Greenbrook

The happy jingle of the bell signified Lucid's entrance into the quiet café/bar. The woman working the bar counter looked up, brushing her blonde hair out of her face as she checked out who the new arrival was.

Lucid smirked, "sup grandma?"

She rolled her eyes, "you little devil, my names Liz and you know that, stop being an ass and get over here."

He waved his right hand dismissively and walked over to the closest bar stool. He used a rung attached to the metal pole on which the velvet red cushions sat on to boost himself up. She slid up to him and leaned across the wooden counter, "I put those rungs in just for you ya'know? You owe me you punk."

Lucid scowled "it's not my fault I'm only 5 feet tall, and you better watch out, you might start shrinking heaven knows your old enough for it."

She tapped him on the head with the bottom of a glass mug "your 4 foot 10 and I'm only 36, I can still whoop yer ass. Now tell me what you want to drink."

He tapped his chin and tousled his soft black hair, "I don't know... what could I possibly get ton-" she slammed down a mug full of fizzing brown liquid, "here, your root beer." a snarky smile donned his face as he grabbed the handle, "I'm glad you know me so well."

"I don't know if that's a good thing." she grumbled.

She popped open a beer and sat across from him, "It's good to see you ya rat, how did your trip to the east coast go?"

Lucid wiped root beer foam off his mouth and sighed "as well as I could have hoped, the clients were nice enough, and I learned quite a bit from them."

"That's good, I know that you weren't happy about the distance you had to travel. You did ask for extra pay for that, right? I know that company hired you as an outside party because you freelance but still."

Lucid heaved a deep breath while he quietly studied her face and posture, he could see that she was already beaten down from her shift today and that this topic was causing her face to scrunch up and back to droop even more. He rested his hand on the back of hers, "wow, look at you all fired up. Yes, I did manage to press them for a little bit more pay."

His eyes grew soft, and his smile widened as he watched her relax and melt into the chair she pulled up, it was as if the stress had been sucked out of her.

She sighed "That's good. I really missed our late-night chats, you really do have a way of getting people relaxed and in a good mood, it's like magic I tell ya."

He chuckled as he stretched his arms behind his back to relieve the sudden tension that began plaguing his shoulders "You can call it that. Now tell me, anything interesting happen in Greenbrook during the two months that I was away?"

He chugged down the rest of the root beer as she started talking, "Actually yes, some big family bought that old country club by the lake, you know the one that overlaps its property with the nature reserve? They renovated it and moved in, they've slowly been finding their own lodgings and jobs in town, and apparently their quite close with the Patron of this town, lady Diane."

Lucid raised an eyebrow, "That's funny, Diane has bought my services for the near future, I wonder if I'll get to meet them soon?"

Liz's head perked up at the news, "Does that mean your sticking around for a while?" He smiled and nodded his head. "That's great! If you want to meet them you should check out the event, they are hosting on Saturday. It's a Pet and play thing that they are hosting at the country club, their partnering with local animal shelters and restaurants."

"Hmm.... maybe I will." he mused while looking outside through the window, "sundown already... I guess I should head to Diane's place, see about staying the night. So, what do I owe you for the drink?"

She waved the question away "since your back from work I'll let ya off the hook today, see you around runt." Lucid's devilish smirk reappeared, and his eyes danced with mirth as he hopped off the bar stool and walked towards the door, before he left, he gave one last remark, "catch ya later mee-maw." and the door shut behind him.

Liz scoffed and went to clean up the cups when she noticed a twenty-dollar bill sitting under Lucid's glass. Her eye twitched before she finally took the money and tossed it in the tip jar. "I'm glad he's doing well; I wonder what he will think of them..."

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Lucid smirked to himself as he walked down the main road. "She must be so annoyed." He laughed to himself as he walked down the main street, lined with several shops and businesses. He enjoyed the late summer air as he observed the slowly dying traffic, his deep magenta eyes flashed every time someone walked by him. This seemed to have a profound effect on them as they let out sighs of relief and their spirits lifted.

Lucid smirked as he felt the tension in his shoulders return and his eyelids grow heavy. He stuck his hands in his pockets and swayed as he hummed to himself, "Their only human after all~."

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After Walking up a set of large switchback roads Lucid finally reached the main gate to the Van Dalen estate. It was a large property that sat on top of a ledge overlooking the town, it was a proud symbol for the town as lady Diane has helped the town on countless occasions, earning her the title of patron. As he approached the large metal gate surrounding the property, It creaked to life and slowly opened itself for him.

"I guess you already know I'm here, And I assume you want to do some catching up? well, lead the way." he spoke into the empty air.

In a brilliant flash a ball of aquamarine fire burst to life in front of him and began to drift towards the large wooden doors of the entrance, Lucid's eyes lit up in amusement and he happily followed it. As he approached the doors with his spicy new friend two stone statues of medieval knights rotated on their pedestals and opened the doors for them.

Lucid gave them a little salute before stepping inside, "much appreciated my friends."

He walked forward as the doors shut behind him with a heavy slam. His fiery friend happily swirled in circles around Lucid's head before dissipating in a cloud of surprisingly nice smelling smoke, They were obviously proud to have completed their mission. He looked around at the grand double staircase that was presented before him, its white marble body sparkled in the light of the chandelier on the ceiling and its wooden finish on the top was freshly polished.

"This wasn't here a few months ago, you really outdid yourself." he said in admiration.

"Why thank you dear, I'm glad you like it as much as I do." A cool woman's voice came from behind him and to his right, its was a voice full of class and exuded confidence.

He spun around on a dime and knelt before her, head bowed, "I greet her majesty Diane Van Dalen, vampire queen, please forgive my shoddy and unsophisticated attire."

She sighed, "You do this every time we meet, shorts and a T-shirt are appropriate enough for the summer months, and stand up you know I find most formalities annoying."

Lucid laughed and stood up, raising his head to look at the vampire queen. She was stunningly beautiful with snow white hair and scarlet eyes, along with her sharp and attractive features. she had a proud stature that rose to about 5 foot 8 or 9 so he had to crane his neck upwards to look in her eyes.

"Very well, its nice to see you Diane." Lucid said.

"Likewise." she nodded in return, "walk with me, we have much catching up to do and I most certainly will not make you stand out here as we chat."

They began walking together down the hallway between the grand double staircase, though it was more like he walked and she matched her pace to his.

Lucid looked around at the hallway as they walked and every so often his magenta eyes would stop on certain things, staring at them for a brief moment before allowing his eyes to wander again

"It looks like you did more than renovate the place, those are some high quality ruins you've installed." Lucid pointed out.

She laughed, "Good eye little demon, I had some more put in place because my operation has expanded. There really is so much a low quality magic ruin can do so I called in a few favors. This estate is probably the safest place for miles." she flourished her hand and caused strange symbols engraved on the walls, ceiling, and floor to light up.

Lucid whistled in appreciation as they approached the door to Diane's study. She opened the door for him and shut it softly behind them.

"Lets take the leather chairs today, yes?" she gestured to two comfy black leather chairs facing each other next to a roaring fireplace.

"Ah yeah, I love these things." He sighed in bliss as he sank into one of them.

"As do I little demon." she sat down in the other one and materialized a thermos full of what smelled like mint tea. she took a sip before speaking again. "so, tell me about your trip, when did you arrive back in Greenbrook?"

"This afternoon, I had to take a charter plane with graham from the next city over. oh yeah, Guess who I met up with right when I got here." Lucid said as he sat up from his slouched position in the chair.

"Oh god you didn't go bother Liz did you?" she laughed, "That poor girl is just a human, The dear doesn't even know who's messing with her."

Lucid sniggered, "I sure did, but enough of that. The assignment I was hired for by the bureau went by... alright, I did some ambassador work for a group of Selkies in Vermont."

Diane looked up at Lucid startled, "Vermont? isn't that were your sister is?"

The lights in his eyes dimmed as he avoided her gaze and shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "was." he spoke quietly.

Diane looked at him with a loss for words, after an awkward few moments she managed to say gently, "Oh... was it time?"

Lucid took a few breaths of time to compose himself, "yeah, it was her choice. she knew it was time, that's why she requested me to take the job. one last visit you can call it."

Diane's face filled with empathy and care as she reached over and patted his knee. "I'm sorry to hear that, she was such a lovely girl. If you don't mind me asking... did you use that?"

lucid nodded, and before he could get too emotional he leaned over to grab the thermos of tea and began sipping on it.

Diane let him do his thing and said, "I see, are you ok? I know that must have been a lot."

Lucid froze as a wave a scenes and phrases crashed over his mind. His sister and him in a white room. Them sitting by the seashore. Them playing board games. "I'm sorry." "Not your fault." "Why me." "Live. Die. Help. Scared. Free. Clouds. Help. Die. Live. LOVE."

In a whirlwind of past memories he was brought back to one particular scene. He stood by the same seashore he visited with his sister, yet this time he was alone. The wind howled and the sky was engulfed by grey clouds, while the roar of the sea taunted him. The confines of emotion threatened to crash down and crush him but the reality of what he was, the core of his being proved to be impenetrable and held firm. He remembered standing there for hours as the internal war raged on and eventually settled. As he looked at his surroundings again he noticed that rays of sunlight were seeping through the storm, and that's when he knew that he was ready to go.

Lucid came back to reality slowly, he looked down and saw his reflection in the thermos of tea he was holding. The whites of his eyes had turned pitch black and his magenta pupils were glowing with power.

He sighed, "I guess being on the other side of the veil is a curse and a blessing." He looked back over at Diane.

"I'm sorry, I must have triggered some bad memories."she said

He shook his head, "it's fine, let's talk about you. You said that you expanded your operation, I'm assuming that's why you hired me?"

She cleared her throat, "Ah yes, I might as well go over the whole thing just to make sure we both are on the same page."

He shrugged, "Go for it, I'm sure there has been some changes since last time."

She nodded, "As you know this estate doubles as my home and as a rehabilitation shelter for people in the magical community, which is sponsored by the sole governing body of the magical world, the Bureau. Here we help newly turned supernaturals and the injured get back on their feet and introduce them to magical society, all while keeping our existence a secret from regular humans."

Lucid sucked down the rest of the tea and nodded along. "That's about as much as I remember. so how do I play a part in all this?"

She continued, "I have gotten permission from the bureau to shift most of my attention towards vampires since there are two shelters for werewolves already, one in the south east, and another in the Midwest. And since werewolves and vampires are the only species that can turn humans, I thought it would be best to transition. However, this means I need a larger blood supply. I have the magical means to convert animal blood to something more fitting for us bloodsuckers but getting the amount of animal blood I need without looking suspicious is a challenge in it of itself."

Lucid drummed his fingers on his nose in thought, "Does this have something to do with family that moved into the country club? they have access to the most amount of animals since they overlap with the nature reserve."

Diane looked at him in surprise, "Your quite sharp, yes it does. They are a pack of wolf shifters that had to relocate due to the aftermath of a severe power struggle within the pack."

Lucid cocked his head in interest, "A shifter pack? How uncommon, The falling out must have been really bad for them to just up and move like that. Please continue with your story, you've got my attention now~"

"Yes the situation was very bad but its not my story to tell. I have known them for a couple years now, pretty much ever since the bureau got involved in their case. We have come to an agreement where I will pay them to give me the blood from the animals they catch during their hunts. I want you to ambassador for me, you will give them their money, help during the cleaning and draining process, and you will bring the blood to me. You will also be staying with them at the country club to provide protection and make sure they hunt responsibly." Diane explained.

Lucid sat in his chair in thoughtful silence before erupting into laughter. "You sound like your running a drug operation!" he roared with laughter. He slapped his chair a few times and rolled around in a fit of the giggles. Once he got control of himself he waved her to continue.

She chuckled, "yes I suppose I do sound like that. Though I do want you to know that you were my first choice, Your vast experience in diplomacy along with your powers in emotional manipulation are highly impressive. I mean you can suck the negative feelings from someone allowing for vast improvements in psychological and physical health."

"Those negative feelings get transferred to me, and I can also transfer physical and mental injuries to myself, as well as scars." He reminded her. "And plus I'm a demon, a lot of people aren't very fond of my kind."

Diane leaned back into her chair, "Yes, Yes. and you have done a wonderful job reversing a lot of the prejudice demons get. Now, I would like you to go to the pet and play event the pack is hosting this Saturday in order to meet them. They know that someone is coming to stay with them and they are as informed as you are now. Think your up for it?"

Lucid clapped his hands together, "That's right! Liz told me about that, I would love to go."

Diane smiled in relief, "Lovely, here take this." she handed him a sealed message card addressed to one Claire Dumont. "This will prove your identity to them. Give this to Claire when you see her on Saturday, Shes the packs Alpha."

He took the card and inspected it, "Okayyy....aren't you going to tell me what she looks like?"

She smirked in a rare moment of playfulness, "Now whats the fun in that? I trust you to figure it out." she laughed as she got up from her chair.

Lucid rose from his seat as well and rolled his eyes, "Alright, I'll let you have your fun."

"Perfect, now come along. I'll show you to your room, you have a lot to prepare for." she said holding the door open for him.

"Sounds good to me, I have a feeling I'm in for quite the ride."

END CHAPTER ONE.