Irene believed.
For a chance, for a change, my words she heard, understood - believed.
This wasn't just a single life I was saving.
"When will you be going?" She asked, her tone, her deanor, no longer poking and probing. "I assu you'll need ti to pack, ti to plan, so... "
'When' was just one of the many variables to consider with a last-minute venture like this. I couldn't just up and leave on the flip of a di, I had commitnts, responsibilities.
In the end, I decided two days from now was a sufficient enough tifra for to sort and settle any and all loose ends here. With work, with ho, with Sammy, and whatever else that might crop up and pop up in front of eventually.
Two days until I'm back in the country, back to ho... back to them.
So much has changed since then… so many things have happened, so many things uncovered.
I left them as a simple, wide-eyed naive country boy to a supportive, loving mother and dad. Now I'll be returning, and what exactly I'll be returning to - I wasn't really sure. But I guess, co and go forty-eight hours more or less, I'll find out.
Irene shuffled past , striding fast, muttering sothing about needing to be heading back soon.
Despite the trust, I could tell she was far from convinced still. But that didn't matter, I didn't care - she trusted , and to , that was all that mattered.
Trust. Oh, shoot, trust… I almost forgot!
"Irene!"
I learned that the corridor had seriously nice acoustics by how her na just exploded throughout the barren hall.
She froze, turned, the echo of my voice more than likely still a shellshock buzz in her ears by the grimace on her face. "Yes?"
"Sorry, I - " I hastily said, lowering my voice to a little less than a whisper. "There's also sothing else we need to talk about."
The desolate corridor then continued to resound with my whispers for a little while longer. I told her about Sera, the anded deal, about what she said, and even about what Amanda said, and I didn't stop until I was sure I covered every minute detail of last night's incident.
Beginning, middle, and end, the expression on her face remained unchanged. It was striking to see just how calmly she took it all in, as if it was barely worth the trouble of consideration, and apparently, as I'd co to hear from her after… it was.
"No."
Instantly. Finally. Decisively. How does she do it so easily?
"She must be mad to think that we'd just simply let her run amok just because she asked you nicely," She said, then tilting her head at , continued. "And you must be mad for thinking what I think you're thinking."
Sotis I forget her detective coat ain't just for show.
"I haven't even decided anything yet," I said, a little too defensively perhaps.
"Listen to , you want my advice, you want to know what I think? I think Sera's not a helpless damsel for you to save, she can get dangerous - more dangerous…" Irene sternly warned. "So far, all you've seen is her barking… do you really want to let that leash on her loose and see her bite? From what you've read of her, she bites hard, doesn't she?"
"She's not a dog."
"No, she's a summon," Irene turned, started to walk away again. "Keep her that way." and that was the end of that.
Honestly, I didn't expect her to say anything otherwise coming to her about this predicant. If she had agreed readily, frankly, I'd be even more concerned about that.
Still, I did wish she'd at least been a bit more sympathetic with her denial. It's as if Sera's not even an individual to her… just a ans to an end, yet then again, she doesn't really know her like I do.
But, certainly, there was indeed one other person that does… perhaps it was high ti to get her opinion on the matter.
Irene led the way back to her office, familiar places, faces, passing us by in a blur, and again it was like there was so invisible red carpet that she was striding upon that no one else dared step a foot on.
Against all odds, her office, instead of being a scene from a nightmare, eviscerated from the inside out, thankfully was exactly as we had left it - dark, quiet - with Alia fuming, instantly snapping a bitter glare at the mont the door ca swinging, and Adalia placating with a gentle hand to her sister's thigh.
"Oh, you're back, you didn't take too long," and Harry as always, his unsettlingly courteous non-self. "Detective, I don't like sitting still for too long. How long must I stay here for? Can… oh, can I mov - can I? Oh..."
The faint click of the door shutting close, that very mont, it happened then.
Harry was speaking, and then he wasn't, a single confused blink was all he could spare next before his head suddenly slump forward, unmoving… seemingly lifeless if not for that slight rise and fall of his chest indicating it wasn't as so.
"Unconsciousness slows the process down sowhat." Irene lowered her outstretched arm, a mist of red from her hand gradually dissipating. "I'll have to keep doing this regularly but not forever, just until you're about ready to go."
"Go?" Alia flashed an ugly sneer. "So it seems you've been indeed beguiled by this idealistic fool's words. Strange notion, dear Succubus, shouldn't it have gone the other way instead? How disappointing."
Irene wisely chose to ignore her, and just continued to speak. "I'll keep the parasite with for the next two days, keep him monitored. 'Till then, you have all the ti in the world to change your mind. But knowing you, you're already ready to browse around the internet for the cheapest non-stop train ticket back, aren't you?"
I smiled at that. "You know it."
"Then I suppose we're done here for now, aren't we?" Irene whirled around to the front of her desk, both hands placed straight atop the wooden surface. "Well, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for the courtesy visit, you three. Don't do it again."
Without so much as a proper goodbye, we were promptly kicked out of her office, and then back onto the bustling streets, the sun's haze harsher than ever.
With nothing else to do, we headed from ho, this ti instead within the padded, not-so-luxurious confines of public transport.
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Alia didn't peep a word of complaint having to bear the utter sha of taking a seat on a bus. I guess she finally realized just how bad things could get instead.
"For a centuries-old stalker of the night, you're awfully immature, aren't you?" I said, upon being subjected to another haughty scoff from the vampire to my right for like the fifth ti in the last thirty seconds. "Like, I get it, Alia, you disagree. You don't need to cough a lung out to prove your point to , Jesus…"
But keeping true to her word, she did not say another… word. Resuming on with her glares and scoffs as her admittedly very annoying acts of defiance.
Luckily, I had a deterrent for that. I even have a na for it too. I call it, "turning the other fucking way'.
So far it has proven itself very effective.
Adalia fell again into another one of her random slumbers, this ti choosing my shoulder to be her bed of rest, which certainly wasn't helping llow things out between Alia and I.
This morning, I ca out searching for answers… only to end up instead searching for a solution…. and just even questions.
Just what in the hell was Jay thinking for doing the things that he does? How did he go from shadow-developer of a ga based on his world, to raining a rain of rot all over my world, only to end up implanting a fragnt of himself into a random nobody? Tell , just where exactly is the correlation between it all?
It just doesn't seem like they an anything, but I know they do, they have to. There's a thod to this madness, an angle I wasn't seeing.
Suddenly, I felt a rumbling in my pocket. A quick one, barely felt - a text ssage.
Without rousing Adalia, I reached for my phone, and turned my heavy gaze to my display.
From mom. A short read too.
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