“Hey! Wake up!”
She could hear someone calling her from a distance. With a quick look around, she searched for the familiar voice, but nothing. She drew her focus back to the man standing before her, her hands were warm in his. A cold wind blew, gusting flowers and leaves up, swirling around them. An unfamiliar feeling captured her, she didn’t want to leave but she could still hear someone call out to her.
“Scar, we’re going to be late!”
Her eyes flew open. It seemed so real. She wanted to go back to that happy place and as she tried to close her eyes again, Kayla called out to her louder this time. She almost saw the color of his eyes. She scowled at her friend.
“Late for what, I need my rest.” Not to mention I was just about to see his eyes. She scrambled to her feet and followed her friend into the kitchen.
“Late for what, she asks? We need to get to the diner.” Kayla walked around the table spreading her arms out. “You see this apartment, it doesn’t pay for itself, food doesn’t miraculously come out of the oven.” She then walked to the light switch and flicked it on. “When the light comes from that globe it’s a good thing, it’s what we call electricity. We want electricity. Electricity is good, but it’s not free.”
She then put her hands on Scarlet’s shoulder. “For us to have such nice things we need to pay for them. So that means we need to earn money. That also means we need to keep the job we have, no matter how crappy it is.”
They had been working at the diner ever since they were in university. The money they earned was enough to sort the bills and put food on their table, so they had decided to keep their jobs until they could find something more lucrative.
Scarlet rolled her eyes at her sarcasm. She had to admit that it was one of her favorite things about her. “Our shift is at twelve.” She swallowed the last word as she followed Kayla’s finger to the clock. She then ran to her room to change. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier? It’s eleven forty, we aren’t going to make it in time.”
“Speak for yourself. We are going to get there even if we have to fly.” Kayla snorted.
Scarlet was behind the wheel, they were just a block away from the diner with two minutes to spare. She willed her little silver Clio to go faster. “Come on baby you can do it.”
She turned into the corner, Jodie’s, they were home free. As she passed the garage to get into the parking lot, something caught the corner of her eye. A man, for some reason she thought she knew him. The sunglasses he had on didn’t make it any easier to make out the face. She knew him from somewhere.
Immediately she pulled into a spot Kayla was out the door. “Come on, hurry up. Thirty seconds.”
Scarlet pushed the thought out of her head, whoever he was, was not as important as getting to work on time.
***
The garage was empty today, no cars to fix. The boss had let the guys off early today. Stephan and two other mechanics hang back for a while for the walk-in customers. He delaying going back home for as long as he could.
Being alone in the apartment with only his thoughts to keep him company wasn’t something he looked forward to. He needed a break from his life. He toyed around with some of the junk at the garage, the chatter from the boys served as a good distraction but he did not want to be part of it. He pretended to be busy.
“Hey, am looking for a Stephan Jeraldi.”
Stephan heard his name from the back, he recognized the voice. He took a deep breath, he knew exactly what was going to happen next. He didn’t need a psychic or a mind reader, to tell him what waited for him at the front.
“SJ! Yo! SJ! Somebody wants you!”
SJ, he hated that nickname. The boys wouldn’t call him Stephan according to them it lost its uniqueness in the eighty’s. He was from the eighties and it was a very respectable name at the time. He took a careful step and stood at the door, he took a deep breath before he swung it open.
“Stephan”, he corrected them. “Solara,” he said in a grunt acknowledging his visitor. “Boys do you think you can give us a minute. Why don’t you get some grab from Joanie’s?”
We can not do anything here in front of these humans. Although Stephan hadn’t opened his mouth to speak, he knew that Solara had heard him. That was his gift, he read minds.
“Ok, thanks, bro!” They shuffled out of the shop to the diner across the street.
When they were out of hearing range, Stephan attempted to reason with Solara. What would he say, what could he say to him to make the loss of his sister any easier.
“You knew that your kind can never be with vampires, so why did you pursue that relationship.” Solara hissed. “You knew the Conselho would not let a filthy beast like you, abandon his post, to live free and with a vampire no less. You knew but you still put her in danger.”
Your kind. Filthy beast…. Stephan knew what he was. He knew it all too well, but Sotera never cared about that. She loved every side of him. He was unique in his way. That’s was why he was one of the strongest of the warriors the Conselho had.
Midst his trail of thought, Solara’s full weight crushed into him. They fell to the ground with a loud thud, dust from the destroyed gravel raising into the air and filling his nostrils. Stephan didn’t try to fight, he didn’t push Solara off. He let Solara hit him. If this was what he needed to do to settle his grief he would let him do it. It was the least he could do.
“Fight! Fight me! Are you too weak? Are you going to show the same weakness you did when my sister was butchered?” his voice was thick with emotion. “You did nothing. You beast, what kind of love did you have for my sister. You never…”
Stephen felt the power surge from him, how could he say that. How could he say that he never loved her? Yes, he couldn’t save her but he loved her.
Stephan flipped to his feet, bucking Solara off like a wild mustang. Solara crushed into the garage door. They lurched at each other, crashing everything in their path.
***
The day dragged on, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. There were the usual cranky overbearing customers and Jody was shouting at the top of her lungs, for some reason or none at all. Jodie’s the place you don’t want to be. Sometimes Scarlet couldn’t understand why people still came to eat here. Bad food, terrible service and there was always a tumult. Did they enjoy the drama with their plates of grease?
“Hey Scar do you hear that? It sounds like it is coming from the garage? Aren’t the boys here? Ask them what’s going on.” Kayla peered out of the window.
“What the hell.” Scarlet stared out the window. She put the coffee pot down, and headed for the garage, curious Kayla tailed her.
They peeked in head first, and then they went into the scrap littered place. It was a sight to behold. Two well-built men were fighting, it was a cross of boxing, karate, and wrestling, an exhibit of male testosterone on overcharge.
Kayla let out a loud trucker whistle that got their attention. Scarlet’s hands flew to her ears, the two men froze on the ground and looked up at their audience. Everyone from the diner filled the cramped space. They scrambled to their feet and dusted themselves off. Kayla had her eye on the shorter one who was extremely beautiful. He had short blonde hair, amber eyes, and a blatant worshipper of his temple body. The other man was equally as beautiful but had a look to him that she didn’t appreciate.
“Nothing to see here people! Get back to the diner.” Kayla’s voice rang in the air, as she shouted at the crowd that had gathered around them.
Scarlet could see how intrigued Kayla was. Scarlet chuckled, it was clear the only reason Kayla cleared the garage was to get some privacy with the guys.
“So guys, I’m Kayla and this is Scarlet, what’s the problem.” Kayla chirped.
“That doesn’t concern you.” Solara hissed.
Scarlet turned to her friend her eyes begging her not to retaliate. A scuffle between Kayla and the stranger wasn’t something she was looking forward to.
Kayla shifted her weight to her right foot and changed her stance as if preparing herself for a fight. “Rude much?”
***
Stephan decided to step in. “Kayla, Scarlet is it? I apologize for my friend but we don’t need your help.” I need to keep a low profile here. This is where I live and work. Don’t do anything idiotic. With a nod, Solara acknowledged that he had heard his thoughts. He began to walk away when Stephan called after him. “Solara, you know where I live, we can continue this conversation later, but in a more civilized manner.”
“Don’t call me, Stephan, I’ll call you. But I want a fair fight. No holding back.” Kicking the door on his way out as he stormed out of the garage.
Stephan realized he was alone with the two waitresses. He looked at them and realized who they were, the women from the night before. How could he forget Kayla’s annoying little voice? She was such a little person, with such a loud voice. His eyes drifted back to Scarlet, she was beautiful. Not as beautiful as Sotera, no one could be as beautiful as Sotera, but she was still beautiful. Her eyes, he was trapped in her eyes once more. One could have a conversation with her eyes, all her emotions could be read from her eyes. Amidst all the warm fuzzy feelings, fear crept up. He had to get away from her.
“We have to go now, Stephan, I hope you feel better.” Scarlet took Kayla’s hand and he watched as they walked back to the diner.
***
It was after nine o’clock, closing time. They cleared the tables and tended to the last customers. It had been a long eventful day. Scarlet and the other waitresses sat in a booth, sharing their horror stories of the day while cuddling a cold beer.
“Hey, gals what did you think of the clash of the titans earlier on?” Redhead Marcie asked. The fight at the garage had sparked everyone’s curiosity, and for obvious reasons, the fighters had attracted the women’s attention.
“So what happened when you and Scar were left behind with them? Did you get their numbers? Their names at least?” the question was directed at Kayla. They eagerly leaned towards her.
Kayla waved off the question and didn’t bother answering. She turned towards the knock on the door. “Can’t you read the sign? It says closed!”
Scarlet felt her breath hitch in her chest. She noticed how his size had made the room seem oddly smaller. He was divine and the jet black hair bouncing around his face brought out the odd silver color of his eyes.
***
Stephan walked into the diner with an apologetic smile on his face. He searched the room and found Scarlet. He wasn’t sure why he came in here, a few hours ago he was determined to stay away from her. But his mind willed him here and besides, he had the perfect excuse. His eyes followed Scarlet as she crossed the room to where Kayla was.
“I’m sorry about the commotion earlier. We didn’t mean to disrupt your day. It was just old friends catching up.” he shifted his gaze between the two girls. He didn’t miss how beautiful they were, but something about Scarlet called out to him. “I just wanted to say thank you for your help, you know with the crowd control. I appreciate it.”
“I have never seen you or your friend around here before? Did you just come into town?” Kayla asked, a hint of hostility in her voice, she was still annoyed. “To be more precise which hole did your friend crawl out from?”
A chuckle escaped his throat. “I’m sorry about his attitude. He was not in a very good mood at that moment. Other than that he is a very pleasant person.”
Pleasant wasn’t exactly the word that would describe Solara. He was more of a playboy. He loved his fun and his women. He had more control over his thirst than his lust for the opposite sex. He never fed on women he worshipped them too much to kill them. He fed on the people he knew no one would miss.
“I have to go now, thank you for everything.” he gazed at Scarlet for a while before he turned and left. He could hear their voices as he walked away, and the last statement put a long-awaited smile on his face.
“He wants you.” He heard Kayla say as he walked away. Stephan chuckled to himself and the sound of his laughter surprised him.