Meluna → Kai Parker

[ CHAPTER THREE ]

present day

Meluna stood tall with her firsts clenched. Every year, it was the same. On May 9th, she'd find herself lost, in a big forest. It wasn't the same forest near Malachai's house, it was far away from there, in Virginia. Since he was taken away from her and she hadn't forgotten about him, she would never. Never in a million years. Though, that didn't mean she wasn't angry with him for what he did.

Speculation had swarmed around about Meluna, that she helped Malachai plan the massacre and eventually she was forced to change her name to avoid harassment, however it'd been two decades and she was long gone out of Portland. She went by Luna, keeping a sliver of her birth name with her. She wished she could see him... Even for just a minute. She wanted to know if her best friend was still there. If he was still her Malachai.

"It's getting late, you should probably head home, young lady." a dull voice called out behind her. Meluna shifted a bit, turning her head, seeing a short-haired blonde woman with a police uniform on. A gold, rectangular plaque stuck on the right of her chest with 'FORBES' engraved. Meluna also noticed a sheriff patch slapped on the left shoulder of the grey uniform.

"I'm sorry Sheriff, I don't mean to be of trouble, but I'm thinking about staying here a little longer."

Sheriff Forbes furrowed her eyebrows. "No, you're not bothering anyone. Do you have a ride home?"

Meluna looked at her lap, silence filling the air. The sheriff assumed the answer and nodded her head, clearing her throat.

"Can I offer you a ride home?" Sheriff Forbes asked. Meluna straightened out her back, stretching out her legs, smiling at the kind woman.

"You'd do that?"

"Of course I would! I'm the sheriff, it's my job to keep this town safe. Now where do you live darling?"

—

Meluna sat comfortably on her hands in the front seat. She tried to ignore the fact that grey clouds began painting the sky. Somehow, she could feel rumbles from thunder that would soon come. There was no rain though, maybe in the next few cities over, but she could still feel it.

"Luna Akimoto... So, were you born in Mystic Falls?" Officer Forbes peeked at the Asian girl after she'd stopped at a red light. "Or around here?"

"No, I wish... It's so beautiful here and the people here are so nice." Meluna smiled, wondering if her and Kai had grown up here, if they would be completely different people. "I was born and raised in Oregon. I moved out here not too long ago, been out here for almost six months."

"What made you decide Virginia was the place for you? You lived in the west coast, why did you choose to move across the country?" Liz was very interested with the girl.

"I wish I could answer that, I really do. Maybe I wouldn't be so confused, but..." Truth was, she was sent by her parents. Even if they didn't like her, they thought it was better to send her away. Having an embarrassment around was bad enough, an embarrassment that was rumored to be associated with a sociopath? Even worse. She was told to start a new life by herself, get a job and an apartment, new friends. Not only that, but she was to find one person in all of Mystic Falls.

"But?" Sheriff Forbes leaned her head forward, trying to capture her gaze. "Is there something bothering you?"

"No, just thinking." Meluna chuckled nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear. She extended her arm out, pointing to the traffic light. "The light's green." and so Sheriff Forbes began driving again.

"What are you so confused about darling? Maybe I can help, it is my job after all."

Meluna shook her head, puffing air from her cheeks. "It would be mad crazy if you could, but I'm still...a bit unsure."

Just ask her, she thought to herself. It won't hurt.

"Do you know of an Alaric Seiz- Salman? I can never remember his name, but it's something like that..." Meluna felt stupid. She felt stupid for looking for someone whose name she didn't even know.

Officer Forbes cleared her throat. Of course she knew about Alaric Saltzman, but what did Meluna want with him? Alaric wasn't exactly normal. Alaric was quite complicated, but she knew him. So Officer Forbes couldn't trust Meluna. What if she was a vampire, wanting to kill him? What if she was an Original? There were many possibilities, but she couldn't just give up Alaric.
"Um, I'm not sure. I'd have to get back to you on that."

"Not to be rude, Officer, but it's a yes or no question. You either know him or you don't." Meluna awkward shifted in her seat. She wasn't normally outspoken, just honest. It was really important for her to find him, apparently.

"I'm running low on gas, I'm gonna make a stop. Then we can talk about Alaric, okay?" Meluna didn't even answer vocally, she just nodded.

Sheriff Forbes unbuckled her seatbelt, discreetly feeling for her phone in her pocket and told Luna she'd return shortly. Forbes made a quick beeline to the gas station to prepay the gas, while doing so, she'd pulled out her phone and called Alaric.

"Alaric, it's urgent. Do you know someone by the name of Luna Akimoto?" She gave the cashier a smile before grabbing her receipt.

"Akimoto... Yes, that sounds familiar, why what's up?"

"There's a young girl here looking for you, sh-" The Sheriff felt her stomach drop. The front passenger's door was wide open and Luna was nowhere to be found.

"Sheriff? Are you there?"

"I- uh," Liz swallowed the lump in her throat before clearing it gently. "How close are you to Luna Akimoto?"

///
yikes, finally found a connection.

how are y'all? (:

sinceramente,
devon mufasa xx