Chapter 35: Kristi
The next morning, the three woke up to the alarm. It was still dark out, and they went to the bathroom to wash up. Tagas and Harry could keep clean without going to the bathroom, but they wanted to spend some time with Arthur in the morning, before they had to work at the farm.
Their routine of having breakfast with Beth and then getting the animals out to the pasture was not broken on this day. When the day ended, they collected the animals back to the barn, and this time, Tagas and Harry left after dinner.
Arthur was sad to watch them go, but knew that they had more important matters than sleep on their minds. As he went to sleep in the empty bed, he collected the pillows on which Tagas and Harry had slept on and hugged them tight. One smelt of apples, the other of cologne.
As the angel and demon duo came to the apartment, Tagas made a beeline for his room. He spent half an hour in there, searching for his next case. He came out and showed Harry what he had found.
"I think this is not a dead end. A teenager went missing from a summer camp last summer. The search has been called off, but it hasn't been so long," Tagas said, and Harry sighed.
"This is the Rockies we are talking about. There are wolves and bears in there," Harry said, and Tagas shook his head.
"We could find her bones, at least. Please, Harry," Tagas looked at Harry with wide hazel eyes, and the demon caved.
"Ok, but if we can bring back just bones, don't beat yourself up over the fact," Harry said, and then teleported them to the mother's house. Even though the search has been given up, there was still a missing person's poster on the wall of the house.
The girl was slim and pretty, in that pixie kind of way. With delicate features, she looked like she was in need of protection. Harry's breath hitched in his throat. Bad things happened to people like that.
Tagas didn't pay him any mind, and he knocked on the door. A middle-aged woman answered, and the angel smiled at her.
"Hello, ma'am. We are here to search for your daughter," Tagas said, and the woman let them in.
"The rangers said she must be in the belly of one beast or the other," Paula, the mother, said. "But I know Kristi is still alive. I can feel it in my bones."
"Can we ask you about where the camp was?" Tagas began his questioning, waiting for the appropriate time to touch the woman. When she gave a long sigh, after telling them about the account of Kristi's friends of the night the girl went missing, she reached out and gripped Tagas's hand of her own accord.
Tagas blinked at her, but got a location. The mother had been right, her child was still alive. Yet, not anywhere near the Rockies.
"We will find her," Tagas told the woman. "We are done questioning you. If you remember anything else, please don't hesitate to call us."
Tagas then told her his phone number, and he and Harry were off. When Tagas gave him the location, Harry looked at him weirdly.
"That is a bit of a backwater, don't you think?" Harry asked. Tagas just took a hold of him.
"It doesn't matter if it is. She is there, the connection never lies," Tagas said, and Harry got them before an abandoned house. They walked in, and found nothing.
"Can you sense any humans?" Tagas asked, and Harry strained his senses.
"Yes, down," Harry searched for the basement door, and found it soon after. The two walked down, only to hear whimpering. They rushed the rest of the way, and saw the girl chained to the bed. She was naked, and her belly was round.
"Don't hurt me, I'll be good. I won't try to run away again," the girl looked to be feverish, and Tagas looked ready to murder someone.
"We are here to get you back to your parents," Tagas told her, trying to keep himself from showing his fury to the girl. "You will be fine."
The girl repeated what she said, as they came closer. Tagas snapped the chains, and then took the girl in his arms. He magicked some clothes on her, and looked to Harry.
"We need to get her home," he said through gritted teeth. The girl looked dehydrated. The angel knew what had happened in here, but he didn't want to speak about it. He healed all the damage he could, and checked up on the baby. It was healthy, for the most part. With a strong heartbeat, and kicking every so often.
"She will give birth soon," Harry snarled, and the girl whined. Kristi was looking around with unseeing eyes, and Harry waved his hand over her eyes. Her eyes followed the hand, and he nodded.
"She seems to be in shock," Harry said, and then took Tagas by the arm. The demon took him before Kristi's house, and they knocked on the door. Paula answered. When she saw her daughter, she broke down crying.
"Kristi?" Paula asked between sobs. "What happened to you, darling?"
Tagas carried the teenager inside the house, and placed her on the couch.
"She needs to spend some time in the hospital. I don't think she has been eating anything in a couple of days. We found her..." Tagas didn't want to give the woman the mental image. Paula didn't want to hear it, either, because she was staring at her daughter's round belly with wide eyes.
"I can connect the dots, don't tell me," Paula said, and then ran a hand through her daughter's matted hair. Once, Kristi had long chestnut hair, bordering on blonde. Now, it was close-cropped. As if someone had sheered it as if Kristi were a sheep. "Who did this to her?"
"We don't know," Harry told Paula with a dark look. "But he will get what is coming to him, I can assure you."
Tagas looked at Harry. The demon didn't meet his eyes. When they exited the house, Harry teleported Tagas to the farm, instead of the apartment.
"What are you going to do?" Tagas asked, hands reaching out for Harry.
"Something you won't condone. But don't you worry, I won't leave any traces behind," and Harry was gone. Leaving a worried Tagas behind, who could only go inside the farmhouse, and go up the stairs to Arthur's room. Tagas snuggled up to Arthur, the farmer waking up for a brief moment, before replacing the pillows he was holding with the warm body of his lover.
