Dark Secrets

Back To The Beginning

     Dahlia was in her car, thankful for the extremely light traffic this night, and was leaning forward in her seat, trying to find either Lilith's or Mercury's trail. It was difficult to ascertain what was plain garbage and what was knocked over onto the sidewalk by running people. Dahlia was frustrated enough that she was willing to ask someone if they saw two sprinting women, but when she got the courage to slow her car, she realized the person she wanted to ask was bent over a trashcan. She couldn't tell if they were even conscious, but it scared her to think the person was a casualty of Mercury's free reign. The person in the can didn't look dead but... She sped off with a renewed fervor to find Mercury and Lilith.

     Squinting, Dahlia took a guess and made a turn at an intersection. She was getting deeper into the city where lights stopped working and people turned their cheeks at crime. There was a good chance Mercury was smart enough to hide there, Dahlia mused. She lowered the driver's side window and kept an ear out for familiar voices, or unfamiliar ones, if they were screams. There were the usual sounds of the city but nothing that caught Dahlia's ear. She bit her lip nervously and slowed the car.

     A body lunged out in front of the headlights and she cussed as she stomped on the breaks. Even from the blur her eyes caught she knew it was Mercury. Her suspicion was confirmed when Lilith ran out into the street next, pursuing Mercury with great speed. Dahlia knew exactly what direction the women were going and where they'd end up so she cut the steering wheel and made a sharp left. Mercury was running straight into roundabouts and dead ends, and Dahlia was certain she could catch up. Her car skidded to a stop when she heard the familiar snarling of Lilith nearby and she hurried out, just barely remembering to lock the doors. She disregarded her own safety and ran to where she could hear a fight going on with the stupid idea that she could somehow stop it all and save some lives. Panting, she made two wrong turns on foot, coming to walls, before she found where Lilith and Mercury were. The thing was, she arrived when the situation had both calmed and intensified. Mercury had a stranglehold on a boy no older than twenty who Dahlia had never seen before, using him as both a shield and a hostage. From the parts Dahlia could see of Mercury there was blood staining her and dripping. There was a lot of blood, far more than one person slumped over a trash can could possibly hold.

     Dahlia stepped close to Lilith, who was facing away from her, and licked her lips nervously. "Mercury?"

     Lilith snarled without turning around. "Leave, Siren! You've done enough!"

     Dahlia jumped at how utterly evil Lilith sounded but she didn't move. "Mercury," she said, scared, but firm enough. "What are you doing?"

     "What's it look like, beautiful?"quipped Mercury. She throttled the boy harder and kept the pressure as she spoke. "Both of you walk away or I'll kill him."

     "So what?" Lilith growled. "You've already killed. What's one more?"

     Mercury's eyes slid to Dahlia. "You're going to let me kill him? I thought you were better than that."

     Dahlia couldn't watch the poor boy as he struggled uselessly, crying without sound. It was one thing to see a possible body as she drove, but having someone dying before her eyes was too much. Especially when that person behind the murder was Mercury. "Why are you doing this?" she husked, her throat dry. Lilith growled menacingly.

     "You knew I was trouble the moment you laid eyes on me." Mercury twisted the boys head until he croaked. She was near breaking his neck. "I'm only doing this because you've cornered me. I have to. You know how I am."

     "Let him go."

     "Let me go first."

     "You're not going anywhere," Lilith cut in. "Kill the boy or not. I don't care."