Chapter 215: Interlude: Scarlet - Your Number One Fan

Studying the thrall, Scarlet strengthened her resolve; this was her mission. "...Lead the way."

"Thank you for accepting my mistress’ offer! My car is over there..."

Scarlet lifted an eyebrow upon setting eyes on the old, small, beat-up, two-door truck he directed her to in the nearby parking lot. Out of the few cars he could have chosen, that was the last one she’d thought would carry her to a vampire.

"Goodie..."

Her blood moved to accommodate every step she took so her flats didn’t touch the mud or soaked grass as she followed him to his truck. She’d expected uncomfortable silence, only to be met by the most chatty thrall she’d ever heard; it certainly wasn’t like anime, where they just cut right to the villain’s entrance.

Scarlet felt her mind rotting by the minute on the more than one-hour drive back to Miami; halfway through, they even had to stop off at a gas station to fill up, further spiking her nerves. He introduced himself as Josh, and Josh seemed like a sweet guy. If the vampire’s intention was to throw her off, then it was an A-class performance, because Scarlet felt like she was dying inside with the conversation points.

Josh was concerned about his big sister being in an abusive relationship and asked for help on how to support her. His mom was addicted to opioids, and his dad was working his butt off to get her to the right people to get her help. Unfortunately, his dad had been changed into a Beastkin werecat, which was a bit of a problem when working in a restaurant, as the phases of the moon changed his personality to be fairly aggressive— He’d been fired for yelling at customers and hissing at them.

Arms crossed, slumped in the uncomfortable, old seat, and half-falling asleep, Scarlet felt a spark of hope brighten her mood as the boy pulled off the freeway into Downtown Miami.

"...So, he’s been working at a temp agency that found him a gig since he’s, you know, one of those changed people like you—"

"Are we here?" Her eyes flashed red, pupils vanishing as her vampiric vision filtered out the buildings, searching for the vampire, and spot her she did; the girl wasn’t alone, either. "You’re... kidding me."

Josh puffed out a long sigh while taking a right and another right to reach a roadside diner. He glanced at the rips she’d made in her dress; it had been an awkward discussion topic he’d been trying to approach.

"Yeah, sorry to talk your ears off, My Lady. My mistress told me to be friendly. Now that we’re here, she said I was free to go back home and crash to sleep off the mind fog. Thanks for being nice! Umm... Are you sure you don’t want me to stop off at a place so you can get a new dress?"

"Uh-huh... Oh, no! No, I’m good!" Scarlet quickly returned, opening the door; her blood rushed out to block the curtain of rain again as she stepped out. "I hope things work out, Josh. Keep strong! Be gentle but firm with your sister about your feelings."

"Thank you!"

She waved him off with a relieved sigh that the road trip was over. Rachel had no doubt followed her on the over sixty-mile drive, since even her hearing didn’t work at such a crazy distance.

Standing in the parking lot under her blood umbrella, Scarlet glared through the window at the 16-year-old, ginger-haired vampire, with her straightened locks half-pulled into pigtails as the rest of her thick hair fell down her back.

Wearing an orange primary and black secondary-themed shoulderless dress that showed her bra straps, the girl had a non-reflective belt that matched her choker, and the black frills of the dress only covered half her thighs. She was certainly fashionable and bright with her navy-blue ribbons tied in her hair, golden accessories, and dangling sapphire-star earrings.

Her charming blue eyes were directed right at her as she grinned and waved in a friendly way, beckoning her to come inside. Beside her was another dream-ensnared young man, only this handsome blond was also a more classical vampire.

Great... Am I about to meet some noble vampire girl and her play toy underling?

She withheld a groan while walking into the sparsely crowded diner. Her blood drew more than a few uncertain or curious eyes from the late-night patrons as she entered, and a sniff of the air made her vision pull inward for a moment. At least she’d calmed down a lot in the past hour, allowing her to think.

She hadn’t noticed it until now, since these were the only other vampires she’d come into contact with, but there was a distinct and potent difference between the scents that came from the thrall who had just left her and the pair she was meeting. The magic infecting Josh carried the scent of the ginger-haired girl, which was also present on the other vampire, but the blond man was most certainly not the blue-eyed girl’s underling.

Cautiously approaching the table, her vampiric gaze darted between the pair. It’s like she sprayed her scent or... perfume all over someone else’s man and pulled him into her charms, but... Is it possible for vampires to compel other vampires? Usually, vampires are mostly immune to that kind of stuff, right? Maybe not in older media or legends? That’s not scary at all...

Pulling up her purse strap on her shoulder, she stopped at the booth, and the ginger girl stuck out a hand with tempered excitement.

"Scarlet, I have been dying to meet you! Oh, uh... hehe, I guess this is kind of an awkward first meet-up," she added with a forced smile as Scarlet stonewalled her handshake, instead crossing her arms. "Please, sit! Uh... Scary! Hehe. I’m not trying to pick a fight! I swear!"

They pulled a lot of attention as she coldly remained in her standing position, shimmering crimson blood freely floating around her figure. "Then why did you take my dad’s body?" she snapped, making the blond man rise to his feet and the ginger flinch.

"No! No, Terry. Hehe. Uh, sorry about him," the ginger gulped, motioning for the handsome guy to return to his seat next to her. "I think there is a, uh-heh, a big misunderstanding! I’m here to help you get your father’s body back.