The scream tore through him like a great shard of glass. He felt his eyes widen and pulse quicken, his heart thudding like a rock rattling in a box. The scream came again, desperate, terrified... human. The blood drained from his face, before he was even aware of making a conscious decision his legs were pounding furiously on the uneven broken sidewalk, his ears strained for more sounds, more clues as to where it had come from. He had no clue as to what he would find when he got there, he just knew that he had to get there, fast.

Sadly just as quickly as the screams had started, they had stopped. Officer Rumpel walked around the area trying to see if he could find whoever was in trouble but he came up with nothing. He gritted his teeth in anger and stormed towards the casino that was right around the corner. Somewhere out there someone was in trouble and the fact that he had no way of helping right now didn't sit right with him.

He walked into one of the most popular restaurants on this side of town and was immediately seated despite the long line, being a regular had it's advantages. He ordered their finest bottle of vodka. He was off duty which meant he could drink to chase away his demons.

As he sat there eating his Risotto, the sight of a woman walking into the restaurant grabbed his attention. By the looks of the men staring at her around the restaurant, he wasn't the only one that appreciated what he saw.

The woman that walked in could have graced any billboard or magazine cover, but she was better than those two dimensional photo shopped models. She wasn't the usual classical, golden hair, piercing green eyed beauty but, somehow her imperfections made her perfect.

There was a shyness to her, hesitation in her body movements and a softness in her eyes as she glanced about the room. Her cream dress had a silky look that was perfect against her tanned skin, but Rumpel could already see her in jeans and a t-shirt, feet up on the couch and painting her nails.

She was right there, only feet away, but in her understated glamour she might as well be on the television or a girl in a pop video. Rumpel shook away his thoughts and gathered up his things to go, he would never see her again, but that was alright. A woman like her didn't need a complicated guy like himself. He stood up and in that moment his eyes were drawn to the stage when he heard her voice.

Her voice rolled over the room in sorrowful waves. Swells of power rose up from her throat. He couldn't even tell if it was words that came from her. Her voice was music, and grace, and it brought out a haunting feeling that her voice was brought out in a fit of rage and pain. Her hand went to her heart and her head rose as she belted out the final lyrics to the song.

♪ ♩ Hello from the other side
I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home

Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore ♩ ♪

Rumpel stood with the other customers. Everyone around him erupted into loud cheering and applause. Him though, he stood searching her face and he found, this was not a happy woman. Her eyes looked sad and the smile on her face looked strained to anyone that was paying attention. He watched her eyes dart towards the door a couple times then she took a step as if to leave but was immediately flanked by the two guards that escorted her in.

Interesting. So she's not here on her own free will.

He watched as she looked at the guards before turning to wave at the crowd. For a moment their eyes met. Her eyes lit up and the look sparked something inside him. He would have felt excited except in the next minute her eyes roved over him taking in his uniform before coming back to his face with a look that screamed for help.

He started moving towards the stage but the guards had already gripped her hand to lead her through the side door and out of site.

He was about to follow them when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned and saw the owner of the restaurant/casino.

"Officer Stiltskin. What brings you to my neck of the woods tonight?" Asked the older man

"Kyng" Rumpel greeted with a curt nod. "I was in the area at a accident scene. I got hungry when I finished up there so I stopped by for dinner, the entertainment wasn't bad either" he said

"Why yes, my latest business deal." The man replied with an unsettling smile.

"She's permanent entertainment then? Smart man this will take business to a higher level for you." Rumpel knew he was fishing for information on the girl but he didn't care.

"That's the goal. Adele has quite the voice to bring in the crowd." said the man looking around at the pleased faces of his customers.

His momentary distraction gave Rumpel time to processes the fact that the woman has the same name as the person the victim from the accident was going on and on about until paramedic had come and sedated him.

There was something going on here, and Rumpel was determined to uncover everything until he got to the bottom of it. It was time to take Kyng down.

Hey guys so if you're enjoying this story so far just click the ★ to vote and leave me some comments.