Chapter 9: All The Things She Said

Spade shifted into park in front of Aurora's house. The two girls sat in silence, neither wanting to say aloud the things that they had seen that day. Hoping that maybe, by some act of grace, they could fall asleep and awake the next morning; everything all just a horrid dream.
But no mercy would be bestowed on them. No amount of wishing, hoping, even praying would erase this day.
"We have maybe four days before this makes the news." Spade finally spoke breaking the deafening silence. She peered at Aurora from the corner of her eye, to weak to turn her head. "We just need to act surprised when it does happen, until then we'll just pretend everything is normal." her voice was cold and distant; commanding in a way.
"And the truth?" Aurora whispered, her eyes focused on her hands in her lap.
Spade took a deep breath, exhaling softly.
"We tell no one, not yet at least." her voice was calm. Too calm. Aurora lifted her head to look at her cousin. Her face was as it always was, stoic, holding a mature beauty. Her eyes had gone back to their icy silver, leaving  her looking truly as though nothing had happened. Aurora could still see it though; focusing in on her eyes; behind the calmness of her eyes, behind her perfected stoic expression. Pain, unlike any she had ever felt. But this was Spade, by morning, she would have it fully concealed.
Aurora felt her shoulders drop, nodding, holding back any further discussion. She reach her hand over to Spade's, squeezing it lightly before getting out of the car.

Aurora took the steps to the front door two at a time. She heard Spade’s car engine rev as she reached out for the doorknob. It was ice cold beneath her fingertips as she turned it and opened the door. She stared into her home without stepping inside. She could hear her mother’s laughter, Moon-Moon’s barking, her Father’s groaning and her brother’s video games.

It was home, but it was the same. Unchanged, untouched by anything that had happened. The world continued to turn. She stepped inside, determined to leave everything in the cold.

“No!” Kitty exclaimed from the kitchen. Aurora chuckled softly as she made her way towards her mother’s voice.

“Oh come on Kitty-Kat, it’s just a dead bird.” Takado laughed, leaning against the counter to hold him up.
“It’s just like chicken, or turkey."

“It is most certainly not just like Chicken or Turkey!” Kitty hissed, lifting herself onto a counter.
“It was a wild bird and a fucking stupid one at that if Moon-Moon of all dogs was able to get a hold of it! We are not cooking it!”

Takado laughed harder, and Kitty crossed her arm’s over her chest. Aurora leaned against the doorway, watching the two bicker. She smiled softly until she caught sight of the mangled bird lying on the floor in front of the dog. The large black raven, head turned unnaturally, and it’s still opened dead eyes felt as though they stared at her.

She ran as fast as she could. She collapsed on the tile floor of the bathroom floor, her chest heaving. Her hands shook against the cold of the tiles floor, almost as cold as the door knob had been.

“Aurora?” She let out a startled yelp at the sound of her father’s voice from the other side of the door.
“I saw you run upstairs, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine Dad.” Her voice shook as she spoke. She punched the tiled floor, cracking it.

“Come on, Princess. Talk to me.” The door flew open, startling Takado slightly. It slammed against the wall and almost swung back shut. Aurora stood in the doorway, her eyes on the ground and hand holding the door.

“Do you remember... When I was eight years old? I’d read a story at school. It was about a king who killed his queen, because she had been torturing and killing prisoners  Aurora’s voice and legs trembled as she struggled to speak.

“You asked me why it was okay for the king to kill his queen, but not for the queen to kill prisoners."

“Do you remember what you said to me?”

“I said it wasn’t okay. It’s never okay to kill someone, but sometimes you have to do things even when it isn’t okay. Sometimes you have to be bad, to stop something even worse.” Takado’s eyes fell to the floor, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Aurora what is this about?”

“Did you mean it?” Aurora finally looked up, her eyes meeting her father’s matching ones. Her eyes began to water and her nails dug into her hands. “That sometimes you have to be bad to stop something worse?”

“I do.” Takado stiffened, and inhaled slowly.
“Aurora what happened?”

“I was kidnapped my first day of school.” Aurora blurted out. Her knees felt weak, as though they would give out at any moment. She released the door and took a step towards her father.
“I know, it’s stupid. I’m your daughter of all people; I should have been able to fight them off. I don’t have an excuse. It doesn’t matter that I was outnumbered, I wasn’t paying attention and that’s my own fault.”

Takado’s face was colder than she’d ever seen it. Aurora stared at her father for a moment unsure if he was even breathing with how little he moved.

“I wasn’t hurt that bad. A couple of scrapes and a nasty bruise in the back of my head, but I was fine. There was a guy, Dagger, I guess he’s like their leader or boss. He didn’t saved me,” Aurora paused for a moment, her hands warming as she recalled meeting the crimson eyed boy. “But he did get me out unharmed, and then Spade kicked his ass.”

“And?” It was the only thing Takado had said, but Aurora could feel tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“And none of that compares to the fact that Abigail is dead,” Aurora whispered. She covered her face with her hands, forcing her eyes shut. “Abigail is dead and Spade killed her. She’d killed four women, and countless other small animals and it was all part of some twisted ritual to bring her mom back from the dead.”

Takado stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his daughter. “Where are the bodies?”

“In this stupid Indiana Jones of a labyrinth inside the morgue downtown,” Aurora could feel herself steady as her father’s grip tightened around her.
“I didn’t think of it at the time, but I think it was the one you had been buried in.”

“Did Abigail know about me?”

Aurora nodded hesitantly. “I think I mentioned it in passing in front of Spade once, after we discovered that Abigail was a witch.”

“It makes sense for her to target that cemetery then. Even though it was almost 30 years ago now, magic strong enough to bring a person back lingers. Did she ever ask more about it?” Takado loosened his grip on Aurora, and took a step back. She shook her head and he responded with a curt head nod. “Okay, I’ll go take care of it. I imagine two teenage girls were not the best at covering their tracks.”

“Daddy please don’t tell anyone.” Aurora reached for his hand, her fingers wrapping around his pinky.
---
Spade parked alongside the curb in front of her house, the drive way full with Elijah's Mustang, Hamish's motorcycle, and both her parent's cars. She sighed heavily, killing the engine. It wasn't as late as it felt, glancing at the time on her phone, 8:51pm. She gently ran her hand through her hair, taking another deep breath before exiting the car; grabbing a shopping bag from her back seat, thankful she made sure to stop at the store on the way home.

She paused upon reaching the front door, breathing in deeply one last time, slowly exhaling away the day. Her eyes holding their usual dim glow, smiling as she was greeted by their six dogs when she opened the door.

"Hey, your home!" Spikes announced walking up to Spade who was couched down petting the smallest of the six dogs. Spikes smiled crouching down next to her, Damon immediately under her arm.
"Helios has gotten big, huh?"

"You won't be the runt much longer." Spade smiled rubbing noses with the pup. She looked over to her mother, both of them standing back up. "Sorry I was gone all day," she apologized, picking up the bag with party supplies. "you know how shopping with Aurora can get."

"I've heard your battle stories," Spikes laughed leading Spade toward the living room. "don't worry about it.  We have pizza, and we're about to start watching V for Vendetta!" Spikes voice held excitement as it often seemed to now that Spade had left to college. Spade could feel an ache pounding in her chest; Elijah was sitting on the recliner, Hamish on the couch lying across all the cushions. Both hand snacks, there were drinks on the coffee table.

"I was about to make some popcorn." Vincent said happily approaching them from the kitchen. He smiled at Spade giving her a quick tight hug. "Wanna join us little moon?"

The ache turned into a stab, her pulse pounding in her ears. She looked up at her father, expression remaining calm, happy; eager to join her family.
"Absolutely Dad, do you guys mind if I take a fast shower?" She asked her focus now on her brothers.
"Sure that means we can make caramel corn!" Hamish barked happily, pulling himself up to pear over the back of the couch; quickly ducking as Spikes threw a couch pillow at him.
"We better mean you helping this time you little asshole!" Spikes shouted from the love seat. Spade laughed softly, shaking her head before looking back at Vincent.
"Go shower, we'll have caramel corn and hot chocolate ready when you get out." Vincent smiled lightly patting her head. Spade smiled before making her way to her room, throwing her things on the floor and quickly walking into the bathroom.
The bathroom quickly filled with steam and Spade stepped into the shower. The water was scolding, and if not for her skin being tougher than a human's would probably leave her with minor burns. She had her back to the water, reaching up and gently rubbing her neck. The memories of just hours ago started to flash in her mind.
She hadn't called Aurora back, she didn't want her to have to see her best friend freshly dead.