Bits of Saint
Lucifer looked up at Saint as he came in. He was carrying a woman in his arms. “What did you do?” he asked.
“I didn’t do anything, man,” Saint replied, confused as any of them were.
“I just found her and she’s hurt.” He took her over to a sofa along the wall.
Looking up at his brother, he took note of the men starting to gather around them.
“She has at least one wound on the back of her head and it’s been there long enough for the blood to dry. ”
“Where did you find her?” Lucifer wanted to know. “Was she alone?”
“I found her over by Woodpecker Glen and yeah, she was alone. I also found a bike on the ground near her.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s what she used or if it had been there awhile.”
Lucifer ran his hands over his head. “Fuck, we don’t need this right now. She could be trouble.”
Saint got to his feet and glared at his brother. “Nobody needs this sort of thing anytime, brother. But I’m not going to turn my back on her.”
Lucifer shook his head. “I’m not either. Let’s just wait and see what she has to say.” He looked down and nodded at the girl. “But first, we need to find out how bad she’s hurt.”
“We might want to do this in private, Saint,” Dax reminded him.
“Take her down to the last bedroom on the left,” Lucifer told them. “We’ll take her to your room, Saint.”
Saint nodded then gathered her in his arms again and got to his feet.
When his arm rested in the middle of her back, the girl groaned and tried to get away. She sat up and wrapped her arm around his neck then fainted dead away in his arms.
Saint looked over at Lucifer.
Lucifer nodded and led the way down to the bedroom.
When the three of them were in the room, Dax began taking off her jacket before Saint even laid her down.
The back inside of the coat was stained with brown spots and he glared at the back of her shirt.
There were several areas where the cloth of her shirt had become plastered to her skin with large blobs of dried brown stains.
“Sweet Jesus,” Lucifer swore. “You’re gonna need to soak that shirt off.”
Saint nodded and carried her into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and soon the hot water began to fog up the room. He turned and looked at Lucifer, “Strip off her jeans.”
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. “I’d rather not.”
Dax huffed in disgust then stepped inside and reached for her waist. He undid her jeans and yanked them down her legs then turned and adjusted the warmth of the water. Stepping out of the way, they all watched as Saint stepped into the warm water and turned her back to the spray.
The girl woke up screaming and tried to get away but Saint held her steady. “Hush sweetness, we need to see who badly you’re hurt,” he whispered in her ear.
“But it hurts,” she whined without opening her eyes.
“I know, but it needs to be done. Just hang on,” he assured her.
She began sobbing as the water poured down her back. Sticking her face in the crook of his neck, her tears ran down his chest. “Ohhh, it hurts,” she cried out as the water ran brown then finally red and pink.
When the water ran clear again, Saint reached out and shut the water off. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head slowly. Finally opening her eyes, she looked around the room, but more importantly, she stared at him. “Who the bloody hell are you and where am I?”
Saint smiled slowly.
She watched and caught her breath. “Who are you?” she whispered.
“They call me Saint. But that’s not important right now. We have to see how badly you’re hurt.”
“We?” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “I’m cold.”
“Let’s get you dry and warm again then.” He let her legs drop to the ground and grabbed a towel. Wrapping it around her, he heard her hiss at the pressure on her back.
“Fucking hell, how about you warn a sister first,” she grumbled. Peering down, she noticed her bare legs. Looking up she had to ask. “Where are my clothes?”
“We took them off, so we could wet your back down,” he explained. “Now, we have to take off your shirt so we can see how back it is.”
“How many is ‘we’?” She glared at him.
“Me, Lucifer and Dax,” he told her. “Dax is our doctor and Lucifer is the President.”
She looked beyond him and her eyes widened at the sight of the other two men. “I’m at an MC?”
Saint nodded. “But don’t worry, no one here will hurt you.”
“Do you promise?” she whispered.
Saint cocked his head at her. “I’ll protect you but I swear, no one here will hurt you.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “Then let’s get this over with.
I know it’s gonna hurt like fuck.” She grabbed the edge of the sink and turned her back then began unbuttoning her shirt.
She opened it and began pulling it down her shoulders crying out as she did.
“Holy fuck!” she gasped out while dropping the wet shirt onto the floor.
The three men gasped but didn’t say anything as they saw what she’d just revealed.
Eight to ten lash marks had torn her back open.
The wounds were still raw and oozing fresh blood again.
They went all the way down her back where they were met by a bright pink star shaped birthmark at the base of her spine.
Down the hall...
Lucifer entered his bedroom to see his wife Jessie sitting up in bed. Their son was sleeping in his crib.
“Is everything okay?” she asked him with a slight frown on her face. “You look a little stressed.”
Lucifer went over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Yeah baby, everything for the moment is good.”
“What does that mean?” Jessie’s frown deepened.
“I was on my way back here a while ago when my brother came back from his walk. The only problem was he wasn’t alone. He found a woman passed out in the woods. He brought her back with him because she was hurt.”
Jessie nodded. “He did the right thing.”
Lucifer sighed. “Yeah, he did.” Then he shook his head.
“She was a mess baby. Whoever she was with a few days ago hurt her, he hurt her bad. Saint had to shower with her to get her clothes off. She had several open wounds on her back that hadn’t been taken care of and her shirt was stuck to her skin.
When we did get her shirt off, it looked as if someone had whipped her. ”
Jessie closed her eyes at the brutality of the other woman’s attack.
“She had eight or ten open lash marks that needed attention and a blow to the back of her head.” He shook his head.
“Then on the top of her left shoulder, we found a brand mark that she’s had for years.
She’s not that old, like maybe 24 or so.
And that tells us she’s had to fight every day of her life. ”
Jessie stilled and asked, “What color is her hair?”
Lucifer frowned. “What the fuck difference does that make?”
“What color is her hair?” she repeated her request.
“Teal or blue whatever you want to call it.” He shrugged.
“It’s not so blonde that it's almost white?” she asked sadly. She pushed the covers off her legs and tried to get up.
Lucifer rushed over to the bed and assisted her to lay back down. “What are you doing, woman? You just had a baby a few hours ago. You shouldn’t be getting up yet.”
“I have to see this woman,” she insisted. “If the brand on her shoulder is what I think it is, then I might know her.” She looked up at him. “Tell me something...does she have a bright pink star shaped birthmark on her back, maybe around the base of her spine?”
Lucifer froze and studied her face. “How the fuck did you know that?”
Jessie swore, then reached for him, “Help me up. I have to see her for myself.”
“Baby, you can’t,” he protested. “We don’t know the first thing about this woman and she’s bound to be nothing but trouble for us.” He paused then added, “She was chipped honey. That tells us someone is keeping track of her and that makes me nervous. She won’t tell us who that someone is.”
“I still need to see her,” Jessie told him desperately. “Please...”
Lucifer closed his eyes and shook his head. “Only for a moment, baby. You need to get some rest.” He helped her to her feet and walked her down the hall to the bedroom where Saint and his woman visitor were staying.
When he opened the door, Saint looked up. “What is all this?” he asked softly.
Jessie walked slowly over to the bed but her eyes were on the woman laying on her belly.
When she got there, she sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair off her left shoulder.
She gasped at the sight of the branding.
Her fingers gently reached out to trace the branding.
Then she pulled the sheet down to the bottom of the woman’s spine and her face paled when she saw the star shaped birthmark.
“Oh Pink, where have you been all this time?” she whispered brokenly.
Slowly, she raised the sheet to cover her again, and she sat there lost in a fog for a moment.
Lucifer approached the bed and touched Jessie on the shoulder. “Baby, do you know her?”
Jessie nodded. “I knew her once upon a time. She’s my cousin Erika.
Her mom and my dad were brother and sister.
I haven’t seen her since we were both around five.
My brother and I called her Pink because of the birthmark.
” She paused to wipe her tears away. “Lord, she hated that nickname.” She chuckled.
“Every time I called her Pink, she would retaliate by calling me Red. Randy, my brother was two years younger than we were, so she just called him snotwad but he always had a runny nose, so the name fit.” Jessie reached out and touched her teal blue hair.
Running her fingers through the strands she said, “She had the most beautiful blonde hair when she was little. It was so blonde it was almost white.”
Lucifer caressed her shoulder. “Tell us what happened, so we know what this is about.”