Oracle

Part 45

The blonde lady's name was Fran. She worked for a small construction company, helping to organise the paperwork side of the business. She was too weak to help with the actual heavy lifting and didn't really understand the mechanics of any of the building work they did but she could do the paperwork well and her boss liked her for it.

The company was currently in the middle of doing several big jobs. Big enough jobs that Fran was having to stay behind late to finish the work up. Her boss had gone home to his wife hours beforehand. She didn't want to stay so late. She had a date. Still, Fran dutifully called up and cancelled. It was no one important, just a friend of a friend. Still, she felt a little guilty about it. A little guilt, however, was better than angering her boss and risking losing her job.

She really wished she could take it home and get it done there. The docks weren't safe late at night and everyone knew it. There was no point worrying about it now. She was here and the large pile of paperwork didn't seem to be going down fast. She still had a solid few hours of work to do and then she could go home to her cat and relax with a glass of wine

Jaspar whimpered as he came out of the vision of the woman. It was the same woman he had seen being ripped apart in his first vision after being blinded. Her name was Fran. She had a cat. She was doing her work, not knowing the danger she was facing, not knowing that her time might be up in a few hours. Jaspar's chest clenched at the thought and his eyes watered.

He knew that it was another vision like the one which had shown him Nathan being beaten up. Not a vision of the future but rather of the present. Jaspar could taste the lip balm she had used, and the bad coffee she was drinking. The woman was just living her daily life.

Curling on the bed, Jaspar grabbed a pillow and sobbed into it. There were two people who needed saving that night and he wasn't sure if either would survive the fates he had foreseen. Bill had escaped his death, only to almost die the next day. If Bill didn't survive... If Bill died, maybe it was a sign that if Jaspar saw someone's death, they were going to die regardless of his intervention.

"Is this all I'm ever going to see from now on?" Jaspar whispered to himself, mostly to hear another voice in the room. The only sound apart from him was the rumble of voice coming up from the bar below. The rumble was dim though and it was impossible to pick up individual voices. "All I am going to see... is the death of others?"

It was not a pleasant thought at all. Especially because unlike Calder and John, there would be no escape from it.

"Jaspar?" Leo's voice called out, muffled slightly from being behind the door. "Are you awake?"

"Can't exactly sleep at the moment," Jaspar chuckled bitterly, climbing off the bed and feeling his way to the door so he didn't have to yell. "Can you let me out?" he asked, not sure what he could do or even if there was anything he could do but wanting out of the locked room regardless. Fuck Elison.

"Sorry, Jas. Elison took the key with him," Leo confessed sadly. "But I thought you'd like an update?" he offered weakly, his voice breaking slightly. Leo was good in an emergency situation but things were being to hit now it had slowed down again.

"What's happened?" Jaspar asked firmly, steeling himself for whatever news he was about to learn.

"Bill's alive. Just. Doc has got him stable for the moment. They were going to take him to a hospital but Donny gave Oct his car and everyone has had a few drinks so no one can drive. The ambulance services won't come here after dark and the fog is rolling in so... We put Bill in Justice's room. The hope is that the healing charms in the wards will help keep him alive until morning," Leo explained, his words tense. "His wounds are beginning to heal despite the poison which was used so it might be working."