But ah, I'm apparently going to try to explain, anyway.
As some of you may or may not have noticed, we've been away for a while. 'A while' here meaning an entire month. And that isn't exactly on purpose, but it isn't exactly on accident, either. Jessica Carter's gone and flown us halfway across the country, multiple times, all because she's been chasing this little trio, as part of some bizarre mission only she fully understands.
Trying to herd Jessica one direction or another is hard enough as it is. It begins to feel like trying to herd clouds through the sky using a straw and the meager capacity of one's lungs. After a while, you start to realize just how feeble those things are, to be honest. Andre and I tried, at first, to dissuade her from this crusade she's gotten us on...but I haven't ever seen her this worked up about anything, and neither has Andre, apparently(he's been working with her longer, and he has a good head on his shoulders, so I trust him on this one.)
I feel as though I should back up a bit. Obviously, anyone reading this has probably figured out by now that Jessica and David Banks have a history. A long one, apparently. Here's what I gather, and this is to be taken with a grain of salt, seeing as it comes straight from Jess herself:
Sometime about twenty years ago, David and Jessica got friendly...or as friendly as you can call two psychopathic serial killers together. Real friendly, from the sound of things. If you're not familiar with Banks' work, here's a reminder: the guy has been operating as a hired assassin for anyone willing to pay for the last two decades or so. Mostly Irish mob stuff. But he didn't do it for the money, no. The guy made quite a name for himself as the type you only let loose on your worst enemies, when you wanted someone who was going to enjoy hurting the mark.
You can imagine, then, how he and Jessica might have gotten along. The two of them met towards the beginning of both of their careers, back when she was on her own, before she acquired this nice little empire of hers. To hear her tell it, the two of them were inseparable, going on nightly killing sprees together and then retiring to some abandoned hotel to curl up and cuddle, or whatever it is psychopaths do when they aren't killing people. It's almost adorable. If you're a deranged lunatic.
Eventually they parted ways, but Jessica speaks about David as fondly as I've ever heard her about anyone, calling him "the most fearsome knife-wielding predator I've ever known." Whatever the hell that means.
But apparently, he's gone straight or something, now. And that's an offense Jess isn't willing to suffer. She's convinced that this change of heart is a response to 'the world bringing him down', or some such nonsense. It's strange, hearing her go on and on, in reverent tones, about the distinction between 'David Banks' and 'Azrael'. In her own words, the latter is "a soft smear left on the floor of the world, weak and disgusting like all the others. He's nothing like David Banks, nothing at all."
Unfortunately, that's exactly what the aforementioned 'mission' she's in is all about; reminding him of 'who he really is', bringing that side of him back to the forefront of his life.
That's where the young lady's post, "Quiet Spell", comes into play. We'd been tracking the three of them for a few weeks before we hit upon their hiding place. Andre and I drove her there ourselves, and she knocked on the door. It apparently didn't go well, because the conversation with her old flame didn't last long, and she came sprinting off David's doorstep screaming, "LONG LIVE DAVID BANKS!", over and over.
Since then, we've been more or less harassing them at every opportunity. David's already moved them once, but it didn't take us long to catch up, seeing as we were right on their tail from the get-go. For whatever reason, Jessica's taken to murdering random civilians in the area, and leaving parts of their body outside her 'long lost love's' door. According to her, it's meant to "encourage his sadly-neglected wickedness back out to play."
All Andre and I foresee it doing is leaving a trail for the authorities to follow us by. Which is, needless to say, not great. The clean up is a nightmare, but so far, we've managed to pretty well handle damage control as best as is possible. I've never had my hands so full as since I started working for Jessica Carter. Kind of makes me feel young again!
To be honest, though, there's been a lot to process this past month. Which is why you haven't heard from me. Am I going to return to 'Bradley's Journal Entries?' I hear maybe two of you ask. My answer is a profoundly resonant 'I have no clue.' Jessica seems to have completely lost interest, but me... well, ahh, there's a lot of confusing information in those journals. Some of it is downright insane, and it isn't the stuff that comes from Jess. I mean, that stuff is insane, too. But not like this. I have no idea what to make of it, so I'm sorely tempted to post it here, to see what my readers make of it. It's real spooky stuff.
So now you know more or less where things stand with us. There's more I haven't written about, for the sake of keeping this post as short and readable as possible. But the jist of the situation is there, and anyway, some of it might be better explained from Elizabeth and David's side of things. Can't hog all the story-telling to myself, now, can I?
-Mr Flint
