An Eternity of Change

Chapter 18

March 11, 1916

They had been stuck in Italy as soon as World War I started. Luckily she'd been trained to shoot a gun by Adam so she could defend herself, though the fighting hadn't quite reached their location yet. In fact Jaylyn hadn't seen any fighting. Adam had traveled closer to get a better prediction on the outcome; he had died several times before finally coming home. That was just in time for him to find out she'd joined a volunteer police force. With most of the men gone the job of policing the town had gone to capable women, and she preferred shooting at people rather than trying to save their life when they were already beyond help.

Currently though she was walking out on a lecture Adam was giving her about it... and he wasn't happy she was ignoring him. "Jaylyn get back here! It's too dangerous, what if our curse is exposed because of you?"

She paused for a moment and glanced back at him. "You've been near the war front and no one noticed, besides, nothing actually happens. I've never even shot at anyone yet! If you haven't noticed, almost no one is here."

"Jack's nearby." He lowered his voice, though there was still an edge to it. "You know he'll come after you first."

"I'll take care of him then." To prove her point she took out her gun and clicked off the safety. "Perhaps I'll shoot his sensitive spot first before going for his head."

She saw him give her a slightly surprised look and gave a short laugh. "Seriously? You actually thought I'd do it? I'm not that cruel even if he deserves it."

"Of course you wouldn't." He almost sounded a bit disappointed. "If you change your mind though... make sure you do it where I can enjoy seeing it."

"Sadist." Jaylyn replied with a shake of her head. "I'm surrounded by sadists."

"I think Ripper is a bit beyond that title."

"And you aren't?" She questioned, though it was true he hadn't killed anyone excluding Ripper for years... not that she knew about of course. Unless she counted the times he killed her to spare her pain, which she didn't.

The look on Adam's face suggested he was thinking something similar. "I don't even know if I'm that anymore."

"You are, you just don't let it show at the moment." With that she turned and left.

When she got to the police building the three other women were sitting around, looking up when she entered. Abby jumped to her feet as she saw their friend. "What took so long? We thought something happened."

"No, just lost track of time." Jaylyn lied. "I'm guessing nothing important is going on... like usual."

"Right on it." Diana, the most tomboyish of their group replied. "Another boring day!"

"It isn't so boring." Susanna replied, looking away from her mirror. "At least it means we won't be killed."

The door burst open and their fourth, and last, member of their group ran in panting. "There's been a murder a block over!"

Jaylyn could already guess who was behind it but stayed silent as Diana jumped up happily. "Finally, we get to shoot people!"

Susanna didn't look too excited and Abby just hesitantly reached for her gun. Jaylyn nodded to Grace before taking control and addressing the situation. "Alright, well this isn't what any of us usually do but at the moment it's our job to protect the others that are here. Abby, I want you to go with Susanna and Diana, Grace; you're coming with me. We'll try to trap the killer and take him down got it?"