Our room was pitch black inside when I opened the door. Molly must've still not come back yet. I thought as I fumbled for the light switch on the wall.
Flicking on the light switch, I saw something move on Molly's bed! And my body froze in terror. What was lurking in our room?
Flipping over the duvet covers, Molly's little head poked out. I breathed a sigh of relief, my heartbeat returning to normal.
"Hey Molly," I called out. "Were you sleeping? Sorry if I woke you up."
She glanced towards me. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying all day. "Aria?" She asked groggily, "where have you been?"
I closed the door behind me and rushed over to her, "I was at Theo's house, his sister was getting engaged. Where did you go?"
"Oh, Aria," Molly started crying again. "I was at the hospital with Dr Carlton. Dr Black is badly hurt...she is still in hospital...with all these tubes attached..."
She grabbed a tissue and blew into it loudly then dumped it in the bin that was already half-filled with countless used tissues.
"What happened to her?" I looked at Molly's red eyes and asked.
Molly shook her head and sobbed, "I don't know, Dr Carlton didn't tell me, he just asked me to give Dr Black a helping hand. But I was useless, Aria because she's still not better. They don't know if she'll be able to make it."
I put an arm around her shoulder and grabbed another tissue for her. "You've tried your best and that's all that matters."
She took the tissue and wiped her eyes only for a fresh wave of tears to resurge.
"Molly," I asked, "Did you happen to see anyone else injured at the hospital?"
Molly looked up at me in confusion, "what do you mean?"
"Aside from Dr Black, did you see anyone else? Two men? One is tall and looks a bit like me? And the other one is tall and rugged-looking. Their names are Joseph and Colin? Did you come across anyone with those names?"
Molly remained still for a second as her eyes turned to the left corner of their sockets. I could see she was trying to recall any information and held my breath. Was my father and Uncle Colin with them too?
A few seconds later, she shook her head, "no. The names don't ring a bell. Who are they?" She asked cautiously, partly already knew what my answer was.
"My family," I said sadly.
Molly bit on her lower lip as she searched into her memories further, but nothing came up. "No, I definitely didn't see them." She shook her head. She was certain of it.
I nodded, feeling a sense of loss.
"That's ok. Get some rest, Molly." I said, patting her head gently.
Molly did as she was told, she pulled the covers over her head again.
I walked to the bathroom feeling numb. Splashing my face with water, I stared into the mirror. Show me. I silently prayed. Let me see. Where are they? Something, please.
Anything...
My reflection merely stared back at me in frustration. I shook my head. It was useless. Nothing. I dried my face with a towel then switching off the lights, I climbed into bed.
In the dark, I could still hear the muffled sounds of Molly crying through the duvet. It sounded so heartbroken and utterly helpless. And the sad truth was, that feeling was mutual.
***
Stan Moore came out of the shower with a white towel wrapped around his waist. Beads of water dripped down from his wet hair onto his neck with the tattoo "I heart Mum", then it carried on running along his flat toned, six-pack stomach, bypassing several long slashes of faded white scars before disappearing into the towel.
He immediately sensed there was someone else in the room. A new scent. His werewolf senses were on high alert. He threw a quick glance at the front door. It was still locked. Then how did they get in?
"Hello, Stan," The person called out from the sofa, seemingly perfectly at ease in someone else's living room, uninvited.
"Detective James," Stan's tense muscles relaxed a little, but part of him still remained on guard, the man didn't appear for no reason. "You of all people should know that breaking and entering is against the law."
Mark James looked at him and a slow, lazy smile appeared across his chiselled face, "You left the windows open."
Stan tried to look calm as he took a sharp inhale of breath. He lived on the third floor for Christ sake! The man was a monster. A good looking one at that. Damn him! Stain realised there was no escaping him and the sooner he got the questioning over with the better. Grabbing the shirt off the sofa, he asked, "What can I do you for Detective?"
"Going out on a school night?" Mark raised an eyebrow, watching him buttoning up his shirt.
"Luckily for me, Detective, school finished a long long time ago," Stan answered. "I do have places to be, so if you don't mind, can we get this over and done with please?"
"How's business going?" Mark asked, not sharing his same sense of urgency.
"It's fine Detective if you're here for some VIP passes, I can certainly arrange it for you," Stan said, ready to pull out his hair. Was the man trying to wear him down? He thought as he tried his best to hold onto his nerves.
"Yes, I'd like that," Mark said cheerfully.
If Stan hadn't known better, he might've thought that was all Mark James came for. Heck, he could give him all the passes for life if it meant getting him off of his back.
He had a bar in Soho, it was popular amongst the city bankers, celebrities and the political hot shots of Westminister. It was a legitimate business for he paid his taxes and Christ, he even had a payroll department.