Chapter 224 - An Absence Of An Answer Is An Answer Too

"I'd like to follow that man," JJ said when the door behind said man closed. "I could hear his heard fluttering with fear like a caged bird… I'm afraid he might be in a trouble of some sort. Or be a trouble himself. Will you man the counter while I do so?"

"Absolutely. JJ, I looked at this man's aura, and it wasn't abnormal at all except for that fear. I'd think he was afraid of me, or you, but… if so, then what he was doing here, playing a staid oligarch? And…" I frowned. "I might be putting too much in that, but it reminds be about that creepy guy who came to the store a couple weeks ago. They don't look similar at all, but this man seemed like he was searching for something in particular, and I wonder… could he have been after the jade seal too?"

"There are plenty of people who come in search of magical relics to you, ma chèrie. This could be just a coincidence. But you are right that at least it is a possibility, and it's one that I don't find in the least pleasing. Another reason to find more about this person."

"Good luck with that." I threw a glance at the window. The autumn sky was as it most often was: grey without a single breach in the thick clouds. Good for vampires, depressing for anyone who didn't grow in a place like that. Days were cold enough for a thick coat now, and only JJ and his kin could still dress lightly. "Weather grows worse and worse… What will happen to you when temperatures drop below zero? You won't turn into an icicle, won't you?" I asked with sudden concern.

"I will have to wear warmer clothes and expend energy and blood to keep my body warmer than the freezing point. Or, an option that I prefer much more, stay in your cosy home and warm myself with the heat of your body." JJ smirked and sent me a look that had enough heat for two. He pressed a brief kiss to my lips. "I will go now."

I waved him goodbye and went to his place at the counter. Gosh, it's been a while since I manned it all on my own… I did so for my dad before, but not much, since I studied in mornings, and he had other people for that. Then I had my own people…

That was for a reason, too. First reason, I had more important things to do. Second reason, this was something fun to do from time to time, but to sit eight hours, with waits between clients, grew to be pretty boring way too soon. There were only a couple hours left to the end of the workday, but I wasn't optimistic that I won't grow thoroughly tired by it by then.

Panda had almost infinite patience for this sort of thing, and no one could wait better than an immortal, but me? Well, at least I could read a book from my phone when no one was around, or browse Internet.

JJ returned just when I was closing the shop down. A single look at his face was enough to tell me that whatever news he brought, they weren't good.

"Hey, JJ. Did something happen? What did you find?" I walked around the counter and came up to him. My eyes searched him for signs of any physical problems, but he didn't seem to have gotten into a fight. At least, not in a one where his opponent was any good against him.

"Only more questions and mysteries, I am unhappy to say." A corner of JJ's lip curved down. "I followed the man's car to his home, but inside of it he just disappeared the moment I took my eyes off him. A magic unfamiliar to me was certainly involved here. I spent some time after that searching through his house for him or some explanation of what happened, but there was nothing."

"Just disappeared? Like, in thin air? Teleported?" I took JJ's hand, icy-cold after his time outside, and pulled him by it towards the stairs up.

He kept explaining on our way. "I was not a witness to it. I saw him walking into his house office, and I heard his footsteps, his breathing. Then they stopped, like something cut them off… And when I walked inside the office, there was no one inside."

"It does sound like he teleported… But I don't know how that's possible outside of fiction." I frowned. "Portals are a thing, and sub-dimensions, but to just teleport? That's, if not impossible, must be some really top-level magic stuff. Could he have turned invisible and unheardable instead?"

"I can see through others' glamour almost as well as any witch. It comes naturally with being good at making it," JJ stated with just a tiny gleam of pride in his voice. "I admit, there are more ways to hide something or someone than that one. Maybe one of them was beyond me, but it still poses a question of who and why would do that?"

We sat down in a kitchen. The place was as good for sitting down as any other place with chairs, and for me had an additional bonus of having food in it. Thought right now I didn't have an appetite.

"And what a good question it is." I sighed. "Something tells me that if you found nothing suspicious by looking through the guy's house, I won't find anything suspicious on the Internet. Doesn't mean I won't try, but… Damn. If this is some bad guy after our heads, can't he be so nice and introduce himself first for once, instead of dropping out of the blue and doing weird and dangerous stuff?"

"The glorious days of chivalry and challenging your enemies on duels are lost," JJ nodded sadly.. "I wonder if it will make you feel better if I say that evildoers were just as prone to pounce on you from an ambush as today."