Capítulo 3: Ill Repute
LUCAS
The cafe was Lucas Harrison's refuge. It was the place he could make believe that he was in a caring society because in here no one knew what he was. It was one of the classiest and most expensive cafe in town and he had only found out about it because he wanted to impress the woman he'd invited to meet him there.
That is if she bothered to show up today.
He was hunched over the cup of coffee on the table in front of him, the hood of his jacket pulled over his hair as he desperately hoped that she would come. He didn't know why he expected today to be different. He had invited her to this same place every day for the past month and she never came or replied his e-mails.
Glancing up to the holographic clock in the corner of the room, he saw that it was already nine-thirty PM. His head jerked up when the door of the cafe swung open, heralded by a blast of cold wind. It wasn't the person he was expecting. Tons of people rushed by the cafe, all of them in their own little bubble and most of them were using the pop-up features on their phone. The streets were lit up with lights from buildings and lights that had been built into the ground. Cars zoomed past, some of them on the ground, some of them on air.
The interior of the cafe was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colourful walls. Oil paintings were framed on the walls and jazz music crooned in the background as the scent of freshly baked goods filled the air. Multiple people in the cafe were having conversations while some had drones buzzing in front of them, taking their pictures.
Lucas let his head drop back after the door swung closed behind the new entrant. He downed the rest of his coffee and placed it back on the saucer before turning to the panel next to him catching his reflection on the mirror-like material used to construct it.
He had tousled dark brown hair, which was thick and lustrous. His skin was tanned and his eyes were a mesmerising deep ocean blue. His face was strong and defined, his features molded from granite. A prominent jaw curved gracefully around and the strength of his neck showed in the twinning cords of muscle that shaped his entire body; strong arms, bold thighs and calves, a firm chest and abdomen. He was obviously a seasoned warrior.
One look at him and both men and women swooned at the sight of him no matter their sexual preferences and one word that passed from his lips had even the straightest of men flushing shades of red.
He waved his hand over the panel and it immediately came to life. Everything that the cafe had to offer came up in a holographic display. Bagels, baguettes, latte, espresso, hot chocolate, cappuccino, fancy coffee and so on.
They had everything but Lucas stopped swiping left when the fancy coffee came up and clicked the green button on the panel.
The table vibrated beneath him as the saucer that carried the cup began to descend into it like it was in an elevator and a square opened next to it, another cup of coffee ascending from it. The table stopped vibrating after the new cup was on it and the hole that the empty cup had gone down closed itself.
He let out an exasperated sigh and pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if she had at least replied his e-mail. There was nothing. He found himself searching up the place she worked, Barnes Institute of Medical Research, and he clicked on the website.
His breath hitched when her picture came up on screen and he was grateful that he had already disabled the pop-up features of his phone. Not that anyone would care that he was searching up the institute and staring at a picture of her though. A couple of people in the cafe were currently doing that and it was proudly displayed above their phone. The world had already fallen in love with her.
Imani Tallerico. The number one scientist in the country and in the world right now.
A year ago, a new virus showed up in the world. The Sirizan virus. It was extremely deadly with a ninety-eight percent fatality in victims and it spread like wildfire among the humans, killing half of their population within months. They said it would be the end of the human race but Imani stepped up when everyone had given up and created a vaccine and cure three months ago. It won her a Nobel Prize and she had a research institute named after her. She wasn't only brilliant, she was also beautiful.
They'd made her the face of the Barnes Institute of Medical Research website. In the picture, she had a huge smile on her face and Lucas couldn't help but smile too. She was wearing a lab coat and her arms were crossed in front of her. Extremely beautiful.
If he wasn't in a difficult situation and if she actually showed up, he would have asked her out. But not right now, his people had a problem. That's why he wanted to meet her.
When the Sirizan virus started to spread, werewolves and vampires didn't get infected.
Now, there was a new virus quite similar to the Sirizan virus spreading among the werewolves. It started two months ago and it had already killed twenty eight of them. The vaccine and cure of the Sirizan virus didn't work for this new virus and Lucas was really worried.
He had contacted the institute at first for them to put him through to her but they kept directing and redirecting him to different people and mentioned some bullshit about a process. They were wasting time he couldn't afford to lose. So he had gone for the direct approach, contacting her himself but she didn't reply.
At this point, he was at his wits' end. He waved his hand over the panel again and swiped up, pulling up the payment section. He clicked on the 'PAY' and the rectangle shape on the panel shone red. He pressed his phone on it till it shone green and got up from the seat.
The girls at the table next to his immediately flushed red when they saw his face and smiled. They shyly waved at him but he ignored them and headed for the door of the cafe.
He took in a deep breath when he stepped outside. He had made a decision.
If she wouldn't come to him... he would go to her.
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