A/N - Thanks again to my awesome friend/beta saiken2009. Love ya girlie! Hope you guys are enjoying this one. Please let me know if you are or if there's something you'd like to see!
Sam, Micky and Davy scoured the grocery store for all the employees they could find. Most were no help to them at all, either they hadn't been there that day or they hadn't seen Mike, Lea and Peter. They were sitting in the parking lot trying to think of what to do next when a young woman made her way to the front door. She was dressed for work and Micky immediately jumped up to talk to her.
"Excuse me, Miss," Micky said walking up to her. "My name is Micky and this is Sam and Davy." he motioned to his friends. "I know this is going to sound strange, but I need to ask you something."
"Ok?" the girl replied giving Micky a questioning look. "How can I help you?"
"Well you see," Micky started. "Three of our friends went missing from this store about three weeks ago. I know it was quite a while ago, but if you were here do you remember anything suspicious?"
"Our friends are a tall guy with a Texas accent, dark hair and most likely wearing a green wool hat named Mike, his short and very pregnant wife, Lea and a slightly shorter guy with light hair named Peter," Sammy added, trying to give as much detail as possible.
"Oh, I do kinda remember them," the girl replied. "They were looking for a short guy with a British accent."
"That would be me," Davy said sadly.
"I told them I hadn't seen him and they walked back outside," she paused and thought for a moment. "The guy with the hat came back in for a second, but that's the last I saw of them. Are you sure they didn't just run off somewhere?"
"No," Sammy said. "They wouldn't have done that."
"Especially with Lea in her condition," Davy added. "At least we know they made it here, though."
"How far along is she?" the girl asked.
"Now she would be about 27 weeks or so," Sammy said thinking about it. "She's close enough to delivering that she wouldn't just up and leave. They wouldn't have left without telling us anyway."
"I see," the girl said sadly. "I guess a woman that far along wouldn't go far from home without letting someone know."
"Is there anything else you remember?" Micky asked. "Anything weird or out of place?"
"Let me think," the girl paused and thought back. "Now that I think of it, I did hear some yelling not too much later and there was a van that sped out of here pretty quickly. It had some lettering on it, but I'm not sure of what it said really."
"Try to remember," Sammy said desperately. "I'm sorry, I know it isn't easy, but you're our only hope of finding our friends.
"I don't remember," the girl said again. "I just remember a white van peeled out of the parking lot. Almost hit an older woman on its way out."
"Here's our phone number," Micky said, handing the girl a paper with their names and number on it. "If you think of anything else do you think you could give us a call? We don't know what else to do."
"Sure," the girl said taking the paper. "I hope you find your friends soon. Especially if one is that pregnant."
"Thank you so much!" the trio said in unison before heading back to the Pad with at least a glimmer of hope. If the store clerk could remember what was written on the van then maybe they could use it to figure out who took their friends.
Mike, Peter and Lea curled up against each other. Each seeking comfort for a different reason. Mike and Peter's wounds were deep, but at least had scabbed over. The girl who had been bringing them food had also been treating and dressing the wounds so they would at least not become infected. Mike was weary of the girl. Her skin was the palest white he had ever seen, even paler than Lea. Her hair was black with a hint of blue running through it. She was dressed head to toe in black, skin tight leather. Dark makeup rimmed her almost black eyes and her lips were bright red. Mike couldn't be sure, but he thought her teeth seemed to be sharper than normal. The whole image didn't sit right with him, something was very, very wrong with her.
"They're doing just enough to keep us alive," Peter said. "I wonder why."
"Zero wants our souls," Mike replied. "All of them." He glanced down at Lea's belly. He would do whatever it took to save his child. Even if it meant sacrificing himself. They all jumped when they heard the door open.
"Ahh," Zero said. "Ready to play another game?" When he received no answer he just continued. "It's your turn, girl." James reached out to make her stand, but Mike shielded her with his body.
"I'm not letting you hurt her," Mike said between clenched teeth.
"Too bad," James replied, easily pushing him out of the way. He grabbed Lea by the arms and lifted her roughly off the ground. "I've got something special planned for you." He stood her up against the wall and shackled her using the same chains Mike had been bound with. He lifter her shirt up so that her pregnant belly was exposed.
"Don't hurt her!" Mike cried as he tried to stand.
"Sit," Zero said, pointing to him and forcing him back to the ground.
"This could have been ours, Lea," James said running his hand over her belly. "But you had to be a little whore and let someone else knock you up. I'm gonna teach you once and for all who you belong to. Who you'll always belong to. Mr. Zero…"
Zero snapped his fingers and handed a long metal object to James. One more snap and a fire erupted on the ground. It was almost like a campfire, except there was no wood. It was just sitting on the ground, but not burning anything or spreading. James placed the end of the metal rod into the flames, keeping it there until the end glowed red. Mike and Peter fought to get up, but Zero's power was still holding them down. They cried out desperately for Lea, but it was no use.
James pressed the glowing end of the rod into Lea's skin. She bit her lip, trying not to cry out in pain, but a high pitched scream resounded through the room. James held it there for several moments. He pressed it harder, causing Lea to scream again. When he finally removed it there was an angry red "J" burned into her flesh.
"See," James said tauntingly. "Now you will never have another chance to forget who owns you." Lea looked at James with hate in her eyes before crashing her head into his nose. Blood gushed down his face and he brought his hand up and slapped her hard across the face. "You're gonna regret that, you little bitch!"
"Not yet," Zero said, holding James back. "Next time." Zero unshackled her and tossed her back to where Mike and Peter were. "We have plenty of time to make sure she pays for her insolence." Zero winked at James, who smiled and nodded his head. They exited as the girl taking care of them came in.
Mike and Peter held Lea close to them. Not sure if they should let the girl near Lea or not. She yanked Lea away from them and cleaned Lea's burn roughly. Lea clenched her teeth, not allowing Mike or Peter to know how much it hurt. Once the wound was dressed the girl left without a word.
"Lea," Mike said rushing over and pulling her into his lap. "Are you ok?"
"I'll be fine," Lea responded. "It's deep, but it seems that girl did a good job cleaning it up and treating it."
Over the next week Lea, Peter and Mike didn't see James or Zero at all. The only person to come in and out was the mysterious girl either to bring food or clean and redress wounds. It was unnerving to be taken care of by the ones who were hurting you. As they days went by the three friends were growing more and more concerned about what was happening and, for that matter, what wasn't happening.
"Who are you?" Peter finally asked the girl one day. "Why are you helping us? Why are they letting you help us?"
"Not that it's your concern," the girl hissed at Peter. "But my name is Lilith. And the master is making me heal you." She turned back to Lea who was squirming as the girl cleaned her burn. "Sit still bitch," she said coldly.
"Master?" Lea asked.
"Master Zero has taken care of me for centuries," Lilith said, her voice dripping with fondness. "Now just be good, I'm gonna make it all better. Don't you worry." The way Lilith switched back and forth between snapping replies and sweetly soothing unnerved Lea. When Lilith was done cleaning the burn she put some cream on it and covered it with a gauze pad. "I'll be seeing more of you later." She smiled sickeningly before turning to leave.
"What was up with her?" Peter asked as he joined them. "She switched between being nasty and then nice like that." He snapped his fingers.
"I'm not sure," Mike said. "But she works for Zero so I'm sure that has something to do with it."
"He owns her," Lea said coldly. "She said he's taken care of her for centuries. He owns her soul."
"I think it might be more than that," Peter replied. "I just remembered where I've heard the name Lilith before."
"You really think it's the same Lilith?" Mike asked. "There could be hundreds of them scattered throughout time."
"By the way she acted, I'm almost certain," Peter replied. "In old lore, both religious and not, the figure named Lilith was a half human half demon. She would search at night for children to kidnap or strangle. She would also seduce men to spawn demonic children. She would put the demon children in place of the kidnapped human babies. There's even stories of her sleeping with Satan. My guess would be that was her." Mike and Lea paled as Mike pulled Lea closer and covered her belly protectively.
"Where did you learn that, Peter?" Mike asked.
"I actually do a lot of reading," Peter replied. "I like reading about old mythology and stuff like that. A lot of it is really dark though. That's why I never told anyone before."
"Oh, Peter," Lea said, wiggling away from Mike to give Peter a hug. "I don't care what anyone else would have thought about what you read. You may have just given us one of the most important pieces of information. They won't count on us knowing who she is!"
"Good job, Pete!" Mike said, joining Lea in hugging Peter. "We need to watch her very carefully from now on."
"That brings us to another good point," Lea said. "She said she would be seeing more of us later. I think they are healing us on purpose."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"I think I know where she's going with that," Mike said. "I think they're letting us heal so that they can prolong the torture. So that not only will we not know when it's coming, but so that we are healed enough for them to do their worst over and over again. Until we break."
Three days after speaking with the girl at the food store the phone finally rang. Micky picked it up and recognized the girls' voice instantly. He spoke with her for about 20 minutes before hanging up and getting Davy and Sammy. He wanted to tell them what the girl had to say.
"So you talked to her just now?" Sammy asked.
"Did she remember anything important?" Davy added.
"Does she know who took them?" Sammy demanded.
"Woah, guys one question at a time!" Micky cried. "And actually, why don't you just let me tell you what she said first and ask your questions after."
"Ok," Davy replied.
"Get on with it then," Sammy said impatiently.
"She said," Micky started, "she remembered that the van had big, bold, black lettering on it. She said it was a short sentence and that she was almost positive the last word was shop. She couldn't be sure of the rest, but she thought it might have been 'pawn shop'."
"So we should start by looking around all the pawn shops and seeing if any of them look suspicious," Sammy said.
"That seems like as good a place as any to start," Micky said. "It's more than we've gotten out of the cops anyway."
"Right," Davy replied. "I'll get the phone book, Micky you grab a sheet of paper. We've got a lot of ground to cover."