"Send another of his children to replace us. I'm not naïve, just because I'm his daughter doesn't mean I'm less expendable than the rest of his soldiers"- it wasn't common for her to interrupt someone much less speak with such bitterness.

-"You are very wrong my princess, our lord cares for both of you"- Norieth answered solemnly

-"Of course he does, he needs us to do our part in the upcoming war otherwise he will be forced to fight and according to the prophecies he'll die in battle. He cares for us because we are the only ones standing between him and his doom, but don't think that he loves anyone but himself."- With that turned round and headed towards her room –"I need to make some preparations, we are leaving at sunset."-