Secrets and Sins Part 2: Finding Mary

Chapter 28

*Nearly half way through this fic now! Let me know what you guys think...love hearing things you like or things you didn't, or theories you have going forward 😜*

~Beatrice~

Smack!

Sweat dripped down her face, stinging at her eyes, she didn't care.

Smack!

Her shoulders and biceps burned with lactic acid, she embraced the pain, the distraction.

Smack!

More blood smeared across the front of the sparring dummy, the skin of her knuckles open and bleeding, she ignored it.

Smack!

"Beatrice?" A soft voice called from behind her, she narrowed her eyes focusing on the next punch.

Smack!

"Beatrice." The voice was a little more demanding now, but again the sister warrior ignored it.

Smack!

The person behind her grumbled, she zoned them out, drawing her arm back to deliver another hook. A hand grasped her wrist stopping her from throwing the punch.

"Let. Me. Go." Beatrice’s voice was deadly quiet.

"I can't do that, Bea." Camilla moved to stand beside the dummy, her expression a mixture of sympathy and stubbornness.

"Camilla, I'm serious." Beatrice finally met her friend's eyes, anger surging through her at the interruption.

"So am I." Camilla challenged, squaring her shoulders slightly, "You need to stop this." She glanced down at Beatrice's torso.
"You're bleeding."

The sister warrior brought her free hand down to the bullet wound in her side, staring at her fingers emotionlessly when they came away sticky with blood.

"Come on. I'll help you get cleaned up." The young nun murmured gently, tugging on the wrist she still clasped.

After a moment of indecision, Beatrice conceded, following Camilla out of the training room.

~

Beatrice sat perched on the edge of her bed in her sports bra, finishing drying her hair after the quick shower she had taken at Camilla’s request. Apparently, she didn’t smell particularly great after the hard work out. The nun was currently cleaning the wound that Beatrice had managed to reopen with her possibly unwise training session.

"What were you thinking Beatrice?" Camilla asked, sparing her a brief look as she delicately taped down a new dressing.

What was I thinking? 

The sister warrior hadn't really been thinking about much, she had found herself thoughtlessly wandering to the Warrior nun's quarters after the news of Ava’s capture. Beatrice had stood at the foot of the bed for God knows how long, staring at the place where she had woken countless mornings in the arms of her lover.

Every beat of her aching heart threatened to break her chest, all of a sudden it had become too much and so Beatrice had done what she always did when things got too much, she trained.

When no answer was forthcoming, her friend spoke again, "I know your coping mechanism is to work and to work hard…but Bea, your body needs to rest...and to heal." Camilla finished up and sat beside her on the bed.

"Besides…" The nun offered the taller woman a small smile and nudged her with her shoulder, "...Ava needs you to be on the top of your game for the rescue mission."

At the earnestness of her friend, Beatrice felt her anger begin to fizzle. Unfortunately, that meant there was nothing to suppress the panic and despair that all but consumed her. Tears began to fall silently onto her lap. Camilla slowly placed an arm around her and Beatrice in turn let her head drop onto the nun’s shoulder.

A loud, frantic knock interrupted their peacefulness. Lilith burst into the room, eyes shining with excitement. Beatrice wasn’t prepared for the swell of bitterness that bubbled up within her at the appearance of the former sister warrior. That was all swept away, however, with her next words.

“We have a lead on the location!” The winged woman announced, holding up a red covered book.
“Can either of you read Russian?”
 

~Ava~