Daniel paced the living room of the old home the two of them inherited after their mother passed, it  once was a place of comfort and relative safety. It was paid off and taxes were expensive, but together they could afford it. It was better than an apartment, they had both agreed on that. It had been over a week since Melody was home. So why, all of a sudden, was this no longer her sanctuary? 

No matter how much he thought of it, he couldn’t make any kind of sense of it. Everything she told him, that Thalia told him, made sense. She shouldn’t be working these murder cases and anyone handling one after another night after night would start to crack. That made sense, but then, why not come home​​​​​? It was that he just could not figure. 

He was going to get to the bottom of this. He had promised their mother, himself and Melody he would not let things happen again. He should have been there to stop Elliott. He was not going to fuck it up this time. Growling he scratched at the rough stubble. He hadn’t shaved yet, and ignored the messy desk of papers, articles and his laptop, instead he grabbed the keys to his old pick-up. It was time to start looking. 

Since he had to head to the north side anyway, he stopped by the Foundry. He knew Mel was a regular there and maybe Cade knew something. He never really got to know him, but Mel always said good things about him and his bar. Lost in thought it didn’t take him long to reach the graveled neon lot of the old steel mill – turned bar. It was one of the things he did truly enjoy about Ironridge, despite the poor economics of it all, the history, the Americana. No where else would you find a bar like this, or the old hotels from the twenties or the mob ties and bootlegging that happened back in the prohibition. 

Pushing through the front doors, he looked decidedly out of place in his button-up and slacks, still dressed from the office. Cade only gave a glance, but he could practically feel eyes on him. The whole place made him uncomfortable and he never understood Mel and Thalia’s draw to places like this. Mel would call these places, raw and real, whereas he would call them dangerous and seedy. Still he stepped up to the bar and leaned forward.

“What’ll you have?” Cade asked. 

“Give me a rum n’ coke. Only here for a sec,” Daniel knew the game. Information never came free.. “I haven’t seen my sister in a while. Melody. I know she likes the place. You seen her?” 

Daniel watched him, his reaction. Information was more than just the words used, but which words and when. The facial expressions and body movements too. He noticed Cade’s brief pause as he poured the rum. He noticed the carefully curated neutrality of his face, the careful movements. He knew something, but what? 

“Not for about a week. She came in, her and that friend of hers. Then they split. I didn’t ask. I run a bar, not a sewing circle. I don’t keep gossip.” Cade replied, his words tight, clipped. 

“Know where she might be holed up? I’m just worried about her.” 

“Nope. I’ll let her know you’re looking if I see her. Enjoy your drink.”

Cade didn’t stick around to converse, ducking into the back briefly before resurfacing and mingling with guests at the bar and keeping everyone topped up.

Well, this is a dead end, Daniel thought, No matter. Thalia’s place next. 

Her place wasn’t far and it didn’t take long, before he pulled up to the older apartment building. He killed the engine and took a single lap through the parking lot. It paid off finding Melody’s motorcycle tucked away in a corner parking space. Reaching out it was cool, and hadn’t been used in at least a few hours. So she had to be here. 

Determination in his step, he headed towards her apartment. Usually when he was here it was to pick her up after whatever adventures the two of them went on that laid them out. This felt the same, only much more permanent, like some unknown weight was pressing in from all sides. 

He knocked on the door and waited. No answer, so he knocked again. He knew she was in there, he could hear her moving about, hear conversation. 

“Thal, open up. I know Mel’s in there. I just want to make sure she’s fine.” He said, banging on the door.

“Goddamn it. Fine. One sec Danny.” She replied from the other side of the door. 

The door jolted open, and Danny could see another woman, very pale and blond, lounging along the couch, watching with glittering eyes. Something about her deeply unsettled him, but he forced his attention back to Thalia. 

“Look, Thal, I just want to know that she’s alright.” 

“She isn’t here Danny. She came by earlier but went out. I don’t know what you want me to say.” She said. 

To him, it sounded as if her voice was strained, and she had a furrow to her brow. She looked lost in thought, but about what he couldn’t guess. 

“Well, her motorcycle is still here. Mind if I come in and wait? I know it’s late, but…”

“Danny – your heart is in the right place, I get that,” She said, exasperation clear, “But Mel is a big girl and doesn’t need big brother to protect her all the time.” 

“Yes well, after the Elliott incident—” 

“Fine. Come in,” Thalia sighed, “I get it, I do, but I am telling you she won’t want to see you right now. And she still isn’t here right now.” 

Daniel took a seat opposite the strange pale woman and watched as Thalia took the far end of her couch glancing forward at this – stranger. The more he watched, the more she unnerved him. She looked too perfect, too still. Almost like a greco-roman statue come to life, the way her eyes, slightly sunken, shimmered strangely in the light. The smile that suggested she knew things others didn’t and the confidence that she held herself in. 

Glancing back at Thalia he saw her typing away at her phone, no doubt warning Mel. He sighed knowing he wasn’t getting much further tonight, but if they were conspiring she was at least okay enough to do that. Now his goal was to get information. Cade was shifty, so he knew something. This woman was new. 

“So, Thalia, who is this?” He asked, before shifting his gaze to the pale woman, “Daniel by the way. Melody’s brother.” 

She hummed in response, a tinkling melodic voice that sent chills down his spine. Something in his mind went off, a warning, some lizard brain red flag. Everything told him to leave, go, escape. He ignored it for folly. 

“You may call me Evora. I know Melody, in a way.” Her voice soft.

Her voice drew out vowels just a bit, something eastern European, but only just, like a memory long past.

“Ah, so you aren’t from the U.S. then. What brings you here.” 

“A whim, I haven’t been home to… Hungary in a long time,” She said, amusement lacing her voice. 

“You’re here on a whim?” Daniels asked, incredulous. 

“I like to see, to know. I observe,” She mused, “Though I find myself oddly sentimental. Perhaps – perhaps I shall stay for some time.” 

“I’m beginning to see why Mel call’s it Yoda bullshit,” Thalia muttered under her breath.

This was all together too odd for Daniel, like he was just out of sync in understanding the situation. One step behind, and that irritated him. Something about this woman unnerved him, and was a part of whatever was happening. 

Flicking his gaze back to Evora he flinched back in surprise, her gaze boring into his. She was inches from his face.

“Time to go, little human. Leave.”

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t feel, his mind drowning under cold ink. It squeezed and pressed on his mind, forcing him. No matter how much he screamed to stop, to not take a step towards the door, his body moved against his will. Icy cold terror welled up as he was puppeted out, every step pushing him home.

He couldn’t feel the cold metal of the truck’s door handle as he opened it. He couldn’t feel the plastic of the steering wheel, or the tug to the left it made. He didn’t hear the radio or engine, he couldn’t see out the windshield, and the more he pushed the dimmer everything became. He was drowning, drowning in liquid nothing. Until – it snapped and he found himself standing just past the threshold of home. The terror didn’t leave, not when he slept and not when he woke the next morning, yet the next morning all he could remember was the terror, the memory of visiting Thalia’s apartment slipping away like water through fingers.