Dark Mysteries by Jessica Gadziala

guess. And she made
a fist and brought up this pointed key chain and stabbed the points
into his hand as he went to reach for her hair.”
    Xander
looked up. “Seriously?”
    Faith
nodded, looking down at the picture, smiling slightly. Like she
approved. Knowing Faith, she did. “Yeah. He screamed like a
baby. And he cocked his arm back like he was gonna hit her and Vin
yelled,” she laughed a little, “told him that he was
asking for it. That you don't corner a woman at two in the
morning...”
    “What
was she doing during this?”
    “She
was watching Anthony. Like she was expecting him to go back at her.
But then Anthony was cursing and getting into a cab. She walked past
us, tucked forward into herself. She said thank you to Vin and
hurried on her way.”
    “You
never saw her again?”
    “No.
And I would have remembered after that. We usually don't get out of
here until after three or four in the morning...”
    “Well,
it's something I guess. I'm shocked Anthony let that go.”
    “Well...”
Faith said, smiling wickedly. “I may have had a little
something to do with that.”
    Xander
shook his head. “Of course you did.”
    It
was something else. Another piece in the puzzle. A puzzle that,
admittedly, still had a lot of missing pieces. But he was making
progress.
    “She
has training,” Faith said, watching him mull over things, his
eyes far away.
    “What
do you mean?”
    “Training.
Like some sort of self-defense training. And not just the crap at a
Y. I mean she's had lessons.”
    “Why
would you say that?” So what if she brought up a key chain
weapon and stabbed someone. Plenty of women could do that without
training.
    “Because
I've had training,” Faith shrugged. “She was small but
she knew how to use that. A battered woman shrinks. She rose up. She
stepped forward, balanced her weight. She thrust in an uppercut
across her body. She threw all her weight into it. Someone taught her
that. And I'm assuming it wasn't her abusive ex-boyfriend.”
    Xander
raked a hand over his face. “Why does this matter, Faith?”
    “Because
you can find him,” she said, “or her. In one of those
states. It will probably be the first state she ran to. The first
state will have traces of her. She wouldn't have been so clever or
careful back then. And one of the first things she would have wanted
to do once she got away from him, would be to learn to defend
herself.”
    It
was a good point. If he could figure out which of the states was the
first, he could find her. The people she touched, the places she
went. He could get more bits and pieces. He sighed thinking of all
the work it was going to take. Hours on the computer and the phone.
Days. Weeks probably before he could even get a name. A name of the
monster who tortured her.
    “No,”
Faith said, moving to lean against the back bar.
    “No
what?”
    “No,
you cant ask her,” she said, a smile toying at her lips. “I
know you better than anyone else,” she said and it was the
truth. “I know you are thinking about how much time and energy
this will take and if you should just confront her about it. The
answer is no.”
    “Because
she'd run.”
    Faith
nodded. “Because she'd run.” She watched him for a
moment, his big frame shrinking into itself slightly. Sitting more
stooped than he usually did. “You like her, don't you?”
    “I
just met her,” Xander shook his head.
    “Where
is she sleeping?” Faith asked, watching his head snap up and
smiling.
    “I'm
not fucking her,” Xander said. Nope. And he wasn't going to. No
way. That would be completely inappropriate.
    “But
you want to.”
    “Yeah,”
he admitted.
    Faith
pursed her lips. “Weird,” she said after a minute.
    “I'm
so screwed,” he sighed, shaking his head. He should have known
Faith would just tell him what he already knew. If there's one thing
you could count on her for, it was bluntness.
    “Look...
what's the harm? You got an itch, scratch it,” she