Havermouth, Present Time
Eight men all stood in their cells staring as Aislen turned the trundle bed on it’s side and dragged it around to create a corner that, when she was kneeling, gave her some privacy in which to use the bedpan.
“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” Dr. James commented dryly from her bed.
“I’m peeing,” Aislen replied. “Crouched behind a trundle bed, in a f-king cage surrounded by different types of zombies, and with eight idiots staring at me. I don’t really want to be chatting with you, Dr. James, right now.”
“And yet, here we are,” Dr. James pointed out finger combing her hair. “Life is strange, isn’t it, Aislen? Who would have thought that we’d end up cell mates. It’s sort of funny seeing as we’ve both been trying to put each other into a cell all along.”
“I didn’t kill my daughter in order to get my rocks off,” Aislen grumbled under her breath.
“You’re not peeing.”
“I have f-king stage fright,” Aislen snapped, her eyes going to the row of men who continued to stare at her intensely. “F-king perverts,” she accused them. “At least close your eyes!”
“Think of the beach,” the doctor advised. “That always does it for me.”
“The river,” Aislen closed her eyes and imagined the river as seen from the balcony of the river house. F-k, where were Rhett and Cameron? Were they okay? How was Heath going? Had Talen managed to turn him? “F-k,” she gritted her teeth and concentrated on breathing, and was finally able to go, the relief washing away with the wish that the bedpan wasn’t metal, so that the ring of her piss wasn’t so loud within it.
She repaired her clothing and carried the bedpan over to the door. “This is so wrong,” she muttered as she pushed it through the flap into the hallway. “Just think about the Triquetra,” she told herself. “They’d make it sexy somehow.”
“Aislen,” Toby called softly from his cage, gripping the bars. “We should just get into the car and go.”
“Nothing. There is nothing in the back,” one of the original men agreed.
“Let them go. We will stay here,” the other man added.
“Shit,” Aislen worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She considered the four original men and frowned remembering the Van Helsings that had stopped the car. “F-k,” she tried to remember what she’d thought at them when they’d been there – what they were saying would be right, she decided. She wanted to stop them from searching the car, and the let them go. Bianca had been right, she thought, this power of hers was dangerous. “I’m sorry Toby. I f-ked your head up, I know. I can’t…”
The doors opened, and the still silence that fell told her that it was Sparrow returning. Dr James fell off the bed in her haste to crawl under it, her face terrified. Aislen looked down at the bedpan full of piss and regretted pushing it out of the cage. The next time, she decided, she’d keep it and throw the contents in his f-king face.
Sparrow had a blonde woman with him, and she slid Aislen a sideways glance as she picked up the bedpan and carried it out with her.
“Hello again Aislen,” Sparrow smiled at her pleasantly. “You’ve been renovating your cell?”
“A girl needs some privacy,” Aislen retorted.
“Hmm. Well put it back on the same side, away from your neighbor, hmm? She’s violent.”
“She’s terrified of you,” Aislen commented mildly. “Everyone in here is. Did you torture them too, like you did to Heath?”
“Heath Gale… Cost me some very good people,” Sparrow replied grimly. “Some of my best. Charlotte McKenzie…” He shook his head. “It was a terrible tragedy, and I will find the vampires who were responsible for the destruction and death caused by his escape.”
“Oh diddums,” Aislen snorted.
“But to answer your question, I have nothing to do with the occupants of these cells, other than yourself. You,” he moved closer. “I am very interested in. Very, very interested in. You have quite the knack for finding missing people, don’t you, Aislen Carter? First the girl, and then Heath Gale… Is this your magic?”
“Magic?” Aislen arched an eyebrow. “I don’t have any magic.”
“Don’t,” he sighed heavily shaking his head. “Don’t do this Aislen. Tell me, how do you find people? If I had something, with some of someone’s blood on it, would you be able to locate her by the blood?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Aislen knew that she was playing a dangerous game.
He met her eyes and held them. “Aislen, I don’t want to hurt you,” he said quietly. “But I will if you force me to.” The doors opened again and he turned his head, frowning as the woman who had taken the bedpan hurried down the walkway between the cages to where he stood.
She stood on tiptoe, and he leaned down so that she could cup a hand and whisper into his ear.