Bridgette arrived back at the house to find that none of her roommates were home. For a moment panic gripped her before she realized they were likely out looking for her. It would not be surprising if they were. After all, she had been gone all morning and most of the previous night, so her friends were likely in a state of panic by now. But now that she thought about it Bridgett found that she didn't care. She had more important things to worry about at the moment and she couldn't be bothered by how her friends felt. She was the next disciple and she felt sudden shame for having panicked when she had realized her friends weren't home. Gideon would never have panicked and she shouldn't either, especially when it came to her friends. She had to be strong and resilient or she would never fulfill her destiny. And if she didn't do that, then everything she had gone through with Gideon would have been a waste of time.
With this knowledge buzzing in her head Bridgette made her way inside. She was intent on living up to Gideon's legacy, but she needed more answers first and she knew exactly where to find them. But before she would allow herself to go on the hunt she had to clean herself up first. She had spent nearly twenty four hours outside and was covered in mud, grime, and blood. If she went out now people would surely notice and her hunt would end before it could begin. So, she would tame the chaos in her mind for now and focus on the basic necessities like bathing and finding something to eat before she pursued her destiny any further.
Once inside, Bridgette made her way up to her room where she peeled off her filthy cloths, depositing them in the corner of the room. She then crossed the hallway and entered the bathroom, where she finished undressing before climbing into the shower. She stood in the shower for several minutes, lost in thought, the water cascading down on her naked body, before realizing that her friends could return home at any moment. She quickly finished showering and dressed before she was completely dry before making her way down to the kitchen, her stomach rumbling with hunger. She rummaged through the cupboards, finding some chips and crackers which she devoured with a frantic urgency unlike any she had ever known before. Then, her basic desires satisfied for the moment, she made her way back up to her room, her mind still frantically searching for the answers to her questions.
But though the questions were firmly lodged in her mind, Bridgette couldn't seem to find the answers, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't even figure out where to begin her search, though she knew everything tied back to Gideon somehow. But how? How did Gideon fit in to all of this? What was the Order of Blood and Shadows? How had he known she would follow him? And why was she the one who had to fulfill this dark destiny? Add on top of that the fact that Bridgette's new role meant she had to kill her friends and it was amazing she had gone insane already.
"Fuck." she muttered to the silence. "How did Gideon do this? How was he able to shoulder this burden and make it work?"
But you already know how he did it, a voice in her head said. He taught you all you needed to know on that bridge. Now all you have to do is follow through.
"But how?" Bridgette asked aloud. "I don't even know if I can do what he wants me to do." There was desperation in her voice and she could feel the doubt creeping back into her mind. "How am I supposed to follow through with his plans when I don't even have all the answers?"
"Let the darkness be your guide." Gideon's voice said, speaking in her mind. "If you follow the darkness, it will lead you to the answers you seek. You know what you must do Bridgette and you know who you must do it to. All that is left is for you to do it. Don't worry about the hows and whys, they will come to you in time. Trust the darkness and become what you have always been destined to be. Only then will it all make sense."
Bridgette sat in silence for a moment, trying to process Gideon's words. He was right, of course. She did know what she had to do, but she still wanted all the answers before she did it, in case there was something Gideon hadn't told her. However she realized it was futile to wait for the answers to come to her and decided to make her next move without all the answers. But where to start? Who should she go after first? Her first thought was to wait at home until Nikki, Gwen, Geoff and Lucy returned, but she quickly realized that plan was flawed. With all four of them there she would have little chance of taking any of them down before they stopped her. So she turned to the next most logical plan, which was to target someone who was alone. Unfortunately, that left her with few options as most of the others were in groups as well. Jude and Starr would undoubtedly be together and it would be foolish to go after the Kings. Which left Heather and LeShawna, but Heather would likely have someone watching her so LeShawna was the only logical choice.
With her target now determined Bridgette left the house, only to stop again once she had reached the car. Doubt and fear gripped her again and she could feel her determination waning. She took a moment to try and steady herself, but ultimately failed as the doubt took hold of her with an iron fist. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill LeShawna or anyone else and as this realization washed over her she curled up into a ball and began to cry, all of her frustration and sorrow pouring out of her once again. She couldn't do it and she knew this was the end of her destiny.
A short time later, somewhere across town, LeShawna sat waiting for Jude and Starr to come get her. They, like the others, had been out all morning searching for Bridgette and LeShawna had stopped to take a break while Jude and Starr continued the search. But it had been nearly an hour since she had last seen them and she was starting to get annoyed.
"Damn it, where are you guys?" she muttered, glancing at her phone again.
There were no messages from either Jude or Starr and LeShawna was now certain they had forgotten about her, which she couldn't really blame them for given Bridgette's disappearance. Still, a text to let her know they weren't coming back would have been nice. But there was nothing and LeShawna was tired of sitting around waiting so she decided to head back to Bridgette's house with the hope that she'd get the chance to chastise Jude and Starr later.
No sooner had LeShawna started walking when her phone buzzed, drawing her to a stop. Irritated, she pulled her phone from her pocket and read the text, which said, Hey LeShawna, meet us at the old warehouse we passed this morning.
LeShawna studied the text for a moment, confused. The message wasn't from Jude's number, nor was it from Starr's, but that didn't make any sense. They were the only two she had been with the entire morning, so how could the text not be from one of them? She supposed it could be a trick, but that didn't make sense either. The only person who would trick her like that was Gideon and as far as she knew Gideon was with Bridgette. That was the reason she was out here searching after all, wasn't it? LeShawna knew that it was, as the only reason Bridgette would have disappeared was because Gideon had taken her. But then, who had sent her the text? Maybe it was Jude or Starr and they had just used a different phone. That didn't make sense either, but it was a more logical explanation than anything else she had thought of so LeShawna decided to heed the text and head to the warehouse.
A short time later she arrived at the warehouse, finding the door open which made her pause. It seemed suspicious that the door of an abandoned warehouse would just be open like that, but then again it would be open if Jude and Starr had gone inside. LeShawna decided that was as good an explanation as any and entered the warehouse, her senses on high alert in case there was a trap waiting for her inside.
"Jude?" she called, after a moment of silent searching. "Starr? Where are you guys?"
No answer came and for a moment LeShawna was filled with a terrible dread, but she quickly pushed it aside. She couldn't afford to freak out now, not when her friends might be in danger. Swallowing her fear, LeShawna pushed deeper into the warehouse only to be stopped again by a spine-chilling laugh that cut through the gloomy haze within the building.
"Who's there?" she asked, fear in her voice. "Show yourself or I swear I'll kill you." As she said this LeShawna remembered, much to her chagrin, that she did not have a weapon of any kind and so had no way to defend herself.
The laughter echoed off the walls again and this time LeShawna ran, her fear taking her back towards the entrance. She had only made it a few steps when a sharp pain lanced through her side, bringing her to a stop. She reached down and clutched her ribs for a moment, her hand coming away bloody. "Oh God." she gasped, fear now consuming her mind. She turned to run again, only to have the sharp point of a blade jab her between the shoulder blades. The tip of the blade poked out of her chest, blood dripping from it in a steady pulse.
LeShawna gasped as the blade was withdrawn from her body, her right hand rising to clutch at the wound in her chest. "Please..." she gasped. "Don't do...this. Please...let me...live." She heard the laughter again and then felt the blade against her throat. She caught sight of a dark figure out of the corner of her eye just before the blade sliced across her throat and then everything went dark and the floor rushed up to meet her, blood spraying everywhere. LeShawna felt herself clutch at her throat and heard her final gasping breath before the darkness took her completely, sending her spiraling into the cold black abyss of death.
Later that afternoon Bridgette returned home to find her friends waiting for her. After spending some time crying in the car she had gone for a walk to clear her head and had ended up wandering all over town. The walk had done little to clear her mind, but it had given her a new perspective of her situation, one that she intended to examine more closely when she had the chance. Unfortunately she would not get that chance now, for her friends were waiting and all of them looked less than happy to see her. She smiled at them as she entered the house, though none of them returned the gesture, not that she had been expecting them to.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Geoff demanded, his tone somewhere between relief and anger. "We've been out looking for you all day. We thought Gideon had taken you."
"I was looking for him." Bridgette lied. "I left last night to try and find him so I could stop him before he kills any more of us."
"Oh really?" Nikki asked. "And how did that go? Did you find him?"
"No, unfortunately I wasn't able to locate him." Bridgette answered.
"Well what the fuck Bridgette?" said Gwen. "Why did you go after him alone?"
"I just told you, so he wouldn't have a chance to kill any more of us." Bridgette answered.
For a moment it seemed like the others weren't going to buy her story and then Geoff spoke again, his tone much calmer now. "Well, okay." he said. "We appreciate you looking out for us Bridgette, but next time let us know what you're up to, okay?"
"Will do." Bridgette said, with an apologetic nod. "Sorry I didn't tell you guys what I was doing, but I didn't want to take the risk."
"We understand." Nikki said, though she looked like she didn't quite believe Bridgette's story. Bridgette decided to ignore this and instead turned her attention to other matters.
"Hey, where's LeShawna?" she asked, glancing around the room.
Her question was met by silence and then Geoff glanced at her. "She's dead." he said, his voice hollow.
"What?" Bridgette asked, her tone distraught. "When did she die?"
"Earlier today." Geoff answered. "Like I said, we were all out looking for you and it seems Gideon lured her to an abandoned warehouse where he slit her throat. Jude and Starr found her."
"Oh God." Bridgette said, her tone horrified as she glanced at Jude and Starr. "I am so sorry you guys had to find her like that. If I had just found him last night I could have killed him and LeShawna would still be alive."
"Hey, don't blame yourself Bridgette." said Jude. "Starr and I shouldn't have left her alone. If anyone is to blame, it's us." Starr nodded in agreement, her gaze fixed on the floor.
"No, the only one to blame here is Gideon." Geoff said. "He's the killer and we will stop him before he can take anyone else."
The others nodded in agreement, though Bridgette was only half paying attention. Something about the conversation with her friends had led her to one of the answers she sought and her mind was now trying to find a way to get there, for it was the only way she could learn the whole truth. One way or another she had to get to Gideon's house, if she could only find a way to do it without alerting her friends to her activities. She didn't know how she would do it or how she knew what she knew, but she was certain that the house held all the secrets of the Order of Blood and Shadows.
A/N: Okay, well, I'm back folks! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, but I've been a little busy lately. My brother and I got a bunch of really cool DVDs for Christmas and we've been spending most of our time watching them. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays, by the way. Anyway, I'm back now and things should start picking up again as we move towards the shocking conclusion of this fic. Also, look for the sequel to A Place Called Home, as well as part 1 of the Akatsuki Comedy Hour sometime in the next week or two. Oh, one last thing, the title of this chapter refers to Bridgette's search for the truth mainly (it may refer to other things as well, but I'll reveal that later).