Chapter 63 - 63 - The Metropolis (Part 2)

September 18th, 2018

In a dark, dimly lit, underground empty parking lot, a pair of sturdy-looking men wearing black suits were standing guard in front of a thick, barred, metal door. Despite the space being quite spacious, only one single black, matte sports car was waiting, all other spots were cleared out.

The two sturdy and bald men, bodyguards most likely, stood still, like a pair of gargoyles, statues protecting secrets that should never be revealed to the outside world. Their expressionless faces projected a sense of professionalism and with it, a cold murderous stance. One could question the matching dark sunglasses, although the ominous vermillion light that occasionally escaped from the rims suggested some other motive than trying to look 'cool'.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew between the two, surprisingly coming from behind the closed metal barrier. Instantly, both men fixed their postures, a synchronous light cough escaped their clean-shaven faces.

A colorless, bright light seeped out from the small cracks, the sound of heavy wind could be heard from the other side, a few seconds later everything returned to the previous peace and tranquil silence.

Still, this serenity merely lasted a couple of moments. The thick, metal lever was slowly pushed down, the sound of a couple of clicks could be heard. The large metal frame, the vault door was opened up from the inside and was slowly pushed open.

Loud creaking noise echoed in the empty subterranean parking lot as the shadows of two distinct figures, two vastly different silhouettes were slowly revealed to the outside. One of them, the taller of the two with a slender, feminine shape, whilst the other only half a head shorter, with a lean shadow. Their figures remained shrouded in shadows as a bright, blinding white light kept illuminating them from behind.

Still, despite this mysterious scene, the two stoic guards instantly bowed towards the two, and keeping a quite impressive synchronous tone they greeted the newly appearing duo.

"Welcome back, Mistress Sera and Young Lord!" They exclaimed with vehement passion, standing at attention and saluting akin to soldiers.

Instead of a response, the two figures stepped forward, stepped away from the bright light, letting the metal door slowly close behind them, and finally reveal their figures.

The feminine figure, Sera, donning the same elegant business dress that she first appeared in front of Lucien in that small hillside town, smiled gently at the two bowing guards of hers, waving her hand so the guards could ease up.

"Fufufu." She chuckled with her usual carefree smile. "It's good to be back after… What? Two weeks?"

She then turned towards the youngster standing at her right and smiled at her warmly. The scrawny, weak, and unconscious little shrimp that she brought in her arms two weeks ago with hurried steps was now vastly different.

The little kid was gone, replaced by this handsome-looking young adult. While still retaining his mesomorph body shape, but now sporting a healthy muscle mass and much broader shoulders. His hair, also growing a couple of inches, from its short barely noticeable bristle-like fur to now growing into this medium-length flock of wild hair which he kept flowing down, almost all the way to his neckline.

Below the dark, long leather coat he had a dark brown shirt, sporting dark blue jeans and black boots. However, maybe the most astonishing change in his outlook was the change in his eye colors. From what was simply dark brownish, were now beyond exotic. From the original color now both were dark as the starless night, instead of irises they were like two small black holes, ready to suck out the soul of all those that mistakenly gaze into its endless depths. Adding to the experience, a dark red, scarlet outline surrounded his left eye, whilst on his right, the sclera was a touch darker colored, from the usual and normally pearl white, to a creamy, yellowish tint.

Giving time for his guards to also take a long gander at their new Young Master, Sera smiled brightly, taking off the sunglasses from the closest guard standing in front of her, and gave it to Lucien with a warm, kind smile.

"Take this Lucien. For the time being, it is best if you wear it, lest we bring unwanted attention to ourselves, don't you think?"

To the question, Lucien merely gave a slight nod, before grabbing the stylish spectacles and putting it on. Despite being quite late in the afternoon, closing in on the evening even, the added shading didn't bother him at all. Thanks to his trait, increased senses and to his increased attributes, his vision wasn't hindered in the slightest.

However, he snorted with surprise as the glowing vermillion bead-like eyes of the guard were now revealed for the first time. Showing his inhumane origin to the surprised boy.

Taking a quick glance at the man, Lucien's peaked out from the rims of the glasses, he turned to look at Sera with an inquiring gaze.

"What are…"

Already expecting the question, Sera giggled mischievously, walking back to Lucien's side and gently guided him towards the only car that was probably prepared for them for this exact moment.

"Don't mind yourself over it." She explained as they walked towards the vehicle. "They are what you would call, 'Half-Breeds' or Demi-Humans. One-half human, whilst their other half… is something else. In the case of our friend here…." She looked at the guard's back that walked in front of them with an impish grin. "…Hmm… Let's just say, his other half comes from a rather surprising, eastern origin."

Seeing the growing wariness and concern in the young man's expression, Sera giggled once more, lightly patting his back.

"In case you are worried… don't. There is no need, they are loyal to the old master, to me… to you. After all, you are already the Young Master, and once we get back to the mansion and we complete the registration, you will officially be recognized and accepted as the Young Lord, the successor of the Old Master."

Lucien couldn't help but swallow with nervousness when Sera brought up this 'registration'. Although she already considered him as his guardian, legally they were still strangers. Heck, Lucien didn't even have any official registry before Sera didn't order her men to get everything done.

The only thing that was now required was his official signature on a stack of papers so he would be considered a 'person' from today henceforth. Lucien Shaw De'Angelis, the stepson of Sera De'Angelis.

Yes, from today, this golden-haired, gentle woman would be his legal guardian, his new family, his new caretaker. Though him just turning almost an adult in a couple of weeks, they decided to still keep up the pretenses, create papers and adopt him under her care.

This, while didn't seem that big of a deal from an outside perspective, it was a monumental milestone for Lucien. Him, the shunned, the disdained, the 'Wretched One', the kid that could never dream of such things, would finally have a family of his own.

There would be someone in this dark, cruel world that cared for him…

Lucien smeared a single teardrop as he sat inside the back of the car, together with Sera, while the two burly men drove away.

They didn't say a word, but the bright gentle smiles of Sera and Lucien told more than they could.

—

After the hilarious failed attempt at a robbery a few hours ago, the young man watched the clock on his smartphone as it slowly, but surely crept closer to the closing time. Just like every other time, these last couple of minutes were so arduously slow, moving at a snail's pace…

Eventually, under the heavy scrutiny of the bored young man, the clock hit 7:00 PM. He could finally heave a sigh of relief. The workday was over, he could finally close down and get back home.

"Finally!" He exclaimed with an annoyed tone, as he shifted up from his leaned-back posture and with a loud yawn he slowly stood up. He grabbed the plastic toy gun that was oh so graciously 'gifted' to him and walked to the back area to put it into his backpack.

As he walked towards the back, he took another look at the toy, humming with appreciation. After all, the gun was truly of high quality. Such stuff would sell for quite the sum at any pawn shop, which would net him quite a bonus, working even more down from the humongous debt he and his late grandfather had accumulated over the years.

"Huah… Hopefully, I can get a decent price for it… Luckily that idiot was way too nervous…" He chuckled as he entered the back office…

However, whilst he was dreaming about the bonus money he could potentially earn from his unexpected loot, two grey vans suddenly arrived in front of the store….

A huge, bulky, tattooed figure looked towards the nameless grocery store with a deep frown on his gruff, unshaven face. He looked at the rearview mirror, revealing his cruel, cold blue irises and the small claw mark that went over his right eye. He squinted, focusing his gaze as he spoke with a contemptuous tone.

"Is this the store you failed to rob, you pathetic sh*t?!"