"What is it, General?" The secretary asked.
Bridges massaged his forehead all the way to his bald head with both hands, "That was from the office of the Secretary-general of the UC. We have been assigned a particular task."
"Is it a difficult one, sir?"
He laughed a bit, "Oh, the task might not exactly be the hard part. It is who is coming," he picked his red beret from the floor and fixed it appropriately on his head, "Make preparations, we are having guests."
"Guests!?"
"Yes! And it is a noble from the house of Belmont."
Those words made the secretary immediately jump to her feet, "I will make preparations right away, sir." She saluted and hurried out of the office."
"Sergeant! He called to her just before she left through the door.
"Yes, sir!" She answered.
"Erm... About the thing with my wife and..."
"Don't worry sir, my lips are sealed." She made a zipping motion with her hand over her mouth, before hurrying out of the room.
He nodded as his eyes focused once more on the aircraft through the window, "Dear God! What have I done to deserve this? First, you send back that cursed Adria, and now you send me a Belmont. It's almost time for me to retire. If it is a test lord, please take it away, I might definitely fail this one." He sighed once more.
....
This was not Adria's first time in the citadel. At some point in time, every Darkling had to have come here at least once. However, unlike other Darklings, Adria had visited here so often that he had a designated spot left out just for him in the Citadel.
He dragged his legs up the stairs that led to the top of the tower lazily until he got to a door.
"Password!" The voice of an AI asked once he got to the door.
"Fuzzball!" He replied and a series of metals unlocking the door was heard, and the door opened up.
Adria stared at the insides of the large room as it brightened up and smiled, "Look at that beauty! Still as ugly as I left her." He got inside and shut the door behind him. It was easy for most of the people at the citadel to think that Adria's room was a dump, but the opposite was the case. Inside was quite spaced. So spaced, that it was almost luxury. It was a big-sized room large enough to have three of the usual smaller rooms meant for soldiers inside.
It was well equipped with its own restroom, a snooker table, a wardrobe, and of cause a king-sized bed. He entered the room with a nod as he looked around. Although his stuff was still in places he remembered them to be, the room had already been cleaned up for him. On his walls were pictures of two things: women in sensual positions and dogs of many breeds. Some even had a combination of both.
He opened the large wardrobe by the corner of his bed. On either side of its doors were knives and blades of various sizes and shapes. He stroked a few of them like he was caressing a lover, and then he moved the clothes on the hangers aside. Behind them was a wall with words written boldly on it: Book of Records. Below it was a lot of names that were neatly organized. He took a pen by the side and then he thought hard as he wrote down some recent names from his escapades. Some of which included Katie, Ivy, Melony, Veronica, and of cause, Tasha. He stretched a little before pulling his clothes and hitting the shower.
....
Meanwhile, as the soldiers checked into the citadel, one particular soldier rushed into the rest rooms. Something did not feel right to him. For some reason, his body felt itchy and his bowels felt heavy. However, nothing came out of them even though he stayed in the restroom for quite some time.
He decided to just get some water to wash his face at the sink. As he did, he could not help but notice that his skin looked a little paler than he remembered through the mirror.
Also, he could feel a kind of itchiness from his gum. Much like something was stuck in his upper and lower jaw and really needed to be removed. It was a feeling similar to the uncomfortable stillness of food stuck in between the teeth, only this feeling spread around his entire mouth.
He washed his face some more when he noticed in the sink that his hair seemed to be falling off in little bits, "What the hell is happening to me?" He asked himself. However, as he looked up into the mirror once more, his eyes glowed a faint red for a bit. This scared him and he fell on his ass.
"Hey!"
He immediately jumped to his feet in panic at the sound of that voice.
"Hey, Thomas! are you okay, man?" A soldier taking a piss at the corner asked. "Are now scared of your own reflection or what?" the soldier laughed a bit, "Yeah! I would be too after what happened with the plane and those damn vampires." He laughed some more as he zipped up his pants and left the room.
As he left, he called to Thomas. "Hey, dude! hurry up and come out. we have to debrief."
Thomas got up from the ground. for a moment there, he could not believe that he had just made a fool out of himself. He shook his head as he laughed at himself, "Shit! I must be really seeing things after all that chaos in the plane." He couldn't help but remember as he peeped through the hole on the plane as Adria fought those vampires wildly. He laughed at himself as he left the restroom. "Hey! wait for me. Am coming!"
However, he did not notice the deep claw marks he had dug at the side of the sink...
....
Adria was just coming out of the shower when he heard a knock on his door. He tied a towel loosely around his waist as he went for the door. "Hold on! Am coming!" he yelled as he headed for the door. He opened it and could not help but smile at the sight before his eyes. "Hello! It's you again."
"Yes, sir!" The soldier at the door saluted, "I brought your clothes and bag as requested sir!"
"Yeah! That I can see," Adria had one hand stretched above his head-just at the frame of the door and the other at his waist as he leaned into the side of the door. His entire top frame was bare to her eyes-still dripping in steaming hot water from his bathing.
Her eyes could not help but subconsciously trace his frame and his cuts. The steaming water from his body only added to the attentiveness her eyes presented. Standing so close to him, she could very well feel the heat from his body.
"Thank you!" He said bringing her out of the fantasies in her head.
"Yes, sir! Of cause sir!" Just then, her eyes caught sight of the king-sized bed behind him.
Adria was sharp to notice this. He leaned further a bit for her to get a better look. "Like what you see?" He teased.
"Forgive me, sir! I did not mean to pry into your privacy. It's just that I had heard terrible stories about this tower, but when I see it now, It looks quite nice."
"Of cause it's nice. It's mine!" He drew closer to her as his fingers-ever lacking respect for private space danced around her shoulder, "You know, I really don't mind letting you check the place out. That is if you are not so scared of those rumors." His voice trailed in a low nearly inaudible tone as he spoke.
"But sir! we are not really allowed up here!"
"Well! I won't tell if you won't right!?" He smiled at her.
She looked left and right at her environment and then bit her lower lip. she nodded as she stepped in and he smiled as he shut the door behind them...