Its 9 am the morning after Ethan came. I called and accepted his offer and he's coming to pick me up in an hour to take me to the Company. So one hour to kill before he gets here, I decide to walk down the street to the little store and get a breakfast sandwich and a bottle of cola.
After I get my food, I walk back to my motel room, wondering to myself the whole way there why nobody heard the screaming or gunshots. I decided to ask the desk clerk when I return my key. When I reach my door, I unlock it and step inside, setting my backpack down on a table and sitting down after shutting the door. I turn on some loud music and eat my sandwich, as I sketch random things on my sketch pad.
Just after I finish my sandwich, I hear footsteps approach my door, and knocking a few seconds later. I draw my weapon, and slide to the window, parting the blinds slightly to peer out. There is a dark metallic red camaro with black racing stripes parked, though still running behind Ethan, who is knocking again.
"It's Ethan! You ready?" he calls, knowing I can hear him.
I holster my weapon, grab my things and swing open my door at the same time I'm turning off my blaring music, startling him.
"Uh, ready?" he says, lowering the hand he had raised to knock again. The breeze picked up and blew his scent to me, which smelled human, must not have heard me moving around then.
"Yeah. Where's this place at anyway?" I ask him, stepping out of the room and locking the door.
"Duncan, Wyoming," he answers, walking to the driver's side door of the car.
"That's a whole state away! How did you get here so fast?" I ask, not yet getting in the car.
"Nos," he says, smiling, "and police scanners. You gonna get in?" he cocks his head to the side, eyebrow raised.
"I have to return my key, and ask the clerk a few questions," I tell him, walking to the front office.
"Ok, I'll be here," Ethan says, turning on some music.
~~~*~~~
As I walk into the front office, my senses were assaulted by a smell unlike any other: rotting flesh. No one was at the desk, and the smell was coming from a door behind it. I set the key on the desk, and creep to the door. Slowly, after closing my senses, I open the door and peek in. There was a half of a mutilated, rotting deer body covered in swarming flies in the little closet. Behind me, I hear a person clear their throat and I quickly whip out my gun, swivel around, and level it at their chest. The desk clerk, who was standing there with an annoyed expression, eyes me up and down distastefully.
"Excuse me, lady, that's my dinner," he says, pointing to the deer carcass.
"Yeah, well, that's discussing. How can you eat that?" I don't lower my gun.
"Not your problem, it's not human, so you can't do anything about it," he says matter-of-factly, crossing his arms over his chest.
I thought for a moment, then lowered my gun, but didn't put it away."What about the smell?"
"The stupid spell must have ran out, now what do you want?" That's why I couldn't smell it the day before.
"I was returning my key, I'm leaving. And I wanted to ask you if you heard the screams and gunshots last night." I say sliding out from behind the desk after shutting the door. I do not like this guy, there's something about him...
"Yes, I did." His answer was curt as he plunked down onto the chair behind the desk.
"And why didn't you do anything?"
He took the key, looking down. He didn't say anything for a moment, but then said, "I don't interfere with vampire business. I'm not going to say anything else, so leave." His voice had an angry tone to it, and, when he looked up, his eyes were no longer a gray color, but a golden one.
"One more question. Was there anyone else staying at this motel?" He began to growl. Just then, Ethan walked in, wrinkling his nose.
"Hey, what's taking so long? And what's that smell?" his eyes landed on the clerk, and grew hard and cold.
"Ethan."
"Walter."
I looked back and forth between the two, not sure on what to do. I knew there was something off. "Well," I said, breaking the silence, "We should be going now. Right, Ethan?"
"Yeah, we are going," Ethan said through clenched teeth, still glaring at Ethan.
"Bye now. Come again," Walter sneered sarcastically.
They still didn't break eye contact. As dangerous as it is, I jumped in between them, forcing them to lose sight of each other and the building tension dissipated a little. and pulled Ethan out the door and into the crisp morning air.
YOU ARE READING
The Ace of Hearts
Science Fiction***Cover by Luluutique*** Becky Stockman is a shapeshifter, with highly trained human parents, though they were killed when she was little. She was taken in by her only remaining family, her uncle Alec. She was taught almost everything she knows by...
