They all came to an agreement over the last sips of coffee. For the time being at least, it seemed in everyone's best interest to just tell the sheriff that Alicia was severely sick. Telling him that she was a dragon would just cause undue stress and could jeopardize Jen’s case.
Kali went in to take a shower first, one of Joseph’s staff had been to each of their houses and had picked up clothing and necessary toiletries. Kali was the dirtiest, other than Alicia, having been punched in the face numerous times by Dante. She had dried blood all over her face and neck. When she was out of the shower, Jared went about stitching up the cut in her bottom lip, muttering under his breath.
The cut had closed up, but there was no way it would heal without proper stitching and infection was a high risk. Bertha took her shower next and was in and out quickly, while bovines have no dislike of water, they had no affinity either.
Jared showered last and came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, which caused Bertha to flush bright red, her entire face looked like a cooked lobster. Kali had found that greatly amusing as she had never pegged the bovine for being as shy.
Jared looked at Bertha, he still not understanding the woman's reaction to him. You’d think being a shifter that she would be used to nudity. Shifters would frequently strip and transform, it was just the nature of their ilk. He tilted his head and shrugged before turning into a spare room to pull on boxers and jeans.
He came out topless and Bertha was still pink, at least her face wasn’t as brilliant red. He had to wonder, was she reacting like this because it was him? Or was she like this with everyone? It was something that he was going to have to look into after things settled back to some semblance of normal.
Bertha looked down at her hands, occasionally glancing at Jared out of the corner of her eye. God, the man was driving her nuts, she could tell her face was red by how hot it felt. Obviously everyone noticed, I mean how could they not? She sighed, gazing at the scone in her hand. She had already eaten three. Would Jared think that she was overeating if she had another? She had seen the girls he had hooked up with in the past, all skinny, model like women.
What chance did she have, she was no small girl by any means, it was a part of being her species. Even as a kid she had been the biggest girl in her class in height and weight. As she had grown it fluctuated a lot but finally settled down and she had been the same weight now for a few years. It was a source of constant conflict for her in romance terms, not many men wanted a woman as tall as they were, or who weighed more, or as much as they did. Ah well... she wouldn’t concern herself with it now, there were more pressing matters at hand.
Kali looked between Bertha, and Jared, both of them seemed lost in their own train of thought. She settled down on the couch and closed her eyes, God, was she exhausted. This entire ordeal had been one train wreck after another and she, it’s unwilling passenger. Hopefully things would settle down once Alicia finished her transformation.
While Jared had showered Kali had stepped out and contacted the sheriff. Sheriff Spencer had been understandably concerned about Alicia, noting that he had driven by the motel numerous times. Kali explained that Alicia was sick, not the nature of the illness, as per the agreement they had made prior to showering. He had thanked Kali for calling and promised that he would let Jen know, at least to alleviate her concerns.
Kali closed her eyes, her hands resting over her eyes to drown out the fading daylight. It was almost nightfall already, so much had gone on it was like time had stopped- oh… that’s right, it had. Jared and Bertha had settled into the chairs nearby Kali, both of them were dozing in and out, their heads nodding. Joseph was sitting beside Alicia on the bed, stretching her wings out gently so he could further document them, his diagrams now spanning over several pieces of paper.
Joseph was fascinated by what Alicia was going through, granted it looked incredibly painful, but the dragon was the most powerful undocumented supernatural. What a find! He ran a finger down along the bend of her wing where a small finger like tip with a large jutting talon catching his attention. He pushed the finger outward gently and examined it. Sharp like a razor, blood bloomed on his finger as he touched the tip. He popped his finger in his mouth and sucked away the blood.
As was he studying Alicia he noticed the reptilian scales had started receding. He watched as her hand slowly melted back to normal. Her skin overall looked paler than normal, but her vitals were good. Her wings slowly began to shrink, folding up and dragging up along the bed as they pushed back into her back, her skin closing over them leaving behind small slits.
He leaned forward and pressed his finger against the slits in her shoulder pressing them open gently. He could see the membranes of her wings tucked in them, much smaller, but still there. It appeared that they just receded into her body, leaving an opening behind for easier transformation later.
That was a good thing, he could not imagine having to go through the pain she had went through today every time she transformed. That in itself would make any supernatural hate the creature they had become. One of the most important things about being a supernatural was accepting what you were. Some people were better at it than others, and wore their abilities proudly… but others resented the fact they were no longer human, “normal”, and like everyone else.
Joseph could only hope, in part due to the fact that Alicia knew about supernaturals, that she would be more accepting of herself. He watched as she settled deeper into the bed, finally truly relaxing, her eyes fluttering behind the lids as she dreamed what he could only hope was a good dream.
Chapter Nine
The soft fluffy clouds flew by, the sky a crystal blue full of the scent of lilacs and cherry blossoms. Air that was so incredibly clean and pure, swirling from the loud whump, whump whumping of powerful wings keeping the large dragon in the air. Swirling golden-red eyes surveyed the ground below, this was its domain. A feeling of possession, of ownership over all the beast could see was strong, this all belonged to it.
I could feel everything, see and smell everything the dragon was feeling. It was owner of this realm and nothing could take that away from us. Its lands were clean and pure, full of animal life, pristine water, and fresh air. A true paradise for any living creature. It was pure happiness to be able to fly the skies, gaze down at the beautiful landscape and sleep in a field full of wildflowers, the wind blowing the grass over hard, yet sensitive scales. To sip the sweetest waters, bathe in the deepest crystal pools. It was happiness, shattered all too soon.
Rage filled the dragon, and in turn filled me. I screamed out my anger, seething, burning fury filling me and sat in my stomach like a heavy coiled snake lashing out at everything near me. The dragon roared as it saw its trees cut down, its animals slaughtered, its fields destroyed. All for these small, insignificant bipeds. How dare they ruin its home, its children’s home? They tore down its buildings, filled the air with smoke and fire. It vowed to destroy every human, to make their lives miserable. This anger and resolve filled me, humans did not deserve to live on this earth, they were destructive, chaotic beings.
I rolled in the bed, feeling an ache in my shoulders. Drowsily, I reached back and rubbed my hand over them, feeling small incisions. The events of the past few days were a jumbled mess in my head and I was still unsure what happened. Slowly forcing my eyes open, I looked around me. Bertha was asleep in a chair nearby, the man who I vaguely could recall washing my back asleep with his head still on the bed. Another man lounged with his legs stretched out over the arm of a chair, and the older woman with the interesting eyes slept on the couch.
I pushed myself upwards and scooted up on the bed, leaning around the man sleeping to grab the glass of water from the bedside table. I sipped it, God it felt good on my sore, parched throat. I felt like I had been gargling sand, my throat was so raw and sore. I couldn’t help but remember the dream, the water there had tasted so incredible.
Pure, sweet... probably the best water I had ever tasted. Th
e rage coiled in my belly again and suddenly I was filled with that anger again, anger that was not mine. I tried to push it down, but it was so powerful. My body began to twist and contort, I could feel my bones popping and reforming. NO! I was not going to go through that pain again, I needed to get some answers first. Lucky for me, I had dealt with anger before, when my parents died I had been filled with rage. I took a deep, steadying breath and rolled my shoulders. I had other things to focus on, this anger would have to wait.
After composing myself, I reached over and gently nudged the sleeping man, then shook him, then shook him harder. He finally began to stir and lifted his head to look at me, blinking sleepily.
“Hey, can I get a phone? I need to call Jen’s dad, also... do you know how I can get ahold of my things, and maybe a shower?” I looked at the man, I could only hope that I could get through to him this time.
Joseph blinked, he could understand her! “Of course! Give me one moment and I will get right on that! Your computer and clothes are in the bag beside the bed.”
I opened up the bag and rifled through my things, finding the card that sheriff Spencer had given me with his number. I smiled as I looked up feeling genuinely grateful that Joseph was able to understand me. Why he had not been able to earlier? I wasn’t going to dwell on it right now, or anything else for that matter. I needed to get moving on Jen’s case, god knows how long I had been sick. At least, I think I had been sick.
Joseph stood and wiped the sleep from his eyes before walked over to his jacket and pulled out his cell to hand it to her. “Here you go, take your time.”
I punched in the sheriff’s number and listened impatiently while it rang. A soft feminine voice picked up, and I recognized it as the wraith.
What had she said her name was? Sadie?
“Thank you for calling Genesis Police Department, this is Sadie speaking, how may I direct your call?” The woman droned with boredom obvious in her voice.
“Sadie? This is Alicia Jacobs, Jen Spencer's Lawyer, I would like to speak with sheriff Spencer please.” I replied, my voice naturally falling into the cool professional tones I referred to as my ‘lawyer voice’.
“Alicia... Jacobs... you said? Oh, I uh-hm, had not heard from you in a while so I thought you had left town.” I could hear the apparent surprise in the woman’s voice.
“I would never leave town without consulting with my client, or without them stating that they no longer desired to retain my services.” I tried to hide the anger in my voice, what kind of lawyer, much less girlfriend would if I had left Jen to rot in jail? A dead one.
“O-oh of course, what was I thinking? I’ll connect you right away.” Sadie laughed awkwardly to hide her nervousness before the call cut out.
I was beginning to feel suspicion, perhaps Sadie knew something about the attack on my hotel room… I reached in my bag and pulled out a notebook and pen, flipping it open as I waited to be connected to Sheriff Spencer.
“Alicia! It’s great to hear from you, Kali had called me and told me that Bertha found you in your motel room and that you were real sick. I let Jen know so that she wasn’t trying to tear down the walls of the prison.” He laughed and sounded genuinely happy to hear from me. That made me feel a bit better.
I was a bit taken aback at the fact someone had called sheriff Spencer and told him I was sick. Judging by the name it was a female, and the only other female besides Bertha was the plain looking woman. I looked over to her where she lay on the couch, asleep. I guess that she had thought to call him should make me feel grateful, but, why had she lied? Assuming there was a good reason that Kali had not told the sheriff about the strange creature, I decided not to mention it.
“Yea, it was a doozy of a stomach bug, but I am doing better, thank you.” I knew that he had done it in part for himself, it would be bad for his career if Jen figured a way out of the prison. She was resourceful enough to do that.
“I am glad you’re feeling better. Kali told me she had received the inquiry you sent in to sequester an angel, and was looking for one.” I could hear the curiosity in his voice, surely he had an idea of why I wanted it, or maybe he was questioning how I had requested it when I had been sick.
I left it alone, better not to poke a sleeping bear, especially when I did not have the answers for him. I had never turned in the paperwork, I had only just started filling it out, in fact, before I had gotten sick. I looked at the bag beside me and pushed it to shuffle through its contents. The form was gone.
“Alicia? Alicia?” I shook my head and focused my attention once again on the phone call “Oh yes, thank you I hope that the angel will be most helpful.”
He seemed to find that very amusing and chuckled. “That depends on which angel you get, if you get Michael… Well, Jen will be in jail for a long time and you’d be better off getting a necro. However, if you get Ezekiel or Kim, they are always on track and will get you what you need as fast as they are able.”
I’d have to hope for the best as I jotted down the names. I had wasted enough time being sick, I needed to get out of this bed and start making progress on Jen’s case. The sheriff was still talking to me, telling me frivolous little details about the angels and how they interacted. I should have been paying attention, but I was getting impatient. I turned my attention to the phone again as he had grown quiet.
“Thank you very much sheriff, I really appreciate you being so helpful, this will help me get her out of jail faster I hope!”
He sighed, something else was bothering him. “Hey, Alicia? Do you have any idea why the door to your room was broken down? When I went to check in on you, before Kali had called me, I noticed that the door jam had been broken. There was also a broken window in the room...”
I’m sure he could hear my hesitation, Kali was a council member from what he had said. She clearly hadn’t told him what had happened at the motel, so perhaps I should leave that to Kali’s explanation.
“No, I’m afraid I fell ill shortly after I went to bed the first night I was in town. Perhaps they broke it down to search my belongings? You’d need to ask Bertha or Kali- I just woke up Sheriff, I’m sorry I don’t know more.” I tried to come up with the most believable excuse I could, I know the reason behind the broken door, however I couldn’t explain the window.
“Alright Alicia, I will, thank you. Again, I’m glad you’re doing better. If something happened to you Jen would be devastated.” That brought a smile to my lips, I’d be devastated if something happened to Jen as well.
“I feel the same way about your daughter, Sheriff, which is why I’m going to get her out of jail.” I could hear his hair moving against the phone as he nodded. “I know and appreciate it. Alright ma’am, I’ll let you go so that you can get to work. Please keep me updated on your progress as much as you legally can.”
With a smile I bid the sheriff goodbye, grateful that Jen had someone there on her side besides Bertha and me. “She won’t be in there for too long.” He laughed at that, said goodbye and we hung up.
He had asked some difficult questions, but seemed willing to trust my answers. I couldn’t let Jen down, or him. Now that I had taken care of that, I needed to find out what’d happened after I passed out.
The man who had been sleeping in the chair beside the bed returned to the chair. He sat down quietly and I handed him his phone and gave him an expectant look. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t offer any information, so after waiting a few minutes my expression turned to one of exasperation.
“Mind telling me what happened?” He gave me a smile and looked behind him at the older woman still sleeping peacefully on the couch.
“I’m afraid that I need to wait until Kali wakes up. I’m not a council member and I do not know what information she can share. Nor do I know the entire story, so I feel it's beneficial to both of us to wait for her. Oh and my name is Joseph, It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He smiled and offered his hand, I took it, shaking politely.
Joseph looked at
Alicia, it was wonderful that she was able to understand him, and vice versa, however he had to keep quiet for now. Kali hadn’t told any of them what she wanted Alicia to know, and hopefully Alicia would understand that.
“I guess, but can you at least tell me what you know?” she was going to push this, Joseph thought.
It shouldn’t surprise him, she was a lawyer, after all, and a good lawyer wanted all of the facts in order to come to a conclusion. “Please understand, I would much rather leave this to Kali, it would be in both of our best interest. I can tell you that I’ve just been taking care of you, IV’s, antibiotics, washing any wounds and the like. I don’t know much of what is going on at all.” He hoped that she would believe him and leave it at that. However, no such luck.
“Wait? Wounds? What wounds? I thought I had just been sick?” Shit, he had slipped up now. She was staring at him and beginning to get mad, he could tell.
“Oh, you fell- when you passed out and cut your hands and head up a bit… but I got you patched up.” He lied swiftly, hoping she would trust him at his word, she still seemed a bit confused after all.
She stared at him for another minute then looked away.
Broken Glass: An Alicia Jacobs Novel (The Alicia Jacobs Chronicle Book 1) Page 13
