Secrets and Sins Part 2: Finding Mary

Chapter 21

~Beatrice~

"Are you sure I can't do more Hans?" She asked the bearded man as he locked the door to the bar behind them.

"No thank you Beatrice, I appreciate you helping me stock check. Odd that they didn't take anything." Hans trailed off, gazing through the frost bordered window of La Vasseur's door.

"Yeah…probably just vandals or something." Beatrice remarked awkwardly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Do you want me to walk you home? It's very late." The bartender turned back to her.

"Oh no, that's fine. It's not far and there's no one out in this weather anyway." The sister warrior quickly reassured; she had no idea what she might stumble upon at the apartment.

Hans didn't look convinced, but eventually nodded, "Alright, safe walk home."

"You too." Beatrice gave him a quick hug and set off, urgency quickening her steps.

She knew that Lilith had gotten Ava to safety, but if the sister warrior could catch one of the people stalking them and have a little 'chat', that could give them all some valuable information.

~

The door had been forced open, Beatrice could see that quite clearly from her position where she was pressed against the wall of the staircase, trying to melt into the shadows. The sister warrior felt a wave of anger when she noticed the old blue peeling paint that Ava loved so much was scrapped and marked beside the broken lock, probably from a crowbar.

As if I needed more of a reason to hate these fuckers.

Beatrice pulled two knives from her bag before placing the item behind her on the stairs, she preferred to be as unencumbered as possible if this turned into a fight. Silently, the sister warrior crept into the apartment, eyes scanning the gloom for assailants. The streetlights outside cast a muted orange glow through the kitchen windows, making it hard for her vision to adjust completely to the darkness.

OCS training kicking in, Beatrice stuck to the wall, ensuring no one could sneak up on her from behind. Their home appeared untouched, which was extremely unnerving, if not for the jimmied door, you wouldn't know anyone had been in it.

Where are you…?

The crack of a gunshot followed, almost instantaneously, by an explosion of blinding pain sent her pedaling backwards into the kitchen, the sister warrior swiftly tipped the dining table up to protect her from any more bullets. Breathing harshly, Beatrice lifted up the edge of her jumper, wincing at the sight of dark blood flowing freely from the wound in her side.

Mother fucker, that hurts.

Beatrice had been shot before but not for quite some time, she could feel the shock from it warring with the adrenaline pumping through her body. Pulling open the cupboard under the kitchen sink, the sister warrior grabbed the roll of duct tape she remembered Ava kept for trying to patch up things she broke around the apartment and, gritting her teeth against the pain, wrapped three tight layers around her midriff to stem the bleeding.

"Did you hit her?" A quiet mumble reached her ears from the living room.

"What do you think? It was point blank."

"Boss said we should be careful. The taller one is combat trained."

"Pssh, let's see the bitch fight with a bullet in her gut…"

The quiet discussion continued as the men moved closer to the kitchen, Beatrice listened carefully, the sister warrior could pick out three individual voices.

Okay. Only three…I can take three.

Taking a deep but quiet inhale through her nose, Beatrice waited until the voices were nearly on top of her before shoving all her weight into her makeshift wooden shield, ramming it into her opponents. The grunts of surprised pain told the sister warrior that the table had met its mark, she sprung to her feet, knife in hand, to finish the job.

~Ava~

"Bloody hell, that's just as bad as I remember." Ava groaned, staggering as Lilith pushed her against the closest wall when they materialized, the Halo bearer’s legs shook with exertion as she tried not to fall over.

Being partially paralyzed sucks. 

"Don't be a wuss."

The Halo bearer growled whirling around to give Lilith a piece of her mind when she caught the other woman checking her phone, a worried expression on her face, the younger woman’s stomach dropped.

"What is it? Something from Bea?" Ava questioned intensely.

"No. Nothing." The former sister warrior sighed, pocketing the device.
"We need to find somewhere to stay while we wait, do you have any money?"

"What? No! Of course not, you kind of whisked me away before I could grab anything…oh fuck the sword." If Ava could have made her half-paralyzed body facepalm she would've in that moment.

Mother Superior might actually kill me this time.

"Don't worry about the sword. Beatrice will collect it." Lilith waved away the Halo bearer’s concerns as she pulled out her phone once again.
"I'll text Camilla to sort out somewhere for us to stay. Shouldn't take long."

"Where exactly are we?" Ava asked, finally taking in their surroundings.

The women were standing in a dimly lit alleyway, the Halo bearer could hear the throb heavy bass music, laughter and hollering in the distance from someone having a party. Groups of young people passed the mouth of the backstreet, meandering along the footpath despite the early hour.

"Zurich." Lilith replied without looking up.
"About an hour and a half from where we were.

"I know where Zurich is." Ava grumbled.

That explains the busy street for so early in the morning, Zurich was world renowned for its nightlife. Ava had, on multiple occasions, tried to convince Bea that a trip to the city would be a fun night out.

"Why here?"

Lilith glanced up at her, looking a little awkward, "This is where Beatrice decided it would be best to bug out to, in case of something like this…"

"Wait…Bea had a plan?" Ava was confused and if she was being honest with herself, a little hurt.
"Why didn't…why didn't she tell me?"

Lilith shrugged, "Maybe she didn't think you'd take it particularly well. I mean…you're not exactly rational when it comes to splitting up."

Ava, offended by the insinuation, opened her mouth to snarl a reply when Lilith's phone rang, interrupting them yet again.

"Mother Superior?" The winged woman answered.

"Yes, Beatrice believed the apartment was compromised."
"Yes, I've taken her to the safe zone in Zurich."

What the actual fuck? Mother Superior knows as well? Bea, you have some serious explaining to do…

"We haven't heard from her yet…" Lilith glanced over at the Halo bearer.

"But…okay. Yes. Okay." The former sister warrior sighed as she hung up.

"Well?" Ava demanded; she was definitely over the secrets now.

"Mother Superior has ordered us to return to the OCS after a 12-hour window."

"WHAT?!" Ava couldn't help but shout, she was not fucking leaving Bea…no more than she already had, anyway.

"It's the agreement we made when Beatrice proposed this." Lilith said, looking away from Ava's eye contact guiltily.

"And why the actual fuck was I not included in this agreement?"

"Um. I think you'll have to talk to Beatrice about that..."

"Fuck! You are so not helpful!" Ava was well and truly pissed now.

I mean, for fucks sake, I am the God damn Warrior nun and I'm still left out of the decision making!

A beep drew the winged woman's attention back to the device in her hand. Ava waited anxiously, praying it was her girlfriend updating them.

"It's Camilla. She's booked a hotel close to here." Lilith stepped closer, grabbing the Halo bearer's arm and pulling it over her shoulders.

"Come on."

"Wait…what about your demony appearance?" Ava raised an eyebrow.
"Can't exactly lay low."

"I can disappear my wings just like you, I just prefer to have them out." The former sister warrior turned a little to show Ava her currently wingless shoulders.
"As for the scales…" Lilith smirked, "Costume party?"

~Beatrice~

The sister warrior limped down the lightly snow dusted cobblestone road of the village, one hand clasped over the heavily bleeding bullet wound on her side, the other death gripping the Cruciform sword. She only very vaguely knew where she was going.

Can't be much further…

Stumbling up to a plain white door, Beatrice rapped on it with the handle of the priceless blade in her hand.

Please answer, please...

There was a painfully long pause during which she fought to stay conscious. The sister warrior was about to give up when the white door finally opened, the resident's mouth dropping open in shock.

"Beatrice?!"

"Hans…need your help." She mumbled weakly, before collapsing forward.