The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 8 (Try and Sleep)

Trina stood with her back to the bathroom mirror of a Knights Inn motel room, she was looking over her shoulder with her hands on her shoulders. Christy was leaning against the closed door, it was good thinking to pack a first aid kit with a bunch of medical supplies. "They don't look so bad, Christy. I have plenty more suits like that last one, stores are great for that…" Christy took the hydrogen peroxide spray and Trina lowered her arm. "Do your work, I guess."

"My mom works in medicine, so I know from watching her, how to fix these things." She sprayed the wounds and Trina yelped painfully. Christy inspected the wounds and reached to the large kit on the counter. They only had to apply a strip of gauze bandaging and some adhesive tape. The wounds were relatively small, though still bigger than mere cuts and scratches. "Lucky that woman's fans weren't all that sharp, I guess the weapons the bad guys use can only get worse from here." Trina pulled her hair up and held it on the top of her head while Christy did her work.

"Yeah, I can only wonder what'll happen if we aren't more careful." She didn't need anyone getting shot, though they were sure guns were probably going to be used. However, from the sounds that she heard on the tape, the majority of this gang didn't necessarily use guns. It was only the lesser street thugs that did. "Maybe they just use guns for execution purposes…"

"We can hope. Sikowitz might be able to help with bullet wounds. I figure hospitals would just try to hold us there if we went in with battle wounds." She thought about that and lifted her eyes up as Christy moved to the wounds on her front side. What could they do for greater wounds that were out of Christy's realm of knowledge? "Maybe we need some armor, like a bulletproof vest." Though those could only work for so long. One more, Christy sprayed her wounds and she winced as the sting ripped through her. "Jesus that burns more than the woman's slashes did."

"Well that's just because of the adrenaline." The girl reached once more for the bandage and tape. "You remember that old cartoon, Kim Possible?" Trina raised an eyebrow and nodded her head to the side, she enjoyed the show when she was a kid.

"That girl kicked a lot of ass, but it was a cartoon."

"Still, not bad to learn from it. Same for martial arts movies like Rush Hour. Which…I think the guys are watching in the other room…" Trina laughed and looked towards the bathroom door. They all had one motel room for the night, no sense in paying for two. The girls were to share a bed and the guys were to share a bed, much to Jason's disdain, but he couldn't sleep with either of the girls. "Anyway, I'm just saying, it can't be all that hard to do this, and now that we just took out Ms. Lee back there, we really can't turn back now."

"Yeah, about that." Trina walked past her friend and grabbed her robe from the corner of the towel rack. It was a white black bathrobe with a red belt. "I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, Christy. I feel like…I feel like this is my battle, not yours." She bowed her head and stared at the floor with a guilty anger. The others were at risk because of her, if something happened to them, it was all on her hands. "After talking to the families, I realized that…all these people are counting on me to bring their loved ones back. Then there's you, Jason, and Mr. Sikowitz. If something happens to you guys…you're my best friend, and I may have already lost my sister and my parents, I can't lose you too."

Christy smiled gently and brought her hand to Trina's shoulder. She lifted her eyes to Christy's and smiled back at her, though only with sadness. "Trina, I know you're feeling bad about this whole thing. I know you're hurting, Jason knows you're hurting, and Tori was very much a sister to us because she was your sister. We're fighting for her too, we're fighting for your mom and dad as well, especially on my side. Those two were like my second family! Sure, I dated Robbie briefly and Jason had a date with Cat, those connections also make us want to save them too, and the friends. Trina. Even if you tried to turn us away, you couldn't do it."

"Oh, really now…"

"Yeah, cause we'd be right there beside you the whole time, and we will be." Trina's heart started to rise up and a new hope spun inside her. She was so nervous that she did want to tell them to go back home, she thought they'd be safest that way. Christy smiled into her eyes and breathed out softly. Her voice relaxed and her eyelids fell halfway. "Look at it this way. When we're out there fighting these freaks, you actually can stop them from killing us as we can stop them from killing you." Trina chuckled softly as Christy's lip curled into a smirk.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. At least I know whether or not you're safe. Can't say that for Tori's friends, for their families, or for my parents…"

"No, we can't say that. We don't know if we'll find them alive or dead at this point." Her blood chilled and once more she felt like crying, but held back any tears she might have waiting to escape. "But we can try everything possible to save them, to take out this gang before anyone else gets hurt. You told each of the friends' families to leave town, so we just have to trust that they will heed your advice. We have to have faith that we'll find everyone safe. Believe me, things have a funny way of working out."

"I hope so. As for now, I just need to rest…We'll get started bright and early tomorrow. Maybe after breakfast, if we have time for the continental." Christy chuckled and hugged her tight. She winced as her wounds squeezed. Her friend quickly let go and apologized. Trina laughed and started walking by her. "It's all right, just don't squeeze so hard."

"Yeah, I'll try and remember that." As the girls left the bathroom, they saw Sikowitz watching the television, his eyes firmly glued to the screen. Jason was going through his suitcase to see what to wear for tomorrow. He looked up at the girls and crossed his arms over.

"What kind of evil person makes me sleep with my uncle!" Sikowitz muttered something while the girls laughed. Trina curled her lip into a smirk and moved towards him, playfully tapping the side of his face.

"Who knows Jason, maybe there's some master controller out there deciding your every move and fate, and doesn't want you to sleep with us ladies." Jason sighed and Christy laughed again. "Or maybe, it just works out better that you don't sleep with us girls."

"Yeah I know, I'm just saying…" Sikowitz moved his eyes over to the others and straightened himself on the edge of the bed.

"You could always sleep in those wicker chairs near the window. Now hush, the news is on." The others turned their attention to the television and sat on the edges of the beds. The reporter was outside the Wok Star, where several police cruisers rested, pulling several ninjas from the restaurant. Sikowitz chuckled and folded his arms across his chest. "I'd say they got our present."

"I'm Journalist Alyssa Tate reporting here where the police have begun their war against the up and coming gang 'The Blood Assassins', otherwise known as 'Los Asesinos de Sangre'. Chief Abrams has refused to release any information to the public regarding this fight between the gang and the police, but this just in, he has ordered every officer to arrest anyone associated with this gang."

Alyssa turned in the rain as an officer pulled Ms. Lee from the building, his hand gripped her arm. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and her face was twisted in anger. The reporter gasped and turned to the camera. "It is Ying Lee! Ying Lee, the owner of Wok Star is mixed up with the Assassins!" Deputy Chief Michael walked into the view of the camera next to Alyssa and furrowed his brow.

"What is this? Why are you still here?"

"Sir, can you explain what happened here?" Alyssa moved her microphone to Michael as cameras flashed around them. He groaned and shielded his eyes from the flashes. "A battle was fought here, was it not?"

"Yes. Between the gang and the police. That is all that you need to know. The police will be taking out the Assassins. We have been investigating them for the past year now, and as of last week, the police force has decided that this group is far too dangerous to let loose on the streets. In the up and coming days, we urge everyone to stay inside or leave town."

"What do you know of the Assassins?"

"They are still under investigation. We do not know who is in charge, we do not know if they have demands. We can only say that the LAPD will make these streets safe again." Alyssa nodded and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

"You say the police fought these people inside, how did you discover that they were involved?"

"Well…" Michael crumpled up a small sheet of paper in his left hand and pushed it into his pocket. Trina's note. She had told him the things she thought he ought to say to the media. "Chief Abrams and I were inside having a meal with some fellow officers when we overheard a group of waiters discussing the Assassins, once they referred to Ms. Lee as the one in charge, we began asking questions. That's when they attacked, so we called for backup. You do not need to know anything more. Now let us do our work."

Trina smiled pleasantly as she crawled underneath the covers of the bed closest to the window. "Good, this way the gang will not think I'm involved with the police.." Though she did question whether the gang members would attempt to ask Ying or Sinjin what really went down.

Sikowitz rested his elbows on his legs and clasped his hands together in front of his face. He rested his chin atop his fingers and narrowed his eyes on the screen. "The will learn of your involvement eventually. Even Michael and Warren will not be able to lie to the media after a while. Our involvement will undoubtedly be discovered, but hopefully, just in time to save the gang."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure the gang will get my message to them after a while, that if they harm anyone else, things will only get worse." She did want to meet up with Michael or Warren at some point of time, but she didn't know if that would be possible. Maybe in secret. "Anyway guys, let's get some good rest. I…appreciate all your help, just so you know." The others looked to her with smiles as she rolled over in the bed, her back to them.

She stared out at the window and clasped her blankets to her chest. The television shut off and the bed shook a bit as Christy moved under the covers on her side. The lights went out, leaving their only source of light coming from the moon outside. She stared up at the moon and let her thoughts wander. She was sure she heard the others saying their goodnights, but she didn't join in.

Her eyes started to water as her thoughts turned to the image the gang had sent to her. She hadn't really paid attention to the others. The families would get their loved ones back, but chances were, they wouldn't return the same. Nothing could ever be the same again.

Silent sobs left her when she thought of Tori and her parents. She usually would hold her small stuffed Gingham Dog that she'd named Snowflake, a stuffed animal she'd owned since she was just two years old. It always comforted her whenever she was going through serious pain, but now, she didn't have her. The dog was still lying on her bed back home, a place she couldn't go back to.

Her entire body quaked with sorrow and rage as she relived the events of earlier in the day when she returned home. Why hadn't she heard her phone ringing? Why couldn't she be there? Had she known anything was happening, she could have rushed there and saved her family couldn't she? Maybe, or maybe she would have been overwhelmed and taken with them. God, she would give anything to have been the one taken or killed, not Tori. Why did it have to be Tori? Why was she alive instead? Why was she safe? There had to be a reason for this.

On the small brown table in the corner, the two wicker chairs nestled next to it, the necklace glinted in the moonlight. All of this, due to a necklace. No. Not the necklace, a fucking chip inside a necklace. Innocent Tori, didn't even know why they would have hurt her.

Was she pissed? Yeah, she was pissed. It took a lot of self control not to go on a murderous rampage. Though rampage, she would do. If she did kill anyone, well, it they would have it coming. Tomorrow would be the start of a new day. Tomorrow, Damian and Sector A of the Assassins would be crippled. He was already down a Lieutenant, after all. As for tonight, she would have to do her best to go to sleep. If sleep was even possible.

Tomorrow will be a new day. Let's see what tomorrow holds. Let me know your thoughts of this chapter