A/N: Hey! Thanks SO much to my THREE reviewers that have actually been awesome enough to continue reading!!!
NOTE: I'm hoping that you guys will actually continue to read this after this chapter, because I promise you that things will get pretty interesting from here on out. Yay! It's about time, right??? LoL PLEASE, for all that is holy, R&R!!!!!
CH 8
"How is she, doctor?"
"She's doing quite well, actually…she's a very lovely specimen. Don't you agree, Travers?"
The young man that had been addressed humbly bowed his head, then nodded. "Yes, sir, Mr. Onaga….she's really beautiful. I-I can't believe that I actually found her alive since she was all bloody and left out in the streets to die. I guess nobody wanted to claim the poor thing."
"Hmm, yes…a terrible pity for such a young girl," Dr. Onaga agreed, briefly checking the young woman's pulse before returning to the monitors by her bedside. "When she wakes up, we'll finally be able to see if her eyes match the beauty of her face…and possibly learn of her name and origin, as well."
Travers smiled. "I don't doubt her beauty for a minute, doctor. Blondes are like angels fallen from Heaven, and this one is most certainly no exception to that rule."
Nodding as his unspoken agreement, Dr. Onaga returned the young man's smile, only to be immediately called to attention once his patient made a soft, muffled moan within the sanction of her bed.
Hurriedly rushing over to her side, he questioned breathlessly, "Miss…a-are you feeling alright?"
The blonde scrunched up her face in confusion, then shook her head. "I-I don't know….where am I? Was I in some sort of accident?"
"Well, uh…"
"I found you," Travers hurriedly cut in, beaming like a fool upon realizing that the radiant enchantress' eyes were a heavenly blue. "I was hoping that maybe you could possibly give me your name or someone to contact to let them know that you're being hospitalized."
Once again, the blonde appeared to be completely baffled. "My….name?," she repeated, giving him a dazed look. "I…I can't seem to remember….."
"Oh, uh…no need to over-exert yourself, my dear," Dr. Onaga hastily added, "yet we do very much hope that you'll regain your memory in the near future. As of now, however, you will be addressed as Ava….sound good?"
The blonde nodded meekly. Did she really even have any other choice? She knew deep-down that Ava was completely off from her actual name, yet she harbored no complaints. Ava was, after all, a very pretty name and suited her just fine for the time being as her surrogate title.
Turning in order to speak to Travers in private, Dr. Onaga asked in a hushed, raspy voice, "Where did you say you found her, again?"
"In Red Dragon territory….out in front of the Auburn Skies Apartment Complex. Why?," the young man demanded, truly not seeing why this information would have any significance to the situation at hand.
Instantly realizing this, Dr. Onaga rolled his eyes, then handed Travers his comm. link, urging in a gruff, crisp voice, "Call 'em up….we're going over for a little visit on behalf of Miss Ava."
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It didn't take very long for Ava to find the small mirror hanging beside the bathroom door; she had been hunting for some sort of identity from the very beginning. Getting over there, however, is what proved to be the true challenge.
Thanks entirely to her brief coma, her flaccid legs had nearly gone to mush, so, as she pitifully hobbled on over towards her destination, Ava couldn't help but curse the fools that had had the brilliant idea of putting a damned mirror all the way over in what appeared to be a modern 'no man's land'.
Panting and gasping for breath due to her sudden over-exertion, Ava then hauled herself up to as tall as she could possibly stand and peered curiously into her reflection, only to find a just as curious blonde staring right back.
Oh, how pale she was! Just the sight of her sunken, pallid cheeks made Ava weak with nausea, yet she found that she could somehow not bring herself to look away from the desiccated scabs and dried blood upon her surprisingly demure countenance. Perhaps her accident had involved a struggle of some sort? No…she most certainly hoped not.
As Ava continued to admire her reflection, she soon decided that she was, indeed beautiful like the doctor had claimed. It was a sad, tragic sort of beauty, yet beauty, nonetheless.
She had been hoping for a revelation upon seeing her own reflection, yet her memory was still just as fuzzy as it had been ever since she woke up three hours ago.
Was she ever going to remember who she was? And if she did, would she be glad and relieved or regret it with every living fiber of her being?
"Miss Ava?"
She immediately looked up. "Oh…Dr. Onaga…."
"You should be in bed. Here…let me help you," he urged, his face a shroud of sheer solemnity as he approached her and gingerly took her by the arm.
Ava took an immediate notice to his strange behavior and frowned, demanding fearfully, "What's wrong? Has something happened?"
Dr. Onaga sighed deeply in resignation, then reached over and gently squeezed her hand in response. "Where would you like for me to begin?"
Ava frowned. "Why don't we try the very beginning?"
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"So who's this tramp?"
"Says her name's Darla Grisholm…I think she's lyin' through her pretty 'lil teeth."
"No, I'm not….I swear!," Darla wailed, cowering in fear before the mysterious group of men that had cornered her by her car in the strip club parking lot. "Please….I-I'll give you anything! Just let me go!"
The goon in blue, who appeared to be the leader, merely smirked. "Now how many times have I heard that lame-ass excuse?," he scoffed, shaking his head as his lackeys followed suit in his laughter. "My bud here says that you wouldn't give him a lap dance…care to fill me in on that?"
Darla paled, then placed her trembling hands over her head as protection before weeping in response, "I was off my shift! Th-the rules specifically state that after my assigned working hours I don't have to perform any sexual and or customer-related requests!"
'Blue' frowned deeply. "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation, toots. Do you, boys?"
'Yellow', 'Red', 'Green', 'Orange', and 'Purple' all shook their heads in response, occasionally caressing the brass knuckles that adorned their hands with the obvious intention of intimidation. With one as easily frightened as Darla, however, they all knew very well that they would instantly succeed.
Bestowing the mossy-haired young woman with a cruel and callus smile, 'Blue' seized her by a fistful of her soft, wavy locks before yanking her up and off of her knees and to her feet, Darla squealing like a pitiful kitten as he drew her in close and flicked a tiny switchblade out and pressed it firmly beneath her svelte chin.
"I'll give you two options," he began coldly, "one, you can be a good little bitch and give the man what he wants, or two, I can peel the flesh from your bones….piece by piece."
To further stress his point, he slid the blade down lightly along the column of her throat to the point that he drew blood, Darla whimpering like a blubbering fool once she realized that she was most likely going to die.
She knew that going for the good 'ol 'nutcracker' was an extremely bad move since there were five other men surrounding them, not to mention the mere fact that she had heard by word of mouth that the notorious Black Scorpions were in town in search of their dreaded rivals, the Red Dragons.
Guess they just happened to find her, instead.
Joy.
"Time's up, bitch! Decide!"
Oh, right….that.
Giving the treacherous snake before her a defiant glare, Darla abruptly spat in his face with a newfound courage, hissing at the top of her lungs, "You can take my clothes and my money, but you can't take the last of my dignity! I'd rather die than give pleasure to scum of the earth like you!"
"Well you heard her, boys," 'Blue', acknowledged, cracking a small smile as he wiped the warm saliva from his cheek without so much as a grimace. "Let the fun and games begin."
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"Did you hear that?"
Faye yawned. "Hear what?"
"That," Evelyn clarified, straining her ears as she tried her damndest to comprehend what on earth was going on outside. "You wanna go check it out?"
Faye smiled as she continued to file her perfect red nails, then finally shook her head. "Nope…I'd much rather stay here. After a day full of interrogation from that doc, all I'm thinking about is a nice little night cap before retiring for the evening."
Evelyn frowned deeply with suspicion. "Who was he, anyway? I wasn't questioned."
"I dunno….someone calling on behalf of a 'Miss Ava'. She had apparently been found bleeding to death outside of our apartments, but that doesn't ring a bell. The only one that we found out there was-"
"Julia…," Evelyn finished, her eyes wide with an unspoken fear.
"Well yeah, but she's dead….remember? I seriously don't think it's the same woman; just a big coincidence," Faye insisted, much to her friend's utter dismay. "Besides, don't you have some noise to investigate right about now?"
"Hmph…I suppose, seeing how you're so damned anxious to get rid of me," Evelyn acknowledged, smirking as she pocketed a small firearm and switchblade within the recesses of her black trench coat before crossing over across the room and to the door. "If it sounds like I'm in any sort of danger, let me be. I know what I'm doing."
"But-"
"Better one dead than two, right? Besides," she continued, winking, "I'm a woman, and if whatever's out there is a man, his ass is mine."
Faye smiled, but it never reached her eyes. She had a terribly bad feeling about all of this, and wasn't a woman intuition always right?
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Spike stiffened upon hearing the loud 'bang' in the back of the apartment complex, his brow furrowing slightly once he tossed his half-used cigarette off to the side and pushed himself off of the brick wall to the main entrance.
What he had heard was most definitely a gun, yet there had been no raids scheduled for this evening.
Something was definitely wrong.
Slipping his long, slender fingers about the handle of his Jericho for a sense of added assurance, Spike began to dash along the side of the apartment complex as fast as his long legs would carry him, his brow beading profusely with perspiration due to the tremendous fear of what he might find.
Perhaps Faye had gotten herself into trouble, again? Oh, God, just the very thought of having to save her ass nauseated the hell out of him. If he found her, he automatically decided that he would just let her fight her battle by herself, for a change.
Suddenly tripping over his own two feet, Spike staggered over and fell heavily against the brick siding of the apartment complex, his heart practically beating out of his chest once he realized that if he were to take another step, he would finally discover the source of the mysterious 'bang'.
Swallowing, Spike anxiously withdrew his Jericho from within his coat pocket, then leapt out from behind the aegis of the brick wall. Blinking like a fool, he soon came to realize that he was staring back at absolutely nothing.
"Dammit," he cursed, thrusting his firearm back within his hip holster in utter agitation before finally coming to realize that there was something there, but a very small something.
Blindly staggering forward, Spike fell to his knees amidst a large snow bank that was completely saturated with what appeared to be copious splotches of blood, his fingers trembling as he reached out for a tiny piece of paper lying amidst the terrible stains of death and destruction.
Bringing it up with shaking hands, he then parted his trembling lips and read, "We've got the redheaded minx. If you ever want your Red Dragon back, we highly suggest that you give us 10 million woolongs by midnight tomorrow evening. This is not negotiable; the money for the girl.
-Black Scorpions
Spike let out a garbled cry upon seeing the Black Scorpion insignia on the upper-hand corner of the ransom note, his mind reeling amidst his blinded rage as he crumpled up the note within his hand and bowed his head forward in utter despair.
They had stolen his dear, beloved friend Evelyn, whom he secretly thought of as a sister, and for that they would pay with their smarmy, completely undeserving lives.
NOTE: Okay, if any of this is confusing you (it moves a tad fast, I know) I'll try my best to explain. The Black Scorpions are in town (obviously) so, knowing that their rivals are nearby, they automatically want to wreak all havoc everywhere they can, thus why they stirred trouble with Darla at the strip club and, the final straw, kidnapped Evelyn. And I'm sure we can all guess who that darn blonde is, hahahaha. Don't worry, though, this is a SxF, so be happy! This fic is coming to an end, so I hope to finish sometime after Christmas. Again, I whole-heartedly thank the few people that have stayed with me throughout this story…love ya!