Chapter sixteen

Chapter 16

“Hey, where are you?” Gabriel asked on the other end of the phone call.

“Madison, Wisconsin.” Alex answered, holding the phone with one hand and driving with the other. “I found a case, I’m going to kill the djinn now.”

         “Okay. Want me to come?”

“Nah, it’s fine. It shouldn’t take long.” Alex shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. “I’ll call you when I’m done, ok?”

“Yeah, alright.” Gabriel agreed and they both hung up.

Alex drove up to an abandoned building, a djinn’s favorite place to hide out. “Not very original…” Alex muttered, getting out of her camaro. She reached back into the car and pulled out her silver knife and a jar of lambs blood. She opened the jar and dunked the blade in half way. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, “Alright. Let’s go gank a djinn.” Alex chuckled at herself,

She cautiously walked into the building, holding the blade out in front of her. She was a little on edge, but didn’t know why. Alex walked around almost the entire building, before she stumbled upon a girl being held up by her arms with rope, an iv in her neck that seemed to be draining her blood. The girl was unconscious, and looked filthy.

Alex crept around old boxes and pallets, making sure the djinn wouldn’t see her. She watched as a woman covered in tattoos walked over to the hanging girl. The girl woke up slightly and started whimpering, and the tattooed woman, who Alex assumed was the djinn, quieted her. The female djinn’s hand began to glow blue, and she stroked the still whimpering girls face.

Alex heard footsteps near her and turned around to see another djinn right behind her. He was covered in tattoos as well. Alex quickly stood and tried to attack the djinn, who dodged her attack and pinned her to a nearby wall. Alex tried to pull away, surprised at the djinn’s strength. The male djinn’s free hand began to glow and he touched Alex’s forehead.

Alex expected pain, or a weird feeling, but none came. “I guess I’m stronger than you thought.” Alex chuckled, and used the djinn’s surprise to push him away. Alex moved to attack the djinn again, but suddenly felt extremely tired. Her vision began to blur and she heard the knife clatter to the ground. “Oh, what the hell.” Alex used the wall to support her. The male djinn came over and touched her face with his glowing hand again, poisoning her more.

~

Alex woke up and looked around. “What the…..”

         “Alex! Are you ready? We’re going to be late!” A redheaded girl walked out of the dorm’s bathroom. She wore black jeans and a band tee shirt. “Seriously? You’re not even dressed yet?” The girl rolled her eyes and went over to her side of the room.

“S-Sky?!” Alex stared at her childhood friend in shock. Her friend had died when they were just kids, a drunk driver hit her.

“What?” Sky turned around to look at Alex and laughed, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

         “I-I…” Alex stood up from the bed she had been sitting on. She was at a complete loss of words.

“Come on! We’re already late, just wear that, you know the professor doesn’t care.” Sky grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled her out the door.

“Where are we going?” Alex asked as she followed her friend down a large hallway.

“What do you mean where are we going?” Sky laughed. “If you want to be an author, you have to do writing classes!”

“Writing…?” Alex remembered how she always wanted to be an author when she was younger.

“Yeah! Remember? And, Brandon’s in this class!”

"Brandon…?”

Sky stopped at a door, “Brandon, your boyfriend….”

“O-Oh?” Alex had no idea what was going on. She followed Sky into the lecture hall. She stayed nearby Sky, who sat near a boy with brown hair and deep brown eyes.

“Hey Alex,” The boy smiled warmly and Alex assumed it was Brandon.

“H-Hi….” Alex sat down beside Brandon and looked around at the other students, looking for something she knew.

~

After sitting in lecture after lecture, which Alex didn’t pay attention to, she finally had time to herself. She left the college campus, although Sky and Brandon had tried to get her to stay. She still had her camaro, and everything inside looked the same.

Alex sat in front of her old house. She couldn’t believe it was there. “Holy….” Alex got out of her car and walked up to the doorstep. She rang the doorbell and knocked, not knowing what she expected. Inside, she could hear a dog barking.

A woman opened the door, she had black hair tied into a bun and pale blue eyes like Alex’s. Alex froze, staring at the woman before her. “Mom….?”

“Alex? Shouldn’t you be at college?” Alex’s eyes began to water. “Alex, honey? Are you alright?” Her mother looked worried.

“Yeah,” Alex stepped forward and hugged her mom. “I’m okay…”

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Did that Brandon kid hurt you!?”

“What? No, no...I just…” Alex noticed her mother wasn’t wearing the necklace Crowley got her. “Where’s your necklace?”

“What necklace?” Her mother stepped inside and Alex followed.

“The one dad gave you…” Alex looked around the house in wonder. A black labrador retriever ran up to Alex, his paws thumping on the wood floors. “Leo?” Alex looked at the dog. He looked a lot friendlier than he usually was, and didn’t look violent at all.

“Alex, I haven’t talked to your father since you were born….Remember? He wanted nothing to do with you.” Her mom still looked worried.

“Seriously…?” “Is this him…?” Alex picked up a picture of her mom and another man, who wasn’t Crowley.