Sing To Me Your Darkest Secrets
Chapter Six:
We'll Never Know Which Way This Road is Going to Turn

It was sort of funny to watch Don and Joey. I really think, for a long time, he thought she hated them - I still can't decide if it was the alligator comment or not that really got to him. Don's got a soft ego sometimes. He ain't Raph, that's for sure.

I thought Leo was going to wear a hole in the only ratty rug they had in the whole place from all his pacing. If I heard 'they should be back by now' one more time, I was going to loose my cool...

"They should be back by now." Leo's voice and concern was drowned out by Don and Joey, pouring over the bloody ascot. It was almost as if they had heard him enough times to ignore what he was saying all together. It, however, didn't stop Leo as he paced back and forth, his hands held behind him.

"That's not what it says, are you even reading it?" She snapped at him as they were shoulder to shoulder, leaning over the table and looking at the blurry edged symbols. They were clearly overcrowding each other and both on edge for it. "There's a line here - yeah that's a line and this is a dash. Big difference, that centimeter of blood. Since when do you read old Clan anyhow?" It was as if an issued challenge as she grumbled to Donnie.

Don drew he head back and looked at her with a bemused expression. He wasn't used to having people in his way when he was trying to work. The others just let him go on and 'fix' it as they all expected that of him. He, in turn, didn't expect much from them beyond grabbing him a tool from time to time. If there was a singular thing they looked to him for it, was answers of a more logical nature - not that Leo, Raph or Mikey couldn't repair a stopped up toilet. "Well, it is difficult to tell with the nature of this writing. It's not exactly written in clear ink on paper." He said, as matter-of-factly as he could, trying not to sound offensive; though she was grating on his last nerve. Later, Don would figure that it was because he was on edge, not entirely because she was so bossy. But that was because Don saw the best in everything, when he could.

"Good call," she agreed in earnest, snatching the thing up as if she had a new idea. Donnie sighed heavily as the fabric was ripped from his hands and he stared at the surface of a bare wood table. "You were there. You saw it - why don't you tell us? Because that little hash mark could make all the difference. Like the symbol with it means life and without it means death - very different words if you ask me and all in one little hash. Soooo...lay it on me slick - you saw the Screamer? What'd it say?" Her expectant eyes were on Casey and he blinked in surprise, the rest of his face blank. It was clear, in that moment, he had no idea what to say as he hardly taken a glance at the symbols, let alone took the time to memorize them. All he could really remember was the stinging in his hand from where his blood had been taken to get it at all.

"They should be back by now." Leo's echo rang out.

"Hey! Blue, we heard you the first time. And the second and third time too. You're damaging my calm by doing that." Joey whipped around on him, the ascot forgotten in her hand. Don had wiggled some to reach and grab it, but Joey spoke with her hands as she went on. So he ended up reaching for thin air, his fingers clasping at nothing just beside Joey's hip. "Could you reel the worry back in just a tiny bit so the rest of us can get some work done? You know...something useful. Holding down the ground like that won't do anything as I'm pretty sure gravity's got it under control. Why don't you sit down before you pass out from all that exertion. Actually a nap wouldn't hurt; you're going to need it."

Leo had stopped to give her his full attention. Don could tell he wasn't pleased by the way his chest rose and fell in several quick breaths. If she were Raph they'd be in a fight by now as Leo didn't always censor himself for his brother. Instead, those were Leo's calming breaths. In fact, Leo already wasn't pleased with the scrawny woman for the fact that, once they'd actually gotten her in the lair, she offered him a lopsided smile and added in-passing honestly, 'Nice place'. He was still sore from how harshly and wildly she'd fought about being dragged into the sewers. Casey figured she'd done that before and probably gotten free, with the squirming and fighting. She'd even gotten free from Leo, which was a feat in and of itself.

He seemed to grow determined in his deep breaths, offering a curt and final nod. "You're right. I'm going to go look for them."

"Whoa, hot shot. Slow down there." Joey's face drew out a long 'o' on the end as all of her rough, teasing bite evaporated. She wheeled around in front of him so he'd have to run her over to go the direction he was headed. "Bad idea, boss." She held up both of her hands, placing them firmly on the front of his plastron. "That wasn't exactly what I meant by 'something useful'. I get that you're a fighter and you don't want to sit back until every single wrong in the world has been righted, but damn it, sometimes you have to. Just for a few minutes. Not every strategy has to be arranged on the fly. Particularly when its the kind that gets you killed. There are a lot of crazy things out there you aren't ready for, you don't know what you're jumping into. The water is a little colder than you think."

Leo's eyes narrowed on her and when he spoke, he was clearly frustrated with her and the words she said. "I've heard nearly a dozen times that we're not the strangest thing any of you has seen. That there's something stranger, something scarier...what does that mean, anyhow?" He asked her sharply. Joey couldn't tell if he was hurt, offended or just curious. But she could tell there was emotion that was bubbling under his shell in a way that she wasn't sure she was the proper one to deal with. She could see how it would be offensive, but that had not been any of their intention when they said it. Instead, it was a passing way of explaining that they weren't afraid - they could accept them as they were for their lack of fear. That message clearly hadn't really come across the way Joey and the brothers had meant it. To Leo, it was as if he and his brothers were the runner up in the life of weird for these people, losing out to some greater 'monster'. She could see how they would take it personally; almost as if they were being called freaks and openly so.

"Exactly that, you're not strange - to us at least." Joey told him, unwilling to back down as her hands stayed pressed against his front, keeping him rooted to his spot. Though she considered that comment a little further. "It's a compliment, I guess. We're all strange Leo - it is Leo, right?" She arched an eyebrow at him. "At least if we're part of this darker, seedier stuff; the darker you go, the stranger things get. So maybe you are strange, but only to the normal. And who said they were normal anyhow? Why can't we be the normal ones and they the strange?" She shrugged her shoulders some at her own question. "You have the privilege being graced with the less -" Joey never finished whatever train of thought she was on as the door opened and Raph stomped in, followed by Mikey and Payton. Raph's hand was still pressed to his upper arm, his face sour in expression. The others all looked and they all waited, until they realized that only three would return despite having been separated from four...

"What happened?" Joey bustled forward, letting go of Leo's plastron. She had spotted the blood, as it trailed little rivers of red down Raph's green skin, oozing through his fingers. He batted her away in an instant but she was unwilling to yield that easily. She went back to trying to peel his fingers back, her slimmer ones tugging at his plump digits. "Payton." She chastised him, though Mikey seemed put off for a moment by the tone of her voice. As if she was scolding him too. "You just let him walk around with an open wound? What the hell's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a doctor...where's Ash?" She looked back at the entry way as if that would magically cause him to appear.

"Knock it off!" Raph growled at Joey, who had - after every time he smacked her away - gone right back to his fingers with the intention to pull them back.

"Were you bitten?" Raph could feel the thickness of her voice as it dawned on her what could have happened. Even if he was covering the entry wound, she seemed to understand where it was coming from.

"He ain't comin', alright? Stop asking already." Raph snapped at her and she was left unblinking for several long seconds. It was clear he was deflecting the question, unwilling to answer it as their eyes met. Raph held her gaze - not because he had nothing to hide, but because the stubborn parts of him couldn't give up first. He was afraid of answering and even the tiniest turn of his head would give him away. He was ashamed for what he had felt...he didn't need anymore from the feisty woman.

"Why?" She asked on the nearly entirely expressed breath she'd been holding. "What happened?" She demanded again, this time swinging around on Payton as Mikey was staring at his feet. He was like a child beyond scolded, and already punishing himself without mom or dad's yelling.

"Elisa." Was the only word that left Payton's lips and Joey's mouth fell open to it's full extent. It meant nothing to Leo, Don and Casey as none had actually witnessed the dangerous creature. The magnitude, however, was illustrated by Joey's reaction. Leo and Don couldn't help but be surprised by it, sharing looks with one another as if to be sure her shock was seen by them both. It was as if she'd been kicked in the gut and all the wind her little body would hold was forced out of her. Payton took Mikey's cue and looked away, as it would be easier in that moment than to see any of their faces.

"What does that mean?" Leo, who was only a few feet behind Joey, asked as the woman seemed to have lost her voice entirely. He voiced the question the other two had ringing in their heads. In that second, Joey came back to life, Leo's question having jarred her to animation. Her hands flew up in the air in exasperation, having completely ignored the turtle speaking to her.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" She howled. "Payton, Ash was a doll! You just handed him back over to the queen bitch with bows and ribbons? Are you out of your damn mind!" She barked it so sharply it came out shrill, echoing some in the underground oasis that was the turtle's home. "He was HER doll! You signed his life away, you know that? He dies, its on your head!"

Raph and Mikey both had shrank back some, clearly guilty. Though Joey's words weren't directed at them, they had been there when Ash left. In fact, they were the reason he did. Raph couldn't help but feel responsible then, as he held his arm tighter, as it was he who Ash had saved from Elisa's kidnapping. Payton, however, seemed to be taking every word, at first, like a wounded dog - kicked too many times and certainly guilty for whatever crimes he brought to his master. The more she went on, the more he took in. "I KNOW! Joey I know it. I know what happened and I know what he did. What I did. I know she agreed. He did it for them; she wanted them. None of this would have happened if they hadn't been there."

"JESUS CHRIST!" Joey threw her hands up in the air again, making Mikey jump some in his spot. "You better not die." She pointed a harsh finger in Raph's plastron, though Raph made no move to stop her. He merely glared downward, taking her words in much differently than Payton. He didn't seem like the kicked dog, though he was underneath his sturdy shell. Instead, he seemed just more and more frustrated by her words. That, however, was hiding a much deeper set guilt that only grew in size, like a massive tumor. "If Ash gave his freedom for you - both of you - you better make something useful out of yourselves. I'm positive that was what was going through his head when gave up for you. You got a lot more to live for, I've heard him say that shit before about everyone else.

"None of this would have happened if you had stopped her from killing Mia to begin with. Now it's going to become a game of politics, I can guarantee it." She told Payton pointedly, turning the blame back on him - and drawing the heat off from Raph and Casey who'd stumbled on the incident to begin with and as a result lured the whole Hamato family into this mess. She was hot and not simmering in the least while Payton seemed to retreat in on himself, unable to rebuttal her final attack.

"Whoa hey...time out." Mikey said, trying to be gentle - at least as gentle as he possibly could. "Can somebody tell me what a doll is?" He smiled sheepishly between Payton and Joey, trying to ease them both. "And while you're at it - who's Mia? That would be good too. Oh and what will happen to Raph now that he's been bitten? Is he going to be one? What's a turtle-vampire look like anyway?" Mikey, in true Mikey spirit, tried to lighten the mood with jokes and teasing. Though the questions were actually legitimate as most remained unanswered up to that point. Don seemed concerned that Mikey was even entertaining the idea that it was real and Leo's eyes fell on the two strangers. Payton had taken a few steps back, retreating further - visibly from them. Joey was huffing and puffing furiously still. Leo finally took a few steps forward, closing the distance, and carefully placed his hands lightly on Joey's shoulders as if to guide her to serenity.

"You said to make myself useful, to strategize outside of the battle. Now's the time Joey. Yeah, it's Leo. Raph, Mikey and he's Don. Casey is the man with the mask over there." he offered patiently, as if it was a peaceful offer that might coax her to give more back. "Give us the tools to help come up with a plan then. This mystery and partial story is going to slow us down. If Ash gave himself up for my brothers, we can help you try and get him back - but only if you tell us what we need to know. Because for as much as you scold us about not knowing, you're all we have to remedy it." She seemed to be calming with each of his words, letting them wash over her.

"It's her name, I understand now. I'm surprised Ash didn't recognize it - on the tie." She finally spoke, her eyes actually moving to Don despite Leo's hold on her. The purple-clad turtle seemed interested, if not surprised, by her direction. At first, he didn't realize what she meant but he caught on quickly, considering what the symbol had looked like and why it was so hard to recall or match it to a text book. "She was claiming him...Raph was it?" She nodded to the red masked turtle. "At least in the beginning part of the message. It's why she attacked you...it felt good when she bit you, didn't it?"

When all eyes turned onto Raph, he stuttered. So many pairs of expecting eyes made his body quiver uncomfortably. A 'yes' response, the honest one, made him look like a doe-eyed sissy who had latched onto a vampire. Yet a 'no' made him into even more of a sissy because it mean that he had to admit to actual pain. There was a long silence and Raph hoped their attention would turn away from him in that time. "Yeah." He finally muttered, his eyes downcast. "Like getting a massage from a cactus." He followed up, hoping to save some of his dignity. One corner of Joey's mouth turned up in a crooked smile while the others seemed rather content with that answer. The brothers were used to Raph's gruffness and took it as it was - though it hid the truth underneath.

"No, they didn't exchange. No time." Payton added before Joey could ask it. Don's eyes had flickered between them in a silent question of 'exchange what?' but Joey had spoken before he could.

She turned to Leo. "You might want to sit. All of you. And you, for the love of all that is good, let the doctor look at your wound. Stop being a wuss, suck it up. Be a man and have the medical staff look at your gushing bite before it gets infected. And you, stop being a selfish bastard. Your brother might be acting as a martyr right now, but I'll be damned if I let him go out in true martyrdom fashion. There will be no death, you got that? I'm not in the business of letting people die, even when they piss me off." She sighed a little bit, as if trying to figure out where to start and how to make it the most simple she could. It was clear to Leo that this was going to be rough; something they had never experienced before, though it seemed to already push beyond that which they had thought existed.

For all the things they encountered, this was certainly not one they had ever anticipated.

"They don't kill often, only for sport and to show off - or to start a fight. Its a tool, not a necessity. I'm pretty sure, after what's happened, the death you saw tonight was the latter. Mia was a doll, but not just any doll. He belonged to the leader of one clan. Another clan, the one Elisa is kin to, has been planning his death for ages - see? Not just willy-nilly, they do this shit with purpose and reason. She's been trying to find a way to catch him. To start a war with Mia's owner. I use the term 'owner' loosely - I hardly believe people can be owned. Death comes at a price for these vampires; people notice when mommy or daddy just disappear and the cops can't explain their death. Even bums have a social security number. They can't risk exposing their existence, people would flee in terror or God knows what would happen. It would be a mess, a catastrophe. Better to kill in moderation, when its absolutely necessary - or has a point. Besides who the hell believes you if you tell them? They're going to think you're bat shit crazy.

"Anyway, instead, they take people to feed on regularly...sometimes. Some of them get their fill from animals or strays. Even from some passing 'suit' who took a wrong alley way, or thugs who wake up in the morning thinking they had a bender the night before and that's why they're all weak. And it's always a reallygood time because of the euphoria...case in point. It feels good to have that rush of blood through the veins, sucked up by their teeth." She gestured to Raph, who let out a puff of a breath.

Payton had taken to tending to his arm while Raph gave in, though he made a point not to acknowledge Payton's work. "People don't run when they get attacked. They take it because it feels good. Sometimes, it feels just as good for the vampire as it does its victim. They're predators, some with no will power to stop and therefore accidentally drain people to their death. That's when it becomes a problem - public attention is gathered as they either die or disappear entirely into vamperism. That is to say, if a vampire completely drains a person of their blood only to give it back to them after its cycled through its own body, it creates a new zealot. The birth of a vampire; but unlike the human race that procreates like a virus, vampire births are very carefully thought out and planned. Permission has to be granted by the reigning leaders and even then, it's complicated. Very few new vampires are born because, after all, if you add more wolves to the pack, what else will they do but fight? They're not just predators of humanity, but of themselves as well. Anyway, both raise questions and pisses off the leaders of that vampire's clan or even other clans for fear of exposing their 'culture'. Because the business of creating vampires is delicate too - too many, you have less control...it takes a lot of importance to the clan for them to change you. And if a vampire does it without permission - oh hell, I've heard of them being killed for it." She shrugged a little bit. "Now that's not to say they don't kill in general - they do, and they go for bums or runaways, the forgotten who remain forgotten. But those are usually sanctioned by the leaders too. The dolls however...blood dolls...they're something else altogether."

The silence in the room was telling - the four turtles were all perched in various spots. Mikey had his legs crossed and was watching Joey with bouts of rapt attention, words like 'killing' and 'blood' catching his attention long enough to string him along. Raph seemed mostly disgusted, though he hid his face as if he wasn't interested in the story when he actually was. Both Leo and Don were engrossed too, the former absorbing the words as a way to defeat them while the latter was merely taking it in to learn more. If it would save their lives, even better.

"They share some of theirs to their dolls, they give them blood, that is. Not enough to turn them, to sire them into new vampires. Just a few drops for the high of that person's life. It brings them back later, of their own volition, for the vampire to feed from them so they can be given their mystical drug. It makes them temporarily, and in a mild way, capable of the host vampire's abilities. But it's not about what they can do, it's about the high. They seek it in the worst way and will do anything, just about anything, to get it. They're a slave to their masters. Imagine crack if it had magical properties on top of it's already intense side effects; never mind the habit part." She snorted. "It also causes a sort of bond between the two - its as addictive for the vampire as it is the doll. They're very territorial about their 'property'; they mark their dolls for it. Some brand. Kenshin - Mia's host and head of his clan, brands with a small square shape along the jaw. Elisa, she magically inks her, normally around the wrist with her name in old Clan archaic language. Not unlike the stuff written into the Screamer. The relationship becomes symbiotic in a way, but creepier than that shit that happens in Utah on those cult farms. I can't really explain it...you have to see it. Its not something that can be put to words. It's similar though as the older and higher ranking vampires sometimes have dozens of dolls like some sick blood orgy."

There was a still silence in the room as the information sank in. "And Ash...he was one of these?" It was Don that spoke first as he was trying to reason it all. He needed the science of the addiction to make sense of it, while the others merely needed the meat of the story - the explanation at its base level - so that they could go out and fight it.

"Yeah." She said solemnly and Leo's eyes flickered over to Payton. The doctor had been quiet the whole time, methodically working on Raph's arm as he seemed to ignore all of Joey's words. In fact, he seemed disconnected all together. Leo couldn't imagine what it was like; he did everything to protect his brothers. Anything and everything. And in that moment, what he took from Joey's words was that Ash had been through something so horrific, beyond his control, that it turned him into nothing but a husk of who he was. An addict. If it were Raph or Mikey or Don, any of them, Leo was pretty sure it would haunt him the way the memory seemed to haunt the doctor.

"Some don't pick it. If they exchanged, as Elisa has her sights set on you, sir," she looked at Raph pointedly. "Your brother would be one right now. Ash didn't choose this path for himself. I don't know if you've noticed, he gets a little wiry at the idea of boogers, let alone blood. No, Ash didn't choose to be a doll." Her eyes scanned the floor for a moment, as if considering how to broach the deeper parts of the issue. Her eyes landed on Payton when she drew her face up. "The details don't matter. Not the how at least, just that he's in danger of being put in that position again. That's why she gave you up for him. She'll come for you, but when she's ready to put forth the effort. She's an opportunistic hunter and Ash was an easier - familiar - catch.

"And she sort of views Ash as the one that got away. Plus the leaders, they don't grab basic human dolls when they can avoid it. The 'normal' ones, as it were. They like the fancy ones. Like Raph here. He's special." She batted her eyes at him teasingly, though gained nothing more than a gruff grunt from the turtle. "Ash - he's special too. Therefore tastier and a status symbol of value for Elisa. She's always clawing and snapping her way to the top, or trying to for the last 500 some odd years. Dog-eat-dog, they say."

"How do we know where to find him?" Leo asked plainly - he had gleaned the information that seemed necessary. Their social tendencies, their customs and rules, were what mattered most. The 'what's were answered, now he just wanted to move to the 'how's and 'when's.

"Well that's why you have me. I sort of a pain in the ass for them, all of them. They hate me almost as much as they hate Patty here." She nodded to Payton and grinned at him. "How they came to hate the Lionel brothers is a little bit more complicated though. My thorn in their side is much easier. I steal their dolls and break them of their habit." She grinned wide enough, cocky, that her eyes narrowed a little. "I'm like public enemy number three for them. Followed up by tweedle dee and tweedle dumb here." She giggled, almost girlishly - it didn't suit her as she, for her tiny little frame, was shockingly boyish in her behaviors. "I fancy myself a liberator - a doll liberator. I've been doing this for a long time - how the hell do you think I met them? It wasn't because we hang out in the same cool kid spots. I'm sure you've noticed by now Dr. Pissy-Pants isn't much for the talking and Mr. Clean lacks in the rather obvious area of lightening up. No, I helped Payton spring Ash a few years ago. We can do it again. It won't be easy."

"Nothing we seem to do ever is." Leo commented casually, his eyes flickering to his brothers for approval from them. What he got from Don was an eager little nod while Raph gave a shrug of agreement.

"I'm IN!" Mikey squealed from the back of the couch where he'd gone to situate himself to listen to her tale with rapt attention. "Let's get this party started."

I kinda wish he hadn't called it a party...because it was anything but.

Yeah, so that's when things got really bad. I mentioned this story went down hill right? Like from the first thing - the body - it just seemed like one thing after another and before I knew it we were smack dab in the middle of something Donnie couldn't even fathom. None of us, right then, asked what was so special about Ash that he could be considered better than Larry or Barry or Joe...but none of us didn't believe her. That little broad man...I wonder if she could spring me out of this joint what with her experience in snatching people out of places they don't want to be.

I understood where all that kicking and screaming came from now. Battle cries are battle cries, hers might be different than mine but hey - I can appreciate that. She sure was a fighter.

Normally the guys like a girl in the lair, even if she's just on TV. They get all cocky and showy, sometimes around April too, but - and it might have been the situation - they didn't seem to notice she was a girl. Not that I could tell at least...

::Author's Note::
Please forgive the length of this chapter. We had not intended on it being this long. There was a lot of information in this particular segment. We hope it wasn't too much. We must also admit that this chapter terrifies us. It's the part where the majority of the substance is exposed, and we feel quite exposed. We do hope that it hasn't turned you away. Together we are just grateful that you've made it this far. We would really enjoy any feedback you might have. Again, thank you for making it this far. We promise, if nothing else, a wild adventure for the remainder of this little story.