Page 34 of Hidden Sacrifice
“What is all this, Jasper?” Springfield picked up a folder that slipped closest to him. Like most of the others, it was a simple report with barely a page of information.
“Look at the reporting demon,” I said, placing my finger near the name. “Now, look at the others.”
Springfield grabbed another folder at random, flicking it open. His finger hovered as he quickly assessed the case and checked the reporting demon. Faster and faster, he surveyed the folders before putting them back down.
“I’m not sure I see what has you all worked up, Jasper? Other than Fachnan needing more work on their reporting skills. Fuck, most of these don’t even sound like ghosts. I wouldn’t bother with any of this junk.” Springfield grumbled, looking at me confused.
“I went on one of the hunts. Report just like these, a few families complaining about a ghost. The report was wrong, Springfield.”
“What was wrong about it? That sounds more like fae to me,” Ryan said, appearing back in the room wearing camouflage pattern pants and a black t-shirt.
“It was a crazy old manor with Enochian spells in demon essence. There were hundreds of soul fragments in the cellar.” I looked Ryan right in the eyes as the words burst through me. His face contorted with shock as he looked over to Springfield.
“Yeah, that’s…” Springfield trailed off as Ryan came up to the table and looked through the folders.
“Doesn’t Jax usually run research with you?” Ryan muttered, making his own stacks from the folders.
“Usually, but he somehow linked physical sensations to the vampire.” I watched the near-silent exchange between Springfield and Ryan as they started to collaborate on the stacks of folders. They judged each one according to some criteria I couldn’t understand. Slowly about twenty different stacks appeared, holding about ten folders each.
“That must be particularly difficult for Jax. Someone that doesn’t like to be touched can now be magically touched. His own worst nightmare, I would imagine,” Springfield said after the last folder was placed.
“Yeah, I guess.” Shit, I hadn’t thought about that. My head was so absorbed in this hunting shit I hadn’t paid enough attention to my pack lately.
“What about Justice?” Zeb said, appearing in the doorway. He had long brown wavy hair that he constantly wore in a bun on his head. Right now, it was down, still damp from his shower.
“He had to leave the realm with Mor for a while to train. She got one of his weird emotional powers, and it knocked her out cold within the first few minutes. Then our hunt went wrong, and everyone split off. Justice is at the palace with Mor. I’m sure they’re having a wonderful time together.” I’m not sure where the bitterness in my tone came from. I had wanted to stay behind and work on these hunts. I tried to shake my head to clear my thoughts and get my emotions in line with where they should be.
“So, Justice hasn’t been around you much in the past few days?” Ryan asked, clapping his hand on my shoulder.
“No, I’ve been alone working on these fucking things.” I gestured to the now neat stacks of folders.
Ryan, Zeb, and Springfield turned and looked at each other. More of that silent communication shit that everyone else around me seemed to have. My blood was getting heated, and I needed to get out of this cabin before trashing the place. I sprung up from the chair, hearing as it crashed into the wall. I made it out the door and ran for the woods barely containing myself.
“Jasper,” Springfield called after me, causing me to stop in my tracks.
Slowly, I turned around, my fists covered in flames.
“Well, I’m glad you made it outside before you had an accident,” Ryan said, emerging from the cabin laughing, eating an apple.
“It’s not funny, Ryan,” Springfield scolded, but Ryan kept his smirk.
“He needs to let some of that war out before he goes all raging demon, causing riots in the streets. You remember the wars in the human realm he caused just because he was in a mood,” Zeb said casually, stepping onto the forest floor barefoot. Zeb’s power affected him if he didn’t expel it enough. But Zeb’s electric storm could decimate ghosts if he was powered sufficiently. He always kept himself near to bursting with power, needing to discharge some frequently before it started to electrocute him. Tiny bolts on electric arcs sparked between his fingertips as he stood.
“I would like to figure out how to manage this other than becoming a raging asshole unless I’m near my emotional support demon,” I grumbled as the fire crawled up my forearms.
“We will keep working on it, Jasper. Maybe Mor can help; you’ve had a lot less of these…” Springfield waved his arms to gesture to all of me.
“Tantrums?” I supplied.
“In a manner of speaking,” Springfield shrugged like he wasn’t the one that said it. “But you have been a lot better recently and I think it’s because of her. I don’t know if that’s because Justice has been around more, or maybe she can be another emotional support demon for you. You need to be with her more.”
It still wasn’t a cure, but I will admit, having Mor around seemed to give me a semblance of control back. But the war was still there, bottling up ever so slowly. “Just help me get the war out for now, and I’ll keep hope.”
“Fuck, man. I just got out of the shower,” Ryan said with a teasing smile.
* * *
The best way I ever found to satisfy my curse was to allow it to reign havoc wild and unrestrained. Which also meant anyone around me would be subject to the full force of war as it burned through their minds, turning them savage. I usually went to the arena, giving off small bursts during the fights to amp up the crowd and the fighters. Ryan, Springfield, and Zeb had a backup when things got terrible, like they were right now. I hated using up their powers like this.
