The Devil's Good Girl-Chapter 287: Not a work of Quentin

[PRESENT TIME]

BAM!

Jackson kicked the wide gates of the abandoned warehouse where they suspected Fil was taken. After just an hour of searching, they finally located this place.

"Fil!" he yelled as his glowing red eyes searched the warehouse.

When his eyes landed on the figure lying on the floor, his breath hitched. For a second, his mind went blank and his feet felt like they fused with the ground.

"Fil," he whispered and in a blink of an eye, Jackson appeared right next to her.

As soon as he came close, the stench of blood assaulted his nostrils. Tears coated his eyes as he looked at her fragile figure. Dirt and dust clung to her skin and clothes. Traces of droplets of blood were seen on the floor.

Jackson carefully checked her wrist, feeling her pulse.

"Jack..." Approaching him in a hurry, Dustin skidded on his steps the closer he was to Fil. Seeing her lying so weakly on the floor, countless memories of how they found her body all the past lifetimes surged in him.

His complexion turned pale and his lips quivered as he asked under his breath. "Is she dead?"

Dustin almost choked upon saying that question because he knew for a fact he wasn’t ready to hear her answer. For once, he prayed. Let this be not bad news.

Jackson didn’t say anything as he scooped her up in his arms. "She’s... fine," he whispered, catching the small pair of holes closing up in her neck.

"She’s alive?" Dustin heaved a sigh of relief as he gulped the bump in his throat. He looked back at Jackson’s men and ordered, "Find Quentin. This place still reeks of him. He hadn’t gone that far yet."

The men didn’t speak but just nodded. They disappeared without a trace after a second.

When Dustin cast his eyes back to Jackson and Fil, his eyes swirled with worry. However, he didn’t have the guts to ask what to expect because right now, he didn’t want to hear the answer.

*

*

*

Aside from the bruises on Fil’s body, she didn’t inflict any major injuries.

Seated beside the hospital bed, Jackson had his arms resting on his legs. His eyes were fixed on her. He hadn’t said a word after they left the warehouse.

As for Dustin, he stayed in the ward but remained by the window. He also had his eyes on Fil.

"Did she turn her back?" wondered Dustin.

"Is he even capable of doing that?" Jackson returned quietly. "At this point, I’m not so sure anymore."

When they arrived at the scene, Quentin was nowhere to be found. Even so, Dustin told Jackson’s people to keep looking. That was three hours ago and yet, they still hadn’t heard anything until now.

"Why did he abduct her and then leave her behind?" Dustin slowly gazed down, deep in thought. "Is he trying to mock us? A message to tell us he could take her whenever he wanted?"

At this point, that was the only explanation for this.

It didn’t make sense for Quentin to leave Fil behind when all he had ever done was try to claim her. He already had her. He could’ve taken her as far away as possible, but he didn’t. He left her in that warehouse.

"Dustin," after some time, Jackson’s quiet voice was heard.

Dustin snapped back from his thoughts and shifted his eyes to Jackson. Deep lines appeared between his brows, catching that look plastered on Jackson’s face. This look didn’t seem good.

"Jackson, what do you want to say?" he asked when he could no longer take the suspense. "Don’t just call me and then not say anything. With that look on your face, I feel like —"

"I think I’m losing my senses."

Dustin was cut off mid-sentence. "What?" he tried to smile to deny the explanation Jackson had behind this. "What do you mean, you’re losing your senses?"

Jackson’s jaw tightened as he clasped his hands together. "Normally, I can sense someone even from a mile away, especially Quentin. But recently, I can’t. Even Fil or someone else, I wouldn’t even notice she approaches me unless she’s close enough. Just this afternoon, I didn’t notice Fil and her friend were already behind me when I should’ve even before they stood up from their spot."

"I thought I just had too much in my mind, so I shrugged it off," he continued under his breath. "But this time, I realized it’s not that I’m just distracted. Quentin wouldn’t have even come close or I would’ve sensed she was in danger the moment danger touched her vicinity."

But she was abducted, and the van she was in even drove past him. Yet Jackson was oblivious to all of this.

"I don’t think I’m fit to protect her right now," he admitted as bitterness shone brightly in his eyes. It was something he hated to admit, but if he didn’t, Fil would be in more danger.

Dustin was rendered speechless for a moment.

After a millennium of knowing this man, this was the first he heard Jackson say such words. At the end of the day, Jackson was the most powerful vampire he had ever met — even more powerful and skilled than any other noble vampires in their world.

"Jack, are you sure?" Dustin asked. "How is that possible? Let me see if you were put under the spell. I mean, you did step into Quentin’s townhouse. He might’ve put a curse on you."

"A curse on a vampire?" Jackson snapped his eyes up at Dustin. "You think that will work?"

"It worked in the past."

"Do you sense any spell from me?"

Dustin didn’t speak a word because, honestly, he couldn’t. When he met Fil’s family and friends, he immediately sensed this pungent and nauseating scent from them. But from Jackson, there was none.

"But it’s still possible, Jack," Dustin argued. "It wouldn’t hurt anyone if we checked, right?"

Jackson shook his head because he sort of figured out the answer already. His eyes landed on Fil again.

"From what I think? It’s not a spell or even if it was, it’s not a work of Quentin," he explained. "It’s her."