Someone who can help Who: Jessalyn and Madock Where: The phone When: Late afternoon
Once Tayne left her, Jessalyn finished her hot chocolate and then quickly pulled out her cell phone to call Madock. She dialed carefully, since she still didn't get the concept of speed dial, and she leaned back in her chair, rubbing her forehead at the impending headache. She felt like she had some news to tell him, and that was better than nothing at all, wasn't it?
Madock had gotten some sleep after Jessalyn left. Finally. His head wasn't hurting as bad anymore, but it still felt off and he couldn't explain it anymore now than he could the moment that she'd bit him. It was depressing and annoying to know that something was happening to his body and he couldn't understand what it was. Seeing his phone light up and vibrate, he reached over to grab it off the side table and answered. "Hey, Jess."
"Hi." She smiled instinctively at the sound of his voice. He sounded okay, which was the important thing. And hopefully the pain in his head was subsiding. "How are you feeling?"
"A little better." he said, holding the phone to his ear and curling back up on the bed. "Glad you called." he mumbled. Sleep still clouded his voice, but at least he could get out a real sentence now. "What's up?" Madock asked, sounding hopeful.
"Good." A little better was better than awful or terrible, right? She licked her lips and pushed some hair back from her cheek. "I talked to my friend Tayne. He had been bitten awhile ago, by a cat. So I asked him about the head pain and he claimed not to have experienced that. However," she added, "I told him you were a psychic, and apparently, when psychics are bitten by weres, they lose their ability. The pain your feeling is your body adjusting to the fact that you're not... well, you're not psychic anymore." Jessalyn paused, holding her breath as she waited for his reaction. She was afraid he was going to be upset, or angry with her. Had she known the consequences, she would have never bit him. Ever.
"What?" Madock asked. "Not a psychic... I... so I won't be able to see anything anymore?" He wasn't sure how to take that. He wasn't angry at her, or angry at all really. He was torn between being glad he could touch people and not see their lives and being a little upset or guilty because that extra bit of a connection that he and Claire had was gone. He'd always had a difficult time with being able to see things and now he couldn't anymore. "I haven't seen anything since I got bitten..." he said softly. "I didn't... didn't really notice." he admitted.
"You've been too busy dealing with what I did to you," she said, frowning a touch. "I'm sorry, Madock. I didn't realize... if I had known, I wouldn't have done it at all."
"Jessalyn..." Madock said, shaking his head a little. "I don't want you to be sorry." he mumbled, rubbing his temple and scowling a little. "I'm not angry at you, so you there's no reason for you to be sorry, alright? I wanted this. I got what I wanted. It's not your fault I asked for it, okay?"
She wanted to believe it wasn't her fault, but it was. And everyone who found out was going to think so to. Especially Ransom. And her parents. There was that uneasy feeling in her stomach again. "You didn't know what you would be losing though. I guess the upside is that the pain in your head should go away soon, once your mind realizes the change and adjusts to it." She wished she could be there to apologize in person, or at least lay with him.
"No, I didn't know, but neither did you. You can't blame yourself for something you didn't know about, Jessa and I'm not going to sit here and let you do it either. I'm alright, I'm alive, I'm talking in coherent sentences. My head feels weird... but I'll get used to it eventually, and honestly, it'll be kind of nice to be able to touch you and not see everything you did today, ya know? It's alright. Don't be upset... please." Madock let out a little breath and rested his head back against the pillow. He wondered how upset Claire was going to be with him. He probably should have thought this whole thing through more, but he hadn't and now things were completely out of control and it wasn't like he could just hop in a time machine and change things. It was permanent and that's all there was to it. "Don't be upset." he mumbled again.
It was easier said than done. She was upset with herself for doing it in the first place, but then again, Jessalyn had always had a hard time saying no to people. Jessalyn hated that Madock was in any kind of pain because of her, his decision or not. "Okay," she conceded. "I promise I'll try not to be... I just want you to feel better." Jessalyn licked her lips and decided to tell him about the spell they did that morning. "Me, Day and a couple other people... we did this spell today, to try and locate Claire and the others."
"You did?" Madock asked lifting himself up on the bed again. "Did it work?" he questioned. He sounded hopeful but a part of him really didn't want to be hopeful. Being hopeful just set you up for disappointment and disappointment sucked. Massively.
"Well... sort of? The spell listed a bunch of places... so we figured whoever has them is a witch, or used a witch, to put some pretty powerful wards up to keep from finding them. I don't know if everyone was spread out, or they're possible places to look, or just decoys." She wished there had been on central location to look, but there hadn't been, unfortunately.
Madock let out a little breath of disappointment. "Thanks for trying." he said. "It means a lot that you'd be willing to do something like that, Jess. I appreciate it." More than she could probably ever understand really.
"Maybe something will come of it? I don't know." Jessalyn could only hope. At least the police were stepping up the search, rather than giving up. "I miss you," she added after a moment. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" She had a feeling she would be able to smell him out better then... she could recognize a wolf scent, the way she had with Gabe.
"I miss you too." he told her. "And yeah. I don't have to work tomorrow. I might go back in on Tuesday, I'm not sure yet, but yeah. I wanna see you tomorrow." he nodded. "That guy... the one you talked to... Tayne..." Madock said. "Think I could get his number or address or something from you?" he questioned. "Maybe he can tell me more about all this... help me out."
"Oh! Yes. I asked to make sure you could call him and he was fine with it." Der. She almost forgot that part. Jessalyn rattled off Tayne's cell number. "He said he would totally help you with any questions you had." She hoped Tayne could offer some good advice. Jessalyn was a wolf, but Tayne was bitten. To her, there was a big difference.
"Great." Madock smiled. That definitely made him feel better. He wrote the number down and turned his attention back to talking to Jessalyn. "Thank you." he said. "For talking to him about all this."
She nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "You're welcome. I'll let you go so you can get some rest... maybe I'll come by in the morning? We can go for a walk or something?" Depending on the weather of course. She was just dying to smell him again.
"Yeah." he nodded. "I'll give him a call and see what all he can tell me. But tomorrow... just you and me." Madock agreed. "Maybe it won't rain and we can just go somewhere and talk."
"That sounds fine. Call me if you need anything else, okay?" She hoped that he would. Jessalyn felt an overwhelming desire to protect him and keep him happy. He was her mate, and when he was feeling low, so was she. And Jessalyn hated feeling any emotion other than happy.
"I will." Madock assured her. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Jess." he said, biting his bottom lip. "I love you, okay? Don't forget that."
That had her smiling a touch, savoring the warmth that spread inside her at those simple words. "I love you too. Get some rest... I'll talk to you tomorrow." Jessalyn wished he was there with her. There was that urge to be with him every second of every day, but right now that was impossible. "Bye, Madock."
He smiled at what she said and nodded. "Tomorrow." he agreed. "Bye, sugar." Where that nickname came from, he didn't know, but whatever. Now he just had to give this Tayne guy a call. Maybe he'd have some answers.