Blackwater Creek

Things I Miss

Rose and Horace watched in awe as a team of three set up a miniature lab in the Duchess kitchen. They had a table with microscopes and vials with plugs all over the place.

"How do you have a full med team at your disposal?" Arthur asked.

"I own a hospital," Lilith replied proudly, "several actually."

"Well aren't you full of surprises," Arthur said, "good to be rich huh."

"A nightmare mostly," Lilith sighed as one of the specialists approached her.

"The room is positively a crime scene," the specialist said, "It's been cleaned with ammonia...traces are left on the walls, but there are signs of dried blood on the drain....human blood."

"Thank you," Lilith said, "you may all go now."

The specialist nodded and went to call his comrades. They seemed eager, no, fearful that if they stayed in their boss's sight any longer they could wind up deceased in a ditch somewhere.

Rose and Horace  looked at each other and nodded, as if they had agreed upon some strange matter.

"So basically we can go about this two ways...at the same time," Rose proposed, "We can split the group into two, one half would follow the trail our murdered has left us and hopefully it leads us to him, and the other half can search for the missing footage."

"It couldnt have been deleted, if it was there would be a recovery drive......no....it's been transferred somewhere, there'd be no way for anyone to recover it if so unless they find the file in a computer, a phone, or a storage drive." Lilith paced the room, "if the footage exists somewhere then the killer would be one it....there'd be proof."

"We already know his identity though," Arthur said, "he's been inane out of here....we have a face we just need to run it through the system."

"He won't be on the system...I already checked," Lilith said. "The entire file was deleted.....but the system would say by who.." A spark ignited in her gold eyes and she rushed out without a word.

"So what now?" Horace asked.

"Wait for Lilith...." Rose replied uneasily, "and start following the tracks."

Markus took the yearbook with him in the pocket he sew into his jacket. He left the library and headed home, his phone began to ring...Lilith was calling. He picked it up and answered.

"Well hello there friend of mine," Lilith sounded angry, "I just checked our mystery man's deleted file....guess who deleted it."

"Who?" he replied for the sake of entertaining his sister, "tell me Lilith, you said you were going to help...however now it seems like I must be doing this myself."

"Jonathan Watson," Lilith replied with a smirk, "remember that traitor in daddy's little circle I mentioned."

"You have him?" Markus said in surprise.

"Better," Lilith let a cruel smile pass her face, "I lied...his identity isn't unknown. Rather, I found him and caught him when I took a seat on the company table. After that I shipped him off to an Asylum on an isolated island and had them give I'm shock therapy for Crippling Paranoia, Schizophrenia, and Persecutory Delusions."

"My god Lilith!" Markus yelled over the phone, "why on earth would you be so cruel!!"

"He tried to kill me!" Lilith defended, "look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't do the same if you saw him try to kill me."

Markus was speechless, he heard a helicopter on the other side of the phone.

"Where are you?" Markus yelled, "getting in a  helicopter?"

"Yes actually," Lilith replied, "now get outside we'll be there in a minute."

"Where are we going?" Markus asked, but the line disconnected. "Great.." he threw his phone onto the seat.

The old theatre was filled with musk and mould, the scent of old rotting wood was evident in the air. Wearing a coat, sitting on an old and torn seat, a man chewed some peanuts, making loud crunching noises.

"I wasn't expecting you to call for me now," the man said in a tenor voice.

"I wasn't expecting to call you either," the screen before him wen't on and a distorted voice began to speak. "Let's move to phase two......the crows are on high alert, the police are everywhere now, and moreover, Apollo and Artemis are on the move."

"And Zeus?" the man asked.

"We needn't concern him with any of this," the voice said, "the game has begun Butcher....play with them."

Rose waited sitting at the bar...fiddling with her fingers..anxious to send a text.

"What're you waiting for?" the bartender asked, her one hand holding a bottle, and the other holding a cork screw, "send the damn text."

"It's complicated," Rose waved her hand.

"Try me," the girl said.

"I want to ask this guy to have dinner with my parents because I kinda like him and I want my parents to like him. And I want them to like him because then I'll feel like I'm allowed to like him and I can go on liking him." Rose smiled.

"Then send the text," the bartender replied, "I dont see anything you're waiting for."

"Okay," Rose picked up the phone and pressed the send button.

Markus phone vibrated, high in the sky, leaving Blackwater.

Dinner with my parents tonight? I just want them to be okay with..us? a text read.

Sure, Markus replied.

"Don't get to sentimental," Lilith told him, staring out into the sky and land all below them. "Trust me it won't end well."

"Tell me why," Markus asked, "why did you disappear when I came home? When I asked about you they said you were gone, and you were. You never wrote, called, texted...when I asked about you they said you were busy, but they never said with what. Then you really disappeared, no one knew where you were at all. Then all of a sudden you're here and ready to back me up, but you expect me to act normal like nothing ever happened to you!"

"Markus," Lilith looked at him, sincerely, her look not mocking, cruel or anything, it was just plain sincere. "I'll tell you one day maybe, the whole truth......but if that day comes you will have to promise me a promise maybe even you yourself cannot fulfil."

"What did you do?" he asked her worriedly.

"Many I things I'm not proud of," Lilith said, a tear rolled down her face as the wind blew her hair back and her face stared down at the sea below. "He made us into monsters you know....."

"I know," he replied, "do you still get the nightmares?"

"Yes," Lilith wiped the tear, "they never go away."

"Do you ever miss things...with you...me.....mother and father?" Markus asked.

"No," Lilith replied, "those aren't the things I miss."