"It won't work," Eden said through clenched teeth. "Parker won't negotiate with you."
Fisher smirked and grabbed Eden by her jaw. "He will. It'll kill him to do it, but he will."
He released his grip on Eden's jaw, then drew his fingers leisurely down the column of her throat and continuing his vile path between her breasts. Eden's body tensed beneath his fingertips, her eyes closed tight, not daring to breath as his hand continued its trail down her stomach. She inhaled sharply once his hand settled on the button of her jeans.
Penelope whimpered, low and soft.
Eden swallowed as Fisher pressed his lips against her ear. "Warn your dog to come unarmed," he whispered scornfully. "His machete won't save you this time."
Eden flinched away from Fisher, eyes wide with shock and horror. Her mouth gaped open, words failing her even when she knew she wouldn't dare say them aloud.
A patronizing smirk curled Fisher's lips. "His secret's safe with me, I assure you." He straightened himself and pulled Eden's phone out of his pocket. He dialed the numbers slowly, his gaze moving from the phone to Eden with every button pushed. It was quite, Eden and Penelope both holding their breath to hear the faint ringing on the other end on the phone.
Parker's plea was immediately quieted by Fisher. "I'd watch what you say, Yates; I believe I have the two most important people in your life, not you."
The line was silent. Fisher continued.
"It looks like you have quite the choice to make, so why don't we just get started? Penelope or Eden. You decide which one to save and which one I get to keep."
"Don't do this."
"Pick," Fisher said impatiently.
"I can't."
"Pick! Or I pick. I already know which one I want to keep."
Silence swallowed the room. Parker's hesitancy clawed at Eden's stomach. She knew there was no choice of who to save. Parker knew. Fisher knew. The silence just hurt. It hurt Penelope because she thought there was an actual choice for Parker to make, her or Eden. "Let me talk to them," Parker said finally.
Fisher, his eyes still trained on Eden, handed the phone to Penelope. She grabbed at it eagerly, her sobs making it impossible for her words to come out. Eden closed her blurry eyes, trying to focus on Parker's voice coming from the other end of the phone. She wanted to savor his words in case she didn't get to say goodbye.
"Hand Eden the phone. Can you do that, Penelope?"
Penelope nodded, then squeaked out a yes when she realized Parker couldn't see her. With a shaking hand, Penelope gave Eden the phone.
"Parker," Eden breathed, clutching the phone tightly.
"Eden. Oh God, Eden. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," she whispered. Tears burned in her eyes. "It's not your fault."
"Yes it is. I put you in this situation!" The crack in his voice fractured something deep in Eden's chest. A fresh tear rolled down her cheek. "I put both of you in this situation and I'm so sorry."
"Stop. Stop blaming yourself for the horrible things that people do. It is not your fault."
She heard him let out a shaky breath. "I'm going to kill him."
Eden shook her head, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "No. No you can't. He knows. Parker, he knows and he'll tell and then you won't be able to come back and save me."
"I can't pick, Eden. I can't pick which one of you he—"
"Yes you can!"
Fisher let out a bark of laughter, sending chills down Eden's spine.
Parker sniffled loudly on the other end. "Please don't make me pick you." Eden could hear the fear in his voice and the plea, but she also heard a horrible truth: Parker would pick her if she asked.
"I won't," she whispered.
"Eden."
She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Don't. Parker, don't. You have to pick her. You have to." Her voice fought against the strain of the lump in her throat.
"He's going to hurt you."
"I know," she choked out. "Just... just take care of Lily for me, okay? I'll be fine, I'll fight, I'll..." Her words sounded empty to her own ears. But Eden wasn't the same girl she was seven months ago, she wasn't weak or submissive. She was cunning and relentless, she knew when playing the role of the damsel in distress would be the best option and when it wouldn't be. "I love you. I love you so much," she whispered. "I'll be fine."
"I love—"
Fisher snatched the phone from Eden's hand. Her mouth opened but only a quiet cry of protest followed.
"Are you listening, Yates?" Fisher asked, his graze roaming down Eden's body as he taunted Parker. "Within the hour, I'll have your little sister dropped off somewhere in the city. Whatever happens to her after that? Well, that's none of my concern."
Fisher ended the call and yanked Penelope up by the arm, dragging her towards the door. She screamed and cried, her other hand reaching out for Eden in desperation.
Eden sat back on her heels, an empty feeling in her chest. She didn't anything at all. How could she feel everything and nothing at the same time? All her emotions seemed to mix into one unreadable blob. She waited for the numbness, craved it.
Except this time the numbness didn't come, fear accompanied her. Pure terror.
Fisher pushed Penelope through the door, telling another man where to drop her off. He glanced back at Eden, a predatory grin on his twisted face.
"And now," Fisher said slowly, hungrily, "the fun begins."
The door closed. Eden remained.
Matthews was the one who had called Parker.
"Penelope!" Parker ran for her, his arms wrapping around her small, trembling body. He held her to his chest, eyes frantically searching for... something, someone. Maybe Eden. Maybe his parents.
Penelope pressed her face into Parker's chest, muffling her sobs. "It's okay," he whispered. "You're going to be okay."
She shook her head, whimpering.
Matthews's locked eyes with Parker, arms folded over his chest. He nodded his head towards a back office, Parker nodded and scooped Penelope up in his arms, brushing pasted the other cops and keeping his gaze drawn downwards.
Matthews opened the door to an interrogation room. Parker's heart clenched. He eyed the one-way mirror as he passed; only months ago Eden had been sitting on the other side of the glass. Matthews opened the second door. "I called your parents. They should be here in half an hour."
"Thank you," Parker said quietly.
Parker set Penelope down. She clung.
His brows pulled together, hand stroking her hair softly. "Can you tell me what happened? Did he... touch you? Hurt you?"
"No." She pressed her face back into Parker's chest. She was quiet except for her cries. "He touched Eden... He hurt her..."
Tears burned behind his eyes. He was angry and scared and guilty. So fucking guilty.
"Is he—is he going to kill her?" she whimpered into his shirt.
Parker's stomach lurched and a new cold settled over his body. "No. I won't let him." And Parker wouldn't. So why did the words he spoke so truthfully sound like blatant lies even to his own ears?
Penelope nuzzled her head further into Parker's chest, attempting to muffle her cries. He held her tight. She was here. She was safe. And that should have been enough, but Eden wasn't here, nor was she safe. And that was on Parker.
Reagan and John burst through the door, Matthews stood behind them, awkward and out of place. Penelope detached from Parker long enough to reach out for her parents' embrace. Matthews met Parker's stare and motioned over his shoulder for him to follow. Parker stood and excused himself from the room. His parents didn't notice.
Matthews was already walking towards his office when Parker exited the interrogation room. "Matthews?" Parker asked hesitantly.
Matthews yanked open his office and held the door open for Parker. Parker stood anxiously. Matthews sat and motioned for Parker to do the same. He did. And then... silence. Matthews scrutinized him under his glare.
"Your sister seems to think you know who took her and your girlfriend," he finally said. "Or at the very least, that he knows you."
Parker swallowed. "It's Fisher."
Matthews studied Parker for a moment. A coldness was in his eyes. "And why, Parker, would you not tell me that? Why would you make your little sister and the woman you love be put in that position?"
The words came freely. "I'm the Shadow Killer."
"Parker, I know," he said sharply.
Parker blanched. "What? For how long?"
"Since your fifth or six kill. Once I saw the pattern."
"Why... why didn't you—?"
"Stop you? I didn't stop you because I know there isn't justice when a rapist walks less than a year later. I know they don't change."
Parker sat down, his head in his hands. "I fucked up."
Matthews leaned forward against the table. His voice was low and intense. "Then let me help you fix this."
Parker shook his head and willed himself to keep the tears at bay. "I don't think you can."
Eden didn't know how long she had been sitting in the room without Penelope. A day, at least. They kept it dark in the room. To disorient her, she assumed. She sat as far away from the door as she could. She knew nothing good would come from it.
But her stomach growled, loud and demanding, and she wished it would open. She couldn't fight if they were starving her, and maybe that was the point.
Fight or flight. And considering she couldn't flee, there was only one thing to do. Fisher thought Eden was fragile and compliant. But Eden had only been obedient because Penelope had needed her. Penelope was safe. Eden wasn't. Eden would fight; she was a fighter. That's what brought her and Parker together and it would be what brought them back to each other.
Eden jumped as the door screeched open and a man walked into the room. He set a tray of food down on the ground and turned, the door falling closing behind him. She stared at the tray, her mouthwatering. She stood tentatively, glancing around even though she knew there was only one entrance. Only one exit. She stooped down and grabbed the sandwich off the tray. She tore into it, greedily consuming the whole thing within seconds, not bothering to savor it or question if she should have eaten it. Eden sat back on her heels and grabbed the bottle of water, struggling to twist the cap off, then took a giant gulp. The door opened again, startling her into spilling the rest of her water down the front of her shirt.
The man grabbed her by the wrists, efficiently snapping the zip tie into place before Eden could even let go of the water. The man shoved her backward. She stared up at him with wide, frantic eyes, before finally rolling over and pushing herself up onto her knees and bond hands. A foot connected with her lower back and she was sent back to the floor.
"Personally," the guy started, "I'd rather you didn't fight."
"Personally," Eden spat, rolling over to face the boy who couldn't have been much older than herself. "I'd rather not be raped and trafficked."
The guy smiled a sick smile that reminded her strongly of Fisher. "I'm not trafficking you. I'm breaking you in." He smiled again, this time in an unsure way.
His confidence was fake, but that didn't make it less terrifying. Eden swallowed tightly and sized him up. He was scrawny and fidgety. Even with her hands zip tied she could take him.
The guy stepped towards her, looming. He brushed a stand of hair behind her ear. "I'm going to have fun with you."
And then she was being pressed into the hard floor, the guy's knees on either side of her thighs. He worked the buckle of his belt free. Eden froze beneath him. It's as if her mind had stopped working altogether. She couldn't think back to training sessions with Parker. She could only think back to the night she was fifteen, alone and defenseless. The night she found Lily holding bloody sheets.
Fight or flight. It wasn't that simple. It would never be that simple. Because instinct wasn't to fight, not even after all the training with Parker. Flight wasn't even instinct. It was freeze. Freeze in terror and hold your breath so tight it burns because it will all be over soon. It has to be over soon.
But the man wasn't freezing. The man had his hands on her jeans, unbuttoning them and tugging them down her hips.
Panic bubbled deep within her chest. She closed her eyes tight, blocking out the present and drawing the past. Parker. All the training. This exact situation. This exact situation hadn't been petrifying with Parker. It had been practice. He had taught her how to gain control of the situation. Eden's eyes snapped open at the same time she jerked her hips upwards into the man's with as much force as she could, bucking and thrashing and twisting beneath him.
He lost his balance at her sudden outbreak and rolled to the side. Eden took advantage of her momentum and his imbalance and rolled herself on top of him, violently pressing her zip tied hands into his neck, watching his face turn purple beneath her hands.
"I'm going to watch the light leave your eyes," Eden seethed, panting hard. "And I'm going to savor it—"
The knife he plunged into her thigh made a scream rip from her throat and the insult shrivel up into nothing more than empty words.
He shoved her off of him, and tore the knife down the length of her jeans, cutting them free and repositioning himself on top of her. She wheezed between gritted teeth, her legs feebly kicking upwards. He dug his thumb into the stab wound just above her knee. Her mouth opened, but no noise followed.
He freed himself from his pants and her mind screamed at her. To stop him, to fight, to kill. It wasn't going to happen again. She wasn't going to let it happen again. But he was seconds from taking it.
He lowered his mouth to her ear. She saw her chance. "I lied," he whispered, "the fighting is a turn on."
Instincts took over. Eden jerked her head forward, sinking her teeth into his neck, hard. The blood seeped into her mouth, warm and metallic. He struggled against her and Eden struggled to keep her mouth to his skin when her stomach began to turn.
He brought his hand to her neck, clawing and pushing against her windpipe. Her mouth came free, blood dribbling down her chin. His hand pressed to his neck, trying to stop the trickled of blood.
He staggered backwards, kicking away from her and back towards the door. "You psycho bitch!"
"Don't cage an animal and expect not to be bitten." She spat out a mouthful of blood.
He stared up at her. She watched the blood drip from beneath his hand. Her eyes locked to his, Eden bent and grabbed his knife, turning it over in her bloody palm before lunging at him. "No!" he yelped just as the knife sunk deep in his stomach. Eden tore it out at a downwards angle, slicing his skin open wide.
Eden turned her back on the pooling blood. She sat back down against the wall, keeping her eyes trained on the door and her fished clenched tightly around the knife. She could hear the man gasping for breath, but still she kept her eyes latched on the door and the threat that stood behind it, waiting to make its appearance.
The minutes were torture. But they were merely minute; Fisher was thorough.
The door swung open and Eden's body tensed immediately. She forced herself to stand. Fisher met her gaze from across the room, a scowl on his usually smug face. His gaze flicked towards the bloody mass on the ground, then back to Eden. "Yates really taught you to fight didn't he?" Fisher took a step towards her. "Did he ever when you should just submit? Because right now's one of those times, baby. You can't stop what's going to happen to you."
Eden pressed the pocket knife against her upper thigh, blood beaded beneath the blade. "I'm not going to be your whore." She swallowed. "One simple cut and I bleed out."
"Yates may have made you a killer, but you wouldn't take your own life."
Even as Lily and Parker's faces swarmed her brain, she knew she wouldn't be able to go home to them ever again and she wanted to go on her own terms, here and now, not in a gutter after being raped. "Just watch me." Her voice shook but her resolution didn't.
In a flash, he had his gun aimed at her heaving chest. She didn't expect him to shoot, but he did. The noise rang throughout her ears. She looked down at her shoulder, the knife slipping from her hand and clattering to the floor silently.