Chapter Four

The next day when Trish Walker's death didn't make the news I knew something had gone wrong. A popular show host found brutalized in their home would definitely be news worthy, so why hadn't there been some report of it? The answer was Jessica. Jessica Jones had interfered somehow and saved her darling sister. They hadn't been on bad terms after all.

I listened to Patsy's radio show and was surprised to hear her apologizing to me. She admitted how out of line and ignorant she had been to challenge me. She even called me fascinating! I smiled, then slowly grimaced as my anger grew. Not at Patsy, but at Jessica. You would think I was upset about her stepping in to ruin my fun, but that wasn't it.

Jealousy was the cause of my anger.

Jessica had run to save a woman who wasn't really even her family, but when I truly needed her she left me for dead. Jessica could have stopped that bus easily, but she didn't. She let me get hit, then ran off.

After all I did for her!

I took her to the best hotels and restaurants in the city, gave her everything she wanted, and in the end she left me without even a good-bye.

Jessica acted like Trish Walker meant more to her than I did. Even though I knew it wasn't true, I couldn't help but feel slighted. I didn't want an apology from Patsy, I wanted one from Jessica. I wanted her to come to me with tears of regret in her eyes. I wanted her to get down on her knees and beg me for forgiveness. I wanted her to kiss me, touch me, and assure me that she would never leave again. I would be so happy I would just hold her, and not strike her across the face like she deserved.

I would hold her tight and never let go.

While observing Jessica I noticed that she had taken on a new client. A rich woman, named Audrey. Audrey wanted Jessica to take pictures of her husband being unfaithful so it would be easier to divorce him. Jessica took the case, and was told what day she would be able to catch the husband in the act.

Later on Jessica ended up following Audrey into an abandon building that was filled with mannequins. Once in the building Audrey had taken out a gun and began shooting at the mannequins. Target practice is what it looked like and Jessica figured that too, I bet. Out of curiosity I sent a couple spies to follow the scorned woman. I was bored and I figured some marital drama would be interesting like in the movies.

However, I received quite a shock when my spies returned and told me Audrey's true intentions. The spies had followed Audrey home where she told her husband about the trap she set for a super-powered "freak" who worked as a detective. Audrey planned on shooting Jessica to death then dismembering her body.

The husband was afraid and tried talking her out of it, but Audrey bullied him into it until he complied. Either that man never had a backbone (probably why she married him) or he had a vertebra at some point, but it was worn down from years of being married to the rich shrew.

I was walking towards Jessica's apartment, intent on warning her about the threat her client posed. However, the closer I got, the more I began disliking the idea of me swooping to her rescue. Jessica hadn't rushed to save me, so why should I save her? Also the thing I desired most about Jessica was how she was able to challenge me. She was the only person who could equal me, and this was why I needed her in my life. If she couldn't save herself from a normal woman with a gun, then she was not my equal at all. I didn't need damsels in my life.

Although it pained me to visualize Jessica with a hole in her head, it would pain me more to attach my self to a weakling. I did want to at least give Jessica a little hint as to the danger she was in. I would leave it purposely vague so Jessica would at least be on guard. From there her survival was all up to her.

I saw a little girl walking by on the street, her mother a few feet ahead of her. Moving quickly I leaned down and pulled the girl to me.

"Don't be afraid." I said before the little girl could scream. "I want you to give someone a message for me."

I sat down that night staring at a picture of Jessica. If Audrey was successful I would never see Jessica alive again. I would only have the pictures of her for comfort. The junkie who lived in Jessica's apartment had done a great job. He had been spying on Jessica and snapping photos of her without her realizing it for months.

The only limits on my powers are distance and time. I could give someone an order but after twelve hours they were free from my hold. I needed someone who would spy on Jessica around the clock without me having to re-establish my hold on them. I went through a lot of trouble to get the junkie strung out enough so I didn't need to use my powers to make him do whatever I wanted. Honestly the pathetic creature had it so bad all you needed to do was wave a dollar in his face, and he'd do whatever you wanted.

With Jessica gone I would have no use for him. I would probably make him walk into traffic or overdoes on purpose. I would decide by ten the next morning what my next step would be.