An hour later she sat at the table picking at her food, clean and in borrowed clothes. Richie had changed and sat across from her. The others were mysteriously absent. "Where are your friends?"
"They….went to visit someone new in the neighborhood." Richie shrugged, thinking of the man that sat staring at their building all night long. Adam felt it necessary to question the man. Duncan had agreed, but Richie felt it was just an excuse to avoid Melissa some more. It irked Mac that he couldn't sense her immortality as he and Adam could. "Did you know any of those guys?"
"Some of them…. My sister and I-"
"Sister?" Richie interrupted, realizing they hadn't told her about never knowing their true parents. "A real sister?"
"No, we were adopted. My parents couldn't have kids of their own. They adopted Kellie when she was four and me a year later as an infant." Melissa shrugged, seeming to be okay with the way she raised. "Anyway, my sister and I moved back here after our dad died. We lived here when we were kids but Dad couldn't stand it here after mom died. Kellie wanted to find her real parents. Since we were both adopted here, we figured it would be a good place to start. She didn't find her parents but she found Kruger. That is not his real name, just the gang name they gave him, after the bad guy from the Elm Street movies. Kruger is the leader of the guys last night. He sent them out to do his dirty work."
"Where's your sister?" Richie hated asking, because he feared the worst. He knew he was correct when she paled.
"Dead. Kruger killed her, high on drugs one night. Supposedly, he mistook her for a member of some other gang. He slit her throat and her body open before he realized-" Melissa choked up, thinking of finding her sister with her guts hanging out. Kellie's blood had been everywhere.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could do something about drugs. The guy who shot me was on drugs. He killed me and a friend of ours. I was lucky. I came back, Tessa didn't." Richie reached across the table to take her hand, soothing her even as the current rattled his nerves. He didn't think he could ever get used to the connection between them. "But, why did he send his goons after you last night, did you witness it?"
"Well, Kruger took something of Kellie's and I plan on getting it back. With her dead, it is rightfully mine. It didn't belong to him, but he wanted it. I wouldn't leave it alone, so Kruger set his boys out to stop me. They decided have a little fun with me as they did." Melissa forced herself to calm, pulling away, she busied herself with cleaning off the table. "Now, I'd just like to be around to know that he is dead."
"If you keep your head, you'll be alive to see that he dies." Richie got up and began to help her. "And while you wait for that, we will see that you learn to protect yourself. By now, he's probably very angry with me, perhaps even searching for us as we speak." Richie warned, telling her, yet not ready to tell her about the man downstairs.
"Okay, when do we start? And what with? A self defense class? Sword fighting?" She looked at him hopefully. Richie studied her, knowing the need for revenge. She was full of anger but also feeling the fear of being unprepared for another run in like the night before.
"We'll wait until the guys get back. I'm not the one to train you." Richie admitted.