"Be careful what you wish for... because it may come true."

-An old proverb

VI.

Jonnatan sat in the darkest corner of a bar. Coincidentally that was right beside the counter. He had a glass of whiskey in his hand and pretended to sip. The bar was on the shady side, he knew it – everyone in the town knew it. However, it seemed the boisterous tourists that got lost (he learned after hearing them confessing it for the third time in the last 5 minutes) obviously weren't aware of it.

He was sure the jukebox wasn't plugged in since the old-fashioned jazz could be heard coming from the loudspeaker. The music could almost be considered ambiental, if one didn't mind the screeching when tones got too high. At least the ovner should've bought a new set of loudspeakers.

The bar was almost packed even in this early hour – a few drunkards sprawled in seats in the left corner, the already mentioned tourists sipping the most expensive beer this place had to offer in the right corner, and probably the usual patrons scattered through the smoke-filled room. As expected of this cheap establishment. But that was a good thing, too. No one paid attention to a lone man sipping whiskey which was just about as relaxing as it could be.

Jonnatan would raise the glass to his plump lips here and there, without tasting the sharp beverage, and used his magic to make it disappear bit by bit. That withered plant in the same corner as drunkards would get drunk by the time he was done. Maybe it would revitalize it. 

He couldn't drink liquids. Actually, he could. But it hurt. So he'd learned to pretend to do normal things like eating and drinking, otherwise, people would get curious.

Taking a corporeal form was already exhausting enough, processing food and liquids was very hard and taxing on his existence, resulting in pain if performed. Apparently, that was what happened if a ghost took a physical form and tried to do what living beings do. He'd learned it the hard way.

Missing the experience of aromas on his tongue was not worth the agony his metaphysical body would go through. Except when he felt particularly nostalgic – or as some would rather say idiotic – then Jonnatan would grit his teeth and take all the pain and misery just to feel alive for a few seconds. Definitely idiotic, he snorted in agreement, staring lasers at the offending drink sloshing in the glass he was clutching in his hand, an ugly scowl gracing his features.

Sarcasm and dark humor along with cynical thoughts were normal for him, his existence something he never would've imagine in his human life. A special ghost. That's what he was. A phantom that could be seen, heard, and even touched, though the last part only happened if he used his power to make his body tangible. It took him almost half the century to master that power – fucked up as he already was. He'd wanted to be normal as much as he could, grasping as almost impossible strings.

Back at that period of his 'life', he hadn't had any cause for living... right, not living – existing, that was. Until he'd met a vampire with the same problem. But that vampire was the one who'd tried to find his place in this world, and while watching him, Jonnatan learned that if you wanted something, you had to make it happen yourself. So instead of feeling miserable for himself, he had decided to use his gift of second life (it was a curse, honestly) to find the purpose for himself. He had joined SIB and used what he had for good – for a notion he had believed in before this wretched existence.

He'd never found out where souls of the living went when they died since he missed the fucking path there. Some souls hung around after death, but even they disappeared after some time, and as far as he was aware of, apparently, he was the only soul that didn't get the bloody memo.

The bartender kept polishing the bar, his attempts futile as the only thing that could help would be replacing it with a new one. The guy didn't even look up from the bar when a chime sound signaled the door opening, possibly too used to people coming and going or just arogant.

Jonnatan didn't react, too. However, his reason differed from the bartender's – he knew exactly who came in, his power attuned to the other individual so much that he was aware the new guy was coming even while being still two streets away.

The man slid silently into a barstool besides Jonnatan and motioned to the bartender for a drink.

"A Circillies, please."

Jonnatan knew that Adrian didn't drink much of the alcohol, but when he did it was always the best one he could find.

"No coffee this time?" Jonnatan cocked his head to watch his boss.

Adrian snorted. "In this establishment? I would need to be crazy to do that."

Jonnatan wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment, who knew what could be served. He would be happy to get a stale coffee, but the chances were higher it would be rancid or even worse - nearly poisonous. The best course of action was to order something from a bottle.

The bartender put a drink in front of Adrian and moved away, but not too far, almost like he wanted to listen in. Adrian smirked at the man's nerve to try something like that; he would certainly be in for a surprise. Oh, and he was. When the silencing spell arose, the bartender flinched, his small body shivering from the iciness of that spell as he abruptly glanced at the two of them. Shrugging, he continued what he was doing and concentrated on some other careless patron.

"Whose spy do you think he is?" Adrian asked before raising the glass to his lips.

"Dariuss controls this part of the town," Jonnatan offered, pretty sure that guy was paid by the half-fey to catch interesting conversations for him.

"A-a." Adrian's sing-song negation was not surprising. His perceptiveness was on par with premonitions, quite intimidating one must admit, though as far as Jonnatan was aware of Adrian didn't have any kind of foreseeing powers, it was simply the result of data gathering.

"So, if it's not Dariuss, who is it?" Jonnatan wasn't up for guessing games.

Adrian smiled one of his chilling smiles while still staring at his glass like he wanted to creep Jonnatan out.

"I have no bloody idea," he admitted, then paused, narrowing his eyes at nothing in particular and then bobbed his head like he agreeing with something.

Tilting his head to a side, Adrian turned that dreadful curving of lips – in all its chilling glory – on Jonnatan who in turn stared at him, both impressed and disturbed by the upturning of pale red lips in form of the mockery of the original purpose that facial gesture should have. 

Really. Performing creepy smiles when smiling should convey happiness. Jonnatan didn't like that, especially on Adrian because it meant his boss thought of something Jonnatan didn't want to see happening. All the seriousness aside, when the right time came Adrian could be quite a prankster, doing things Jonnatan would have never pegged him capable of.

After a long moment of silence and unsettling staring, Adrian asked with a tone that was up to no good, "Do you want to find out?"

That wasn't a question, Jonnatan was aware he wasn't given an option, Adrian set his mind to unravel this mystery and nothing would stop him, Jonnatan was just an unwilling participant.

There were three internal rules Jonnatan followed:

3. Don't eat and drink (sometimes he broke this one because he is an idiot.)

2. Act kindly to others (he was like that before he died, he decided to stay that way in death.)

1. Never ever piss Adrian Decker Crawshaw off(because if you do, you'll regret being born.)

Adrian was a terrifying creature ready to rip you apart if you piss him off, and Jonnatan didn't mean that as angering him, he meant it like really pissing him off. And he never wanted to be one that anger was directed at. He'd seen what it did. He would gladly die without experiencing it on his skin. You're already dead, you idiot, his mind helpfully supplied.

They waited until late in the night and consequently left lots of money in the cash register. After the last patron left, some guy who drunkenly sang some old song totally off a tune, Adrian made his move – carefully expanding the silencing spell to the whole place, if Jonnatan didn't know he would do it, he wouldn't even know it happened.

When the bartender conveniently went to the back room, Adrian rose from his chair, stretched a bit after sitting in the same position for too long, and casually strolled towards the entrance. He turned the sign so it would seem the bar closed early and chanted a spell to form a mist since he didn't want anyone spying on them through the windows. The mist appearing around the room wasn't thick, but it would do the job, Jonnatan observed it while Adrian strolled back to his seat.

Jonnatan watched the scene unfold: the bartender's eyes widened comically when he came back, however, Adrian didn't look concerned about getting found out so early in the game. He jumped out of the chair and appeared in front of the frightened man before he even managed to make a step towards the back room where another exit was probably located.

"Want to spill the beans?" The smile directed at the unlucky bartender made the guy almost piss his pants. Jonnatan was aware of the weight of that expression catching you, for he was at the end of that smile just a few hours ago.

"Who are you working for?" Adrian continued like he was talking about the weather and not forcibly carving the answers out from someone.

The bartender had a big chin and a small nose, his eyes were a bit mismatched if one was trying to find symmetry and the look of fear entering his face made those unsymmetrical parts even more pronounced.

"I-I don't know w-what you mean," the man managed to procure through the dry lips, gulping and sweating, fixed on the spot by the blond-haired man staring at him.

Adrian's smile widened, shadows shifting in his eyes. "Oh, but you do."

That was when all the hell broke loose.

Smoke filled the room making the mist thicker than before, the door banged open, a few windows broke, and five figures appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Jonnatan jumped out of his chair, prepared to defend the probable attack. Opponents tend to not know or forget he was a ghost and sometimes just pass through him in the heat of the battle, then he would turn tangible and...well, do what needs to be done. He couldn't do it for long, but it was effective when used carefully.

Adrian didn't flinch, just stood there seemingly relaxed as he calculatingly observed the newcomers.

The smoke somewhat cleared along with the artificial mist.

In the center stood the one considered the most dangerous man in the whole town, Giuseppe Viola, along with four other men, probably vampires like him. Jonnatan was aware Giuseppe came back from his trip or whatever the hell it was because Nicole reported seeing him in Merton's. However, he didn't expect him to appear here, today, in this dump of a bar. He would guess that was their culprit who made the bartender work for him.

"I'm pleased you finally saw fit to grace me with your presence, Viola," Adrian stated coldly and spat the name of the vampire like it was the filthiest curse, crossing the strong arms over his chest.

Giuseppe's face had a smirk adorning it. He didn't react, except raising one of his eyebrows to complete the mocking expression.

"As astounding as the idea of your self-importance might seem, I don't think the same. So you can't really blame me for not visiting you earlier."

While the two men held the battle of stares, Jonnatan tried not to panic. Last time those two had their standoff, they brought a whole damn 5-stories-tall building down to dust. He had been there to witness it, the craziness of their 'little scuffle', as Adrian described it, wasn't something Jonnatan wanted to experience ever again. A retelling in form of words might be interesting, but going through it once was quite enough. He needed to find the solution to this situation and be fast.

***

It had been a week since the last time she did the evening-surveillance. Nicole was itchy for something; the daily surveillance wasn't as satisfying as the one when the night falls.

She was walking down one of the streets in the northern part of the town, finally enjoying the evening shift when her phone rang. The number calling was unknown, but she didn't find it weird. What she actually found weird was a relatively familiar voice on the other side of the line after she'd answered her phone.

"Can you pick me up from the bus station? Don't want to get lost, I'm too tired for that shit," a male whined to her over the phone.

"Tucker?" She asked in shock, recognizing the voice. An irrelevant pedestrian almost crashed into her back when she stopped in her tracks which she absentmindedly noticed with a few intact brain cells that weren't as surprised as others were.

"Yup, it's me!" the man on the other side of the call confirmed jovially.

"How the hell do you have my number?" she screeched in the microphone of her phone.

"Haven't Adrian told you that I'm a PI? Doesn't matter, now you know." Tucker had great timing for interrupting others - before she could curse him loudly, he continued speaking...actually, once more, whining.

"I'm at the Callahan's Morrow's bus station already, so please..."

"Fine," she huffed, "but you owe me. And don't even think of flirting with me or I'll set Adrian on you." She warned, contemplating all the trouble she would find herself in when Adrian discovered she helped this guy. Oh, to hell with it.

"Don't worry, I always deliver." The too cheerful voice concluded the call.

I'll set Adrian on him anyway...

***

Thirty minutes later, Nicole turned the corner and the bus station came into the view. The night had already fallen, the time of a day when everything goes to sleep arose, but the station was busy, lots of people standing, walking and waiting, she hoped she would quickly find Tucker in this crowd. She didn't need to fret because the 30-something, relatively handsome brown-haired man stepped from the crowd and waived.

"You must be Nicole."

"And you know that how exactly?" she raised an eyebrow.

He gave her a closed-mouth smile and while stepping closer his dark eyes gleamed with mischief. "You were the only one in the last half an hour to walk through here who examined her surroundings like the professional. It wasn't hard to deduce."

She shrugged and pointedly turned in direction where she'd come from. "Let's get you to the office. On the way, there's a hotel where you can stay, unless you already have accommodation."

He hummed as he meandered up beside her. When she glanced at him sideways, she caught him observing their surroundings with a careful eye, probably memorizing the streets they were passing. She realized that was the man who sent that present to Adrian, it had been nagging on her mind ever since she'd heard the name Tucker, but only now connected the dots.

"By the way, what made you come here?" She asked then thought better of it when she saw his eyes sparkle and glared at him. "And don't tell me it was to meet me, because I know it isn't."

He laughed cheerfully but turned serious at the end. "Adrian ended the call before I could tell him a very important detail, and he isn't answering my calls."

"You could have sent an e-mail," she muttered. They were already ten minutes away from the office, and the hotel she'd mentioned before was just around the corner.

"And wager if he would read it or just move it to trash when he sees my name? No, thank you, this is too important for our games." This time even his tone was serious, Nicole noted, almost too serious. What was that about? Just as she was going to ask, her phone rang the second time in the last hour. She swiftly pulled it out from her pouch and glanced and the screen.

Jonnatan?

***

It hadn't even passed a few minutes and half of the bar was already wrecked. Adrian obviously didn't hold his punches, but it wasn't only him, Viola and his gang didn't give a shit if they destroy someone else's property.

Jonnatan, in his panicked state of mind, called the first number in his phone memory: Nicole. He sent her some messages just this morning – the reason why she was on top of the list. Also, he remembered she had a weird but efficient means of settling fights. Hopefully, it would be enough.

It rang two times before she picked up the call.

"Jonnatan? Hey."

"Hey, we have an emergency. Adrian is fighting Viola, they already demolished half of the Arthur's. You know where it is, right? How fast can you be here?" he managed to say in one breath and ducked so a chunk of flying ceiling speeding towards his head would miss him by a hair and crash into the wall behind him. "Dammit, they are going all out."

"I'll be there in five. Maybe less."

"Good. Hurry," was all he said.

Now that he stored the phone in the pouch he had with him, he could let himself become intangible instead of evading things soaring in his direction. The problem he had before was that he didn't have time to balance his magic to make only parts of him tangible and others not, or in this case leave his arm the only part of himself physical to hold the phone. The pouch, on the other hand, was enchanted just like his clothes to follow him between physical and metaphysical. He was aware he needed to work on that ability since it could become even more beneficial in the future.

Adrian's eyes gleamed, making him look slightly unhinged, a disturbing sight for those who knew no more than the 'normal' side of him, however, everyone present here were either aware of it like Jonnatan and Viola, or met him the first time today as Viola's lackeys did.

Adrian enjoyed this fight more than Jonnatan could imagine but could interpret from his excited expression, and soon became unaware of everything around him except Viola. Jonnatan knew Adrian had some kind of past with the other vampire, they wouldn't be fighting like a cat and dog if that wasn't the case.

He saw them clash – when Adrian's and Giuseppe's fists connected, an air current arose in the immediate vicinity, making their jackets flutter and knocking away debris and some chairs not heavy enough to withstand it. However, the most terrifying thing of all wasn't their strength - and one might argue the two men could level a mountain when fighting – but the looks of utter glee on their faces as they let loose.

Every now and then, one of Giuseppe's henchmen would try to attack Adrian, but without much success. Usually, their attacks were returned with a doubled force which wasn't good for their health.

A half-broken chair, missing one leg and having another one bent in the wrong angle, sailed past Jonnatan's shoulders and right through his head. Fortunately, his body wasn't physical; otherwise, he would have probably earned a splitting headache. Then he felt it, the presence of two people just in front of the already destroyed bar. Two? Who the hell is the second person?

A male and a female jumped through the broken window, the female looked worried, but the unknown male's expression indicated he found this situation funny.

"Nicole!" Jonnatan called out when a table crashed near-by where she and the man stood followed by one of Giuseppe's lackeys rolling down the floor unconscious. Jonnatan hurried to their side.

"Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?" Nicole demanded from Jonnatan as a big block of cement crashed beside him, and he didn't like being at the receiving end of her disappointment as if she couldn't comprehend why he hadn't stopped Adrian. Yeah, right. Like he could do it, just look at those chunks of wall and furniture flying around like there was no gravity here at all. For fuck sake, he wasn't a god, and he would wager his life savings that the only way to stop Adrian when he gets this way was to employ some god-like creature to do it.

"They appeared, and in the next moment he went batshit crazy," Jonnatan summarized, scowling at the brown-haired man who came with Nicole and seemed to have too much fun at their current predicament.

A magical force field rose just in time so one of Giuseppe's vampires plastered himself on it with a bang. The lime green energy shimmered but stood strong and Jonnatan could see the pieces of it amortizing the blow. Honestly, it was Nicole's finest work he'd seen in all the years he'd known her.

"You bitch!" came from the vampire nursing a bruised forehead from the impact with a shield.

"I'm so gonna kill you for that," he growled low, crouching to a battle stance with hands pulled to loose fists and waited for the force field to disappear, though obviously wasn't aware that Nicole could hold it half a day until her reservoir of magic dwindled to nothing.

Jonnatan noticed that a guy who'd come with Nicole shuffled a bit and stood a measure in front of her like he was shielding her. Then the same unknown male glanced at him and introduced himself, "Tucker Dusthoff, a pleasure to meet you."

Jonnatan answered with his own introduction while staring at the individual. "Jonnatan Lesterfield."

"Tucker, this is one of my colleagues," Nicole said, pointing at Jonnatan. "He was the one who called."

In the next moment, the battle stopped abruptly, and Giuseppe appeared beside the vampire who decided to show his displeasure lashing out and kicking the magical shielding, his shoulder-length, black hair swiping around with the movement.

"Who are you going to kill?" Giuseppe asked casually, manically smiling, lips almost looking overstretched.

Without any kind of self-preservation and not noticing his impending doom, his subordinate answered, "That bitch. I might fuck her before that. She'll be good enough for that."

A sly smile didn't have time to fully form on his face before he was literally eating concrete floor of this fine establishment. They couldn't even see what happened, only that the positions changed: the man lying face first on the ground and Giuseppe holding him by the scruff of his neck.

"Without my expressive permission, you can't do shit. And that human is under my protection, so you will stop...or die. You need to remember that." It was almost like the command in Giuseppe's voice physically hurt the vampire if the wail of pain forcing itself from his mouth was any indication.

Soon, they realized that the fight had stopped. Giuseppe's other lackeys were on the ground, unconscious, and in the middle of the bar stood Adrian, his face darkened with unrecognizable expression.

"What's going on?" Nicole broke the silence just be replaced by more silence as she canceled the warding spell. Getting nowhere with the question, she scowled and turned on Giuseppe, waving her hand around. "And what the hell happened to your accent?"

Giuseppe smirked, looking like he was enjoying the indignant huffs coming from Adrian. "I'm just that much of a mystery."

While Adrian growled something unintelligible, Jonnatan started answering her previous question before there was another fight brewing and ignored the fact that she realized Giuseppe could speak without foreign accent gracing his words. "We came to investigate the bartender. He seemed to be working for someone, we didn't know who." He glanced at Giuseppe and was met with a calculating look.

"The bartender's dead."

The interjection made all of the except Viola jump in shock, even Jonnatan. The gruff voice belonged to Adrian who was now kneeling beside the bartender lying on the ground.

Giuseppe let his subordinate go, raised himself from the kneeling position to his full height and casually strolled to Adrian. Jonnatan and, as he saw, Nicole both held their breaths, expecting for two of them to clash again. To their surprise, they didn't. They crouched low, shoulder to shoulder, examining the dead body of the bartender: his eyes opened but misty, clothes unperturbed as he was seemingly untouched.

Tucker waited a second before wandering to the two males.

"There is no visible damage to the body," he stated, though the two must have already known that. Adrian grunted in confirmation while Giuseppe scrunched his face up in a thoughtful expression.

"I'm assuming by your reaction, he isn't one of yours," Adrian proclaimed rather dryly, glancing sideways at the brown-haired vampire.

"Nope. I thought he was yours." Giuseppe was once again adorned with his mask of cheerfulness, then he turned to Adrian, the jovial state gone like it hadn't been there in the first place. "It seems we were both wrong."

"Don't lump me in with you. You maggot."

Adrian's exclamation made Giuseppe frown angrily. He turned his head to glare at the man who offended him, opening his mouth to say something, but then stopped in mid-movement, probably thinking the better of it and pointedly ignored the grumpy investigator.

Before another scuffle could arise, Nicole, bless her, interfered with a question as she sauntered toward them.

"What killed him then?"

Everyone present... no, everyone still conscious were carefully glancing at each other, no answer voiced out loud. Nicole let out a loud exhale.

"Let's go over the facts we know," she started speaking after sinking down to sit with her legs crossed under her on the only part of a floor clean from the debris made by demolition the two men had caused.

"The boss came here with Jonnatan to investigate. Then you guys appeared." With her left hand, she waived slightly toward people in order how she mentioned them. "What happened then?" She paused before glancing around, taking in the wreckage and warningly added, "Except the obvious."

"We fought." Adrian supplied.

Really, Adrian? Did he have to antagonize even her? Nicole was the only moderately sane member of their branch beside Ann and Jonnatan would like to keep it that way.

"I said except the obvious," Nicole repeated, her mouth twitching in a sign of irritation Jonnatan knew too well and hoped it wouldn't escalate.

Giuseppe stood from the crouch and overturned one of the tables lying there and sat on it.

"We were spying this place, probably for the same reason SIB did," he explained. "Siena," he motioned to one of his unconscious men on the floor clothed in some weird garb looking like a dress or a very long overcoat. "He saw the two of them entering the bar. We came to find out the truth. And then you came. Everything else you already know."

A smile appeared on his face, showing his fangs while he observed the gathered bunch of people, his eyes stopping on Tucker. "I don't think we've met. Giuseppe Viola," he introduced himself.

Nicole's eyes widened in surprise after she'd caught the same fangs in Tucker's mouth though that wasn't all that surprising to Jonnatan who had once had the displeasure of experiencing Adrian's drunken rambles and complains about wayward vampire PI.

"Tucker Dusthoff, a Private Investigator. Don't worry I'm not here to play house. I'm just visiting Adrian."

"Oh? Really, now. I didn't know Adrian has any other vampire friends beside me." The statement sounded innocent; however, no one would call the mirth in Giuseppe's hazel eyes innocent.

"Friends." The sarcasm oozing from that one word was almost palpable. Adrian continued with the mocking voice, "I didn't take you as someone who's going senile with old age, Viola. I don't remember being friends with you in this lifetime."

Jonnatan noticed the part 'in this lifetime'. Interesting, every day I find out something new, and while he was thinking Nicole voiced her concerns.

"This is bad. Why is he dead if no one killed him?" She cautiously stepped closer to the body, angling her head to stare at it.

"The suicide spell, maybe?" Giuseppe offered his insight with a serious tone like he wasn't being mocked just a moment before.

"Indeed," Adrian agreed, frowning thoughtfully before he continued. "I can feel it, it is one of those spells people use when they want to hide the knowledge they carry. However, I can't tell if the guy did it himself, or someone else put it on him."

"What do you mean by that?" Nicole asked what Jonnatan wanted to know himself, even though he'd heard about those spells, he'd never encountered one.

"You can put a spell on a person if you are afraid they would be tortured to talk. It can also be activated remotely, or at some kind of signal. It's an old method for anti-intelligence gathering." It was Giuseppe who answered.

For a moment Nicole looked aghast in response to the explanation she was given, and then, taking a deep breath, collected herself. "So, we know that the guy was not a snitch for any of us. And we can safely assume the spell, if it's that suicide spell, actually activated for all of us – anything can be a trigger. It is accurate to presume someone doesn't want us to know more. We should all join forces to deal with this situation."

No one present expected her to say that - Jonnatan inhaled loudly as he saw Tucker staring at her with a look that seemed to be questioning her sanity, Adrian sent her a look full of disapproval while the only one with a different kind of reaction was Giuseppe who seemed to be amused as if he was enjoying a sitcom or something, dangerous smile ever-present on his face. Maybe that was his usual expression, Jonnatan wouldn't know.

"I'm in," Giuseppe said after a few tense moments of silence.

"I'm not gonna work with that asshole!" Adrian seemed to be pouting as he angrily stomped toward them.

"Pouting, for crying out loud," Nicole muttered like she couldn't believe it. "Adrian," she stated calmly, her voice gaining volume the more words she spouted. "You are the commanding officer of the Callahan's Morrow's SIB branch. Start acting like one!"

Adrian blinked at her and then pouted some more. It wasn't a good look on a grown man. "Fine," he bit out through the teeth, and Jonnatan knew it was everything but fine.

"Lovely. Now that we all know what we need to do, let's play nice," Nicole said and for a good measure pointedly narrowed her eyes at Adrian and Giuseppe. Not that it did any good; both males resumed their previous behavior, Giuseppe beaming at her while Adrian glared at everyone.

They all forgot about the only conscious lackey. At least up until the guy spoke after snorting loudly.

"What a pathetic excuse for a vampire. Letting a human tell them off."

Again, the silence rose.

Nicole didn't seem to comprehend a meaning behind those words, stupidly blinking at the guy, then turning around, surprise clearly written all over her face. Jonnatan knew the shit had hit the fan, so to speak.

She slowly approached Adrian, like closing in on a rabid beast, and raised her hand to his lips. He let her, looking rather resigned and almost sad.

Gradually raising his upper lip with her fingers bit by bit, she obviously noted his teeth looked normal. Then again, what that guy said was incriminating enough; she just needed the push in the right direction. Jonnatan hoped she would let it be, but she didn't.

She took a deep breath like preparing herself for some hard ordeal and murmured a very strong cancelation spell sequence, one that usually didn't work on moving targets, but Adrian was unnaturally still and from the looks of it his body was coiled to spring any second.

The illusion spell finally broke and the fangs concealed with it became visible.