48 | L-CLASS
“I’ve given your father my answer,” Dr. Chambers tells me once he’s seated. This time he’s no longer in the serving apron, but in a pressed, grey button down shirt and black slacks. His tan forearms are exposed as he rests them on the table, pale blue eyes watching me serenely, as I fight to control my breathing. The man is imposing in build alone, add in the crazy amount of energy almost compressing my bones into warping and I’m having a difficult time just sitting still. Every cell in my body wants me to spring out of this chair, this town, and run all the way back to Kiwina.
“Yes, well…” I clear my throat, my words coming out in a rough croak at first. *You can do this, Scarlett!* I tell myself, forcing my spine to straighten despite the invisible, almost oppressive, weight of power from Dr. Chambers. “This is important. The-fate-of-the-world important.” I lay all my cards on the table as Shola frowns beside me, her dark red eyes flicking from me to the doctor. *So she didn’t know*…
“I fail to see how my community would be so important in the grand scheme of things.” Dr. Chambers’ eyes narrow slightly as the mood in the restaurant shifts. The dim hum of chatting people dying into near-silence, the barely-there tension from before kicking up and slowly making my skin crawl.
“Your community is full of…powerful supernaturals, Dr. Chambers.” I remind him, trying hard to to grit my teeth as I spell it all out for him. Why can’t he see how pivotal his town is? Dead-set in the middle of the country, out of the way, sure, but chalk-full of lethal beings that are on the brink of snapping. “If you continue to…” I swallow, my eyes tearing from the doctor’s to glance at the frozen expression around the room as the supernaturals seem to be concentrating on listening to us. “Take the full weight of responsibility for them,” We both know I’m talking about the whole ‘judge-jury-executioner’ thing. “The balance will tip. Humans will be at risk. And the community will fall.” My prickling skin begins to pulse as the tension sky-rockets, the already pacing animal in me starts to snarl in the back of my head, not liking the tension one bit. My heart’s racing, and breathing coming in shorter - though still even - breaths.
“We have safeguards put in place to prevent that.” Shola speaks up, seemingly calm, though there’s a tightness to her voice as she speaks. “There is a large Hunter Clan in Red Valley that monitors this town to ensure that won’t happen.” I can practically feel the tension in the room double at her words, the scent of fear and anger rising and just about choking my already dulled sense. I breathe in through my mouth, looking back at Dr. Chambers to see if he’s noticed.
The man’s eyes have begun to glow eerily, the pupil growing as he looks to the faces of the supernaturals in the room. His tan skin has begun to ripple over the bone, as if he’s fighting to keep control over the monster under the surface. The power he’s been radiating seems to skim over the entirety of the room, my knees knocking together under the table in fear. L-Class is one thing, but this man’s other form - if what I’ve read can be trusted - is supposedly as large as the entire town. If he shifts into it, we’re all dead.
“Is there a problem here?” Akira’s voice rips through the eerie silence that has settled over the room. The scent of smoke and fire clinging to the air as I become aware of her standing just behind Dr. Chambers. Her eyes are fixed on some corner of the room I hadn’t noticed, one of the tables where a man is hunched over, his back to us, visibly stiffens.
“No problem, Akira.” Dr. Chambers replies smoothly, some of the tension in his face smoothing as his adopted daughter continues to stare down the lumpy form. I watch the two in fascination, easily seeing the answer to this problem in the stance the *draki* takes as she watches the figure stand and shuffle out of the room. I’m suddenly able to breathe a little more easily, the fear following the supernatural who just left.
“You could do it.” I blurt out once I can breathe. My voice has gone hoarse again and I have to clear it. Akira’s blazing red eyes fix on me, a frown on her lips, and a slight confusion creasing the spot between her eyebrows. “Be the Enforcer and Executioner.”
Akira’s eyes widen, her jaw dropping at the suggestion and the glowing of her eyes dulls so they suddenly look near-black. Her skin begins to shift color, the scent of burning flesh and smoke filling my nostrils as the faint imprint of scales shiver to the surface. The scent of her fear follows faintly, tasting of ash at the back of my tongue.
“Get out.” Dr. Chambers seethes suddenly, standing so his bulky body shields his daughter from me. Power smashes into me at his words, making me all but scramble over my chair on my way out of the room. Zoe’s at my side in a blur, gripping my arm tightly in one hand to escort me to the car. Her already-pale skin all but greying, dark red eyes wide with fear as she glances behind us.
My self-proclaimed bodyguard pretty much shoves me into my seat once she gets us to the car and in less than a second, we’re kicking up loose gravel and flying back out of Darklight. My thundering heart and ragged breathing only evening out once we’re driving into the sleepy part of Colton. Again, I can’t help but sense more than what I should be able to with my Wolven senses alone. The eerie emptiness of the street in the town raising a red flag in the back of my mind that I make a mental note of for later thought. Though the town had always been quiet, this is a little much for this time of night. People should be returning from work out of town, or passing through to get to the city a few towns over.
I stare out my window, cataloging it all in the dimness of night. Not even the sliver of moonlight from the sky piercing through the oppressive darkness beyond my window. It’s only when we reach the boundaries of Colton that I see the tell-tale flash of headlights on the opposite side of the road, and color returns to the trees around us. Reds and burning oranges mix through the leaves of the forest stretching along the road as we go. Some of the remaining tension from my earlier fear ebbs and I find I can breathe, despite the constricting reminder of the bond around my heart.
“I can’t believe you suggested his daughter take on the role of Executioner.” Zoe hisses at me once we’ve passed Colton.
“And Enforcer.” I add softly, still watching the fall colors streak by. “Didn’t you see how she handled that creep in the restaurant?” I ask, returning my eyes to Zoe to better gauge her expression. Zoe’s nose wrinkles and her eyebrows bunch.
“What creep? The thing that left?” She seems unaware of the fact that the supernatural who left seemed to have some sort of amplifying power, something that had increased the fear in the room. Something that had gone complete unnoticed, apparently.
“It screwed with the emotions in the room. Like a bad-emotion booster or something.” I shrug, not sure how to describe how it had felt. I begin to drum my fingers along my collarbone, relaxing a little more now that we’re on the road back to Kiwina. Back to Blue. “I think things could have been a lot worse if Akira hadn’t stepped in when she did. The Doc looked like he was about to shed his skin.” I shiver at the memory, replaying the way his form had rippled, and shut my eyes. The warming tingle of the mark on my neck sooths the chill now returning to my bones.
“I’ve accompanied your father a few times when he’s visited, and I can tell you one thing:” Zoe turns her dark eyes on me, her face tight with a mix of worry and fear. “You don’t want to mess with Dr. Chambers’ family. He may not be a Pack creature, but he’s fiercely protective of them.” I shift in my seat, giving a one-shouldered shrug.
“I could have told you that.” A sudden grin stretches at my lips. “But at least we’re that much closer to solving this thing.” I tell Zoe, my unusual bout of optimism making the vampire’s face slacken a bit before she bursts out laughing.
Maybe it’s the relief from being away from all the tension and power from Darklight, or the much lighter mood around us, but I can’t help but feel like there really is hope to stopping this event - and solving the issue of the missing Hunter. We’d traveled to Darklight to try and fix one event and are returning with the possibility of stopping two. I can’t help but feel like this marks a small victory in our efforts to try and stop the apocalypse.
