The Net: "The Need For Blood": Chapter 8

Jacob screamed Angela's name as he tackled the guy. The man fell to the ground and his gun slid a short distance away. Jacob turned him over and stared in shock at Sean Trelawney lying on the grass below him.

"Ah, so you're still alive, Resh. How's Angela? She run out of blood yet?"

Jacob punched him in the face, making his nose bleed. "You should know! You were about to kill her!"

"Was I? I had no idea."

Letting his anger build up inside him until he couldn't hold it in any longer, Jacob proceeded to beat him into a bloody pulp. Punch after punch, he kept it up, letting his anger out through each hit. Before he knew what was happening, gentle hands were pulling him to his feet. He found himself wrapped in Angela's arms. He felt her body shudder when she saw who was lying on the ground. She held him tighter. Both Walter and the paramedics arrived on the scene.

"He's dead," one of the paramedics told Walter before carrying Sean away on a stretcher.

"What's going on? Who was that?" Walter asked.

"That was Sean Trelawney," Angela said, her arms still around Jacob. "He….he was….a praetorian. Third in command. He escaped that day we were arrested."

"He was going to kill her," Jacob said. "I saw him. He had his gun out. He was going to kill her!"

"It's OK, Jacob. I'm OK. We're all OK. Come on, let's go back to my room for awhile."

Angela led him back to the single room she lived in while in training, leaving Walter to stare after them. They sat on Angela's bed and she held his head against her chest to try to comfort him.

"No. Angel, I can't do this. I can't be near you," he said a few minutes later.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I can smell your blood. And my sense of smell had been growing stronger lately, especially when I'm near you and hungry." Angela let him go and got up to get the syringe and a cup. "Remember, only half full. We can't have you collapsing on the field."

"I know, I know."

There was a knock at the door as Angela handed the cup to Jacob. Quickly she put away the syringe and went to answer the door. Walter came in.

"We need to talk," he said. "About Jacob."

"What about him?" Angela went over to the bed where Jacob was sitting. She took the clean cup from him and set it on the night stand.

"He killed a man today. Please don't pretend you don't know that. You know what this means. He has to go to court and……."

"No! He can't!" Angela sat down behind Jacob and put her arms around him again. He just sat there and looked up at Walter along with Angela. Both had a certain sadness in their eyes. "Angela, he spent time in jail for what he did before. Obviously that wasn't enough."

"Look, Walter, I was trying to regain my identity then, he was only helping. You have no idea what the Praetorians were like. What they could do. Sean was one of the worst of them all. He'd kill anyone in an instant if he had to, just to get what he wants."

"He was going to kill her!" Jacob spoke up. "I was only protecting her! I only did what I had to!"

"Look, the main thing this comes down to, is that I…..we….need you to protect him from the law and any Praetorians still out there, if there are any, or else I can't take that job. I know I keep asking you for things, but it's only because he can't go to jail. We can't be separated for longer than a day. And, no, I can't tell you why. Maybe someday, but not now. You wouldn't understand. Can you just trust me on this? Please?"

Walter thought it over then sighed. "I don't know why, but I'm going to say yes."

"Thank you, Walter. Thank you so much!"

Several weeks later, Angela stepped off the small stage and into Jacob's waiting arms.

"You did it! You made it!" he exclaimed. "You graduated from Quantico! I knew you could do it!"

She hugged him back, thanking him, before walking to the back of the room to see Walter, her arm draped around Jacob's shoulders.

"Well, you finally made it. Welcome aboard."

"Thanks," she said as they shook hands.

"I'm back, Angela!" Walter called from the music store half of the CIC two months later. "I brought us lunch!"

"Um, yeah, OK! I'll be out in a minute!" she called from the back room as she quickly pulled the needle from her arm.

The curtain separating the two rooms flew back and Walter came in, carrying a paper bag. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her, sitting at her desk with a syringe and mug full of red liquid. Angela looked up and gulped.