I'd like to thank y'all for taking a look at my stuff, it means a lot. Hope u like this. Let me know.

LK

Chapter 22: Dignity

Kris winced. She hesitantly approached and placed her free hand on the cool smooth surface of the rock. From the Way Sabrina turned her head to her side it seemed like she had been awake and aware for some time.

''What do you want me to do?'' Kris made sure to speak loud and clear for Sabrina to recognise her voice. From the slight shifting of her shoulders Kris understood she had achieved her goal. She was blindfolded but not gagged. She kept quiet.

''Carve our sacred symbol on the sinful flesh for her to bear.'' Behind the mask Kris saw angry and determined eyes. She wasn't getting out of this one easily, she thought.

''Hey, look, I'm not exactly good with this sort of thing...'' she weighted the knife in her palm. ''I mean, I can't even chop chicken if you know what I mean?'' she laughed anxiously but nobody laughed in response. The masked woman pulled her own knife from her robe and walked towards them. She slowly touched the blade on Sabrina's neck and the brunette stiffened immediately.

''If you fail to complete the acceptance ceremony then she is of no use to us anymore. We will quickly dispose of her.'' As she spoke she drew a thin line with the knife, leaving a small bloody trail behind. Kris shuddered. ''And you as well. We cannot afford our secrets leaking out.''

''Okay, okay, I get it.'' Kris returned to the other side of the rock and the woman with the goat mask stepped back.

''You may start then.'' She leaned in and cut away a piece of Sabrina's shirt, revealing her right shoulder and a part of her chest. She then backed off and nodded to the other women who started speaking in a foreign language, as if chanting. Maybe this was what they were doing. Next time Kris got asked to join a sorority she should ask, she thought, ''Are you by any chance a group of homicidal Nazi Neopaganists?!'' She gently put her hand on Sabrina's neck. The other angel flinched and tried to pull away but the restraints held. Kris felt her pulse quicken under her touch and she spoke again, wishing Sabrina to know it was her.

''Okay then, I'm starting.''

The masked woman showed her how big she should carve the symbol with her hands. Kris drew in a deep breath and touched the blade on Sabrina's chest. This time she stayed still, as if trying to make this easier for both of them. The only reaction Kris got from her, as she carved the first line was a sharp intake of breath, but it seemed to get muffled from the frantic chanting. This was a nightmare, Kris thought.

It had been hours since Kris had disappeared, and Kelly was still looking for her. It also had been hours from the last time she talked to Sabrina. They seemed to have either lost each other or something was very wrong. They had agreed to meet in Sabrina's room an hour ago to see if they found Kris but when Kelly went Sabrina wasn't there.

Kelly decided it was time to go look for her, but she couldn't look for both of them on her own. She walked across the corridor the the student's dorm and knocked on Hope's room. Alice was inside as well. They were still awake and she seemed to be interrupting a heated conversation but she didn't care.

''I need your help.'' she said, closing the door behind her.

''What's wrong?'' Hope asked first.

''I can't find Kris and now Sabrina is gone too.''

Alice shrugged. ''Ain't seen them.''

Kelly's worry started to colour her voice, as it rose a pitch higher than usual. ''I need your help to cover the grounds around the school quicker. With a killer free out there we really need to find them.''

Both of the girls agreed but they decided not to split up. Hope and Alice would stay together while Kelly would go alone. They would search the school grounds and the surrounding area. If they found them or a trace of them they would take them to Sabrina's room, otherwise they would meet there in two hours.

Time was going by really fast, according to Kelly's wrist watch but she still hadn't found a trace of the two angels. The worst part was that she wasn't sure which one to worry about the most. Kris, somewhere out there on her own or Sabrina who had never returned from going to look for her? For good measure Kelly kept her hand on her revolver. If she was taken by whoever presumably grabbed the other two she wouldn't be able to help them. She had called Charlie earlier but he didn't pick up.

Nice timing Charlie.

She had searched all the perimeter around the school while the other two were looking just outside the gates. The two hours had almost run out but she still didn't have anything. She would've turned to leave and go meet Hope and Alice by Sabrina's room and she almost did so but a small sound made her stop. She saw a person running towards her and she took out her revolver, aimed and shouted. ''Freeze!''

The figure didn't respond, rather kept running but passed her by and run away. Kelly didn't pull the trigger, she was too startled for that. The person running was wearing a black ceremonial hooded cloak, looking a lot like some sort of B horror movie. She almost run after him -or her- but another sound stopped her.

It was more like a moan rather than a call for help but it caught her attention immediately. She looked around and followed the sound that had turned into incoherent muttering. And then, behind a brown-dry bush she finally found... Sabrina.

''Oh God...''

Kelly dropped to her knees beside her and leaned in to listen.

''Kelly... Kelly... Kelly...'' Sabrina kept repeating her name again and again. She seemed drunk- no, high. She was on the verge of anger about her recklessly abandoning the search for Kris and getting a fix when she noticed the blood on her clothes and the partially ripped shirt. It didn't look like she came there for a fix, not willingly anyway. Her eyes were open but shiny blank, not seeing.

''Sabrina?'' Kelly quietly looked for other injuries. ''Did you find Kris?''

The muttering died out and Sabrina went quiet, closing her eyes. She looked asleep. Kelly knew she didn't stand a chance carrying her inside on her own. Lucky for her the footsteps that approached them were Hope and Alice.

''I saw some cloaked weirdo running this way, you okay Kelly?'' Hope asked. From the look in her eyes in the semi dark Kelly realised she hadn't seen Sabrina yet.

''I found Bri, can you give me a hand to get her inside?''

''Only one...'' she lifted her bandaged hand in the air. ''Is she okay?'' Her eyes widened when she saw the bundle on the floor Sabrina had curled into. ''What's wrong?''

Alice quietly nodded. ''It's them.''

''Who them?'' Kelly looked up to her to find fear in her face.

''The Aryans, it's them!'' Her hand reached out to instinctively cover the burn mark on her chest as she backed off.

Once she was lying down on a clean bed under light it was easier for Kelly to pinpoint her injuries and try tend to them as she could. Sabrina was also lucid enough to try and explain what had happened to them, but it took longer than it normally would, since her memory was fragmented. She still looked feverish but she had let Kelly take care of the open wound on her chest. Alice was still clutching her chest with her hand, thinking of the same symbol that decorated Sabrina's chest now.

''I still can't believe Kris would do something like that!'' Kelly exclaimed, while trying to clean the blood around the wound.

''It's not like she had a choice Kell...AH!'' Sabrina let out a yelp when Kelly touched the open skin directly with a cloth dipped in alcohol. There was a lot of unspoken tension between them but it could wait. It wouldn't be fair to start a fight right now when Sabrina was well...a mess. And it wouldn't be good to talk personal things like this, not in front of Alice and Hope. No matter what had happened between them, no matter a slight urge to make her hurt emotionally to make up for her own pain, Kelly couldn't disrespect her friend's sense of privacy, it would be like damaging her dignity and it seemed like she had worked really hard to preserve that last one thing. Holding onto it for dear life.

She tried to push herself off the bed but her hands wouldn't carry out the order. Kelly pushed her back.

''You've lost some blood, these cuts are deep. Stay down. When you can walk we're gonna get you to the morgue to get some stitches. A lot of them, actually. Do you remember anything else?''

''No, I mean, yeah, I think so.'' She closed her eyes. ''Someone came close to me... and blew something into my face-''

''Some sort of gas?''

''No, some kind of powder... after that I don't know...''

Kelly frowned. ''Are you sure Kris is okay?''

''Yes.'' She looked up to meet her eyes. ''For now.''