Whispers to Screams (Lesbian) (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 8

After booking the flight a few days in advance, Valeriya took to calling every contact related to her compound. She needed a few things looked into before she left, and she had a lot of things to gather and prepare for. Facing Barinova garnered a certain kind of fear in her that she didn't like to display often, and a certain kind of selfishness, too. The depression that dripped down the back of her neck so often told her to let the old woman finish the job. Reed could handle what she left behind after all, right? She was a big girl, right?

"Stop." Valeriya whispered, clenching her eyes shut. Battling a person and her mental illness at once seemed to be a toxic combination, which she was sure was the case for most people, but for her it felt a little too awful. She had so much at stake, and what if she couldn't complete what she started? For the last year she swore up and down that she would, even when she felt at her lowest, but now that she was really about to face her biggest adversary, she wasn't so sure.

"Take my strength, and be strong for both of us while I'm gone."

The words rung through her mind so fast, and repeated so many times, that she didn't even have to think about it anymore. When she felt like something was going wrong deep down, there was that quote. The only sentence that could bring her back from the brink of giving up. This was going to be a Hell of an uphill battle, but she was still fighting. And she would kick it's ass, no matter how much her brain tried to tell her otherwise.

Thinking back on her main goal of the day, other than self loathing, she needed to get ahold of her guardsmen and request the security tapes of yesterday. Hopefully, they would show who actually committed the theft and murder. As familiar as it looked, it just couldn't be who Valeriya thought it was... She felt like Antonia's spirit was around her too much not to think any differently anyway. She watched Toni get shot and die in front of her, but still... The question of where her body went always lingered. The amount of digging and searching always came up empty for herself and Reed. No one at her compound could give her any good news, either. It remained a mystery to this day, but perhaps Russia held answers. She knew that Toni held many genetic secrets that were once used against the human populace. It was a strong possibility that those same scientists took her, but it was an awfully fast transition from the moment she died, to the moment she disappeared. It couldn't have been more than an hour... Then again, it was entirely possible that Sentinal followed them all the way from Russia and was tipping off whoever had their hands around his neck the whole time.

After getting all of her calls and trip information out of the way, all that was left to do now was check her work email. There was a lot of messages that consisted of questions about the workplace environment, requests, complaints, and various other things that she didn't have the mind to deal with at the moment. Valeriya really needed to remind Reed that they needed to hire a Human Resources Associate eventually... That was always one little hiccup she often overlooked. Either way, the things that they messaged her about that took up most of her inbox were things that a small team of people would have to take care of, not herself. Hell, she'd have to hire a small team then. Oh well.

She skimmed for several moments, looking between her primary, social, and spam folders until one caught her eyes. It was an email send to her late last night by one of her guards.

Ms. Aksakov,

Hello, this is security guard #33565, T.D. I understand that you requested the security tapes concerning the corpse and the alleged theft in your office. After talking to the head guard, he agreed to give me both tapes in full and compress them here in this email. I've attached one in this message, and sent another separately that should be on it's way now.

Thanks,

-T

Valeriya clicked open the file, and as she did, she realized that it was the one sent from the camera outside of her office. She never actually had a camera installed inside, too invasive for her taste. The video itself was a compressed file that was sped up, outlining the events of the day, which weren't much. A few guards and employees passed by the office door, she even saw herself go inside. Even through the whole ordeal of being called to the courtyard and away from her office, nothing changed. No one went in or out of her office. This was starting to feel like a dead end. Perhaps the other video would give her more clues...

Almost two hours later of rewinding, zooming, and replaying, she still had nothing. No one suspicious went in or out of the compound. No one saw a god damned thing. How could no one catch sight or sound of anything weird going on?! This was becoming one of the most infuriating fucking things she ever found herself doing. She, of course, considered the possibility of someone altering the footage, but how? None of her men were smart enough to do that, she didn't give them the tools, either. Something terribly suspicious was going on and the feeling of being left in the dark was killing her. How was it that no matter what, without fail, every shred of evidence she got turned out to be another dead end? Barinova was good, but even she wasn't THIS good. She couldn't be...

Valeriya shook her head and got up from the spot she had nearly melded herself into. If she wasn't going to find her answers here, she would go look at the compound itself. Today was Sunday, no one but a few guards should be there, plus, it was getting a bit late. She had overslept because of certain alcohol related ventures and most of the day was already drained away. Which was fine with her.

"Hey!" She called out as she passed through the kitchen to grab her car keys. "I want you to do me an important favor after I leave for Russia."

Reed looked up at her with a quirked eyebrow. "A sexy favor?"

"No." The short information broker was probably the only person who could make Valeriya roll her eyes so hard. "A real one."

"Okay, okay. What is it?" She crossed her arms over her torso, as if getting ready for whatever she was about to get berated with.

"I want you to keep my compound under lock and key, whatever anyone has to report goes to you. Not me, I won't be able to answer." Valeriya stated, pacing a bit.

"I already knew all th-"

"And," Valeriya continued, stopping her foot work and staring down at Reed with a determination that she rarely showed. "Take Elle out for dinner."

Reed's expression went from bored to shocked in 0.2 seconds. It was cute, and sort of funny. How deep in was she with this cop friend of hers?

"I-I don't now if that's such a good idea." She defended, getting up slowly from her seat.

"Why not? What's not to like about you, Reed? I mean, save for the drinking and the womanizing, you're pretty great." Valeriya shrugged. "I mean, I guess."

"I don't think she likes me like that, that's all." Reed huffed, ignoring the giggle she heard from Valeriya at her attempt to compliment her, which stopped as soon as she responded.

"Don't think like that." She said, remembering back on how her and Toni came to be. The feelings weren't mutual at first, no, but they weren't exactly apparent, either. "Perhaps she needs to see a side of you that maybe no one else has seen, or at the least, very few."

Reed looked at her at that point, contemplating what she said. It took several moments of looking at one thing, and then another, and then Valeriya, and then another thing again for Reed to consider actually following through with her friend's request. "Maybe dinner wouldn't hurt."

"A-ha!" The Russian called out in triumph. "Good, now that that's out of the way, I'm going to go to the compound to look into a few things. I leave for Russia on Wednesday in the evening, gotta make sure everything is squared away." She sighed.

Reed only nodded and watched her as she wandered out of the kitchen and towards the garage.

"Oh!" Valeriya said, stepping back into the kitchen for a split moment. "Don't mention to the only girl you've ever had actual feelings for that you almost slept with your room mate in a drunk stupor, because strangely, I don't think that would go over well." She said before dipping out again and taking off for the night.

-- Author Note --

Hey guys so it would seem I'm back and in full force! As you can tell this is an entire reboot and it does delve pretty deeply into the effects of depression and trauma. Im sorry for those who've told me it made them cry... It wont last forever I promise! But i do adore you all and want you to keep in touch. Dont forget to vote and comment! I love hearing from you and I hope you guys like this as much as I do.