A/N: Now things are going to really heat up.
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Jadelyn turned around and stared at Victoria Vega, the woman she had spent the night with. As audacious as this Spanish flower had been, the proposal she had made floored her.
"Come to New York with me," she said.
"What?" was all Jadelyn could follow that up with.
"We could do it," Victoria smiled sincerely. "We could start a new life in America."
Jadelyn blinked repeatedly, just replaying the original question in her head.
"Say something, Jadelyn." Victoria's voice was suddenly desperate.
"You want me to uproot myself and travel across the Atlantic to a strange place?"
"Why are you being hostile about this?" Victoria asked. "You are adaptable."
Realizing they were holding hands this whole time, Jadelyn quickly let go.
"I did what I had to do, Victoria" she said. "I have settled and have no desire to start over."
"But Jadelyn..."
"NO!" she pointed. "I...am...not...do...ing...it...ag...ain, understood?"
The last scrap of light in Victoria's face fell and she contritely went to collect her clothing.
"What are you doing?" Jadelyn asked.
"Getting dressed," Victoria replied softly.
"Oh, I see" Jadelyn crossed her arms and stiffened her stance. "It is your way or not at all, isn't it?"
The implication that she was drawing parallels to Beckett and herself made Victoria fly at Jadelyn in a frenzy.
"In case you haven't noticed," the Spanish woman fumed. "I am leaving my home as well."
"Big sacrifice," Jadelyn scoffed. "Your parents are dead so what difference..."
She stopped from finishing that sentence when she saw the silent pain in Victoria's face. The firing pain spinning in her guts told her she was way out of line.
"Victoria..." she rushed over.
But the tan woman stepped away a few feet and held out her hand.
"Don't," she hissed.
"I'm sorry... I..."
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed and ran out the door, wearing what she could and simply holding onto the rest.
Jadelyn hesitated at the door, knowing she couldn't get to her in time so she ran for the window which overlooked the main entrance.
"Victoria, wait!" echoed down to the street.
It was still very early but a passing baker turned his head at the sudden outburst.
The woman marching down the street did not turn her head or acknowledge Jadelyn.
The pale woman kicked a chair in exasperation.
"DAMN IT ALL!" she cried in her hands.
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger entered the dive, their eyes adjusting to the darkness.
Sprenger whispered to Kramer and the two began to walk over to a lone drunkard passed out but still seated by the bar.
"Excuse me, sir" Kramer said in a gregarious fashion. "My name is Heinrich Kramer and this is my partner Jacob Sprenger."
The other man nodded.
The two visitors got no response from the boozer.
Kramer positioned himself behind the bar stool and violently kicked it, sending the man to the floor. He tried in vain to clutch the side of the bar for safety but he crashed to the floorboards anyway.
"What is...what the...who..."
"Come on," Sprenger demanded, picking up the shell of a man from behind."Get up, you fool!"
Now back on his feet, the man almost immediately began to fall down but both officers catch him.
"You cannot handle your liquor, yeah?" Kramer grinned.
"His breath is most foul," Sprenger commented.
Barely able to focus clearly, the drunk said through his almost closed lips "What do you want?" The man looked like he was going to fall asleep on the counter once again.
"Information, my friend" Kramer responded.
"Oh?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
Sprenger took off his black gloves, pocketing them. "We have heard rumors that you were close to someone we are currently investigating."
"And it would be in your best interest to cooperate," Kramer added.
"And who is that?" the drinker asked.
"Jadelyn West," Sprenger said, taking out a notepad. "She is the proprietor of an establishment a few blocks north..."
Beckett lifted his head from his overturned glass and belched. The mention of that name began to sober the man up.
"Is that a fact?"
Kramer nodded.
"And what is her crime?"
"Insubordination," Sprenger responded.
"Ah," he sighed. "Let me guess. She was not the lady she should have been toward you and your friend here."
Kramer shrugged. "Along those lines."
"You know," Beckett sniffed. "I have always thought that wench could use a lesson in manners."
"So, you'll help us?" Sprenger asked.
"Yeah," he sneered. "I can tell you about Jadelyn West."
Jadelyn paced around her apartment in abject despair, wondering where Victoria could be.
Looking over at the couch, she saw that she left her coat. She wore it out the night before. It smelled like her.
Jadelyn sat on her bed, snuggling in the garment trying to reminisce something wonderful she had until she said something so stupid.
She then felt something poke her in one of the pockets. Reaching inside, she fished out a business card. It bore the name of ELGIN.
"This has to give me a clue to where I can find her," Jadelyn thought.
With that she picked herself up and got dressed.
Following the address on the card, it led her to a restaurant. Jadelyn paid the taxi driver and looked through the large front window. Victoria wasn't there.
Glancing at across the street, she saw a large hotel.
Jadelyn entered the establishment and requested to telephone Guest: Vega.
The concierge obliged and handed her the telephone after dialing the room. The man stood uncomfortably close to Jadelyn but she shot him a look that made his quickly retreat to give her privacy.
After ringing for a few long seconds, the line went silent and a voice answered.
"hello?"
The voice sounded like Victoria but it was small and defeated. Jadelyn really hated herself at this moment.
"Victoria, can we talk please?"
"I have nothing to say to you!" she barked back.
Jadelyn covered her eyes to keep from causing a scene.
"You have every right to hate me and never speak to me again but I wanted to tell you something."
"What is it?"
She looked around for anyone too close so as to overhear.
"I love you. And I'm sorry."
Nothing else was said before the line went dead.
Squeezing tears from her eyes, Jadelyn began to leave until the same concierge stopped her.
"Miss," the man called to her. "Are you by any chance Jadelyn?"
The woman nodded.
"Terrific, stay right there."
Confused, Jadelyn stuck around, wondering what was going on until Victoria appeared behind her.
"Hello Jadelyn."
She turned around and saw that Victoria had been crying all this time, judging from her face.
Caterina was sweeping the floors of the Blue Angel when she bumped into Shapiro.
"Hello," he said, taking off his hat like a gentleman. "How are you today?"
"I am fine," she smiled. "Are you here to see Jadelyn because she left in an awful hurry."
"Oh," he sighed. "Well I suppose I can show her these papers later on."
Shapiro went to the door to let himself out but it didn't budge.
He check to see if it was locked. It wasn't.
Something was blocking it from opening.
"What the matter?" Andre ran up asking.
"It won't open," Shapiro responded.
"But it worked fine earlier," Caterina added.
The three of them all tried the door at once but it didn't give an inch.
Pounding, Andre began to shout. "HEY! OPEN UP! WHAT IS GOING ON!"
Sprenger listened to the muffled cries from inside, smoking a cigarette.
He pulled out a whiskey bottle with a rag sticking out of its opening. He then lit the crude wick while Kramer shot the front window. Sprenger threw in the bottle which exploded into a torrent of intense flames that within seconds engulfed the Blue Angel.
The cries from inside intensified.
The two men watched the sight for a moment and then walked to several armed men.
"You there," Kramer ordered. "Make sure nobody goes in or out until that building is nothing but ashes."
"Yes sir," one nodded.
The sound of screams very soon subsided.
TRIVIA: Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, the Nazi spies and main antagonists in the story, were named after the two German monks who wrote the Malleus Maleficarum, or "The Hammer of Witches" in 1486. This document was used as basically the handbook for identifying and capturing a witch and how to get them to confess. The Malleus is also notorious for its horrifying misogynistic thinking (i.e. the woman, weak and child-like, is natural prey for the devil). Throughout the great witch craze, the lands around what would later become the German nation sported the largest numbers of people burnt at the stake.