“What are you doing here?”  Sam shrugged off her mom and took a step back.  She grabbed her bag from the elevator and quickly placed her axe inside.

“Does a mother need an excuse to see her daughter?”  Sam’s mom placed her hand on her chest and leaned back as if she’d been deeply offended.

“She does when she hasn’t spoken to her daughter in four years.”  Sam squeezed her way past her mom but stopped in front of her other guest.  A guest she hadn’t seen for quite some time, but this guest was a welcome sight.

“Hello, big sis.”

Sam gave a lazy smile.  She didn’t know how to react to her sister, or to be more exact, her half-sister.  “Nice to see you, Jaime.”

Jaime leaned in and hugged Sam.  Her blonde hair covered Sam’s face.  Sam blew it away and gave the girl a hug back.  They had grown up together without either of their dads around.  Jaime was always the spoiled one.  She got away with everything while Sam got stuck with all the consequence.  Old memories flooded into Sam’s head, and for one moment, she felt happy and carefree.  Then another image made her way into her head, one of Mr. Bartlett trapped by an evil force, unable to escape his misery.

Sam snapped out of her thoughts and let go of her sister, moved passed her, and headed towards her desk, “I wish you would’ve called before you came.”  Sam set her bag down by her desk, “I don’t have long before I have to leave again.”

Sam’s mom stepped up to one of the display cases in Sam’s office, “I bet your busy being the rich tycoon owner of this restaurant.  It must be a hard job,

 being so successful.  You got to run around making sure your money is in order.”  She touched the sparkling glass case, smudging her fingerprints across it.

Sam looked up from her desk.  She knew her mother had come here for a reason, and her mother had just made that reason apparent.  Her constant subterfuge and passive aggressive behavior had driven Sam from her home and out into the world.

Jaime covered her face with her hand and sighed.  Their mom was never discrete enough to get what she wanted.  She had the air of a troll about her.

Sam grabbed something from her bag and moved over to the display case, “No, it’s not business.  I have a friend that needs help, and it’s urgent.”  Sam opened the display case and placed a thick matted piece of hair inside.  There was some blood staining it, but Sam didn’t care.  She wiped the case with her shirt to remove her mom’s fingerprints.

She had kept Mr. Bartlett’s office the same since she became head of his estates.  She had to add some more displays for all the mementos she kept from her adventures, the newest addition being the fur from the beast Ahuízotl.  Sam glanced at the small glass case on her desk.  It held the object the Boss had given her a year ago on the cliff side of the Observatory.

Sam’s mom sneered in disgust, “Seems you have some odd things here, ever think of hiring an interior designer?  Maybe you should spruce this place up.”  She moved over to the wall of pictures and scanned them.

“I think they’re all cool.”  Jaime moved closer to get a look at the thick, matted hair. “What is it?”

Sam looked up into Jaime’s eyes.  She couldn’t tell her what it really was, Jaime wouldn’t believe it.  Mostly everything in the office was something mystical, or of the occult, or once belonged to a monster of some sort before Sam had ended them. “That was a near death experience that I want to remember.”

“Why would you want to remember that?”  Jaime looked up at Sam.

“Because little sister, it means I made a mistake, and that mistake got some people hurt.”  Sam’s face lost all expression.  She thought of the men who got hurt because she was careless about her trip to the cave.  She had let her goal get in the way of the present situation and people got hurt.

“Who’s this hunk, your boyfriend?”  Sam’s mom yelled from across the room.  She stared at the wall of photos before she held up a photo of her and Mr. Bartlett after they had met several years ago.

“Please don’t touch that.”  Sam started to move towards her mom.

“Looks like he is.  He’s in a lot of pictures here.”  Sam’s mom went to hang up the picture she took from the wall; she knocked down a black and white photo of Mr. Bartlett holding his daughter in his arms, with several men in grass skirts and bone jewelry behind them.   The picture hit the floor and glass shattered out across the carpet.

“Mom!”  Sam ran over to the picture and snatched it from the floor.

“Deborah, could you please not touch Sam’s stuff?”  Jaime snapped at her mom.

Sam set the picture down on her desk and brushed the glass off it.  She grabbed her bag from the floor and slammed it on the desk.

“Hey! I deserve more respect from you than that.  You’ll call me Mom.  I raised the both of you by myself.  You should show me more respect than this.”  Sam’s mom crossed her arms and stood rigid.  She was almost on the verge of yelling at the two sisters.

Sam opened the closet behind her desk.  She grabbed some clothes out and slammed them in her bag.  “You could never keep a man in the house, Mom.  Jaime and I are from different men!  If you stopped whoring around for just a while, we could’ve had somewhat of a normal life.  That would’ve earned you respect.”  Sam went back into the closet.

Jaime took a step back, her eyes wide at what Sam had just said.  Sam was always timid growing up, but now, it was like she was a different person.  She was head strong and apparently she was in near death situations quite often.  Sam was stronger now.

“Why should I not try to find a man that loves me?  Is that my fault?”  Deborah moved to the other side of Sam’s desk.  “It was tough raising you two.”

Sam reappeared from the closet, “It was tough raising us both, but instead of holding down a steady job and giving us a home to grow up in, you moved us around from house to house, whoring yourself for rent.”  Sam slammed more clothes into her bag, “If you would have tried harder to be a better mother, then I wouldn’t have been so happy to get away from you.”  Sam dipped back into the closet.

Deborah just stood back.  She looked over at Jaime, who just shook her head and backed away.

“Well…” Deborah was accumulating her thoughts.

“Well what, Mother?”  Sam came out of the closet holding a revolver, the same one Mr. Bartlett loved to use.  “Why did you come here?”

Sam’s mom scratched her arm.  She became silent when Sam started to wave around the revolver.

“It wasn’t to see how I’m doing.  It wasn’t to see my boyfriend, or just to chat.”  Sam put the revolver on top of her clothes and zipped up her bag.  “Cuz if you did, you would know that the only reason I’m doing well is because my boyfriend died.  He’s dead mom.”

Sam’s mom looked away.

“If you wanted money you could’ve just called and asked.  I have something important to take care of.  Someone in my real family is in trouble and he needs my help.  So I’d appreciate it if you weren’t here when I got back.”

Sam grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder.  She headed over to the elevator and opened the doors.  Sam took one last look at her mom standing by the desk.  Sam took a deep breath and shook her head.

Sam entered the elevator and hit the ground floor button.

“Wait up Sam!”  Jaime ran into the elevator before the doors closed.  She shied her head away for a second before she spoke, “I told mom not to come here.  I knew she wanted money. I should have warned you.”

“It’s ok.”  Sam sat silently for a moment, “It’s just been building up for a while.  Since I left really and now I have a lot to deal with.  I’m so close to something I’ve been looking for and it keeps slipping away.  It just all builds up.  I don’t mean to be angry.”

“I know big sis.  I just wanted to come and see you.  It’s been a while, and I wanted to know if you made it to something better now.”  Jaime looked around the elevator, “It looks like you have.”  She smiled.

Sam smiled back, leaned into her sister, and hugged her, “For the most part it’s good.  I just wanted you to call is all.”  Sam pushed back and let go of her sister, “I’ve made a lot of enemies in my line of work, and I’d hate myself if they did anything to you or mom.  Even if she is a…”

“Bitch?”  Jaime pursed her lips together and raised her eyebrows.

Sam laughed, “Yes.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. 

Mr. Scott was standing there, his arms behind his back as always.  “Are you distressed, Sam?”

Sam shook her head, “No, Scott, I’m fine.”  She turned to her sister, “If you guys need a place to stay, you can stay here.”  Sam turned to Scott, “Get me fifty grand,” Sam turned to face her sister, “And give it to Jaime here.”  Sam gave her sister one last hug, “Give it to mom, or not, it’s up to you sister.  I love you, but I have to get going.  I wish I could talk longer.”  Sam started to descend the balcony stairs as she yelled out to Jaime, “It was nice seeing you sis!”