Tasha woke only to check her side and Adria was gone. In her search for him, she had stumbled upon a pair of glowing crimson eyes and nearly jumped out of the bed in fright. Adria immediately looked away and when he looked back at her, his eyes had already resumed their normal black shade.
"Adria!" Her voice whispered softly, "Is that you!?"
"Yeah! it's me"
"Are you alright!?" She asked as she grabbed the sheets in other to cover her naked body.
"Don't worry! It's all good. It's all good now."
"Aren't you coming back to bed?" She asked as her confidence climbed and she proceeded down the bed to hug him from behind. Her hands played with his skin and her fingers traced the firm cuts that formed his chest. As she did, her thumb stumbled upon an obstacle hanging from his neck.
"This necklace. Ever since I met you, you have always had it. What is it for?"
Her question stirred memories he wanted to remain buried. He immediately grabbed her hand and pushed it away.
He stood up as he wore his clothes. "I'm sorry love, but as you know I am ever busy. As it is, I have an appointment at the Hole, and I can't be late."
"At the HOLE?!" She stood up to her feet. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, it is. As I have said before, I am ever busy."
He was about to go when she stopped him. "Wait!"
Her voice mellowed as she talked, "You should at least take a shower first, right?"
Adria stopped. He sniffed himself a bit, and the smell that entered his sensitive nose sparked his irritation. He turned about and nodded at her.
.... A few hours later.
Adria stood by the bus stop with a small silver bottle of wine. He had gotten himself another one after the last one was crushed. It was just one of those requirements that he just could not do without.
It was a cold morning and the chilling wind of the previous night had given birth to a little drizzle that washed into the early day. As he stood in wait for the bus, he couldn't help but admire his Darkling uniform. Tasha had done a nice job of dry cleaning it as well as his overall jacket while he took a shower.
Even as he enjoyed the harsh caress of the wine down his throat, he couldn't help but have slight memories of her and her sister, and it made him giggle weirdly about the kind of things he had done with them.
Just then as he enjoyed the show playing out in his thoughts, a speeding car flashed past him with aggressiveness, splashing dirty water from the ground unto his tunic.
He was instantly angry and he was tempted to give chase when he saw that the bus had just arrived. However, the headlights revealed that he had mud stains on his clothes.
"Damn it!"
A few more hours later, Adria made it to the hanger with his tunic freshly worked on again. He had on his back a small knapsack.
The sun was already up and in the distance, he could see four cargo planes in the distance with their main cargo doors opened. He proceeded to one of them, but before he reached, a soldier standing guard stopped him and asked for his information, Adria showed a series of papers he had readied in his overall jacket, and he was allowed passage.
He reached the nearest one and got inside. On entry, he saw some faces he did not recognize but he could less than bother about them as he found himself a seat by a corner. He took out his pack of cigarettes and popped one into his mouth. He sparked the butt and dragged in the taste of tobacco. He really enjoyed the way it mixed through his throat with the after taste of wine.
He was about to close his eyes and enjoy the thoughts of his latest fantasies when a question directed at him made him turn slightly to the sound of the voice. But in seeing who it was, he proceeded to close his eyes once more.
"Can't you hear me!? Or are you just proving to be stubborn!?" The voice of a young lady asked. "I said you should stop smoking. I do not like the smell of smoke."
To Adria, this was the funniest thing he had heard in a while.
This was because, at the moment, Darklings were at the forefront of the fight against vampires. And which war in history never had the baptism of smoke? As far as he was concerned, smoke was nearly oxygen in their line of work.
He opened his eyes slightly at her again. He could clearly see it. From her tunic, she was obviously a colt that had only just graduated into becoming a Darkling. From the ID tag on her chest, he read her name. He could also see clearly on the tag that she was team captain of her squad.
Meanwhile, he had on an overall jacket that covered his tunic and regalia. From an onlooker's perspective, one would definitely believe that it was a Darkling talking to a normal person.
Also, Adria's facial features and young look did not help matters on his side.
"Hey, pretty boy! Didn't you hear what our captain just said? Throw that shit away."
Adria's eyes lazily traced the sound of the voice to a young man not so far away. One look, and with Adria's rich experience with women he could tell that this man was using this as an excuse to try and find favor in the girl's eyes.
Adria obviously ignored both of them.
"Are you crazy? I am talking to you." The young man made a bold stance as he approached.
It was a normal thing for Darklings to consider themselves superior to normal humans, which also included soldiers. It was just a superiority complex thing a lot of them had. Some even saw themselves as higher humans. It was one of those things that messed up their reputation with the public. It was not unheard of that Darklings would sometimes abuse rights or take advantage of people because of this mindset. This one right now was one such occurrence.
To top it up, these were newly graduated students. Their respect for the rest of society was at a terrible low.
Adria at the moment could not be bothered by the two. He leaned further into his seat and even took in a deep breath of his cigarette which led to an abundance of smoke coming out of his nostrils and mouth when he breathed out.
*Cough! Cough!*
She coughed aggressively at the smoke directed at her face.
The young man saw this and was instantly angered. The only thing on his mind was to teach this good for nothing a strong lesson.
"Hey!"
He came forward and grabbed Adria by his jacket with one hand. "Do you want me to teach you a lesson fool?"
However, Adria did not open his eyes nor bother with him.
"Holland! teach that fucker a lesson!" A voice from behind motivated.
"Yeah! kick his Pretty-face-ass in," Another voice added, "He disrespected lady Nora!"
Adria heard those words and a sly smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He took in a deeper breath than the last, and out came lots of smoke on Holland's face.
"You stupid idiot!" Holland pulled Adria into a punch.
He used a significant amount of force as his fist pistoled through the air aiming directly for Adria's face...