Sorry about the long delay. I'm moving house XD

Chapter 14

'I'm sorry Fenris but that's what I think. I mean it's been about three days now. No-one has heard anything from them, no-one has seen anything. They've probably been taken back to wherever they came from,' Garrett says in a slight mood as he drinks his beer. He didn't really want to talk about it but the elf wasn't dropping the subject. 'Look, they were here for a while and now they've gone again,' he mumbles. Varric sighed and tilted his head at his friend. There was the initial panic when the women didn't return to the Mansion or Hawke's estate. They searched for hours but the girls had simply vanished. Fenris was leaning against the door frame, a scowl seemed to be permanently etched on his features.

'So they arrived for less than a week, then for some illogical sense they simply vanish? What was the reason they came?' Fenris says simply. 'I do not think that it was for nothing. I do not like magic, but from experience, things happen for a reason. There must have been a reason they came here, I do not believe it was simply to warm your bed,' he says sarcastically. Garrett glares at him in deep annoyance, he opened his mouth to retort and possible start an argument when Varric cuts in.

'Gentleman, arguing about this isn't going to help,' he says simply. 'Fenris, cool it. Garrett, Fenris has a slight point. Are you totally sure that the girls are safe or not?' Varric says as he takes out his notebook and refers back to the beginning of the week. 'I mean,' he says reading. 'They appeared out of nowhere, and Cat did mention that it was because they had had a few too many drinks. I don't know if that's what got them here. I don't even know what I'm trying to say, but something isn't right,' he sighs, knowing that he's not making much sense.

'She admitted to me that she thought it unlikely that she would ever be able to take them back to her original world,' Fenris said quietly as he refused to look at them both. 'Somehow while they were shopping for clothing they managed to simply stumble back from where they came from? I doubt it,' he says bitterly. He looks at Garrett who sighed and avoided his gaze.

'I don't know okay! I just, it's easier thinking that Catherine is back where she came from than, well, in trouble and I can't find her,' Garrett mumbles into his drink, Varric was right. Arguing wouldn't help either of them. To be honest, he was surprised that Fenris was being so insistent about it. It was a good thing, meant that the elf was perhaps growing in character, yet a little worrying about the same time. He sighed and finished his drink. 'Come on, let's go ask Aveline again, maybe her patrol have spotted something we haven't.'

…

'Ah fuck!' Catherine coughed as she was harshly slapped into conciousness. She opened her eyes, spots danced in the low light, blood burst into her mouth with the second blow. '-Uck!' Catherine swore gagging and lifting her head to see who was hitting her. She hung limply from the chains that were attached to the wall ring above her. A deep burning pain was rooting itself in her shoulders and she knew it would be a while before that left. Some night sight began to creep into her vision and she could make out the shape of a man, tall, wiry; though it was his smell which was the most obvious. It was stale and bitter. If Catherine didn't already feel sick enough, that smell would do it. 'Who are you?' She asked, rolling her eyes at the cliché. Then, realisation hit and the chains rattled heavily as she threw herself towards him, kicking out with her legs as her arms refused to let her go any further forward. He danced back easily, away from her frantic kicking. 'I swear to the maker if you've hurt her I'll kill you!' Catherine screams fighting against her bonds, ignoring the pain in her wrists, especially the throbbing that flooded her head. 'I'll gut you like the yellow bellied coward you are!' She hissed in anger. When he didn't respond she continued to spit profanities at him, pulling on her chains until she physically couldn't.

It seemed as if he was waiting for her to wear herself out. He pulled up a chair and looked around the room. It simply had a bucket and the chains, it was not furnished in any other way, the chair was brought in for when it was needed. She looked him up and down quickly, he was skinny, but there was some muscle tone. He had long slicked back hair, a nasty twist to his mouth and his nose was short and snubbed. In short he reminded Catherine of a slug that had been hit in the face with a shovel. He sat down and tilted his head at her. 'Pathetic,' he said turning up his nose. He tried to speak but Catherine cut in.

'That's not the only word I would use. You're a pathetic, dickless excuse for a living creature, now that comes to mind,' she snarls. 'But that would probably just egg your overbearing ego on wouldn't it? How does it feel? Knowing that this is the closest you'll be to a woman without them running away? Except, well I can't, otherwise I would,' she laughed at him. He sneered at her, his brow frowning in disgust.

'You are a disgustingly crude whore,' he spits. 'Worth noth-'

Catherine laughs more, 'is that all you've got? Whore? You need to try harder than that, nug humper,' she cackled. He was getting more angry, she could tell. It was working. 'So who are you attempting to be hmm? Oh let me guess, you're the bad guy? Wow, this world hasn't got a lot going for it if you're the bad guy. I mean, you're trying way to hard. What's the matter? Did daddy not love you enough? Oh wait, maybe it was mummy who was mean,' she said with a fake pout.

'ENOUGH!' He shouts getting up and throwing the chair against the wall, Catherine winced as it split into pieces. 'Listen here, bitch!' He snarled, Catherine obliged, wondering what he was going to say. 'If you ever want to see your precious mage alive again, you'll shut that filthy mouth. Otherwise you'll both pay for what you did to my Hadriana,' he promised. Catherine raised a brow and mentally nodded. He was here because Amelie helped kill Hadriana. Makes sense.

'So what? You were the boyfriend?' Catherine asks trying to ignore the threat to Amelie. He inhaled deeply and kept her gaze. Catherine hissed air between her teeth, almost as if she was inspecting something and wanted a cheaper price. 'Ooooh, mate, hate to tell you this, but I'm not even sure that Hadriana was even classified as a living. Seeing as she kinda embraced the decomposing style of make-up, not to mention her hair-' He moved to her in two strides and grabbed her around the throat, squeezing tightly.

'She was the most beautiful woman I have ever met,' he stated simply.

Catherine gasped for air and looked him straight in the eyes. 'No... accounting...for taste I...suppose,' she said wincing. 'Though, personally, she looked...like one of those alley cats...that had...been kicked one...too many...times...and it's... arse... was coming out it's...nostrils...' Catherine said in a raspy voice as she struggled for air. He tightened his grip and Catherine tried not to struggle and lose more air than she was already.

'I will kill you,' he warns with hot anger.

'You would...have already,' Catherine points out. He drops her ungracefully and walks away from her. Catherine coughs and spits blood. 'Y-You would have killed me...ages ago; you can't though. If you're using me... to control Amelie... she'll know if I am alive. You know this. So, actually, I will kill you and there's nothing you can do about it. 'Cause nothing will be able to stop Amelie if you kill me,' Catherine brays with slightly forced laughter. 'She'll peel your very muscles from your bones, or make you think that she is. I can't wait to see it. You'll piss yourself, I guarantee it. If Amelie doesn't kill you, if I don't kill you, Garrett will. He'll be looking for me,' she promises. 'Basically all you've done is paint the biggest fucking target on your back,' she grins. He snarls and slams the door behind him as he leaves, she can hear him ranting and screaming at other people, which meant there were guards. She sighs and runs her tongue over her teeth with a wince as her blood thickly clumps around her gums. Catherine breathes in heavily and stretches with her legs, straining towards the debris of the chair. She manages to grab a specific splinter she was aiming for between her boots and drag it towards her. 'Oh come on,' she hissed as she struggled to get the wood up to her hands. Feeling her muscles strain she swore and ignored the tears that rolled down her cheek. Her fingers gingerly grasped the splinter and she twisted it in her hands. Dropping her legs she spent a minute panting heavily, that turned out to be harder than she thought it would be. Her body was screaming at her, the beating it had taken earlier was taking it's toll. Carefully she listened to try and decifer if anyone was coming to clear up the mess he had created. Thankfully no-one seemed to care, which suited her just fine. The room was silent apart from her heavy breathing, she fiddled with the splinter and with a pained grunt she extracted the needle thin nail she required. Catherine began to anxiously gnaw on her split lip as she concentrated, it took a longer than she wanted but she finally heard the click of her cuffs.

'Took you long enough,' Catherine heard in her mind. She grinned and tilted her head, the pressure in her skull was obvious now that she was aware Amelie was trying to talk to her. Closing her eyes as she pulled herself from her restraints Catherine allowed Amelie to flood her subconcious. 'You're hurt,' Amelie said in anger and sadness.

'Just another day in Kirkwall,' Catherine whispered quietly. She wasn't used to just conversing in her head. 'Look, I've gotten out my cuffs, I can come get you-'

'No.' Amelie said firmly. 'No, you stay here and they'll use me against you and vice versa. You need to get out of here as soon as you can. Go and you can get the guys to come find me.' Catherine frowned, Amelie sounded weak and in pain. 'If you're here then I can't try to escape, trust me, without you around I can really throw someone against a wall. Literally,' Amelie tried to laugh but it was fake. Catherine sat on her backside and winced as all the muscles in her arms returned to gravity, she rubbed her shoulders and grimaced.

'What if we're too late?' Catherine asks bluntly. 'What if you can't escape?'

'Well that's a depressing thought. Thanks,' Amelie said rolling her eyes as she hung in her own cell. She was in a similar situation, although her mouth and eyes were covered to prevent her from casting spells on anyone. 'I'm sure when you're out the vicinity, I'll be perfectly fine,' she promised. Her back wounds were screaming at her, she was sure that some of her stitching had torn and as she was so small, she couldn't touch the floor, therefore support any of her weight on her feet. Catherine argued with her for a good fifteen minutes, until Amelie pointed out that she was wasting time. The sooner she left the sooner she could return with help. Catherine begrudgingly agreed to go, she armed herself with a large, sharp splinter of wood and promised to come back. Amelie smiled behind her mask and pulled herself from Catherine's subconcious. She could easily break out of these bonds, clearly her captors had no idea what her specialisations were. The cuffs she could snap with a simple pressure cage, it was late in the evening and there was sufficient cloud coverage overhead. Although it had been a few days since she ate properly but she hadn't used a lot of mana, the threat on Catherine's life had been too high. If she really concentrated she could easily cause a storm to happen and cause some damage to where ever they were holding her captive. With a sigh she closed her eyes, at this moment in time she was simply praying to the maker that Catherine got out okay with little injury.

…

'Listen, I haven't got anything for you. I've asked everyone who was on patrol that night. They were last seen in Hightown, but that's it. I'm sorry, I wish I had more,' Aveline says sadly as she sits at her desk. Garrett was leaning on the polished wood, while Fenris stood near the door. Both of them looked terrible. 'You both need to go home and have some food, sleep and a bath. You both look like shit,' she says bluntly. 'I'm treating this case as missing persons, so we're on high alert. I've got to say though, we might never find them,' she warns. She rubs her eyes and leans back in her chair. 'Come on, you know I'm trying everything in power.'

Garrett nodded and sighed. 'I know Aveline, you've been working hard. I just, can't get rid of this feeling that something isn't right,' he mumbles. Aveline looks them over and wears a worn smile, it was nice seeing them both care about someone other than themselves, but given the circumstances, it was tainted. 'Any reports about where they were last seen?' Garrett asks desperately. Aveline nods and rifles through the paperwork that she had sitting on her desk. A few pieces flutter to the ground and Fenris steps forward to pick them for her. Aveline cursed to herself but eventually found the bit she was looking for.

'Okay, I have Eileen's report, she was interviewing the local business owners who might have seen them and this is the report,' she says simply as she scans over it. 'Says here that... they were seen just before closing hours, the Perfumier sold them a bottle of fragrance, he remembered as it wasn't a popular brand and he was surprised that he had it in stock at all. He mentioned that they were on a bench when he left to go home, then he heard a smash and ran back to check on the shop. He couldn't see what had been broken but the women had gone,' she reads shrugging a shoulder. 'Though in Kirkwall a breaking noise isn't uncommon. I mean, it was probably some drunk in an alley finishing his bottle,' she points out. Garrett nods and rubs his hand through his hair. Fenris on the other hand pauses.

'A Perfumier? Amelie wore a specific perfume,' he begun and then went quiet as they both looked at him with a curious expression. 'I smelt the fragrance when she first came here,' he says simply, his body language daring them to make a deal of it. Neither of them rose to the challenge and so he continued to speak. 'Maybe your hound could trace the smell,' he suggests to Hawke. It had been a few days though, but a Mabari's nose was very sensitive.

'We can give it a try, it has rained since then,' Hawke says pulling a face. 'Aveline want to join us?' He asks. The Guard Captain tilted her head and looked at the rota, she nodded and stood up grabbing her shield and sword.

'I'll leave Donnic in charge,' Aveline says softly ignoring Garrett's smirk. They gather their things and promptly leave the Keep. It was late and places were closing, Hawke made a detour to grab Jess and let Orana know that he was going to be out a little later than expected. Fenris on the other hand didn't wait and made his way to where the girls were last seen. There was a feeling in his stomach and it wasn't a good one, it reminded him of an incoming battle and bloodshed. He was determined to find some sign of them, despite that it had rained. Scowling at anyone who made eye contact he saw the supposed bench that they had been seen at. Luckily there was no-one there now so he didn't have to scare anyone off. He tilted his head as he got close, there was a strong scent in the air. It was very familiar to Amelie's perfume, but it had a metallic tang at the edge. That wasn't right. That smelt more like... blood. He looked around in horror and searched for something to give him a clue. Garrett and Aveline soon arrive, Jess bounding beside them. 'What's going on Fenris?' Aveline asked as she found him kneeling next to the bench.

'I can smell her perfume and a faint trace of blood,' he states simply. Garrett looks at Jess and asks her to do the same and she instantly places her nose to the ground, inhaling deeply. She wanders off a little and Garrett watches her carefully as she walks in circles. Fenris reached for something that caught his eye and picked up a piece of rose coloured glass. He held the shard as he sniffed it and winced. It was the perfume bottle, that was a bad sign. He passed it to Aveline who sniffed it herself.

'Wow, that's still really strong, even after rain. It's a lovely smell,' she added inhaling again. Fenris stood up with more glass in his hand. Garrett and Aveline went to take it from him before realising that the reason he had picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand; was because it had been shielded from the rain and held a small pool of congealed blood. 'That's not yours is it,' Aveline said quietly as she looks at him. Fenris shook his head and sighed as he looked around. Jess began to bark and their heads snapped up to look at her, she woofed in their direction then bounded down the alley. Garrett and Fenris exchanged looks before chasing after her, Aveline hot on their heels.

XD So that's it for this chapter. Next one, should have lots of blood and romance.

Please drop a review so I know what you're thinking.