Hiraeth

Chapter One

"I am currently sitting next to the little girl you are looking for. She is safe, for now, but if no one comes to get her quick enough, I will be forced to do something unspeakable to her kidnappers," A soft voice said calmly into the receiver of their cell phone. The 911 operator's eyes widened, and they signaled to the first responders available to be ready once they had gotten the address confirmed.

"Excuse me sir, can you tell me the address at which you are located?" They inquired while also contacting the police, and starting to look through the information received when this man had called. When contacted, 911 operators are instantly given the person's phone number and location. Though the location wasn't always transmitted correctly, or they might move places after calling, so they are required to make sure of the real site of a caller.

The 911 operators questions were met with silence, and then a beep that signaled the phone had disconnected. Only able to go off of the information received, the 911 operator filled in the police and first responders of the place received. They prayed that in the meantime the person who had called in hadn't moved far from that scene.

Lazarus cradled the girl's black haired head on his lap, and eyed the blood decorating her ashen face. He knew he would have to leave before the cops showed up, but he didn't feel satisfied with the small amount of violence he had used on her kidnappers. Even though they are knocked out on the grass a few feet away from them both. He supposed he wasn't known for his acts of kindness, they were few and far between. He hated the human race with a passion, but for some reason this young dear had struck a chord with him. What that chord was, he wasn't sure yet. He had become determined to help this child, since the "heroes" had done nothing to help save her.

He knew of exactly five that had enhanced hearing, and he knew without a doubt they would have heard her struggle. These days it was impossible to find someone who hadn't been corrupted in some way. His ice blue eyes were hard from his canalization of the situation facing this girl. He knew that the young girl had no parents and was kidnapped from a foster parents residence. His gray hair was tickling along his high cheekbones as he realized he knew a lot about many of the crimes going on in this area.

Lazarus gently picked up the small frail body he was cradling protectively, and placed her next to him carefully. He stood and cocked his head to one side, listening intently for sounds that the police or first responders were in range. Upon hearing a faint crackling of leaves and branches that signaled footsteps, Lazarus laid his jacket on the girl's body before stealing away into the coming night in the forest. The shadows swallowing him like a whale would eat plankton.

It was with this new-found warmth that a soft moan filled with pain came from the little girl. Her eyes cracked open slowly; her eyelashes thick and dark around her brown eyes that glinted red in the setting sun. She was shivering cold, whether from shock or blood loss, she couldn't tell. She became filled with a frustrating confusion that caused her eyebrows to furrow as she looked around her. Why weren't there people attacking her anymore? She fingered the dark cloth that covered her, and wondered also about how this had gotten there.

Then there were hands grabbing at her, and checking her to look for injuries while also seeing how bad they were. It surprised her enough for her eyes to go wide and her body to freeze up. She hadn't even heard them. How couldn't she have heard them? Now that she had seen them, they were stomping around like baby dinosaurs probably attracting the wildlife in the forest around them to their site.

" Did you see the man who saved you from these guys?" She heard in her right ear. She tilted her head painfully and saw a portly woman standing there with a kind smile. She had warm brown hair that trailed down her shoulders, and wore a silver police badge on her chest. Before she could respond, a muscular man came up beside her with a stern expression.

" Stop asking Chikati so many questions, the poor girl is more than likely in shock, and doesn't need more of your blubber to confuse her more. She probably doesn't even remember what happened, even if she was conscious." At this Chikati looked back over to the portly woman, who seemed to have blown as a gasket because of all the steam rising from her ears.

"Fausto, no one needed the police chief to come a long. Maybe it would have been better if you didn't," She sassed, causing Chikati's eyebrows to rise. She didn't think sassing the police captain would do this woman any favors, especially since he was in such a foul mood.

Fausto seemed to gain a few feet in height as he stood at his full height of 6'6", towering over both Chikati and the portly woman with little to no issue. " I ought to fire your ass for insubordination Helen."

The way he spat the statement in disgust caused Helen to flinch, as though slapped, and back away in submission. That left Chikati staring up at Fausto's imposing frame from her spot on the ground, his turquoise eyes swirling in barely restrained anger. Chikati gulped, and tensed, kind of terrified she would be attacked again. She knew it was an irrational thought, but ever since she was seven she had gained a sense of cautiousness around others. It was what had kept her alive to reach her current age of 12.

Fausto seemed to remember her presence as his eyes traveled back to her, and he seemed to slouch his posture. He gave her a sheepish smile, and she could tell from his eyes he felt ashamed that he had gotten so worked up over nothing.

"I'm sorry for blowing up like that Chikati, we're going to have to bring you down to the police station with us to answer a few questions about those guys, after you've received medical attention." He jabbed a thumb at the men. "Then you're free to go back home with your foster parents."

It was almost half an hour later that the paramedics began to prep her to move to the ambulance to be checked out at the hospital. Chikati was somehow able to stop herself from snapping at these people as they manhandled her on a gurney and then into the ambulance. Though she didn't know it, Chikati had a large gash on the side of her neck that had barely avoided her carotid artery. Though it hadn't hit the artery, the wound was still losing blood at an alarming rate. The sticky life fluid decorated her clothes in big black blotches, and her skin was stained pink. There was dirt all over her, and even inside the wound, leading to her having a high risk of getting an infection.

The ride in the ambulance was a blur to Chikati, as she found it harder and harder to stay alert. It was hard to comprehend anything that was being said to her, because her hearing was going in and out, in time with the fading of her consciousness. It was only when she saw the lights blurring passed in front of her eyes that she realized she had reached the hospital. Her body ached, and she felt twinges of sharp pain in her neck as the gurney jostled it. Her adrenaline must have faded, though the thought was quickly wisped away as she welcomed the peaceful darkness of sleep into her body.

Fausto knew in his heart of hearts that there was nothing the police could do to further pursue action against the kidnappers until they had taken a statement from Chikati herself. The realization had him pinching his eyes with one hand while the other was running through his shaggy brown and gray hair. He often wondered if the gray was naturally occurring, or if it was because of the stress of his job. Though he knew most of his family had naturally gray hair, he had assumed he would be exempt from that because of his hair's brown hue.

He was sitting outside of Chikati's recovery room on the hard plastic blue chairs that littered the hallways of this hospital. The floors were white tiles that held black speckles, and the walls were a pale golden-yellow. The phlorescent lights above him were giving him a headache, but he couldn't find it in himself to leave Chikati in the hospital by herself for the night. It was while she had been in the operating room earlier that he had informed Chikati's parents they had found her, but they had decided to wait until the next day to come and see her. At the same time that he could see the logic in their reasoning, if he had been in their place he would have shown up immediately. Of course, he had no right to judge their parenting skills since he didn't have children himself. Hell, he was practically married to his work if anything.

His stomach grumbled, and he realized he should force himself out of this chair to go to the cafeteria, but lethargy had him glued to the seat. He reasoned with himself that he would probably hurt tomorrow if he did fall asleep in this chair. But, he had been up since four in the morning. It was probably nearing two at night now he supposed, though his eyes had already begun to close, and he couldn't bring himself to try to fight to open them again. He would just deal with the repercussions to his actions later that day, sleep was too much of a temptation for him to resist.