Chapter 3: Chapter 2: La Fortuna
The voice of the woman in front of her snapped her out of her terrified state.
"Y-yeah…" Amerine managed to weakly croak out, her legs shaking and feeling like jelly from all the running she did.
The unknown female in front of her was gorgeous. Her long silver dyed hair flew in gentle waves over her shoulders complimenting her pale porcelain complexion and red lips. She wore a thick strapped red crop top fitted on her with a zipper in the middle paired with a black leather jacket and a short black skirt. She also had fishnet stockings underneath the skirt with a pair of red pumps; the same shade as her lipstick.
However, what caught her attention the most was what was on the mysterious woman's neck. It glowed in the dim alley. It was a beautiful blue circular sapphire encased on an elegant silver held and attached on a small ring on the silk black choker. It looked out of place on her outfit but she made it look quite natural and like it was a part of her despite what she was wearing.
"You managed to attract a Class 3 Shadow Monster. That's quite impressive for a human like you." The woman remarked, lifting her weapon with ease off the ground and turning around, inspecting something on the ground.
Amerine detached herself off the wall and wiped the tears that were starting to dry up on her cheeks. She stilled her breath and gathered up her nerves.
"I-is that what that was?" her voice was still shaky, feeling quite uncomfortable with the stranger in front of her.
The woman looked at her with a "duh" expression and rolled her eyes at her.
"Do you even know what a Shadow Monster is?" The woman looked at her incredulously and Amerine shook her head, feeling foolish and small in front of the woman.
Much to Amerine's relief, the woman only rolled her eyes again and dismissed her with a "whatever".
The woman walked away, avoiding something on the ground and stopping in the middle of the long dark alleyway. Amerine walked closer and saw on the ground, where the monster was supposed to be, was a mess of dark blob and feathers. It smelled of something horrible and quite acidic. She covered her nose and walked over it as well.
She stopped a few distance away from the woman who seems busy fidgeting her weapon. That was when she saw it.
There, the weapon glowed silver and floated out of the mysterious woman's hands. It floated in front of the woman who began writing lines on air. To her surprise, the woman wrote on air with gold.
"You're… writing Hebrew?" Amerine stated but her tone sounded more like a question. The woman, however, ignored her.
"Transfigure…" Amerine whispers in fascination when the woman finished writing and the words remained glowing gold in the air.
The mysterious woman, upon hearing her whisper, whipped around to look at her in shock. Once she got over it, her eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in her eyes. This scared Amerine who took a step back when she saw the suspicion and danger written so obviously on her face.
"You can see it… can't you?" the woman slowly walked towards her.
Every time she took a step forward, Amerine took a step backward.
"… and you can read it." The woman added but Amerine was too frightened to confirm it.
When Amerine was backed up against the wall again, the woman finally stopped but her conscious stance didn't waver. Her eyes were still narrowed, scanning Amerine again.
"Tell me…" the woman spoke once she reached her eyes. "Are you a graced?" with the question asked, Amerine's eyes showed clear confusion.
'A Graced? What is she talking about?'
"A… graced? What do you mean?" Amerine was genuine. The woman can see it but it still didn't break her suspicious gaze on her.
The woman rose her right hand and snapped her fingers. Behind her, the gold writings on the air went into the floating weapon. It engraved itself on the weapon and it glowed a bright gold for a second before engulfing the whole weapon in a brilliant gold light. After a few seconds, it flew with great speed towards them and past the woman, coming straight towards her. Amerine expected it and so braced herself, closing her eyes and waiting for the pain that the gold enveloped weapon will bring unto her.
She found it weird though. Was the woman a witch or something? Was it magic that she was doing? So many questions flooded in her brain despite the situation she was in.
It didn't come as well like the attack of the weird shadow. Opening her eyes, she saw a glowing pocket knife right in front of her face, just a centimeter more and it will be touching the center of her eyes.
"A Graced are a race of people blessed by Nephilim and God himself. They are people who protect ignorant humans like you from demons." Slowly, the pocket knife retreated slowly on air back to its owner's hand.
The woman tucked it in the pocket of her leather jacket before turning around to gi back to the entrance of the alley.
"I suggest you come with me. You are quite the gifted one if you can see all this." Stopping a few meters away from the entrance, the woman looked over her shoulder at Amerine who detached herself once again from the wall.
Approaching albeit consciously, Amerine stood her distance behind the weird woman who grabbed her gorgeous pendant. The woman looked forward inhaling deeply before letting it all out.
"Onerariis." Once again, Amerine understood perfectly what the woman said however, this time, she zipped her mouth.
Once spoken, a large blue portal like thing appeared before them. The woman didn't even spare her a glance and stepped in, disappearing into the blue portal. No matter how much Amerine wanted to run, go home or go back to the café, her curiosity just wasn't having it.
Before she knew it, she stepped in as well and it was like just passing through a hallway. It was easy as that. She kind of expected to be quite dizzy after being transported somewhere or feeling like she was being pulled apart.
Once she stepped out, she found herself in a club?
"Umm… what are we doing here?" she asked, feeling out of place and feeling her anxiety building up.
This was way out of her league. She didn't like socializing and she didn't like clubs either just because she thought it was a place she doesn't belong. A wallflower like her doesn't feel uncomfortable with places like this.
"What do you think?" the woman looked at her and rose an eyebrow.
When Amerine looked at her with a curious and clueless look, she scoffed. Grabbing her hands, she dragged her on a bar counter. She watched the mysterious woman lean on the counter and called for the bartender with a gesture.
Just in luck, the bartender turned up to be a guy who had blonde hair and green eyes like the mysterious woman. He had a stubble on his strong jaws and a mischievous smirk on his face. On his nameplate was his name, "Aaron".
"What can I get you, cutie?" Aaron asked, leaning as well so he was close to the woman who chuckled.
"A Mojito Margarita for me…" then she looked behind her to look at Amerine. "and a Peach Rose Sangria for this girl." She added, gesturing towards Amerine.
Aaron looked behind her to see Amerine who was fidgeting and looking around.
"She's cute… but you're gorgeous, sweetheart." The bartender winked in departure as he went on to make their drinks.
Then, Amerine now got the courage to sit beside the woman.
"Umm… hey." Amerine started. The woman looked at her and rose an eyebrow. She visibly flinched.
"I-I never got your name." Amerine's voice grew smaller by the end of her sentence from the mysterious woman's piercing gaze.
The woman regarded her in silence. Amerine couldn't tell what she was thinking. She thought she was going to receive just silence but was surprised when she spoke.
"Madeline." The woman finally spoke and Amerine blinked.
"What?" The woman looked at her with a scary look.
"You heard me." Madeline snapped making Amerine look the other way instead. She couldn't find the heart to continue having a conversation with Madeline but she steeled her nerves.
"Umm… yeah, hi. My name's Amerine." She introduced herself but Madeline didn't even nodded as an acknowledgement.
"I'm… just 16." She started which made Madeline roll her eyes, leaning back with her arms on back on the counter.
"And I just turned 17 two weeks ago. So what?" Madeline didn't see the point of it but Amerine did.
"Then, we're not supposed to be here. My mom would freak when she hears of this." At this thought, Amerine was already hearing her mother scolding her for doing wrong things when she didn't actually do it… but at the same time, she felt thrilled and excited at this new experience.
Madeline looked at her baffled.
"Don't tell me you're one of those goody two shoes..." Amerine looked at her and laughed.
"Well, this is actually way out of my league… but I'm not entirely a goody two shoes." Amerine gave her a soft smile but all she saw was Madeline's relieved look but there was no smile on her face.
"By the way, where are we?" She asked and just in time, the bartender, Aaron, came back with their drinks.
"A Peach Rose Sangria for you." The bartender puts down a sheer pink liquid in a beautiful wine glass with cut fruits in front of Amerine.
"And a Mojito Margarita for the beauty." The bartender then placed down a very pale sheer yellow drink on a glass with mint and a lemon. Surrounding the rim of the cup was salt
"Call me if you need anything else." That statement was more directed to Madeline; that much was obvious for Amerine.
As the bartender tended to the other customers, Madeline didn't respond and only followed his figure with her eyes with a poker face.
"We're in La Fortuna." Madeline finally spoke, looking at Amerine who looked up from her untouched drink.
"I know you have a lot of questions." She spoke with an unfaze look, sipping on her alcoholic drink.
Amerine thought that it must have been good so she tried her drink as well. She flinched when the alcohol burned her throat slightly. She almost wanted to gag but nonetheless, it was delicious. The flavors were fruity and actually quite sweet. She did wonder how Madeline looked as if it didn't bother her at all when the drink she had looked to be stronger than her own.
"Before… back in the alley, that monster chased me down. Then, it just disappeared when you came." Amerine was confused.
"I fought it, you idiot. One swipe down from the air and through its neck is all it took to disperse into a puddle of horrible monster ichor and feathers." It answered Amerine's question though on why she suddenly appeared and why she was crouched down before… however, she took offense on being called an idiot. She decided to ignore it though.
"Then you wrote Hebrew on air but you spoke Latin when summoning a portal here. What's difference? Why write Hebrew and speak Latin instead of the same language?" Amerine took a sip of her drink and watched as Madeline did the same but this time, slammed the glass down and ordered another.
"Latin is technically a stronger language than Hebrew. It gives me more power." This only confused Amerine further.
"Before, you asked me if I was Graced. Then you explained something that I didn't understand." Amerine swirled her drink, mesmerized by the beautiful drink she had.
"Let me put this in a way that you humans can understand it." Madeline modded in thanks at Aaron who gave her another Mojito Margarita.
"My race are blessed by Nephilim, fighters that are half angels or had angels give them their power. We are blessed because Nephilim needed help fighting off demons that are trying to terrorize this world." Taking a quick sip, she continued.
"The Graced are also commonly known as demon hunters. Believe it or not, demons are real. They are here to make the lives of people miserable and sometimes, terrorize them and this world." She looked at Amerine seriously.
"The duty bestowed upon us was not only to eliminate the demons but to protect the humans from them as well. Although I don't even know why the Nephilim deemed it as our duty to protect you humans when all you did was shun us out and accuse us as witches and warlocks or maybe crazy." Madeline glared at her and made Amerine flinched again.
To think of it, Madeline does sound crazy to her but she can't help but to believe her. She can clearly see that despite her rough behavior, she is honest. Her gut feelings and heart was telling her that Madeline was telling her the truth.
"Well…" Amerine tucked her hair behind her ear and sipped on her drink.
"It does all sound crazy." She faced Madeline whose wrath was evident on her face.
"But I believe you." She gave her a bright smile which shocked Madeline.
"I mean… I did almost died at the hands of a Class 3 Shadow Monster." Which she still doesn't even know and understand what it was.
"To any normal humans, it will sound crazy just as much as my doctor says that this constant nightmares are just dreams even though it feels… different. It all feels so real to me." She had to suppress a shudder at the image of the nightmare she had before.
Madeline looked at her in a newfound light and interest. Hearing her speak of constant nightmares, she nodded and thought about it.
"Maybe its an Alp you're dealing with. Those little fuckers are such a nuisance." She sighed, drinking up all the alcohol left on her glass.
She then gestured for another on which Aaron more than willingly did. Amerine looked at her with bewilderment and amazement in her eyes.
"Do Alps cause sleep paralysis?" She asked just to make sure to which Madeline nodded.
"Just buy a dreamcatcher then it shall go away." Madeline advised, looking at Amerine who didn't even managed to drink half of the drink.
Amerine just then realized she dropped her phone when she was running away from.the shadow monster. She internally cursed at herself for being such an airhead.
"Umm… what time is it?" Amerine asked making Madeline touch her pendant and answered.
"Its 10:52 PM."
And that made Amerine snapped up and get off her chair.
"I'm sorry but I lost my pho-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as Madeline threw her a phone.
She managed to catch it just in time and saw that it was actually her phone.
"Oh thank goodness. I thought it was lost for good." She breathed down a sigh of relief.
She then shot Madeline an apologetic look but was ultimately ignored as she received another round of her drink. This irritated her but she ignored it once again after she thought that it was no good at all but cause her trouble. She'll just cause a scene and unwanted attention.
"Madeline, I'm sorry but I do have to go." She greeted her goodbye with a smile and Madeline nodded.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." She was waved away by Madeline as she took a gulp of the strong alcohol.
She went to the exit of the club and looked around consciously, still feeling so out of placed. The people around her wore revealing clothes while she had on conservative clothes composing of long sleeves, a skirt and a pair of ankle boots.
She was sure that Madeline fitted in despite the leather jacket. She can just take it off or leave it on, whatever she wants and she'll still fit in because of her beauty.
A few people looked her way and it made her a bit uncomfortable. She was sure she stood out like a sore thumb not only because of her clothes but for her looks as well. It was unusual to see an albino like her.
'You are not an albino, sweetie. You're just… special.'
She can hear her mother lightly scolding her for the term she used on herself.
As a child, she used to get this much attention from other kids. She was said to have a rare condition but her mother denied it, preferring to call her special even when she doesn't feel like one. She then learned how to put makeup thanks to Suzy and it made her feel like… she fits in.
'But how can something like fitting in feels so wrong?'
She looked at the large crowd where people gathered and danced together. They were a mass of drunken sweaty people. Even though the song was good, she didn't want to dance with the people there. She would much rather prefer to dance on stage despite her anxiety and maybe a bit of stage fright than socialize and dance with a bunch of drunken stinky strangers.
'This is why I don't like bars and parties in general.'
She then went to the exit where she found a long line of people waiting and a buff guy guarding the door. Some saw her exit the door and grumbled at the sight of her. They were quite bitter that she managed to enter while they couldn't. She couldn't blame them. She came in a whole other entrance than the normal way. It was quite an experience.
She didn't think she'll experience and know such things. She was just a normal average girl.
She then opened her phone to see a lot of messages and missed calls from Enzo and Suzy. Just in time, the time turned exactly 11PM and her phone was ringing again. She answered it this time and put it on her hear, only to be greeted by a furious Enzo.
"Amy, where the fuck are you?!" He was worried but at the same time angry.
"Umm… you won't believe what happened to me and where I am right now. " Amerine started and she heard a sigh on her phone.
"Yeah, you're right. I can't believe you just up and left without telling me! What is Ms. Thorne going to do now if she knew I just let you leave without anyone?!" Yeah, he was in hysteria and she knew she fucked up. Enzo was rarely hysterical. He was rather the calm and collected one.
"I know, I'm sorry… but I need you to pick me up at La Fortuna." The other line went quiet upon hearing the name La Fortuna.
"Are you kidding me?" That was the only thing he said to which Amerine sighed.
"Please, Enzo. Just pick me up here. Its getting quite cold and uncomfortable with the people stuck in line glaring at me for no apparent reason." She said, taking a look at some females older than her and wore quite revealing clothes. She shivered at their hate filled and envious glares.
"Fine. I'll be there in a few… but you better bet your ass that you won't get out of this one." He remarked.
"Yeah, love you too." She sarcastically replied before ending the call.
"First of all, you shouldn't scare me like that, Amerine." Enzo scolded her as he focused on driving.
Amerine was just looking out the window with an absent look on her face. Enzo glanced at her and sighed.
"You know La Fortuna is a prestige club. How the heck did you get in?" With that Amerine's lips went up in a small smile.
"Its crazy but a friend managed to get us in there." Technically, she is telling the truth but not clearly. Enzo noticed this and rose an eyebrow.
"And who is this 'friend'?" He inquired, knowing she only had a fee friends on which he also knows.
"Her name is Madeline." It was an immediate answer and he saw the glow of life in her eyes, a rare sight to see as he was used to the dullness of her eyes.
It actually shocked him. Her eyes were bright with glee and excitement. A warm feeling spread across his chest at the sight and he couldn't help but smiled warmly at her who looked so happy for once. Nodding in satisfaction, he didn't question her any further.
Once they arrived at her house, Enzo parked and they got out.
"Goodnight, Enzo." Amerine waved at him who was approaching his house next to hers.
"Yeah, goodnight, Amerine. I hope you had a good time even if it wasn't with us." He opened the door and entered the same time as Amerine did on her door.
Closing the door behind her, she leaned her back against it and sighed, a small smile gracing her lips and an unknown feeling on her chest.
'Maybe I did enjoy this peculiar night.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone