The Sirens

The Sirens
         The darkness seemed to enclose around her like an impending butterfly net. Her knees shook with terror and she crumbled into the corner. Sobs rose into her chest and spilled through her mouth, tears rolling down her pale cheeks. Her blood stained hands grasped the roots of her hair, pulling at her scalp to make the pain disappear. Visions passed through her mind of the evil she had committed. In perfect clarity she saw the man walk down the trashed alleyway alone.
That was his first mistake, never be alone. He appeared to be wandering aimlessly, drunk perhaps, his second mistake. The way he stumbled into the trash units made him easy prey; easy enough not to be considered fun. By the time she reached him most of her work was done as she found him passed out among dozens of black garbage bags. His breathing was light, just like that of a babies. He almost seemed innocent to her, almost.
The adrenaline coursed through her veins as she untwisted the knife from her fishnet stockings and into her hand. She moved closer to the hollow of his throat, hesitating just centimeters away from the freedom of her first kill. She felt a stab of guilt pang through bones, the emotion shamed her, it was a sign of weakness and that simply would not do. Flinging her humanity aside she pressed the tip of the blade through his skin as easy as paper, she watched the blood flow from the tiny hole onto his neck and down his chest.
She caressed his bloody shirt, breathing in the scent of her artwork. She seized the precious moment and locked it inside of her memory, refusing ever to forget the power she felt, the control. Her private sanctity was soon breached as she heard them round the corner and strut towards her. Their heels smacked against the cobblestone ground, destroying the silence with their constant flow of noise. She cocked her head to the side, listening to liquid slosh around in a plastic can. The sound confused her and she twirled around to catch a view of her sisters swinging a bright red gasoline tank in the air.
“What’s all this?” She questioned harshly, offended by their unannounced presence on her territory.
“Calm yourself, Siri, we wouldn’t want for the police to find two bodies now would we? We just came to help with clean up, the least you can do is say thank you.” Arianne taunted.
Siri clenched her jaw and spat out a bitter thank you between her teeth, brushing her hands against her tight black leather corset. She glared at the girls through her burning eyes and nodded towards the body, signaling of her surrender. Arianna walked swiftly over in her red stilettos and commenced in contaminating the body in the flammable liquid. Siri saw a silver lighter drop to the ground, purifying the remains of the scene.
A firework of flames exploded across the sky, the smell of burnt flesh overpowering the dark night. No one moved for several quiet moments, intently listening to the fire consume the deceased corpse; snapping and crackling of the flesh sent goose bumps up their spines and chills through their could blood.
“Best show I’ve ever seen, so far.” Arianna smirked, sprinting off to the corner of a trashed warehouse and a prostitute hot spot. She stopped dead in her tracks, glancing back toward the statues behind her. “Ladies, unless you plan on making a date with the electric chair I suggest we get moving.”
Caprice subdued to her commands and snatched the tank from the damp ground, tossing it casually into their bonfire. “Fingerprints,” she snapped, dashing to meet her sister.
Siri took several dazed steps in front of her, still lost in the sacred world of fire. She crawled back to her man, toying her fingers in the heat; she gave into a sudden urge and reached into his front pocket. If she had been more involved with her physical being she might have recoiled from the sting, but she remained deeply tucked in the safety of her mind, where no one could reach her.
She slipped half of his melted license in the crevice of her chest and returned back to the contention of her siblings. They glared at her behind squinted eyes, anger kindling their inner demons. Siri had always been good at that, reading someone’s emotions through their eyes, that’s the reason she was such a threat to them. Somehow she knew their deepest desires and emotions, even when they refused to acknowledge it themselves.
“Souvenir,” she shrugged, desperately hoping to let the subject drop with the flames. She ran on ahead, leaving them to rot behind her, she could feel two pairs of eyes branding themselves in the back of her neck, but nothing, not even her sisters could ruin this moment.
Freedom coursed through her veins, discovery tingled in her soul. The discovery of self, this was who she was, it called to her the way Brandy would call to an alcoholic. Nothing before had ever seemed clearer then this moment, this had been a revelation, and one she certainly could not deny. And as long as she was alive and kicking it she would never refuse its call.
~
         The light beamed in through the window, dancing across the curves of her face and rested on her shallow eyes. Her lids fluttered open, adjusting to the change morning brought. Her limbs sang in a joyous melody as she stretched from the comfort of her bed and dragged herself into the harsh artificial luminosity of the living room. The scenery around her blurred into a distant background of white carpet and expensive cream furniture. She threw herself on the closest chair she could find and rested her head on the granite of the island.
The sound of a throat clearing startled her from her improvised her bed and spiked her adrenaline. “Oh! Arianna, you scared me,” she laughed, clutching her hand over her heart to calm her nerves.
“See, that wouldn’t be the case if you got up earlier, like some of us who’ve actually already been up for hours.” She preached in her usual manor. She reclined at the table, her glasses decorating her face as she thoroughly scanned the morning paper. 
“Aria, it’s only nine. Some of us prefer to actually sleep at night instead of pester people with our unusual perkiness!” She emphasized, “Besides… I had a rather late night last night…” she lead on, hoping to spark a reaction as she poured a large cup of coffee into a mug from the cupboard.
“Hm. You rolled in around three? Yeah, that’s right. Let me guess, his name is Billy, you met him at the club, he’s really cute and he spent the night. How am I doing so far?” Arianna hardly looked up from her reading as she said this. Her comments didn’t offend Siri anymore, as she was far too used to it for that.
“Well… Arianna… No, actually his name is Logan, we meet at a function, he’s gorgeous and he did not spend the night.” Siri corrected her.
“So that window in your room I heard repeatedly being opened last night wasn’t your boyfriend?”
Siri’s cheeks grew red with embarrassment of being caught in her twisted lie. “He’s not my boyfriend! Well at least not yet…” She tried to squirm her way out of this one, but her leg was already caught in the trap and she saw no hope of escaping alive. “Where’s Caprice?”
“In the parlor, painting.” As Siri walked away she heard a vague muttering from behind her. “That’s right, walk away…”
She crossed over the sea of the soft white carpet; she kept her head high until she noticed a piece of black fabric beneath the coffee table. Glancing back at Arianna she raced on her tiptoes for her dropt possession. The black fabric was in fact her black purse from last night, the remains scattered across the floor. She bent over, still continuing to look back every few seconds as she gathered her items. Unfortunately for her she didn’t actually remember much of the night before, such as the little detail of leaving her purse unattended by the couch.
She thanked the heavens that no one else had found out before she could correct her mistake and rapidly got to work. Her half broken red lipstick lay open beneath her foot, bits and pieces smeared into the carpet. Luckily she was better at hiding a mess then cleaning one up so she pulled their antique pearl covered lace rug over the small splotches. Perfectly satisfied with her improvising she tossed the remains of her makeup into the open pocket. She also gathered several pieces of torn up paper which she could only assume to be phone numbers, a miniature silver hand-held mirror, an antiquate cork coaster with the name of a bar scrawled on it and the battery of her cell phone. The mixture was definitely strange, but she had seen worse.
         The remainder of her trash was then thoroughly gone and she clutched the bag close to her chest. She snuck to the parlor; not wanting to alert Arianna of her continued presence and shut the door softly behind her. “Caprice. Breakfast, ten o’ clock? Meet me at Little Mistakes?” she kept her questions short and snappy, not feeling the need for any further explanation.
         “Ten? No, ten’s not good for me. I have my Ethics class at ten, coffee with my Ethics’ professor at 11:30, my History of Art class at 12:00pm, then lunch with that professor at 2:00.” Caprice informed her while brushing strokes of light green on her half naked canvas.
         “Oh! Busy girl?” Siri teased, sitting at her feet on the floor to watch her picture form.
         “Siri they’re my professors, hardly worthy of having outside contact with. We have things to discuss, about the course, nothing more.” Caprice spoke with such sincerity, but Siri could sense some underlying level of deceit.
         “One to ten?” Siri prodded, bringing up their childhood game of rating men. It was a very youthful sport, but they had refused to give it up through high school and even through their college years.
         “History of Art professor… four, maybe three. He’s married, and middle aged.” Her face grew sour as she described her teacher, but as her thoughts moved to another subject her countenance grew softer, almost angelic like. “Ethics’ professor… nine.” She blushed and turned her head away, she had always been the most sensitive one out of the four girls, but she desperately tried to hide it.
         Siri decided on being merciful on the subject and as sisterly as she possibly could be. “Oh? Hm, good for you.” She could tell that Capri calmed with her soothing words, thankful for her lack of interest. She climbed up off the carpet, brushing her hands through Capri’s hair as she hopped out of the room.
         When she reentered the kitchen Arianna had taken her bag and keys and skipped out to work.  All that was left behind was a little half sheet of notebook paper in her seat. Sprawled lightly in pen the message read, “Late Lunch, Little Mistakes 4:00pm?” Siri smiled quietly to herself, the situation might not have been exactly what she planned, but somehow she always got her way.
~
         Arianna climbed into her black SUV, her phone vibrating in her suit pocket. She shut and locked the door before pulling it out and pressing it to her ear. The other line went dead and a new message appeared on her screen. “Meeting with me in ten minutes. Highly important. -Sergeant Daniels.” She sighed heavily, she was a good cop, but had never played by the book; every second she risked being fired of suspended and even if she wasn’t meeting directly with the Captain every meeting such as this one put her on edge.
         Fifteen minutes had passed when she pulled into her space around back, she had been ever more cautious since starting her new position and the cost was set even higher if she were ever to be exposed. She slid her card through the slot and the garbage entrance popped open. She slipped into the break room, greeted several gossiping co-workers and marched her way through the Sergeant’s door.          
         “Sergeant.” She saluted, adding the utmost level of respect to her tone.
         “Arianna,” he acknowledged, extending his hand toward the seats in front of his desk. “I realize we don’t meet much, but I felt this couldn’t wait until our usual meeting at the end of the month.” He wrung his hands around a handkerchief, a nervous air accompanying every move he made. A nervous pang pounded in her stomach, bile rising in the back of her throat, she felt nauseous, if he had discovered anything from the past several weeks she was sure to be shamed into the deepest hole in New York. She had openly admitted to herself that falling in love with a fugitive was completely horrible, but he was what she needed, he showed her things, and especially things she wouldn’t have been open to before. She needed him and that was all that mattered.
         She refused to reply or say anything to encourage him so he continued even more uneasily then before. “When you’re sister left the Chief and I were made well aware of her situation and we kept a special watch out, with the limited information we were given of course. But, something’s happened.”
         The pain of remembering shot into the marrow of her bones. She had tried so hard to forget and still people brought it up as causally as the weather. That day was still crystal clear in her memory, even after three years. From her bed she could hear pots and pans bang around in the kitchen, it was early, especially for one of her sisters.
         Standing up brought her right back where she had been, dying on the bed, with the worst hangover of that year. She supported herself on various chairs and dressers as she stumbled to the door, leaning against its broad frame as she peeked into the kitchen. “Natalia? It’s five-thirty, what could you possibly be doing?”
         Natalia jumped, dropping a small metal object she was clutching in her hand. “Oh!” she laughed, treachery and guilt coated her anxious laugh. Arianna knew this laugh, she was hiding something. She narrowed her sleep-swollen eyes and waited for an explanation. Natalia sighed heavily, sitting in the nearest chair. “Come, sit. We need to talk.”
         Arianna was hardly worried; Natalia was sensitive and would become panicked over the smallest things. “Well, talk.” She leaned back against the metal support of the chair and folded her arms across her chest.
         Natalia kept her eyes down, a thin level of moisture layering the bottom of her eyes. At the sight of this Arianna become more concerned, but determined to keep her head on straight. “Okay, um,” she laughed, twisting a giant rock on her left ring finger. Arianna’s eyes widened, she grabbed the ring, processing the knowledge as best she could. “He proposed, and I said yes.” This is where she had begun to cry, her level of emotion confused her sister and she tried her best to comfort the bride-to-be.
         “Hon, that’s amazing! I knew you too were serious, maybe not this serious, but this is a good thing!” With this statement her sobs increased and she buried her head in her hands. “What’s wrong?”
         “He only proposed because he’s being transferred and I can only go if we’re married.”
         The new knowledge worried Arianna, but not enough to being crying over. “Well that’s not so bad, he still loves you and want to marry you. Maybe it was meant to happen this way.” A needle of jealously pierced Aria’s skin, relationships had never been her forte, in fact they had been her curse and seeing someone else’s fairytale fall into place made her heart ache with a deep loneliness.
         “Oh that’s not it.” Her weeping became so intense she couldn’t speak or do anything for several minutes, finally she spoke her barely audible words between sob. “He’s… being… transferred… over seas.”
         Aria refused to believe it, tragedy did not befall her and a separation like this one was certain to destroy her. “Over seas? Where?” She swallowed hard, unsure if she actually wanted to know.
         “I don’t know, it’s classified.” Arianna’s world crashed around her, tears rushed to the corner of her eyes, but any sign of weakness would push Natalia over the edge. She tried her best to pull herself together, but the pieces of her soul were so spread out she hardly knew where to look. When she finally thought she could speak without throwing her head against the wall she was very suddenly and permanently crushed. “The transfer is effective immediately.”
         Her had swum in the flashback; tears stung her eyes as she remembers the heart-wrenching memory. She blinked several times, clearing away the remainder of her weakness. She hardened her heart, becoming a rock; refusing to remember any more then was necessary. The ideas of what the Sergeant could say next tormented her every thought and dying to be rid of the pain she nodded for him to continue.
         “Just as of recently I became aware that your sister had give birth to a little girl. She was born in 2008, so she would have been about two now.” The initial shock drove through her system. Natalia, with a daughter? The impossibility of that clouded her willingness to believe. Natalia had never expressed any particular interest to have kids and she could never fully trust herself with the care of young children, but on the other hand Aria hadn’t seen her for three years, she was bound to have changed.
         The words ran through her mind and a little piece caught her attention. “Would have been?” she chocked.  A silent sob cutting off her airways.
         “I am so sorry Aria, but your sister and her family were killed in an accident.” His head sunk low, ashamed to be the barer of bad news.
         “Killed? All of them?” she asked the question more to assure herself then to understand the truth. “What kind of accident?” She demanded, becoming violently aggressive.
         “Unfortunately I cannot release any further details to you at the moment.” His tone became official, this speech was obviously scripted, he had planned for this part to happen.
         “Damn it Sergeant!” she screamed, slapping her hand against his desk. His eyes grew wide with anger, fury and compassion. The look somewhat calmed her and she slumped over in her seat. “She’s my sister, I deserve to know.”
         He sighed, giving into her commands. “As far as we can tell it was a drive-by and they were not specifically targeted, although with your brother-in-law’s government position that is always a possibility.” He relinquished the details with an echo of pain in his voice. This hurt him almost as much as it hurt her, but she was too far-gone to notice that.
         Arianna roughly pushed her chair backwards, knocking in into a small file cabinet hidden in the corner. From the side of her blurry eye she saw the Sergeant jump up from his seat, immediately infuriated by her lack of respect. He slowly lowered himself back down, humbled by the circumstances of he situation.
         Aria smacked against the cheap wall covering, tripping over pure air in an almost drunken-like state. The blood rushed to her head and her eyes became occupied by large spots of color. A stray breeze wafted in from the front doors, the cold air brushed against her bare skin, startling her into a shocked state of misplaced fear.
         Her disturbance was now well known through the whole of the office, the glares of annoyance and stares of concern pierced into her heart. A loud thump radiated through the silence from somewhere around her, pushing her past the point of return. Her knees buckled beneath her, she surrendered the will of her body, letting her nerves run wild and soon after her head smacked against the carpeted floor. Her eyes remained open, but she was unable to move, she forced herself to escape the torture of her loss into a blissful world of un-consciousness.
~
         The sunlight coated her with its warmth, breeching a hole in her temporary pain free existence. A soft and tender hand brushed the hair stuck in her eyelashes, then continued to stroke her forehead. By this time she was fully awake and aware of all the events that had taken place, but the idea of sharing the painful news to her sisters gave her the strength to lie still for a few more minutes.
         Once their whispers moved from a level of concern to a deep serious panic she played her best impression of realistically awakening from a fainting spell. As her eyes fluttered open she felt an overwhelming sensation of stupidity. Anyone with an ounce of acting experience would see through her translucent charade, and both her sisters had preformed in various dramatic productions in their years.
Their breathing ceased for a few short seconds, the worry that had tensed up their every movement now began to lift. The air felt lighter, their hearts began to rejoice, but Arianna new the happiness was not to be long lived, as their oblivion was the only cause of it. Aria pushed herself up on her elbows; crushing her knees against her chest to briefly cease her physical pain.
“Hey there, not to fast.” Capri objected, fussing over a pillow to support her back. “Honey, do you remember what happened?” She handed Aria a cold glass of ice tea then handed another glass to Siri. Aria accepted willingly and eagerly, pressing the ice against her warm lips.
“Yeah, I do.” Aria, answered, staring down at her suit bottoms, not daring to relate the fateful event to her innocent siblings yet. They waited in an awkward silence until Aria masked herself with the face of bravery and opened her mouth to speak. “Um, this morning the Sergeant called me in.” She began.
“For what?” Siri questioned, sitting at the foot of the couch.
Arianna hesitated with her reply, swallowing back her sharp nerves. “It was about Natalia.” Both of the women in took a sharp breath, obviously wounded by the mention of her long forgotten name.
From the expression on her face it was clear that Capri was less willing to discuss the subject then Siri was. “What’d he say?” Siri pressed, leaning in towards her to here the news.
The moment of truth came, she wondered how much to reveal to the innocent children before her. She resolved on giving up no more details then was absolutely necessary. While she wanted to spare them of any extra discomfort she felt as if keeping the whole of the truth to herself would keep Natalia alive. The real question that lingered on her mind was what was necessary and what was not. “Well, they couldn’t give me many details, but from what the government can tell they were killed in a drive-by.” She switched to her police tone, the one she used when she was telling a family that they had lost a loved one.
Aria had never been too fond of tears and was even less fond of being the one to comfort those in need. As was to be expected both sisters were immediately consumed in a tornado of grief and the living room was now raining tears. She shied away into the back of her mind, withdrawing from her body, only to live in the confinements of her mind. Living this way she was able to avoid noticing the reactions of her sisters, but she doubted they would mind as Aria had spent almost three months in that state after Natalia had abandoned them.
The majority of the day was nothing more then an agonizing smudge of time. The night had passed in tormenting waves, hours would go by in seconds and then minutes of hysterical crying spells would follow shortly after. The three girls drifted apart, some wandered aimlessly around their one floor penthouse while the others kept their hands busy or grieved privately in their rooms.
Being the oldest of the three girls Aria felt immense pressure to provide the rock and support for her sisters to lean on, but Aria compared herself more to that of a ripped sheet of paper then a hard, sturdy boulder. She lay at the foot of her bed, sprawled horizontally with her feet dripping over the side of the bedspread. The ticking of her ancient clock filled her head and soothed her into a neutral mind set, harboring neither pain nor happiness.
The ticking was like that of a lullaby and very soon she found her eyes growing heavier and more difficult to peel open. The tears had sucked away all her strength and she remained as a vacant ghost. Her body persuaded her to rest her weary eyes and sleep the time away, but her heart longed to mourn over her lost sister and friend. Thoughts of Natalia swirled through her mind, always coming quicker and more afflicting then the one before. Remembering her would only cost her more later and too exhausted to face another ounce of distress she closed her eyes and slipped into a restless sleep.
~
Capri jolted awake from her position on the dining room floor. The back of her neck was plastered with sweat, her clothes grasping her skin with the thick moisture.  Her heart raced with the intensity of her subconscious world. Her hands trembled as she surfaced back into her twisted reality. The dreams were getting worse every time she closed her eyes, they were now a part of her and as much as she wanted to deny them she lacked the strength to do so.
Reassuring herself that she wasn’t the person who filled her stories had ceased to work long before, the truth of the matter was that she was becoming more like that girl with every breath she took. Capri had once been innocent, sweet, harmless, but now all that remained of that was an outside shell to mask her true identity. Deranged thoughts unceasingly entered her mind, and although once she had cringed at their murderous urges she now felt herself long for them to come true.
She was sick and absolutely nothing could help her. She vowed to never reveal to her sisters how truly ill she really was; after all she couldn’t handle being considered crazy, not again. The only thing that was certain was that she wouldn’t get better, in fact she would most likely get worse. And if her sisters discovered her dire situation she would undoubtedly be locked away until the end of eternity. The only conceivable solution was to make her sisters see the way she did, that way they would never abandon her.
~
The cool air washed through Siri’s hair, the high elevation making the breeze slightly more frigid, but for the first time in days she finally felt able to breath. The silence amid them was not ill at ease, but it was more free then they had experienced since Natalia’s death. The rare mention of her was still excruciating, but as she remembered her more and relived her memories Natalia became a beacon of light to her, reminding her that not everything in the world was evil.
Aria lie on one of the four lawn chairs on the roof, basking in the light of the sun, an empty glass of ice tea sitting between her legs. Siri’s attention moved to Capri who intently painted the view below with pastel paints. She questioned the reaction of her sisters after the event, Aria had seemed more angered then grieved, when Siri had openly discussed Natalia’s death Aria had reproached her harshly, demanding that it was a disgrace to her memory. Capri on other hand was nothing more then calm and peaceful. Siri envied her control, but secretly she suspected that either Capri was suffering more then she led on or had no such care for their lost sister.
A searing pain radiated from her stomach and she threw herself in the surprise. The pain had then vanished and her cheeks grew red with the embarrassment. Capri stopped her artwork and Aria moved into a more aware state. “What was that?” Aria questioned.
“Oh nothing, just got lightheaded.” Siri covered up, placing her palm on the table to steady her wobbly legs. 
“Hm, might want to go lie down then.” Aria snapped carelessly. Her emotionless remark stung her like a bee, but she brushed it off as the emotional drag of the past few days.
“Yeah… I’ll do that.” Siri replied hesitantly, everyone else went back to what they were doing and she walked to the stairway door. As her fingers brushed against the railway handheld her palms began to sweat and her head raced with confusion. He mind pulled her one way while her feet pushed her another and she ended up crashing head first down the cement stairs.
~
The rays of light felt sharp against her eyes and every part of her body ached with significant bruises. When her eyes began to adjust to the brightness of the room she viewed her sisters relaxing on the couches across from her.
“Oh, well you’re okay.” Capri chided, the apperant lack of sympathy could be noticed by a complete stranger with how thick it was laid on.
Siri felt herself grow increasingly angry, envisioning herself smacking a gash across the side of her cheek. The fantasy startled her, as she had never been one to promote violence, but one more look at Capri’s black face sent venom boiling in her blood. “Yeah… and aren’t you just my little savior?”
“Like you needed the help, you wouldn’t have accepted it anyway.” Aria added, refusing to be left out of their banter. “As it is you never accept any help that’s offered, you just take it when it’s not.”
They took jabs at each other for no less then 45 minutes, the pokes were light, but somehow they were received more deeply then was expected. Nothing said was untrue, their being sisters only allowed them to stab in their weakest points.
Time passed slowly in their hostile environment, no one was willing to give up belief of being right and although not one of them would admit anything in the open they were all aware of the dirty looks and vicious remarks that were being made behind their backs. When night finally fell upon them they had all grown progressively worse with a heavy murderous rage weighing on their hearts. Siri and Capri were based in the kitchen and living room, sprawled across the floor in a constricting lazy mood.
Their irritation was wearing thin on each other and their closeness had sparked their annoyances. Just when Siri considered herself to be on the edge of breaking Aria stepped out of her room and into their sight. She was dressed like a streetwalker, a thick red plastic push up bra covering her chest, her tan thin stomach her upmost best feature. Hugging tightly to her hips was a short black skirt and fishnet stockings ran down her thighs till her red stilettos ended the outfit.
“Planning on taking up a new career?” Siri joked; the hysterics of the moment lightened the mood, but just slightly. “You know I was just kidding when I said that thing about you not getting any action…”
Aria laughed back sarcastically, her eyes filled with the determination of a hunter with its prey. “Funny, well that’s all about to change tonight. I figured things were getting a little dull around here, so why not make it interesting?” She held her hands behind her back just before setting two stacks of folded up clothes neatly on the couch.
“Now you may feel the need to go out and attach yourself to the first scum you see, but I don’t,” Capri committed, realizing the one of the outfits was for her. While she put up her normal sane front deep inside of her she rejoiced greatly, as finally her sisters had joined her.
“Come on little princess. Take a walk on the wild side, loosen up. Its about time anyway, trust me if you’re with me you’ll have fun tonight.” Aria promised, tossing the others their clothes. Capri gave in quickly and Siri shortly after followed.
Less then a half hour later all three of the girls stepped out of their apartment, light brown overcoats covering the majority of their bodies. They all wore similar costumes, but each added their own unique flair to it. “Now are you going to tell us where we’re going, you know how I hate surprises.” Siri reminded her as they whistled down a cab.
They climbed in, handing the address to the driver and sliding the glass window divider closed to finish their conversation. “My dear, good things come to those who wait.”
~
Aria strutted down the lonesome street, the lighting dim, adding an eerie overview to her entertainment. She totaled the number men she had come across in her head, she remembered only about sixteen of them, give or take a few. Their once beating hearts would now never pump again thanks to her agile hands, the thought made her smile and she longed to spill more blood.
She checked her diamond wristwatch she had picked up off the seventh guy and sighed with deep remorse. It was twelve past three and they had planned to meet up at 2:30. A hanging feather fell on her temple and her hand moved to rip off the pestering bird mask. It had been Siri’s idea and while she personally figured it to be a waste of time she knew it was smarter then walking the streets with her own identity.
Arriving at their check point not one of her siblings was in sight. She was slightly confused, but more angry then anything, they were probably enjoying themselves while she rushed to meet them. Insolent children! Her fury began to build until it pumped so heavily in her ears that she heard nothing but the movement of her blood. Deciding that it was better to go back out on the field then wait where she was she turned into the right corner, heading towards an area none of them had worked yet.
A few steps into her retreat a hard figure knocked her over and several rings of white light damaged her eyes. Both her wrists were ripped behind her and silver rings tightened them together. The figure pushed her head down then grabbed the roots of her hair to yank her up.
“Arianna Vinivina, you’re under arrest for the murder of… eleven men…” The officer continued to repeat the charges, but she was still stuck on the number eleven. Only eleven? She wondered. Now firmly believing the NYPD to be even more incompetent then she had ever expected. The humor of the situation overtook her and a small ringing of laughter burst from her lips. “What? You think something’s funny you whore?” The officer demanded, clearly sickened by her existence.
“Eleven?” she spat, “That’s a good one.” His face grew a pale white and he summoned several other officers over towards him. A large police van was waiting for her, the door open and several men in suits surrounding it. They pushed her roughly in, taking their anger out on her with their hands. Sitting in the back seat Siri slouched over, her head slumped unattractively on top of her chest.
“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised that it was you who turned me in.” Aria commented, impressed by her even, cool tone.
“Aria it wasn’t me I swear! I only got here twenty minutes ago, Caprice wasn’t here so I turned around and that’s when…” Her voice trailed off, ashamed at her incompetence.
“Well it certainly wasn’t her, she always had been the more loyal sister, and we both know that.” Siri made no comment after that, reveling in the truth of her observance.
The only other person in the car was a driver who sat quietly in the front. He kept his darkened glasses on and remained facing forward while he spoke. “If you’re looking for your sister we picked her up an hour ago. Found her roaming around by a bar, rambling on about ice tea and murder, it was apparent that she was mentally unstable and was shipped off to the Psych ward.” He waited for their reaction, but both sisters were in shock. He shrugged casually, “I never have been good at keeping secrets to myself.”
After their parents died Capri had gone off the rails for a while, but a little therapy and a pill or two and she was fine again. They had never questioned that and it had been years since then… A sudden rap on the passenger door made the two prisoners in the car jump, when the door opened another Suit poked his head in, looking straight at his copy, but not at the women.
“New information suggests that the unstable one may have poisoned the other two, we’ve called the hospital to inform them, they know we’re coming.” He climbed in and they flew into the street, speeding away to meet their destiny. As a former cop Aria knew that either one of two things would happen. If they had been poisoned, which for Capri’s sake she hoped would not be true, they would have a partial alibi for doing what they did, after all they would be considered the criminally insane. But if not they would spend the rest of their life behind a metal door, eating through a metal slot, more likely then not to be killed within their first year behind bars.
The adrenaline had moved from her veins to her head and she felt a loopy sensation wash over her. A defiant smile came across her face and she leaned her head against the cold window. Being caught was inevitable and she didn’t resent that it had happened; after all, it had been one hell of