Free 0.5-The Asylum Interviews: Bronx: An Asylum Tales Short Story by Jocelynn Drake Page A

disturbed that someone had possibly come after Parker, but relieved that it was unlikely that it was a witch or warlock. If they had come, there was no saving Parker. With anyone else, we still had a chance.
    “I don’t think it was anyone from the Towers,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Let’s go look around upstairs and see if we can figure this out.”
    Jill didn’t seem overly convinced, but she nodded, willing to play along for now. She stiffened when she noticed that Bronx was walking beside me toward the apartment. Jill had temporarily forgotten about the hulking troll in her panic to get to me. Now he was a looming shadow in the darkness, yet another potential threat to her safe life.
    “It’s okay,” I said, squeezing her shoulder as I wrapped my arm around her, tucking her close against me. “Bronx is a friend. He doesn’t bite.”
    Jill gave him a weak smile, but didn’t speak while Bronx gave her a polite bow of his head. We all paused at the foot of the stairs where both of my companions stared at the smudged black chalk drawing I had made earlier in the day. To my relief, I could feel no other magic in the air. I hadn’t thought a witch or warlock had grabbed Parker, but considering my past, there was always a possibility. Of course, if Gideon knew that I had broken my promise, he might have grabbed Parker as punishment.
    Bronx looked at me, one eyebrow arched in question. It didn’t look good to anyone, and it was going to look it even worse when I pressed forward, but it wasn’t helping Parker to be standing at the foot of the stairs, hesitating.
    “I think it’s someone just trying to scare us and cover their tracks. No one from the Ivory Towers has been here,” I declared, releasing Jill so I could start up the stairs.
    “Are you sure?” she asked, still hesitating.
    “Positive. Besides, if a witch or warlock has taken Parker, it’s highly unlikely the building would be standing. They hate tattoo artists.” She seemed reluctant to follow me up to the second floor despite the fact that she had already rushed up there. I could only guess that her fear of the Towers was overcoming her fear for Parker. “Look, Jill. You can stay down here. Bronx will even stay with you, if you want. I just want to take a look around and then I’ll be right back.”
    I turned and pounded up the stairs. It was only a second or two later before I heard two more sets of feet following behind me. I don’t know whether common sense hit or if she was afraid of being left alone with Bronx. Regardless, she and Bronx were right behind me when I walked into the apartment, which had in fact been trashed.
    The sunken couch that was against the wall was still in one piece, or as much as it had ever been, but one of the cushions was now torn and stuffing was sticking out. The coffee table had been smashed and there were several new holes in the walls. There were also only a couple small smears of what looked to be blood. I quickly walked through the rest of the apartment to find that nothing else had been disturbed, as the fight had apparently taken place in just the living room. The lack of blood and a body had me hopeful that Parker was still alive and not too badly injured. What’s more, the signs of a struggle confirmed in my mind that Gideon hadn’t taken him either. The warlock wouldn’t have given Parker a chance to struggle.
    “Any ideas?” Bronx asked, drawing my attention back to him.
    I sighed and shrugged. “Actually, no.”
    “Gage, what’s going on? Why was he here in the first place?”
    I shoved my hands in my baggy jeans, my fingers wrapping around the glass test tube of tears. So close. “Do you remember anything happening today that was sort of out of the ordinary?” Jill’s gentle face was blank for a moment before a bright blush stole to her cheeks and she looked away from me. Jill was no prude and she wasn’t even particularly modest when it came to Parker, but by her