Chapter 13: Chapter 13

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The question was not one he was prepared for—nor did he have a proper alibi on hand for the man standing in front of him now.

Jenson hesitated for a second, although he knew his uncle only wanted a straight answer from him.  "Come on in." He opened the front door wider to let Magnus in before the man lost any more of his patience.

When did Magnus find out about the girl?

No one else but Darren knew about the incident. It would be fair to assume that Darren failed to keep his trap shut—again—and spilled the whole thing to Magnus and Evie. Darren just couldn't get his shit together. The idiot.

"Welcome back." Jenson wore a warm smile for his unexpected guest. His nerves were acting up now that Magnus was right in front of him, but the situation was still under control. For now. He shouldn't bother covering up Darren's most recent shenanigan. Jenson gritted his teeth.

He should just tell his uncle the whole truth. It wasn't like he could lie to Magnus, and definitely not to his face. Magnus, being the firstborn of a pureblood vampire and a pureblood werewolf, possessed supernatural abilities they were all quite envious of.

Over the years, rumors had been going around about Magnus having telepathic abilities. But Jenson knew his uncle was more of a herald, and sometimes a straight-up harbinger of bad news—apart from his other extraordinary abilities. He simply watched as Magnus flung his trench coat onto the couch.

Magnus eyed him, faint wrinkles lining his tan forehead as they stood in the dimly lit living room. Magnus was almost two decades older than him, but the guy didn't look like a haggard, workaholic businessman in his 50s. "Did you clean up the hotel room?" he asked with a mild frown. His tone wasn't friendly, making his voice sound a bit deeper than usual, but Magnus didn't seem like he wanted to set something on fire tonight.

Jenson wanted to let out a sigh of relief at the thought. "Of course. She's in the basement," was his calm, fairly polite response to his uncle's curious inquiry. Deep inside, though, Jenson was already imagining the sucker punch he would greet Darren with tomorrow morning.

Darren didn't even care to text him that Magnus was already back here in Cali. The stupid, selfish jerk.

"What did you give her?"

"The usual. Formalin. Some drops of the potion."

"Ah." Magnus kept up a poker face and crossed his muscular arms. At six-foot-five, he towered over almost everyone else, and his buff, hefty physique just made him look more intimidating.

"Worked like a spell." Jenson forced a grin as he stood several feet away. He still felt a tad nervous but his uncle seemed much calmer and less surly compared to his mood the previous weeks.

Did Magnus and Evie get back together?

"Where you been?"

"Belgrade," Magnus sighed before looking away. His steady gaze darted around the room and the corners of the house, as if it was his first time seeing the place.

"Just came back from Belgrade?" Jenson frowned and sat on the armrest of the one-seater beside him.

Did Magnus visit Ilya in Serbia? Why? What for?

Magnus had multiple business ventures, but he didn't prefer doing business outside of America, Italy, and France, as far as Jenson recalled. The main reason? Magnus kind of hated Ilya, his father—a pureblood vamp and a known crime lord in Serbia and Russia. In fact, Magnus had been estranged from his family in Serbia for years now. A decade at least.

Money issues, inheritance-related grievances and whatnot.  "Ilya wanted to talk about something," was Magnus' vague reply.

"Darren called you?" Jenson crossed his arms and held back a sigh of frustration.

"He told Evie. Then she called me."

Of course he did. Typical Darren. Jenson wanted to roll his eyes but chose to feign composure instead. "By the way, about that guy, Drew..."

"Forget about it," Magnus muttered in a more relaxed voice. "Guy's alive. Just hiding from Ilya."

"Hiding?"

"Drew didn't do what Ilya told him to do."

"Which is?" Jenson eyed his uncle, a little more curious about the issue. The most recent information he'd received from his source told him of Drew Mihhailov being one of Ilya's most trusted godsons.

Drew had been working in Hollywood as an actor for quite some time now—a cover for his real identity: a Russian spy for Ilya and his cartel.

"Not important," Magnus replied, sounding bored now. "Did you tie her up?"

"The girl?" Jenson got up from the chair and scowled at the question. Why did he need to restrain the dead girl's body?

With a loud sigh, Magnus stretched his arms and almost rushed out of the living room. "Darren bit her. He was high all night."

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"Darren, you stupid, reckless son of a bitch..." It was all his brain kept reiterating as they stared at the dead girl's body.

Ramona.

Her name was Ramona, Darren said. Stiff and lifeless. The idiot did in fact bite the girl on her groin.

Jenson couldn't help but shake his head in dismay, the disbelief leaving him utterly speechless. He'd known of Darren having fun with recreational drugs, but he didn't expect Darren would be this careless. As he and Magnus stood in front of the pale corpse, Jenson stared at the small bite mark just inches above her female parts.

The wound was almost fully covered by the girl's pubic hair. There was some coagulated blood along the teeth marks, but not enough to catch anyone's attention.

He didn't even suspect that Darren could have bitten the girl last night. Well, for starters, Darren told him he didn't. Which meant Darren just lied to him again. Barefaced and without an ounce of regret. The selfish jerk.

"I apologize," Jenson mumbled as Magnus stepped closer to the girl. "I wasn't thorough."

A large body bag concealed half of her slim legs and arms, with her wispy blonde hair tucked neatly beneath her small head. Dark circles were starting to form around her almond-shaped eyes, while her lips almost looked a pale purple shade. Her flesh still looked supple, though. The potion was still doing its job.

"Too young to die. Too sad to live." Magnus sighed audibly as he touched the young woman's face. His palm covered her entire cheek, right jaw, and half of her forehead. For a moment, he closed his eyes and kept his hand on her pale face.

Jenson watched and kept his mouth shut. He knew well Magnus was a powerful hybrid.

Some of their clan members even believed Magnus had healing powers of some sort. In addition to heightened senses of smell, hearing, and sight, pureblood hybrids like Magnus were also believed to have remarkably strong intuition.  Why did he say the girl was "too sad to live"?

"What d'you mean?"

After letting go of the girl's face, Magnus regarded him with his shadowed, attentive eyes.  "Overdose. Deadly cocktail." He tsk-ed and faintly stroked the girl's jawline. "Alcohol. Ecstasy. Full-blown aneurysm after the bacteria in his saliva entered her bloodstream."

Whoa. Magnus figured it all out just by touching the girl's face?

"Shit." Jenson glanced away. A pang of guilt just hit him, spurring a coiling sensation in his gut. His uncle's deadpan recounting of events from last night gripped his concentration for a tense moment. Jenson wanted to swear out loud, but he refused the tempting urge. If he had been with Darren all night at the party, this might've never happened in the first place.

The girl might still be alive.

"DJ gave her the drugs."

"Yeah. I know." Magnus leaned over and touched a strand of the girl's hair. "Can't access most of her memories because of the drugs in her system."

"That much?"

"Her parents live in Phoenix. Wilborough and Upton Street. Two-storey house."

Jenson could only gawk at his uncle's response. How sure was he? He knew the girl's parents were still alive? Did they report her missing yet?

Dammit. He should call the hacker again.

"Sorry." Jenson palmed his face after he stepped away from the corpse. "Just didn't see this coming."

"I'm not saying it's your fault." Magnus zipped up the body bag, his movements rushed but precise. "Load her in the trunk."

In the trunk? In his car? Jenson froze on the spot. Or did Magnus mean he would get rid of the body himself? "We're taking her somewhere? Tonight?"

"I'll do it." Magnus stared at him with a straight face, his tone full of certainty and self-assurance.

"Oh. Okay."

"Where's Charmaine?"

"Beijing. New merger deal." Jenson slid his forearms under the body bag. She probably didn't weigh more than a hundred pounds. He carried the body out of the basement. He could still smell her perfume; it kind of mixed with the formalin and wolfsbane inside of her. It assaulted his sensitive nostrils, but he couldn't really bitch about it.

Especially not with his uncle all eyes on him at the moment. "Keep an eye on DJ," Magnus said in a more bossy tone. "Make sure he gets his shit together."

"Yeah. Of course," Jenson muttered as they walked out of the basement. Save for their muffled footsteps, the entire house stayed eerily silent when they stepped out of the cold basement.

"Can't afford another screwup this early." Magnus proceeded to the front door after grabbing his coat.

"Yeah." Jenson frowned and kept a snarky comment to himself as he waited for Magnus to open the front door. Good thing their property was miles away from the main road and they bought the most private house and lot with the least number of neighbors. The next house was at least 500 meters away.

Jenson kept quiet as they stood in the dim driveway. At least Magnus didn't give him a shiner or anything.

They loaded the girl's body in his SUV. A long, coffin-like wooden box was waiting in his compartment. The windshield and other windows were heavily tinted. Magnus had always preferred that his vehicles had heavily tinted windows. There should be no problem with the transport.

"Thanks," Jenson muttered after Magnus shut the trunk door.

Instead of replying, Magnus stepped closer to him and touched his forehead with his palm.

"What—" Jenson tried to pull back, but Magnus gripped his shoulder with his other hand, keeping him in place. A surge of concern filled his thoughts for a moment while Magnus held him still. "—are you doing..."

"Trouble in paradise?" Magnus finally backed off. Then he slid his hands into his slacks' pockets while grinning crookedly at his reaction.

"What?" Jenson held his breath.

Magnus probably found out that he and Charmaine had been having relationship troubles lately, just by touching his forehead for a few seconds. It was on another level of creepy and intrusive, but nonetheless impressive.  "Keep your hands to yourself, sport. We don't need another tabloid scandal."

"Huh?"  Another tabloid scandal?   "What scandal?"

"It's fine. Darren's much worse, as we both know." Magnus chuckled and gave his shoulder a few light pats. "Normal to be crushing on a new coworker. Just don't get carried away."

Crushing on a new coworker? What the heck? Did he mean he was crushing on one of their new crew members?

As he tried to make sense of the cryptic advice, Jenson stood alone in his driveway and watched as his uncle walked towards the driver's side.

Did Magnus just warn him of a scandalous affair in the future? Involving him? Or Darren?

Shit.

"Jenson?" Magnus just pushed the ignition button.

"Yeah?" Distracted, Jenson stepped forward and stood outside the driver's seat. The soft hum of the expensive vehicle didn't do much to ease his alarmed brain. What coworker was he talking about?

"I'm gonna be busy with something all month. Find my sister. Track her down."

Sister?  "What?" Jenson made a face and backed away to stare at his uncle's well-defined profile. "You have a sister?"

"Ilya's only daughter."

Jenson squinted at his uncle's poker-faced reply.

"Halfling. The mother's all human.  The girl's in New York.  Or so he says," Magnus mumbled with slightly pouting lips as he blankly stared at the dashboard.

"Wha— How old? How did he know she's in New York?" Ilya's got a daughter in New York? And a dhampirica?

"Trusted source," Magnus replied coolly. "He met her in Belgrade a few months ago, said she's studying medicine in New York."

"Really?"

"Just find out where and send me her current address. She did some modeling jobs in Milan. Contact her agencies. Your people might know her former bosses, or one of her agents."

"Yeah. Okay." Jenson nodded. His schedule was going to be hectic again for the rest of the year, but of course he couldn't say no.

"Funny," Magnus then murmured with a slanted grin. "Never met her. But, I can almost feel her."

"What d'you mean?"

"She's nearby. I just don't know where exactly." Magnus scratched the tip of his aquiline nose. "Or why."

"Ilya told you to find her?"

"Soonest possible."

"Why?" Jenson pulled a face. "But, you know her full name?"

"Mykaela Leviste Nielsen. Nickname's Kel."

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