You had to walk the perimeter of the roof, but then finally found the access door back into the building. You
panicked for a moment when you couldn't find your keycard, but thankfully you'd only put it in your other
pocket. You stayed on the stairs, rather than walking through the main body of the building. Ms. Adair had
said that the above-surface levels were for the more standard sorts of girls, but you didn't want to take any
chances. If half of what James had told you was true, you might very well already have a bullseye on your
back.
You made it back down to the entryway of the subterranean level without an issue, though you did get some odd
looks. You tried to remind yourself that this was entirely normal; you were new here. Obviously people were
going to look at you and try and see if they'd met you before, or if you were doing something out of place.
You blew past Zoro, who leered at you hungrily again, pulling open Jenny's door without knocking.
"So..you FINALLY remembered you promised to come right back, huh?" Jenny stared at the floor, then she looked
up at you, her jaw set angrily.You could see traces of the animal pushing to the edge of her consciousness.
She could be dangerous too, you knew. Everyone here could. "I HAD made us breakfast.." she said, pointing to
the small kitchenette in the other room that was attached. "And I waited..and waited. Eventually, I started to
get worried. So I figured things were just taking a little longer than expected..and I called Ms. Adair. You'd
been out of her office for an hour at that point, and now it's two hours later than THAT, and you just come
strolling into my den like you belong here?" Jenny got right up in your face, growling as she stared up at
you. "So how about you tell me exactly why I shouldn't throw you right out of here?"
All the adrenalin wore off now that you were safe. You started to tremble hard and uncontrollably.
"Jenny..I.." you said. "I.." You struggled to make the words work, but your mind was a mass of virtually every
emotion under the sun, full of conflict at every turn.
Jenny's anger melted away in an instant. "Hey.." she said soothingly, nuzzling you and sniffing you with a
concerned look on her face. "Come here.." she led you over to the bed, gently guiding you down onto it and
curling against you. She continually nuzzled you and sniffed you. "Calm down..you're safe here. You're safe
with me. Remember that?"
You nodded as you tried to collect your thoughts. Jenny stroked your hair as you continued to shiver a bit,
far more severely than you had after Zoro had first dripped his terror into your mind. "Who did this to you?"
Jenny whispered as she wrapped her arms around you. You took a few deep breaths, finally calming down as you
nestled your face against the hollow of her neck. After another minute or two, you told her every detail about
everything, from meeting James (you were quick to explain that you had no way of knowing that she had the
ability to make breakfast) to meeting Judith, followed by your rescue and James' parting words to you.
Jenny growled. "Fucking Judith..there's a reason she only got to be with me one time. I don't appreciate
illusions being cast into my mind. I'm not the only girl who refuses to let her photograph me, or be alone in
a room with me." Jenny pointed to the corners of the walls. You could see some form of occult symbology drawn
in each corner, though all you could tell off hand was that they weren't something simple like Futhark runes
or pentacles. "These keep her specifically out, or anyone who intends harm to me or any guest in my room. It's
the one advantage about working with other supernaturals; they often have ways to protect yourself against
them like rules they have to follow, or things they're weak against."
"So if she's so unpopular, why does the company keep Judith around?" you asked.
"She wasn't lying when she said she did quite a lot around here. She's got her fingers into virtually
everything. Her abilities lend themselves to gaining secrets. In the supernatural world, secrets are like a
currency all unto themselves. Plus, many of the girls like working with her. She can cast illusions into your
mind to make it seem like you're fucking your ideal person, or that you're not in a photo shoot. Some just
don't care, and they willingly let her feed off of their energies. But all the while, she's growing stronger
and nobody seems to notice or care about that."
Jenny locked eyes with you, tilting your face slightly so you couldn't look away. "The one thing that Judith
does..she likes to tell lies that either have a kernel of truth, or that come from your subconscious. It's
easier to get people to do what she wants that way. I can't help but notice that all of the things she used
against you were related to me somehow."
You blushed hard. "Yeah," you said. There really wasn't anything more you COULD say, really. You closed your
eyes, not wanting to keep looking into hers. It was just too quick to be getting this attached, and you knew
it.
"Hey.." she cooed, rubbing her cheek against yours. "It's okay. I have a feeling that her lies would revolve
around you, were she to try and use her charms on me."
You smiled as you opened your eyes again, finding her cheeks still slightly pink. "At least James was cool,"
you said, starting to feel better about everything.
Jenny scoffed. "Hardly," she said, letting out a soft growl. "Sure, TODAY he was your friend, and he did
something that definitely prevented some potential bullshit from happening..but James isn't cool. He's an imp,
and they specialize in chaos. He's also a pretty big liar..he can't smell stuff on you all the time. He's good
at doing the cold reading technique that bullshit psychic types like John Edward do. Yeah, he could probably
smell your unease..but personal information? No..he just guides you into telling him. Granted, at least he's
not able to brainwash you like a succubi can, but he would if he could. You're just lucky that whatever grand
scheme he concocted involves fucking with Judith. Just pray he doesn't turn his goal of chaos on you."
She sighed and stroked your cheek again, kissing you very tenderly on the lips. "You need to be careful Steve.
Everyone here has an agenda. I'm so sorry that you were picked for all of this.." Her voice was full of
genuine sympathy.
Of course, if everyone here had an agenda, that included her. Part of you wanted to directly ask her about it,
but you knew that she might very well end up lying to you. You could still feel the vaguest remnants of
Judith's energy floating around in your mind, raising insecurities and fears. Now was not the time to ask more
about Jenny's own agenda. You needed a clear head for that.
Jenny got up for a second, pushing the intercom button. "Ma'am, I just wanted to verify that Steve is doing my
shoot tonight." There was a long pause.
"Yes, Jenny. I have him scheduled to photograph you in studio C. This is the second time you've asked about
this today. Is there a problem?" The voice was cold and professional, but with a hint of curiosity.
"No, no problem, ma'am. I just wanted to make sure that no plans had changed," Jenny said, sounding relieved.
"You seem rather taken with this new photographer," Ms. Adair said. "Are you thinking of-"
"We can discuss that later," Jenny said, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I have company."
"Very well."
Jenny looked uncomfortably at you. Clearly something was about to be said that she didn't want you to hear.
"I'll explain..just..not right now," she said, curling back up against you.
You glanced at the clock. It was 4:45.