The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Fifty Eight "Caught in the Act of Gleeful Torture"
Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul
If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn
Table of Contents for Fifty Two chapters of Renewal, created by @bashadow
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Jess slipped out of the house the next morning before anyone else had risen, the excitement making her giddy. When she arrived at the door of Nate’s suite she heard a few voices inside, none of them his, so she kept herself dimmed and sat down to wait. About an hour later the door opened and a girl along with the singer and guitarist from the band exited, talking loudly.
“When do you think Nate’ll wake up, and where in the hell did he go last night?”
“Hell if I know.”
“I’ll call him in an hour, see if he’s up for meeting us,” the girl suggested.
Jess waited until they got on the elevator then used the card she’d pocketed the night before and went inside. Looking around she decided Nate was all by his lonesome and grinned. He’d probably been up tossing and turning for half the night.
She heard movement from within his room and her smile broadened with anticipation. A few minutes later he went into the bathroom and she followed, waiting until he’d entered the shower and lathered up his hair. With a feeling of utter glee she shouted, “NAAATTHHHAAANNN!!”
She heard a thump, a curse, and then the glass door to the shower was violently thrown open. He couldn’t see her and she doubled over with laughter at the look on his face. He hastily grabbed a towel and bolted out of the bathroom. “Who’s here?” he demanded.
She followed behind him grinning like an idiot while he searched every inch of the suite.
“Fuck me, I’m losing my mind,” he muttered, heading back into the bathroom.
She let him complete his shower this time and when he opened the door she was seated on the toilet seat.
“JESUS!” He shouted backing into the shower door.
“Nope, just me,” she grinned at him.
He stared at her, his eyes so wide she thought it must be painful. He rubbed them fiercely and she dimmed herself again.
“Oh fuuucckk! What the hell is wrong with me?” he looked around wildly. “Drugs, I must have been drugged last night.” He took deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. The more he thought about it, the more that made sense. Some kind of hallucinogen would explain everything. With that in mind he wrapped himself in a towel and headed into the living room. Abruptly the television came on and the volume hit the roof, then just as abruptly it shut off.
He stared at it, his mouth dry. Drugs, drugs, LSD, PCP, something of that nature, he chanted inwardly. A knock on the door made him jump and slam his knee on the coffee table.
“Damn it, shit!” He rubbed the sore spot and stared at the door warily.
“Nate?” A male voice called from outside.
He peered through the door’s peephole and nearly sagged to the floor in relief, then threw the door open wide and let Austin in before quickly shutting it behind him.
“So good to see you man!” He gave his friend a quick hug, “I gotta get dressed, back in a sec.”
Jess had instinctively hid in the kitchen area when she heard the knock, then when she realized who it was she stayed put. Not that Austin could see her, but if Nate told him what he’d been going through- he might not be so quick to dismiss the possibility that his friend was not hallucinating.
Nate came back in the living room grinning. “Shit man, I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I decided to head out a day early. What’s up buddy? You look a bit spooked.”
Nate shook his head. “I’ve had the craziest fucking night- and morning. Damn dude, I think someone dropped something in one of my drinks last night, I’m hallucinating.”
Austin cocked a brow. “What do you mean?”
Nate outlined the details then finished up with “It has to be fucking drugs, otherwise I’m losing my mind.”
Austin’s eyes had sharpened the moment Nate had begun describing Jess’s theatrics. “The TV thing happened right before I got here?” he asked, glancing around the room.
“Yeah, just before you knocked in fact.”
Austin got to his feet and headed directly for the kitchen.
He won’t see me, Jess thought nervously.
“Holy fucking hell.” Austin stopped and stared right at her, his eyes wide.
“You can see me?” she whispered incredulously.
He blinked several times before a light seemed to go off in his head. “You’re alive! Holy shit, you're okay!”
“But how can you see me?” Jess glanced at Nate who had come up behind Austin.
“Are you fucking with me bro?” Nate's eyes darted nervously.
Austin glanced at Nate then back to Jess and frowned. “Do you plan to continue tormenting him, or are you done?”
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I always think it's the drugs too :0D
Well in your case...LOL! (mine too, haha)
Hehe ;0)
Looks around wondering when Ijustam supposed to reappear. <3
I know, I know, I just haven't had the time to put one together with photos etc., first the mother/daughter trek, then we went to Vermont...this week at some point :)
YAY
Tempting as it is to vote for more tormenting, time for Jess to catch up!
So you enjoyed the Nate torturing, did you? hahaha, I did too :)
Oh Thank you I needed my Jess fix, or Anna Fix or hell Vamp fix. I liked that one Jess obviously doesn't know about Austin's Amulet. And now Jess has a neutral party, so to speak, to get her re-fixed up with anna and her sister. Cool.
So I just checked out your page. I like your astounding stories series, I think it's a very nice way of suggesting reading material. I just started using a voting bot, mainly because I keep finding myself short on time and missing posts. I like the idea that I can read everything at my leisure (I'm a binge reader, so I might miss people's posts for a week and catch up with them in a night). Right now I'm experimenting with percentages and the effect it has on my voting power, how many people I can have on the bot etc.-I would like to add you but I've just realized you aren't following me. Which may just be an oversight, but would need to change for me to do that, I'm sure you understand.
I had to do the steemmag, it is how I keep track of all the authors I read. It started out as a selfish endeavour, but others have found it useful also. I open it, and start clicking on the Storytellers, so I can see if they have anything new for me to read, and That way I don't have a lot of chaff from the home Feed to sift through. I am glad you liked it.
Glad you liked it, I liked writing it :) A lot of things I do are set ups for the future...though maybe not exactly as you would predict. I honestly need to write a better series summary. There is about a hundred and fifty pages left of this book, I can't tell you what that is in chapters since I'm breaking them up differently for steemit, particularly Renewal. I am currently working on the third book- which won't be finished before this is done being put through unfortunately, particularly because of re-writes. I have a stand alone novel that I can put through in the meantime and probably at that point I will have to lay off working on anything else in order to get the third book done and get started on the fourth.
Actually you are a perfect person to ask an opinion about something. When I first started writing this series my intention was a whole lot different. It was going to be a young adult novel in fact. I wrote what now amounts to a novella, and actually with some maneuvering I could turn it into a prequel since it has all of the characters from the beginning of book one and an introduction to Will and Josh. Actually if I did integrate it, it would essentially cause Reborn to start the night before they go to Europe. So I guess my question is- While I make everyone wait for book three, do you think it would be of interest to people- (would it interest you) to read it? If not I suppose I have my answer of whether I should make it The Allies of Old '0.5' :)
Read something or wait. Me of course I am going to say read something. But then the quandary becomes is it going to interfere with your telling the ongoing story? Will it cause you to delay what you already have planned. If it causes no undue stress for you I would love to read it.
greate article @dreemit i like this
It's been fun reading this two-part humorous torture sequence between Jess and Nate, but with Austin returning, I feel like it's time to get the ball rolling towards the climactic battle with Demetrius. I can't believe Austin's the catalyst, but he's a way better choice than Michael (ugh).
I bet things aren't going to go well with Jess, whether she's fated for Demetrius or Michael. Considering she was gone for the whole first quarter, I would've never thought she was such a pivotal piece for this story. It's ironic how little she thinks of herself and how greatly she figures into everything.
Oh, and thank you for yet another gracious contribution to the Traffic Koans!!! :D It's very much appreciated, and words cannot express how much it means. You have indeed pulled ahead once again haha!
Is he the catalyst? Or do I have another motive?
Aw, it wasn't as much as I'd like to do, I wish I could do more, unfortunately sbd's are backup money right now until the winter business begins :)
Ohoho! Questions, questions, questions. I really don't want to ask ahead and just see how the story unfolds. I trust your process, my friend!
The twist with Austin was a nice revealing of Jess’ pranking. She just blew her cover big time lol