Paranoia!

"So quick?" Jasmine"s voice rang out from the back seat, her shapely leg curled over the other, "What did you talk about?" her eyes narrowed, knowing that it had to do with her, something had happened and apparently she was in the midst of this drama she was unaware of, f.u.c.king perfect.

Peering over at her from the rearview mirror, he drawled, "Nothing you should be worried about." he shifted his gaze upon a confused yet curious Jane who was maneuvering the vehicle through the streets, "And no, mom, I"m not going to tell you neither." he continued, which earned him a pout from the latter.

"Oh c"mon Jeddy, be a good boy and tell momma everything," she smiled while whirling the wheel to her left, "Did you get into an altercation with Alaric?" she rose an eyebrow.

"First, don"t call me that thank you very much. Second, no, we just had a lovely discussion regarding Jasmine"s sudden... drop in health."

"Oh, have you seen him, mom?" Jasmine b.u.t.ted in with a smirk, "So protective of me." she crossed her arms, her feet dangling.

Jane matched her smirk with one of her own as she glimpsed at a frowning Jered, "I"m sure you"d be there for me should I ever need your help, right?" she teasingly asked, not really paying her question much attention, however, Jered was rather peevish concerning this kind of subject, so without even thinking he snapped his head around, and answered in the utmost serious tone he had ever spoken with.

"Do not joke about it, mom, you"re making it sound as if it wasn"t obvious that I"d carpet the streets in red should you ask me." the words left his mouth before he could stop them, instantly regretting phrasing it like that, subtlety was not his forte when he was humorless, especially when the perpetrator behind the question was someone more than capable to stir his usual emotionlessness.

"Pfft hahaha." Jane burst in peals of melodious chuckles, "That was... so edgy..." nonetheless her smile softened, "But thank you, sweetie. I appreciate it." and she did indeed, the fact that her son cared about her so much was a positive matter, that despite her absence from her children lives she managed to retain a bit of that familial love she was desperately missing in her life, something she now knew had to latch onto and never let go.

Jered heaved a sigh of relief, knowing she hadn"t taken his word seriously, yet he felt even more caged than before. Hiding his true nature from his own family was slowly cracking him up from the inside, it was like a c.o.c.ktail between fear and anxiety, sprinkled in with a bit of hope.

Leaning his head on the cold gla.s.s of the window, he felt his eyes tracking up at the pa.s.sing buildings framed by a serene and cloudless sky, where he knew the crow was flying on, though he didn"t catch her shadow.

"So, what shall we eat?" his trail of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by his mother"s voice, "No junk food, please," she added ruefully.

"But mooom..." Jasmine whined, "We hardly eat them anyway, might as well order something so that we don"t trouble you, you"re tired, aren"t you?" she inquired.

Jane rolled her eyes, "I"m not that old that I can"t handle making lunch, now go wash up." she said whilst drawing up the car inside the garage, pulling on the handbrake.

"Fine..." the younger woman groused, stepping out of the car before heading inside the house, "Jered, come with me." she looked at him from the corner of her eyes while beckoning him to follow her.

"Coming..." he unfastened his seat belt, whereupon he opened the door to reach his sister, if a hand hadn"t suddenly stopped him, that is.

"Umh, wait a minute, Jered," Jane prompted.

"What"s the matter, mom?"

"Nothing, son. Just wanted to thank you." her smile was infectious for one mirrored its way on his face right away, "I know things have been... tumultuous between us, I guess?" she laughed, "Your father"s death must"ve struck you hard." she continued, yet he couldn"t help but notice that she said "You", not "Us", as if inferring she wasn"t as saddened by her husband"s - aka their father"s - death as them, but he choose to ignore it.

"I hope this is the start where... we finally turn back as a family once again," she locked her eyes onto his, "Hopefully no drama will ensue again between us." she took out her car keys, "We gotta thrive on, and I"m sure we"ll find some ways to deal with all of our problems."

"Yes, hopefully."

━━━━━━▲━━━━━━

The sound of a kitchen"s knife rhythmically clapping against a wooden tray wafted into Jasmine"s room as both she and Jered were sitting on her bed facing each other, the latter with a contemplative expression etched on his face.

"So... Jasmine, apparently, you are a Death Apostle."

"I"m a what?"

"I don"t know exactly how, but you"ve been baptized in Death Energy, or so Alaric told me." Jered interlaced his fingers together to bolster his chin up, "I know... it"s hard to believe, but..." he turned his hand around upon which a small green flame flickered to life, much to her growing surprise, "There"s no trick behind this, Jasmine, and we need to deal with your problem."

"Oh..." Jasmine was dazed for a moment, slowly absorbing the information she"s been told, no matter how ridiculous it was, "This is real..."

"Yes, sis, it is..."

"And... how did you, I mean... were you always like this?"

"No, and I apologize but the details regarding how and why I"m able to so must stay concealed," he said with a tone of finality, the consequences were not something he had the afford to scoff at, "Either way, you"re in it too." he switched the topic onto her, "And... I"d rather not let you know, but you can"t be oblivious of it... Jasmine, I don"t know when but people will come looking for you. With no good intentions."

"..." her face scrunched up in horror at the cruel realization that her life had turned upside down in the timespan of a day, before her delicate features stretched up in anger, "That b.i.t.c.h! She knew it! She f.u.c.king knew it! And she even went along with it!" she grabbed her hair in frustration, her face heating up in a few shades of red, "Argh! I will kill her!" she made to stand up but was stopped mid-way, "Jered?"

"Calm down." he said those words as if he had swallowed a lemon, totally unwilling, but forced to, "We--" he was cut off.

"Calm down!?" she lashed out, tears welling up at the corner of her eyes before they drifted down on her cheeks, "You can"t be serious, Jered!" she gritted her teeth, "What did they do to me? Why did they do that to me!?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice down but it was becoming harder and harder as she ranted, "Will... will someone kill me? Why? Why!?" she broke down in sobs as her body poured all of her energy into that last word, her legs giving in as she slumped on the floor in a disheveled heap of grief.

She covered her face, her shoulders quivering. Blissful ignorance was what she had been basking in, because her knowledge, or the lack thereof, kept her in smiles despite knowing something befell upon her. Now she knew the severity of his concern, and she knew Jered wouldn"t joke on something like this.

Jered crouched down near her, barely caging back the unbridled desire to release his fury onto Alaric and his family, as he wrapped his arms around Jasmine, nesting her against his chest.

"Shh..." he cooed, "Don"t cry, Jasmine, no matter what, we"ll go through this s.h.i.t together." he tightened his embrace, "And I won"t leave Alaric off the hook, of that I a.s.sure you." he softly whispered, which seemed to ease her a bit as she grasped onto his shirt.

Sniffing, she released herself from Jered, keeping him at arm"s length. Her face smudged with stripes of mascara, her eyes puffy and moist with unshed tears, "Thank you...." she twitched her cute nose while wiping away the mess off of her face, "I wet your s.h.i.t..." she furrowed her brow, her voice dull yet it couldn"t erase the sorrowful gleam on her eyes.

"Don"t mind the shirt, Jasmine, how are you feeling?" Jered probed whilst supporting her body up.

"How should I feel?" she smiled bitterly, "Are you... are you sure there"ll be people after me?"

"I"m afraid so, sis." Alaric"s words were not foolproof, but that of his system? He couldn"t be careless, "We can expect them once this crystal"s energy depletes." he took out the crystal fragment and handed it to her, "Don"t lose it."

She absentmindedly nodded, "Um."

"Go wash your face." he said, "Lunch should be ready anytime now, and... oh yes, do not tell anything to mom, okay?"

"Um."

Jered sighed, it was evident that she was still scared, who wouldn"t be? Things were spiraling towards an unforeseen direction, and he hoped that he"d get enough power to fend off whoever dared to aim at her. He"ll need to bring his skills" level up, and of course buy new ones, albeit he doubted they"d be any more useful than his Green Flames of Greed, considering his meager amount of points. And information too, being clueless was not good, but his only source of information was Alaric, and he didn"t want to count on the same man he swore to kill.

"Jered?" his sister"s voice rang out, "Are you okay?" she had probably noticed him being deep in thought.

"Yes, just coming up with some plans," he smiled, "Relax, Jammie, I told you we were in this together, and we still have quite some time to ensure your safety, I"ll start training as soon as I can, and we"ll figure your abilities out too." he chuckled, trying to lighten up the gloomy atmosphere, "Big brother"s gonna protect you!" he winked.

"I"m the big sister!" she snorted, "I should be the one to protect you." she wrinkled her nose at him as she placed her hands on her hips.

She was still worried, however, their banter managed to unburden her a bit, something he drew a lot of satisfaction from.

"Go wash your face, you look ugly," he smirked.

"Ugly!?" she covered her mouth in surprise, "Screw you!" she lifted her hand up, "Do you want to be spanked?"

Mimicking her pose, he repeated in her own voice, "Screw you!" he lifted his hand up, "Do you want to be spanked?"

"You!"

"You!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Argh!" she threw her hands up in the air and stormed off, "Mooom, Jered is bullying me..." her voice spread downstairs, but it seemed that their mother didn"t pay her any heed, much to his growing amus.e.m.e.nt as he doubled over in a fit of chuckles.

He couldn"t get enough of their bickering, because he always won them.