The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 3 (Vanished)

Trina wiped her forehead with the white towel around her shoulders and glanced off to the parking lot where Jason and Christy were pulling up. It was bright and early morning and she'd been out by the lake for the past hour. This was one of the first times she'd seen Christy driving her car here, but chances were she wanted to hurry over, especially if things were still stressful at the house. The two moved out of their cars and she walked over to meet them. "It's about time you guys showed up, I was beginning to think I'd be all by myself here." Christy shrugged her shoulders and Jason laughed.

"Once my Uncle heard I had the opportunity to practice with my friends, he told me to get my ass over here or my head would be replaced with his coconuts." Trina snickered. Jason's eyes trailed to the necklace she was wearing and his lips curved upwards. "That's the necklace Tori got for you? It's pretty."

"I know, right!" She removed the necklace carefully and held it in front of the two. They inspected it carefully, Christy eyed the jewel with keen eyes. Perhaps she was trying to determine if it was a real gem. "She and her friends chipped in, I was surprised she even went out of her way to get this."

"Expensive, but pretty," Christy rested the gem portion in her palm and tapped the jewel with her finger. "I've never seen a necklace like this before, at least not around here. It seems so old fashioned and classy. Plus, this portion's thick down here, I wonder why." She lifted the jewel up and looked to the bottom of the case holding the ruby-sapphire gem. She squinted her eyes and held it up to Trina. "Look at this, there's like a really thin square line on the bottom. The gem's real, though."

"Really?" She took the necklace and stared at the bottom. She was shocked to see a small square portion that could probably be opened up with a really thin, flat head screwdriver or something. Curiosity and intrigue filled her, but unfortunately she couldn't do anything about it now. "Heh, you don't suppose there'd be a battery in there that made the necklace even more entertaining, do you?" Christy chuckled and Jason shook his head, both doubted that idea. So did she, but it never hurt to imagine. "Maybe we'll have to take a look later."

"It's probably just a serial number," Jason remarked as he started stretching on the spot. Trina watched him bend over, reaching to his feet. It was amazing he was able to reach since he was six feet tall. She shrugged and looked back to the necklace, she thought there would be a serial number on the outside, but that was clearly not the case. What manufacturer would make a necklace and not put a serial number on it?

"Strange…" She put the necklace back on around her neck as Christy started stretching her legs. "May as well worry about that later. Anyway, Tori's friends are already over today. Decided to stay out of their hair. Apparently Jade and Cat had an argument with their brothers, so Tori wanted me to know she admired me and such…" Jason laughed and stood up, putting his hands to his hips and smirking.

"I told you."

"Yeah, I suppose I had that coming." Jason had a knack for being right, probably got that from his Uncle. "Anyway, I talked to her friends briefly before I left. Want to know how they're doing?" She smiled, though her eyes betrayed her annoyance with Tori's friends. Jason sighed and Christy frowned.

"Uh oh, was it bad?"

"Well let's put it this way, at least Andre said hello. Moreover, he said, 'yo', and left it at that. Beck and Robbie said nothing, Cat waved and Jade yelled for me to leave. I mean, I know things are tough, but I just wanted to thank them for helping Tori out with the necklace. You'd think they wouldn't avoid me like they do Sinjin. They avoid him like the plague!"

"Yeah, but it's good to avoid him." Christy started performing some jumping jacks, getting her body very loose. "Sinjin and that one odd guy, Damian, are always hanging around the back of that school. I can't help but wonder what they do back there, but I have my thoughts…You know Damian, right?" She looked to Jason and watched him move to do some pushups. She inhaled and closed her eyes, recalling Damian.

"The strange kid that was in Tori's class that always has the messy hair, never 'gets excited' and scares the living shit out of everyone?"

"Yep." Jason raised an eyebrow and looked up to the girls. They didn't expect him to know anything about Damian. He didn't go to Hollywood Arts, specifically because his Uncle taught there and he really wanted to avoid his uncle during school times. "Never takes a shower either."

"You see, things like that are reasons I'm glad I don't go to Hollywood Arts. Either way, the way you talk about Sinjin all the time, I wonder if he's into drugs." That was always something she never thought about, but Sinjin was into the strangest of things. His eyes were always wide and somewhat bloodshot, he did wipe his nose a lot, and he did a lot of twitching. There were other things she'd noticed about him, small things, but she never thought much about it. "If he and this Damian kid hang out in the back of the school all the time…" He let out a grunt as he pushed himself up, clapped his hands, and caught himself. "Anyway, drugs, I wouldn't want to touch that mess. I care about my body too much to devalue it like that…" Trina shifted her eyes skyward and chuckled, folding her arms across her chest.

"Jason. Sikowitz would kick your ass if he caught you with drugs."

"There is that."

"Anyway," Christy interjected. "I was saying about Damian, it's actually a known fact that he takes drugs. Many people have seen him with drugs, myself included. I don't know why people do that to themselves, but…it's their life, I guess. I'm not going to say anything about it to them."

"Wouldn't bother." Jason pushed himself up to stand and lowered his arms. "If they are into that stuff, bringing it up with them might make them go after you."

"Um Jason, since when would that be a problem?"

"I'm sorry, aren't you the one that doesn't like using martial arts unless you have to?"

"So I haven't found a direct need to use it yet, but I will in a minute." She narrowed her eyes onto him and tightened her belt around her waist. Trina stepped in between them and held her hands out against their chests.

"Now now, we'll get to the sparring in just a second. First let's make sure we're ready to. Then again, I'm a bit tired, so maybe you two can spar and I'll watch." Her friends looked at her like she was crazy for wanting to watch them beat the hell out of each other, but then, they all enjoyed watching that. She sat next to a tall tree trunk and started uncapping a water bottle. "I'll spar the winner." Christy looked to Jason and smirked playfully.

"I get no breaks, do I?" Jason narrowed his eyes and moved into fighting stance.

"What makes you think you'll win this time? You usually end up cheating."

"Okay fine, I won't 'cheat'." Trina set her bottle next to her and put her hands behind her head, stretching her back and sighing as she relaxed.

"This ought to be interesting." She closed her eyes as her friends began their sparring. Their noises concealed the frantic sound of Trina's cell phone going off. Christy and Jason left their phones in their cars, as they did not have pockets, so they were unable to answer them when they started blaring out their cry. Trina started to hum the very tune belonging to her ringtone, a sad case of irony. Her phone had gone off three times consecutively, she missed them all.

After the day went by and class was over, the trio stopped off at Jason's home to see Mr. Sikowitz. Trina hadn't actually seen him in a while and was anxious to see how he was doing. She still hadn't checked her phone yet, not that she found reason to, people rarely ever called her. Once inside, they found Sikowitz sitting on the couch with a coconut in one hand and a wooden walking stick made of oak right next to him. It seemed so odd of him, but who knew what fascinating things lay with him. "You have a…walking stick? Since when?"

"Haven't I always?" Sikowitz responded without so much as a glance. He sipped the coconut milk nonchalantly through his straw. Jason chuckled nervously and Trina slowly shook her head. "So I finally get to meet my nephew's friends that he's so fond of." He rose up and moved over to Trina, he didn't even use the walking stick, he carried it. "Ah Trina, I never imagined you were one of them. You always seemed a bit…what's the word I'm looking for? You're into martial arts?"

"Yes."

"I see…" He turned his back to her and walked two paces, then froze. Trina raised an eyebrow as Jason slowly stepped back. Christy turned her head to the side and was fixing to ask Jason what was going on when Sikowitz quickly spun around, slinging his walking stick to Trina's neck. She sprung into action, quickly blocking the stick with her wrist.

"What was that?" Sikowitz smirked and sipped his milk once more. He then swung his stick at Trina once more, she bat it away from her leg with her left arm. This flurry of attacks continued until she managed to spring behind him and perform a knife-hand strike to his neck, stopping just at the neck. "What the hell?" Christy's eyes were wide and Jason slowly rubbed his forehead.

"I told you my uncle was batty."

"I already knew that."

"You're open, Trina." She raised an eyebrow and stared at Sikowitz, but before she could do anything, he had crouched down and kicked his left foot out against her leg. She let out a loud scream and fell forward, catching herself with her hands. Sikowitz carefully placed his coconut down on the end table next to his couch and held his walking stick in front of him, staring down at her as she gazed up with confusion. "I simply wanted to see how well you can fight. In kung fu, or any form of martial arts, you need to always be ready for any opponent you'll ever face. Even ones that you don't expect, or underestimate." He smirked and leaned forward, winking at her. "Like me. It's easy to underestimate a bald man, with a beard, wearing robes that make him look homeless."

"Okay, I get that…" She followed him as he walked around her, stopping in front of Jason.

"Your friend does know how to fight." Jason rubbed the back of his head and Trina quickly looked over to Christy, who looked very afraid. She quickly rose to her feet and started to perform a swift side kick with her right foot into Sikowitz, to see if he'd catch it. To her displeasure, he wrapped his arm around her leg and started to twist, causing a searing pain to shoot up her leg. With his stick, he smacked her in the hip, causing her to fall once more. She groaned and let her head fall towards the ground. "I'm impressed, you know how to fight dirty. In the world we live in today, you'll find a lot of criminals that fight dirty, if you can counter that, you can win almost any fight."

"Yeah…I got that too…" She pushed herself up, struggling slightly and trying her best to ignore the pain that was crawling throughout her body. What the hell was going on with Sikowitz right now? "What's going on? How come you never let into the fact that you know anything about martial arts?"

"I know many things, Trina. Things that you would probably be shocked to know." She rubbed her leg and squeezed on the muscles, trying to see if she could loosen them up any.

"Let me guess, you were once a master of karate or something?"

"Kung fu, actually." She raised an eyebrow as Sikowitz slowly returned to his seat. He placed his hands on the top of his walking stick and leaned forward, gazing past the stick. "Master implies teacher, I had that dream once, and was a very strong fighter…I was well on my way to owning my own dojo and teaching my own students, but I was cocky…and too trusting for my own good."

"And so what happened?" Now she was interested. This, a side of Sikowitz she'd never heard before, and there was a chance no one else would ever hear this story. Jason lifted his eyebrows and moved to the kitchen while Christy took a seat in the nearby recliner.

"An acquaintance I knew, one that I had suspicions about, but I deemed him not capable of disloyalty. It wasn't until one day, I paid the price for my overly trusting demeanor. He betrayed us, I won't go into details, but I questioned him, tried to reason with him. My mistake was, I did not fight him. He took out a gun and shot me. I was able to walk after a hip replacement, but unfortunately, I was unable to pursue my dream." He slowly rose to his feet and looked Trina in the eyes. "So if you ever find yourself faced with a dire situation and an opponent that you can't possibly believe would do the things they've done…don't falter one minute."

"I, uh, won't?"

"Have you checked your phone at all today?"

"No? Why?" Her purse was draped over her shoulder. She looked towards it with a frown, wondering if something was wrong.

"I received a text from Beck saying they were trying to get a hold of you, but they'd been unable to. I sent him a text back asking if everything was all right and he responded with a simple: 'we're fine.' I decided not to pursue it after that, but calling Jason wasn't helping." Jason lifted his head from the kitchen counter and quickly reached for his phone. He brought it in with him.

"You called me?" Trina felt her heart drop as she watched him check his phone. His face was frozen in surprise. "Whoa, four missed calls? One from Cat, Beck, and Andre. And there's Uncle's call…" She pressed her lips as Christy sounded out from behind her. She turned to see her friend checking her missed calls.

"I've got one from Robbie and Jade. I didn't even know Jade had my number." She was starting to get a very unpleasant feeling. Was something waiting for her at the house? Was that why Sikowitz gave her the quick 'lesson' of his? No, nothing could possibly happen.

"I-I have to go guys." With that, she bolted from the home. As she ran, she pulled her purse from her phone and tried to fight the nauseating feeling inside her stomach. It didn't help when she saw that she had several missed calls from Tori, her parents, and Tori's friends. They were all earlier in the morning too, so if something happened, it would have been hours ago!

When she arrived at her home, dread overcame as a wave crashing into a fallen surfer. The front door was wide open and no sounds were coming out. She expected to hear voices, not silence. Tori and her friends were going to be there all day, they should be laughing! Her mom and dad should be making comments and trying to interject jokes whenever they could. "Dead silence…"

She was afraid to go inside, afraid to see what happened. When she clicked on one of her many voicemails, she heard Tori's voice screaming for her.

"Trina! Oh god, Trina call the cops. Wait, dad is a cop! They hurt him, they hurt Dad!"

"Beck is bleeding!" Jade's voice screamed in the background. "His head is covered in blood!"

"Trina please! Andre can't fight them forever, there's so many people he-" Tori let out a bloodcurdling scream, followed by a slow sob. "T-Trina…oh god…TRINA!"

Her stomach jumped to her throat and her phone fell onto the grass below her. She heard the voicemail operator state clearly the message was received at ten in the morning. It was now seven in the evening. Her sister needed her and she didn't answer the phone. Tears brimmed her eyes as her world began to crash around her, not even the birds made any sounds. Her eyes were wide and filled with fear as she took her first slow steps into the house.

When she entered, the place had been ransacked. Everything was in disarray, chairs flipped over, plates on the floor, windows broken, even the television set had a gaping hole in it. Her body trembled as the dark shadows of the house descended upon her. Who could have dared to attack her family? Where were they? Were they okay? Her eyes locked on to a small pool of blood, she cringed as she thought of Jade's cry in the background. She imagined Jade weeping over Beck's body, blood pouring down his head.

No, she wouldn't believe he, or anyone died. Would it help to call the cops? Probably, but she knew they wouldn't do anything. Especially not if this was done by some gang. Her father was probably the only cop that wasn't corrupted underneath the thumbs of gang members.

She turned her eyes away, unable to look at her home. Yet, she returned to the kitchen, something had caught her attention. Slowly she moved towards the kitchen counter, which was cracked and scattered with kitchen knives and pans. On top was an envelope that was addressed to Trina. They even included the time of delivery.

"…How nice…" She tenderly lifted the envelope, reading the time over and over again. 3:30 PM. "So the bastards came back then…" Did she want to open this envelope? It was heavy in her hands and felt like if she dropped the envelope now, it would shatter her feet. The name on the envelope was regarded the deliverers to be 'Los Asesinos de Sangre'. She squinted her eyes and examined that familiar name. Just where had she heard it before? Then Tori's voice entered her head, talking about 'The Blood Assassins'. A lump began forming in her throat and her muscles tensed. Could it be? That gang that her father was investigating?

Her index finger traced the opening of the envelope, caressing it carefully. She wasn't certain she wanted to open it now, but she had to. If that gang did anything to her family, she had to find them. Maybe they had a ransom. Whatever their price was for her getting her family back, she was sure to pay it! However, if they did anything to her family, then they would be the ones to pay the price. Her hands shook as she opened the flap and started to pull out a folded sheet of paper. Now or never, what were their demands? What did they want? Did they want her father to stop investigating them? Was that it?

The unthinkable has happened, and they've left a note. A lot has happened in this chapter, let me know what you think.