"Jayce, he can't breathe!" Samantha rushed and lowered his arm, "Jayce!" He snapped out of the moment he was in. He dropped the man and looked around, "Are you okay?" He asked Samantha.
"Yeah," she replied.
"You Ruzanna?" Jayce asked her and she nodded her head.
"Come on, let's get off here," Samantha picked up her bag. "Yeah," Jayce stood still.
"Jayce?" Ruzanna asked. Jayce went to one of the men lying there. He searched him for his phone, took it out of his pants and dialled a number. "I need an ambulance on Berkeley way. Yeah, some guys jumped on me and I fought them back in self-defence. Alright." he hung up and put the phone back in that guy's pocket.
"Jayce, come on," Samantha called him. He was halfway to the car when he stopped. "You two go ahead, I'll be right back."
"What are you doing?" Samantha asked.
"We don't have much time, go!" He ran back to the alley and looked for the man in charge. Everyone was either knocked out or groaning in pain there. He went close to him and tapped on him, "Can you walk?", he didn't get an answer. Jayce tossed the man over his shoulder and ran back to the car where Samantha and Ruzana were waiting for him.
Ruzanna and Samantha got out of the car, "What are you doing?" Ruzanna asked.
"I need to question him."
"Don't you think the cops can do that better than you?" Samantha questioned.
"Yes, but if the cops get him they'll keep him and I won't get my answers without getting involved with the cops." He took him to the trunk. "Open the trunk." He said to Samantha.
"What is it that you want from him?"
"Sweetheart, he is heavy, I'll explain everything to you on the road, just open the trunk for now."
She sighed and opened it and helped him put the man in the trunk. "Thanks," Jayce said softly. "You better know what you're doing." She walked back into the car. Jayce tapped the man again and this time the man moaned. "You make a sound and I'll pull your tongue out, try to escape and I'll hunt you down. Understood?" Jayce threatened him and the man nodded. Jayce knocked him to sleep, shut the trunk and went into the car, "You're not driving?" he asked Samantha, putting his seatbelt on.
"Just drive." She said,
"Where to, Ruzanna?" He started the car, Ruzanna was frightened by all this.
Jayce started driving.
"What was it?" Ruzanna asked.
"Some guys tried to hurt us and we hurt them back, in self-defence." Jayce was calm.
"She meant why are you taking him with us?" Samantha said.
"So that I can question him before handing him to the cops."
"But why?"
"Because I wanna know what the hell he wanted from us. Aren't you at least curious how he knew our names and what in the hell he wanted from us?"
"Fine," She rolled her eyes. "Now where can I drop you, Ruzanna?", "Blake street."
"Are you sure about this?" Samantha's concern was clear in her voice.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He assured her.
After dropping Ruzanna, Jayce started driving towards Mark's home. "Jayce, what's going on?" Samantha asked. "Not this again. I told you, I'm taking this dude for questioning, to Mark's."
"I'm not talking about that,"
"Something was off about you when you were in that alley, fighting them."
"Really? Everything looked normal to me."
"I don't know, maybe I'm just freaking out."
"Hey, I'm alright," he took her hand and placed it on his cheek. "Stop worrying so much." He kissed it.
"You're right." She relaxed a bit, "How are you going to get him to talk anyway?"
"That's why I'm taking him to Mark. About time he put his abilities to use."
"Do you think he can do this?"
"We both know he was stronger than most of his people, so yeah, he should be able to get him talking."
"Jayce,", "Mhm?" He replied.
"Hell of a first date, huh?"
Jayce laughed, "True, but it was also the best one we've ever had."
She chuckled.
"Why a diplomat?"
"Uh… because diplomacy used to run in my veins I guess, and who knows, I might run for president someday."
"President Jayce Clark," She announced.
"Sounds good, right?"
"No comments."
"What? It does,"
"I didn't say anything."
"You're mean."
"No, I'm not." She said and Jayce stopped the car. They reached Mark's but there were people on the street.
"Any suggestions on how we can move him into the house without being noticed by the people on the street?"
"Don't look at me, all this was your idea."
"See? right there, mean." He called Mark.
"Hey, Jayce, shouldn't you be with Samantha right now?" Mark answered with a question.
"I am with her."
"Oh, so what's up?"
"I'm parked outside your house and I need to get someone into your house without being seen by the people around here."
"You started kidnapping people now?"
"Something like that."
"Haha, seriously who is it?"
"You can ask him yourself once we're in."
"Yeah hold on, let me make some space in the garage. I'll text you once I'm done."
"See? That's what friends do. Help without questions."
"Yeah, but I'm not your friend. Am I?"
"No, you're not." He leaned towards her.
"Who am I?" She leaned in. When they were inches away from each other Mark knocked on the window.
Mark knocked on the window, "Hey,"
"Perfect timing," Jayce rolled the window down.
"Uh…" Samantha laughed.
"Woah, what happened to you?"
"How about we talk inside?"
Mark led them into the garage and closed the shutter behind them. Jayce turned off the engine and went to the trunk.
"Mark, help me get him out."
"What the hell. You actually kidnapped someone! I thought you were kidding!"
"Relax and lower your voice. Someone might hear you."
"Jayce, what the heck dude? Why is there a man in the back of your car?"
"Mark, trust me, it's alright. Now help me get him out of it."
Mark and Jayce got the man out of the trunk and tied him on a chair there, "Are you gonna tell me who he is and why you brought him here?"
Jayce told Mark everything about the evening, "And you brought a mobster to my house because?"
"I need your help figuring out why he was after me."
"Can't you just ask him yourself?"
"I can, but then I wouldn't know if he's telling the truth or not. Besides, it's about time you prove yourself useful to the team."
"What?"
"Just kidding."
"Fine, what should I ask him?"
"Ask him who he is, how did he know our names and what did they want from us."
Jayce took a step back. "Hey, wake up," Mark woke the guy. The man regained consciousness and became scared at the sight of Jayce, "that should help." Mark said.
"Hey there, I'm Mark. I believe you've already met my friends here."
"So you're the third one then." the man's voice trembled.
"You know me? Who are you and how do you know us?" Mark was bewildered.
"I'm not telling you anything." He looked at Jayce.
"We haven't asked anything yet," Samantha said.
"I know what you're going to ask. Who I am? Who do I work for?"
"You work for someone?" Jayce asked.
"As if you didn't know."
"Well I had my suspicions but I wasn't sure until now."
The man took a breath, "You're not getting anything else out of me."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Mark came between the two. "Take your shot,"
Mark looked into his eyes, "Let's start with something simple, it's a lovely night isn't it?"
"Yes, what are you doing?" the guy asked.
"What's your name?"
"Andrey. What are you doing to me?"
"How do you know us?"
"M-My boss told me about you. Please don't do this."
"Don't do what? Who is your boss?"
"Questioning me. Viktor Lermontov."
"How does Viktor know about us?"
"I don't know,"
"What did you want from Jayce?"
"We. W-we were ordered to get the sword from him."
"What sword?"
"I don't know,"
"Okay. Tell me what you do know."
"Three days ago Viktor called us with his name," He looked at Jayce, " he told us to get the sword in his possession by any means necessary. He gave us his address, told us he would probably have a girl and a guy by his side. He told us to be careful and bring at least ten men to get the sword."
"But there were only five of you." Samantha pointed.
"Yes, because we have been following him for the past two days and he did not seem anything more than just a kid. So I only brought five of my men, just in case, but I was wrong, I should have brought more men."
"Well, you did manage to bruise me," Jayce showed him the bruise on his left cheek, "so there's that."
"What do we do with him now?" Mark asked them.
"We don't need him anymore, you know what to do," Jayce answered.
"What. Wait. What are you going to do to me? I told you everything I know." The man panicked.
"Relax Andrey, We're not gonna kill you if that's what you're thinking." Mark made him forget about them and told him to surrender himself to the cops as he untied his bonds.
Jayce went into the living room where he sat on the couch occupied with his thoughts and Samantha followed him. "What're you thinking?" she asked.
"I was just thinking about this sword Andrey wanted from me." He rested his head on her lap. "Someone's out there who thinks that I have something that I don't even know of. Who is this person?"
"That's what you're worried about?"
"No, it's not that. I can deal with them but I just don't like the fact that this person knows about me. He knew where I live and he knew about you two. God knows what else he knows."
She ran her hand through his hair, "Anyone with enough money and motive could have found those details. It's no big deal. It's probably some rich brat who collects antiquities and got fed some wrong intel."
"You're right but I just have this feeling that I know this sword?"
She took his hand, "Do you have any sword in your possession?"
"No."
"Then it's just a feeling, sleep it off."
Mark walked in, "Am I disturbing something?" "What?", "No." Both of them said,
"I'll look into this Viktor guy but what's this sword they are after?" He asked.
"We have no idea," Samantha answered. "I see, you need anything, Jayce?"
Jayce had drifted to sleep. "Jayce," Samantha called, "Jayce,"
"Mmm," He moaned. "Go get cleaned up then I'll drop you home."
"Right," Jayce got up and steadily moved to the washroom. "He could've just spent the night here, you know," Jayce heard Mark talk to Samantha as he left, "Yes but all our clothes and books are in our apartments and it's Monday tomorrow." She replied.
In the washroom, Jayce washed his face and the mild water felt refreshing to him. Then he noticed why Samantha asked him to get cleaned up. His fists were bloody, his shirt messed up with spots of blood on it and he had a bruise on his face. Only now, he felt the pain from all the beatings he took earlier. "Ah," he moaned softly as he cleaned his bruise. Then he washed his fists and set his hair. When he looked in the mirror as he was about to leave, he saw his eyes were turned black and his iris were amber red, it startled him, "Yuh, Ereck," the right half of his face gave a faint smile and then everything went back to normal. "Weirdo," Jayce said and got out of the washroom.
As he approached the living room, Samantha and Mark were still talking about something only now it seemed more serious, "You worry too much," Mark said.
"That's what I keep telling her." Jayce joined them, "but what is she worried about this time now?"
"It's nothing, Jayce, are you ready to go?" She replied.
"Yeah,"
"Alright then, see you two tomorrow and I'll see what I can find about Viktor." Mark wished them goodnight and walked them to the car.
"Goodnight, Mark." They said as they set off.
"You wanna come up?" Jayce asked her once they reached his building.
"Um… I'd love to but you really should get some rest, maybe next time." she denied.
"You're right, I should." They kissed goodnight and he opened the door, "Hey, by the way, did you put the spell on Ereck down?"
"Uh, no, why?"
"Huh, I could have sworn I saw him." He said to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing, I think I was hallucinating. Must have hit my head in that alley."
"What are you talking about?"
"I think I saw Ereck in the mirror back when I was cleaning up at Mark's washroom today."
"You sure it was Ereck?"
"Well, not anymore, it couldn't have been him because you were just in the next room ergo I must have been hallucinating."
"Yes, you must…"
"Anyway, see you in the morning." He kissed her and hopped out of the car. Samantha started the car and left for her home. Jayce waved at her and then went into his apartment and soon Ereck woke up, "Someone had a fun evening."
"You're up but I'm really tired so I'm gonna go to sleep now, so goodnight."
"You can't do that to me,"
"But I am doing it, go back to your slumber."
"And you think I'll do what you say just like that."
"Fine, I'll talk with Samantha about you in the morning. Now let me rest."