Sienna's Thorn [Paused]

Chapter 6

Bruno stood bent over his table, staring at a pile of papers when Sienna walked into his office. She stopped by the door, watching. He didn't react.

'Anything new?'

Bruno jerked upright with a strangled huff. 'Oh, man!' Placing a hand over his heart he laughed. 'Don't sneak up on me like that.'

Sienna grinned. 'You made an epic face. I think I'll do that again someday.'

'Come here. You were right.'

Curious, she stepped up to the desk to see what he meant. A bunch of reports lay spread out on the table. She silently cringed at the photos of the dead teenagers. The report he'd been reading was from the lab.

'Look.' He pointed to the paper. 'A positive DNA match was found.'

She gasped and snatched the paper from the desk. 'What is it?' Her eyes wandered across the page, hoping for a creature match. Instead, the test only confirmed what she had been suspecting. The DNA sample from the first case matched the one they'd taken from the girl, Henna Lasint. She stared at it. The same creature had attacked the children. They still didn't know what it was, but they knew it was the same person. The monster was systematically violating and killing children. A shudder coursed through her. But now they had proof, black on white. That was something.

'I knew it was the same creature. But I had hoped for something... more,' she sighed and placed the paper back on the desk.

'I know,' Bruno agreed. 'But it's something. At least now, since it looks like a serial killer, this case will be prioritized.'

'That's good, yeah. I only wished we knew what to look out for.' It was frustrating to have so few things to go on.

Bruno grunted in agreement. Tearing his eyes off the reports on the table, he grasped his cap, placed it on his head and started for the door. 'Come on. There're still people to investigate, and we could drive around towards the centre, hoping to get lucky.

'I guess,' she said and followed him out.

* * * * * 

Several hours later, as Sienna and Bruno sat in their car, watching people enter and leave a known den for drug dealers, hoping to catch something, the police radio buzzed to life.

'Sienna Farrasoke, code two.'

'Farrasoke, code two, go ahead,' Sienna answered immediately.

'On your party, respond to distress call, missing juvenile, six years, white male human...' Dispatch gave the address and additional information, and as Sienna spoke on the radio, Bruno already had the car moving. It wasn't an emergency, so no lights or alarms were needed. Still, it was troubling. A missing six-year-old had been reported. They were to speak with the parents and help with the search. With their current case, Sienna couldn't stop worrying that the monsters they were after had taken the small boy.

Soon they pulled up outside of a school and left the vehicle. Some curious children stared at them through the windows. It was seven in the evening but the school served as a daycare centre after school hours. They'd be closing about now. Sienna opened the door and walked in, Bruno right behind her. Two women and a man, standing in the hall, turned around as they entered.

'Police Officers, finally,' the woman closest to them said as she saw their blue uniforms. She was a slim woman in her thirties, dressed in a white shirt and a black pencil skirt. Her brown curly hair was cut short, making her long earrings clearly visible. She almost reached out for them, before she got a hold of herself and balled her trembling hands into fists by her side.