JohnHKnight

Hey guys! So yesterday I did a little experience, which did not work out whatsoever, at least according to my statistics. On the bright side, y'all got three chapters in one day, so there is that. Now we are back to one chapter/ day, and here comes the new one. If you like the story so far, don't forget to show it to your friends, hit the "reading" button, and maybe leave a rating. Thanks!

They were back in the car. Jenna obviously had something to say but was struggling to put it into words. She looked at Robert nervously. 

'You owe me a date, right?'

'I do,' nodded the man.

'No matter what stupid shit I did and how it made things worst?' 

'Marcus here is the king of doing "stupid shit" and he is still my best friend,' pointed out Robert.

'Hey! Give me just one example!' he exclaimed. 

'I'm sorry Agent Dhawan, this is not a MAGE operation, so I need you to shut up,' said Robert.

Marcus made a gesture which could have been translated as "fair enough" and stayed quiet. He and Robert both looked at Jenna waiting. She took a deep breath.

'So the thing is, I had a one night stand a couple of weeks ago. I went to that vampire place Kovach was talking about and went home with one of the bartenders. It was fun and all until it turned out that she was thinking in a little longer terms, and also that she was a fucking psycho.'

'I'm sorry, but “she”?' asked Robert. He was a little confused.

'Is that a problem?' asked back Jenna surly.

'Not for me, but you might be in for a surprise once we reach the intimate part of our date…'

'I'm bi, you moron,' she smiled. 

'Oh, okay then,' Robert nodded. 'Please, continue.'

'I'm bi, too!' cut in Marcus happily. 'Now I was thinking that there are three beautiful young…'

'No!' said Robert and Jenna together. 

'Your loss,' shrugged Marcus. 'So what's up with the psychotic bitch then?'

Jenna shivered a little.

'At first, she just sent a text every couple of days even though I told her I'm not interested. Then she became kind of creepy, you know, the classic "I know there is someone else, I will make sure they will be out of the picture", and stuff like that. I spotted guys following me like three times, her friends I suppose. Once that happened, about a week ago, when I was with Benjamin. We were about to go back to the hospital after visiting Rose at home, but I popped into my office to talk to Remy, and someone followed us from there. I managed to lose him in the Underground and didn't even mention it to Benjamin, 'cause I thought he had enough problems already... '

'Then Benjamin happened to visit that particular bar where this lady works just by chance, a few days later' finished Robert, 'and she recognised him.'

'That's what I'm thinking, yes,' said Jenna.  

'So let's go talk to my uncle,' said Marcus and ignited the engine. 'This is proper police stuff, kidnapping and stalking and whatnot.'

'Yeah, I'm not sure if that's the best we can do right now,' said Robert.

'What? Why not?' 

They backed down from the driveway to the road. 

'Because you know very well how the Met works, Marcus. They are not exactly subtle. In fact, their traditional approach is to put as much manpower in a case as possible. We don't need dozens of SRU officers tearing apart the girl's workplace and flat. Benjamin is clearly not kept at any of them, and it would give to the girl…'

'Magda,' pitched in Jenna.

'It would give enough time for Magda to disappear with my brother. And that's the best-case scenario, because she might decide to leave him behind, and I doubt it would mean anything good for him.'  

Marcus raised both of his hands as a sign of surrender, which was concerning at best given that he was supposed to be driving at the same time. 

'Okay, okay. Then what do we do?'

That was a hard question. Magda was a vampire and vampires couldn't use magic, which meant that Jenna wasn't able to track her down. She also didn't know if Magda was interested in men or not, so Marcus' idea about him showing up in the bar to seduce her was risky at best. Robert used to be good at mental magic, and he probably would have been able to retract the information they needed from the girls head, but that wasn't an option anymore either.

'Not to mention it's very, very illegal,' added Marcus. 'I'm still an officer of the law, remember?'

'You are a well-funded boy scout,' waved Robert. 'Any other idea?'

'We can always follow her,' suggested Jenna. 

'You mentioned she had friends, right? I assume she has them do her busy work,' said Robert.

'It's a mentally ill bartender, not a genius crime lord, mate,' told him Marcus. 'You are overestimating her. Those friends are probably just like a guy she put in the friend zone and her brother.' 

'Perhaps,' lowered his head Robert. 'Would you risk Benjamin's life on that assumption?' 

'Dude, you have to calm down. We are on the same team here, okay?'

'Then try to act accordingly,' barked Robert. He was already tired and felt weak even so he didn't do much yet, apart from walking. How was he supposed to find and save anyone? 

'Guys, guys, listen. I have an idea. I don't know if it's gonna work or not but… Yeah, maybe. I'm gonna need something that Benjamin's. His wand would be the best. Now we know where he has been, right? If he used magic around the pub, and I bet he did when they grabbed him, then I can maybe, maybe track him.'

Robert shook his head.

'Too dangerous. You cannot go everywhere near to that pub and Magda.'

Jenna smiled but her eyes lit up with a menacing sparkle.

'Sure, then I will just stay in the car while the big, strong men fix what I fucked up. Sounds good?'

'Don't say yes, dude, whatever you do, don't say yes…' whispered Marcus between his closed teeth.

'I know, Marcus, thank you. Look, Jenna, I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all.'

The girl hesitated for a second, almost as if this was the first time she heard something like that. 

'I will be very careful, I promise,' she said then, without any irony. Robert nodded.

First, they drove to Benjamin's apartment. He lived in a big and beautiful loft at the border between Zone Two and Three. Robert explained to Jenna that as an architect, Benjamin had connections with a lot of estate agents and was able to cut a good deal.

Finding one of his personal objects wasn't hard, because he never put away anything. Jenna picked up two wands and an amulet for samples. 

'So how is this work exactly? You gonna… What? Follow his scent?' asked Marcus.

'She is not a bloodhound, you imbecile,' answered Robert instead of Jenna. 'She is able to feel magic around, and since everyone has a different style while using it, she can tell the magical "signals", if you will, apart.' 

'I see,' nodded Marcus. 'I don't understand, but I see.'

'Honestly, neither do I,' said Jenna. 'Until very recently I thought everyone can do this.'

Robert watched her as she raised Benjamin's wand and made the Runes glow. She closed her eyes to help focus and she was so beautiful that even Marcus stayed quiet for almost a minute.

'Okay, I think I've got it. Let's go,' said Jenna determined.

Once they got back to Camden Town, Robert was adamant that they needed to send in Marcus first, to look around if Magda was working at the pub today. Fortunately, she sent some selfies to Jenna so they had a photo to go on. 

'You know, if you are putting away the crazy part for a second, way to go, Carano,' said Marcus looking at the pictures. 'You sure you can't make it work with her? I mean, your other option is a grumpy old dude…'

'We are the same age,' sighed Robert. 'Can we move, please?'  

'All right, all right, I'm going. Please don't have sex in my car while I'm away, okay? I want to be the first christening it,' with that he walked away. They parked a little further just in case. 

'So… Are you mad at me?' asked Jenna after a couple of minutes of silence.

'For what exactly?' asked back Robert, then: 'Well, actually never mind that question. I'm not mad at you at all, not for anything.'

The girl didn't seem to be satisfied with that answer. She leaned forward between the two seats so she could look Robert in the eye. 

'Are you sure? I mean, I messed up big time. And I am a mess in general, as you can see.'

Robert gave that some thought. 

'You certainly are leading a unique life. But I believe that what you have done in the past or with whom, for that matter, isn't my business.'

Jenna leaned a little closer and kissed him, Robert had the feeling that she did it because she didn't know how to reply. It was a slow kiss, and there was a seat between them, but Robert was still worried that they won't be able to keep what Marcus just asked. All the problems just went away. It was almost like being in a coma again, except instead of emptiness, now there was Jenna's smell and the taste of her lips and the gentle touch of her hand on his face…

'C'mon guys, we are trying to be subtle here, remember? At least two old pervs stopped by to watch you.'

Marcus sat back and Jenna turned to him. Robert saw that she was panting which made him grin.

'So?' the girl asked.

'Nope, she isn't working. You are free to go.' 

‘Be right back,’ she said, gave a quick little kiss to Robert on the lips and climbed out of the car. She walked away with her hands in her jacket-pockets, eyes on the ground, so hopefully nobody will recognise her. Marcus looked after her.

‘What an amazing woman…’ he sighed. ‘You are a lucky, lucky man.’

‘You sound too normal and nice, you are going to ruin it in a second, right?’ asked Robert.

‘I mean, look at that ass…’

‘There you go.’

Marcus laughed.

‘No, I mean it. Really. At first, it felt weird, like really fucked-up bollocks-weird, but now I see it makes sense. On a different note: can I be there when you are telling your dad who you are dating?'

Robert sighed and smiled tiredly.

'I haven't talked to the old man in a while, and I don't have plans to change that. Besides, I know exactly what he would say.'

Marcus nodded and did something on the touchscreen. Music filled the car, and for Robert's amazement, it was neither too loud, nor bad. Usually, those two attributes described Marcus' musical taste the best. 

'My bosses are waiting for a report about your healing process,' he mentioned. 'Your place on the lists of potential threats is pending at the moment.'

'Bold of them to assume I'm not a threat without magic… Well, why don't you tell them that I intend to date Jenna? That will put me right back on the top.'

'Don't be so cocky, you've never been on the top. That is for blokes like The Priest.'

'I am offended,' said Robert and even turned away from Marcus, who giggled. 

'Nah, mate, don't be like that. You were a stable top twenty, isn't that good? There are like five hundred people on that list.'

'How many of them you have under control?' asked Robert with some real interest.

'None of them, that's why they are on the list.'

'That's a wee bit concerning, don't you think?'

'Nah, it's fine,' waved Marcus. 'But let's circle back: what do you reckon, when are you going to be able to cast spells again?'

'I don't think you understand how it works, Marcus,' said Robert, using his teacher's voice. 'The part of my brain responsible for doing magic is damaged beyond repair. Even so, I was incredibly lucky that I only lost that much: I could have been woken up as a vegetable, or not waking up at all. There is no such thing as a healing process for me, that's all I've got from now on. Even if I learn to use magic through some other method, which I can't see happening anytime soon, given that there are no other methods, I will never be able to perform on the same level as before.' 

'What about shamanism? Or conjuring? They don't do magic, they have demons and elementals for that.'

'But to summon those, you need to use the Runes of Voice, Mind, Order, and half a dozen others,' pointed out Robert. 'Trust me, I thought that through. I'm done with magic.'

Marcus looked like he wasn't done talking, but Jenna came back. 

'I've got it guys, I have a lead!' she said happily as she opened up the door next to Robert. 'Let me sit here, so I can navigate.'

Robert got out, but before he could open the back door, Jenna wrapped her arms around his neck, tiptoed and kissed him. He put his hands on her waist. 

'For heaven's sake, we don't have time for that,' groaned Marcus. 

'Right,' murmured Robert. 'Right. Let's go.'

Off they went, Jenna in the passenger's seat, deep in concentration, Marcus ready for her instructions and Robert in the back, completely useless. Might as well get used to it, he thought.