Rise of the Dunamy (13 page)

“Sorry I was being so jealous.” She whimpered. Lucian was still focused on his work, but Sofia could see his face shift into a very large smile behind his mask. He quickly changed his expression to one of feigned distress.

“I don’t know, Sofia. That was pretty ridiculous behavior. I’m thinkin’ you may need to do some serious convincing later tonight.” Sofia’s lip leapt back into place as her face jerked into a look of utter shock. Lucian hadn’t even hinted at being ready to take things to the next level before now. The two were very affectionate with one another, but things had remained at a very “PG” level until now.

“Oh, really!” She was doing all she could to contain her excitement, but she knew that her eagerness was splashed all across her face. Her face became hot as she began to blush bright red. Lucian peered at her out of the corner of his eye, adding a subtle shoulder shrug. He pulled his mask down to expose his beautiful smiling face as he leaned over to give her a gentle kiss. “You better go work on getting Bishop off your back.” Sofia was speechless. All she could do was smile at him as she turned to recover her case folder as she headed towards the door.

“Do you want to grab some dinner after wor…?”

“Nope, not especially!” She interrupted as she looked back adoringly, her face still beet red with anticipation. “I would like to walk home with you, though.”

“Oh yeah? Not gonna make your nightly stop by your apartment before trying to beat me home again?”

“Nah. Clearly that point has been made.”

“Not sure I see the “point”, what with us getting there at the same time every night, but sure.”

“The point is I make it to my apartment and on to your place in the same amount of time it takes you to just get to your place.”

“But I don’t need to go to your place, and I bet you’re breaking your neck to beat me while I’m just cruisin’ along and in no hurry.”

“Anyway!” She needed to stop this conversation as it was detracting from the positive feelings she had been having only moments earlier. “I would like very much to walk with you tonight.”

“Sounds good. Just come and get me whenever you get done today.” He said, looping his mask straps back behind his ears.

“I will,” she assured him. For now, the excitement outweighed the nervousness that Lucian’s suggestion brought on. She felt the same surge of adrenaline now that she had felt when Lucian asked her on their first date, only this time she realized how long the day would feel if she failed to focus on something other than the evenings plans. She instantly began thinking of ways to approach Bishop so that she could ease his concerns about her looking into cops. She knew she had to do something to keep her mind occupied until their evening together.

26

S
ofia was beaming as she bounded towards her desk. She was doing all she could to tone down her excitement and keep a low profile, but it was nearly impossible. She hadn’t really admitted it to herself but all of Lucian’s efforts to improve their relationship before they got to a physical relationship, while noble, had taken a small toll on her ego. The news that he was ready to move forward was exactly what she had needed. Feeling particularly playful, she knocked the pile of case files over that Bishop had been using as a little makeshift wall between their desks. He was on the phone, so he was unable to yell at her. The puzzled look on his face accompanied by the hand gesture that was directed at the sprawled pile of folders on his desk sent a clear message of “What the hell are you doing!” He tied up his conversation and hung up the phone, never losing his bewildered look. “And just what, may I ask, was that all about?” He asked angrily as he leaned back in his chair and glared at her.

“I’m tired of being tied up on this case. Find something for us to do. Any case, I just want to go out and try and solve something. The time away from that case will do us some good. I’ve been thinking about it so much, it was starting to take my mind down the wrong roads.” Bishop sat in silence for a moment, taking in what all was going on. Sofia had managed to come up with a very solid plan on her way back from the morgue. She was using the excellent mood that Lucian had put her in combined with the fact that she occasionally did like to work a separate case to change pace to clear her head to make it seem as though she had had some personal breakthrough regarding the case. She had also indirectly addressed the thoughts that she knew Bishop had been having since her scene earlier that morning. After considering things for a few seconds, Bishop began nodding his head in apparent approval at Sofia’s new attitude as he looked at the mess she had created.

“Lemme take a look at what all we have goin’ on and we can hit the road.” His head continued to bounce around as he looked through the numerous manila folders.

“Preferably nothing too involved. How about an easy one? Any suspected suicides or something along those lines?” She bounced from foot to foot, clapping her hands slightly as she waited for Bishop to comply, huffing slightly each time he took a break from looking in order to spit into his giant Styrofoam cup.

“Even suspected suicides take forever with you.” Bishop chuckled. “I’ve got a homeless guy we can check out. That way, even if we don’t figure it out, who cares?” Suspecting that he was testing her, Sofia responded just as she normally would when he made such a callous and insensitive remark.

“Hey!” She said somewhat angrily as she stopped her anxious bouncing. “Why do you have to go and say something like that?” Knowing that she would give herself away if she acted too anxious to go along with just any case or anything that Bishop said, Sofia felt it was in her best interest to not be too permissive with him.

“Yeah, yeah. Get your gear and let’s head out.” His response made Sofia feel as though things had gone over well, and had successfully eased some of Bishops concerns. As she gathered her things, Sofia began to think forward to her rendezvous with Lucian and was instantly returned to her earlier feelings of jubilation. Snatching up her things, Sofia jogged up to catch Bishop just as he left the building.

27

A
s a day filled with tracking down leads and following the trail of evidence finally came to a close, Sofia and Bishop strolled back into the precinct satisfied with their day’s work. They had unwittingly worked into the early evening hours and the sun was just beginning to set. The case had already run relatively cold, but they were able to make some solid progress on the matter. For what it was meant to be, the case had done exactly what Sofia had hoped. It had gotten them out of the office, their minds off of the stale feel of the other case, and created some very positive feelings flowing regarding her police work. Even with all of the wonderful things that were happening between her and Lucian Sofia had been unable to shake the fact that she was being outsmarted by these lunatics. But today, she found some renewed faith in her abilities as an investigator. Another bonus of working the homeless man’s case was that it made the day absolutely fly by. Had she been able to, Sofia would have sat at her desk all day bouncing back and forth between thoughts of her evening with Lucian and the case, and the time would have crept by. Now, the work day was nearly over and she couldn’t have been more excited.

“Good plan today, kid. We may need to try that again next week.” It was no shock to Sofia that Bishop was suggesting another day away from their primary case.

“Maybe so. I want to see if this jarred some things loose. If not, we may have to try something different,” Sofia said, knowing there was no chance that the next week would be devoted to anything other than working that case. As she went to leave, Sofia leaned over to Bishop, “I know your feelings on the whole thing, but at least give the case some thought over the next few days. Today may have really helped us both out. I’ll see you Thursday.” Bishop bobbed his head robotically as she made her way to the door, but Sofia hardly noticed. She was already locked in on getting to the morgue to get Lucian so they could make their way home.

Lucian had wrapped up everything for the evening and was ready to leave when Sofia burst into the morgue. Startled slightly, Lucian jumped up from his seat at her abrupt entrance.

“Good Lord, woman!” He said, reaching for his heart. “What’s all that about?” Sofia put on her best puppy-dog eyes.

“Oh, nothing. Just glad to be done working, I suppose.” She said as she skipped across the room. Lucian laughed to himself as he checked his desk for his things. Snatching up his house keys, he scanned the room quickly to make sure everything, and everyone, was put away properly, and headed over to greet Sofia.

“I’m excited to see you too,” he said as he squeezed her, still smiling from her entrance.

“How was your day?” Lucian asked. Sofia wriggled free from his embrace.

“Not so amazing that I can’t tell you while we walk.” She replied, pulling at his arm to get him to leave. Lucian just smiled, laughed and pretended to resist as she all but dragged him from the building.

28

“I
didn’t hear much out of you today.” Lucian said as they made their way out into the warm evening air.

“My phone battery died earlier. I must have fallen asleep last night and forgotten to charge it. I meant to plug it in when we were in the car today but I got so caught up in what we were doing that I forgot. Could you remind me to plug it in tonight?”

“I certainly can, but you may want to go ahead and do that right when we get in. I’d hate for you to forget… You know…If you get preoccupied or something.”

“You might be right.” She said as she pulled him down to her by his jacket for a passionate kiss.

“Can’t we get a cab?” She whispered, hoping that he would break his normal routine just this once for their special night.

“Nah. Look how amazing the weather is outside. We can’t waste a night like this. It’s going to be way too hot to walk soon enough, and we can get a cab then. And how can you think that driving at this time of the day is going to get us there any faster than the train?” Sofia had learned that Lucian’s hatred for the city traffic was not limited to his displeasure with driving in the traffic, but also riding in it. He said that he preferred the scheduled stops because he knew just how long the train would take as opposed to the huge question marks involved with driving. The walk and the train ride on from the station to his place weren’t too terrible, but they did take some time, and tonight that was almost more than Sofia could bear.

“Come on!” She whined. “Just this once?” Lucian just flashed his beautiful grin.

“Cool your jets, woman. There’s no need to rush. We’ll get there soon enough.”

“I hope that’s something you learned while practicing.” She said with a smile.

“Look at you!” Lucian cried out approvingly. “You can laugh about it! Good job.” Switching instantly to a satirically serious tone, he added, “And yes. Yes I did.”

It had gotten later than Sofia had realized. She was usually less aware of the time when she left as she was willing to work for hours on end with little to no breaks in order to follow a case. But today was different. Normally, Bishop would never have let them work late without at least making some comment. Today he had allowed them to work on into the night without the slightest grumble, presumably attempting to allow Sofia to get so comfortable with staying off of their primary case that they would be able to do so more often. Although her intentions had been to fly through the day, get in early and head straight to Lucian’s at a break-neck pace, she had to admit that the mood that was created by the evening was far more fitting.

The full moon shone brightly and provided an amazing backdrop for their evening stroll. Huge, billowing white clouds glided slowly across the night sky, guided by the cool breeze. Everything seemed so perfect when she was with Lucian. She couldn’t believe how happy he made her.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I have really enjoyed spending time with you lately.” Lucian said casually. “I don’t think I have ever enjoyed someone’s company as much as I have enjoyed yours.” He leaned down and kissed her softly on her head as she looked up to him with a smile.

Lucian slowly caressed her back as they continued with their walk. His presence made everything seem so wonderful to Sofia. She could see no wrong in the world when she was with him. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced, and for good reason. Sofia had begun surveying every situation she entered to evaluate the possibility of danger many years before, and for good reason. She knew it was much harder for her to be caught off-guard if she did so. When she was with Lucian, she found herself at-ease enough to let such concerns escape her. Although her reasons for lowering her guard were good and with excellent reason, they left her incredibly vulnerable.

29

I
n her usual state of hyper-awareness Sofia would have easily noticed the group of men that had locked onto them and were now following them towards the train station. Normally she would have noticed such a sketchy looking group even from a distance, but Lucian’s hypnotic presence had blinded her so much that she hadn’t noticed them leering from across the street when they passed them. They had fallen in behind the pair and followed them at a distance until they found the perfect time to strike; and that time was now. The men stealthily picked up the pace as Sofia and Lucian made their way around the corner and on to a particularly secluded side street. They were on top of the two before they ever realized what was happening.

It was clear that these men were adept at this sort of attack by the way that they made their move. One of them came up behind Sofia and quickly muzzled her by shoving a large piece of cloth into her mouth, preventing her from screaming as well as from taking a chunk of his hand with her teeth. One major problem that this caused was that it was now impossible for her to announce that she was a police officer. The other men focused on Lucian. They knocked him to the ground and began attacking him mercilessly. The man holding Sofia was quite large and very strong and left no room for her to maneuver away from him. He wrapped his other arm around Sofia’s arms and chest and squeezed her tightly, limiting her movements as well as her breathing. He had rested his enormous frame on her back which prevented her from lifting a foot to try and kick him in the crotch as he was much taller. Her training had prepared her more for a situation where she was lifted from the ground which would have allowed for more attacks on her part. Sofia’s first thought was to take the man out by head-butting him directly in the face. Leaning forward quickly, she slammed her head back with as much force as she could. Her efforts were perfectly countered by the man as he lowered his own head and took the blow to the top of his forehead rather than his face. The blow clearly shook Sofia much more than it did the mindless clod holding her captive. Her head began to pound and she struggled to focus her eyes. Pain radiated forward from the point of impact in the back of her skull. Partially blinded by pain, Sofia could hardly tell what was going on. She continued thrashing in an attempt to break free and hopefully reach her gun, but the man was much too strong.

While Sofia fought her captor, the other men had surrounded Lucian and were now beating him relentlessly. As she continued to battle the man, Sofia was able to turn in such a way that she could see what was happening to Lucian. Seeing Lucian’s futile attempts to fight the men off among the barrage of kicks and punches caused her to fight more violently than before. The man’s grasp only grew tighter. Sofia’s screams for Lucian were muffled by the filthy piece of cloth that was crammed into her mouth. She could see that the violence was escalating as the men were unable to beat Lucian into submission and she knew what that meant for him. Her efforts were becoming less productive every second as the man was now squeezing her much more tightly, taking her wind and making it nearly impossible to move or breathe. As she struggled less. She fought to catch a glimpse of Lucian’s face through all of the madness. Her heart broke as she looked at him through the melee. He was looking directly back at her now. His beautiful hazel eyes had never seemed more vibrant to her as he stared unwaveringly back at her. As the men continued to abuse his defenseless body, he kept his eyes trained on hers.

Sofia felt herself losing consciousness and her eyes began to close. Shaking them open quickly, she saw that Lucian was now doing everything that he could to reach his feet, but the men would not stop. Sofia tried to cry out to him, to beg him to give in and give them what they wanted, but it was useless. Between her muzzle and the limited amount of air she was receiving, it was all she could do to lift her head to look at him.

As the men continued to beat him, Lucian began to crawl towards her. This small sign of life caused the young brutes to begin grabbing anything within reach to assault him with. Sofia was forced to watch as the men continued to beat poor Lucian without ever speaking so much as a word. Amazingly, Lucian was able to continue to pull himself closer to Sofia as they continued their onslaught.

Sofia began feeling wooziness return and could see the blackness beginning to creep in around her field of view. Her struggling was little more than intermittent wiggling at this point, with an occasional half-hearted kick. She scanned the windows and walkways for signs of help, but no one was there. As she began to feel herself losing consciousness again, she returned her eyes to Lucian. Watching him crawl to her amidst the pummeling that he was taking was more than she could bear.

A large knot formed in the center of her throat and her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes, and began to stream down her face. She had often kidded Lucian about his size and physical ability but now he seemed larger than life to her as he continued to make his way towards her, his unwavering gaze locked on her. Sofia stared back into Lucian’s eyes, the wonderful moments that they had shared racing through her mind. She knew what was about to happen and hardly even flinched when she heard the gun go off. She watched Lucian lurch forward, his arms folding beneath him and his face landing solidly on the concrete. Sofia was more than willing to allow herself to slip into unconsciousness at this point. The blackness completely overtook her now. As everything went dark, Sofia began to pray that no matter what hell these men put her through; when they were through, they would take her life as well.