Sisters by chance - The beginning

Recollection

Tobias POV 

A soft click and some rustling with a keychain at the door allow me to prepare myself, they are coming for me. The door doesn't make a sound when opening, but I can feel a presence behind me. I stay on the bed with my face towards the wall. A voice says thanks when the door opens, and then I only hear the click from when the door closes. Someone behind me moves the only chair in this room, it scratches on the floor and creaks when the person sits down. 

Sofia has woken up and received medical care. She will be well taken care of!" Says the Alpha himself. I turn on the bed and bow my head.

"Thanks, Alpha!" I whisper gratefully, without daring to meet his gaze.

"We expect you to cooperate. You will help us and give us all the information you have!" He demands. I nod, I will do as much as I can. Hugo must be stopped.

"Good! You will be moved to the packhouse where you will be assigned a room. You are not free, and the slightest mistake will result in you getting this room back! Understood?"

"Yes, Alpha!" I answer eagerly and sit up. still without meeting his gaze.

"Good! Harry will come by shortly!" He gets up and knocks on the door. The lock rattled again, and the door slid open. Without looking back, he leaves me alone with renewed hope. 'It doesn’t seem to be completely hopeless Tina' I mumble to myself! And start to go over all I know about Hugo, his associates, and locations I may know how to find. The first thing is to help find Arthur and free River.

Sofia POV 

After we have eaten, Dr. Summers comes back. She isn't as talkative as before. And I feel bad about how I lied and tricked her earlier. 

She checks the wounds on my back and asks about how I'm feeling when a nurse comes and takes some more blood. As they are about to leave I grab Dr. Summers by the arm.

"Julia, I'm sorry. I didn't know how to handle… this!" I say waving my hand towards the two handsome bodyguards sitting and waiting by the door. She smiles slightly and nods,

"Miss Bell, I accept your apology, and I understand. I think you will be happy to know that you are going to be discharged tomorrow. Maybe you could talk to the Winters family about accommodations?" With that, she leaves us. 

"Can we go now? I really want this to be over so I can call my family." 

"Let's go talk to the police, honey!" Lucas says, rising up with Jacob. He calls me Honey, it makes me weirdly warm and fuzzy inside.

"You have your own routines and laws, don't you? To protect your society. That's why you haven't let me talk to my family yet, isn't it?" I say and look at Jacob. He gives me a sad smile and grabs me by my hand. Lucas doesn't say anything, he turns and holds the door open for us.

***

The police station is just across the street. The walk is short and feels much easier now when I'm walking with Jacob and Lucas compared to before when I tried to "run away" from them. My conclusion about a sect was not entirely wrong though. They clearly have their own society, faith, culture, and perhaps their own laws. Inside the station, we are met by a small waiting room with walls painted vanilla withe. There are wooden armchairs and paintings with open landscapes to look at. A round and friendly-looking woman with short hair is sitting in the reception. She smiles big at us and greets us happily.

"Good morning, Mr. Winter. We have been expecting you! If you want to be so kind as to sit down, Miss Bell will be picked up momentarily!" She says and points to the armchairs to the right. We sit down and wait.

"How does she know who you are?" I ask curiously.

"Oh, my family is pretty well known around here!" He answers vaguely. 

"An understatement!" snorts Lucas. Jacob turns a little in the chair.

"My big brother, John. Is the one who makes the calls around here. Our family has led this pack for five generations."

"We really need to sit down and go through all of this!" I sigh realizing how much I don't know about these two. 

"Miss Bell? Hello! I'm officer Miller. Would you be so kind?" A tall, well-trained blonde woman with a perfectly made-up face and hair, it's tied in a tight knot at the nape of the neck extends her hand to greet me. Her smile is confident and professional. I take her hand and shake it before I get up to go with her.

"The gentlemen can wait here!" she informs my companions before turning her back to go. They slump back down into there's chairs. I look at them a little disappointed and wave before I follow her away. We leave the waiting room through a door out into a corridor, up a flight of stairs, and out to a classic office landscape. There are desks, computers, and a handful of police officers. Officer Miller leads me to the end of the great room where a senior man with a mustache is waiting. He is broad over his shoulders, he radiates respect and experience throughout. But he looks at me with kind eyes. Eyes that feel genuine. Not as Officer Millers.

"Miss Bell, I'm so sorry to see you under these circumstances. You can call me Magnus, I'm in charge of the investigation!"

"Hi, Magnus. Call me Sofia. Nice to meet you!" I say shaking his hand. After the courtesies, we go into what I assume is an interrogation room. But it looks more like a principal's office. 

We take our seats, and Magnus takes the lead.

"I'm going to record this conversation, that way you don't have to tell the story over and over again, except if you happen to recount something new!" He tells me and presses play on a small black box at his desk.

"This is Magnus Lee, head investigator of the Bell's case. With me is; officer Miller and Sofia Bell. It's 10:46 on June the 22. 

Let's begin from the start, Miss Bell."

I licked my lips looking at him apprehensively, where do I start? 

"Tell us about the day before, It could make it easier!" Magnus encourages me. I took a deep breath and began: "Well, I was really hungover. We had celebrated Hannah's graduation the day before! She was worse than me." I tell them, smiling. "We slept in, and then we helped clean up in the garden. I had gotten a text from my boyfriend at the time to meet up for pizza later in the evening. So around six we got ourselves ready and left home." 

"What's this former boyfriend's name?" Officer Miller interrupts me by asking with a superior tone. 

"Eric Olsen."

"And what day was this?" 

"Saturday, the fifth of June." 

"Officer Miller, would you please stop interrupting Miss Bell. Let her tell her story, and then we can ask questions." Magnus says definitely, giving me a nod to continue. Officer Miller pressed her lips together tight, not saying anything more. I don't know what her problem is, or if this is an attempt to establish a good cop, bad cop routine. But why, I'm not suspected of anything?

I focused again and thought back on Saturday night and continued, "We cycled down to the village. Then we swam together!" I tell them about the breakup from Eric and the irritation over how childish everything became. I tell them about the long way home and how everything was so common, so normal. When I reach the abduction itself, I have to concentrate hard on breathing. Reliving everything is harder than I thought it would be. Magnus pours a glass of water and hands it to me. He has also managed to conjure up handkerchiefs from nowhere that he brings across the table. I recount waking up in the truck. The long days, Mia and Agnes. That Hugo demanded my consent, My attempt to help Ruth and Rose, and when Olivia came. I share the attempted escape and the capture of us all. All while concentrating on breathing. I only stop to drink but keep my eyes down. Staring at my hands resting in my lap. 

When I tell them about Agnes, her death. And how I gave up myself to save Mia. How we all became sisters. I let the tears roll down my cheeks. I try to be as detailed as possible when I recount the action, the buyers: Manfred the vamp-guy, Oscar the gray and the woman from what they called Atra Aurora, and the sellers. How Arthur brought River with intentions to sell him but bought Olivia instead. I talk until my voice gets hoarse and I need more water. When I finally get to the moment when I woke up in the hospital, I'm terribly tired, my throat is dry, and I'm stiff all over. We must have been sitting here for a long time. I look up to ask about the time and see the investigator dry his eyes and nose, Officer Miller stares at me. So I look down again. 

"The interview ends at 12:52. Miss Bell, Sofia. I'm so sorry for all that has been done to you." Magnus looks at me with compassion and turns off the recorder. He then turned to Officer Miller.

"Officer Miller, would you please fetch Mrs. Lee, and perhaps Mr. Winter, and Mr. Brown?" She stood up with a nod, leaving us alone.

"Mrs. Lee? Is it your wife?" I ask curiously.

"Yes, she works at the hospital! Could you come with me?" He stands and walks to the door, holding it open for me. We leave and walk into the room next door. On a table is a black backpack and clothes in plastic bags.

"Would you be so kind as to identify these clothes we found?"

"Yes, of course."

I look carefully at each bag. And point out Mia's black band t-shirt, with the Queen logo. The twin's white matching tank tops. And Olivia's sage green dress. Magnus writes their names on sticky notes and puts them on the bags. In two other bags, I discovered some of my own clothes. The dress he wanted me to wear at the auction, and a black oversized t-shirt dress. He thanked me, and we walked back to the office in silence.

In the cramped room, Jacob and Lucas both stand together with a woman dressed in earthy colors. Her gray hair is tied in a loose knot, and around her neck hangs her glasses in a lace. She has light blue eyes that seem to look into your innermost being. Eyes you can't lie to. Officer Miller is not in the room. She wouldn't have fit in here now, we are too many. I'm tired of all these new faces. I long for recognition, familiar faces, my friends, and family. I sigh and feel tired of all that is new.

"Hi, Miss Bell. I know you are tired and probably hungry. We know you have been informed of our existence, our kind, that is. As you probably know we do things a little differently than humans. The man responsible for everything that has happened to you is of our kind and will be handled according to our laws. To protect us, and you from exposure, we will have to cover this up. We need to decide how. Do you understand?" Mrs. Lee tells me without trying to smooth things over at all. I like her! She is straightforward, a no-nonsense person.

"I see, what's the plan?" I say, looking at Jacob and Lucas' handsome faces. I need to look at familiar faces. And they are good enough right now.

"We actually have two proposals. Alpha John has approved both and allows you to decide which one you prefer. He would have liked to have been here but has decided, on my advice, not to meet with you until you are more comfortable here. And I don’t think you can handle many more new people for the time being! Mr. Winter is here with us and will keep the Alpha informed, "she says, nodding in Jacob's direction. "So, my dear," she says and softens. "We suggest that you either pretend that you have known the gentlemen here for a long time and traveled to them early in the morning on Sunday the fifth! Or, we will fabricate evidence that shows that you no longer exist. That you are dead. You can live unnoticed. here with us!" I, who didn’t think anything could surprise me anymore, felt how my jaw dropped. I stare with wide eyes and an open mouth at Mrs. Lee without being able to answer.

"But my family, what shall we say to them?" I finally manage to whisper.

"I'm so incredibly sorry Sofia, but your family, they are no longer with us. They have not been with us since the night you were taken. They are dead."