Chapter 30
At eight in the evening, I took the stairs up to the private room in the Moonlite Lounge, where Jacob was drinking. He was in the company of three bar girls, one of whom I knew as Ava, who upon seeing me arrive sat down next to me and poured me a drink.
When had a moment alone, Jacob was still in a dark mood, and he seemed to me to still be thinking about Zelda cheating on him.
He complained about Zelda as he drank, "That bitch cheated on me has never said a word of regret; it's as if nothing ever happened."
I actually thought it was quite funny. Jacob often cheated on Zelda with other women, but he couldn't stand the thought of his fiancée cheating on him. But still I feigned sympathy for him and joined in the criticism of the shameless Zelda.
Jacob, who was already slightly tipsy, now blurted, "You know, I really regret breaking up with Dory. She wasn't vicious like Zelda, just a little naive and stupid, but now I'm beginning to think it's good for women to be stupid."
Hearing this scumbag refer to me, I felt an urge to beat him unconscious, but I managed to restrain myself in the belief that he was still of use to me. I relied on the effects of alcohol to suppress my anger.
At this point Ava, who had been in the bathroom, came back into the room and gave me a look as if to say 'done', and I nodded back at her.
I drank with Jacob until the wee hours. "Time to go home," he finally said, getting to his feet unsteadily.
"But you're so drunk! It's not safe for you to drive, do you want me to take you home?" I offered with effected concern.
He nodded and relented. So I helped the wobbly Jacob into my car and carefully then drove him home.
By the time we arrived outside his apartment block, Jacob had already passed out. Appalled by the smell of alcohol coming from him and his snoring, I dragged him out of the car.
"Bro, you're home." I tried to wake him up, but his eyes remained closed and he didn't react.
I dragged Jacob to the door of his apartment, by which time he was awake but groggy. He fumbled for his key and his hand trembled as he tried to insert it into the lock. He was in quite a state.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Jacob finally managed to open the door, and I followed him in. As he reached for the light switch, the shadow of a figure came out of nowhere and lunged at Jacob, thrusting a dagger at his chest.
I instinctively reacted by swinging my foot at the attacker with my full force, sending him crashing to the floor. But my relief was short-lived, as another intruder appeared from the darkness, charging at Jacob with similar intent.
Jacob had been shaken from his stupor by now and was able to drop his shoulder, dodge the attacker's dagger and flee into his bedroom, before desperately slamming the door shut behind him and locking it.
The second attacker continued to pursue Jacob and was soon kicking the door violently in an attempt to break into the bedroom.
I knew that the door would not restrain him for long, so I ran over to the door and attempted to pull him away from the door; soon, the other intruder had picked himself off the floor and joined forces with his comrade in trying to overcome me.
After a lengthy struggle, I managed to gain the upper hand. With a well-timed attack, I snatched the dagger from one of the intruders as I delivered a powerful blow that sent him staggering back.
The other attacker, seeing his partner defeated, beat a hasty retreat and disappeared into the darkness.
I breathlessly hammered on the bedroom door, "Jacob, I fought them off, you can come out now."
Jacob heeded my words and opened the door.
As soon as he saw me, he hugged me and sobbed, "You have to protect me, it must be that crazy bitch Zelda trying to kill me, just like she killed Paul. She's the only one who has my key and can come and go easily. She's completely unhinged, what am I going to do?"
Jacob had finally started telling the truth.
I led him to the sofa and let him sit down before I poured him a glass of water. "I don't understand what you're talking about," I said, "Tell me what's going on and I can help you."
Jacob took a few sips of water, and the shock of the attack had cleared his head.
He seemed to have made up his mind as he gulped and then explained, "To be honest, it's Zelda who has been dealing with the humans in the drugs and weapon trades. Paul happened to need weapons, so Zelda helped Paul to obtain them. In exchange for this service, Paul helped her with her drug deals. "
He took another sip and continued, "You remember before when I told you about Jason being Paul's illegitimate son? It was Zelda who told me to let you know, she said that as you already had your eyes set on Paul, we should let him take the blame, and you wouldn't pay any attention to her other business."
The mention of Zelda's 'other business'got my interest: "What other business?"
He shook his head. "This Zelda is cunning and won't tell me. But she often crosses the border to the human world to meet the people who supply her drugs and weapons. If you follow her to the border, you should be able to find some clues."
"What about Zoe?" I asked.
"I know Zelda acts on Zoe's instructions, but Zoe is Luna, and she only sneaks over to the human side when Alpha Edward isn't in the pack. There was also a dentist named Peter, a relative of Zoe's, who was very close to them, and I'm sure I remember Zelda saying something to Peter once about needing a lot of werewolf blood."
Jacob then grabbed hold of my arm and pleaded, "Bro, you have to protect me, I've told you everything I know, you can't abandon me."
I pretended I was his good friend and reassured him, "Sure, I'll make a call right away to have someone follow you to protect you. Everything will be all right."
Having made sure Jacob had calmed down, I left for home.
In fact, the assassins in Jacob's home had not been sent by Zelda but arranged by me, and I knew that if Jacob felt that Zelda was after him, he would confide in me.
And while we were drinking at Moonlite Lounge, I asked Ava to take Jacob's apartment keys from him while he was drunk; she then excused herself to go to the bathroom but instead gave the keys to one of the men I sent to pretend to attack him.
Every time I had come to the bar with Jacob, I would ask Ava to come and keep me company. Jacob thought I liked her, but in fact I was using Ava to obtain information about Jacob, and I always tipped her generously for her help.
As expected, thanks to my careful arrangements, Jacob had fallen into my trap!
When I arrived home, I carefully considered the information Jacob had disclosed to me.
I decided to send someone to follow Zelda's movements, and in particular to find out whether there was evidence of her trips across the border; and also to post someone to Zoe's hometown to investigate her life before she got married, because I still couldn't figure out how Zoe and Zelda colluded with the humans.
As for me, I decided to go to London.
When I had caught up with Luke, he told me that his London counsellor had discovered that the hot dog stand in the theme park I had visited was used by the enemy to monitor when Theo arrived in the human world, and that this information was used to plan the incident in Beth's castle.
The counsellor also reported that Peter's purpose for travelling to London was not only to monitor Theo arriving, but also to visit a blood research laboratory.
The background of the laboratory was still unknown, only that it had been financed by a mysterious consortium with enormous financial firepower.
So I decided I would go and check out that mysterious lab myself.