Chapter 39: Chapter 39

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"No vas a morir. Quieren ayudarlo."

"Gracias."

"Estará bien." Jenson gave the guy's lean arm a quick pat and glanced down at the thick silver restraints keeping the guy still on the lab chair.  "Just do what they tell you to do."

"Okay." The dark-haired kid nodded weakly as his droopy eyes stared back at Jenson.

At first glance, no one would suppose this teenager had killed people before—his own parents, according to the kid's most recent straitjacket confession.  The new, expensive drugs physically sedated him now, but without suppressing the bouts of clarity, said the medical staff.

This one just didn't look like the dangerous kind.  Not predatory at all.  He didn't even look like he was half of Darren's weight.

Jenson backed away and glanced over the kid's condition.

Skinny.  Pale.  Face and hands scarred.  Bruises covered up by a blue patient gown.  Dark circles around his eyes.  Bound to a chair.  Trapped in a dim, cold laboratory.  Practically drugged senseless.

It was just the protocol.  Sure.  The medical staff and orderlies had to make sure "the subject" was confined in a controlled setting practically 24/7...until the kid showed better cognitive functions and improvements in his psychological state.

"Just hang tight. They're gonna look after you for a while."

"Gracias." A tear ran down the young guy's cheek as his pale eyelids gave in to gravity.  The drugs were taking over.  Again.

For a quiet moment, Jenson could only stare at his face.

Then the uniformed medical staff marched into the room, ready to fulfill their duties for the day.

Time for him to leave.  Visiting hours over.  Jenson looked at the patient one last time before he walked out the glass door.

The kid should be fine.  For now.  The staff knew what to do.

He had convinced Magnus and the others to transfer the orphan to this remote asylum due to the maximum security—instead of killing the teen right then and there.

Jenson sighed as he walked along the narrow  hallway.   He just couldn't shoot and kill the kid that night.  That moment he saw the teenager curled up in a ditch, crying to himself.

Crying for help.  All bloody and starving.  Injured.  Freezing cold in the middle of the woods on that rainy night.

Good thing Darren and the other guys didn't get all trigger-happy.  Darren actually waited for his confirmation whether they should spare the rogue's life or just off and bury the kid in a muddy grave somewhere.

"D'you give 'em the green light?" Darren turned on the engine.

"What?" Jenson got in the passenger seat, scowling  at his sweater-clad company of one sitting behind the wheel.  He didn't expect the question, but maybe Darren was just curious.  "No."

"Why not?"

"He just needs proper treatment."  And patience and care.  Lots of it.  Not death.

"The first doctor said he's a serious danger to himself and others. Hopeless case." Darren tsk-ed a few times.  They drove out of the parking lot now.

"He's just a kid, man."

"A kid who bit me twice and had no problem murdering his parents in bed while they slept."

"The meds didn't work then 'cause they didn't bother to check if he's got past trauma and other serious issues."  Paranoid schizophrenia, for starters.

"Ayt, man."  Darren chuckled.

"What?" Jenson turned to frown at his seatmate.  Did he say something funny?

"Nothing."  Darren itched the small white scars on his forearm.  The scars were from the kid's bite marks.  "You're turning soft, is all."

"Meaning?"

"You know how much it costs to keep him in there for another couple months."

"If your brother-in-law can afford mansions in every continent, pretty sure he could shell out a few thousand bucks every year for medical bills."  Jenson sat back and looked out the tinted window.  "I'll pay for it if I have to."

"Did he say anything?"

"Magnus?"

"Chino. The kid."

"Not much."

Darren let out a sigh. "Reminds you of you back then, huh? Back in your hometown?  In Italy?"

"I guess." Jenson glanced at his friend.  The mindless beast they said the kid had become did remind him of his unpleasant childhood.

But growing up in a shitty home wasn't the kid's fault.  He was just a victim of bad parenting and a bad environment.  A miserable and often lethal combination.

"Except old age is kinda makin' you soft now," Darren muttered with a smirk that narrowed his baggy brown eyes.  "And you spending too much time with your new BFF."

"What?"

Who was he yapping about? Jessiah?

"She called me up once. Charm. Just to ask if you and Jessi are, uh, y'know..."

Jenson scoffed.  Surprise, surprise...  "And what'd you say?" he sighed in reply.

"That she's just being paranoid. Tried to calm her down.  She sounded like she'd been crying."

Putting on a show, more like.  "She prolly wants me to beg her to come back."

"Beg?" Darren snorted and almost beat a red light. They were speeding along the highway now, on their way back to Los Angeles. "Why? You dumped her?"

"Last month.  Texted her if she wanted her stuff sent to her place in Beijing.  Ignored me for days.  Then she calls me one night, just to say she's going on vacation with Vanessa."

"Shit." Darren stared at him in disbelief.  "Really? You dumped Charmaine van den Hoven through text. The heck..." He chuckled.  "Wow. That's just stone cold, man."

Jenson shrugged casually.  "She cheated. Again. What d'you expect me to do?"

"Oh. Ouch."  Darren made a face.  "I thought it was just her job, and, the long-distance thing. Didn't see that one coming."

"I did."

"Anyhoo!" Darren cleared his throat after an awkward silence.  They drove past a truck  and sped along the interstate now.  "Joking aside, what you guys do, hunting down the unstable ones and the total maniacs...  Shit, man." Darren forced a throaty laugh. "Not easy at all. Respect." He held out his knuckle for a fist-bump.

"Never said it was." Jenson tapped Darren's clenched fist with his as he tamed a scowl.  He wouldn't call all those rogues total maniacs.  Not every case was the same as the last one.

But at least Darren kinda understood his job now.  At face value, Darren didn't look bewildered by what he experienced that night in the woods.  But he might have been dealing with some post-traumatic issues  after what he witnessed and went through.

Like him, Darren just didn't like showing his vulnerable side.  Despite being a child of divorce, Darren and Evie grew up with a pretty comfortable upbringing.  Certainly not used to doing the dirty jobs for the clan's sake.  Magnus also grew up with a silver spoon, but his background was an entirely different story.

"Glad you guys turned out okay," Jenson muttered after almost a minute of complete silence.  "No cap."

"Had to pop sleeping pills for a week, but then, I thought...I kinda needed that reality check. Y'know?" Darren grinned and switched gears.  "Thanks."

"You really didn't feel any symptoms? But you tested positive the first time?"

"Yeah. Just headaches. Or maybe they're just hangover headaches. I dunno..." Darren shrugged faintly. "Evie told me about the trials. Purebloods had stronger natural immunity, sure, but the halflings who took their pills regularly passed with flying colors, too."

"Yeah. Magnus told me about the tests."  Jenson looked out the window again.  Having werewolf blood kinda made him proud after finding out about the trials' results, despite the lifelong issues they had to deal with just for being halflings.

Too bad he couldn't force Jessi to take his meds to protect her from the viral disease.  It was a huge relief that she didn't need to be in the ICU, though.

Most of the time he felt like it was his responsibility to look after her, since her family lived far away and Jessi was basically living alone here in LA, testing the waters and working hard to support herself.

She never failed to show him how much she appreciated his help,  and he liked that a lot about her.  But now she wanted to leave California and go home.  She had a list of reasons, and he understood her choice.

But it just annoyed him that she didn't want to tell him everything.  "I gotta go back to New York soon." Jenson glanced to his left, only to be disappointed by the sight of Darren opening a beer can in front of the wheel.  "Come on, dude. It's barely six."

"What?" Darren snickered and took a sip.  "It's just root beer."

"Yeah. Right."

"It is!" Darren insisted.  "Wait. Why go back? I thought you found the missing sister."

"Her fiancé's house, yeah. Couldn't get near her, though. They got bodyguards all the time. Couldn't get a clinic appointment, either. She's always busy. Always in training."

"Magnus wants to take her to Belgrade? To see Ilya?"

"Yeah. Prolly just to force her to sign off the will." Jenson budged in his seat to regard his friend again.

Darren looked like he'd lost weight.  The tiny, pinkish bumps on his skin coupled with the dark bags under his eyes also said much.  But he didn't reek of alcohol or hard drugs today.  Surprisingly.

"Are you still using?"

"No." Darren pouted after glancing at him.  "Why?"

Jenson pulled a face.  "When's the last time?"

"It was just a joint," Darren murmured with knitted brows.  "Last week. Why?"

"I was serious, when I said I'd take you to rehab."

"Yeah. I know." Darren grinned faintly for a moment as their vehicle slowed down on the side of the road.  Checkpoints again. "How's Jessi? All good?"

"I guess."  Jenson absently stared at the dimming horizon, imagining what his soon-to-be ex-assistant was doing at the moment.

Jessi must be alone in her apartment, already packing some of her things, or sorting out some stuff with her landlord.

Thinking of her leaving LA soon still upset him.  But he was trying to be cool with it.  He had no right to stop her from leaving.  It was her life.  He shouldn't be mad at her for choosing to quit this soon.

Maybe he just got so used to seeing her almost every day, spending hours and hours with him in his office, tending to his needs and helping him out with his responsibilities.

Or maybe he just loved the normalcy and calmness he felt whenever she was around, her attitude on the job, her niceness and caring personality,  as well as her trust in him despite his and Darren's shady behaviors.

Considering all the dirt she had on him and Darren, Jessi could drag their careers to utter filth with little effort at any time.  But she didn't.  Never even tried.

Loyal, understanding, and forgiving to a fault.  She deserved better than how he treated her—gaslighting and manipulating her in multiple ways.  Whenever he wanted.

Weird how he felt so guilty for it now.  He didn't waste this much time debating the consequences of his actions or how he treated other people.  Whenever he wanted something done, he'd get it done no matter what.

"How's work?"

"She's quitting."

"What? Jess? Why?" Darren almost yelled.

"She wants to go back home. Thinks she'll be safer there. Plus it's way cheaper to live there, she said."

"You didn't give her a raise?"

"I did." Jenson sighed.  "I offered twice."

"But she didn't change her mind?"

"Ask her next month."

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