Hi! Before you continue this story, please note that there is some torture in this chapter and probably the next. Just a warning.

Thank you for reading! The next chapter update will be within the next week. I've had exams and that's why this chapter took longer to write. Enjoy!

Donavon said nothing to Sherlock after he bent under the police line. In fact, she refused to even look towards Kitty. Smirking at the fright she had given the horrible woman, Kitty trudged past all police officers and went up the stairs of the abandoned mill house. "Her name is Calli Sylvester, age 23. Same memo and everything." Lestrade ran a hand through his hair as he gave details. Kitty could see he was slowly losing it. "Christ! We need to get this Countess or whatever she calls herself." Kitty saw Sherlock and John glance at her.

"Actually," Sherlock stood up from examining the body, "this isn't the Countess."

"What?" Lestrade questioned, crossing his arms, clearly not happy Sherlock had suddenly changed his mind.

"Yes... clearly the same MO, but we have a copycat here. The Countess is gone, she left a message." She wanted to roll her eyes at Sherlock. That reasoning wasn't going to get past the police detective.

"Sherlock..." Lestrade's voice was that of warning. "What did you find out?"

"Nothing." Right then, Kitty wanted to bang her head on the wall. Sherlock had answered too quickly.

"Bull. Now tell me or you're off the case." Sherlock looked aghast.

"You can't do that."

"Sherlock I let you back in on these cases with your promise to tell me what you knew and when." Kitty didn't need to look to tell Sherlock had closed his eyes in frustration.

"We should move to a safer place." Her voice was flat, any emotion she was feeling was left out. For a moment she wanted to shudder at the fact that she was closing herself off. Before anyone could respond, she turned and walked away. Kitty failed to see Sherlock's mouth drop, John's grim face, and Lestrade looking completely lost, like a child who missed a day of school thus missing a class joke. She kept walking, down the stairs and onto the street. In her head she counted, seeing how long it would take for them to catch up. Kitty would have doubted they would even come if not for the footsteps behind her. By the time she realized the footsteps didn't match Sherlock's long strides (though she had no idea why she would pay attention to how the detective walked) or John's hurried footsteps or, in fact, Lestrade's temperamental feet, it was too late.

To say she was in pain, would be an understatement. Her head felt like a brick had been smashed against it. Her right arm felt broken and her left ankle twisted. Kitty could practically feel the bruises across her body turning into a nasty purple color. What had happened? Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to recall the events. Vaguely she remembered waiting for the three men to catch up with her then having her face slammed against a brick wall, which made perfect sense. The attacker was male, no doubt, and highly trained. When Kitty add attempted to fight back...well something odd was that she couldn't remember fighting back. She struggled when she felt rope tied around her wrist but the rope never got looser. "Ah my little kitten is awake." Instantly she froze. A hand touched her arm and moved upward. In no time it was in her hair a pulling her head back. "Why won't you open your eyes?" The voice got a little higher and was in a tone that made her shudder mentally. Kitty refused to give him the satisfaction of her obeying him. The grip on her hair tightened and a demand to open her eyes came soon after. "Open dammit!" Suddenly the hand left her hair and fear started to make her hands shake. From farther away the voice spoke again. "Do you remember how we break in the newbie's?" Her thoughts went haywire after he said that. Finally opening her eyes, she stared at the open person in the world that made her blood run cold. He made Moriarty look like a saint.

"Hi Matt. So glad to see you again." She snarled. He smiled, making her blood colder than the wind on Antarctica. Then he raised the whip in his hands. Her screams echoed around her as the torture continued.

Sherlock's POV

He stepped out of the house exactly a minute and thirty seconds her. What in the world was she planning on telling Lestrade? Sherlock saw no sense in her wanting to tell him; Lestrade can deal with the fact that Sherlock had changed his mind. He gathered himself together rather quickly after his mouth dropped in shock. "Let's go." Although she made no sense, he reasoned that it was her choice and he shouldn't get involved. There...that bothered him; he wanted to be involved, to protect her, and he didn't understand why.

Glancing around, he saw no sign of her. Odd. The only people around were the ordinary police officers and Sally. Thankfully, behind him, John saw his dilemma and decided to go ask where Kitty had gone. The officer that was about three inches taller than John; his left hand rested on his belt while he used his right hand to point in the direction Kitty went. Sherlock immediately took off in the direction, ignoring Lestrade's request to explain what was happening. Something felt wrong to him, very wrong. Turning the street corner, he saw no sign of the mother.

"Where'd she go?" John stood next to him, slightly out of breath from having to catch up.

"Something's wrong."

"What?" Seeing that Lestrade had caught up rather quickly, Sherlock walked to him until he could almost smell the new cologne the detective inspector was trying out.

"Put out a BOLO now; Katherine Larson." Confusion filled Lestrade's eyes and a gasp from John told Sherlock he had figured it out.

"I'm not putting anything out until you tell me."

"So help me God…you will put out a BOLO right now Lestrade!" Sherlock's voice deepened, the anger clearly seeping through.

"Sherlock, he doesn't know." John stated. Moaning in frustration, Sherlock kicked at the brick building.

"Alright! Alright! Calm down! Jesus.." Lestrade reached for his phone and put out the signal that the second anyone saw Officer Larson, they were to report right away. After the message was sent, Lestrade walked up to the seething consulting detective. "Now tell me what's going on." Suddenly Sherlock was very conscious of the fact that they were out in public.

"Not here. We'll go to my place."

Sherlock slammed the door open, not particularly caring if he scared Mrs. Hudson or not. Inside his mind, he was yelling at himself. How could he have been so stupid? Letting Kitty out of his sight would be something Mycroft's men would've done. Then the fact that she was taken in broad daylight made him even more furious with himself. Mrs. Hudson came out with an arm protectively around a curious little girl. His facial features softened. "Hi Claire." The girl giggled.

"Hi Curls." Standing behind Sherlock, Lestrade was completely shocked at how Sherlock's voice and body language dramatically changed when the girl had shown up. The man was even more shocked when the girl ran up to give Sherlock a hug and had received a hug back.

"I have to do some work, sorry Claire." Sherlock knelt down to get a closer look at the young girl. "As soon as we're done," he bent close to whisper to her, "we'll make some cake." Claire jumped up and down excitingly, gave him another hug, and ran back to Mrs. Hudson. Once the two were gone from view, Sherlock straightened up and marched upstairs. "Tea John?"

"Right, of course." While waiting for John to finish making the tea, Sherlock motioned for Lestrade to sit on the couch. He started pacing back and forth, debating whether or not it was really his secret to tell, if he had the right to tell it. In the end he reached the conclusion that it was for her safety and therefore, Lestrade must be told. After all, she was going to tell Lestrade herself. As John was handing Lestrade a cup of tea, Sherlock blurted out.

"She's the Countess." If the situation wasn't serious, Sherlock might have chuckled at Lestrade spitting his tea back into his cup.

"What the hell Sherlock?"

"She was forced to kill. Not her fault. She got out of it when she realized she was pregnant. The reason she's missing now is because someone found out she is still alive." All while taking, Sherlock's hands were moving all over the place. John gaped at him.

"Sherlock, way to go easy."

"Who cares about easy." He snapped. "She was going to tell him anyway and right now her life is in danger!" John put his hands up.

"Calm down mate."

Meanwhile

She gasped for breath. Somewhere between the lashes given to her, she had fallen unconscious. Kitty grimaced in the little pain she could feel. After a few lashes she had gone numb.

"Weak." He whispered in her ear. "You can do better than that." With that, he poured water on her back. Pain exploded and was the only thing she could think of. "Oh how I've missed you." Matt came around and kneeled in front of her. He gripped her face and forced her to look up at him. "Why would you do that? Pretend you were dead…it was so mean." He cooed. The response he got was spit in his face.

"Go to hell." Matt slapped her.

"You're coming with me." Watching him stand up and walk a few steps away, she allowed her head to hang. Her arms were sore from being held up by ropes and her feet ached. "By the way, I haven't told Drew yet. I wanted to have my fun with you before he killed you." With that, he left. Kitty groaned and slowly lifted up her head. In the corner farthest from her was a video camera, a great spot to see the entire room, and a small speaker, like the ones found in schools. Moving her eyes to the right, she saw a large tray with various…items used to break in the newbie's. She shuddered at the thought of repeated the horror of initiation. The rest of the room was dark and empty, only one door to get in and out. Slowly, Kitty allowed her body to go limp a little, in order to help conserve energy and allow her body to heal a little before Matt came back.

"I know you can hear me," she talked, voice hoarse but still strong, "and trust me when I saw the second I get out of here, I'm going to kill you." A sing-song voice came onto the speaker near the camera.

"No you won't."