Kitty McLain (rhapsodyinred) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-11-19 18:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-07-29 |
The Secret's In The Telling
Who: Jasper and Kitty
Where: Police Station
When: Morning
Two things Jasper McQueen took seriously in life - cars and women. Treat both of them with respect and love them like you’re going to die tomorrow. Part of why who took up the human trafficking unit was due to the mistreatment of Elsie and the vast visions he saw. That shit didn’t erase. It was burned in his memory forever. Jasper took sex cases very seriously and the second Jameson handed the file of a certain Miss Kitty on over to his twin, he was all over it. The blonde had skimmed through the information the night before, knowing that Jameson was blabbing on with the TV on the whole time. Always easier to ask first hand anyways.
Always easier to use his hands, period.
He had to remind himself not to get burned again like he did with Elsie, but then again, this wasn’t Elsie. There was no attachment or years of searching. Jasper considered himself fine. So as he rolled on up to the police station, classic rock music blaring out of his car, he killed the engine and hopped on out with a travel mug of coffee in hand. He wasn’t dressed in uniform like the rest of the crew: jeans, a ratty old tshirt, leather jacket, boots, and gloves. Taking a sip from his coffee, he said good morning to a couple of the officers and poked around the corner to spot a tiny redhead sitting by herself in the lobby. “Reckon you might be Miss Kitty McLain, ma’am?”
The past few days had been hell, but only because Kitty’s nerves were completely frazzled. The time between dusk and dawn made her restless and worried, even if she knew a vampire couldn’t step foot in her home without her permission. Lex was capable of employing others to do his dirty work, and so she spent her waking hours trying to find new ways to protect herself. A security system was installed, weaponry had been purchased, and she was looking into spells that would assure her safety in her own home. She would not be caught unprepared again. Unfortunately, the protective bubble only extended to the walls of her house, which immediately put her on edge the moment she had to leave. Sitting in the station, her foot tapped nervously, even though she was surrounded by the people that were supposed to protect her. A man stepped around the corner that she identified as Jameson, except that she knew it wasn’t by his introduction. “You must be Jasper,” Kitty said with a small twist of a smile.
People even around the station tended to confuse the McQueen twins up, which even they enjoyed. Today was not one of those days, so Jasper merely nodded in response with a smile. “Yes, ma’am. Better than what some of these guys here call me behind my back.” He tried joking to lighten the mood, hoping it would let Kitty know he wasn’t some douchebag of a cop. He was here to help her. “C’mon, we can head on over to one of the conference rooms and sit in a real chair and not one of them piece of crap things you’re in.” Jasper gestured to the chair she was in now with his chin and then motioned for Kitty to follow him, propping one of the doors open while looking back over to her. “Can I get ya anythin’? Water? Coffee? Somethin’ to nibble on?”
Kitty smiled, wondering what they might call him without coming out and asking. She had the feeling he would want to remain professional and that conversation couldn’t possibly be. Then again, he was about to ask her questions regarding her time as Lex’s captive, so maybe knowing something personal about him would make her feel more at ease. “Can I call you Jasper, Detective?” she asked as she rose to her feet. With what he was about to learn, they should at least be on a first name basis, right? “Water would be nice, but otherwise I’m good.” She wasn’t thirsty, but she anything else might have caffeine and that was something she definitely didn’t need.
“Sure thing. Detective is a mouthful, anyways.” He smiled to the little lady with a nod. Whatever made her more comfortable, especially with the topic they were about to dive into. Of course she could call him Jasper. He made a quick detour to the water bubbler to fill up a cup of cool water for the redhead, then proceeded to show her into one of the unoccupied conference rooms. “Here we are! Have a seat where ever ya want.” Jasper himself took a seat by the door once he closed it, plopping down in the comfy chair while propping up his feet onto another one. Definitely not the most proper of all detectives, but it wasn’t like he was being judged for his table manners during an investigation. “So, I hear ya met up with my brother, Jamie. Told me ya weren’t doin’ so good. I just wanna let ya know, Miss McLain, that we’re here to help ya and protect ya. Don’t ya go off bein’ scared or nothin’, alright?” He didn’t want to scare Kitty, just let her know that he was one of the good guys. Hell, he was killing to hunt down the bastard who did this all to her and put his ass in jail.
Kitty accepted the water and followed him back to the conference room, her nerves picking up again as they walked. She didn’t like talking about what had happened to her, sure that she’d be judged for what she did to survive. Survival was everything; she had forever to get over the rest of it. But some of it she’d enjoyed, and that tore her up more than anything else. No matter how many showers she took, she still felt Lex’s hands on her. “I’m not scared when I’m here,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “I’m scared when I’m alone. When I’m out on the streets. When I’m putting gas in my car. It feels safer during the day, but I know better. They could find me any day, any time, and then I’ll disappear again.” Her voice started shaking as she spoke, her fingers wrapped around her glass of water in a tight grip. They hadn’t been able to find her last time, so who was to say they’d succeed the next time?
It was immensely difficult to watch women talk this way, knowing very well that he couldn’t follow them all around and protect every step of the way. Jasper clenched his jaw for a second, trying to calm himself and tell himself that it would be alright. She would be alright. He was here to help here and he would damn well make sure of it. Jasper always got to the bottom of all of his cases. Both of the McQueen twins were thorough in their work, so Kitty had nothing to worry about. “I can understand,” Jasper replied gently with a nod. “I’m sure it must be tough for ya and that’s what we’re here for. What I’m here for. To help ya out.” Shifting slightly in his seat, Jasper ran his fingers through his hair while clearing his throat. “Kitty, do ya mind tellin’ me who they are?”
It sounded like such an easy question, but Kitty didn’t have all the answers she felt she should have. So much went out beyond the room where she’d been kept, the puppet master out of sight and never named. Kitty couldn’t put a name to whomever really ran the show, but she didn’t think it was Lex. He was the first she could name, though, so that’s where she started. “Lex, Tristan, and whomever they were working for,” Kitty said, taking a deep breath. She still didn’t want to mention the women she’d run into, as they’d done nothing but tried to help her. They might not have been slaves, but they meant well, and it was for their own safety that they hadn’t let her go. She could accept that; if she’d been in their position, she probably would have done the same. “Lex was the vampire that caught me and brought me in. Tristan was... I dunno. My keeper? He made sure I had food and water. Stuff like that. I always felt like there was someone else, though I could be wrong.”
Jasper vaguely remembered the names, mainly from his brother’s briefing. He knew how it went with most human trafficking cases: someone who handled the dirty work of wrangling up the ladies and someone who made sure they stayed in line. Perhaps giving food and water would do just that, but it was always the same motive in Jasper’s eyes. He nodded while Kitty explained, took a second to piece everything together, then looked back to her. “My brother was tellin’ me that you were havin’ trouble rememberin’ bits and pieces of what happened, though ya seem to remember these men clearly. What was it exactly that you couldn’t recall?” Perhaps a stupid question, for how could she answer if she didn’t know, but sometimes what people didn’t know remained like a gaping hole in the memory. It was worth a shot to ask.
“Escaping,” Kitty said immediately, then closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, as if that might conjure the image. “I was in my room. Or cell. Whatever you wanna call it. I was there, sitting on my bed, when the door opened. At first I just sat there, since it had never opened without anyone coming in, but no one came. I got up and went to the door and pushed it the rest of the way open. There was a long hallway and all the other doors were open, too. Girls were running, some guys, trying to get out. B-But they... they were weak. Injured. Some of them bleeding. I probably should have stopped to help them, but I ran. I ran up the stairs and--” She stopped abruptly and pushed her fists against her eyes, growling in frustration before she shook her head and dropped her hands. “Nothing,” she said, looking up at Jasper. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say I blacked out, but I made it home. I don’t even know how. I just remember suddenly being inside my house.” And nothing made her more angry than not being able to recall her moment of escape. It was a day she’d waited for and hoped for, and now a chunk was missing and she didn’t even know how much.
Well then, apparently there was a gap that was very clear to her. Jasper had recalled when he was rescuing Elsie and the car accident that had occurred, but that was a different blackout. He had walked away from that place injured and scarred. Here Kitty sat before him with barely a bruise on her in comparison. What the hell happened? For all the police knew, she could have been making this up. Maybe it was post-traumatic stress. Who knew. But in this day and age, it could be anything. And while he could here Erin screaming from the morgue to not do it, Jasper began to remove his gloves and looked on over to Kitty with a gentle expression. “Do ya mind if I take a look at your hands for a second, Kitty?” He didn’t know what he would see with his visions, if he would see anything at all, but if he could see this place, see that it existed, then he could verify that Kitty was at least telling the truth.
Look at her hands? Kitty couldn’t imagine what that would do, since they’d mostly healed since her escape. There was still some scarring, but she figured that would fade in time, especially since she had forever ahead of her. “Sure,” she said, offering them out to him, palm up. What exactly was he expecting to find with such an inspection? She didn’t know, and so her mind drifted back to her time in Ad Gustum, Lex’s visits, the emotional torment she’d felt from giving in and enjoying it. Even now, there was a part of her that missed him and she hated herself for it. How could she miss a man that had kidnapped her, beat her, and raped her? Was it still rape when she’d... Kitty clenched her jaw shut and focused on her hands. The present was far safer than what her memories held.
With both of her hands offered to him, Jasper kicked his feet off the chair and scooted on closer to the redhead, chucking his gloves onto the table in the process. He hesitated for a moment, unsure as to whether or not telling Kitty what he was about to do was needed or not. Was this an invasion of privacy? Then again, poking and prodding for information was bad enough. This is for her own good, he reassured himself. And as he closed his eyes, he brought his hands up to hers and held onto them gently. The visions the flooded him instantly came to him in a jolt, though he still still held onto Kitty’s hands. Her memories were dark, clouded, and every word that was spoken echoed and throbbed in his head. At first it seemed to be playing backwards, seeing the cell she spoke off and the door opening, spotting the other slaves rushing out for their freedom. Then it jumped to another scene, where Kitty had been with someone else in the cell, yet the face seemed blurred and their voice distorted when they spoke. What the...? A jump to another vision, she was in another room, some place nicer, having sexual intercourse with another man. Another jump, she was back in the cell, thrown to the wall and being bitten by a vampire. The jumps kept happening and not once was Jasper able to pinpoint any details in the voices or physical descriptions. Hell, he didn’t even know where this place was. But the last vision involved Kitty being back in her home with absolutely nothing in between.
And that was when Jasper finally let go, sucking in a sharp gasp of air as he fluttered his eyes opened. Heaving in and out slowly, he pulled his blonde hair out of his face and did his best to recompose himself before sitting up to face Kitty. “Didn’t mean to scare ya,” he apologized with a nod. “I should’ve warned ya, but I didn’t wanna scare ya.” He paused to swallow, then continued. “I’m a psychic - a clairsentient. Touch things and get visions of what happened to that thing or in this case, a person.” He gave Kitty a sincere stare, truly sorry for whatever she experienced in her captivity, for now he experienced it, too.
By the time he let go, Kitty’s eyes were wide and just a little fearful. She wasn’t sure what was going on and, while she wanted an explanation, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it. As soon as he told her, she found herself correct. “What did you see?” she whispered. There was plenty in her mind that was harder to explain, such as the girls that came to visit her but wouldn’t let her go, or the time she’d almost successfully killed Tristan with song. She had desperately wanted to keep her siren nature out of this, but if he’d seen that then it might just come up. And what about how she’d gotten caught in the first place? Fuck.
“I saw you in captivity, saw your keeper, saw the things ya spoke of and what went on there... Sex, abuse, vampire bitin’.” Was that even suppose to happen? The fuck was this place suppose to even be? “I by no means was tryin’ to invade your memories, just...” Jasper paused to let out a light sigh. “Now I know that this all happened. That this damn hell hole exists.” And like hell Jasper was going to let this one slip by. “Things were... kinda fuzzy. I couldn’t really make out everythin’. I believe I blacked out right where you did, too.” Something that never happened to Jasper before. He didn’t even know where to begin with that and he didn’t want to touch Kitty again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. The poor girl looked petrified. “You doin’ ok?”
“You thought I was just making it all up?” Kitty asked, her voice raising as she pulled back in her seat. “That I-- I ran off for a few weeks and spun this story about being held as a vampire’s sex slave to make up for it? Didn’t anyone else make it out? I can’t be the only missing person to turn up. I can’t be the only one who’s seen this place!” If the police didn’t believe her, then Lex, Tristan, and everyone else responsible for her captivity would get away with it. She’d track them down herself, but she didn’t have the ability to do so, not yet. “I don’t know why I blacked out. It’s not like I fainted or something. It’s like a hole. So, no. I’m not okay. I don’t know how to be.”
Jasper didn’t try to interject and stop Kitty, instead letting her vent. It sounded like she needed it. Sitting there, soaking up her pent up rage, Jasper blinked and held up his hands in mild defeat before slowly responding, “I never said ya made it up, Kitty. You’d be surprised by the amount of people who come in and take advantage of us with the reports they formulate. We can’t assume anythin’. And no, we haven’t gotten any reports like this similar to yours. It’s just you, Kitty. My brother handed your case over to me because he knew I could look and pinpoint what was goin’ on so we can find out what the hell is going on and we can get to the bottom of this.” He leaned in closer, still giving her enough room to make her comfortable and locked onto her eyes. “I promise you that we will bring you justice. We will not let your captors go off quietly into the dark. Ya just gotta trust me. Do ya?”
“No one else?” It was shocking to think that she might have been the only one to really get free. In all the chaos, she assumed at least a handful would make it to safety. Instead, it was only her. No one could confirm what she’d been through except for Jasper, who had the potential to learn to much through his touch. There weren’t a lot of people that Kitty trusted completely. She had enough secrets that telling them to any one person would most likely come back to bite her in the ass. That wasn’t what Jasper was asking, though, and she figured she could trust him on this specifically. It was his job. It was what he was trained to do. And, most of all, it was legal. At this point, if she took revenge into her own hands, she could get caught. “Yes,” she said. “I just don’t know how you’re going to do it when I can’t remember the most important details.”
He wish he could have told Kitty there were others like her, if anything just to give the girl a sense of hope, but instead he shook his head in response, sad at the fact it was the truth. He knew there were others. He saw them. What worried Jasper the most was that if there were that many other people with Kitty, then what happened to them? Did they not make it out alive? He couldn’t worry about them now and had to be grateful that at least Kitty made it out. With a sigh, Jasper leaned back into his chair and rubbed his eyes. “It’s not gonna happen over that, sadly, I can tell ya that much. We may not be able to search this place you were held at, but we might be able to start lookin’ at the people who held ya. Can ya at least remember them? What they looked like or more stuff ‘bout them?” It would have been a start, that was for sure.
“I didn’t know as much about Tristan. He was tall, dark eyes and dark hair, almost black, that was about chin length. Kinda thin? I’m almost sure he’s human, or at least doesn’t have some higher level strength.” She’d been so close to killing him that one time, but they’d been interrupted. Nothing in his reaction had given her reason to believe he was capable of anything special, though if he was smart he would have hidden it from her. “Lex--” What could she say about him that would capture all she’d experienced? Words really weren’t enough. “Lex is an ass. A vampire, who had chin length brown hair when I met him, but a pink mohawk the last time I saw him. He’s got an ego that needs popping, and an attitude that pushed me to madness, but other than a physical description, I didn’t get anything from him that might tell me how to find him. Neither of them shared personal details.” She’d tried to pull them out of Lex on at least one occasion, but had failed miserably.
From the visions he had seen, Jasper couldn’t recognize anyone that looked like this Tristan. Lex, however? That man looked familiar. The one who beaten Kitty, bit her, and slept with her. To say he was an ass was putting it lightly. Jasper had never dealt with a vampire before, which meant he and his brother were going to have to load up on silver bullets. And with the news coverage on them recently, Jasper was able to take two things away from vampires: they were dumber than bricks or they were smarter than the whole town put together. A vampire who was able to kidnap someone like Kitty and get away with it was definitely someone who knew what they were doing. Tapping a hand against his chin, Jasper tried thinking briskly to formulate a way to assist Kitty. It was then he recalled the incident with Elsie and how the men came after him. What this Lex did the same? Wait... Having a sudden epiphany, he looked to Kitty and spoke, “When it comes to human traffickin’, no matter what the case may be, most dealers do not take lightly to their items goin’ astray. What I’m tryin’ to say is that this Lex guy may come after ya.” He immediately brought a hand down to calm Kitty down. “I’m not tryin’ to scare ya. I’m tryin’ to help ya. If you’re willin’ to work with us, I can lend ya a device that you can use the second ya see this asshole. It’ll let me know and I can come over immediately and help, maybe even nab the guy. How ‘bout that?”
“I know.” Kitty would have been panicking if she hadn’t already thought of this. Lex showing up on her door step was going to happen eventually; she just didn’t know when. It could be today, it could be ten years from now, or even a hundred, but he would come after her. He was too much of a possessive bastard to let her walk away. “What kind of device? Have you fought a vampire before?” She’d thought that she was equipped to escape one and had failed miserably. Jasper deserved a head’s up, but she didn’t even know how to explain how Lex had captured her. There was also the addition of her trying to fly away, which she was trying to avoid. She supposed she could say she was a were, but Jasper seemed smart. He’d figure out that wasn’t the case eventually. She was missing too many of the perks.
At this point, Jasper didn’t entirely care what Kitty was. All he cared about was her safety. Upon hearing her question, Jasper shook his head. “Never been up ‘gainst a vamp before, but there’s always a first for everythin’, right?” He smiled a bit before rising from his seat. It was in the McQueen’s blood to rise to bold challenges and this was one of them. Didn’t matter if he didn’t have a clue what he was up against. Jasper would figure out a solution to it. He always had in the past. “Wait here one second.” With that, he slipped on out of the room for a moment, only to come on back in with a little, black bracelet, plopping on back down in his seat while showing Kitty the device. “We use this with some of our victims when they have a restrain’ order out on someone or have a similar case like yours. Press this button here and it signals to this device-” He pulled out what appeared to be a radio monitor of some sort, wiggling it in his other hand. “-and then acts as a GPS to track ya down. You can use it when this creeper even shows up in a distance. Doesn’t matter when or where. I’ll have this here on me at all times and I’ll be there for ya.” Then he extended his hand on out to Kitty with the bracelet intact. “Does that sound like a deal, Kitty? It’s the least I can do.”
She reached out for the bracelet, turning it in her hand as she inspected it. It was amazing how such a little device could do so much, so long as she could keep it on her. Would Lex be expecting something like this? She was hoping not. As old as he was, and she was guessing old, there might be technological advances that he didn’t think of automatically. “That sounds good,” she said, looking up into Jasper’s eyes. He had beautiful eyes. “I’m hoping it won’t be necessary, but I’d feel better knowing someone was coming the second I run into him.” If someone had been around last time, she probably would have gotten away... and possibly charged with murder. Then again, she could have blamed it on him. It was a believable story, considering the circumstances. “Thank you,” she smiled softly. “I know this won’t keep him away, but anything that prepares me for that moment makes me feel safer.”
“Anytime,” Jasper nodded with a smile. “Just doing my job.” Even if he could give the young lady a sense of hope, then Jasper knew it was a step in the right direction. “Also know you’re free to call the station whenever ya want if ya feel unsafe or drop on by if ya wanna. We don’t bite.” He paused. “Ok, some of the bastards ‘round here do, but I don’t.” Chuckling in hopes to lift the mood a bit, he pushed his hair back and looked at Kitty. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Kitty?” He knew Jameson had asked all the major questions and Jasper got what he wanted in the mean time. All they had to do now was sift through the evidence and track down more information. It wasn’t an overnight project, that was for sure. Hopefully Kitty had patience.
“It’s okay. I bite back.” Kitty smiled, put at ease by the joke and even willing to respond in kind. She was on the road to feeling safe again, and the closer she got the more comfortable was with letting those around her see more of her. It would take a while, but this was a start. She put the bracelet on, her finger tracing the metal loop. It would take a bit to get used to. “I don’t think so. I’ll let you know if I think of anything else that might help.” Or think of anything at all. She was determined to fill in the holes where her memory was blank, even if Jasper hadn’t been able to see them either. There had to be something there, right? How could she possibly forget such a crucial event, the moment of her escape?