Monday, January 26, 2009

Shadows Chapter 14
Peaceful





She had fallen asleep on the short car journey to the loft. Sergey lifted her from the passenger seat and carried her up the stairs.
He laid her on the sofa opposite where Ladislaus was sitting watching television then headed into the kitchen for a glass of water. He could have done with a rest and a coffee, but he had to go out again.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Ladislaus looked curiously at the sleeping girl.





Irissa stirred restlessly and moaned. Sergey chewed his lip and switched to speaking Roskan. He had made a point of ensuring that neither he nor his son forgot their native tongue. When they played chess the rule was that conversations between them were always conducted in that tongue.
As his father spoke Ladislaus moved seats. He could not believe what his father was telling him, and felt the same surge of protective instinct he had felt towards Irissa when he had seen her being attacked.





“...I don’t know if it’s all sunk in for her yet. She’s been busy looking out for Zara. Yet her own mother is dead and I don’t know if she has realised yet that her mother was probably selling her to the Chinoise. Keep an eye on her, Slava. I need to go out again,” Sergey finished.
After he had gone Ladislaus mulled over everything he had been told. He felt more grieved for Zara’s loss than Irissa’s. Aside from the fact that Suzanne seemed to have been a poor excuse for a mother, Ladislaus hadn’t known her. He had been friendly with the Ottakers.
He cringed at the thought of Irissa being sold as a sex slave. The idea made him feel physically sick.
Irissa moaned and turned restlessly again. Ladislaus realised that she was shivering and shaking.
He ran a hot bath, adding a generous helping of expensive bubble bath and put extra towels into his father’s bathroom.




When he wakened her gently and suggested that she use the bath to heat her up Irissa nodded compliance and took a long soak, allowing the heat of the water to ease the chill from her bones and muscles.





She topped the water up with more hot from the tap and didn’t get out until it had begun to cool a second time.
She frowned in distaste and having to put her soiled gown back on.
When she returned to the lounge Ladislaus had made her hot chocolate, which she drank gratefully.




When she had finished the drink he took her into his bedroom.
“You need to stay warm and the sofa’s no good. I’ll sleep there or in my dad’s bed,” he told her gently.
When he left Irissa removed her gown and slipped between the sheets. They smelled of Laundry detergent and faintly of the soap Ladislaus used.
Her sleep was restless and filled with nightmares. Her cries brought Ladislaus into the room. He sat on the chair opposite his bed for a while, watching her. It wasn’t comfortable for a long sit, though, so he moved to lie beside her on the bed. The sound of his voice seemed to calm her.




He felt stupid, though, constantly telling her it would be all right and that she was safe. He found himself speaking Roskan, reciting a fairy tale his mother had told him a lot when he was a child. The rhythm of his voice seemed to sooth her and she calmed and sank into a deeper sleep.



“What the hell is going on here?”
Ladislaus was awakened from dozing by the sharp sound of Britt’s voice. He leapt from the bed and found himself looking at his girlfriend’s furious face.
She had said that she would come around tonight, but it was after midnight and he had given up on her.
“Why are you sleeping with that tart? What’s going on?” She growled.

"I'm not sleeping with her, just lying beside her," Ladisalus said calmly.





“Oh yeah? You’re supposed to be my boyfriend and I come in and find her in your bed and you beside her. Looks pretty much to me like you are sleeping with her!” Britt’s voice went up a couple of octaves.
“Stop yelling, you’ll waken her and she needs to rest. If you come into the living room we can talk,” Ladislaus said calmly.



“There isn’t any need for all your screaming,” Ladislaus began. “Irissa lost her mother tonight. She was involved in a bad situation and my Dad brought her here. I’ve just been taking care of her.”
“And it looks like you have been doing that all right. You both looked very cosy in there. I thought you would have been fussier than to take daddy’s leavings,” Britt spat venomously.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ladislaus asked, his voice dangerously calm.




“Everyone knows that your dad has a thing for young girls. That shelter, his friendship with the little whore in there...” Britt did not seem to realise just how angry she had made Ladislaus.
“Is that right? Well you know what, Britt, if we’re going to talk
about people behaving like whores, there are a few rumours about you I’ve been refusing to listen to. You spent all afternoon here with me last Saturday. Remember?” He said icily.





“You do remember, Britt? What we got up to in the shower? I kind of thought it was pretty memorable,” he shrugged.
“You said you had to go out with your Mom in the evening, so I went over to Alexei’s. He told me her had seen you in town. In John Roxton’s car. He said that you were making out with him. Actually he said you were doing more than that, from the way the car was moving about. I didn’t believe him,” Ladislaus told her.
Britt said nothing.
“Should I have?” Ladislaus persisted.





Britt’s hand shot out and she slapped him hard across the face. Ladislaus reeled backwards from the impact.
“You shit,” she yelled. “You had your cousin spying on me!”
“Spying?” Ladislaus said softly, realisation sinking in. “So it was true and there was something to see.”




“You know what, Britt? I want you out of here. You and your nasty mind and your vicious tongue. I’m sick of the way you treat me. And nobody talks about my Dad like that. And Irissa is worth way more than you. So just get out. We’re through!”
He turned his back on her and listened to the sound of her shoes stamping past to the staircase. He had to admit to himself that this had been on the cards for a long time. She did treat him badly, he knew that. All of his friends and his cousin said so, but she was so hot and the time they spent together was always incredible.
Ladislaus went to the top of the stairs and listened to her footsteps cross the basement to the outside door. He almost followed her.




Almost. His own feet carried him back to the kitchen where he helped himself to some hot chocolate. He was tired, stressed and heart sore.
Finishing the chocolate he had a shower and changed into his pyjamas.
As he crossed the living room to his father’s room he heard Irissa cry out again, almost a scream, in her sleep.




He opened the door and went in to check on her. There were tears on her cheeks and she was half sobbing. Ladislaus stroked her cheek and whispered soothingly to her.
Exhausted now he lifted the bedclothes and got in beside her, resting one hand on her shoulder.
She opened her eyes briefly.
“Slava?” She whispered.
“I’m here. I’m not leaving you. Go back to sleep,” he assured her.
Very quickly her breathing calmed again and some of the tension left her body.
Too tired to keep his eyes open, Ladislaus slept too, curled against her warm skin.





Sergey returned to the house after two am and found the living room deserted. He checked his bedroom and frowned to himself.
“Where the hell are they?”
He had expected to find either Irissa or Ladislaus in here when the lounge was empty.
A momentary flash of panic touched him. Nothing could have happened to them, surely. He had left two guys in a car outside, watching the place.




The relief at finding them safe and well in Ladislaus room was coloured by concern at the way he found them, curled up together in his son’s bed. Ladislaus had his arm across Irissa’s body and the expression on the girl’s sleeping face was totally serene.
“Hi Dad,” Ladislaus murmured sleepily without even opening his eyes. “She was having nightmares. She’s better with me here.”
“Ok. Go back to sleep,” Sergey replied softly.





The smell of cooking wakened Ladislaus. He got out of bed and joined his father and Richard at the table.
“What’s been happening?” He asked as he started on his meal.
“We found a couple of Han’s people at his house. One of them seems to have been the ‘procurement agent’ for the girls. We’ve also identified that junkie we found dead a few days ago. Her name was Sylvia Rozzen and she’s the mother of one of the girls,” Richard told him.
The younger detective was always quick to let Ladislaus know what was happening.


“We’ve also caught up with the guy who ran from the restaurant last night,” Sergey said.
“That’s cool. To me those guys are as guilty as the Hans,” Ladislaus frowned.
“Every bit. If they didn’t provide the market there would be no need to sell.”
“What about Irissa? What’s going to happen to her?” Ladislaus asked.
“I’m taking her to her new home today. I’ve picked up her personal things from the house and they are all in the car,” Sergey replied.





“That was quick. I thought she might have to stay here for a bit,” Ladislaus said.
“What, you liked having her in your bed? Fancy it as a permanent arrangement?” Richard teased.
“Hey, that’s not fair! I wasn’t taking advantage. You weren’t here to see her. She needed someone to hold her. She was shaking...” Ladislaus bridled, then he saw the look on his father’s partner’s face. “You’re winding me up.”





Irissa didn’t wake up until everyone else had finished eating. Richard had gone back to his own place and Ladislaus was practicing on the keyboard in the corner. Sergey made her breakfast and sat at the table with her.
“Irissa, I’ve found you a new home,” he said.





“A new home? Where?” Irissa asked cautiously.
“I found out who your father was,” Sergey began.
Was, Irissa thought. So he isn’t alive.
“His name was David Gallagher. Your mother used the name Galloway because it was similar, I believe. Your mother had a relationship with him when she was at school. They seem to have split up because even then she was involved in some shady goings on,” Sergey explained. “She quit town. He didn’t know she was pregnant.”






“So he never knew I existed,” Irissa stated.
“No. He was already on the verge of leaving Suzanne for someone else because of her unreasonable behaviour. She has a daughter just a month younger than you,” Sergey revealed.
Irissa froze.
“I have a sister?” She gasped.
“A half sister, yes. I’ve spoken to her mother, Cassandra Gallagher, and she wants you give living with them a try. She isn’t sure how it will work out, but she would like you to try,” Sergey explained gently.





Irissa didn’t know what else to say. She was excited and terrified all at once.
After breakfast Sergey gave her some time alone to digest what he had told her.
“When do we go?” She asked after a while.
“Now, if you like,” he smiled.
She nodded.
“Ok.”
“I’ll finish packing the car then get you there with flashing lights,” he teased.






“Hey, don’t look so scared,” Ladislaus said when they were alone, gently cupping her chin. “It will be fine. A proper family.”
“I’m scared, Slava. What if they don’t like me? Don’t want to keep me?” She whispered.





Ladislaus reached out and hugged her tight.
“They’ll love you,” he assured her. “Everything will be fine.”
Irissa rested her head briefly on his shoulder.
“I hope so,” she said in a small, trembling voice.





Ladislaus let one hand slip to her waist and with the other beneath her chin tilted her face up to kiss her lightly on the lips.
Irissa caught her breath, startled.
“Irissa, time to go,” Sergey’s voice called.
Irissa moved out of Ladislaus’ embrace and gave him a shy smile before bolting down the stairs.

[U]Sisters[/U]





Cassandra Gallagher tapped her hand nervously on her knee. What had she gotten herself in to.
When the detective had spoken to her and shown her the photograph of David’s first born, there had been no denying that the child was his. The ivory skin and the eyes. Jalonia more resembled Cassandra, with her olive skin and dark eyes.
When Solarin had told her the girl’s story it seemed the obvious thing to do, give her a home.





Now it seemed neither so clear cut nor so easy. She had heard so much about Suzanne, and all of it negative. What if the girl took after her mother? According to the detective that was not the case, but was he telling the truth or just looking to get her off his hands.
“You’d better bring her in,” Cassandra told Solarin.


Sergey went out to the car where the girl was waiting and brought her into the house.
She stood shyly just inside the patio doors, a slim pale girl with frightened eyes. Cassandra’s heart went out to her.




Before she could move, though, her daughter was off of her chair and rushing to greet the newcomer.
“Wow! So you are my sister!” She gasped. “You look so like the pictures of my Dad!”
Irissa smiled uncertainly.




“This is going to be so much fun! I’ve always wanted a sister,” the girl bubbled. “I’m Jalonia, by the way. You’re Irissa, right?”
“That’s right,” Irissa replied, slightly overwhelmed by Jalonia’s enthusiasm, but liking the other girl at once.
Jalonia grabbed her and hugged her tight.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she giggled.




“If my daughter will let me get a word in,” Cassandra couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m Cassandra. I hope we can... I hope you’ll be happy here, Irissa, and that things work well for us.”
“This is so good of you...” Irissa began.
“Hush, Irissa. Let’s not make fancy speeches. Jalonia can get you settled in and we’ll take things from there. Is that all right?” Cassandra asked softly.
Irissa nodded and followed Jalonia upstairs.
Shadow Chapter 13
White Knights





Irissa’s heart sank when four of the five Cappellis came into the office, Stephano among them.
“We’re dead,” she thought. “They won’t let us see them like this then let us live. Whatever has been going on outside we are witnesses.”


“Well, well. What have we here? The traitor’s puppy. You’re mummy is dead, little girl, and your friend Sergey is going to miss you,” Marco grinned, his eyes manic.




Enrique shook his head, trying to clear it of the image that filled his mind, fuzzing his thoughts. His dream, Irissa’s voice saying his name, her arms around him.





“Marco, they’re kids. We don’t make war on kids,” he snapped, surprised at the tone in his voice.
Marco turned and stared at him. His baby brother, daring to argue with him?





Stephano glanced at the two young girls. They stood trembling but not cowering, useless weapons in their hands, awaiting their fate but unable to do anything to influence it. Stephano was touched by their bravery and demeanour. Such pretty children, too.
“I am not content with this,” he said softly to his elder son.“Father, have we really sunk so low that we would kill young ones? That was never your style. They are innocents,” Enrique astonished himself with his bravery, but his voice faltered as Marco turned an evil gaze on him.




“Your brother is right, Marco,” Stephano said mildly.
“Not in this case. They have seen us. They can identify us. They need to die,” Marco snapped.
Another image from his dream swept over Enrique, bolstering his courage. Irissa grown up and making love with him. If that was ever to be, he had no idea, but he knew he had to try to give her the chance to grow up into that young woman.





“Father, you are still head of this family. You make the decisions,” he appealed. “Have we sunk so low? We had honour. This is not honourable!”
“You dare to argue with me? You will pay for this!” Marco’s fist flew out and he struck his brother.
“Enough!” Stephano growled, stepping between them.




“Excuse me?” Irissa ventured.
Stephano turned to look at her
“You weren’t in here, Sir. We never saw you. We hid in here and you didn’t come in....”
“Now tell me they need to die...” Enrique demanded of his brother.
“I can’t take the word of a couple of little sluts!” Marco retorted.
He would have shot them and ended the argument, but his father had a look on his face Marco had not seen in years. Resolute and determined. The older man was staring intently at the trembling girl.
“You just want to kill them. For revenge on Sergey more than because of any threat to us,” Enrique yelled.
Marco struck him again.





Stephano pulled his gaze away from Irissa.
“Enough. Marco you will not hit your brother again! I am still in charge in this family. We leave and these brave little girls stay here, alive.
But if they dare to break their word we will find them and they will never testify against us,” Stephano decided. “Now we go, before the cops get here.”




Outside Julius waited in the car. He saw his father and brothers coming and prepared to drive away.
“Marco will make you pay for what you did in there, Enrique. You are a fool to anger him over two stupid girls,” Angelo warned his brother.
Enrique knew he was right, but his dream was still tied tightly into his mind and he felt that whatever happened next, that she was safe made it all worthwhile.





“Have they really gone?” Zara asked, nervously, terrified that it was some trick and that the men with guns would reappear and kill them after all.
Irissa nodded.
“But they will find us and kill us if we don’t stick to our story and say they never came in here,” she warned.
“I’ll stick to that. I’m just glad to be alive. But Irissa, my parents?”
“I don’t know, Zara. And I don’t want to go out there...”






The door burst open again and the two girls almost jumped out of their skins. Sergey strode across the office and swept Irissa into his arms.
“Thank the Gods you are all right,” he gasped, Hugging her close. “With what we saw out there...”





“We thought we were too late,” Richard told Zara. “There’s been a complete massacre in this place. The paramedics are out there now,”
“My parents...” Zara asked, sobbing.
There was no kind way to say it.
“I’m sorry, Zara,” he said gently, glad that Sergey had told him the name of Irissa’s companion. “There are no survivors besides you two.”




The only way out of the office and down to the street was back through the restaurant, past the blood soaked floor and the neat rows of body bags.
“My parents and Irissa’s mother are in some of those,” Zara thought, her chest tight with pain.
They were heading for the car when suddenly Irissa suddenly turned and started walking back towards the building.
“Sergey, there are other people here... living people...”






Sergey followed her. She stopped at a blank wall feeling a strange surge of energy. Passion, lust, fear and pain. She could feel the physical manifestation of something ugly behind that wall.
“Irissa, it’s a wall. If there is a room there then the entrance must be in the restaurant,” Sergey reasoned.
“No, it’s here,” Irissa insisted, running her hands over the brickwork.
Remembering something from a dream she formed the words of a finding spell inside her head, not sure if it would work.




Her fingers found a small metal catch in the wall and a whole section slid away, revealing a room decorated in soft pinks and whites. Little girl decor.





A blonde haired man leapt off of a low bed where he had been having sex with a girl who looked to be no older than Irissa.





Another man, engrossed in taking a second young girl in the shower did not even notice that other people had entered the room.
The girl’s eyes were closed tight and she was flinching in pain every time he thrust into her.
Sergey crossed the room in long strides and pulled the man off of the girl. The man tried to fight him off. Out of the corner of his eye Sergey saw Richard manhandle the other man to the floor.
Sergey’s man put up a good fight before the detective managed to pin him down and cuff him.





There were three girls in the room and there had been three men. The third had made good his escape while Richard and Sergey had been dealing with the other two. The young girl who had been performing a blow job on him. She had stopped her endeavours and stood when Irissa had found the room. She still stood in the same stunned way.
“Richard, call for an ambulance for the girls and transport for these guys,” Sergey ordered.


[U]Trauma[/U]




“How are they, Doc?” Sergey asked the young doctor.
“These two are pretty shaken and shocked, obviously,” Dr Irvine replied. “I’ve given them a mild sedative.”
“And the other three?” Sergey enquired.





“The Western girl is unharmed, physically. Still intact, no physical damage of any kind. Very shocked and upset, though.
From what I can gather she has been sexually manhandled and has been forced to carry out various sex acts, but she hasn’t been raped,” Dr Irvine explained.
“The two eastern girls haven’t fared so well. They have both been raped, the older one by at least two men. She is quite badly torn. The last assault seems to have been especially rough. We have her heavily sedated.”
Dr Irvine went on.




“I believe you may have interrupted the first attack on the youngest of the Eastern girls. She is not so badly damaged as the other. I think that the bastard who forced her was at least trying to be gentle. I hope you caught the guys behind this.”
There was venom in the young doctor’s voice as he spoke.
“Some of them, yes. And the men behind it are dead. We will be looking for the others,” Sergey assured him.





Through the murky mist of the medication Irissa became aware of the entity that inhabited the hospital. At first she through that there was a young Goth standing beside the bed.
He came and looked down at her.
“Good stuff tonight,” He sighed, looking spaced.
Irissa ignored him. She could feel him feeding on the negative emotions in the hospital. All the pain and fear and death. She closed off her mind, not giving him access to her own anguish.




“Too late. Got some of it. So sweet. Cruel mommy. Didn’t just beat you and mistreat you, she was going to sell you. You’d have been like those girls upstairs. Open up, girl. I want to taste that pain again. I could just eat YOU up....,” he leered.




Irissa forced herself to sit up.
“Sergey? Can we leave here, please? I really hate hospitals,” she asked.
The entity moved off and she lay back down while Sergey spoke to the doctor.
“Are they okay to leave? Zara’s aunt can pick her up at the police station. I’ll make arrangements for Irissa too,” Sergey asked.
“They’ll be a little groggy from the sedatives I gave them but they should be okay to leave. Social services will be over later to talk about the other girls,” Dr Irvine nodded.


[U]Station[/U]





In spite of the medicine the doctor had given her, the pain had not numbed at all. Zara had cried until she had felt there were no more tears to cry. Her eyes were red and sore and her face stung with the salt. They sat together on the sofa in Sergey’s office while the big detective made numerous phone calls. Irissa had held her and comforted her through the stormy tears. She kept her arm around her and held her hand. There had been no tears from the dark girl.




“Yeah,” Sergey was saying. “The red haired bastard, Sinclair, his lawyer got him out on bail. Phillips is still downstairs in a cell. I’ve sent uniform out to the Han place to pick up anyone left there...”
“Irissa, what will happen to you?” Zara asked. “You don’t have any other family.”
“I don’t know,” Irissa shrugged.





The door opened and a pretty woman with strawberry gold hair came in.
“My aunt,” Zara said, hugging Irissa. “Sergey has my number, get him to give you it. Call me, Irissa. Don’t lose touch.”
She turned into Irissa’s arms and hugged her tight.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she cried.
“I’ll be fine, and I will call. Go home with your aunt. You need to rest,” Irissa insisted.





Zara gave Irissa one last hug then stood up and said goodbye to Sergey. Irissa stretched out on the couch, totally exhausted.
She watched Zara leave and wished that she was going with her.




Sergey pulled her to her feet and into his arms.
“C’mon, honey. We’re leaving too. You’re coming to my place tonight.”