Chapter Confused Much?
Mia's eyes slowly fluttered open and the first thing she saw was the white ceiling above her. With balled fists she rubbed her eyes. Where am I?
A sudden sense of déjà vous overcame her and she turned her head sharply to the side, expecting to find someone next to her. She was shocked to find was alone in the bed. Abruptly she sat up and scanned the room. A strange feeling overcame her, and she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Faint sunlight filtered through the blinds and she knew it instinctively it was sunrise. Her blade and her magic bag were on the dresser.
She opened her mouth to call out for someone, whose name she couldn't quite remember. But there was no one else here. What the fuck? She muttered to herself, rubbing her hands over her face. How the hell did I get here?
Pulling back the covers, she realized she was naked. Her burnt clothes were on the floor next to the bed. The vague memory of the warlock came back. The demon, the fire…but what happened after that? Mia was sure she'd gone into stasis, but… She looked at the Blade resting peacefully.
"Did you bring me here?" she asked aloud. It wasn't as though BYR hadn't done stranger things in the past to keep her safe.
Mia picked up the garments from the floor. They were destroyed. Unwearable. She walked across the room and opened her Magic bag. She tried to keep a change of clothes because shit like this happened so much. But there wasn't anything inside. Then she remembered Lashly and barracks. She grinned to herself – she'd been wearing her spare clothes. Her smile turned to a frown as her head began to clear. Fisher. Lashly left her to check on his Team Member who was badly injured.
Mia took out her phone. She should probably call him to see how things were.
The hunter gasped when she saw the date and time on the phone. It was Saturday morning. She missed her mother's birthday!
-o-
Jacob watched as Femke paced around the cell. An hour ago, he could have sworn she was going to kill him. Slaughter him coldly, just like she'd done to the other two Lycans. But she hadn't, instead she sat next to him and petted him very briefly. He had no idea what to think about that.
Femke made her way back to him, squatting down in front of him just like she had before.
"Besser fühlen?" she asked.
Jacob stared at her blankly. Even if he knew what she was saying he couldn't answer her.
She walked behind him and grabbed his hind leg. He watched from the corner of his eye as she lifted it, then released it watching as it hit the floor with a thud.
Jacob growled at her.
Femke sighed and grabbed the scruff of his neck. Jacob wanted to fight back, he tried to fight back but in this condition he was at her mercy.
She dropped him back on the floor in front of the pile of vampire dust.
"Hast du das getan?" she inquired with a frown. The wolf's brown eyes were absent of any response.
Femke knelt down on the floor and began to draw in the pile of dust.
Jacob watched as the vampire drew a stick figure in the dirt. She drew big curly hair, two eyes, a nose and a big smiley mouth with fangs.
"Femke," she said and pointed to herself.
Jacob snorted. He wasn't stupid.
She drew another figure. He watched as she popped a pair of rhinestones from her jacket to add to the face. The figure now had large twinkling green eyes.
"Egan," she told Jacob as she drew her hand holding his.
The wolf looked at her drawing. "Egan" didn't have fangs, so did that mean he wasn't a vampire?
The next stick figure she drew was much smaller and wore a triangle skirt.
"Nessie," she said with a smile.
Jacob looked up at the vampire. How did she know about Nessie? Did she know the Cullens?
She continued drawing. A large house now enclosed the three of them.
Then she moved to the other side of him, drawing a big animal-like figure with pointy ears and big teeth.
"Jacob," she told him as she drew the animal inside its own house.
He snarled as loud as he could. Filthy Bloodsuckers. No one was taking Nessie away from him.
-o-
Mia hastily called her sister. She couldn't believe that she'd been in stasis for this long. Paxton was probably worried sick about her. The cell phone went right to voice mail and so Mia tried the shop.
"Main Street Salon," Anna's chipper voice answered.
"Hi Anna, it's Mia. Can I talk to Paxton?"
"Hey stranger! Hold on a sec."
Mia groaned while she waited. Paxton needed to get better 'Hold' music. This stuff was terrible. After a short wait Anna came back on the line.
"She said she'll have to call you back," Anna reported. "She's with Mrs. DeMarco." Mrs. DeMarco was Paxton's first regular customer and expected to be treated like a queen.
"Did she sound mad? Mia asked.
"No," Anna replied.
"Good. Thanks Anna." Mia disconnected the call. Now what to do about clothes.
Just as the thought crossed her mind she noticed a sundress hanging over the back of a chair. She picked it up and looked at it. It was the right size and looked new. Under the chair was a pair of the ugliest shoes she'd ever seen in her life. Mia looked at the clothing, trying hard to remember when and where she got these, but nothing came to mind. In fact, it seemed like there was a chunk of her memory missing.
Mia put on the dress and sat on the chair, slipping her feet in the shoes. She rested her head in her hands and concentrated, trying hard to reconstruct the events in the warlock's house.
-o-
Femke scowled at the werewolf. She thought he would be interested in her proposal.
Her original plan had been simple. Breach a territory border, attract the attention of a hunting team and interrogate them on the whereabouts of their fellow Lycan. Then she planned to slaughter them all, then Jacob and then go home to Egan and Nessie. She didn't plan on getting caught and stuck in that awful coffin for days. She'd never seen a contraption like that before, and she was no stranger to disable and transport.
But getting caught had been a blessing in disguise. It had given her time to think about the plans for her new daughter. It was clear that Jacob was an excellent nanny. He took wonderful care of Nessie and she seemed to enjoy being with him. Femke knew that she and Egan would need to travel frequently to hunt, and they would have had to hire a nanny anyway. It made sense to offer the job to the werewolf. And like the arrangement he had with the Cullens, she would provide him with his own residence, transportation and chef. It seemed only fair to give him that much.
However, there was still the issue of the mind control. The only way their situation would work is if he transferred the power to her. She was sure if she asked Egan to mark the werewolf, he would. By wearing the mark of a warlock, an entity was completely faithful to their master to the point where they would give their own life to protect him. Marking eliminated any threat of disobedience. It was the perfect solution.
Except the damn werewolf was not cooperating.
Femke scratched her head.
How to make him see that this arrangement was beneficial to everyone involved.
-o-
Mia tried to fill in the timeline.
She'd had dinner with Madelena and Pabiola at their home. Then she'd met their brother Thiago, had some wine, he fell in the fountain and they went to his "friend" aka the warlock's house. The demon wasn't the one she was looking for, then the warlock attacked her. She remembered being thrown around by his telekinesis and… she hit her head. That explained it. She must have some sort of amnesia from the impact. Great.
She held her phone in her hand, preparing to call Lashly. But as she scrolled through her messages, she was reminded that she hadn't finished her current job yet. Which meant before she did anything else, she needed to find that demon.
Gathering her things, she left the room and made her way to the front desk to check out. When the clerk told her she had paid in advance, she was surprised but signed the receipt anyway. Mia went through the main doors out into the bright sunny Brazilian morning. As she walked through the street, the delicious scent of breakfast permeated through the air. There was a small café ahead and she decided to stop and eat. Being on a job, you never knew if it was going to be your last meal or not.
At one of the tables, a group of dark skinned men were sitting together. Mia's nose twitched: Lycans.
She tried to make eye contact with them, but they were busy eating and talking among themselves. It wasn't a language she didn't know and so she let out a soft rumble as a greeting.
Instantly five pairs of eyes were on her. She smiled, albeit a little uncomfortably and waited for a response. One of the men rumbled back just as quietly. Mia looked at him, his dark eyes were so familiar…
"Do I know you?" she asked, hoping they might speak English.
The man said something in his native tongue which sounded apologetic.
She tried Spanish, but they didn't they speak that either. While she was still standing there, they returned to their conversation and meals. While she thought that was incredibly rude, the smell of their food was making her even hungrier. Which was strange considering she never ate meat.
Mia sat at an empty table and scanned through the brief menu. By the time the server came, the group of men were leaving. She watched as they walked past her table down the street, feeling a little foolish. There was no way she knew them.
-o-
"Kindermädchen," Femke said as she drew a line connecting the two houses. (according to Google Translator this word means 'nurse' but it can also mean 'nanny' or so I'm told)
Jacob raised an eyebrow. What she just said sounded like 'Kindergarten", was she implying that he was dumb? He watched as she continued drawing. Now there was a second figure in the house with him.
"Küchenchef," she said pointing to a female figure wearing a skirt and some kind of hat. Was that supposed to be a teacher? Jacob knew he hadn't finished high school, but what did that have to do with Nessie?
Now she was drawing something that resembled either a horse or a giraffe, depending on whether or not the neck was drawn to scale. Was this supposed to be a zoo? Jacob was completely lost.
Femke frowned at her handiwork. She had never been much of an artist and from the confusion in the werewolf's eyes he had no idea what she was trying to say. With both hands she angrily erased her drawings, scattered the dust everywhere. The werewolf sneezed as he inhaled the fine mist. Femke scowled. If only someone here spoke German.
"Kannst du Deutsch?" she asked loudly of the remaining Lycan spectators.
"Anyone speak German?" the Team Leader inquired.
The answer was no.
Femke humphed and sat down with her back against the cell wall. She tapped her fingers on the stone floor. Think. Think. She told herself. There had to be a way to make him understand.
-o-
When they were several blocks away from the cafe, the mentor turned to the younger Lycan.
"It worked," Rakeesh's broad grin covered his face. "See that Na'ahkul, Colleen's magic is brilliant."
"Yes, Colleen is magnificent," Na'ahkul agreed. Though his conscience felt otherwise, erasing someone's memory just seemed wrong.
"Thank ye," Colleen blushed as she opened the door for them. She was the first witch to join the rebellion. One of the few they'd found who weren't completely enamored with vampires.
"BUT," she continued, "the spell is only on her human side. When she changes form her memory will return."
"I don't see that as being a problem," Rakeesh smiled. "Na'ahkul said that she admitted to staying in her human form, for the magic."
"Let's hope that doesn't change," Colleen replied. "Now where's the other one?"
Na'ahkul handed her the business card.
"Main Street Salon in Oak Hollow, North Carolina," the witch read the card aloud. "Paxton Dougherty, Owner. So I'm traveling to the States?"
"Your flight leaves this evening," Rakeesh told her.
