The Dark Artifices: Lady of Los Angeles

Chapter 5

They went to the library again and she could see he had been working hard. Books were spread out all over the desk and floor.

     He picked up the book on top of the others on the desk. It was a small blue book with tiny letters on the front. He went through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

     “Here, look at this.”

     He showed her a picture of marks similar to those which had been on her parents. She grabbed the book and read the text out loud.

     “Report about missing nephilim. Missing nephilim found with odd markings, similar to those we use. We can only hope the Clave will let us try to stop this.”

     “They later write further investigation was dismissed”, Jules said and crossed his arms. “The Clave clearly doesn’t want nobody to know about this.”

     “When is this from?”

     “1935, written by Harold Nightdale. They are Yosef Redtree and Buford Branwell. Apparently, this has happened before.”

     She was stunned. Never had she believed she would get anywhere with this. “Apparently it has. Can I have it?”

     “Yeah, of course”, he said.

     She couldn’t take her eyes off it as it lay in her hands. Maybe, finally, she’d get to know what happened to her parents.

     “Emma”, he mumbled. She nodded slightly. “Don’t get too focused on this. I don’t want you to live in the past.”

     She looked up at him. He wore a worried smile.

     “I won’t. I only want them to be proud of me.”

     He pulled her into a tight embrace. “They will always be proud of you. No matter what you do. And so will I.”

     At his warm touch she could feel how cold she’d been in the big library, with only shorts and a tank top, and shivered.

     “You’re cold?” he wondered and pulled back. She nodded. “Go back to your room and change and I will go get you some hot cocoa.”

     She grinned at that. “Just like when we were little?”

     “Yeah, just like when we were little.”

When she got to her room she put the book in a drawer in her nightstand and her phone on her desk then she went to her closet. She changed into her comfier jeans and a sweatshirt and sat down in bed after collecting a bunch of blankets.

     Eventually Jules came with two mugs. He had changed into sweatpants and t-shirt.

     He sat down carefully next her in bed watching the mugs. Steam rose from the hot cocoa.

     “Here you go”, he said and handed her one of them.

     She warmed her hands on it. Although they lived in L.A. the Institute was made of stone and cooled down on the hottest days.

     “Thank you.”

     He wrapped a blanket around them and pulled her closer. She was leaning her head against his shoulder.

     “This”, he said. “This is what I miss.”

     “Me too.”

They sat there in silence.

     That will say, until the door opened. Cristina stood in the doorway. She smirked at the sight of them.