A Different World

X: Secret Affiliations

It was evident in the way Melissa sprung from her chair to retrieve her cellphone that she had translated Scarlett's agreement to make the phone call as a victory on her behalf. She disappeared through a hall, leaving Scarlett, once again, in her overly spirited living room.

As Scarlett waited for Melissa, she wondered how she could be so close to a person that was so different than herself.  Melissa was a spirit full of life, patiently waiting to see what life had to offer her whilst Scarlett aloud a dark cloud to loom over her life and never bothered to look at the future.

Melissa's personality could clearly be detected through her choice of décor. The living room was primarily covered in blues that resembled the sky on cloudless days whilst the kitchen and dining room were dominated by a mixture of oranges and yellows. The numerous amounts of windows aligned along the wall only made the colors the more intense especially with the outrageous curtain colors.

Scarlett stood from the armchair and made her way towards the window directly behind the couch they had both been sitting at when she first arrived. The curtain was drawn but she pushed it aside to reveal the view behind it. She had been unaware of the passing of time since she arrived at Melissa's apartment and the lack of light outside only served as a reminder of just how much time had passed since she met Sebastian.

The city lights were on full display, illuminating the streets and the sky above for miles. She was ten stories above ground but she could see the throng of people roaming about on the streets, perfectly. They were mostly vampires – which made her job of finding her stalker all the more difficult – and a few uncomfortable humans that their only wish was to be in the safety of their home away from the cold-hearted creatures.

Scarlett stepped away from the window, no longer interested in the view that laid behind the curtain. Seeing how vampires loomed over humans and looked upon them as they were worth nothing less than the trash they stepped on in the streets made her sick to the stomach. Humanities only downfall was not possessing the same power the vampires did to protect the world that rightfully belonged to them.

She did not know if the war against the vampires would end in her time or years after she seized to exist but she was happy to contribute whatever it took to win back the world for the humans.

"They're on their way." Melissa's voice broke through the silence and brought back Scarlett from her wandering thoughts.

Scarlett was not keeping time but she was sure it had been over an hour when a knock finally came to the door. Melissa removed the blanket she had set upon herself, only ten minutes into their wait, and made her way to open the door.

"Come in," Melissa said as soon as the door was open. Eleanor, an average height woman in all black, stepped in first. Her medium length hair was down, concealing a pale scar that ran from the tip of her ear to the bottom of her neck and her eyes bore a wild spark to them. One look at her and Scarlett knew she had just come back from a hunt.

Eleanor nodded at Scarlett in acknowledgement before turning back to look at whoever still stood in the hall outside of the apartment. She waved at them and in came three men.

One of them, she knew to be Eleanor's boyfriend. He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome with his milk chocolate skin tone, well-defined muscles that could easily crush anything in their way and dark brown eyes that could burn a hole through anyone.

The man directly to his left was someone Scarlett had not had the pleasure of meeting. He was noticeably smaller than Eleanor's boyfriend, Alexander, height wise and in muscle mass as well. While Alexander stood at 6 ft. 2, the new guy was only two inches taller than Eleanor. He had a boyish charm to him and if Scarlett did not know any better she would not have picked him as a hunter.

Scarlett's eyes finally landed on the last man to walk through the threshold. This man stood at 6 foot nothing and possessed muscles that could easily challenge those of Alexander. The man wore a smile on his lips, exposing his straight and pearly white smile that could easily blind any onlooker. Every line and curve on his face were perfect even the small indent on his chin. Nathan was perfect.

When she had run into him on the street she had not taken the time to observe him fully. His five o'clock shadow that brought out the sharpness of his jaw line, his piercing blue eyes that seemed to hold more life a small scar just above his left eyebrow that had not been there when they were at the institute together. He looked different but just the same.

Time had done little to hinder his beauty.

"May I offer you anything to drink?" Melissa asked, finally closing the door.

"No, we are fine. You said this was urgent?" Eleanor looked from Melissa to Scarlett prompting for a response. She had drifted from the entrance and was now standing in the small living room with Scarlett.

"It would appear that the king is in New York," Scarlett spoke.

"I feared that much," Eleanor responded. "I received news from Brazil that the king had left his home there and they were unsure of where he had gone. I had a suspicion he might come back to New York and had Nathan, Drake," she pointed to the shorter of the three guys, "and several others come out here. We'll need the extra hunters."

"Why were we not informed?" Scarlett's voice was accusing.

"Because it was a suspicion," she shot back, clearly displeased with the tone Scarlett had adopted to use on her.

"It was more than a suspicion if you felt the need to call for backup before you were certain."

"I like to be prepared and it is not my job to notify you of every one of my decisions so you'd do well to watch your tone."  

The room went cold as everyone's eyes went from Scarlett to Eleanor waiting to see who would explode first.  Eleanor had her hands balled into fists and stood lightly on her feet, ready to spring at any moment. Scarlett had her teeth clenched together bringing out a small vein on her forehead, she was angry but she would never dare attack Eleanor, she respected her too much. Scarlett had simply displaced her anger on the wrong person and was not willing to back down even if that meant letting Eleanor beat the living daylights out of her. 

"Scarlett has had a rough day, please forgive her." Melissa stepped in for her taking her by the arm and dragging her away from Eleanor before the worse come to worst.

Rough day seemed to be the understatement of the century at the moment.

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Picture of her mentor Eleanor :)

Till next time....