Chapter Five

The inside of the diner was just as fantastic as the outside. The room was well lit, the tables clean, and the floor could have sparkled. Bright whites, yellows, and tints of reds and oranges accented the interior. Stephanie wondered if someone hired an interior designer to decorate The Yellow Sun.

The smell of hot food was enough to cheer Stephanie up at least a little bit. It drifted on the air gently and caressed her senses. The smell was unusually good. Maybe it was just the long day she had. Soft music played lightly in the background and helped to drown out the conversations at the other tables. Groups of people sat around eating together. Here and there a few single people sat, just enjoying pie or a burger. A woman with long red hair sat toward the back of the diner with a group of friends. A business man sat with what may have been a few people for some after work relaxation and dessert. A man with long, light brown hair tied back in a ponytail ate a piece of what looked like it may have been apple pie.

Overall, the people were polite, the staff was friendly, and everyone around the restaurant was happy. Well, almost everyone.

Stephanie ate her salad contently. Generally she ate as little meat as possible. She smiled to Amara as she looked up at her.

“How is your hamburger?” Stephanie asked Amara cheerfully.

Amara looked down at her food, she hadn’t eaten much of it. She picked at it here and there but after the first bite she hadn’t really cared for it.

“It tastes funny. It’s too sweet,” she pushed the burger away and sighed. “I hate when people add too many spices to a burger. It’s a burger for God’s sake, not a casserole.”

Stephanie sighed. “Amara, don’t take your frustration out on dinner.”

“I just can’t believe we couldn’t find any information. Even Kyren’s little confession wasn’t much help.” She sipped her soda and set the glass back down. “Worse, I can’t believe the other agencies would keep something like this to themselves. Let alone plan a coming out without us. We’re The Administration. Everything passes through us.”

“That’s not really our problem. That’s something for The Director to take care of. It’s not something we can do anything about. All we can do is figure out this situation and leave the rest to the suits back at the H.Q.”

“I guess you’re right,” Amara muttered and looked up just as Christopher walked into the diner. She put her head in her hands. “This is the last thing I need.”

Stephanie gave her a curious look then glanced toward the door and smiled widely. She moved over quickly so Chris would have to sit beside her.

“Hey Chris, getting something to eat?” Her whole face lit up when he sat down with her and smiled.

“No, I’m looking for the two of you. I went to the club, and you weren’t there. Some creepy looking vampire told me I just missed you, so I started to check diners.”

“We couldn’t really find anything at the club, so we came to get something to eat,” Stephanie told him and Amara groaned.

“It’s a safe assumption he’s figured that out.” Amara looked up to at Chris. “Find anything out on your own?”

“Yes, I have.” Christopher pulled out a file and set it on the table. “They sent back the jaw impression scans. It doesn’t look like any animal we‘ve got on file. A werewolf is the closest but not directly on the mark. It could just be a wolf with bad teeth though.” He added with a sigh, “I’m to tell you we’re looking for vampires, not lycanthropes.”

“Then Kyren was helpful.” Amara almost laughed.

“Yeah,” Stephanie chirped then looked to at Chris. “A vampire at the club told Amara the vampires are blaming one another. They thought it was her, so apparently some of the signs say a vampire did it. They don’t normally turn on one another over something like this so quickly.”

“That worries me,” Chris said to her. “If they don’t know what’s going on, it’ll be more difficult to get more information from anyone else.”

“There’s not really anyone we can turn to for help on this anyway,” Amara said mournfully.

“That’s not entirely true,” Christopher said quietly. When the other two hunters looked confused, he continued. “If anyone knows what is going on, it’d be the vampire in charge of this area.”

“Who is the master vampire here?” Stephanie asked and looked between them. Their expressions matched. Neither of them wanted to take the next step, but they both knew who was in charge. “Well?” Stephanie prompted them.

“Alexander Sef.” Amara sighed. “It’d be suicide to ask him for help.”

“It’s the only lead we’ve got, Amara.” Christopher put his hand to the top of his nose as if he were soothing a headache.

“Would he even see you? You’re both hunters, let’s remember that,” Stephanie pointed out.

“I don’t know about Amara, but he’d see me,” Chris said quietly. “We’ve got history.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t argue about me showing up either,” Amara agreed.

“Then let’s go for it,” Stephanie said happily. “Somewhere public with a lot of people.”

Christopher shook his head. He knew better. It would be safer to meet Alexander in his private office as a small group to plead for his help. It would have to be a plea or it wouldn’t work. He knew Alexander well enough to know if they met somewhere in public, he would be less likely to share any sort of information.

“It’ll be better to just meet him in private. He’ll divulge more then.”

“How exactly will you arrange this little get-together?” Amara asked skeptically.

“I’ll call him,” Chris said simply.

Even Stephanie looked at him as if he were crazy. The master of a city wouldn’t talk to The Administration, who regularly worked with and for vampires, let alone a vampire hunter from Crimson. That organization had a ‘kill now, question later’ policy. If it had fangs and drank blood, it was worth killing.

“I think we need another plan,” Stephanie said quietly as she slouched in her chair a little. She was visibly upset she had to take Amara’s side against Christopher.

“I’m telling you.” Chris looked surprised that they didn’t believe him. “If I call, he’ll see us.”

“You can keep living in your fantasy world, Chris,” Amara barked angrily at him. “I’m going to get some results.”

“Fine.” Chris shrugged calmly. “Keep doing things your way.”

“What? You think your way is better?” Amara took it as a challenge.

“I know it will be much easier. Probably faster than whatever you’ve got planned. We don’t know where’s he’s operating out of so we can’t even just charge in.”

“I’m not planning on just barging in. I’m going to go find Jason.”

“Jason has been Alexander’s personal assistant for over one hundred years without betraying him.” Christopher shook his head. “How, exactly, do you think you’ll be able to get anything out of him?”

“It’s more effective than your plan,” Amara said as she got up.

Chris rolled his eyes. “Fine. Bloody brilliant,” he said sarcastically, “I’ll go try my way, you try yours, and we’ll see whose goes better.”

“We will,” Amara snapped as she grabbed her keys and headed out.

* * * *

“Something wrong, miss?” A man approached her while she was on her way out the door. “Anything I can do?” He greeted her with a warmth that put Amara off. She leveled her gaze with his dark brown eyes and glared at him, trying to stare him down but he didn’t flinch. A trained customer service man, she thought.

“The food is terrible and so is my company,” she muttered and turned, but he caught her again.

“Perhaps I could get you something else? I always hate to see someone leave unsatisfied.”

“What? Do you own it or something?” Amara asked sharply. In her opinion, this employee took his job too far. If someone she left wanted to leave this angry, why wouldn’t he just leave them her alone?

“Yes, I’m Brandon. I’m the owner,” he said proudly. “May I ask what you didn’t like about the food?”

To Amara, Brandon didn’t look like much of a business owner. He wore a plaid flannel shirt and blue jeans. His loafers threw the look off even more. What sort of successful restaurant owner dresses like that? None that she knew of. It may have just been her bad day, but something about him set her off even more.

“No,” Amara snapped and walked out.

* * * *

The man looked baffled. He ran his hand through his brown hair and shook his head.

“She’s just like that,” Stephanie assured him. “Don’t, like, take any offense to it.”

Brandon smiled lightly to Stephanie. “Enjoying your salad?”

“Very much,” she smiled. “I’m sure the burger is fine, but I’m a vegetarian.”

“If you need anything, please, let me know.” Brandon laughed gently and nodded to her. He started to make rounds to the other customers, clearly trying to make everyone as comfortable as possible. He wasn’t just a good businessman;, he was a cordial host.

Stephanie realized Amara just stormed out of the diner. She looked to at Chris. “I think I’m gonna need a ride.”