Mason County Square was still sleeping. Only a few streetlights remained on. The sky was starting to brighten to a softer blue and red tone, and the stars began fading into the morning sky. Officer O'Brien and Officer McBride were sitting in their patrol car parked in front of the courthouse, catching up on their new daily routine.
"Help! Help!" screamed a voice behind the squad car.
O'Brien looked in his rearview mirror and saw a young woman running down the sidewalk with two men dressed in black following in hot pursuit.
O'Brien got out of the car.
"C'mon!" he shouted to McBride in the passenger seat.
O'Brien saw one of the men dressed in dark lunging forward, tackling the woman to the ground. The other crook grabbed her by her hair. Her tackler got up, seizing her by the left arm.
The woman shouted out in a bloodcurdling scream. "Help me!"
Instantly, one man covered her mouth while they both dragged her into a dark alley behind them.
O'Brien could not believe what he was seeing. Without hesitation, he ran to the alley, drawing his pistol from his holster. McBride followed close behind, also unholstering his firearm.
Inside the alley, both officers saw the men holding the woman down on the ground, one holding his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat while the other took off his belt.
"Hold it!" shouted Officer O'Brian.
Both men stopped what they were doing and fixed their eyes on the cops. O'Brien and McBride had their iron sights fixed on the culprits.
"Let her go!" ordered O'Brian.
Slowly, both men raised their hands high, never taking their eyes off either cop.
"That's better," continued O'Brien. "Now, lay down on the—"
BAM!
A powerful gunshot from behind interrupted O'Brian, sending him falling to the ground with a bullet hole in the back of his head.
McBride spun around and fixed his sight upon a third man dressed in a black trench coat with a dark hood covering his face. The darkly dressed man held his hands up, pointing his gun to the sky.
"Drop it!" thundered McBride.
The man in dark clothing did not move.
"Drop it, or I'll—"
"No, you'll do nothing," came a voice behind McBride.
He turned around and saw the young woman aiming O'Brian's gun at his forehead. His face grew white, and his body numb. The woman stood there as a deadly grin crossed her face.
"I'm not going to lie," she said softly. "You really were adorable."
"But—but you were—" stammered McBride.
The woman placed her finger upon his lips. "Shhhhhh…"
She pulled the trigger. There was a flash of fire and the blast of a gunshot. McBride fell to the ground dead, a bullet hole through his forehead. The woman stood over him, taking a big breath through her nose, smiling, and shaking her head.
"It's quite a shame, really," she said. "He was such a gorgeous man, too."
Both darkly dressed men from behind approached and stood on either side of her.
"Take their clothes," she ordered them.
"Yes, My Princess," they replied.
They each knelt down and began to take the uniforms off of the officers.
The woman walked over McBride's corpse to the man in the trench coat standing watch at the entrance to the alleyway. She came up from behind and drew her lips close to his ear.
"Are you sure it is her?" she asked.
The man kept staring with his lifeless, green eyes from left to right, ready to announce the sight of someone coming their way. "Yes."
"How do you know? Tell me again so I can remind you later of what you said should it not be her."
"I didn't know for sure that one evening of the storm. I heard him say her name, but I needed to be certain. It was not until I saw her in the library that I heard her ask the librarian about a place called 'Alaythia.' When I got my chance, I asked the librarian myself, and she told me that she was, in fact, looking for the 'long lost land of Alaythia.' I saw that she was reading books and journals about it, too. I felt like I was onto something, so I stayed and found that I had struck gold when I heard her say she had found it."
"Found what, my Love? Found what?"
The man turned his head halfway and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "The red-bound book. She says that she found it in the house of Cohen and that it is the diary of Rose Cohen."
The woman smiled big and kissed the ear of the man with her lush, red lips. "Oh, you have done your princess a great favor, indeed, Dark Cry."
She stroked her fingers down the sides of his arms. "Come and find me later when this is over. I would like to thank you…personally."
Dark Cry smiled and continued to stand watch.
The woman turned around and saw both of her men standing, each holding a uniform in his hands.
"Is this O'Brian's uniform?" she asked the man standing to her left.
"Yes, Princess Aniatha," he replied.
She reached out and took it from his hands. "I shall wear this one. He was a brave and handsome man. I did find it rather attractive how he came to my rescue so boldly."
She took McBride's uniform out of the other man's hands. "Dark Cry will wear this one."
"Dark Cry," she called out, "come and change into your new wardrobe, my Love."
Both men went to substitute for Dark Cry. Their dark hoods veiled their faces from anyone who could see them from a distance. But, looking up close, one would notice that these men were no more than eighteen or twenty years of age. Even Dark Cry looked to be no more than nineteen or twenty. A dark spiritual shadow covered them all. Each of their eyes was a pale green, and their skin was pale and tan. Their hair was black and long, trailing down past their shoulders.
The woman they called "My Princess" was the same age. Her beauty was mature and bewitching: her long, dark hair trailed down to her waist, her eyes etched with passion, and her lush lips bated with captivation. She was stunning to behold, a mesmerizing vision to conceal the spirit of death hiding deep within.
Aniatha and Dark Cry walked out of the alleyway dressed in O'Brian and McBride's uniforms. Dark Cry pulled his hair behind his shoulders and slipped on Mc'Bride's police hat while Aniatha wrapped hers in a bun before crowning the top of her head with O'Brian's hat.
"You both know the plan," she told the guards.
"Yes, My Princess," they both said.
Without question, they turned right and walked down the sidewalk toward a grey truck parked in the distance.
"Come, my Love," she said to Dark Cry. "There's a lost little girl at Mason High that needs our help."