Broken Glass: An Alicia Jacobs Novel (The Alicia Jacobs Chronicle Book 1)

by Amanda Thurston

  Kali stood and paced around the room. “It looks like the groups are already making their move. Bertha, you need to get back to the motel now, you are excused from the meeting.

  Kali turned her attention to Jared, her eyes serious and concerned for Alicia’s well-being. “Jared you as well follow Bertha and no matter what keep Alicia safe. Take as many others as you can round up on short notice. “

  Jared and Bertha stood walking out of the room and Kali turned to the rest of the group “Richard, find a supernatural lawyer that does not mind working with a human, or a law student, either way find someone to assist Alicia.” Richard nodded and stood pulling out his phone and walking from the room.

  Kali looked to the remainder of the council knowing that there were just too many human haters, or prey left there was no real point in asking them to do anything. Jared, Bertha, and Richard she could trust and they would be able to hold their own in a fight if necessary. How is it, that despite moving to a democracy they all somehow still looked and listened to her directions. It was frustrating, the rest of the council just sat there staring at her as if waiting for something.

  “Council dismissed.” She turned on her heel and walked from the room hoping that Jared and Bertha got to the motel in time.

  I was lying in bed pouring over a thick manuscript that covered the laws on murder. It had been a long night and even so I had been awake since the crack of dawn. The owner of the motel, Bertha had made an amazing meal with eggs, milk, fresh juice, buttered toast and fresh fruit. It tasted amazing and I finished eating in no time. I had washed up the dishes and returned them to the office.

  There was someone new in the office, Bertha had mentioned that she had some errands to do. The girl in the office had barely looked up from whatever gossip rag she was reading. I was polite enough and had asked for a phone book. The girl dropped it on the desk with a resounding bang and then returned to reading once again.

  I thumbed through the phone book and had found the number for the local library. I called and made inquiries about the texts that I needed. The librarian had tried to blow me off; I mean after all humans were not supposed to know anything.

  They couldn't really advertise the fact that they were a supernatural community after all. After I explained that I was representing Jen, the librarian had been quick to help. Despite Jen's crime, she was really well liked around here. That at least was reassuring- it shouldn't be too hard to find a few good character witnesses here.

  The librarian had helped me to find a few good texts one that covered the laws on murder specifically. I had been reading over it ever since I got back to the room. I couldn't go to visit Jen daily, even in my capacity as her lawyer. That was a bit different from human law, but it was easy to understand.

  Going in and out of the prison was not only physically trying on the lawyer themselves but also on the staff, and it was mentally stressful for the prisoner. Can you imagine if people could come and go whenever they wanted? The prison would always be full of shifting weres, explosions, spell casting... It would have been a cluster fuck, pardon the language.

  I stood and went to draw a bath, the motel had great water pressure. The hot water filled the tub, the room clouding over with a fog of steam. After grabbing some fresh clothes and a towel I went into the bathroom. God, a shower was going to feel amazing and would definitely refresh me. I could definitely use the relaxation the hot water would lend me- at least temporarily.

  Sinking into the bathwater and resting my head back on the wall I sighed. From what I had read it was going to be really complex to get Jen out of jail. Human law had tons of gaps and loopholes, supernatural law was not nearly as lenient. I was going to need to firstly file the paperwork for bail.

  To do this I had to get Jen a mini trial, the purpose of this would be to show evidence of self-defense. That could be easier said than done if I couldn't find an angel or a necromancer. An angel could essentially play back everything from the past like a video recording, it would show step by step what had occurred. This would be the best evidence I could possibly get. I needed to contact the council, and get approval, and sequester an angel to do the playback. It was going to be a challenge.

  Contacting the council was a chore in itself, first I was going to need to contact the city hall, request the council contact form, fill out three copies of it, the first was delivered by hand. The second I had to hard copy mail, the third was to be faxed.

  It was ridiculous what you had to go through just to talk to someone from the council. I was told the average reply took anywhere from two days, to six weeks. This of course depended on the urgency and severity of the request. In the meantime, I could hunt down a necromancer at my own cost and find out if it was possible to raise Schuyler from the dead.

  Many necromancers refused to raise someone who had been murdered or killed by violent means. The reasoning behind it was valid and I couldn't fault them on it. If a necromancer raised someone from the dead who had been murdered or died violently, often times the zombie would try to kill the responsible party. It also didn't care who got in the way. So when a necromancer raised someone like this, they took on great personal risk to not only their client but themselves. The necromancers I had found so far had rates that would wipe my entire savings clean. That was saying a lot considering I had upwards of a hundred thousand dollars in savings.

  I let my body sink into the hot water, the movement causing the water to lap over my thighs. I missed my girlfriend. I missed her laugh, the smile she gave me when she thought I wasn't looking. I missed holding her, kissing her, sex of course but that wasn't everything. I had been away from Jen before, but this time it felt more permanent. I mean, what if I did not succeed. What if she ended up in prison for life, or worse… dead.

  I curled my arms around myself holding my body as Jen would if she would there. I knew that she would tell me that she believed me, and kiss me. I knew that she would make love to me and do everything she thought I needed just to make me feel better. She was just that kind of person, she believed in physical actions to comfort, and that was great. But a hug, a kiss, that wouldn’t make everything alright. It rarely ever could.

  Granted, I missed the intimacy we had. I was feeling incredibly lonely without her. Not being able to even hug her was harder than I had anticipated. Tears streaked down my cheeks and wiped them away in angry frustration sinking all the way into the water until my head dunked under. I came up and shook the water from my face. I could get through this. A loud crash sounded from the bedroom portion of my room.

  Moving as slowly as possible, I inched from the tub and crawled towards the door. I turned the lock as quietly as I possibly could. Someone was in my room. I could hear them moving around, ruffling things, opening doors, and making a lot of noise. I hoped to god that the loud breaking noise had not been my laptop. While it was not irreplaceable, I had all of the notes I had been keeping and information I had been studying saved in documents on it.

  I leaned against the door and pressed my ear to it. The intruder was slowly moving towards the closed bathroom door. No matter what, I could not let them through this door. Somehow in my gut I knew if I opened this door, if it broke down this door- It was going to be the end of me. I could feel the terror settling in my stomach in a hard knot. I tried to think of what I could do in this situation. I looked around me for anything that would be helpful. The back of the toilet could be lifted off and thrown if necessary but that would be difficult and awkward.

  A loud thump vibrated the door against my ear, I bit back a scream and put my full body weight against it. Sure I was not a heavyweight, but I was about one hundred and forty pounds. The person on the other side of the door threw themselves against it again. This time I could hear the cracking of wood. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before looking around the bathroom.

  There was nothing that I could use for a weapon that I could see. I pushed tighter against the door and chewed on my bottom lip. Again the hard rat
tle of a body slamming into the door shook me. I could not help but cry out this time as the wood around the door handle shattered. The door handle rattled and shook as whatever it was on the other side of the door turned the knob violently, trying to force it.

  The door groaned as pressure was put on it, the door jam beginning to give. I screamed now, loudly- high, and shrill. Begging anyone who was within hearing range for help. I did not expect anyone to come running to my rescue. I was an outsider in every form of the word.

  A loud groan met my scream, it did not sound alive, or human, or anything like human. Terror filled me, I felt my stomach sink and my fingers felt like they were permanently stuck gripping the door. Looking at my hands I could see that the skin around my knuckles had blanched white. I was starting to feel dizzy. It could have been from fear or adrenaline, or maybe it was from being in the hot water for too long. I wasn’t sure, but I was not feeling right.

  I steadied myself and closed my eyes chanting in my head, “please don't let them get in”, keeping my full weight against the splintering door. Moving my body had only made me feel even more light headed. I stared at the door willing whatever it was to go away. As if in response to my thoughts, the pressure and noise against the door ceased suddenly.

  It was silent, that dead silence you hear in the woods when some small creature has been killed by a much larger predator. It was not comforting in any way. I could feel sweat on my palms and it felt like my slippery hands were going to let go of the door at any point and then I would be royally screwed.

  A loud roar filled the room beyond the bathroom, followed by some screaming and a loud thump, all I could hear after that... was silence. I sat leaning against the door water dripping off of my body shivering as I grew chilled.

  Chapter Five

  Jared roared into the parking lot of Bertha's. The big neon sign that said Bertha's was lit up and the s was hanging crookedly as if it would fall any day. He parked his bike and headed for the office, Bertha had not been far behind him, until then he needed to find the master keys. He stepped into the office and Sadie was sitting at the desk thumbing through a gossip magazine.

  “Sadie, I need the master keys now!” Sadie looked up and smiled at him, her lashes dropping slightly as she tried to flirt with what little teenage charm she had.

  It really was ridiculous how teenagers these days acted and dressed. They were still kids and despite how scantily clad they were Jared wasn’t interested. He particularly wasn’t interested right now. He just needed the damn keys. Damn succubus and their constant flirting regardless of the situation. What he really wanted to do was tell the kid off for flirting when she knew something was up. He grimaced as she was not moving nearly fast enough.

  “I need them NOW Sadie, move that ass.” She stood and walked over to the desk behind her bending over and waggling her ass back at him. “Of course Jared, anything for you”

  Bertha walked in the door behind him took one look at Sadie and snapped. “Girl you can take your hoochie out some other gawd damn day, Get the bloody master key and get it now!”

  Sadie cursed under her breath and flung the keys at Bertha “Gah! Whatever! Take them already.” Bertha was going to need to have a long talk with the girl about her job performance. Or fire her, right now Bertha was opting for firing her.

  Bertha walked up the second level of the motel with Jared trailing behind her. She could hear the screaming before she even reached Alicia's door. The door was wide open, Alicia’s screams were loud and panic filled. The high pitched sounds made their ears ring, Bertha clapped her hands over her ears and walked in. The woman's screams damn near rivaled a siren in power.

  Bertha could see splinters and bits of wood all over the floor from the damaged door and its casing. How dare that damned Wight ruin her hotel. Bertha growled and stomped her foot, power surged around her as she changed. Bertha probably had one of the smoothest changes Jared had ever seen.

  One moment a large busty woman was standing there. The next moment a cow bigger than most cars filled the room. She blew a great loud snorting breath before turning around towards the Wight. She walked over to the Wight who turned at the sound of her thunderous hooves trampling across the floor. The floor vibrated beneath her hooves as she approached the pale creature. It stood staring at her before scream babbling at her as if trying to communicate. It lashed out as she moved closer its claws narrowly missing Bertha’s tough hide.

  Bertha turned, lurched her formidable form forward and kicked the Wight as hard as she could. Her kick hit the Wight square in the chest and It flew out the back window of the room the window shattering on its impact. Bertha's back feet came down with a thunderous bang onto the floor. Her hooves sinking into the carpet and digging thick grooves into the wood beneath. The floor gave a low groan, between the impact and her sheer weight it shook the buildings beams. Thankfully with her “condition” in mind Bertha had made sure the entire hotel was reinforced.

  Jared strode into the hotel room taking one look at Bertha and then the window muttering softly “I thought the knight was supposed to ride to the rescue, not the damn cow.”

  Bertha shook her head and slowly transitioned back into a human her clothing hanging in tatters over her body. She moved an arm to cover her mountainous breasts and shrugged

  “Well, you're no knight either, just a mangy mutt” She gave him a good natured smile and he smiled in turn before walking to the door and knocking on it quietly. “Alicia?”

  The door flung open and Alicia stood there naked staring at the two of

  them. She was wet, shivering and very Pale, Bertha could tell something was wrong with her at first glance.

  “Uh... Hi” she managed, before she fell to the floor darkness overtaking her.

  Jared bent and picked up her unconscious form and carried her out the door. “Bertha, we are going to need another room, preferably something closer to you, it would figure that I have a sexy naked redhead unconscious in my arms and I had nothing to do with it. “

  Bertha nodded and laughed a bit before moving to the door. Jared followed her down the stairs taking him to the back portion of the motel where the special guest rooms were. There was a vacancy right next to the room that Bertha used as her home and they both agreed that keeping Alicia close was in everyone's best interest.

  The fog of unconsciousness was dragging me under it was like swimming through a pool of thick, dark Jell-O. I struggled to drag myself out but it was clinging to me, holding me in place. Flashes of memories danced across my eyes like scenes from a movie.

  My mother rocking me and singing to me, the song was familiar and brought back pangs of nostalgia. It was a strange song and not in English, its lilting tones had soothed me to sleep many restless nights. I recall asking my mother once about it and she had told me she would explain it to me when I was older. My mother had never gotten the chance to explain it to me. Nor had my father.

  When I was ten years old my mother and father had been driving to Vermont. They were consulting agents for a large corporation and their boss had sent them to see about putting an office in Vermont. The weather had been poor and my father had done his best but his car had careened across the road, breaking through the metal guardrail on the side of the road and over the edge. On the other side of the guardrail was a sheer drop.

  The car had rolled several times before coming to a stop, the top had been crushed in and neither my mother nor my father had survived. From what I had been told, it had been ruled an accident. They ascertained that my father, unused to the severity of the weather, had been driving too fast. He had not been aware that the roads were ice underneath the snow. For some reason, I never really believed that. My dad had been an amazing driver; from what I could recall of him at least.

  My babysitter had come into my bedroom that night and had pulled me out of bed in a crushing hug. Tears streaming down her face as she whispered how sorry she was. She took me in her arms and held me, just sobbing into my shoulder.
She rocked me and whispered over and over how sorry she was.

  It took some time but when I was awake enough I asked her what happened she told me of my parent’s death and it shattered me. I screamed, I kicked, I hit, I cried, I sobbed, in my eyes my life was over. I do not think many ten year olds could really understand a parent's death fully, much less the loss of both at once.

  For quite some time I was lethargic, I refused to speak to anyone about anything, I refused to get out of my bed, I laid there staring at the ceiling. I would not eat, or drink, or bathe. On the day of my mother and father’s joint funeral, I stood there unseeing. I refused to look in the casket and acknowledge that they were really gone. It was all a bad dream. It couldn’t be real. What had I done to deserve losing my parents like this. Where would I go?