Mariana looked up at Enid from the floor. She’d watched her friend go from sweet and innocent, to a brutally efficient killing machine in seconds. She had looked away when she heard the cracking of the Sergei’s neck bones. And clinched her eyes shut. She could hear Ethel her ever present companion shouting and cheering. She kept her eyes shut. She just heard Enid asking for them to surrender. And then gunfire.

“Don’t be so squeamish Enid get the rest of them! Shoot em in the nuts! Ouch. Did you see that Maria, she just broke all his ribs. Oh wow, she just broke his neck. She’s awesome. Go Enid! Go Enid! Oh-oh! Look out the girls going for her gun. Oh, right in the head? This is like an action movie.”

Bang. Bang.

“Oh, that was cold. She didn’t even let them finish their monologuing. Get up Mariana get up! You can run away now! Totally went Willow on their asses. She should have said ‘bored now’”

Mariana could feel hands trying to lift her up. She opened her eyes and it was Ethel trying to lift her up. The child didn’t have the strength. Then she looked up and Enid was leaning down with a knife. She tried to get away, but she was still bound. She couldn’t remember anything Enid said except.

“Hide!”

Ethel had pushed and shoved her towards some shadows. Mariana just wanted to disappear, and she did. She watched from the darkness as the girl she had come to know as a good and decent person brutally shot four more people. Enid seemed to know one of them. Mariana jumped when she heard Ethel whisper into her ear.

“Get your bag.”

Mariana nodded and reached her hand out and pulled it back and over her shoulder. She sat against the wall in the shadows wrapping her arms around her knees. Her fingers stroking her crucifix. She rocked back and forth. She wasn’t sure how long it had been, but she came to her senses when she felt Ethel’s rubber ball hit her in the face.

“Hurry. I know where to find Enid.”

“I do not want to find her. She is dangerous and violent.”

“Don’t be stupid. She saved the both of you. And she took a bullet for you!”

“She thought I was human.”

“And you were at the time weren’t you, like she was. She knew she could get hurt for realsies and she still got in front of the bullet for you. And I heard her tell Sister Fancypants that she’d die for you.”

“She thinks I am someone else. Someone named Mariana.”

“Duh, Maria-na, Maria? Let’s go! She’s going to get away. She was eating people like you do when I left her. Big Guy is watching her for us. You can do your vampire zippy zippy thing.”

“No, that wastes blood, I will not use my abilities.”

“Then she’ll get away and you won’t know what she’s up to or who she is or whatever. You think she’s going to go to school tomorrow? I don’t.”

Mariana sighed.

“You are right, unfortunately.”

“Yay!”

Ethel grabbed onto Mariana who kept in the shadows and altered time around her and caught up to Enid who was just finishing on her last victim. There was an unconscious woman on the ground. She was a bit banged up. Enid was pointing at the rather beat up male on the ground.

“No means no asshole. Another time or place I’d have cut your dick off.”

She kicked him in between his legs and Mariana watched her shimmer in and out of existence. She could apparently see through Enid’s power of invisibility. Mariana and Ethel were joined by Mariana’s silent bodyguard who had been watching over Enid. It fell in line beside them. It took them an hour to reach Enid’s destination. It was a large house near their school. She watched as a woman who looked very much like Enid hugged her tightly. She focused on her senses to hear what was being said.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry Mom, I was worried, you didn’t show up after school!”

“Okay so, I’m the mom, I can come and go as I please, we’re clear on that right? I mean what if I had just gone to the mall?”

“I texted you.”

“Oh, they broke my phone, I guess so I couldn’t be tracked. And seriously relax.”

“I was worried mom.”

Mariana saw Enid pull off her jacket. She hadn’t realized there was so much blood from the bullet wound. She said out loud without meaning too.

“How did she do all that with her arm that hurt.”

“She’s kick ass that’s why! Now shh I’m trying to eavesdrop!”

“What happened mom?”

“I was drugged, kidnapped, and shot. And your pure hearted catholic aunt watched me kill four people and maim several vampires. How was your day?”

Mariana looked at the older woman. She could see the likeness between the two. They were obviously mother and daughter. The older woman seemed to lose her temper.

“Who did that? Where are they? I’ll make them sorry for touching you!”

Enid held up her hands.

“Slow down Eyre. Its fine, they are all dead or wish they were.”

“Why?”

“Do you remember Deloriss?”

“Demon summoner Deloriss?

“Yes, that one.”

“Why would she do something as stupid as attacking you?”

“Oh, she thought I was a blood slave made up to look like…well me and thought she’d get back at me by killing…me?”

“What an idiot.”

Enid nodded.

“Shot her in the knees with silver bullets and threw her at one of her friends when she went berserk. If I wasn’t trying to look like a poor little mortal blood slave I probably would have laughed at the look on her friend’s face. You should have heard him scream.”

Mariana frowned.

“Silver bullets, in the knee? That was a bit sadistic wasn’t it?”

“It’s what her goons had.”

“She gave mortals guns loaded with silver bullets? Did it not occur to her how easily that could kill her?”

“I have no idea, she was staked at the end so I couldn’t ask her.”

“Is Mariana alright?”

“I don’t know, I told her to hide, and she’s older than me so I have no chance of finding her unless she wants me to find her. She will be alright, as much as she thinks she’s fifteen years old, she’s still a two-thousand-year-old vampire, not many things on Earth that can slow one of us down.”

“Still, I’m worried about her.”

Enid threw up her hands, then looked at her arm and shirt.

“I’m going to get showered and changed. We should probably burn these clothes.”

Mariana blinked. Her mind was having trouble comprehending Enid’s words. She was two-thousand years old? Why couldn’t she remember. It made sense the flashes of Roman legions battling gauls. She looked down at her hands. She’d always wondered why they were so calloused.

“I told you so! I told you so! You’re so old! I told you, you were older me, but you didn’t believe me did you? That’ll teach you!”

Mariana put her hand on Ethel's shoulder and nodded. Ethel stood up a bit straighter and stuck her nose up in the air and put her hands on her hips letting her ball drop to the ground. Mariana pressed herself against the wall tighter when she heard a car pull up. She looked to see who it was and it was an Edmonton Police car. Two uniformed officers got out and approached the front door. One pressed the doorbell. Eyre answered the door. Mariana took a closer look. She couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. Long curly red locks, green eyes, regal baring, she found herself envious of the woman. She crossed herself asking for forgiveness for her vanity.

“We’re sorry for bothering you at this time of night but we had a missing persons report for a fifteen-year-old girl. Her name is Maria Della Villani. She was last seen with your daughter.”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

The officer looked at her tablet.

“Enid. Have you seen either of them tonight?”

“Enid’s here. She didn’t say anything about Maria. Why do you think they were together?”

“We traced the last location of their cell phones to an alley near their school. They were both smashed. Like they didn’t want to be found.”

“Her cell phone was smashed. She didn’t say anything about that. I suppose I should have suspected something; You know kids these days always have their noses in their phones.”

“Could we talk to her?”

“It’s, kind of late could we do this in the morning?”

The officers looked at each other than the female officer spoke again.

“Well Ms. Aurelius this is about a missing child, its important.”

“I doubt Enid would know anything about that, her and Maria aren’t that close, they are working on a school project together. That’s all.”

“Any detail could help, it could mean the difference between life and death.”

“Are you sure she just didn’t run away?”

“There are witnesses that say a van grabbed them. We would really like to speak to Enid. Just to confirm she’s safe.”

“Okay, okay. Please wait here.”

Eyre closed the door and Mariana peeked in the window. She saw her knock on the bathroom door and Enid came out wearing a jogging pants and a t-shirt. Her own red curls flatted from still being wet. Enid walked to the door with Eyre and opened it.

“Hi Officers, come in please.”

The officers walked inside.

“Hi Enid, I’m constable James, and this is constable McCloud. We’d like to ask you about earlier tonight. We found your cell phone in an alley, smashed and we were told two girls match yours and your friend Maria’s description were grabbed and dragged into a van. Did this happen? Do you know where Maria is?”

Enid nodded, then shook her head.

“Yes, we were grabbed. Four people, three men, one female. Ski masks. They spoke Russian. One was named Sergei. They tried to use needles on us. I kicked the one who was trying to inject me in the nuts and jabbed the needle into the one trying to stick Maria. Then used that needle to inject the woman. The other one was driving. I stomped on the one I kicked in the nuts chest then van stopped because the driver was trying to grab us. We jumped out of the back. I told Maria to run one way, I ran the other way. I assume she got away because they were chasing me.”

“Why didn’t you call us?”

“I didn’t have a phone because they broke mine and I just got home.”

“Did they say anything that might indicate why they grabbed you?”

“Nope.”

“So why didn’t you contact us as soon as you got home?”

“Because I hit my head jumping out of the van and was covered in blood and I was tired. Also, a fifteen year old girl calling the police and saying oh my god, I was grabbed by four Russian thugs sounds really believable doesn’t it?”

“Young lady, this serious, Maria is still missing.”

“I wish I could help you, but I can only tell you what happened. She had her bag can’t you trace her computer?”

“Unfortunately, it’s too old.”

“Look officers, I like Maria, I want to help but I don’t know what else I can tell you. My clothes are in the bathroom if you can get anything from them. I took the woman’s jacket because the tore mine when they grabbed me. You can take them all, right mom?”

“Sure, anything we can do to help.”

Mariana bit her lip. She looked at Esther who was still looking pretty full of herself. Mariana closed her eyes and her fingers started to stroke her tiny silver crucifix.

Should I show myself? What should I do?

Mariana sighed and crossed herself. She knew what she should do. God did not need to tell her. The gospels already had all the lessons she needed. She stood up and let the shadows fall from around her and she rang the doorbell. Eyre opened the door and her eyes went wide.

“Mariana?”

“Yes, ma’am. I, I wanted to know if Enid got home safe.”

“Please come inside you must be freezing out there.”

The two officers turned to see a disheveled looking Mariana. Constable McCloud pressed the button on her radio.

“Cancel amber alert for Maria Della Villani, we found her.”

She released the button and looked at Mariana more closely.

“You must be freezing. Get her blankets.”

Violet who had been watching the evenings events quietly rushed off and came back with a thick quilt and wrapped it around Mariana.

“I am fine thank-you ma’am. She pulled the blanket off and offered it back to Violet.”

The officers looked unconvinced. Mariana always looked either half dead or half frozen, she was deathly pale and had a blue tinge to her lips.

“We should get an ambulance and get you looked at.”

“I am fine officer, I assure you.”

“She is, she always looks like that. That’s why everyone calls her zombie girl.”

Enid shrugged. Mariana’s hand stroked her silver crucifix she looked Enid up and down. How could this girl be her sister, they looked nothing alike? Enid was a beacon of life, rosy cheeks, well-toned. Bright and airy, opposed to Mariana’s dark and pale looks. And how could Eyre be her niece she looked so much older than either Enid or herself. It didn’t make sense.

“That isn’t very nice, Enid.”

Eyre sound just like a mother chastising her daughter.

“It’s what everyone at school calls her.”

“And if they jumped off the high-level bridge, would you, do it too? It’s not nice to call people names I thought we taught you better than that.”

Enid rolled her eyes.

Kid sure has the mom thing down.

“Whatever mom.”

“Don’t you dare whatever mom me Enid Aurelius. Not after you came home in the middle of the night and didn’t tell me you were grabbed off the street! We are going to have a very long talk. I am sorry constables if I had known what had happened, I would have called right away. I would have called sooner but Enid has a habit of running off, she did the same thing with her Father in Scotland. So, I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t want to waste your time.”

“It is alright ma’am. Do you mind if we ask Enid more questions?”

“At this point I don’t care if you throw her in an interrogation room.”

Enid glared at Eyre.

She’s loving this.

“That will not be necessary, Maria, we’ll get another cruiser to come by and give you a ride home.”

“I was hoping to stay here tonight, to make sure Enid was okay. They hit her very hard.”

“Well, the sisters wanted you to come home. And the convent is responsible for you.”

“I will call.”

Eyre nodded and offered Mariana her cell phone.

“Use mine, of course you can stay.”

Mariana walked away from the group and made a call. Eyre was just pouring coffee when she returned. The kettle was whistling as well, and Eyre went about making tea.

“The Mother Superior would like to speak to one of you.”

Mariana offered the phone up. Constable McCloud took it and walked away from the group. She spoke quietly and returned with the phone and offered back to Eyre who pointed at the kitchen counter. After she put the phone down the Constable took her coat off and sat down at the table. She pulled out her pad and looked at Enid and Mariana.

“What color was the van?”

Mariana sat quietly her hand stroking her crucifix. She looked at Enid and then back to the Constable. Eyre put a cup of coffee on the table beside the constable. She poured out tea for Enid and Mariana. Enid spoke up.

“Dark Blue.”

“What was the make and model?”

“I am not too familiar with cars, but I think it was a ford, cargo van?”

“How old was it?”

“It was probably pretty old, it had some rust.”

“Did you get the license plate?”

“No, it was covered with snow.”

“Anything else you noticed?”

“The woman had a tattoo on her chest, looked like Russian mafia, if that makes any sense.”

The officer nodded.

“Do either of you know why they grabbed you?”

“I do not know, ma’am. I thought it might be my Uncle, he was Russian and I am not sure what he did when he left the house. I do know he was into some criminal activities though. My nanny told me.”

“Okay, that makes some sense. Neither of you have any association with any criminal activities?”

“Well, that is probably it for the questioning Constable, until we can have a lawyer present.”

Constable McCloud held up her hand.

“No need for that, I just need to know possible motives. I’m not trying to catch anyone up here.”

“No ma’am, I do not get involved in those types of things.”

“I have been behaving myself.”

“No drugs?”

Both girls shook their heads. Constable McCloud nodded she seemed to be happy with that answer. She looked back a few pages in her pad.

“Enid, I see you have a record from Scotland, you broke your teacher’s nose? But were never charged.”

Enid glared at Eyre, who gave a small shrug and a twitch of a half-smile.

“That was when I was twelve and he was grabbing parts of me he shouldn’t. I kneed him between the legs and then in the face. He didn’t touch me anymore after that.”

“That is true Constable. He was charged with molestation of a minor and is in prison.”

Constable McCloud nodded.

“I was just wondering, where you learned to fight well enough to take down adults that are so much bigger than you.”

“I can answer that as well, she’s been taking martial arts since she was six. Her instructors didn’t teach her how to pull her punches.”

Constable McCloud made more notes. The doorbell rang again. Eyre answered it and she left a pair of women in. They were wearing id badges she led them to the bathroom. Constable McCloud watched them giving them a nod.

“Anything else either of you can tell me?”

“They had pistols. Glock 17’s. They had a round chambered. Could tell by the weight. Means they were ready to use them. I think if someone had intervened, they would have shot them. If you guys run into them, you should expect a fight.”

“And how did you know how much they weighed?”

“I picked one of them up and threw it into the front of the van, so it was out of reach of the one that was still conscious.”

“And you’re familiar with firearms?”

“Yes, I’ve been shooting since I was ten.”

“Your parents wanted you to be prepared it seems.”

“They were both former armed forces. They believe everyone should know how to defend themselves.”

“If you’re familiar with firearms, why didn’t you use it? You could have stopped them right there.”

“I know my history might seem like I’m a violent hoodlum, but I don’t want to kill people. Guns are dangerous. What if I’d hit Maria by accident? Or some innocent bystander?”

Enid shook her head. The constable nodded, made a few more notes.

“What did the injections do to them?”

“Pretty much knocked them out instantly.”

“And the one you took down; Do you think you hurt him badly?”

“I’m pretty sure I cracked or broke a few ribs, maybe punctured a lung. I wasn’t trying to, but he was getting up and I didn’t know what else to do.”

The constable made more notes.

“So, you heard bones breaking?”

Mariana and Enid both nodded.

“It’s a pretty distinct sound when you crack someone’s sternum and ribs.”

The constable quirked an eyebrow, looking Enid up and down again. Enid held her hands up again and shook her head.

“It’s not like that, I gave someone CPR and I heard it then. It’s not an easy sound to forget.”

The constable nodded and made more notes.

“Sounds like he would need to be hospitalized for that kind of injury.”

The constable spoke into her radio.

“Constable McCloud here, put an APB out for a dark blue ford van, plates covered in snow. Rusty. One of the offenders had broken ribs, likely a collapsed lung, check hospitals for similar injuries.”

Mariana looked at Enid and seemed about to open her mouth and Enid shook her head very slightly. Mariana closed her mouth and looked down at the cup of tea that had been placed for her. She frowned slightly and her hand went to her crucifix. The constable looked back at the girls.

“So what time were you grabbed and at what point did you get away?”

Enid looked at Mariana.

“It was at 3:30ish right?”

Mariana nodded.

“It was dark when we got out of the van. I am not sure how long we were there. They hit me in the head because I was struggling. I blacked out.”

Mariana stroked her crucifix.

“I am not sure either I was not really aware of my surroundings.”

“We escaped in the south side. I think they said something about going to the airport. But I don’t understand much Russian. There were a lot of factories around when we escaped it was well after sundown.”

Mariana nodded. The constable nodded and made more notes.

“Did anyone see you escape? Where there any witnesses?”

“I didn’t see anyone almost the whole way home.”

Mariana nodded her agreement again.

“And you both walked all that way in this weather?”

Mariana and Enid both nodded.

“Alright then, that’s all for now. We may have more questions.”

The constable got up and pulled her coat on and went over and spoke to Eyre and the other woman who had Enid’s clothes bagged and were heading out. Eyre walked them out and locked the door then looked at her mother and aunt and shrugged.