Hare of Misfortune

The room was still as Rachel readjusted to the host of noises assaulting her brain again, keeping her hands raised with Zoe and Anthony; she knew they had to comply, given the orders and stress these men were already under while guarding the vampire girl.

Anthony appeared to know it was best to let the lieutenant communicate with the OIC of the area, which hadn’t changed since they’d entered the rift. One interesting note Rachel latched onto was the time dilation; they’d only been gone half the time they’d spent in the other world.

Lt. Thompson responded. ”Repeat that. Over.”

Mateo complied, nudging his gun to the ground. ”We have what appears to be a bunny and cat-girl with an armed man wielding a spear and sword; they came from a rip in space, landing right in the middle of the library. Orders? Over.”

”Dammit... Get their story and report back. Out.”

Rachel’s eyes were centered on Lieutenant Mateo Herrero, slowly doing as she’d seen in movies and getting on her knees, hands behind her head while lowering her belly to the ground; however, from her wide field of vision, she got a better grasp of the situation they’d stumbled into.

Soldiers in the hallway were getting filled in on the report, and she heard thirty-two men—Green Beret Special Forces—covering the halls and interior of the library; ten more were covering their vehicles outside, receiving updates from the second lieutenant to their left. Everyone was on high alert, and a lump dropped down Rachel’s throat, figuring not one had their safety on.

The vampire was in a straitjacket, yet silky pajama shorts showed under the thick binding, and her lifeless eyes said she was done with everything. She didn’t even seem to care at all that they’d popped out of a portal as if she’d seen it dozens of times.

”W-We’re not bad guys!” Zoe whimpered, ears pulled back as she followed Rachel’s example. ”Please don’t kill us!”

”Shh. Let them ask the questions,” Rachel replied calmly, the unfiltered spur the azure moon gave her now significantly diminished while not under its rays. Still, she apparently retained the ability to draw upon the attribute from its presence in her [Lunar Pool], making her realize she could store specific Lunar Energy. ”Is it alright if I hold her hand?”

A small smile lifted the man’s mouth, but not one soldier let their guard drop in the slightest. ”Slowly... We can—Scarlet, what are you doing?” he sighed as the vampire slid off her chair and fell onto her face.

”Mmmgh...” she dully grunted, flipping to her back and blowing her messy black bangs out of the way to stare up at the ceiling. ”Can this nightmare end already?”

”Uh, is she okay?” Zoe whispered, shaking fingers closing around Rachel’s as she shifted her head to look at the vampire before her rising tail slammed to the ground, remaining still. ”Sorry, I’ll be quiet!”

One of the soldiers went to the girl to talk to her, trying to get her to sit back up as she groaned. Rachel was surprised; this was not the interaction she thought she’d find when hearing about the girl who slaughtered over three dozen people, or how she’d be treated. Of course, she’d missed the SWAT report with the full details of the incident.

”Ugh. Let’s just start from the top; introduce yourselves, and try to help us make sense of things... And, heh, go ahead and ramble if you want. Whatever comes to mind, little lady.”

”Uh...uh...”

Knowing the man wanted the panicking one to talk, reveal, and give them many pieces of information to piece together, Rachel squeezed her hand, telling her it was okay. She kept her gaze off the soldiers when she realized the complex mess of her irises set them on edge, contenting herself to evaluate what had changed in their absence.

Anthony gave her a weak smile, hands palm down on the ground beside his barrel, which a soldier came closer to inspect in case it was an explosive before pulling it away for further examination.

Zoe talked about her entire life, rambling on about how she came to be here, the quest, their actions there, and that they’d discovered the System. Rachel applied a tiny twitch of pressure to let her know she shouldn’t reveal too much about that detail—it would be their leverage—luckily, the girl caught on and steered around the topic. She was thankful Zoe hadn’t disclosed Anthony was a legendkin and she a mythickin, as well.

Scarlet eventually returned to her seat and draped herself across the table, passively staring at her; her irises were ruby red and pupil-less, making Rachel wonder if the vampire girl could see everything in focus like her.

At last, Mateo had them take the seats his men pulled out and placed in the open, making them easy targets. Rachel knew she couldn’t outrun bullets—at least not yet—so they needed to see they were compliant.

”Okay,” Mateo muttered, gun lowering as he sat across from them to try and connect, no doubt; his men didn’t drop their muzzles, though. ”Let me get this straight... Anthony here can make portals to different worlds to...fight monsters?”

”Uh-huh! I know it sounds crazy, heh, but I’m a cat-girl—not that I always was,” she swiftly corrected. ”Eh, I’m a normal freshman college student... I only just turned eighteen—am I still underage?! Can you hold me like this—I’m so scared... I’m sorry!”

”Hey. It’s okay. It’s okay,” the lieutenant calmly said, making a gesture with his hand before running his fingers through his hair. ”What do you have to say... Rachel, was it? Do we have records for her at this school, Cameron?”

Their technology man seemed to be inside the school network because he pushed his lips together and shook his head, but Rachel jumped on the topic now that things were moving toward her in the spotlight.

”That’s my American name; try my Korean name, Park Sung-Hyo.”

”You speak Korean?” Roy, one of the men keeping them at gunpoint, asked, switching to the language.

”I’m a third-generation American,” she explained in the same tongue, showing a forced smile. ”My grandfather immigrated to the US when my dad was six. He owns a fairly successful tax agency with roughly eighty employees.”

The man whistled, translating to his CIO. ”She’s fluent, I’ll give her that; heh, better than me.”

”Makes sense if she grew up speaking the language around the home,” Mateo muttered, hard brown eyes moving to Anthony. ”And you’re the portal opener, huh? What’s your story?”

Rachel’s ears tilted a little to the side, interested in the topic as well. All of their items and weapons had been confiscated and were being examined off to the side.

Anthony sighed, keeping his posture lax. ”I’m a dual citizen—UK and US—my family was wealthy on my mother’s side, so I grew up attending boarding schools. It also gave me the luxury of pursuing what hobbies I wanted, and...eh-heh, as you might guess, I took up weapons and martial arts...primarily the spear,” he said, nudging his head to the side, where the item lay.

”I’m a graduate of U of M—Master’s in biochemistry—and recently came into ownership of a small weapons training center after the previous owner returned to China. Anything you want to know specifically? I can tell you the estate my family owns if that will help narrow things down, but all our assets are in the UK.”

Rachel was a little surprised, considering he didn’t have a British accent; at least, she couldn’t detect a hint of one, yet she also couldn’t hear him lying.

”Interesting group you have, Zoe,” the military man said, his focus returning to her.

The cat instantly shook her head. ”No, no, no! Rachel’s more the leader! I, uh, I’m just kind of tagging along.”

”Oh... And why’s that?”

Rachel cleared her throat, ears twitching as she heard one of the volunteer scientists split away from a group, flipping through some documents; she was climbing the stairs and showing him an order to take a sample of the vampire’s blood.

”I have learned a lot by listening to everything, Lieutenant, and I believe the military and the commander of this area would love to hear what I have to say—I understand he is busy,” she noted at his tightening eyes, pointing at her ears. ”I know about the Crystals and the danger that is in the pond; I can assure you that he will want to hear what I have learned.”

Mateo breathed in deeply, letting it go in a slow stream as he glanced toward his other men. ”Huu-haaa. What a mess; this world has gone insane.” He got a few chuckles from his men before rising to his feet and stretching out his back. ”Obviously, you’re after something. First, tell me what you want.”

Smart, Rachel thought, mind still puzzling together all the details flooding the air space. It wouldn’t be long until the scientist got to them, escorted by one of the soldiers. He thinks I won’t give him everything, but it will give him a direction to poke further.

”Protection for Zoe, Anthony, and me, for one, and possibly more; it depends on Lt. Thompson’s response.”

Mateo chewed on her response for a few seconds before shaking his head. ”You’re going to have to give me more than that.”

Closing her eyes, Rachel breathed out a steady stream of air to calm her anxiety; somber eyes opening, she drew the bored vampire’s attention. ”I understand...there is a stigma toward mythickin right now... Tell Lt. Thompson that he has three inside his jurisdiction: Scarlet the vampire, Selvaria the sea dragon, and me...the lunar hare.”

”Wrong!”