BXBX NOVEL Chapter 422 - Plans Made
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 demeanor, no longer poking and probing. "I assume you'll need time to pack, time 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 dime, I had commitments, responsibilities.
In the end, I decided two days from now was a sufficient enough timeframe for me to sort and settle any and all loose ends here. With work, with home, with Sammy, and whatever else that might crop up and pop up in front of me eventually.
Two days until I'm back in the country, back to home... 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, come and go forty-eight hours more or less, I'll find out.
Irene shuffled past me, striding fast, muttering something 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 me, and to me, 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 name 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 something 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 amended 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 come 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 me, continued. "And you must be mad for thinking what I think you're thinking."
Sometimes 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 me, 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 predicament. 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 means 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 time 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 some 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 Amelia fuming, instantly snapping a bitter glare at me the moment the door came 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 moment, 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 somewhat." 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?" Amelia 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 me for the next two days, keep him monitored. 'Till then, you have all the time 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 home, this time instead within the padded, not-so-luxurious confines of public transport.
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Amelia didn't peep a word of complaint having to bear the utter shame 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 time in the last thirty seconds. "Like, I get it, Amelia, you disagree. You don't need to cough a lung out to prove your point to me, 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 name 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 time choosing my shoulder to be her bed of rest, which certainly wasn't helping mellow things out between Amelia and I.
This morning, I came 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 game based on his world, to raining a rain of rot all over my world, only to end up implanting a fragment of himself into a random nobody? Tell me, just where exactly is the correlation between it all?
It just doesn't seem like they mean anything, but I know they do, they have to. There's a method to this madness, an angle I wasn't seeing.
Suddenly, I felt a rumbling in my pocket. A quick one, barely felt - a text message.
Without rousing Adalia, I reached for my phone, and turned my heavy gaze to my display.
From mom. A short read too.
<<Your father told me the good news. My son's finally coming back. You can't know how excited I am to see you back. Oh, how I miss seeing you home. But he's also told me the bad news. Hm, I guess like father, like son, right?>>
Then just as soon as I was done reading the first, a second came through, nudging its way into view.
<<Just try not to forget where your stubbornness comes from, alright? Love you, dear. <3 >>