I had to confess, I really loved Jared’s car.  Though, yes, it did give me nightmares for a while, it was cool.  My father had always wanted me to bring home a boyfriend with a car like this; instead he got Luke, who I wasn’t even dating despite everyone’s accusations.  I sat in the passenger seat beside Jared and gently touched the door.  Observing the interior of it, I tried to guess what year it was made; my guess was a while ago.  I knew nothing about cars.

“What year was this made?” I asked.  The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.  Jared gave me a sidelong glance, not expecting the question.

“Sixty-nine, why?”

“Just wondering.”  I looked in the back seat, assuming to see junk food wrappers or bottles of water, magazines even.  Part of me expected to see a gun or two, but there was nothing; it was clean.  Or at least it was clean on the surface; who knows what lay beneath its blank cover.

“Why did you make it so loud,” I questioned, “wouldn’t a bounty hunter need to stay under the radar?” 

It wasn’t just my paranoia that had made me notice Jared’s car—it turned heads wherever it went.  The loud hum of the engine was enough to make anyone glance its way.   Jared laughed.

“I drive everywhere,” he said, “I may as well like the car I’m driving.” 

It made sense, I couldn’t imagine security would let him on an airplane with a gun…and whatever else he carried with him that was out of sight.  My mind drifted, thinking of what other things Jared may have on him and the things he had seen over time.  My thoughts reminded me that I watched way too many movies with Luke.

“Do you only hunt Eidolon’s?” I asked.  The general public only knew of Eidolon’s for about a year, but was Jared one of the few that knew before then?

“I only started after the revolution,” he explained, running his hand through his hair again, “I hunt whoever I’m paid to hunt.  Business is booming since all the freaks came out of hiding.”

“They aren’t freaks,” I said quickly, “they just aren’t fully human.  There’s a difference.”

“Right,” he rolled his eyes.  “I forgot, you’re dating one.” 

I shifted in my seat, my opinion of Jared changed every hour, no, every minute and it was grinding my last nerve.  I preferred hating, liking, or not giving a damn about someone, no grey areas.   Jared was all grey area.

The rest of the car ride remained silent, maybe by both our choices.  Or perhaps it was just me that didn’t want to talk; Jared seemed content with the silence anyway.  I finally broke the tension when the car stopped in front of a broken down house.  “Where are we?”

Adrenaline began to leak through my veins, making me want to run.  It wasn’t the fact that I had gone somewhere unknown with a stranger, but rather the house that made me want to leave.  I couldn’t explain it, but something in the back of my mind was telling me to stay away.  I gripped my hands together, hoping they wouldn’t shake.

“I know someone who’ll know about the stone,” he said, shifting into park.  I was gentle as I closed the door, though I wanted to slam it.  I wanted to do anything to get this anxious energy out of my body.

“Who is it?”  I looked at the house.  This was no home.  The first two steps of the wooden porch were broken, and most of the porch was gone.  The railings were coated in dying vines and greying leaves, while the windows were decorated with bars and what appeared to be cardboard, blocking any view inside or out.  The small red-brick exterior had vines growing up its sides and what had probably been a nice garden was overgrown with weeds, the only part that looked like it would bloom again were the roses aligned against the white picket fence along the sidewalk.  Their thorns stuck out, threatening anyone walking by.

“Human,” he said hands in his pockets, “sort of, if you were wondering.  She knows things about…well anything really.”

“Clearly she knows nothing of gardening.”

“Well, she doesn’t get out much.”

Jared made his way to the door and I followed a few feet back, careful to watch my surroundings.  He knocked on the door.  No response.

“Not home?” I asked.

“She’s here,” he said with another knock.  “Open up ya dumb witch!” 

I wasn’t sure if he meant that literally or as an insult.  In today’s world it could go either way.

“Go away!” came a woman’s voice.

“Open the door Yamuna,” Jared said loudly, “or I’ll kick it down.” 

Silence weighed on us from all angles, and I took another glance around.  Jared nudged me to the side and out of his way.  As I took a step back the wood beneath my foot cracked and broke, the sudden change throwing me backwards as I tried to catch myself.  The rest of my body soon connected with the rotted wood and it caved in.  Through dirt and dust and pieces of wood, the wind was knocked out of my lungs when I hit the ground.  Pain rang through my tail bone then vibrated throughout the rest of my body.  As the dust settled back to the ground and I looked up, I found I had only fallen about two feet.

Jared looked down on me, lips upturned and eyebrows raised.  I hesitated as he reached out to me, but took the help.  As I stood up in the hole a woman appeared next to him, hand touching her chapped lips.

“You okay?” Jared asked as he kneeled down, not paying any attention to the woman next to him.  His large hands brushed dirt off of my shoulder while I slapped it off the rest of my body.  He took my hand without asked and hauled me out of the hole.  Oh, look, he was good again… or he would have been if not for the chuckle.

“Yeah,” I said with a cough.  The woman never said a word, she walked back inside and was about to shut the door when Jared caught it with his foot.

“Go away,” the woman said, her blue hair falling in front of her face.  Her hair colour struck me as odd, it was natural, matching her eyebrows.  But it was such a pale blue compared to her smooth, brown skin; she looked to be in her early thirties at the most.

“I need a favour,” Jared replied.  With one hand on the door he pushed his way inside. 

The woman backed away and snapped her fingers but nothing happened.  She continued to snap them until she gave us both a frightened look. 

“Can’t do that anymore.” Jared showed her something on his ankle with a lift to his pant leg.  She sneered at him but stopped backing up.  I tried to lean to the right to see for myself what he’d shown, but he quickly covered up.

“Why should I help you?” she questions.  Her arms wrapped tight around her torso, glaring at him as if it would make him disappear.  “You’re the one who trapped me here after all.”

“Like I said, I need a favour.”  Jared smiled at her, though it didn’t reach his eyes.  I wondered what he was playing at.  I’d thought we were coming to visit a friend, or at least an acquaintance, but this was more like an enemy.

“I’m never helping you, bounty hunter.”  The woman walked into the room next to her.  Jared followed her, and I after him.  I stepped into a new age kitchen and it was then that I noticed the interior of the house was nothing like outside.  It was shiny and clean, nothing broken, nothing…rotting.  The woman sat down at the round black table and watched Jared, her eyes darting to me.  “Who are you?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Jared answered for me, “I just need you to identify something for me.”

“Sorry you fell down,” she said to me as she stood, “don’t get out too much because of him.” 

The woman walked over to a tea pot in the corner and poured herself a cup.  She glanced up at me before getting a second cup out.  Briskly, she walked over to me and shoved it into my hand, then gesturing for me to sit at the round table.  I did so, mostly out of surprise.  Jared sat down next to me, his teeth snapping together as he gave me a glare. 

The witch said, “Name’s Yamuna.”

“Liv,” I said, cautious of where Jared set his hands.  “Thank you.”

I held up the tea and took a sip, earl gray.

“You’re not one of him are you?  You don’t look like one.”  Yamuna looked to Jared, then back at me.  I could only assume she meant a bounty hunter.

“No,” I answered, “just working to catch my neighbour’s killer.” 

I didn’t see the point in lying to her.  She didn’t seem interested in helping Jared, so maybe if she knew the truth she would at least help me.  Jared’s hand brushed back his hair as I broke the one rule he gave me. 

“Can you help?” I asked.

“With what?  I’m under house arrest, I can’t leave these walls,” she sneered and opened her arms to display her prison.

“He seems to think you can help,” I said with another sip of the tea.  Yamuna looked at Jared expectantly, waiting for an explanation.  He pulled the stone out of his pocket and set it on the table.  Yamuna’s eyes fell on the small piece of jewelry as if it were a bug.

“Please,” she scoffed, “you’re losing your touch bounty hunter.  You want me to tell you what this is?”  She picked the rock up and waved it in the air, showing us how obvious the answer was.  I watched it dangle there, the green stone shimmering in the low light.

“Please,” I said, “they were found at two of the crime scenes, possibly more.” 

Yamuna’s grey eyes travelled between Jared and me, thoughtful.  She sighed.

“It’s agate,” she told us, “it’s used for a lot of things.  Though it isn’t very clean, I doubt it would have done any good.”  She glared the stone between her fingers.

“What is it used for?” Jared asked.

“Well this particular colour of agate is used to promote good health.”  Yamuna set the stone down with a shrug.  “Most novices buy it thinking it can be used for luck or protection.”

“Protection?” I repeated.  Yamuna nodded at me while Jared touched his hair again.  So were Charlie and Alice using the stones with the idea of being protected from someone?  No, the stones were stuffed in the couches, so they had no idea they even existed.  Which meant somebody else had placed them there in hopes of keeping the women safe.  Judging by the frown on Jared’s face he came to the same conclusion I had.

This only brought more questions.  Who wanted to protect them so much that they would break into their homes and hide the stones?  And more importantly, why did they need protection in the first place?