Reinforcements arrive

[melodymagic]

The car trip to the alley Cian had told them about was a little longer than usual, a roadblock having been set up and the closed-off street full of vehicles with flashing lights and police. Melody strained to see what the commotion was and it looked like there were screens raised in the middle of the pavement outside a bar or club or something. As she settled back into her seat she saw Jazz sniffing at the open window of the car, the witch's face crinkled in concentration.

Her eyes narrowed and her foot pressed a little harder on the accelerator once they were clear of the traffic around the scene. "That must be the market he was talking about," Mel said, pointing at the E-Zmart's lights, "and there's the alley." She was almost out of the vehicle by the time Jazz parked, the older witch puzzled by the young woman's keenness to get to the alley.

Mel had the backpack on her shoulder as she stepped off the kerb and looked down into the dark alley, eyes taking a moment to adjust after the lights of the market.

"Daniel? Are you here?" she called out, one hand on the corner of the wall, head tilted to one side as she took a step past the phone box.

Comments

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[melodymagic]

"Cian? He's the one who came into the store, told us about it and left the information for Jazz," Melody told him, looking across at the woman stopped and turned, not at the mention of the name, but at the comment regarding a meteor. She started back toward the pair as Melody looked at Daniel.

"He's been in a few times. Once he bought some crystals, for someone he said, to help them. A beautiful piece of cats eye on a gold chain. And he had us make some make some other things for him." She stopped talking, realising that perhaps she shouldn't be telling anyone else these things about a customer.

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[justjazz]

"A meteor site? Where? And how long ago?" Jazz asked when she reached where the pair were standing, looking up at Daniel intently.

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[daniel_stacy]

He gestured over his shoulder at the past. “A couple months ago out near Searchlight.” Daniel didn’t go into the details because admitting they saw an alien would lead to more questions, like was there just the one alien? And where did it go? And did anyone ever track it down? And did they report it? All things he didn’t know, probably because he was irresponsible and soulless, and that was before he was turned into a vampire.

“You know that guy’s a w—uhh…” He caught himself before outing the guy and rubbed his nose dismissively. “Wanker, right?”

Smooth.

Where the hell had that word come from, back episodes of Doctor Who?

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[justjazz]

Jazz's eyes narrowed as she looked at Daniel, waiting for him to say 'Were', and she snorted inelegantly at the vampire's attempt at covering himself.

"He's as much a wanker as you are breathing," she told him dismissively, rolling her eyes. "Was there anyone else there? From Searchlight?" she asked intently. There was no mistaking the mention of Searchlight had intensified her questions.

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[daniel_stacy]

“Yeah.”

Daniel looked between Melody and her mentor. He could be a decent guy when he chose the high road, but he was still a vampire and the witch’s bristly nature wasn’t sitting right with him. She had cajoled Melody for saving his neck, done magic on his hand, and begun interrogating him about a months-old incident. He couldn’t figure out who it reminded him more of: Mrs. Holcomb, a former private school teacher who’d given him a D in English, or his grandmother, who’d given him a D at life.

“Maybe we should focus on that.” He nodded at the portal. “In case it spews anything else while we’re standing here. You ever seen anything like it?”

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[justjazz]

"I'll decide what I'll focus on. The events in Searchlight could have something to do with that," she told him, not even looking over her shoulder but gesturing toward the black opening with a tilt of her head. "Any incident in or around a nexus can mean we're all in for a stride of strife."

Re: Reinforcements arrive

[melodymagic]

At the mention of a 'nexus' Melody's eyes widened and she stared at Jazz. "A nexus? Searchlight? Is that the one you've told me about, but never told me the name?" the young witch asked, her mouth falling open a little as the older witch's head nodded. "You mean all those things that happened back then, that you have taught me, they happened just down the road in Searchlight? I thought it must have been, I don't know, near the Great Lakes, or something!" she exclaimed more than a little shocked and surprised.

When she had started her apprenticeship Jazz used to have her read old articles, news stories about events that had the names of the place and people blacked out. Jazz had told her that was to stop her being distracted by things that didn't matter, and to just concentrate on the descriptions. "These are all signs of events that you must be on the lookout for," she'd heard every time she'd questioned the old woman. "Doesn't matter where they happened, just that they are signs."

And now the signs were starting to pop up again. Except this one wasn't amongst the ones she'd learnt about back then.

"So this, is it a sign? Or is it something different?"