The mysterious mate

New clue

After an hour alone in her room, she hit a wall. Without Oliver, it was harder to get more information about the demon and the book she took with her was difficult to read. A noise came from behind her, when she looked, she saw one of the ghosts roaming around the mansion. His name was Jeremy, he was linked to Sarah, Anderson's mate.

Jeremy: I have a report to make. I was guarding the west wing and saw Jasmine Crook entering the hallway. She was taken by the demon, miss.

Darcy's heart skipped a beat. She felt her body heating up with anxiety, her body felt like it was falling into a deep hole before she straightened her back up to stop it. She frowned. "But, Jasmine doesn't have low self-esteem..." If the demon fed on this, how and why was she targeted? Then, something hit her.

Darcy: Willignly?

Jeremy: Sorry?

Darcy: She went there by herself? Willingly?

He nodded before adding she seemed to be looking sor someone, but no one else was there. A trap. The demon trapped the girls into going in the west wing. Probably with apparitions of people they loved. She stood up, thanked him and walked out of her room.

Where was she again? The third door to the left? She opened it to find a huge apartment. She entered it after seeing a picture of Jasmine and a man on a dresser. That was it. Maybe she could find something interesting leading to the demon's motivation to why he chose her. She began with the kitchen. It was as elaborate as the one in her apartment, except that the counter seemed to be in white marble, there was no kitchen island and the floor was in lighter wood. On the refrigerator, there were pictures of Jazz with one of the disappeared girls, other friends and the same guy in the first picture she saw when she came in. She took the one with one of the demon's victims on it. Behind it was a date and the names of the people present in the picture. It was two weeks and a half earlier and the girl was named Penny. She examined it. There was a cake, garlands and Penny was holding a small white stick in her hand and seemed to show it to a very excited man. She put the picture in her pockets before raiding and observing every picture and detail before opening the door to a red bedroom. The headbed had bars and something strange tied to each side. She frowned, not thinking much of it. She opened the nightstand to find a lot of half-full bottles. She took one and awkwardly read the inscription on it. "Ba..back door... anal lube?" She put it back, thinking it was not related to the demon before walking toward a two-door dresser. When she opened it, she saw a lot of weird stuff. One of them she recognized. It was a whip. She remembered Clayton had one and used to hit her with it when she misbehaved. She flinched watching it on some sort of red satin pillow like a pedestal. Maybe Jazz was abused. She noted it in her head while taking the object in her mirror as a clue. In the dresser, she recognized something else. The thing between Ethan's legs when he danced in the kitchen. But it was purple and seemed harder than what she remembered seeing on him. There were a lot of them in different shapes, sizes and colors. Some clothes that she thought weren't covering enough to be called clothes and other things that she didn't understand the utilities. Once she closed it, she went in the bathroom. There were some pills, medication, normal bathroom stuff but right there in the trash was something familiar. She pulled the picture out of her pocket and noticed it was the same kind of stick Penny was holding. She didn't take any chance and salvaged it out of the trash to put it in her pocket, along with the picture. There were at least three of them there, all identical. She left the room and opened a door to an office. She looked through the filing cabinet next to the desk made of glass. There were names on all the files and found Donna-jo's, Fatima's and Rebecca's files that she dug up from there. She sat on the desk chair that she found extremely comfortable and started to clumsily read through it. One word came back on two of the files:" Pregnancy". She put them in her mirror and kept digging until a voice startled her.

Charles: Who the f*ck are you?

She jumped, hoping to see a ghost, but he was very much alive and seemed incredibly upset and naked. They both stood silent, her looking at the floor, him finding out this was Ethan's mate with all the description he made of her. She did recognize him from the pictures and thought this might be Jazz mate. She thought about the whip and thought she had to get out of there and quickly.

Charles: Yo... you're Darcy? Ethan's mate? I swear if you are here for something else than investigating my girl, I... I'll... do nothing! But I will be very... upset. Okay?

He pulled up a trembling finger, like a threat. He then pointed at the door.

Charles: Now I'm.. gonna go dress up. Cauz... I got upset and kind of shifted in Ethan's office. I need clothes. Yes I do... I'll... I'll be back, okay? Stay. Stay! Please?

She was dumbfounded. She felt like she would be scared, but his weird way of acting, his vibe and the way he spoke made it seem impossible to feel any kind of fear. She weirdly found herself sitting on a chair to wait for him instead of running out of there. Maybe the whip was for horse riding? She watched a movie where people used that kind of stuff on horses. She pulled it out and examined it. The one Clayton used had dried blood on it, it was old and damaged, but this one seemed brand new, well maintained and smelled rather clean. She didn't get it. Then there was this label on it "www.Sexxxinc.com" She frowned. Charles came back, his eyes widened when she saw her with his toy in her hand. He was followed by Ethan, who had rushed in when Charles' mind linked him about her being in his suite. He too, was surprised to see his innocent mate holding such a thing.

Charles: Whoah whoa whoa, what are you doing with my whip?

He rushed toward her, taking it off her hands.

Darcy: Did you use it on Jazz? Did you hurt her?

Charles: What? No, she uses it on me!

Darcy: What? Why?

Ethan: Don't ask!

Charles: Well, if you found this, then you should know!

Ethan: She doesn't! Darcy, what are you doing here? I've been looking everywhere for you. Jasmine had been taken.

Darcy: I know.

Charles: YOU KNOW?