Pursuance Six

Vesta was watching the night sky, looking for the stars, but she saw nothing. She was on the terrace, leaning against the white marble bannister, looking up. She had been waiting for her cousin. It’s been two hours since she left to buy some books in town. Until now, she was not at home.

The black sweater she’s wearing fits the curves of her body, paired with her favourite blue jogger pants with an imprinted word on the side, the colours. She turned her gaze to the garden below her. Through moonlight she could see the different colours of roses planted by her godmother and some flowering plants.

The cool breeze was playing with her short hair. Her eyes moved at something moving in one tree of the mini forest, twenty meters away from where she was. Forming a furrow on her forehead, trying to figure out if someone is lurking behind. A sigh came out of her mouth, the coolness of the air she breathed felt in her nostrils. Maybe she was imagining things.

The view of the lights of her neighbours in her right direction, and the sounds of the crickets of the night joining by the trees, leaves playing by the winds, creates calming sounds in her ears. She closed her eyes, and it destroyed what she was feeling when remembered Jake’s words playing like a cassette in her mind. She shook her head to erase it. No matter what, she will follow her intuition than anyone. For who will understand her more than herself.

She went down to the living room. Vesta sat on the couch and looked at her phone to see if Ashley had called. But only messages from her group mates were in the inbox.

“Isn’t Nak, coming yet?” Vesta gaze went to her godmother who came from the kitchen, smelling the adobong chicken she was cooking. She shook her head as an answer.

“Maybe, Nak will come sooner,“ Estella said and went back to the kitchen to continue her cooking.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Maybe that’s Ashley, Vesta thought.

“Maybe that’s Ashley, Ninang, I’m going to open the gate,“ Vesta said as she walked toward the front door.

“Please tell her I have already put in the drawer the clothes she bought earlier from Aling Sinta,“ Estella said.

“I’ll tell her.“ Vesta closed the front door and made her way to the gate and pulled it open.

“Ash, why—“ She stopped what was going to say when seeing that it wasn’t her cousin.

Vesta slightly surprised, because she did not expect to see Zaiden outside the gate, and he was still wearing a uniform.

“Hello, Zaiden right?“ Vesta assured the question, staring at the dark green colour of his eyes.

To remember a name was not something she was good at. She breathes in the woody scents of his cologne.

“Yes, is Ashely there?“ Zaiden asked. The cool breeze played on the man’s slightly long black hair.

“She hasn’t come home, yet after she buys books. Why?“ she raised a question in a surprised tone.

She shifted her gaze to the man’s hand. There she saw her cousin’s notebook, and Zaiden also looked at the one he was holding in his right hand.

“I would have given it back to her. Please say thank you to me,“ he said without even smiling.

Does he have no teeth, why does he not even smile? She asked in her mentality. Vesta noticed that the man was shaking his head to not laugh. She wondered even more why he reacted that way.

Weird! What’s funny?

“All right, I’ll tell her,“ she replied, and picked up the notebook he handed.

The edge of her cheek heated at the thought that ratified through her senses. Maybe the reason it made him laugh was because of her face or something funny about her looks. The man only nodded and walked in the right direction, not even saying goodbye to her. It made her feel annoyed.

Vesta closed the gate door. The anxiousness was eating up on her. She humiliated her own.

She slammed the front door shut, then she noticed her mother-in-law at the kitchen door, standing.

“Is that Ashley? Why isn’t she coming in yet?“ Vesta’s godmother asked.

Vesta shook her head. “It’s not Ashley, it’s my classmate, returning Ashley’s notebook.“

“Ahh, I thought. Where is my daughter now,“ Estella said, full of concern for her daughter then entered the kitchen to continue what she was doing.

Vesta went to the kitchen after putting Ashley’s notebook in her bedroom. She also wonders why her cousin isn’t here yet. She was watching her godmother cook.

An idea came to her. “Ninang, I’m going to the bookstore where Ashley is. There’s only one bookstore here, isn’t it?“ She looks at her godmother stirring in a pot, who nodded in response.

“I know how to get there, I’ll use her car, so I can come to her quickly.“

“It’s better. I am worried about how my daughter is. Why did she just walk there? Thank you, Vesta, for doing it,“ Estella said with a wide smile set on her face, but the worry was so visible in her brown eyes.

Vesta nervously drove her cousin’s car, and on her way to the bookstore. She was afraid to drive because her memories of what had happened before came back to her like a movie playing inside her mind. She let out a deep sigh. Hands trembling while driving. She tried to relax by telling herself that she was near the place and nothing would happen to her.

Vesta braked immediately when someone suddenly appeared and passed in front of the car. She cried out in great fear, looking carefully ahead to make sure no one was passing by, and she was already in town and until now she was still nervous. Vesta tried to stop the trembling of her body as well, thinking her decision to drive was wrong.

This was the reason she hates driving, either she dies or someone will. Vesta breathed in and breathed out, trying to relax. She does not want to have a panic attack in this situation.

Focus, Vesta. Focus! Encouraged herself, and continued to drive. The vehicle was now slower until she arrived at the bookshop and slowly stopped in the parking lot. Closing the driver’s door, she came out as if something scary was inside the car. She hugged herself when sensing the freezing of the air on her skin, forgetting to take on her jacket before leaving home.

There’s many people around the place. She has seen some of them walking in the street, walking out and entering establishments. It turns out that the inside of the bookshop is also big. There are a lot of interesting books on the shelves made of wood. The odour of distinct scents mixed around her. The more dominant smell was the scent of new books. She would love to stop at the fiction section, but she needs to do something. Next time she will pay a visit here to buy some books to read.

Right now, she needs to find Ashley. But Vesta could not find her inside. Did Ashley go here? If she had just carried her phone when she left, Vesta would have known where she was. Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten it in a hurry.

Vesta walked over to the counter and stopped in front of the lady, chewing bubble gum. Annoyance was in her posture.

“Excuse me, Miss,“ Vesta said politely to the lady at the counter.

“Yes, Ma’am? What can I do for you?“ The lady smiled forced at her. Maybe the lady tired of smiling all day.

“Miss, did this woman buy a book here?“ Vesta showed her a picture of Ashley on the phone. A creased form in the lady’s forehead when she looked at the picture, trying to remember who it was.

“Ah! Yes, she bought a book here,“ the lady answered back when she recognized who was in the picture.

“Did she just leave?“ Vesta inquired.

“Oh, as far as I can recollect, she left at 6:30 after buying some books by Barbara Michaels. Why?“

“I was just expecting her to come here. Thank you.“ Vesta thanked her and gave her a full smile.

“No problem,“ the lady replied.

Vesta walked out of the bookstore. She wondered to herself why Ashley hadn’t been home until late. What could be the reason? She scared. Nothing bad would have happened to her cousin. Vesta tried to remember if Ashley told her earlier that she was going somewhere other than the bookshop. But Vesta doesn’t remember Ashley said something. She stopped outside the bookshop, glancing at the surrounding people, hoping one of them was her cousin, but she disappointed.

There were many streetlights on the road that illuminated her whereabouts. She doesn’t want to drive again, looking up at the sky. The star was big above her, seeing no star. Vesta sighed and walked back to the parking lot. Silence of the night loomed on the road and the noise of the car engine broke that silence.

Full of attention, Vesta drove. Still on her face were the concerns for her cousin. She was no longer either afraid of driving. She was passing through the La Moran forest when suddenly a man appeared in front of him which startled her, and a scream escaped from her.

Follow the rules, and you’ll going to be out of trouble. Zaiden repeated to himself as he made his way to his uncle’s house. There were gigantic trees on the side of the road, near the forest where his uncle’s enormous home stood. He had passed a few houses before but now none have seen except the quiet paved roads and old trees on both his sides.

He looked up at the twinkling stars in the dark sky, missing its one precious light, the moon. Then grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed Quinn’s number. A few rings before it answered his call. Loud music was first heard on the other line.

Where are these guys at?

“Quinn, are you busy?“ Zaiden asked immediately. He stopped for a moment and noticed he was in the La Moran forest.

“I can’t hear you, wait ...“ Quinn said in a loud voice until the music faded and replaced by silence. “Sorry for that, not really. Why?“ Quinn casually asked.

Zaiden looked back ahead. Wondering if he will walk through the shortcut.

“Can we talk tomorrow? I need to confine you to something,“ Zaiden said seriously to his friend.

“All right. The same time and the same place always,“ Quinn agreed.

“Yeah ...“ Zaiden replied before dropping the phone and returned to the pocket of his uniform pants.

It could be easy, just follow the rules, don’t mess up and make it done. He reminded himself again. He stopped and looked up at the sky with his serious face.

“Everything will go according to my plan,“ he murmured to himself, and continued walking.

The silence of the night along with the sound of insects makes noise around him. Where can he find what the head of the Red Horizon Organization ordered him to locate? Red Horizon Organization was an organization that keeps the peace between vampires and mortals where he was part of. They’re the ones who prevent chaos and killings of the human by the dark vampire and even the rogue ones. That’s why his mother doesn’t want to continue what he’s doing because many of his colleagues died doing their job. Some killed by dark vampires, and some killed and tortured by vampire hunters.

According to the information he collected, many people were already missing in La Moran, so it is also the order of their head to find out who did it and imprison or put to death that creature based on the organization law.

Zaiden also has his purpose for why he was doing it, to someone he has promised that he will do good not only to fellow creatures but also to mortals. It’s his way to keep his promise to her. Zaiden's eyes darkened as he remembered her.

He knew he would never see the girl again because she had gone. He stopped walking when he smelled the dark vampire a meter away from him, and he heard tire brakes and the collision of the car in a tree.

The scent of a human, the familiar scent he detected. With supernatural speed, he reached the scene of the accident. In his eyes, he saw the car on the side of the road, crashing into the old mahogany tree. He saw the dark vampire approaching the car, Zaiden eyes slightly widened to see Vesta who got out of the driver seat, swaying as the woman walked away, dizzy.

Before the dark vampire could approach her, Zaiden gave a quick attack, stabbing the heart of the dark vampire using a silver knife he always brought. And the vampire gradually disappeared, turning himself into dust in the air.

Looking in Vesta’s direction, he saw her lying out of consciousness on the side of the road. The familiar scent of her blood brought him back to the accident that happened eight years ago, a kid he saved from the burning car.

A surprise was on his face. He did not expect what was happening. He approached Vesta and looked to see if she was all right. Not only that, but he saw no other wound except the wound on her head, bleeding.

“This will be the second time that I save your life. What a twisted fate,“ he whispered to himself, not believing she was the kid before.