This was the day. The day she had always anticipated and feared.
According to his message, she believed she had been instructed to show up at the grave at 7pm sharp. However, she was quite sure he would not be meeting her there and she would have to find him nearby.
The clock made a slight click and and her eyes darted towards the clock, reading 5pm. It would take her half an hour to reach the location, she could not waste any time and had to start changing for the meet right now.
~I'm not slow at getting ready but its best not to take chances, right?~
She wasn't quite in the mood to move, considering how she was yet to solve the mystery of the stubborn book that refused to open till she proved her "True Therianthropeness". Also, despite all the training she had done for this day the gravity of the situation made her end up feeling slightly hesitant, especially considering she lacked experience and knew how to fight but her fights had always been in controlled environments with humans.
~What even is a therianthrope, anyway? ~
Unsealing her Chamber of Secrets, or SoC, as she referred to it, she walked inside in a daze wondering when she had wore what she was about to last time. It was quite a few years ago and she could not perceive much memory of the occurrence, though.
~When it was being prepared for me, I believe... I've never actually used it to do anything, only ever tried it.~
Unlocking the glass enclosure housing her attire, her eyes gleamed as she gazed at it longingly. She felt the fabric of the cloth with her fingers, it seemed to be made of a special material altogether, medium thickness, comfortable to wear and highly stretchy fabric that allowed her to fight without the cloth weighing her down.
She took her clothes off, placing them on the sofa on the far right corner of the room. She then slipped on her one-piece dress, and sauntered to the mirror. The beautiful black attire complemented her red eyes and black hair, and also aided in camouflage. It seemed to be a normal party dress, though it covered quite a bit more than the average party dresses would.
There was a thin full body jumpsuit along with a slightly thicker fabric in a crisscross pattern that made for her top, hugging her curves in a heart shape and ending at her belt. The sleeves were puffed, and hid the handles of her machetes tightly and safely sheathed inside the back of her dress itself in a sheath designed to look simply like a pattern to anyone looking from the outside.
The short skirt was also made of the thicker fabric but in a striped pattern, making it look quite like a designer dress designed for a lady who preferred a comfortable, elegant dress over a revealing and irritating dress. Her belt was lined with diamonds, with a ruby at the middle, and between every two small white diamonds there was a small ruby which was actually meant to access the hidden compartments inside her thick belt.
She touched the big red ruby in the middle and rotated it to the right. A long skirt of midnight blue fabric rolled down her belt, and her top now had a midnight blue frill lining her neck and shoulders. She looked ready to attend a ball this very moment although she looked ready to attend a normal party before she had rotated the ruby!
~True, I expected the outfit to be out of the ordinary, but it's absolutely stunning, beyond what I ever would've imagined it could be!~
She rotated the ruby back to the left and the midnight blue parts of her skirt rolled back inside her belt, leaving her without a trace of the elegant midnight blue. She rotated the ruby to the left once again, and the skirt hugged her hips looking slightly like she was wearing shorts and her puffed sleeves smoothened around her shoulders, revealing the machetes strapped behind her dress. The entire outfit now hugged all her perfect curves, showing off her perfectly curvaceous figure and also making movement effortless.
Her thin, long neck was covered by the outfit, which left not an inch of her body uncovered under the top of her neck where it started. Her voluptuous f-cup breasts were perfectly balanced by her curvy ass and they made her slender, slim waist appear even smaller. All the training she did resulted in her hard abdomen and muscled physique, her body curvaceous but strong.
~Sometimes I make myself go wow, it's been so long since I wore an absolutely fitting dress I almost forgot what my figure even looked like!~
Finally, she slipped on the mask which was designed specially for her and therefore allowed her to either make a high ponytail for comfort and let it out of an opening at the back of her mask that encaged her full head, or simply let her open hair flow down the back opening of her mask where it ended.
She did not wish to deal with her long, thick hair as she fought, so she combed it and let it flow out of the hole made specifically for it in the mask. Her long hair gracefully curled down her back and gently swayed as she moved, making her attire completely look somewhat like an assassin. More like a seductress turned assassin, though. The mask was very thin and did not restrict her eyes, and it ended at the bridge of her nose, revealing her red lips, defined jawline and some of her goldish white neck.
She explored her outfit as she knew it was special for a reason and had a lot more than just a transforming dress. The different ruby containers on her belt had different things such as poison, some makeup, some first aid, and certain medicines in small containers.
~There are quite a few arrangements such as the transforming dress and makeup meant simply to enhance beauty. I believe they must be because I shall have to function quite like an assassin sometimes and luring someone would be quite effortless once I seem to be a beautiful lady looking like she spent quite some time adorning herself merely to win their attention, therefore resulting in them letting their guard down... True, it always shall be of help to look bewitching as I kill, at least the last thing my victim shall see would be... not a demon, but an angel of death~~
Regina strode out of the rooms, she finally felt prepared to get out there and wreak some havoc. She had already spent about an hour leisurely dressing up as if she was some common woman dressing for a friendly get together. However, since it was her first time she cut herself some slack, after all it was anything but a normal outfit and she had to thoroughly investigate it before she left the house wearing it!
~This feels... satisfying. I suppose I should leave now...~
She rotated the red ruby to the right, so that she would not entirely stand out in a crowd either dressed as a... somewhat like an assassin or somewhat like a princess. Walking by each room, her gaze flitted across everything to make sure everything was fine and she went near the shoe stand and slid her legs inside her knee high block heel black boots clung to her skin just like the rest of her outfit, making them seem as if they were originally part of the ensemble.
She locked the house well and trotted down the stairs, leaving from the back door in order to avoid garnering any unwanted attention. A thin passage led out of her backdoor and onto the street, on one side was her house's outer wall and the other side a thin line of thick shrubbery.
~Avoiding attention's all well and good, but I hope that doesn't backfire and I don't end up with insects in my hair instead, passing by all these shrubs in the dark...~
She imagined meeting her father as insects crawled out of her hair and one jumped on him, leaves on her clothes. She scowled and with a shake of her head, dismissed the absurd thought.
~This is definitely not the right time, my overactive imagination!~
She stood at the side of the street and held her hand out gesturing to any taxi that passed by her. After a few passed by with full passengers one finally pulled up in front of her and she hurriedly entered and sat in the back seat.
"The graveyard nearby, please."
The driver hummed in confirmation and started driving. The drive went by quietly, as she sat in the backseat lying as comfortably as she could with two machetes sheathed against her back. She was no weakling, having to sit straight for her beloved weapons was but constant exercise for her that she did very gladly. It had been a while since she had visited her mother's grave, however she did not expect her next visit would be this way.
~Destiny sure has its ways to throw the unexpected! ~
She asked the driver the time, she had left early and gotten ready early, she sure as hell would not tolerate arriving late now!
"6:40pm"
It would take about fifteen minutes more to reach the gate of the graveyard, afterwards it should take about five minutes to reach her mother's specific grave. Realizing she would arrive exactly on time Regina released a sigh of relief and sunk back into the chair, she hadn't even realized when the stress of being late had caused her to sit upright, slightly leaning uncomfortably towards the driver's seat awaiting his answer.
~If I can't even be punctual, I might as well forget about rescuing my mother! Not to mention, today I shall make the first impression of myself on my father.~
She hadn't thought of that before, and now she ended up even more nervous than she previously was!
What if she did something embarrassing? what if she didn't do anything wrong but her views simply didn't match with his and he disliked her? what if the girl who never had a father gained one and then lost him cause she's just dumb?
~Okayyyy shhhhhhhhhh brain, I need to be focused!~
"We're here"
The monotonous voice of the driver broke her from her reverie, caught unprepared... She wondered how she planned to survive all the unpredictable, most probably otherworldly things she would encounter if she had lost so much control of her thoughts, herself!
Especially otherworldly for me because not only have I never engaged in fights and actual missions unofficially held, I have also never so much as read about what I shall have to encounter and what I shall do... And even though it will be very much part of this world, for me, it will all be very much otherworldly.
The driver told her the amount and she turned around to secretly pull out some money she had stashed inside along with the makeup in its compartment, as the only makeup she ever required was eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. She didn't keep mascara though, it wasn't gonna wear off anytime soon. Her skin was smooth and flawless, she did not require any makeup for it, though she did dust some purple eyeshadow on her eyelids before she left the rooms.
She handed him the money, thanked him and walked towards the giant gate.
Like all others, this graveyard also had a bit of an eerie vibe to it. The cloudy weather and dark evening didn't do much to help but rather worsened the way she felt staring at the gate leading to the super old park of the super old people.
~What if they were all someday to rise out of their graves, turning into a super old vampire army?~
Regina chuckled at her weird thoughts, and boldly walked right into the graveyard heading straight towards her destination. Approaching the graveyard, she saw there was no one there. As expected. Now, as per his plan, either she was supposed to look for her father or he was supposed to find her.