Chapter 3: Suspicion
First, Jaeger stopped by a local place hidden down the stairs in a back alley. Cheap but delicious food to put it simply. He knew the guy that owned the place, and had worked for him to find out about an employee that had died outside the business. Since then, he got to eat however much he wanted. The man also constantly joked about Jaeger needing to meet his daughter but was always declined.
Didn't stop the guy from asking though.
"Client will be here, back room is open for ya…you know the deal" The man gave him free food, but after Jaeger pestered the shit out of him he acquiesced and accepted money to use a backroom for meetings. It was a casual place, and was overlooked by most so for a majority of his clients he met them here.
Not long after Jaeger arrived, ate, and drank a little bit did a man appear in a cloak. He stepped through the front door, and yet the man at the front cleaning the tables acted as if he never heard the door jingle. The cloaked man walked into the backroom, closing it silently behind himself before pulling his hood back revealing a large scarred face.
"So…what did you find out."
"The old man was from the far regions, cities of magic indeed…near to his death bed, when I came to find exactly where he was hidden he had set fire to the building and left. 2 inquisitors had already arrived at the scene so I had no chance to explore the place at first, after coming back I found nothing at all but old photos of a family from 30 plus years ago. They took everything soon after that.
"I see…what else." The man for some reason felt like more was there, Jaeger felt a little uneasy to the man's vibe. He had never given his name either, from his look and the fact of the cloak and the air around him he got the jist that this man had powers and was from the upper echelon.
"Ya actually…I had followed previous traces of the man, he seemed to always hang in places that were around the sewers of the city. I don't know whether or not this was pertinent, but the distance to the large sewer gates dotting the city…were always the same in each place he lived. .6 kilometers. I never found any hidden tunnels, but it seemed he had stayed in the basement of the last place as it had the least amount of dust. The next lead would be exploring the sewers…"
"I see…here's some money" The man dropped a bag on the table with a jingle and left.
"Wait…" Jaeger stopped him with a wave.
The man turned around and glanced at him with a questioning look.
"What about the old man are you looking for? If I know what I am looking for, I know what traces to look for, magical equipment? Spell residue? Circles? You only ever told me his name, and his look and styles."
"That doesn't matter…don't ask more then you need to know" The man's eyes darted to the door and looked it over, "It won't be worth it…" He sounded conflicted, sad even, and this perplexed Jaeger who slowly lowered his hand to his side.
"Alright…I'll get back to you as soon as I uncover anything." Jaeger nodded and shrugged his shoulders.
"Good…" The man whipped his hood up and turned the door knob before disappearing as soon as he came.
'Hmm…I know what the old man told me…but there is something else about all this, not that they need it…but why they need the book and its magic's.' Jaeger left the room, waving to the shop owner.
"Wait! My daughter finally arrived, come on through all this time you ain't going to at least SEE her? Come on" He smiled sincerely; Jaeger was a smart and capable man. What dad wouldn't want a man who lived independent and had unique skills? Who also made sure to pay his do's even when not asked to.
Jaeger sighed, lighting up a smoke before walking over to a table and plopping down into one of its comfortable cushions that surrounded it.
The man brought over some coffee, ripe with the scent of accelerants. A magical brew of sorts.
A girl walked in, shaking her body vigorously over a drain to get most of the water off her before hanging her rain jacket and umbrella up. Jaeger spit his coffee out onto the table, and tossed his cigarrete straight out the window touching the ground on street level. He wiped his face and the table in a flash, the man looked with his eye brows touching his hair line as Jaeger moved about like lightning.
Right as she turned around Jaeger whipped back into his seat, and a calm look covered his face as he sipped his coffee leisurely.
He looked up at her as if he hadn't even noticed, except she smiled stepping to the right to show a mirror that pointed in his direction at an angle.
"Shit…forgot that was there."
She walked over, waved her dad away and lit up a smoke. It seemed she smoked as well.
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Jaeger woke up the next morning, his arm had long gone numb from the head that was laying upon it. He didn't mind though.
"Why didn't I take up the old man's offer sooner…" Jaeger berated himself silently.
Alexandra, or from how she liked to be called Lexie. What a beautiful name for a gorgeous girl.
"He could've…shown me a photo at least." He sighed with a light laugh, Lexie turned over and looked at him. Her bare skin couldn't be felt on his numb arm, but her robust chest could be felt pressed against him.
"What are you up to today?" She asked in a light sarcastic tone tinged with a flavor of jovial fervor.
"I…gotta go walk around the shit holes around the city, I got a lead to for a client." He didn't lead on with it all, she had already heard from her dad he was a person who investigated things for people.
"Sounds pretty shitty" She smiled and got up pulling the blanket with her. Jaeger didn't shiver, something about the cold of rain only filled him with energy as cool fresh air blew into the room from the cracked window. She stood there, looking out to the neon signs covering the city in lights. A light glow illuminated the wall next to her each time she breathed in.
Jaeger felt a strange pull in his heart, 'Was this love by fate? Like the story of my dad, just so sudden?' Jaeger didn't know, didn't care to find out either. Right now he gazed at her, looked over the curves that poked out from her blanket with a slight smirk on his face.
Jaeger got up and made some coffee, she looked back at his naked ass as he danced around with coffee beans and water. He stood waiting as the coffee brewed, grabbed the only two cups he had and poured them both a cup.
"You like creamer?" He asked pulling out something he rarely ever bought. It was a sugary concoction that had rose in use as of late. To seem in the now, he had bought some last night.
"Yeah sure what flavor?" She tossed her smoke to the streets below and walked over to the table.
"Vanilla…I'm kind'ove addicted to the flavor of it. When I can, I lace my smokes with it too…I know, weird right?"
"Wanna know a funny thing? I'm the same way with mint haha" She poured some creamer in both their cups before they slugged it back together.
"Come find me at my dad's business, ill be working there from now on…quit my last job."
Jaeger nodded to her, they got dressed and parted ways at the street.
"Alexandra…Alexandra…fuck she's great." He jiggled his cigarrete container and found it empty, sighing he walked to the closest shop.
"You got vanilla lace? I'll buy it all." The shop keep raised an eyebrow, but after this kid had come in for countless months he knew he was an addict to the flavor, he sold them all at a cheap price.
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Jaeger walked forwards through the rain, thinking more about his new abilities and Alexandra who rivaled it in all ways.
He went to an overhang, lighting a smoke to take in with the fresh air. People were murmuring around him, he wasn't in any rush and eaves dropped on their conversations.
"You hear? The fog rolled in the north this time…they say 3 disappeared this time…one of em was a homeless man that everyone knew in the area and helped out. He wasn't some nut either…the first time, it was only 1 person and so most assumed it was just a murder like the regular business around the lower regions beneath the scrapes"
'Scrapes' was a casual term people used towards the ground region of the city when they referred to the sky scrapers that went up into the clouds. The tallest buildings were supposedly a 100 stories tall or more or even 250. The 'ground region' was from the ground to the tenth floor. The middle region, which made up a lot of the neon lights was a cascade of walkways and platforms stretching between levels creating a city within a city. There was litterly that much ground in the middle region to walk upon, it could be considered a second city. However, past that, only few scrapes connected by walkways if those scrapers were in cahoots.
Not a lot were. However, the more that were connected far above the more influence was obviously shown about them.
The middle region was the playground for both the ground region and the high region.
Jaeger lived in a building 9 stories up, just short of the mid regions lowest sections.
"Fog…people being kidnapped or is it merely coincidence?" Jaeger walked over.
"I'm an investigator looking into one of their deaths…what kind of fog is this, we have fog all the time? Especially at ground level."
The man looked at him strangely but drew in close while looking around, low in whisper,
"It isn't normal fog…I hear its slightly darker, almost like storm clouds…its colder too."
"I see…thank you."
Jaeger mulled over this as he went closer to the sewer drain, an escape for many of the underground. This included merchant travel routes for black market, drug addicts, homeless, you name it. Every city had one. He peered into the darkness through the inch thick bars and gate as tall as his own height.
"Damn" Jaeger covered his mouth and lifted the gate.