Veil of Shadows ๋࣭⭑⚝ Dick Grayson

2 ๋࣭⭑⚝ Help

"Lup-dub. Lup-dub. Lup-dub."

A blanket of silence was bearing down on them. All that could be heard was her steady heartbeat.

The pair were now quietly traversing what appeared to be an abandoned building. Dick was gripping his pistol firmly with both hands, Jules tiptoeing right behind him.

He suddenly paused mid-step, causing her to stumble slightly.

"What is it?" she whispered harshly.

"You hear whimpering?"

She held her breath and glanced around slightly, eyes widening when she was able to make out what seemed to be muffled cries. Barely even audible.

"Good catch," she mumbled under her breath as they continued on.

They reached a sharp turn and she felt the air catch in her throat somewhat when she felt his fingers hovering over her arm, almost as if searching for her hand. He eventually wrapped his hands around her wrist.

"Stay close," Dick said in a low tone.

She then felt the hairs on her arms stand up, the air seemed to have shifted, and she could sense a very, very unpleasant presence-and not of the human kind.

The two spotted an open door and slowly made their way towards it.

"Rachel," he uttered in shock.

Jules stepped ahead to try and reach the girl when the door forcefully slammed in her face, the force so great that it sent the pair flying back against the wall across the room.

The brunette groaned, forcing her eyes open to see...or not...a good chunk of her vision was partially blurry, but slowly it was thankfully fading back to normal.

"You good?"

She froze, feeling the vibrations of his voice right by her ear. Then she realized that she was practically on his lap.

However, before the two could react in any way, a blood-curdling scream echoed against the fragile walls. She jumped up, ran over, and began pounding her fist on the wooden door.

"Rachel! Rachel, open the door!" Dick yelled.

"Rachel! Are you-AH-!" she nearly jumped out of her skin when the bloody face of a man was slammed against the small, foggy window.

The brunette and the detective exchanged concerned and horrified looks.

It was then as if the bloodied man was attached to strings, and he was pulled away from the window. A loud thump could be heard from inside.

The door slowly creaked open. Dick gripped his gun tighter and kicked the door wider. She held back a gag upon seeing the same man on the ground in a pool of blood. Whether that was his own...she'd rather not find out.

A train of coughs immediately caught their attention as their heads snapped up to the teen, who was tied to a chair, looking very distressed.

"Rachel!"

They ran over, Jules forming her dagger in her hands and swiftly slicing the cuffs off her hands.

Dick glanced back and forth between the frightened teen and the bloodied body of a man on the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey... It's going to be okay... alright?" she quickly vanished the blade, cupping the girl's face in her hands as she kept gasping for air. "It's alright. He can't hurt you."

"What happened?" Dick went straight into the questioning phase, ignoring the subtle glare she sent him.

"I don't know..." Rachel sniffed, her body shaking.

She was about to ask another question when the girl basically collapsed into her, wrapping her arms around her, refusing to let go, and quietly sobbing into her shoulders.

"Please, help me."

Jules froze up, swallowing harshly and glanced up at the detective who looked just as shocked.

"... Y-yeah... i-it's okay... you're okay..." she just kept repeating, not knowing how else to comfort her.