InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 6: Shameless ❯ Discoveries ( Chapter 28 )

~~Chapter 28~~

~Discoveries~

 

 

Jillian strolled out of the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee clutched in her hands and wandered over to the glass doors that led to the back yard and the forest beyond. A hint of a smile played at the corners of her lips as she sipped the fragrant brew. The clouds that covered the sky threatened rain, but that was fine with her. Maybe she could talk Gavin into going on a long walk in it, providing that it wasn't storming. For some reason, he tended to get rather anxious when she suggested an excursion during a thunderstorm. She could feel the electricity in the air—she always felt it when a storm was coming.

 

Nearly two weeks of being mates . . . She laughed softly. It was still difficult to believe that Gavin Jamison really was her mate, and soon, he'd be her husband, too. “Jillian Jamison,” she murmured as the smile on her face widened. `I like the sound of that . . .'

 

She'd wanted to run out the next day and get married in a civil ceremony at the local court house: anything just to have it done. Gavin, however, had pointed out that her family would probably be rather upset if she didn't have some form of a wedding, no matter how small, and while she'd tried to argue the logic in that, there was no arguing the week-long wait they'd have to endure while awaiting the results of the prenuptial blood tests. Luckily, Hank knew of a youkai doctor in nearby Helena who could do the test and thereby avoid humans getting a hold of the results and reacting accordingly.

 

She'd spent the better portion of yesterday on the telephone, inviting her family to the wedding that they were planning on having in just a couple weeks: Saturday, August 16, 2064, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to be exact. That way her family would have a better chance of being able to make it to the wedding since she wasn't about to wait any longer than she had to.

 

The steady gurgle of the old pipes in the house told her that Gavin was still taking his shower. She'd come down to start a pot of coffee for him, but since she was already downstairs, she ought to look online to see if she could figure out what sort of dress she wanted for the wedding. Since they were having it at the ranch, she wanted something simple. In fact, she wasn't at all certain she wanted any of the men wearing tuxedos, either . . . If she had her way about it, Gavin would be wearing faded jeans and his cowboy hat. Too bad she didn't think he'd go for that . . . As it was, she'd asked both Minnie and Karis to be her flower girls. Sherry had been thrilled, and the girls were excited. She'd take them all shopping early next week to buy their dresses, and Madison had been only too happy to be asked to be Jillian's maid of honor. Sydnie and Bellaniece would be the bridesmaids, and Moe had agreed to be Gavin's best man while Evan and Hank had grudgingly agreed to be the groomsmen, but only after Gavin had promised that they wouldn't have to wear tuxedos for the occasion.

 

Staring out the windows for another long moment, she turned around and shuffled over to the rough old desk. If she looked on the internet for ideas, she'd be better prepared when she went shopping with the girls since they didn't really have time to order anything since most everything that could be ordered would also need to be altered, as well.

 

She liked pale yellows and blues . . . Gavin said he didn't care, one way or the other, but Jillian figured she'd ask him for his opinion later . . . Opening his laptop, she pressed the `power' button and got up to refill her coffee mug.

 

She poured a cup for Gavin, too, since he'd probably be down shortly. After dumping about four heaping table spoons of hot cocoa powder into her mug, she poured herself a cup, too. Grabbing both cups, she carefully walked back into the living room and set them on the desk. By the time she sat down again, Gavin's laptop was booted and ready to go.

 

`Hmm, maybe I should check my email,' she thought as she wiggled her fingers and hovered over the keys. At least, the one she kept private for family correspondence. Gavin had set it up for her awhile back so that her public email didn't get mixed in with the ones that mattered most to her. Opening the internet browser window, she typed in the URL of her internet web server. The page opened quickly enough, and she frowned for a moment as she tried to remember all of her login information. The email address was simple to remember: it was the name that her mother used to call her when she was little: Jilli-Belly, and her password? That was even simpler. `G-A-V-V-I-E,' she mused as she keyed that in, too.

 

It only took a moment for her email account to load. Scrolling down through the messages from her mother and siblings, she clicked on one from her father. `He'd better be good to your or else,' was all Cain had written. It was enough to make her laugh. Her mother had sent a ton of links to various wedding dresses that she thought would suit Jillian. Sydnie wanted to know what color her dress was going to be since she was partial to pine green—it was Bassie's ceremonial color after all . . .

 

There was one email from someone she didn't know; the email one that wasn't familiar to her. Shaking her head and shrugging offhandedly, she clicked on the email, thinking that maybe it was one of her family members who had simply changed their email address.

 

`Don't play with me, Jillian,' the email said. Just below that was a link with the text: `Click Here'. It was signed, `Mickey B.'

 

The name wasn't familiar at all, but she clicked the link, anyway. A blank window opened up, and the URL filled itself in: http://www.jillian-zelig.usa. The page loaded slowly, a black and white image of her that had been done recently for a layout in Conte magazine. She frowned. She hadn't realized that someone was starting up a new website. The disclaimer at the bottom of the first page gave her pause. `The official site of Jillian Zelig … At home, at work, at play …'

 

`Official site? I didn't know anything about it . . .'

 

Brushing aside the initial line of questions, Jillian shook her head. Maybe Dan set up something that he had forgotten to tell her about, but she was sure that she had an official website already. She just never messed with it because she didn't have the time . . .

 

Clicking on the image linked to another page, and Jillian's eyes widened at the images of the interior of her condo—images that she didn't give anyone permission to take. Her living room, her kitchen . . . even the little sun room with the wicker furniture where she sometimes sat and drank tea in the morning . . . Her bedroom, her bathroom . . . and every one of those images seemed to be linked to . . . something.

 

Her hand paused as she hovered the cursor over the picture of her sun room. Biting the inside of her cheek, she pressed the button on the laser mouse and frowned. It was a picture gallery of everything in that room, and there were even pictures of her, sitting on the old wicker loveseat with her legs drawn up as she leafed through a magazine. She was wearing a pair of cutoff pink sweatpants and a white tank top with her hair piled on top of her head as though she'd just gotten finished working out. Maybe she had. So far as she knew, no one had ever been allowed to take pictures like that of her . . . Where had these come from?

 

With a choked little gasp, she clicked through some of the images and more of the webpages, her alarm growing with every single tap of her finger on the mouse.

 

“Hey, Jilli . . . what are you doing?” Gavin asked as he loped down off the stairs.

 

She shook her head, unable to form coherent thoughts as she stared at the computer in complete horror. The pictures of her doing various things in and around her home were disturbing enough, but the bathroom pictures . . . smoothing a shocked little cry of complete and utter outrage, she slowly turned to meet Gavin's gaze as he strode toward her. He must have seen the upset in her expression, because he quickened his pace, his eyebrows drawing together in a marked scowl, and with a muttered curse, his hand shot out to smack the laptop closed. “What the . . .?”

 

Hopping up, smashing herself against his chest, she shook her head again, squeezing her eyes closed as the pictures danced through her mind; pictures that she hadn't known even existed. Bad enough to be caught naked in the shower, she'd somehow been photographed masturbating, and that was the most mortifying aspect of the intrusion. That the website was on the internet for anyone to see . . . “It said it's an official site,” she whimpered, burying her face against him as she tried not to panic. “It's not! I never . . . I wouldn't . . . Some guy named Mickey . . . He sent me this link through my private email, and . . . How did they get those pictures?”

 

Gavin grimaced. She didn't see it. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head and sighed. “It's all right, Jilli. I know. Come on.”

 

Scooping her up in his arms, he strode over to the sofa and sat down with her cradled against his chest. Smoothing her hair, kissing her forehead, her cheek, he held her tight and sighed again. “Listen, okay?”

 

She nodded, allowing the calm in his aura to soothe her. “Okay,” she whispered, breathing in the familiar scent of him, willing herself not to think about those horrid pictures, trying not to think about the idea that millions of people could see them . . .

 

“I . . . I brought you here because there's a man—Mickey B. He's been threatening you. Your father and Bas and Gunnar . . . they've been trying to track this guy down so that he can't hurt you. You understand?”

 

Pushing against him, she leaned away and winced. “Why . . . why would someone want to hurt me?”

 

He grimaced again. “He says he loves you,” Gavin explained gently. “Don't worry, okay? I'll call Bas. We'll get that website taken down immediately. Trust me?”

 

Staring into his aqua eyes, she nodded once before cuddling against his chest again. “That's why you brought me here . . .” she repeated. “He's a stalker, isn't he?”

 

Gavin flinched. “Yeah.”

 

“To protect me . . . my hero.”

 

He cleared his throat before answering her. “Yeah,” he said. “Why don't you go upstairs and read a magazine or something? I'll be up in a minute.”

 

She held onto him for another long moment then forced herself to let go of him. “All right,” she agreed slowly. “You'll take care of it?”

 

“Absolutely,” he promised.

 

“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. “You'll come upstairs after you talk to Bassie?”

 

“Yeah,” he promised. He kissed her gently, and she drew a deep breath as she stood up and headed for the stairs.

 

`A . . . stalker . . .?'

 

Flinching, she made herself ascend the staircase. She could hear Gavin reloading the computer and sighed. As much as it irked her that he and apparently everyone else had wanted to keep her in the dark, she couldn't help but feel a little grateful. If she'd known all along about this Mickey B, she never would have been able to relax at all.

 

`Gavvie will take care of that website,' she told herself over and over. `He has to . . . and he promised . . .'

 

He would, wouldn't he? She shook her head. Of course he would. Gavin always took care of her, and now that he was her mate . . .

 

He'd protect her from anything and anyone. She didn't have a doubt in her mind.

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

InuYasha heaved a frustrated sigh and scowled at the unfamiliar forest. He'd called and talked to Bas before leaving Japan. His grandson had maintained that the man they were looking for seemed to be human, though he wasn't positive. InuYasha wasn't so sure he agreed. After being told that there'd been a strange sort of electrical current that had knocked out all the cameras in the parking garage beneath the hotel a few days before Jillian's car exploded, he had to wonder. He'd seen way too many strange things over the years to discount anything . . .

 

And he could smell youkai, all right—several of them, actually. Evan and he had been scouring area surrounding the J and H Ranch for the last three days in the hopes of figuring out if anyone who didn't belong on the ranch had been there. So far, though, they'd been absorbed in trying to figure out whose scent was whose. It seemed that all ten men who worked on the ranch were youkai with the exception of the young man who was working on the vehicles. InuYasha was of the opinion that they ought to just barge right in and sniff them all, but Evan kept insisting that Jillian shouldn't be told. “It'd be too hard to explain why we're here,” he said. “I'm supposed to be on tour, and you're . . . you're supposed to be . . . somewhere . . .”

 

Evan peered over his shoulder. He'd been studying some footprints left in the soft ground thanks to the rain that had been both a blessing as well as a hindrance. It had washed away some scents, InuYasha was certain, but it had left the ground soft enough to bear the footprints . . . “Something doesn't feel right,” he ventured, lifting his gaze heavenward. “Something in the air . . .”

 

“Shoulda gone down to Cancun and sniffed around the garage.”

 

Evan shook his head. “You think that we'd be able to find anything there? That was weeks ago, and they weren't there long enough to leave a lasting scent.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“I can smell that bobcat-youkai—Hank, I think his name is,” Evan went on, “and that cougar-youkai, too . . .”

 

“So all his fucking hands are youkai?” InuYasha grumbled as he hunkered down beside Evan.

 

“No humans, though,” Evan admitted with a sigh. “At least, none other than that squirrely guy that works on the trucks . . .”

 

“Cougar . . . bobcat . . . boar . . . fire . . . eel . . . raccoon . . . bat . . .” InuYasha snorted. “Damn it!”

 

“Unless the guy doesn't know where Jillian is . . .”

 

InuYasha shook his head slowly, crossing his arms under the copious folds of the fire-rat haori he'd taken out of retirement for the occasion. “If he tracked her down to Cancun, then he fucking knows where she is now.”

 

Evan didn't reply, but the look on his face told InuYasha plainly that he was thinking the exact same thing . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Bas drummed his claws on the top of his highly polished desk as he waited with a marked scowl for Gunnar to answer his cell phone. “Come on, damn it,” he grumbled impatiently, shooting out of his chair and pacing the length of his study and back again.

 

“Fine greeting,” Gunnar said rather blandly.

 

Bas heaved a sigh, jaw twitching in irritation that he was fighting to contain. “There's a website.”

 

“A what?”

 

“A website. Mickey B's put up a website. I'm downloading it now. The server will pull it as soon as I call them back.”

 

“A website. What's on the website?”

 

“What the hell do you think is on the website?” Bas growled.

 

“Yeah, I figured,” Gunnar agreed.

 

“We got a lead, though. That's why I'm calling. You still in New York City?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Good . . . due to the nature of the site, they're going to release the information on the site registrant to Dad. He's on the phone with them right now getting it. Anyway, Dad called long enough to tell me to have you stay put. We're going to scope him out. If he's youkai, you're to grab him. If he's human, then you watch him until the warrants are issued for his arrest.”

 

Gunnar sighed. “Yeah, okay. How'd you find the website?”

 

Bas grimaced, recalling his brief phone call with Gavin. “Jilli found it.”

 

“ . . . Shit.”

 

“No shit.”

 

“All right. Keep me posted.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Snapping his phone closed, Bas wiped his eyes and let out a deep breath. He'd thought the photos that the bastard had emailed were bad, but no . . . those were nothing in comparison to the ones he'd uploaded to that God-forsaken website . . . A million images of Jillian flashed through his mind: the smiling baby who had grown into a pesky little sister that he wouldn't trade for the world had finally blossomed into a beautiful young woman who everyone wanted to protect . . . To have let this entire thing go on so long . . . It was unconscionable . . .

 

`Patience,' he told himself, restraining the urge to rip something to shreds. Glancing at Triumvirate, his sword, hanging over the fireplace, he clenched his jaw and cracked his knuckles. If there was a God, then Mickey B. would prove to be youkai, after all . . .

 

He could always hope, couldn't he?

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Gavin kept his gaze trained on the television screen, purposefully pouring all of his concentration into the new video game that Jillian had bought him, along with a gaming system and a new plasma screen television for the bedroom. He was leaning back against the headboard with Jillian cuddled on his lap with her head on his shoulder having fallen asleep awhile ago. She was happy enough, it seemed, to be held while he stayed up as late as he wanted to play the game.

 

Truth was, after everything that had happened in the day, there was no way Gavin could sleep. Too keyed up waiting for Bas or Cain to call, he hadn't bothered to try lying down. With as upset as Jillian had been, there wasn't a chance in hell he'd be able to sleep, even if he wanted to . . .

 

Though she'd tried to hide her worry all day, he'd sensed it; he'd seen it in her eyes when she thought he wasn't looking. To distract her, he'd taken her into town to go shopping where she'd purchased the games and things. The way she'd continuously kept glancing around, though, had convinced him that it had been a colossally stupid idea on his part, and after a half-hearted attempt to distract her, he'd taken her back to the ranch, spending the rest of the day on horseback with her nestled before him. Only then had she regained a semblance of calm.

 

He sighed. He hadn't wanted to tell her about Mickey B, and he certainly hadn't wanted her to find out about him in that way. He couldn't help but feel as though he'd failed her. `Never again,' he vowed, pausing his game and setting the controller aside so that he could push Jillian's hair out of her face and kiss her cheek tenderly. `Never again, Jilli . . .'

 

His cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. He'd turned the ringer off so that it wouldn't wake Jillian. Carefully shifting her onto the bed, he pulled the coverlet over her and grabbed the phone before striding out of the room, glancing back at the clock to check the time. `Three in the morning,' he read with a grimace. `Let this be something good . . .'

 

“Hello?” he answered as he hurried down the hallway toward the stairs.

 

“Hey, Gavin . . . Sorry to call so late,” Cain said. He sounded infinitely tired and so completely unlike himself that Gavin grimaced.

 

“No, it's fine,” Gavin hurried to say. “Any word?”

 

Cain sighed. Gavin could hear the soft snick of a lighter seconds before Cain exhaled. “The site's been pulled, and I got all of the guy's information. He's human, unfortunately. Some eccentric guy who works via the internet for Sunsoft Systems . . . a computer software designer . . . Trouble is, he's not been home. Gunnar and Bas are working on getting a search warrant for his house.”

 

“Human.”

 

“Yes. The prosecuting attorney said that there's a rock solid case against him, though, so there's no way he'll get near Jillian, providing we can intercept him.”

 

“Good.”

 

“How's she doing?”

 

Gavin dug a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and popped the seal around the cap with a vicious twist. “Sleeping . . . she's worried. I just . . . I couldn't keep it from her. When she found the site . . .”

 

“Yeah. Don't let her worry.”

 

“I won't.”

 

“I'll call if anything happens.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Shutting off the phone with one hand, Gavin drank down half the bottle of water. He ought to be more pleased that everything was coming to a head. Still he couldn't quite shake the feeling that it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Something just wasn't right . . .

 

He'd gone over everything a thousand times if he'd gone over it once. When he'd come downstairs only to find Jillian so obviously upset, he hadn't known exactly what to do. The very idea that she'd be so upset over the situation sickened him. He'd hated seeing the panic in her expression, couldn't stand the worry darkening her gaze.

 

“It's not! I never . . . I wouldn't . . . Some guy named Mickey . . . He sent me this link through my private email, and . . . How did they get those pictures?”

 

Dropping the bottle of water into the sink, his eyes shot open wide as he repeated Jillian's words in his mind.

 

“He sent me this link through my private email . . .”

 

He frowned. `She only gave that email address to family and really close friends . . . how the hell did Mickey B. get it? How . . .?'

 

Cain's words came back to him, too, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “Some eccentric guy who works via the internet for Sunsoft Systems . . . a computer software designer . . .”

 

Snatching up the cell phone again, Gavin dialed Cain's number and waited, gripping the edge of the counter, his claws digging into the dense wood under his fingers.

 

“Gavin? What's wrong?” Cain demanded without preamble when he answered his phone.

 

“If Mickey B. figured out Jillian's private email address—if he's been doing all this stuff to keep from being caught—he could have hacked into Jilli's email easily enough. It's on a web server . . .”

 

“Hacked into her private account, you mean?”

 

“It's possible. If he did . . .” Gavin grimaced, raking a hand over his face. “If he did, then who's to say that he didn't access the saved drafts of the emails she wrote recently? If he read them . . .”

 

“If he read them, he might well know where she is now,” Cain finished.

 

Gavin heaved a terse growl as his eyes darkened, as he dug his claws deeper into the countertop. “Yeah,” he forced himself to say. “That's exactly what I was worried about . . .”

 

 

 

 

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A/N:

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Reviewers

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MMorg

Raniatlw (Have a safe and fun trip!) ------ OROsan0677 ------ kds1222 (bluish silver hair and pale blue eyes. She's been described in the story …) ------ Aitu ------ vvkimbo07 (Maybe … remember, too … Gavin used to be very small for his age, though, so it rather balanced out, IMO) ------ Acheronlover ------ artemiswaterdragon ------ inuyashaloverr ------ oblivion-bringr (Jillian might look similar to the Zeligs, but that is because she's a water-youkai; she bears water traits. Her eyes are not dark blue; they're very pale, like ice, as is her hair. As will be demonstrated later, she actually looks like her biological mother, not like Gin, and not like Cain, who have nothing genetically do to with how she looks. As for her actions? She's been raised with them her entire life. Of course the way she acts will be influenced greatly by this. As for Evan and Mikio … None of that is going to be explained until their respective stories.) ------ Hitomeshy

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Forum Reviews

Jack-plus-Sally ------ OROsan0677 ------ TenshiKaika ------ Piett ------ RogueDestiny ------ My Own Self ------ cutechick18 ------ angelfire777 ------ Heoeca

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Final Thought fromJillian:

A … stalker …?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Shameless): I do not claim any rights to InuYashaor the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~