Blood and Snow

Prologue

"What?"

"Ye' be pullin' me leg, Captain."

The man smiled at his two "employees" and stated calmly, "I'm not joking. This is your task, now do it."

"But isn't kidnapping illegal?" asked the shortest of the three, a male with light blue hair and brilliant emerald eyes. He had a sky-blue rabbit mask that rested on his head, and his cheeks were dotted with freckles. His taller companion turned to face him and growled, "Matey, everything we do is illegal."

The taller one looked back at his boss, "Where do the lad an' I find her?"

Their boss pulled open a drawer from his desk in the dimly lit room, then shuffled through it until he found what he was looking for. He reached over his desk and handed a small file folder to the taller one, who gave it to his shorter companion. "Take this," he said, "It contains enough information about her that you can use to find her. And a picture."

The taller one looked at the file in the shorter one's hands, "Ye' be dead serious about this."

Their boss nodded, "Yes, I am. Now, you two will be leaving in an hour to complete your task. You two completely understand that you are not to kill her?"

"Aye."

"Yes, Sir."

"Good." The man narrowed his eyes, "Flynn, Tyreke, I'm counting on you. Now go."

The two nodded and left him alone.

}—————{

"Are you serious?"

"I am dead serious, my dude."

"But-!"

"But we don't have enough information on the guy and the police haven't brought him in yet?"

"...It's scary how you can read my mind sometimes."

The shorter of the two women grinned in amusement, "I know right? It's hilarious when I do it though, the expression on your face was literally the funniest thing I've seen today."

The taller nodded, grinning back, "Really, Lillian?"

"Yes, really!" Lillian cried in mock-fear, "I've been stuck with my brother almost all day today, and you know how boring he can be!"

Lillian's friend tilted her head, "Oh, come on; I'm sure he's not that bad!"

"Belle, I can make a joke that's legitimately funny and he looks at me like I'm a thorn in his side."

Belle rolled her eyes in a playful manner, "Okay then, maybe he is."

"He totally is."

Belle and Lillian worked for the law. Belle was a tall gal, with blue-purple dyed hair tied up in a bun and natural pink eyes. She wore a semi-formal outfit and had a file folder in her hands. Lillian was between average and tall, with platinum-blonde hair (that was cut quite short) and grey eyes. She was wearing more of a casual outfit, with ear piercings and a pen tucked behind her ear.

Lillian's brother, Richard, was head of the city's police department.

Belle glanced at the time and sighed, "I think I might go for a walk." Belle turned and started walking to Lillian's office as Lillian herself followed. "By yourself?" she asked. Bell shrugged, "Why not? I'll need a breather if I have to defend this man in a court of law."

Lillian shook her head, "No, Belle, I mean that it's winter. It's cold and already getting dark outside. Shouldn't you bring someone with you?"

"Someone, namely my best-friend-turned-arch-nemesis because she gave me a difficult case?" Belle shook her head, "I'll be fine, Lillian. A little snow has never hurt anyone, right?"

"Ever heard of an avalanche?"

Belle went over to the coatrack in the far left corner of the office and grabbed her coat off of it. It was a white trench coat with black buttons, the seams were stitched with silver thread. She looked at Lillian with an amused face, "Oh, hush you. Like I said, I'll be fine! Besides, if something ever happened to me, the person who did it won't even make it to court if you're the one that finds them!"

Lillian scratched the back of her head and sighed, "I still don't like it, but there's nothing I can do to stop you, is there?"

Belle looked at the file in her hand, then back at Lillian, "Mind if I leave this on your desk? I'll come back and get it once I'm done with my walk."

"Sure, but I'm actually going to leave in-" she glanced at the clock, "-fifteen minutes. But I'll leave my office door unlocked for you, just remember to lock it when you leave."

Belle smiled and put the file on the corner of the desk, closest to the door, "Thanks, Lillian!"

Her companion gave her a small smile, "No prob, Bob."

Belle put on her coat and started walking out the door, calling back to Lillian, "I'll be back ten minutes after you leave!"

"Alrighty! Adios, my dude!"

As the door closed Lillian sighed and covered her eyes as she began to pick up her office, "One day, when I'm not there to help her and she's all by herself, something bad is going to happen..."

}—————{

Lillian had no idea how right she was that night, nor even the next morning, when she went to open her office door. The door was still unlocked. Confused, she opened the door and looked around her room, "Belle, I told you to-."

And then her eyes caught on something.

The file was still sitting on the corner of her desk, laying innocently, undisturbed.