Broken Glass: An Alicia Jacobs Novel (The Alicia Jacobs Chronicle Book 1)

by Amanda Thurston

  Again the sheriff nodded and sighed this time “I can't give her any of that until after the crews do their thing, once that is done I will make sure she has whatever she needs. I just cannot show her preferential treatment just because she is my daughter.

  He rubbed his temples, he looked tired, and sad. “It is not that I don't want to, please don't misunderstand, I just can't, I was already warned by the governing body what would happen if I were to treat her differently.”

  After a few more minutes of conversation with the Sheriff I assured myself that my girl was going to get the treatment she deserved. Within reason of course. He led me back out of the prison and once again helped me down the hallway of doom. It was a little easier to pass through this time as he kept his hand on my back and kept making the strange patterns with his fingers. I was going to have to ask him for the charm next time I had to make this dreaded walk, which would undoubtedly be tomorrow- or later today, rather.

  Sherriff Spencer took me into what appeared to be his office. It was a small but comfortable room with a few photographs on the desk and a worn recliner. I wondered how many nights the Sherriff had settled down into this chair too exhausted to go home. I was betting that there were many of them. He settled into his recliner and kicked his feet up with a tired sigh gesturing at his desk. I walked over and sat down in his office chair the fake leather making a hissing noise as the air left the cushion when I sat.

  I filled out the rest of the paperwork that was needed and inquired if there was a hotel where I could find a bed for the night. The Sherriff nodded and led me out to the front desk. The wraith was at the desk once again and referred me to a couple of inns and a motel in the area that accepted humans. The word human was said with a bit of spittle and obvious disgust. She really seemed to have some anger issues where we were concerned. When I had left the back office with the Sherriff she had been whispering frantically on her phone and she looked angrily at me.

  For someone whose main diet consisted of human body parts she sure seemed to hate us. I would have to ask the sheriff how she legally obtained body parts to eat, I was not entirely sure I wanted the answer though.

  I went out, got in my car and leaned back in the seat. Finally, I could let all of the emotions I was feeling out, in the privacy of my vehicle. It had hurt seeing Jen behind bars. I wanted to touch her, hold her and tell her everything was going to be ok. I felt helpless and broke down in tears, slapping my palms against the steering wheel over and over. How the hell was I going to fix this, I did not have a clue. I was in over my head, but I had to try, for Jen, I had to try.

  I knew that this was going to be hard, there were no two ways about it. I was for all intents and purposes a foreigner here. The locals were not going to be as helpful as I needed. I could only hope that a few people here would like Jen enough to lend me a hand. Or even direct me to where I needed to be to get help. I could only hope at this point, I was too tired for much else tonight and had too little information.

  After composing myself - and driving around for forty-five minutes - I finally found the motel that was mentioned. The inns that I was told about were closed with no vacancy signs. They had been considerably closer to the police station and the town itself. According to the sheriff who I called to get the motels address from as the one the wraith gave me seemed incorrect, it was unlikely that they were full of guests. Damn human haters.

  The motel still had its lights on and there was not a no vacancy sign out anywhere so it looked like I was in luck. The sun was filling the sky with orange, pink, yellow and red tones.I parked in front of the office and went into the building. The office was a dirty gray color and there were old movie posters hanging on the wall. Talk about stuck in the 90’s. I rang the bell a couple times and walked over to the coffee pot. There was a sign over it that said “Help Yourself”, so I poured myself a cup of the coffee and tossed in some milk and sugar. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a sip and found that it was not only fresh- but it was damn good coffee. I stood there savoring the flavor, cupping the mug like it was my best friend.

  An older woman came into the office and looked me up and down. She walked over to a switch and flicked it, the outside lights buzzed and turned off. Great, she was closing too. Just my luck.

  “need a room?” She inquired in a sleep raspy voice.

  I nodded and stepped forward towards the desk. This woman was probably the biggest woman I had ever seen in my entire life. She towered over me, her large breasts moved like pendulums as she walked towards me- it was obvious she was not wearing a bra.

  She was in what looked to be a pair of comfortable pajamas with a cow pattern on them. Across her breasts were the words “Udderly Titillating” I stifled a chuckle and leaned against the tall counter.

  She slid a key across the desk to me and smiled “Your room is 202, No charge, stay as long as you need. My name is Bertha, I own this dive, you don’ gotta pay nothin’ Just get Jenny out of that hole. She’s a good girl, that Jenny.”

  She leaned against the counter resting her massive breasts atop it, I was surprised that it withstood their weight.

  “Breakfast is at 9 for the rest of the guests, you can get some whenever you get up, I will make you a good home cooked meal.”

  I smiled and I can say I was genuinely happy to see someone who wasn't a human hater. That, or she did not care what race I was as long as I got Jen out of the prison. I could work with that too. It was nice to be welcomed, I had not felt welcome since I had arrived in this town. All because I was human, what a feeling this was. I was grateful though, even one or two people willing to help me with this could make a huge difference. Bertha could be a helpful ally as well, she was sure to know where I could get information, and maybe guide me towards necessary forms. Paperwork really sucked.

  Chapter Four

  A circle of candles surrounded the room. The flames danced on the dark walls, it was serene and eerie at the same time. The supernatural council sat around it on the floor, a bowl of water sat in front of the witch race representative. She was chanting softly under her breath as she waved her palm over the bowl. The surface shimmered, silver flickers of magic dancing across the water making it reflective like a mirror. Alicia's face appeared in the mirror as she sat on her bed in her hotel room looking over a thick bound book.

  “She is going to prove to be difficult,” the Djinn Representative murmured.

  “She looks delicious,” the wraith laughed, her tongue flopping across her cheek as she shook her head.

  The werewolf representative glared at her, “God, Sarah could you be more normal for once.”

  The wraith snarled her face melting back into the cherub appearance of her human form. “Please Jared, it’s not like everyone here is a human-lover like you. SOME of us are true to what we are.”

  There were murmurs and nodding of agreement with the wraith as they all shuffled. “Sara has a point,” a small woman stated, tossing her thick curly red hair over her shoulder.

  “Why is it that the only ones of us who want to maintain human appearance are the ones who do not EAT humans,” Jared retorted with a growl.

  The redhead scowled at him “It's not my fault that I was born a siren.”

  “No, it is no one’s fault they were born what they are, enough bickering. “An older woman stated this rather matter of factly as she looked at Alicia's face.

  The older woman ran her fingers through her hair tossing a deadlock over her shoulder. “She looks honest enough, and if her goal is to get Jen out of jail, I think she is doing us a service. Jen has been good for us, she has kept our secret and has made sure that any public incidents were well covered.”

  The older woman took a soft breath, she ran a hand through her plain brown hair before turning her brilliant green eyes to the council.

  ” She cannot be held unjustly for this, she was protecting not only our secret, but a human child. We need to take this into consideration as well.”

  As she
finished talking she looked around at the other members of the council.

  “The law has to be upheld” The wraith said, her eyes flashing with anger.

  “You never liked Jen, you never did and she's done nothing but protect us!” Jared the werewolf shouted, his skin beginning to twist, bones cracking as he began to lose control.

  Within seconds the wraith had changed, her face melting into the horror that was depicted for her race. Long dirty ratted hair falling around her face as she lunged at Jared, her long wicked nails reaching for his throat. The Djinn snarled, his skin turning black. His eyes glowed red from his skull, the only other light coming from his face his jagged teeth.

  The siren opened her mouth, a loud high pitched shriek filling the air. All of the others clapped their hands over their ears and turned to attack her.

  “ENOUGH!” The old woman's voice loud and powerful like a sonic boom shook the room. The very building shuddered under the powerful cry.

  The pictures on the walls rattled and the candle went out as the old woman stood. Her hair flying around her head wildly as she stared at the bickering council members. Her eyes which were unusual to look at before, now glowed. Anyone within the building could feel the power vibrating in thick waves through the entire house.

  The older woman glared at the rest of the council, her dreadlocks still in a disarray from her recent power display. “God! It is like I am babysitting children. Was the purpose of going from a dictatorship to a democracy not so that we all had a say in what happened within our world? Or perhaps you all just took it as a way to voice your personal baggage!”

  Chagrined Jared sat down and the rest of the council members took their seats once again mumbling softly under their breath like sullen children.

  “It’s not fair of you to do that Kali, you are the oldest and most powerful of us. We all agreed to limit our powers to create equality.” An older gentlemen spoke this from the corner pushing himself off of the wall to walk over and light the candle once again.

  She scowled at the man “Michael, you could have stepped in and said something before I had to do that.”

  He shrugged briefly and gave her a cheeky smile “Angels don't interfere and all that jazz.”

  She sighed at him and sat once again. “We need to let this woman do her job. Jared, I want you and the wolves to watch her and keep her safe. She is sure to be met with … prejudice.”

  Jared sat up a bit straighter and nodded looking to Kali “Of course Madam Kali.”

  She growled at him and gave him a hard look. “You know that we no longer run the council as a dictatorship there for I no longer retain that title.”

  He nodded and swallowed the sound loud in the quiet room. “Of course Kali, I apologize I do realize we are trying to do this as a democracy despite my own and many others protestation.”

  She sighed and waved a hand at him “This is not the time for politics, back to the matter at hand.”

  Kali turned and looked at Michael, the angel was lounging against the wall once again. “Michael is there any chance that you can get the angelic form of a recording of the events the night that Jen killed Schuyler.”

  Michael nodded, and looked down at his nails as if disinterested. “Sure I could, at a cost.”

  Kali's face coiled in disgust her features tightening the skin stretching across her face tight making her look more like an aged skeleton. “Do not try my patience Michael, you, I and the rest of the council know that we need this to follow the laws that we ALL made.”

  Michael sighed and tilted his head back resting it against the wall. He looked the character of pure boredom. “Fine, I will see what I can do” he muttered and then pushed off of the wall walking out the door.

  “The meeting isn't over yet Michael! “The older woman called out to his retreating back.

  In response Michael lifted a hand waving it behind him as he continued out. The older woman who was known as Kali sighed and ran a hand through her graying hair, the tips of two small furred ears peeking out from the top of her head.

  “As the leader of the feline race, I say that we give Alicia a chance to do her job. If she cannot successfully represent Jen, then we can bring in someone with more supernatural law experience.” Kali looked long and hard at the council members who had previously been complaining as she said this.

  “Alicia is a good lawyer and has had great success defending some pretty nasty characters.” Kali looked around at the group sitting in the circle.

  The Djinn shifted uncomfortably and looked away, the wraith shrugged non noncommittally “Whatever.”

  Kali tried to hide her frustration but it was hard. Why could they not see the point she was trying to make. Jared was the only logical one of the bunch, the only reason they had agreed to doing a democratic council in the first place was because Kali was getting old. While she was definitely the most powerful in the council, times were changing. It was not the middle ages anymore and she found when people were given a choice they were easier to manipulate.

  Manipulation was a key factor when you were a wampus. Deception, spying, a spirit of death and earth. However thankfully she still maintained some shred of her humanity and still believed in right and wrong.

  A man raised his hand, his eyes shifting from side to side nervously. “Yes Jason?” Kali looked at the man and gave a friendly smile.

  “I am all for supporting the human, but what of the terrorist groups that are anti human? Do we know what their current movements are? Have they heard of the situation with Jen and Alicia?” As he finished speaking he swallowed hard looking at the other council members.

  His teeth clacked together and large round ears popped up on the top of his head as his nervousness got the better of him. His face elongated a round snout forming where his nose would be and two large buck teeth popped out of his mouth. A long tail curled up behind him as he shuddered.

  The wraith leaned in and smelled him, inhaling a deep slow breath. “Nothing like the smell of fear and biscuits.”

  Jared stared at her with disgust. “Jesus, Sarah he's a council member, leave the damn mouse alone.”

  Sarah sat back and sighed. “You are so damned uptight Jared, get laid or something.”

  Leaning forward the bovine council member gave a big smile, her eyes soft and full of good natured humor. “Maybe if you were less of a bitch people would like you as much as they like that Jenny, she’s a good girl. You could take a few lessons from her Sarah, you too Jessica.”

  The large woman turned and lifted her chin up indicating the redheaded siren.

  “You only like Jen because she brings you fresh cut grass once a week Bertha, Cows are so predictable always thinking with their stomachs not their big mushy useless brains.” Jessica retorted her sea blue eyes flashing with anger at having been called out.

  “Says the little mermaid who never got her happy ending” A voice replied from the darkness as a man stepped forward.

  “Oh look it’s the walking dead, Hi Richard your late, were you out draining some human in a dark alley?” The siren looked up at the tall dark haired man.

  He smiled flashing fang his face pale and stark in the dark room. “At least they didn't taste like fish.”

  The look on Jessica's face was priceless as she sputtered and tried to come up with something to say in turn. Failing that she blushed furiously and twisted her hands in her lap. She sat and fumed there lifting her head on occasion to glare at the vampire.

  “Did I miss anything important or just more endless bickering?” Richard asked, turning his attention to Kali.

  “No, we are just discussing the situation with Jen, and her human lawyer Alicia.” Richard nodded and settled down onto the floor next to Bertha.

  “That Alicia has a great ass; I'd love to sink my fangs into that sometime.” He laughed at his own joke, though no one else seemed to find it nearly as amusing as he did. I guess you can only have one zinger a day.

  He looked up at Kali with a se
rious expression. “I saw a few people checking out the motel today when I was driving here. One of them looked like a group of wights.”

  Bertha turned looking at him with fearful eyes. “Them blimey lot best not be going onto my property, I av' no issue finding someone to take care of them. Disgusting messy lot those, mentally and physically unstable, always leaving bits of themselves behind.”