Chapter 213: Interlude: Scarlet - Sugar Mama

When they reached the bottom, Scarlet gulped down the blood in her throat and looked at Rachel; the hare hadn’t looked interested in prying into the exchange at all. "Umm. Can I... invest in Omen or something?"

Hands held behind her neck as they walked through the half-lit entryway of the office, Rachel shrugged, clearly not understanding what Scarlet was saying. "I mean, sure. I think I can get a grant or something from the military, but if you want to be our, hehe, temporary sugar mama, as Maria might say, then I’m not against it."

Nia was far more snoopy as she hung back to look at Scarlet’s phone, trying to count and looking a little confused. "One... two, three... Too many numbers! What does it mean, Little Fang?! No, I don’t get numbers. I get confused. How many shoes can I buy with it?"

"Pfft-haha!" Scarlet doubled over, causing Rachel to spin around with a lifted eyebrow and Nia to puff out her cheeks, likely thinking she was making fun of her. "If they cost $200 each, uh... like twenty-six million?"

The rabbit’s ears fell to the side of her head. "H-Huh?! Would that even fit in the house? How much bigger is that than ten—like... a hundred?! Major?! Are we going shopping?!" she excitedly asked, bouncing up and down with their umbrellas in her arms.

Rachel seemed to have instantly done the math in her head, ears straight up in the air, making Scarlet giggle. "Are you saying you have 5 billion dollars in the bank—liquid? What the hell did your parents do again? No, right... Cult leaders. Umm. I’m going to have to sit on that one for a bit, Scarlet. Wow, heh, yeah. Nice," she grinned, throwing up a thumb. "Any impulse buys?"

A strained smile flashed her fangs as she shifted her phone to rub her forearm. "Umm... a lot of food for your mom to test-bake blood into. She really is a wizard in the kitchen, from what I’ve seen over the last two weeks."

"Food? Classic," Rachel snickered, making her cheeks color as Nia popped open their umbrellas, probably silently asking her leader more clothes-purchasing questions. "My mom did once have a dream of opening up a restaurant. At least, that’s what Dad told me once."

"You have no clue what it’s like having blood as your main diet," she complained, smiling a little while taking Nia’s offered umbrella and thinking about all the cool things she could do for her new family. "Isn’t it good that we have our own money for Omen now? Oh, I can buy a private jet for us to get around!"

Rachel pushed her lips to the side, taking her own umbrella and opening the door for them to enter the thumping rainstorm. "Kind of feels like a waste with the military offering us so many rides, and they can deal with a lot of the regulations. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put us in supersonic jets to get us to Montana faster when the Crystal opens."

"True..." Scarlet mumbled, shoulders sagging a bit as the hare led them into her mom’s SUV. "There has to be something I can buy..."

"Talk it out with me; what comes to mind?" Rachel urged, opening the back door to allow Nia to hop inside; the bunny grumbled as Rachel leaned over her to pop the seat belt in.

"Major! I can do it..."

"You didn’t do it last time."

"I forgot! Humph. It’s not like a crash will hurt me."

"It’ll hurt me if you get hurt," Rachel returned with a slight smile that had the bunny sniffling and hugging her.

"Aww! I love you, too, Major!"

Scarlet shook out her umbrella and folded it up to store on the side, playing with her phone in her lap. "Let’s see... I don’t really want to ever go back to my home. So, maybe I’ll buy a new one that doesn’t remind me about all the trauma?"

"I like it," Rachel commented, getting in and starting the car. "Hire some people to go get your stuff out?"

"Maybe... I’m not so sure. I, uh-heh, was kind of a goth... And what are you smiling at?!"

"I couldn’t tell," Rachel snickered, flipping down the visor mirror to show her reflection. "Black hair, lips, and nails. Talk about the dream goth girlfriend. Am I right, Nia?"

"Yeah!" Her ears tilted to the side. "What’s a goth?"

Pouting a little, Scarlet pushed it back up and rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha-ha. Says the buff and thicc dommy-mommy hare girl. Oops! Scratch the buff part. Ehh-ehh?" she teased.

"Oh, shut up!" Rachel gave her a light glare, letting out a sarcastic laugh that she made sure reached her eyes. "Way to hit below the belt, bat ears! My fat ass can’t even fit into most of my pants now, and let’s not talk about bras!"

"Bat ears would be cute!" Scarlet defended, bringing her hands up to flap them with a grin. "Don’t get me wrong, elf ears are nice, too, but totally off the mark! Besides, I can just buy you more bras and pants now. You bought me a bunch over the last few weeks."

"You mean my mom bought you clothes over the last few weeks! And can you purchase me some muscle injections? We gotta have that with magic in the game after the patch, right?"

Scarlet choked a laugh. "Someone’s learning the lingo! I’ll throw it on the shopping list! Hmm..."

Nia threw up her hand in the back, practically hyperventilating. "And me! And me! I get the whole store! Rach said you could buy me the whole store!"

"Don’t die of a heart attack!" Scarlet chuckled, leaning back to see the girl clutching her chest and wild-eyed. "We’ll go shopping when we’re free... Thanks for cheering me up, guys."

Rachel reached over to bump her shoulder as they came to a stoplight. "Just keep your wits about you. We’ll be at the graveyard soon enough."

"I know..."

Scarlet twisted her phone around her fingers again; they’d transferred her dad’s message onto it before destroying the copy. She’d been shrouded in misery and haunted by trauma from that fateful night that had shattered everything she knew, but Rachel and her family had kept her stable through it.

Now, it was time to start picking up the pieces and forging a new life, a life she could welcome her mother into and show her that there was a way forward for them. She had to believe there was a way forward for them.

The pattering of the weeping heavens came into the foreground as they drew inward, and Scarlet let her heart steel for what was to come. Yes, her father was dead, but he wouldn’t have blamed her, so she shouldn’t blame herself; all of this had been plotted by Revilla, and she would pay the price.