A Different World

VIII: The King

Dedicating this chapter and the next four to Boshra_Kanfash for her kind words and motivating me to continue this story. 

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She waited until the limo was no longer within her vision before bringing herself up to her toes and running. She ran as fast as she could through a dense crowd of people, pushing people left and right, squeezing her way through the mass

Be invisible, it was definitely too late for that. With every inch she traveled a new set of eyes followed her, some human, some vampires, wondering what the woman in black was chasing after or running from.

The building was only inches away. She could feel the comfort and safety her sanctuary brought to her only to disturbed by the constant troublesome thoughts that someone was watching her. Of course, there were several people on the street observing her as she pushed people aside to get to the builder but the eyes she felt on her were different. They were powerful and burnt a whole through her.

She stopped to look around. There was no one, everyone that had stopped to look at her veered their gaze away and continued walking as if she no longer existed. She could not go back to her apartment, she could not let the person watching her know where she was living, she would have to find another place to stay at until she felt it was safe to return to her apartment.

Going to Eleanor could potentially put her at risk. There was a bar where most hunters resided at before going out at night but she could not risk going there either. She could walk around until night fell and hope the person was no longer watching her but that seemed like a long shot. Isabelle pulled out her phone and dialed a number she had become very familiar with in the past five years.

"Melissa," Scarlett spoke frantically and out of breath. She was no longer standing by her building but walking at a fast pace towards a different building several blocks away.

"What do you need?" the person on the other side of the line seemed to understand that Scarlett was in desperate need of something.

"A place to stay. It will only be for a day or two." She could not expose Eleanor, she was too important in her society and though she cared for Melissa, she was the only person that she could risk exposing if it came to that and Melissa understood that.

"That's fine, I'll be here."

"I will explain later." She hung up the phone without another word. 

Scarlett stood at Melissa's doorstep several minutes later contemplating whether her idea was the best or not. She cared so much for Melissa, she would not be able to live with herself if something were to occur to her. Melissa was like a sister to her.

She still remembered when they first met. They were both out on the outskirts of the city one night. The moon was waning and the stars were obscured by the city lights. Scarlett was running at full speed after a vampire she had come across, yielding her sword and ready to kill when she ran into Melissa. They fought over the vampire until Melissa knocked her unconscious.

When Scarlett awoke she was lying on an unfamiliar bed surrounded by unfamiliar pink walls. Melissa was sitting on chair messing with her phone, unaware that Scarlett had woken. Scarlett was furious, she wanted to get up from the bed and beat the girl against her bright pink walls but with the anger also came a realization. She was not angry at the mysterious girl, she was angry at herself because she had underestimated Melissa as a fighter and Melissa had knocked her unconscious.

She remembered Melissa trying to apologize several times for what she had done but Scarlett could not and would not accept her apology. She had grown to respect Melissa, no one, not even a guy had been able to do what she did.

Scarlett brought her fist up to the door and knocked four times on the upper left side of the white wooden door and, after a three-second pause, twice on the bottom left. She heard the click of the lock before the door swung open.

Melissa did not seem scared or even alert, she looked as calm as any other day Scarlett had come to visit her. She stood aside so Scarlett could come in.

The walls of her apartment were white but there was an overwhelming amount of color in her rug, paintings and couch pillows. She could not see the other rooms but she knew they had the same assortment of colors and décor.

"What's going on?" Melissa spoke once the door was closed and the lock was turned. She had her hair pinned up in a high ponytail and she wore black pants and a long sleeve black shirt, she was getting ready to go out on her hunt.

"I think I'm going crazy."

"Sit down and talk to me. I'm starting to get worried." She led Scarlett to her baby blue couch that barely held any space for them due to the prodigious amount of throw pillows.

Scarlett did not know where to begin or what to even say without sounding ridiculously crazy. Perhaps Melissa would believe her but if she tried to warn the others, it would not go the same way. How could she possibly convince someone else of something when she, herself, did not believe it?

"I think I saw someone today." She looked at the blank wall in front of her and tried to picture the man's face, every inch, every curve, every small detail.

"Who did you see?" Melissa no longer sounded calm. She took Scarlett's head in between her hands and turned it towards her. "Look at me."

Scarlett's blue eyes met Melissa's green ones.

"What if I am crazy?" Her voice sounded so distant even to her own ears.

"I won't know if you don't tell me." Melissa pleaded.

"I saw him; I saw the king."

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Guy in the pic is Sebastian Gates aka, the king ;)

Till next time ....