Chapter 6 - Knights Were Never Good At Saving Themselves

"Did we just see that?"

"Yeah Shawn we did." His friend answered.

"What was that?"

"I..I don't know." Gus stuttered.

He glanced at Jules. She was still and silent. He picked up the flashlight and handed it back to her. She took it hesitantly. He had a feeling what was going through her mind.

"Don't worry. Didn't I tell you Lassie's still alive?" He saw her head nod slowly. Turning back to Gus, he said. "Well let's go check it out."

Gus paled even more. "Nope."

"If he pales any more, we might be mistaken for brothers." He thought and grabbed Gus' hand, who then yanked it back.

"Horror movie 101: The Black guy always gets killed. I am not up for getting killed today, Shawn." Gus said, folding his arms.

He sighed. "Gus is so difficult sometimes."

Reaching over, he tried to pry Gus' right hand out. His friend fought back. He pulled some more and his friend pulled back. This went on for a good minute before Gus gave up.

"And Horror movie 386: Make sure to have a good weapon." He took his friend's flashlight and replaced it with a Glock.

Surprisingly, Gus didn't seem too worry about losing his flashlight; instead he was more worried about where the gun came from.

"Where did you get this?"

He rolled his eyes. "Off the table. I have one, too. See." He showed his. "Just don't lose it or Lassie will be very upset."

"This is Lassiter's?" With a shaking hand, Gus held the gun out like it was a precious treasure with a mummy's curse.

He sighed again and made his way to Jules. He rubbed her shoulder and pointed down the hallway. She nodded. Her unfocused expression turned serious. He started to slowly walk down the hallway with Jules behind him and Gus behind her.

Soon his flashlight came up on the dark form of the body. Jules hurried past him and he heard her sigh in slight relief.

"Now we know it's not Lassie. But where is he?" He looked back at his friend. Gus was looking back down the hall away from them; a small flashlight sat in his hand.

"How many of those does he have?" He mumbled low.

He shook his head and looked at the body.

"Black jacket, blue jeans, and sneakers with what use to be a light color shirt."

"It's the missing girl." He heard Jules note softly.

"Chest split open by…" He studied the cleanness of the wound. "A knife." An image of the knife sitting on the table came to mind.

He looked at her face. "Most likely while she was alive."

He frowned noticing the various bracelets and rings she still had.

"Motive: Not robbery."

But he knew that.

"Some of her organs are missing. It's the same MO as the others, except her lower right arm is missing. Looks…"

He crouched down to get a good look and a sudden noise down the hallway had everyone pointing their flashlights in that direction.

The same direction where that thing had disappeared to.

By the time he fully stood up, Jules was already venturing down the hallway at a slow pace.

"Man, she looks sexy in that cop pose."

shaking his head clear of the other thoughts that had popped up with that randomness, he hurried to catch up, dragging a reluctant Gus along.

He caught up to her when she paused looking at the dead end hallway with three doors and three choices. Her flashlight scanned the carpet. He could tell it was clear of any trail in her eyes, but with his eyes, he spotted faint red droplets heading to the right: the women's restroom. He watched in anticipation as Jules decided to move toward the right and he immediately stopped her with a smile.

"The spirits are telling me, it's in there." He pointed toward the left at the men's restroom. He doubted she would fall for going into the janitor's closet.

She looked at him, but nodded and disappeared into the men's restroom.

He grabbed Gus and pushed him toward the same door. "Gus, go with her and protect her."

"Wait, where are you going?" His friend asked digging his feet into ground making it hard to move him.

"What?" He exclaimed in fake surprise as if the answer was simple. "I always wanted to see what the women's restroom looked like." Gus looked at him in disbelief, but he quickly added, "Just go in. I'll be fine," and then pushed his friend into the men's room. He watched the door close with a light snap, making sure Gus wouldn't come out.

His friend didn't, and he hurried and entered the door across the hall.

"Now to confront the killer."

He had a feeling he knew what or rather who was in here, and just in case, he wanted to make sure Jules and Gus would not be harmed.

The restroom was normal, mirrors and sinks on the left and stalls on the right.

He noted the absence of the urinals, but he expected that having first snuck in this forbidden room when he was elementary.

Cautiously, he trained the gun and flashlight out as he was taught many times before and ventured further into the area. Nothing moved and it was unnervingly quiet. He checked the bottom of every stall before opening the door. Before long he was standing in front of the door to the last stall.

Taking a deep breath, he kicked the door open and shined the light and gun. Again nothing greeted him.

He exhaled.

…and then he noticed the missing appendage sitting in the toilet. Its bones were crushed in some places and an accusing finger pointed at him.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and the finger now felt more like a warning.

He quickly turned training both items in hand only to have them quickly disappear from his grasp and a hand wrap around his neck. The light bounced around before dipping everything back in shadow. He struggled clawing at the hand around his neck and kicking out with his feet. In response to his struggle, his attacker gave a deep growl and tossed him into the sinks. His head collided with the mirror and stars filled his vision as the dark world swum. His attacker pinned him against the cool mirror surface with a firm grip on his neck, but suddenly he started to notice the grip slowly slacking. He looked up to see amber eyes focused on the mirror behind him.

Seeing the opportunity, he punched his occupied attacker in the jaw and was thoroughly confused when it had no effect.

"What the-" His thoughts were immediately cleared when his face was backhanded with a snarl. Dazed, he fell to the floor and immediately his attacker was on him pinning his left and right arms with its hands. Frantically looking around through the edge of blackness in his sight,he noticed the gun to his left and he placed all his focus on getting that weapon. A deep growl vibrated and he looked up at his attacker. Molten eyes flashed and he cried out when he felt knifes dig into his right shoulder.

His attacker pulled back and looked at him in a painful haze. Sharp teeth showed in the darkness. It was like slow motion. Those knives moving back down…down to his neck, but then the glow in its eyes dimmed and its body slumped against him. He laid there both confused and relieved at the same time.

Someone helped him roll the heavy weight off of him. Dazed, he smiled at his savior, expecting Jules, but his friend stood there holding a two by four and breathing heavily.

"Thanks buddy for the save."

Gus gave him one of those incriminating looks before helping him sit up. He saw Jules handcuffing his attacker, who was facedown on the tile.

Gus walked off seeing that Jules was making her way toward him.

Her lips were crinkled with concern and a hint of anger.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a few scratches."

"You knew the killer was in here didn't you?"

For once, he had no comment because he knew he had set himself up for that and she took his silence as a yes.

"What were you thinking?"

"Protecting the princess and his jester are what knights do."

He grinned hoping to make her feel better, but a sharp pain in his shoulder made him wince.

And Jules saw it.


"Stupid Shawn, never thinking before doing something."

He walked over to the flashlight Shawn must have dropped during the struggle.

"He could've gotten himself killed."

Glancing back, he saw Juliet checking Shawn's wounds. He shook his head and then collected Shawn's discarded gun.

"Someone has to make sure Lassiter gets his stuff back".

Checking the gun and flipping the safety on, he placed it in the waistband of his pants, along with its smaller twin. He was glad he decided to listen to some of Henry's gun tips.

"And speaking of Lassiter, where is he?"

He glanced at the unconscious body on the ground. The person was still alive, breaths coming in long and slow by the rhythm of the person's back. His curiosity was teeming. With flashlight poised on the person, it only took a few steps to see their face.

His eyes widen at the sight.

Fresh blood was smear around the face especially around the mouth and nose. He also noted the blood still dripping from the fingers.

But his eyes didn't widen in surprise at the sight or at the sheer amount of blood, nor at the knowledge he just deduced about what the person had been doing.

It widen at the fact that it was…

And then dilated blue eyes sprung open.


Chapter 6.5 - Awareness is a Two-way Street

Slowly gaining consciousness, he opened eyes he didn't remember closing. Bright light blinded his vision and he found himself lying prone on a hard surface. He tried to move away from the intense light, but pain flooded his head and travelled downward.

Closing his eyes, he groaned.

"What happened? I remember leaving O'Hara in that room and then nothing."

By the intensity of pain in his arms and head, he could tell his wrists were tied behind his back and that he was hit in the head at one point.

Footsteps resound in front of his face and then moved away from his head, carrying the light source with it. Stars dotted in his closed vision.

"Someone's here."

He kept his eyes closed and thinned his breathing.

Voices rose and he registered not one, but three people in the room: two men and one woman.

Pieces seemed to click in his slowly clearing head and his mind conjured Leo and his companions: two men and one woman.

"Was this round two?"

Based off the feel of the floor, he knew he wasn't back in that room. That room had carpet. This one had tile.

He hoped O'Hara was okay.

"But what if she's not." He mentally shook his head trying to clear the image of her broken body, but it stuck.

"Could I have failed twice?"

Sadness, quickly gave way to anger.

He opened his eyes staring off center from the returned, blinding light.

"Bastard!" He yelled and then bit his tongue when he felt a sharp jolt of pain.

The voices stopped and silhouettes appeared beyond the light.

"What happened to the deal?" He spat. "I did everything you asked. You better not have…" The rest died on his lips as his partner's face flooded his vision. His face softened. He wanted to reach out and touch her to know if she was real, that she wasn't back in that room lying dead in a pool of her own blood.

Her mouth was moving, but the words sounded distorted and jumbled.

He opened his mouth to say something. A wheeze came out. He didn't realize he was having difficulty breathing.

His body felt heavy and his vision was getting hazy, but he fought to look her in the eye.

"Please…" He whispered. "Forgive me… Juliet."


"Carlton?"

She could see his eyes fading and blood was flowing from his head.

"He could have a concussion." She thought and then yelled out,"Carlton, stay with me! Don't go to sleep."

She tapped his cheek and shook his shoulders, but he went limp. Then, she noticed the wheezing sound.

Quickly uncuffing his hands, she rolled him over on his back and asked Shawn for his jacket. The item was quickly handed over, and she used it to prop his head off the ground. She tilted his head back a little to open his airway. After a moment or so, the wheezing soon stopped and she breathed a sigh.

She looked up at Shawn. It looked like he wanted to say something and his eyes kept glancing at Carlton.

She really didn't want to hear any of his theories right now.

"Shawn. Go stand outside the room, so Gus and the paramedics will know where we are."

Shawn continued to stand there, a protective look in his eyes.

"I'll yell if something happens. Just go."

Hesitantly, he left without a word taking her flashlight with him.

Many questions and thoughts flooded her mind as she waited in the dark and listened to her partner's now steady breathing.

But all questions boiled down to one.

"What happened in that room?"

That question she desperately wanted answered and she was going to get it.

Author Note: That little tag (6.5) was supposed to be chapter 7, but it was so short. Tags like this will pop up again and chapter titles will always give a little piece to the ever-growing puzzle.