Blood and Snow

Chapter Nineteen

"So, remind me again why we're keeping her alive?" Sierra asked Myckenzie. Myckenzie sighed, "Because Mason wants to get information out of her, that's why."

The blonde shoved a tray of cookies in the oven and closed the door. "No," she said, looking at her friend, "I mean why is she still alive? I thought the boss already questioned her."

Myckenzie nodded, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear. "I don't know. He probably hasn't gotten all the answers he wanted." She said while shrugging her shoulders. Sierra crosses her arms and leaned back on the counter next to the oven. "Or maybe he wants something else?" Sierra thought aloud. Myckenzie looked at her, "What else could Mason possibly want from her?"

"I don't know; maybe access to case files? Or the police database?"

"That wouldn't make sense, though." The pink-haired woman insisted, "Belle's not a cop, she's a lawyer. She wouldn't have access to those things in the first place, right? If that's what Mason wanted, he'd have Flynn and Tyreke grab the chief of police or something."

Sierra shook her head. "Yeah, you're right." She admitted. Sierra's gaze moved to the wall, "If it really is because he didn't get the answers he wanted, why doesn't he just have Baron rip the answers out of her?"

"Because that's not how Mason works," Myckenzie said after a moment of thinking. Sierra looked back at her "... That makes sense, I guess. He's— dare I say it— too much of a gentleman to do that."

"Gentleman my ass." Myckenzie snorted, "Gentlemen don't choke girls while holding knives to their throats."

"You're still pissed about that?"

"Yes. You wouldn't understand because you didn't have to deal with Belle after that happened." Myckenzie threw her arms around in the air making exaggerated gestures as she ranted. "The woman was a total mess! She was crying and wouldn't leave the corner of her room. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't speak, and she wouldn't look at you if you tried speaking to her. I had to threaten her to get her to eat something."

Sierra opened her mouth to say something and Myckenzie cut her off. "Hush," she snapped, "I'm not finished." The blonde raised her eyebrows and nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "Thank you. Where was I? Oh, yes." Myckenzie raised her voice, "It was like I was babysitting a child! You all know I hate children— except for Bradley; he's cool. It was frustrating! And when she finally moved, she went under the bed. Then she wouldn't move again! You know the rest of that story so I won't go any farther on that, but now you get why I'm still pissed off?"

Sierra nodded slowly. "Yikes." she said after a moment. The door to the kitchen opened suddenly, catching the girls' attention. Mason stepped inside with Fredrick behind him, looking at the two of them. "Sorry if we're interrupting Myckenzies meltdown," Mason said casually, "But Fredrick and I wanted to discuss some things with you two."

}—————{

Tyreke was talking with Bradley in his "examining room", as he liked to call it. It was the closest thing he had to a doctor's office. He had been reorganizing his medical tools when the young child ran in there with a scrapped knee. "Really?" Tyreke asked him as he finished wrapping the bandage around the bottom of his kneecap, "You expect me to believe that you fought with a dinosaur to get this?"

"Uh-huh!" The blue-eyed boy said cheerily, "It was awesome! You should have seen it!"

"Hmmmm," the taller male hummed, turning away from Bradley. "This is the second person this month I had to treat because of their knees." He muttered, going back to his tools. Bradley was swinging his legs back and forth while sitting on a crate, watching Tyreke place sharp objects into a metal supply's box. Tyreke put the box down next to him and walked to the wooden cabinet he had built into the wall. He opened it up and started looking at bottles, sorting through them and checking how much was left of each. "So," he asked after a moment, "Did Flynn see this 'epic battle' of yours?"

"Nope!" Bradley responded, "Flynn went out to get some things."

"'Get some things', or stealing package deliveries off of someone's front door?" Tyreke teased, "That porch pirate never resists an opportunity to steal something."

Bradley giggled at Tyreke's attempt at a joke, making the blue-haired man smile. "Yes," he said, pumping his fist in the air victoriously, "I'm finally funny!"

"You've always been funny!" Bradley reassured him with a grin, "Flynn and I laugh every time you fall down the stairs!"

The smile won Tyreke's face was immediately replaced by a frown. "Ha. Ha. Ha." He fake laughed, furrowing his eyebrows, "Hilarious."

"Mhm." The boy responded. He jumped off the crate and walked towards the door. "I'm gonna go fight that dinosaur again! See you later, Tyreke!"

"Later." The man called over his shoulder as he went back to sorting bottles. He grumbled to himself, mildly offended at Bradley's joke. "Falling down the stairs, bah... That only happened once... twice... maybe a few times..."

}—————{

Belle was sitting on the bed, coloring a picture of a rabbit in the coloring book that happy had given her. She made its fur a light blue and gave it rosey cheeks. Focusing the minor details and shading it with darker colors, she didn't hear the knock on her door. Nor did she hear the footsteps coming up beside her. Belle had the feeling of being watched and looked up.

"Hi, Miss Belle!" Bradley shouted merrily, scaring the living daylights out of her. Belle put a hand over her heart and smiled, relaxing. "Hello, Bradley. How have you been?"

"I'm alright, thank you!" He smiled brightly, "Sorry about scaring you, but it was kind of funny."

"Well, at least someone appreciates my ability to jump five feet in the air." The lawyer said in a joking manner. Bradley giggled and started bouncing up and down. "Hey, Belle," he asked, "Wanna go watch cartoons with me? We can ask Happy to join us!"

Belle smiled at the boy's enthusiasm, "I'd love too. Let me write a note to Baron so that he knows where I am. Wouldn't want a repeat of last time, ay?"

"Aye!"

}—————{

"Come on, Lillian, you need to unwind."

"No thanks, Rich."

Richard was trying to convince Lillian to go to a Christmas party on the twenty-fourth. He believed that it would help her take her mind off things, so he kept insisting that she attended it. Lillian, however, was against the idea of having fun "While my friend is being held against her will or possibly even dead!".

'She seriously needs to relax. She hasn't been like this since after high school.' Richard thought, dismayed. He sighed and walked up to his sister, enveloping her in a hug. "I know you're hurt, and that you're worried for Belle," he said calmly, "But you have to calm down. It's not healthy for you to be like this, and it hurts me to see you so... depressed."

Lillian looked up at her brother with tears forming in her eyes. She wiped them away before they could fall and hugged back. "... Fine. But only one party."

Richard pulled away from her and smiled, "Thank you, Lil."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"The party's at eight O' clock in the evening. I'll send you the address; don't be late."

Lillian smiled wickedly, "Oh, trust me, dear brother... The party won't start until I arrive."