Day 1
Lauraine scooted closer to the counter
“lauraine!” lucy hissed “what are you doing? They’ll see you.”
Lauraine glared at her then glanced around the room two men patrolled the hostages and a third sat in one of the lush red chairs speaking into his phone. There were three more on the balcony above but she didn’t need to worry about them. The poison should kick in soon. She was right. There was a thump above. The sound of a body hitting the floor. The guards looked up but the one on the phone didn’t notice. There was another thump and one of the guards crept up the stairs. Lauraine scooted closer and was at the counter. She reached underneath and retrieved the hand gun hidden there. She quickly hunched back down. She stared at the one remaining guard as there was a third thump above. There was a shout and she stood using the distraction to take aim. She aimed at the guard who was looking up shouting at his comrade. Lauraine focused on the sound of the storm outside. The rain pounding the windows and the thunder in the distance. She ignored the sirens and bright lights flashing in through the windows. She focused on the man and fired one shot. It hit his arm at the elbow and he screamed. She ducked down and shifted her face to a dark skinned girl with dark blue eyes and curly hair. The guard upstares shouted and thumped down the stairs. The man on the phone stood and lauraine glared at him. How had they found her? She had taken every precaution so they wouldn’t. Their tracking methods were getting better and better. She crawled through the crowd gun in hand and slipped out the edge. No one noticed her. She stood and walked over to the man on the phone. She pressed the gun to his head and he silenced.
“Hello mr. daven. It’s so nice to see you again.” she hissed into his ear. The man was down the stairs now but he froze as he saw the gun to his bosses head. He raised his gun but Mr. Daven gestured for him too put it down
“Hello elsie. It’s nice to see you too.”
“Don’t call me that!” lauraine spat
“My apologies.”
“How did you find me?”
“Oh you’re so easy to track. With a bit of blood and fire you can do just about anything.”
“But you didn’t get a blood sample did you? Give me the bone.”
“You really are smart elsie. How did you know?”
She ignored his question “i told you not to call me that! Now give me the damn bone!”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smooth white bone on a blue ribbon. He dangled it in front of her face and she grabbed for it. He pulled it just out of her reach.
“Oops. not yet.”
“What do you want?” she snarled at him
“From you? Nothing. From them,” he gestured to the roof “there’s a little thing called a rogue tor malkah. I want it.”
Laurain shook her head fraticly “no no nononono. You can’t have him.”
Mr. Daven looked at her sadly then raised his arm as if to throw the bone.
“You throw it.” she told him “and i shoot you.”
He smiled “silly mortal weapons. You know they can’t hurt me. Just like they can’t hurt you. So let’s sit down and talk about this. All you need to do is tell me where the tor malkah is and I will give you the bone and free these people.”
“I already told you. Not going to happen.”
He smiled and tossed the bone. She pulled the trigger. There was a boom and people screamed. Mr. daven fell to the ground with a surprised look on his face.
“I know no mortal weapons can hurt you.” she smiled showing way too sharp teeth “but this can.” the gun glinted in the light showing that it was not in fact made of metal. It was made of a dark glass like material. The guard yelled and charged her but she opened her eyes wide and shifted her face. He fell, turned to grey stone. Something like that wouldn’t work on creatures like mr. daven, but it worked fine on mortals. She shifted her face back too that of laurain’s and turned back to the hostages.
“You’re free now.” she said to them “You were captured by men who wanted to hold you ransom. You were saved by a man with dark hair and a long coat. You did not see his face. You are not sure how he took them down. You do not know me” her voice wove magic around them, adeling their minds and replacing their memories with something new. The girl called Laurain walked back too were mr. daven had thrown the bone and held it in her hand. It was cold. As cold as ice. She shuddered and slipped the ribbon around her neck. There were shouts outside as people ran out. She stayed until the room had emptied then retrieved her bag from the corner. She left by the back exit, stepping out the door into the cold rain. She left and didn’t look back.
The girl who called herself laurain would need a new identity. She had always liked the name natasha. Or maybe mara. That one was nice too. She settled with ada, a dunarian girl with pretty brown hair and green eyes. She wore a long black dress and brown leggings with bare feet. Her bag shifted into a nap sack which she slung over her shoulder. Now all she needed too do was get too a new planet.