This chapter has been edited due to content. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.
ALEX
I hadn't had time to get dressed and the towel was the only reason I wasn't completely naked. Even though my 'clothing' was justified, I hated how unprofessional I looked. I opened the door for Saga Anderson and hoped she didn't take my towel to heart.
As Saga rushed angrily into my apartment and I shut the door behind her, I realized I shouldn't have worried. Whatever reason she had to visit me so late made her mad and unsettled. She had less of a reaction when seeing brutally murdered victims than she did storming through my apartment.
Once she sat down at my table, half covered in Dungeons and Dragons manuals, I decided to make coffee. I wouldn't rush to make her talk as that was more likely to set her off even more. But I couldn't stand around or else I would keep growing more nervous.
So I decided to make coffee.
"What the **** does the FBC do?" Saga asked as I turned my coffee maker on.
"I don't know." I replied and managed to keep the worry out of my voice.
"Do they care about busting drug rings?"
"Everything seems to be under their jurisdict-wait. Is this about our case?"
"It is. Two agents came to my house tonight and demanded that I give them our case. They even threatened me."
"Did Logan hear anything?"
"No. Her and David were eating dinner."
That was good. At least Logan wouldn't be aware of what was going on.
"They must not have a ******* leg to stand on." I said as I took down two coffee mugs. "Or else they wouldn't have gone to you when you were at home."
"You think they just wanted to spook me?" Saga asked.
"We can deal with them in the morning."
"When they'll actually have to defend trying to take the case away from us. Any good dreams tonight?"
I followed her gaze to my towel. It was a brief movement but enough to say a lot. She wouldn't be pointing to my towel if she thought it unimportant. But why would she be interested in my dreams? And if she was concerned about my dreams so was the FBC. But that made about as much sense as her asking the question in the first place.
Maybe she was just worried that there was someone else in the apartment tonight.
"There's no one else here." I answered. "I sleep in the nude."
My dream tonight was the best I had ever had. After all the years of pining for Jash, I had finally been able to **** him. I couldn't tell that to Saga, though, as she would start to worry about me. Due to how perceptive the young woman was I couldn't even make a passing remark to how good my dream had been.
Saga's ability to scrutinize evidence in a case was nearly magical. It sometimes felt like she had the cheat sheet to life with how random her observations appeared at first. But things like Jash and magic weren't real. She didn't have superhuman abilities, she was just extremely good at her job.
"Did the FBC say why they're so interested in our case?" I asked as I breathed in the strong scent of coffee. "I can understand why there were so interested in the Cult of the Word but our case isn't like that. We found one man that overdosed and evidence of it being part of a drug ring. Not exactly something that the FBC would consider interesting."
"If our case didn't involve what you identified as a Potion of Sobriety, they would have left us alone." Saga answered.
I had thought that this PoS was just another drug. While I had never seen it before, it seemed familiar to me. Jash had created a PoS but he was merely part of a dream. Which meant I had to have known about something like the POS.
But the Federal Bureau of Control was interested in it. I was worried. Had I created it and just blocked out the memory? I wouldn't rule that out as Jash was part of a recurring dream which is something that had never happened to me before.
"Did they talk to you merely to scare you or was there another reason?" I mused. "Maybe they were afraid of me and wanted to warn you away."
"I wasn't followed after I left my home." Saga pointed out. "But, yes, they seemed slightly suspicious of you."
"Why?"
"You were able to both identify the drug and tell that it was a knock off."
Something was nagging me about this whole situation. But the one aspect that stood above everything else was the fact that Saga had felt the need to drive here and storm into my apartment. Saga had a loving husband and daughter. Why would she put in all the effort to come here now instead of waiting for the morning?
"What is it, Alex?" Saga asked as the first cup was filled.
"You drove all this way just to tell me that the FBC is trying to take our case?" I asked, leaning on the counter. "You expect me to believe you drove all this way just to inform me of something that could wait until the morning?"
I turned to look at her and saw a scared expression in her eyes for just a moment.
"I came because of how the FBC tried to scare us away from our case." Saga said and shook her head. "It didn't make any sense."
"But it made enough sense for you to come here." I pointed out.
"Or I was just terrified."
"Some people spook easily. You don't."
"Fine. They threatened to expose your dreams. Whatever that means."
I nearly dropped the fresh cup of coffee.
It took all of my effort not to feel the very real bite mark that Jash had given me.
Had Saga taken note of anything I stopped myself from doing?
The Federal Bureau of Control wouldn't spend any effort to investigate something that was fictional. I hadn't written down much of the dreams with Jash and so there wasn't much of a trail for anyone to follow. Which meant the FBC had spent a good amount of time, effort, and manpower to follow one man's dreams.
What that all boiled down to was what Jash actually was. The Saxhleel, in spite of all reason, was real. I hadn't fallen in love with some illusion but a real man. And he had known that and loved me in return to the point that he would search for me.
Jash was real. Jash would find me. Jash wouldn't break that promise.
"They threatened to expose my dreams?" I asked nonchalantly as I put the first cup of coffee down gently on the counter. "What ******* evidence do they think my dreams provide?"
"They didn't say." Saga answered as I got a bottle of whiskey. "But my hunch is that they don't have much. Alex, why are they interested in your dreams?"
"The whiskey will help."
"For you or me?"
"Both of us."
* * *
I poured Saga another shot of whiskey and sat the empty bottle back on the table. It had taken an hour to explain about Jash and how tonight I had learned he was real. Both of us had been forced to confront the fact that the world had just become much more complicated. As I leaned back in my chair I was glad, at least, that she had helped me bear all of these revelations. I was glad that she hadn't run from me.
"The Potion of Sobriety." Saga said and just looked at the shot glass as I downed my own. "Jash's creation."
"Chokeberries don't work here like they do on Nirn." I added.
"We should go to the FBC. If there is any way to reach Jash, they'll know."
"They threatened me. I trust Jash to find me himself more than anything the FBC could offer."
"Wouldn't you threaten someone if-"
"They've known about my dreams all this time and didn't say **** to me. If they were going to help me they would have already."
Saga was lucky that it had been her to make such an asinine suggestion and not someone else. I wanted to yell at her and make her cry in fear but I couldn't. She was someone I respected far too much to do that. My face couldn't hide my anger, though, and she barely managed to stop herself from flinching.
"I won't tell anyone." Saga promised.
"I know." I replied.
"You wouldn't have told me if you thought I would."
"No."
Now would be the time to wait for Jash while carrying on with my life. One day, I knew, Jash would find me. He wouldn't let something as silly as reality stop him. He had been through far too much and would go through so much more for me.
"We'll let the FBC take our case." I said. "At least that's something normal I can figure out."
"You'll go with Jash when he finally comes?" Saga asked.
"You're a good agent, Saga, I doubt I can teach you everything. Besides, he won't show up on my doorstep tomorrow."
No comments:
Post a Comment