Mandy opened one of her eyes and looked up at the old wood beams that held up the ceiling. They where not familiar to her. Then the pain hit her. She closed her eye and focused on dissociating herself from the it. She had dealt with worse in the past.

She opened her eye again. The other one seemed to be swollen shut. Mandy looked around. It was a little messy for a woman's bedroom. The furniture looked old and warn, like it came out of a estate sale and was covered in books long missing their dust jackets and small abstract statues.

Mandy moved her arm across to lift herself up and noticed that there was a cut that had been cleaned with iodine. She brought he hand to her face and felt the cuts there had been cleaned, too. She began to suspect that she hadn't been captured by Jacque after all.

She sat up and some of her hair fell in front of her eyes. Right away the noticed that it was black instead of blond. She ran her fingers through her hair and found that they became covered on a sticky substance and her figure nails had been sloppily painted black.

Mandy stood and found she only had her underwear beneath the ratty brown robe she was wearing.

She heard the sound of typing from behind the door. She turned the loose door knob, being careful not to rattle it and slowly cracked the door open, but it squeaked horribly. Left with no other choice she quickly pulled it open.

The young woman at the computer turned towards Mandy. Mandy had not seen her before. She had long dark hair and a complexion that suggested she was South Asian. She wore a white do-rag and a red tank top and reviled arms and torso covered swirling abstract tattoos. She had narrow eyes and pointed features.

The woman smiled and said in a clear yet calming voice, "Hello. I'm glad to see you feeling better."

Mandy glanced around at the room. It was decorated much like the bedroom. There weren't the heavy set men she expected, and the drapes on the windows bellowed as if to advertised themselves as escape routes. It seemed this woman was her savior rather then her keeper.

The woman stood and walked towards Mandy. "You can call me Seven. Even with all we've been through, I don't know your name."

"It's Mandy."

"You've been through so much. You must be in shock, but your safe now." Seven moved to embrace Mandy. After a moment of hesitation Mandy accepted it.

Mandy put on her vulnerable face and ask, "How did I end up here?"

"Well, some friends and I where watching you beat all those guys. People where hitting each other left and right and you where knocked down. We managed to drag you to the woman's washroom. Michell said that they where kicking everyone out, but checking each person looking for you.

"Your face was already becoming unrecognizable from the bruising, we we figured we could smuggle you out. We blackened your hair with shoe polish that was in the bottom of someone's purse, redid you makeup and finger nails in a goth style. Madaline give up her black poncho for you to wear, while she had to go out in just her bra on."

Mandy stared in shock as she listed to what these people went through to save someone they had never met. As Seven smiled when she described the indignities she suffered trying to drag her out of the club, Mandy felt a familiar knot in the pit of her stomach. It happened anytime she was around someone who claimed to be nice. For a long time she assumed they where pretending to be nice for their own selfish reasons or they had some kind of mental problem. But Mandy had begun to question those assumptions. Too many times what she had seen and read hadn't turned out how she expected.

She pushed past the feeling in her gut and said, "Thank you for your help. You saved my life."

Seven seemed to sense Mandy was having difficulty with the word. "You're welcome. Anyone would have done the same."

"Not in my experience."

"Maybe you try to get out more."

Mandy's frown deepened. Before she could find a way to respond there was a loud knock at the door and someone yelled from the other side, "Open up! This is the police."

Seven looked at Mandy with concern, not knowing what to do.

The police knocked again. Mandy relaxed and said, "Answer it, by all means."

Seven glanced around nervously as she walked to the door. As soon as she turned to knob it flew open and three police officers stormed in with their guns drawn, one in a shirt and tie under a trench coat and the other two in uniform. The lead officer yelled, "Freeze!"

Mandy raised her hands, but only to shoulder level. The robe she was wearing loosened slightly.

Seven stormed past Mandy, her eyes glaring. "Who do you think you are coming in here like this?"

The officer shouted again, "Raise you hands, ma'am."

Mandy said calmly, "Please, Seven. These officers are only doing their jobs. Allow me to introduce you to Detective Cumberland." Mandy pointed her hand towards to lead officer. "I know from experience, he would never do anything to betray his responsibility to the citizens of this city."

The detective stuttered for several seconds as he glanced back and forth between Mandy and Seven. He finally said, "Would you please cooperate and raise you hands and Officer Scotsburn will frisk you."

Seven reluctantly raised her hands and one of the uniformed officers, who was a woman, stepped forward and patted her down. As she did, Det. Cumberland stared at Mandy who turned her head away from him causing her loose hair to flow off her shoulder down to her chest.

The Detective shock his head to regain his focus. "Mandy, you being are charged with four counts of assault. You have the right to remain silent..."

Mandy interrupted him, "Aren't you going to frisk me?"

Cumberland stuttered again, "I... are...". He pointed at the woman officer and directed he to pat down Mandy. He averted his eyes as she did.

Seven suddenly said, "I was there last night. Mandy was only defending herself."

Mandy turned to her. "Don't worry. If I need you as a witness, I'll contact you."

The female police officer put cuffs on Mandy and lead her towards the door.

Seven moved towards them, but Mandy looked back at her and scowled. Seven froze. He heart sank as the last policeman disappeared behind the closing door.

This had already been written when I posted the last chapter. I have recently reread my stories and they are even better then I remember. So I've cleaned this chapter up and posted. I don't plan on writing any more, but I will summarize what I had in mind.

Mandy would get released from jail by black mailing the district attorney by placing fake records in his bank statement suggesting he has been taking bribes. She learns that the Mayor is determined to take her down.

She meets Seven at a skating rink.

Seven follows Mandy around the curve of the rink. She could barely keep up. Despite traveling at full speed Mandy steps around and skates backwards across the rink. She looked behind her briefly and with grim determination jammed her pick into the ice, setting herself spinning through the air and landing gracefully. It happened so fast Seven wasn't able to could tell if it was a double or a triple.

She raced to catch up to Mandy. "That was amazing."

Mandy suddenly leapt through the air and set herself spinning on one skate with her arms stretch out in one direction and her leg in the other. Seven stopped to watch as Mandy pulled her arms and leg in acceleration her spin to breakneck speed.

As the spin slowed Mandy stepped out of the it. Sever skated up to her, but all she could say was, "Wow."

Mandy said, "I've always enjoyed figure skating. I like how they spin."

"You're amazing. How far did you get with your skating?"

"Not too far. The coaches said I could have made the National Team, except for one thing."

"What was that?"

Mandy didn't say anything. She just skated away and frowned.

They talk about the problems Mandy has been having with corruption at city hall. Seven suggests that Mandy run for mayor. Mandy agrees if Seven help her out.

The campaign is very messy with each side spouting propaganda, manipulating the media that they controlled and vandalizing or breaking into each other's campaign offices.

On election night the mayor's goons abducts Seven. That night Mandy discovers they are keeping her is a condominium penthouse. She breaks into the neighboring unit and attacks them through the bathroom wall. After a spectacular gun battle she finds Seven on the balcony.

Mandy, breathing heavily and with copious amounts of blood on her tight gray outfit, approached Seven who was at the far end of the balcony. She knelt and pull down the gag.

"Thank you, Mandy."

Mandy said nothing. She pushed Seven over and quickly undid the incompetently tied rope that bound Seven's hands behind her.

Seven was finally able to stand after being force to sit for more then 24 hours. She stretched as Mandy helped free he legs. Seven stepped over to the railing and still feeling unsteady, leaned on it and looked out to the lights of the city.

The wind caused her long dark hair to billow. "Why did you save me? When we first met I thought you where nice, but through this campaign I saw you be as ruthless as the most corrupt politician imaginable. That's why I left the campaign. You destroyed my credit and got me evicted from my apartment."

Mandy suddenly said, "I didn't."

"I was there when you faked the numbers in that poll and had the house of that third party candidate trashed to get him out the race."

Mandy gently touched Seven's arm and she turned to face Mandy. Mandy brush some hair out of her eyes, smudging her forehead with blood. "I mean I didn't destroy your credit or get you evicted." She waved her hand towards the apartment. "It must have been these guys."

Seven looked suspicious.

Mandy squeeze her hand on Seven's arm a bit tighter. "I would never hurt you."

Seven glared. "You hurt just about everyone else."

Mandy closed her eyes. Something hurt in the pit of her stomach, unlike she she had ever felt before. She thought it might have been fear. "I have feelings for you."

Seven began to say something, but Mandy kissed her, very aggressively. Seven allowed it and kissed back, only out of pity and to relieve the tension.

Mandy stepped back, picked up a gun that was laying nearby and pointed it at Seven's head. "I was wrong. I don't have feelings."

"I'm sure you do have some, just not those kind of feelings for me."

"No. I've never had any feelings. Not even as a little girl. Love, hate, desire, envy, satisfaction, pain, fear, joy. I never really felt any of them. I've read all about them in trashy romance novels to the great Shakespearean tragedies but I've never experienced them.

"I done the things described in those books, achieved great wealth and power, indulged in all the pleasures of the flesh, fought great battles, challenged myself in every fashion, experienced all the verity the world has to offer. Yet though it all I felt nothing. Just emptiness.

"When I met you I decided to try something new. Something simple. I decided to be your friend, not though manipulation, but by being myself. Naturally, letting you see my true self drove you away, as it would anyone, but I could tell you never gave up on me."

Seven quickly said, "That's true."

"You where my last chance, but I failed. I still feel nothing. There is nothing left on this Earth for me."

Mandy carefully aimed the gun between Seven's eyes and said, "I want you to tell the next person you meet that I'm ready for him to take me to the next world."

Seven felt relief because she assumed Mandy wasn't going to kill her if she was going to meet someone, but she was still shaking when she asked, "Who am I going to meet?"

Mandy's mouth seemed to move in slow motion as Seven watched it form the sounds that made up the word, "Death."

A few days later Grim showed up at the mayor's office and proposes to Mandy.