Chapter 26 - All For Naught...

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Jane woke up with a mild headache the next day. The first thing she noticed was the strange environment. This wasn’t their hotel-room… She blinked again to convince herself she was seeing wrong when her eyes fell on the couch with a sleeping Julie and Rinka was sleeping on the other one.

…Oh, right. Club Grimoire… Jane‘s headache threatened to grow each time she tried to think about last night. …Boy, we must’ve danced the night away… She felt exhausted and hungry. The fireplace, no longer lit, gave off pleasant warmth. …This must be Damian’s house then… She had seen Rinka’s and this place was decorated more to a man’s taste …Where is Damian?

She readjusted her head on her own pillow to realize it was moving. Up and down it went- Up and down. And when she really put her mind to it, the steady heartbeat rang in her ears. Guess she found Damian. Oh no… Jane slowly lifted her head, without looking up, and tried to move away from him. She managed until a certain degree and had to stop because of the hand he had draped around her shoulder. …was his hand always there? She wiggled as carefully as she could out from under it. He made a throaty moan and she froze. …Oh, please, oh please, don’t let this be any more awkward then it already is… The moan was all she got from him. He appeared to be very much asleep still and his hand wasn’t on her shoulder anymore.

Jane moved a good distance and then braved it enough to look at him. …Crap! He wasn’t wearing his shirt- no wonder that pillow felt so good. Shit…! She quickly looked down at her own clothes and was relieved she still had them on, even though that didn’t necessarily mean nothing happened. ...What the hell happened last night? For some reason she felt dirty and embarrassed all rolled up in a big ball.

‘You’re awake’

The voice broke her train of thoughts and she looked up at Julie.

‘Jules’, she whispered, ‘What happened last night?’

‘What?’ Julie whispered back. She mouthed an ‘Ohhh’ and then just grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Jane sighed. That grin wasn’t good and knowing Julie, she wouldn’t get it out of her anytime soon.  WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?????

Julie gasped so loud it made Damian stir next to Jane. Jane froze and gave her sister the stink-eye. ‘What the hell?’ she mouthed.

‘We overslept!’ Julie whispered, pointing at the digital clock on the fireplace. It was a quarter past 12.

Oh no! They still had to swing by Jean to see what she found out AND pack their bags AND be at the train station all in 1 hour.

Jane carefully, but quickly got up from the floor. There was no time to search for the bathroom, so she checked her face in the window. ‘What are you doing?’ she whispered to Julie, who was walking up to Rinka.

‘I have to at least tell her we’re going’

‘No Jules, please! If you wake her, she’ll wake Damian. That grin of yours tells me something happened last night and I don’t know if I can face him right now. Please, let’s just go…’

‘You’ll have to face him at some point’

‘I know, just not now okay!’

‘Okay, alright! But how are we gonna leave?’

‘Cab… there’s bound to be a company in the area’

‘I’ll call directory and ask for the number. What should we do first? Go to Jean?’

‘No, motel first. I’ll try calling the auction house and see what she’s got, but we can do that while packing. I can’t believe we overslept…

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Farmer’s Garden

12.45 PM

‘What are we doing here Calum?’

Val looked around at all the different plots of earth growing various vegetables and fruits. Not a place you would find an Elite vampire and she wondered why he asked her to meet him here. To be honest she never even knew a place like this existed.

‘There’s nothing like picking your own fresh ingredients. It’s pretty relaxing too, you should try it sometimes’

‘Calum, we both know this isn’t what you eat’ Val lowered her voice when the farmer looked up, ‘and I have a garden at home too, you know’

‘I know you do, but those are herbs; it’s not the same thing if it’s for work. And these are not my life-force’ he dangled an apple in her face, ‘but it doesn’t mean I can’t eat them’. He took a bite out of it to emphasize his words. ‘I do have to compliment you; you taste way better’ he grinned one of his mischievous grins and tossed the apple in her direction.

‘So, did you find out anything about the swords?’

He led her to the empty bench between the 2 green houses, but more so out of the farmer’s earshot.

‘I did, but to get that information, I had to… melt… the sword’

‘You WHAT?’ he snapped. His eyes flashed red for a moment, but remembering where he was, he blinked and they changed back to their original color. ‘Talk faster Valerie, because I’m getting ready to SNAP your neck right here right now’

‘I’m sorry, but no matter what I threw at it, it didn’t budge. Only when I melted it could I decipher which ingredients were used to forge the blade; apart from the iron of course. You told me to figure it out and I did. Yes, the sword was damaged, but there was no way around it. You are seriously overreacting! It’s not like that was the only one you had. I saw 3 others on that couch…’

‘What part of uncommon- of extinct don’t you get? There are no other swords like these and here I find you melting one. They already weaken each time they are used… If I had any idea you would resort to melting it’, he spat the word like venom, ‘I wouldn’t have given you a brand new one. Here I think it would be easier for you if the magic is still strong and you… !’ He took a few calming breaths, just for the heck of it, because it didn’t work.

‘You should be glad I chose this public place for our meeting. The way I’m feeling now… You would’ve been dead already’

Val swallowed and wisely didn’t say anything. ‘You managed to melt it, find out what it was made from and which ingredients were used. Good, now re-make it!’

‘…I can’t…’

‘You’re very brave to try and toy with me Val. You really are!’ he said, looking at her briefly. The farmer walked past them again and Val worried even more for his safety than hers. The way Calum’s head snapped in his direction didn’t warrant anything good. ‘Your shop sells athames… I know for a fact that Preston MAKES those athames. So I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that and send Chase to pick it up in a week’

‘Calum, the sword has already been made’

‘Valerie, you’re giving me a headache’

‘When I said I can’t make the sword, I meant the magic that was tied to it. Right now it’s just a regular sword. It doesn’t glow green and I’m sure any vamp would heal just fine. I don’t know the magic to make it the same again… NO ONE does!! The only ones that could were the Taihinda witches and last I checked they’re extinct too’ Val took a breather and continued, ‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re playing at. You hoped I would be able to figure it out and keep providing you with swords. I’m not an idiot Calum, so don’t make me out to be’

Val got up and was already halfway the exit when he blinked in front of her. She quickly scanned the area to see if anyone saw him.

‘I never said you were an idiot’ Calum eyed her, ‘Sure, I hoped for a possibility, but that’s not why I wanted you to check them out. All for naught, since it did more damage than good, but…’

He sighed and handed her a box wrapped in green paper with a bow.

‘What’s this?’ she eyed the box a bit weary. He didn’t have it on him when they first arrived.

‘They wrap it up this time of year. Don’t worry Val, killing you wouldn’t do me any good either’

Val took the box, but when she looked back up Calum was gone and she stood there alone. The gift box was filled with the veggies and fruits he had picked earlier when he was in a good mood. Somehow she didn’t imagine they would taste as good anymore.

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BellaDonna Cove Station

13.00 PM

‘Still nothing?’

‘No, and I’ve called 10 times already’ Jane hung up after hearing the busy-signal for the eleventh time, ‘Is she avoiding us?’ ‘Rosalie is her friend, I don’t think she’d do that to her. Not when her life is at stake’ Julie answered, watching Jane pick up the phone again. ‘Maybe there’s no reception in the orb room. The orbs could be static and block out other signals…’

‘Maybe Rinka?’

‘Hey, I wanted to wake her, YOU didn’t because of Damian. We could’ve had this whole thing sorted out by now’ Julie snapped, searching for her own phone. Jane couldn’t deny that Julie had a point there. If she hadn’t done -God knows what- last night, she wouldn’t have a need to hide her face. Plus they wouldn’t have overslept. Their clothes would’ve been neatly folded in their suitcases and they would’ve had plenty of time to go to the auction house to hear Jean out. Jane sighed and sat down just when Rinka picked up.

‘I can’t believe you left without waking me!’

Inwardly Julie scoffed. I wanted to! ‘Yeah, sorry about that. It’s just that we kind of panicked when we saw the time’ Julie answered her, all the while sneering at Jane.

‘Hey Rinka, are you at the auction house yet?’

‘Yeah, Damian and I just got here. Are you upstairs?’

‘Uhm, not exactly… We’re at the train station. Our train leaves in ten’

‘Nice Julie… Leaving without waking me and now leaving without saying goodbye’

Julie put her hand over the receiver and shook her head at Jane. ‘I’ll make it up to you the next time I’m in BC. But listen, can you ask your mom about the prophecy? We called her, but she’s not picking up’

‘Then she’s still in the orb-room. No telephone in there. I’ll call you when I know anything’

‘Thanks Rinka… and I really am sorry’

‘I believed you the first time… Tell Jane I said hi! Have a save trip’


To be continued...

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A/N:
Sorry I had to stop the chapter there. It was too long, so I decided to make it 2 chapters instead of one. The other part will be posted on Monday!

For a much sadder part!
If you've been nagging about updates being slow, wait till you hear this!
My laptop has run its course... It's not starting properly - restarting 4-5 times before it eventually starts windows - and when it does manage to start up.... it's shutting down every half hour or so. That kinda makes it hard to run my game, take pictures, edit pictures... you know the drill. It's sad, but I have to put her to rest. (and my mind! I curse every time it shuts down!)I've had it for 3 years, so it's kind of entitled to break down on me now, since most start exhibiting strange behavior after a year or 2.
I'm buying a desktop to run my Sims better and that's already been ordered.

Wow Jilly, I have a craptop now too! LOL
I will keep trying to take pictures before it shuts down again, so the next chapter(s) will happen, but I just thought I'd let you guys know.
(My craptop did manage to stay on long enough for me to make a backup of my files, so the stories are safe! Hell, if I have to write it all again! Or make my characters... *shudder*)