Developer of Ghouls

Jasmine clutched at her steering wheel. She could not allow him to think that of himself.

"No." Jasmine shook her head. "You're a warrior. A protector. You defend those who cannot defend themselves."

She glanced at him with grateful eyes.

"You're a hero to me."

"Don't try to white-wash me." Blake scoffed and looked away into the darkness.

"I was a coward who couldn't handle the mental attacks and ended up killing myself. Then, I went around and killed other humans because I could not handle seeing you get hurt. There was nothing virtuous about any of my actions."

Jasmine raised a hand in protest.

"No. I completely disagree with you, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind. If you were still alive, I'd drag you home by your long hair and turn you into my house-husband."

They were both silent for a moment, and then both burst out laughing.

"But since you're not alive, I'd settle for being good friends." She smiled as she continued to drive towards the police station.

"You could have given me some kind of a hint when we first met." Blake chuckled softly. "I would have broken band rules and seriously pursued you."

"Band rules?"

"We're not allowed to date band members. It needed to be strictly business so relationships don't destabilize the band. We never had problems before because we were all guys…" He trailed away.

What was left unsaid was that all their issues had stemmed from accepting Jasmine into their band. He did not blame her, of course. She was just as much a victim as they were.

Jasmine glanced at him as his pause grew longer.

"And?" She prompted.

"And then you showed up."

"I didn't cause any trouble for you guys."

Blake laughed.

"Of course not. You'd only been with our band for three weeks. Any longer than that and I'd be hounding you for a date."

She laughed but her laughter was sad.

"So we lost our chance this lifetime."

He was saved from having to respond to her when she pulled into the police department parking lot.

Adam was standing outside in his regulation uniform waiting for her.

"Jazzie!" He called out as soon as he spotted her.

As soon as she stepped out of the car, Adam had grabbed her and crushed her into a hug.

"Oh my God! Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?"

Beside her, Blake looked away into the night.

Adam pulled back to look at her.

"Yeah. I'm fine, thanks to Blake." She pointed to Blake standing next to them.

"You can see him?" Adam asked although he already knew the answer.

"I can see him as well as you can see him."

He nodded.

"Come inside. We need to get your wounds taken cared of and then we need to talk."

He ushered her inside through the empty office and into the back where a sofa and loveseat were arranged into a small seating area.

"Have you eaten?"

Jazzie thought about the meal she had left behind in that prison and shook her head.

"Well, we have a vending machine here with some pre-made sandwiches or I can order something to be delivered here."

She shook her head.

"Right now, a vending machine sandwich and a coke is exactly what I'm craving for." She wanted normalcy, not the fancy stuff that the old man Bin Dat had been bringing into her room on silver platters.

Adam nodded and pushed some dollar bills into the machine.

Within minutes, she was happily munching on cold sandwiches and a soft drink while Adam made a few phone calls.

Blake hovered nearby, not saying anything. He simply hung out with them, satisfied that no one was in any inherent danger.

Adam came back with a first-aid box and began disinfecting her open wounds with some gauze dipped in medicine. As he worked, he began asking questions.

"Jazzie. My partner John Greer is still missing. Do you know what happened to him?"

Jasmine shook her head.

"We were driving down and heading to the police department when we got ambushed at the bottom of La Hacienda Range."

Adam nodded as he continued swabbing all her bug bites and scratches.

"We saw all the glass that littered that intersection, but we didn't see his blue Chevy anywhere."

"They must have towed it away and hid it somewhere." Blake suggested as he watched Adam carefully put different sized bandages onto her various cuts and scrapes.

"Or they could have taken it apart and sold the pieces." Adam grimaced.

"John's car may not look like much on the outside, but it's actually equipped with a lot of police gear. They would have been able to make a lot of money from their sales of the stolen goods."

His eyes sharpened.

"Too bad for them, all the parts are serialized. It only takes one find to bust the fencing ring apart."

She looked down at her bandaged hands.

"They stuffed my nose and mouth with something which knocked me out, but before I went under, I saw them attacking John."

She looked up with tragic eyes.

"If you want to know who took John, it would be the same people who took me. John is somewhere within that compound."

Adam nodded.

"We got people surrounding that place right now. We'll find him."

Jasmine's eyes grew wide.

"I remember hearing them say that Anh Hai, the Overlord in charge of that compound, is not there. He is supposed to be gone for a week."

Adam narrowed his eyes.

"Did they say where this guy went?"

Jasmine shook her head.

"But you can run his information and find out, right?"

"Yeah. We can do that. Meanwhile, we have to raid that compound. John's been missing a few days. The longer he remains missing, the less chance we have of finding him alive."

Blake sighed.

"I can go back in there and see if I can find something."

"Good idea. You can go in without being seen." Adam sighed.

Jasmine shook her head.

"Don't be too sure about that. There is a creepy old guy who's the caretaker of the place. His name is Bin Dat. I think he can see ghosts."

"I'm not surprised," Blake breathed. "There are ghosts crawling all over that place."

Jasmine grimaced.

"There are?"

"Yeah. The Overlord of that Tiger Temple is a Developer."

"What? Is he a computer guy?"

"No. He develops ghouls." Blake grimly replied.