Chapitre 286: 5. Spending My Time.
I woke up and remembered how I couldn't remember who Damon was or even who I was. I looked in the doorway where our bags were already packed, and somehow, I knew the holiday was over before Damon came into the room.
He said, " Sorry baby, we have to go. That tungsten took a while to bind and ruined our sex holiday."
I smiled and said," Damon, I remember everything, and I can tell you that I have enjoyed it. I don't mind, and we could buy, say, an island. Or you know what? I have an island near Australia and haven't been there yet. We could go and dedicate that one too at some point."
Damon smiled, and he said, " Maybe sometime then. This is making me a little busy, baby. Sorry, but it looks like my plan to make you in heat and then consecrate a house went to shit. I might have to leave pretty soon. Come on, the plane's waiting."
Damon was already in a different mood that quickly tempered the holiday mood. He walked ahead, carried our bags, and took me to the plane. He also told me how Nick keeps looking for his mother's spell books to give to Freya, who is definitely not a good girl. He told me how Nick had threatened that we wouldn't be together for long and he should try to find out what he was up to now. He said things about Freya, who was a black witch and could do substantial damage with her mother's spell books and should be stopped.
I said, "Fine, I'll let the fleas know and show Nick what I'm capable of if my perfect sex holiday is ruined."
I was pissed off, and Damon had somewhat just explained that Nick doesn't think right or wrong. Nick thinks about Nick; as an example, Nick once slaughtered all the tooth vampires just because they might do a substance against him. For that reason and that reason alone.
He didn't tell me everything I could see, and he was extremely angry. His rage was on the surface, and well, he unloaded it how he unloaded it, and that's not even something I thought about. I knew Samuel would probably want to check me out, and the whole tungsten thing was very fascinating to him.
But instead of us getting three full weeks in paradise, which would have led to an intense one-on-one romp, we got about a week, and then it all went to shit—just my luck. Now Damon was in a completely different mood, and I let him be. I didn't start seducing him or even sit on his lap even though he went to the couch on the plane to lie casually, but there was no look, so I knew not to go.
We took the plane back to the pack, to the house in Chicago, and we didn't even fuck on the plane as Damon was on the phone most of the time raging to whomever about Nick and his antics. I had put up a message to the fleas and oriented myself back to everyday life.
When we got there, Damon dropped me off at the house and drove off himself without a word. When I went inside and unpacked my bag, I noticed that, at some point, the gentleman had put his phone and wallet in the side pocket of my bag. Fine. Bran wasn't there, and neither were Adam nor Samuel. Adam just put up a message about it—some alpha crisis.
I started cooking and baking, tried making different chocolate, and used what I learned during that week there in the bakery. Then I left Chicago and went to Ohio, and there, my plan was to study and finish my internship on the medical side so I would only have that screen left.
But because I was a flea and had been gone a long time, I had to run my organization at the same time. So my days were busy. Now, I still had a flea with me in the hospital, and I tried to be smart and take as many snacks with me as I could, but when I did 10 hours of hospital work, I usually went to the base and ate something, and I might work for 10 hours there too, and I didn't always remember that I had to eat.
Two weeks later, Jake came to the base, and after two days of watching what I was doing, he came to my office as I was about to leave for the hospital.
" Mimi, I'm your bodyguard now, and we have time, so let's go to the house and get you some proper food. Colin has been teaching me a little bit about how much you should eat, so get ready."
Jake's voice gave no room for argument, and I rolled my eyes. But the house was just down the road. Jake took several coolers with him and called Rob, who drove his car behind us. As we went inside, the men were carrying the coolers, and Jake then packed a lot of food in them.
Rob said, "Salvatore has threatened to do something to us if we don't take care of you, and I don't want to get any more of that damn itchy stuff."
I thought to myself, really, he's threatening my subordinates, but I didn't start arguing about it as I let them pack the coolers full. Rob would take most of it back to base, and Jake would leave some for lunch for the day.
So I had very determined men in my life, even though they were now not part of my pack, so to speak. We used to torment Nick. We were very skilled at finding those spell books, or I was when I learned my new ability.
I was in my mansion in Ohio. I had just bought this when I was old, and it had secret passages and an enormous library. Well, I had just come in to practice when I was walking through the house, and suddenly, I got the feeling that I had to find something.
Mimosa sighed in my head and said, " Well, you had to get us a new ability. Fine, I have to work too. "
She jumped out of my mind and said, "Well, we're finders. -I'm a light finder, so I find all the good stuff, the useful stuff, while you're a dark finder, and here's the danger, you can find very dangerous weapons, and now you'd better be back up on this job. So call Dresden and tell him to come here. Tell him you're a Dark Finder now, and I guarantee he'll come quickly."
I nodded and called, as you can guess, although Dresden initially sounded slightly irritated when I explained I was now a dark finder.
His voice was edgy; he said, " Mimi, stay put and don't go wandering off anywhere until I get there. This is a big deal, and this was supposed to happen. This is a damn good thing, well, for me anyway."
I said, "Fine, I won't move then. Mimosa is a light finder then,"
Dresden's voice was even more agitated. He said, "Damn good thing, listen, me and Constantine will be there in 20 minutes. Don't move. "
I said, "Fine, we'll sit in the living room."
Mimosa was mildly amused, but very relieved, when the wizards arrived. Dresden had his usual long black leather jacket. Under, there was some kind of rock and roll shirt, black jeans, and heavy boots. Need to find was steadily growing inside me, making me restless, sighing out loud.
Constantine had his own light coat with a white tee shirt and blue jeans; he said, "Ok, I'll go with mimosa, and Dresden will go with Mimi. So first we will help you put your radars on, you will have radars in your mind showing what you are looking for, they are not necessarily named but you will learn to sense what is important, and there will be a need to act on it. Now Mimi, Dresden will then take everything you find. You will touch nothing, do you understand? "
I nodded, and we began. Dresden did some spell that caused a tingling tickle in my mind. I felt dizzy for a moment, and then I felt it. It was like a computer screen with an old-fashioned black background and green letters, but it didn't say exactly what I was looking for; it said eight things.
I said out loud," Fine, I have eight things on my radar."
Dresden said, " Focus on what you want to find first. Focus on each item, and what makes you move; then that's number one."
Mimosa and Constantine were already moving. When I got to the fourth item on my list, I started moving and heading for the library. Dresden was striding along beside me. I went to one shelf. I got a ladder, and on the top shelf, there was someone calling me.
Dresden levitated. Damn, he levitated next to me. He grabbed my hand, and just as my fingertips were touching the spine of one of the black books, Dresden blocked it and said some spell, took the book off the shelf, and came down.
When I came down the ladder, Dresden said, "Well, now you can touch, and you'll sign off it."
I touched the book and was down to seven items—next book. Dresden walked closely beside me as I searched for a total of four books. I found one terrible book that made Dresden swear for quite a long time before I could touch that book. Two of them were Nick's mother's spell books, and then there were two statues, beautiful cat statues.
Dresden looked at me for a long time but muttered something about a spell and put the statue in his bag. Then I found two more jewels. They had been on black witches, and although they looked like black beads, they were actually pain beads. So they had a human pain in them, or the pain of any victim, and it wasn't good for me to experience it. Dresden always muttered something, a spell, I guess and put things in his bag.
We then gathered in the living room after Mimosa had found her 12 things: good, strong spell books, protection jewels, and protection statues.
Dresden said, "Now under no circumstances do you take out your radar unless we are with you because the radar will take and then reason will not work, and as you have discovered, Mimi, you will find some terrible things, and they can be very dangerous in the wrong hands, but what we do is that every so often, we will come and see what the situation is with your radar and if necessary we will clear it. And Mimi, tell Adam, but not yet Damon. Let Adam decide what is the wisest thing to do."
I said "Fine, I don't have a problem. I won't tell Bran, but only Adam. "
Constantine grunted.
The wizards then left, and I stayed with Mimosa to put the house up for a while, but then we went back to the hospital to study, and from there, we automatically trickled into the base.
We had a hell of a lot of demon gigs and even though I could kill them I would not risk it, that song would still work and I remembered how the incubi had used it against me, I had no way of knowing if the word had spread. I was sitting at my desk.
I had been in training for four weeks at this point, busy, and hadn't been to the house in a week. My radar was silent, and I had no problems. I desperately I glanced once again at the multitude of fucking intelligence reports spread before me. The crumpled pieces of paper resembled a fragmented puzzle, but with my photographic memory, my mind effortlessly pieced them together.
Yet, there were always a few elusive fragments that had no match, while occasionally, I would stumble upon a counterpart for a report I had read earlier. Determined, I embarked on assimilating all the information and forming a bloody plan of action.
Generally, I gather the completed folders and place them in a single spot on my desk. Understanding me well, Jake or Rob would bring coffee and food, swiftly taking those folders with them. They would then direct the operation, using every resource available. These two individuals held immense importance to me.
Rob looked like Chris Hemsworth, he was calm and he had one of Jake's army buddies and Jake had brough him on. He was again one hell of rage whisperer. And both of them kept me in line. They were dominant men, natural leaders and even this was my organization, they did not let me make all the decisions. Both of them were fiercely protective for me and my death had been hard place for them both and since I came back, these two showed me just how important I was to them.
They took care of me and made sure that I was not found fainted onto floor after not eating. They were my work husbands, my caregivers and we had bond. They understood me so much better in few levels than Damon or even Adam. Our time in fleas, well we were doing, building this together.
Then, I was just having coffee when Rob came over and said, " Mimi, guests, are you free?"
He did not even knock, just walked in and let me know. To them, I was not the boss; I had no idea what I was but very important person.
I looked up and said, " Yes, I am. I'm free."
I got up and cleaned my desk, put the papers in at least some stacks. I then went out of my room and was surprised when Ben Shaw's widow, Amanda, and her son, Burt, were there. Burt had grown up since I had last seen him, and he was at least 13 years old, if not more.
I smiled at them, took them to my room, and offered them coffee. Amanda told me how Burt had gotten into trouble for being a genius with computers and hacking into the wrong places. But since Burt didn't do it on purpose, he had just been warned.
Amanda said, "Burt misses his dad even though he doesn't remember Ben. You are like a second mother to Burt or at least his idol; I know this is stupid even to ask, but could Burt do something about the fleas? He is good with computers, and he knows where things are going. I haven't kept in touch with Adam, as he hasn't kept in touch with us. I know Burt is just a kid, and I'm not asking you to be a babysitter."
I smiled and said, "Of course, we can use Burt. Wait, a minute. "
Burt was like his father, and I remembered how nice Ben had been in the beginning. Adam had warned me about Ben, telling to me he might be little rough around the edges but for me, that short time I had known him, he had been sweetheart. Amanda, or Alissa she had changed her name after Ben's death, taken her mother's name as it had been too painful to be Alissa and she was not sure if someone was after her.
I pressed the intercom button and said, "Jake, is Billy there? I need to talk to him."
Jake said. " Yes, what is it? "
I said, " Send Billy up to my room."
Jake said, " Fine, he'll be right with you."
Soon, there was a knock on my door, and I said, " Come on in."
Billy came in. Billy is my main hacker. He was 15 years old and looked like a cross between Mick Jagger and John Lennon. He was tall and thin, narrow-faced, and currently had quite a bit of acne.
He looked as nerdy as they had come, but this boy was cruel. He came up with the meanest taunts for Sark, and I always felt a bit sorry for him when no one could match him. I knew that it brought sort of loneliness when you are best.
I said, "Billy, this is Burt, test him."
This was normal. Billy tested all our hackers, and only the best ones qualified. I trusted Billy completely with this one.
The boys looked at each other, and Amanda said to Burt, " Go on, show them."
Billy said nothing; he looked at Burt steadily, confident of his own superiority. Then, the boys went into computer mode.
Amanda and I talked about everything, and I also told her about the ruined holiday and the spell books Nick was looking for.
Amanda said, "Fine, did you know my cousin is a witch? She's a purple witch, OK, and when I tell her about it, she'll help. "
I said, "Good thing. I'm still mad that my paradise vacation and time with Damon were ruined, so I won't forget this. If Nick thinks I'm some kind of fucking sheep, I'll show him what my organization is capable of. "
We toured the base. Amanda was a detective. She had studied after Ben died, gained skills and knowledge, got into police work, and was now a detective. I'd kept in touch with her, supported her financially, and given her information that she could use. She had been one of our contact persons, and she didn't want any connection with Bran, either.
I didn't understand why until Ruby told me that Bran hits every woman. And I understood it wasn't something anyone wanted to experience as Bran was quite chauvinistic, especially towards humans. According to Ruby, Bran was trying to recruit willing women to become werewolves, and when I knew what for, I briefly explained a bit of what Bran was capable of so I could warn everyone.
I continued my studies, did some flea market work, and Billy got himself a challenger in Burt. He was very skilled, and the boys became fast friends. Amanda was more than happy, and as Burt always rushed straight to the base after school, everything went smoothly.
Billy hadn't been to school except for compulsory. He had been bullied and was a genius at what he did, so he hadn't been comfortable with the kids and hadn't fit in. I had rescued Billy from an institution years earlier, and he had hung on to me, too. Jake and Rob and other men like Magnum were the proper man models for the boys.
Billy was orphan, he had been snatched by Sark, and he had suffered quite nasty time, I had personally given him my blood when we had gotten him out; he had first hang in base as he had gotten better and then as normally, need to revenge had been his motive. But he had found that this was his calling more or less. I seemed to collect strays around me so to speak.
Weeks had gone by. Magnum came to my room when I had finished my studies and was doing flea work. I was very irritated. There was just so much to do and not everything was perfect, not at all.
He said, "You're working hard; here's lunch. Jake's off now, so I'll look after you. Have you got anything ready? By the way, it's none of my business, but why hasn't Adam kept in touch with Amanda and Burt?"
I gave Magnum the files and said, " Look, I don't know, but I got a call from a bullshit Bran yesterday. I gotta go to the Maine house. Time to be in the pack again, whatever the fuck he's got in mind."
Magnum said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of the fleas. From what I've heard, Bran's crew, Charles, and the others are all over demons and black wizards, and well, he might try to recruit for that sort of thing."
I grumbled and concentrated on the report. Magnum left the room. I cleared out the rest of the day in my study, informed everyone where to go, and then headed for the stupid little house in Maine to be in the pack again.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone