CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

When Scarlet got into her new apartment, she couldn’t help but feel lonely. She had moved from a house with eight occupants to living alone. Her hand caressed her belly as she welcomed her unborn child into their new home. Scarlet dumped the duffel bag on the bed and took a tour around the bedsitter apartment. Everything except the bathroom was in that one room kitchen, bedroom, and living room. It was all she had needed and exactly what she asked for.

She grabbed the phone book and flipped through it, she would have to order in, she was too tired to go grocery shopping. She expected at the hospital in two days that gave her enough time to settle in and shop for all the essentials plus some maternity clothes. Her usual shirts were getting tight and soon there would be no hiding her pregnancy.

***

Shopping for new beddings was top on Scarlet’s list. She had made do with the old blanket she found on the bed, but the rough texture was unbearable to put up with for another night. She missed her fluffy pink duvet, she missed Stephan’s arms around her. The little sacrifices she made to her were worth it, sacrificing Stephan’s love, she had to live with it.

Scarlet took in the scenery, her new neighborhood. The locals were friendly enough in a weird way but she didn’t mind. She had missed having humans around her. She shopped close to the apartment building, the past year had taught her to more cautious never to trust anything at face value. She had three bags already with her, she thought about doing a second trip for the groceries but didn’t want to leave the four walls of her home again that day. She bought the necessities and slowly walked home.

Scarlet was trying to look past the brown paper bag she was juggling in her right arm, her left being weighed down by other bags. She couldn’t see where she was going when she bumped into something. The swear words from the other side of the bag made her realize that something was someone.

“Oh! I am so sorry.” Scarlet balanced the brown bag on her knee to get a clear view of the victim.

“Watch it!” the man took a step back and angrily glared at her.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Scarlet’s expression turned to that of hope when she saw a smile replace his scowl.

“Scarlet Mc Kyle as I live and breathe.” He chuckled once before taking the bag from her.

Scarlet was confused she hadn’t been in Washington long enough to know anyone, and she didn’t know anyone in Washington either.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know you.” Her head was shaking while her memory tried to place his face, but she still didn’t know him.

“We were in high school together, same biology lab. I have changed a little.” When the confusion didn’t ease up from her face he tried a fonder memory.

“Archie Sinclair. Trashy Archie.”

Her face lit up in a smile when the memory of him being dunked into the trash bin during recess came to her. She stifled a giggle when she realized that his memory of high school wasn’t the same as hers. She cleared her throat and greeted him.

“I remember, hey Archie how have you been.” She gave him a look over and noticed how far he had come from high school. He always got picked on because he was four years younger than the rest of the class, making him smaller and smatter than everyone.

“I am doing well, especially since I got my head out of the trash can.” He smiled.

Scarlet didn’t know the proper response so she moved past his comment. “I just moved here from San Francisco, I got a fellowship offer at GWH.”

“That’s great. I am in the medical profession too.” He turned his body to the direction she was headed to and signaled her forward.

“Hmm, Ok.” She walked by his side slowly.

“Why are you carrying all the extra weight, isn’t that enough?” He smiled at her then shot a look at her belly.

Scarlet had grown bigger, she could swear that recently she was growing by the second. She placed her hand at the top of her belly and patted it lightly.

“Yeah, I love heavy-duty stuff.” She smiled down at her belly and awe shone from her eyes. “I just moved here, actually in that building over there. The apartment is kind of empty so I had to do a little shopping.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Why isn’t the mister helping you?” Archie referred to the father of the baby, he didn’t try to hide that fact as he pointed at her belly with his free finger.

It didn’t seem right to Scarlet to tell him the circumstances between her and Stephan, so she gave him the most appropriate answer.

“He is not in the picture for now.” Her voice was edgy.

Archie could tell that it wasn’t a subject that she wasn’t fond of talking about, so instead, he occupied the last few minutes with her talking about high school and university. She couldn’t tell why but he was very keen on asking her about her fellowship.

Scarlet was having a good time talking to him. Everything was less complicated in those few minutes, easy and simple. She only realized they were in the building when she stood in front of her door.

“This is me. Thank you for helping me carry this upstairs.” She gave him a quirky smile when he winked at her.

“No problem I am always happy to help.”

She unlocked the door and swung it open then she stretched out her arm to take the bag from him.

“Thank you.”

“Next time you want to go shopping give me a call. Don’t worry about taking my number I know where you live.” He chuckled once then jogged down the stairs.

Scarlet walked into her apartment and the mood of loneliness hit her again. She dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and dug into her purse. She took out the phone Kayla had bought her and dialed her number out of memory. Scarlet only had two numbers in her head, Kayla’s and Stephan’s.

She held the phone tightly against her ear. Her heart raced in anticipation, she was anxious to hear her voice again.

“This is Cooper, shoot!” Kayla’s voice echoed in her ear, she couldn’t help but feel excited.

“This is Cooper shoot? I have only been gone for a day what happened to your originality.”

Scarlet held the phone far from her ear as screams assaulted her eardrums.

“Oh, my word Scar. I have missed you.”

“I missed you too K. I feel so lonely here.”

“I will be there as soon as possible you won’t be alone for long. Hey, get away from me.”

Scarlet could tell that she was arguing with someone but couldn’t tell who.

“K? What’s going on? Who’s there with you?” she wanted to hear their voices, Vincent’s especially. She had missed his cheerful nature.

“It’s the terrible twos. Vincent and Eric are about to maul me.”

Scarlet didn’t think that Xavier and his men would still be there, but she was glad that she had been the only one who had left.

“Let me talk to them.”

“Ok, I will put them on speaker. Relax guys, if you boys break my phone I swear I will kick your butts.”

“Hey, Scarlet.” She recognized Solara’s voice.

“Hey, Solara I hope you are taking care of K, keeping her out of trouble.”

“I am trying my best to. Hope you are keeping safe considering you left your bodyguard behind.”

She knew he was referring to Stephan so she decided not to respond to the remark. She heard the scuffle on the other side of the line. She missed the little fights and quarrels they often had.

“Scarlet how could you leave like that?” Vincent was the first to speak. “How are you doing, are you alright? When are you coming back?”

“One question at a time, I promise I will explain this later and you will understand why I took off as I did.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. She realized that Stephan wasn’t the only one she had hurt.

“Ok as long as you are coming back. Stephan hasn’t been doing so well. He hasn’t left your room since you left.” Vincent was the most observant and most sensitive vampire in the house. He always looked out for other’s interests before his and now he was worried about Stephan.

“I suspected as much, but I am going to speak to him later. So is the house still standing or did you guys already tear it down?” The other end of the line went silent for a minute. “Hello?”