Ice Cold

26: Unknown

Chris

I stood over Scarlett's bed a few hours after I had brought her back home. She lay there so peacefully and I felt bad for acting a little harshly towards her. After all, Carlos had probably somehow tricked her into going with him. Pursing my lips, I gently sat down on the edge of her bed and stroked her hair. Her snoring stopped for a second but continued almost immediately and I smiled, getting up to leave the room.
     "Hello, Chris." A voice came from Scarlett's window and I whirled around, instantly becoming a vampire. My eyes narrowed as they fell upon Carlos, who was now sitting on the window ledge outside, facing away from me. I gave him a warning growl but he just chuckled.
     "Why did you take her?" I spat through my teeth and watched him shrug.
     "I just wanted to teach her more about herself, that's all." He said innocently and I moved closer, my hands coming up defensively in front of me.
     "I can teach her." I whispered and he shook his head.
     "I know more about this than you do, Chris. I promise you." Maybe he was right. After all, I could just be paranoid for no reason. This man had raised me like a father; taken care of me and taught me how to be a vampire. So why was I acting so cold and defensive towards him?
     "Fine. But you'd better not harm her or you'll be dead before you can say another word." I threatened and he started to turn towards me slowly, obviously taking his time. That's when I noticed the claws. Vampires didn't have claws.
     "She'll be perfectly safe, I promise." He growled softly and I got a good look at his appearance. His red eyes glinted in the moonlight, which also happened to illuminate his now charcoal skin, cracked and stretched across his bones. As I looked closer, I noticed two tiny horns on top of his head and panic started to settle in. What had he become? Last time I'd seen him, he had been a vampire. Just a vampire. But this didn't even remotely resemble that, let alone the person that had once been a father figure to me.
     "What are you?" I asked shakily and he smiled, revealing the two pointed fangs.
     "I won't harm your precious Scarlett." He said with a twisted smile and disappeared from the ledge, away from the house. I became human again and sighed. He was something that even I couldn't fathom and that made him more dangerous than I had originally anticipated. Fear began to set in as I worried about what he was planning to do with Scarlett, and why this man, who had once been my friend, had become an entirely different person.
But I knew one thing. I had to protect Scarlett.

Scarlett

My eyes fluttered open to see rays of light streaming in through the window in my room. I sat up in bed and sighed, remembering the events of last night. Chris would undoubtedly still be annoyed with me for going with Carlos last night, but he hadn't hurt me. I was a grown woman, after all. He couldn't control where I went at all hours of the day.
     "Hey." A voice at my door startled me and I turned to see a familiar pair of red eyes staring back at me. There were bags under Chris' eyes and I could tell that he hadn't slept well last night. Well, I had woken him up by leaving.
"Hi. Look, I'm sorry -" He silenced me by waving his hand, as if to brush off my apology.
"Don't worry. Anyway, you should be allowed to go where you please. I'm not your third parent." I nodded, pleased that he had come to his senses. "But I must ask you to not spend time with Carlos again. He's bad news."
"What? Why?" I asked in confusion. All he had been doing had been teaching me how to use my abilities.
"I saw what he was last night. I'm taking it that he told you I was an old friend?" I nodded. "It's true. I was his friend. But he was different back then."
"What do you mean?" I felt like I was asking too many questions but I wanted answers. I needed to know who this man really was.
"He used to be a vampire, just like me. But now he's something else, something worse, and I dread to think what." I had suspected that Carlos wasn't a vampire. But if even Chris didn't know what he was then he could be very dangerous. But...he appeared to be the only one that could teach me about my abilities. Chris seemed reluctant, but maybe he just didn't know enough about angels.
"Do you have any theories?" I asked and he just shrugged. Encouraging.
"I'll need to monitor him closely if I'm going to find out what he is." He sat down on my bed and went deep into thought, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, they were the dark brown colour that I knew so well.
"I can help you." I whispered, knowing that he wouldn't like what I was going to suggest.
"In what way?" His brow creased as he looked at me, puzzled as to what I could possibly be thinking.
"If you let me continue seeing him, I can gather information about him for you." His face went from confused to angry in a split second and he had me up against the wall before I could even blink. His now red eyes narrowed as they bored into mine.
"I'm not putting you in danger again like that." He growled and I frowned as I realised something. Chris was blowing this whole thing way out of proportion and I'd had enough of it. I could understand that Carlos was possibly dangerous because of what he was, but Chris and him were friends and Carlos hadn't done anything to hurt me yet.
What was he hiding?