Diamond
Diamond felt like maybe she was teasing the borderline of 'crazy ex girlfriend' as she keyed into Renata's apartment—she did send a text as warning, but considering there had been no reply, it was possible the message had not been seen. The last time she tried to surprise her, Diamond found her best friend dead on the kitchen floor. This didn't exactly comfort her as she opened the door.
"Ren?" She looked around the empty apartment. It was midnight, so shadows filled every corner and crevice. Maybe Ren wasn't home yet from the visit with the mysterious person she mentioned? The door slammed shut behind her, making her jump.
Diamond was intrigued as she heard a toilet flush in the distance. It originated from the guest bathroom. There was a flick of a switch and the light underneath the door went off. She watched as the door opened, revealing a face she recognized, or at least slightly.
Diamond reached over to turn on the ceiling light in the front room, so she could get a better look. Whoever this was, she was taller than Ren. They shared similar face shapes and builds. Her eyes were sharper and her mouth was slightly thinner. Her ears poked out as the long black locs were piled on top of her head. The question left Diamond's mouth before she could stop herself. "Who are you?"
The woman arched her brow. "I'm Rocio, her sister. I didn't realize she had a girlfriend, that complicates things."
Diamond's mouth went dry. The pound of her heart worsened. Sister? "I don't understand. She said she grew up in foster care..."
Rocio finished drying her hands and discarded the hand towel on the sink before shutting the door behind her. She settled her fingers on her waist. All of her curves were wrapped in tight-fitting leather. "You can have siblings in foster care FYI. Well, technically we're cousins, not that it matters...She hasn't mentioned me, eh?" Rocio tsked. "Nata can always be so sensitive. I haven't given her enough attention these days—"
Diamond felt like Rocio sounded similar to Renata, not necessarily by her voice but the pacing of her sentences and where she chose to pause. While Diamond mostly believed in their blood relation, it didn't put a halt to her suspicion. "What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?"
Rocio seemed stunned by being cut off, although quickly shifted back to the appearance of cockiness and complete ease. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing." Her boots clicked against the wood as she came closer. "You know, I really wish she would have told me she had a girlfriend."
Diamond folded her arms and stayed right where she was. "I'm not her girlfriend." She didn't mean to sound so defensive, but it was too late.
Rocio raised an eyebrow. The amusement in her dark eyes and in the slight curl in her lip said 'I don't believe you for one second'. "You're not? What's with the key, then? You're not a psycho are you?" A frown marred her features like she was actually considering that. "Fuck, I don't have time for that—"
Diamond squinted her eyes in disbelief. "I'm her best friend. I've always had a key." She shifted the bag on her shoulder, as though it could protect her from the sudden interrogation. "Why hasn't she ever mentioned you?"
Rocio shrugged and relaxed once more. But Diamond wasn't fooled as Rocio's gaze tracked her every move. "Like I said, I've been a bit lackluster in the 'hey, Nata, how are you?' department. But I'm here now."
Diamond looked around for Renata, but she clearly wasn't home. How the fuck did Rocio get in then? Renata wasn't known to give out house keys like free mints. "To do what exactly?"
Rocio sighed. "Well, I had this whole plan set up. We'd become attached at the hip again—there's no time for it now. I won't bore you with the details. Tell Nata that she needs to ditch that bastard. When she's ready, soon, big sis is happy to show her around."
Diamond burst out with laughter. "Was any of that supposed to make sense?"
Rocio tilted her head and had this funny look on her face. Diamond fidgeted beneath the scrutiny and watched with mild interest as Rocio bent her head over. With her thumb and forefinger, she began fishing around. Diamond remained silent until Rocio looked back at her, but instead of seeing a dark gaze, there was a red one. "How about now?"
I don't know who the fuck it was, Diamond! Red eyes. Red, fucking eyes. Those red eyes won't stop looking at me!
Diamond shouted in alarm and backed up. She'd dreamt so many nights of blowing red eyes' head off. It looked like the fucker had a friend, who also happened to be Renata's sister. "What the fuck..." She began to reach for her pepper spray.
Rocio was fast, too fast for a human being. Diamond barely registered as she was pushed against the door—it wasn't exactly a violent push but one meant to be a display of strength. Rocio wasn't quite touching her but kept a palm flat beside her head. "Yeah, her big sis is undying. It happens." Diamond trembled with fear and had no idea what to do. Technically, besides being physically intimidating, Rocio hadn't outright threatened her. Diamond was still this close to pissing herself.
Diamond inhaled her jasmine scent. She was light-headed as she looked into Rocio's red eyes. Red eyes. Just like Renata described. Diamond was trying her damnedest to catch up with all the words tossed out by Rocio. Ditch that bastard? Undying? "Wait...what?"
Rocio watched her for a second, giving a short bit of a chuckle. She leaned in further so that they were face to face. "Just give her the message, Blue." Diamond wanted to run a hand over her buzz cut in self-consciousness but didn't dare move. "I hope to see more of you. See ya." There was a whoosh.
The next time Diamond opened her eyes, Diamond was by herself in Renata's apartment. She took a deep breath and ran straight for the kitchen.
Diamond needed a fucking drink.
Keone
While driving toward Angel's property, Keone's eyes drifted toward his rearview mirror constantly. Renata was following close behind in her own car. He had this disturbed vision where she drove him off the road and tore his head off without any further contemplation. He imagined her picking his blood out of her fingernails with endless satisfaction.
His headlights beamed into the darkness, exposing the road as his tires rolled against the asphalt concrete. Black and yellow were quickly swallowed up only to be replenished for miles on end.
The folk music drifting from his radio speakers usually calmed his nerves, but Keone doubted anything would have placated his mind when being so near the biggest source of his shame.
Keone cursed as Renata slammed on her brakes. The screeching sound killed his ears. He followed suit and looked back to see if anything happened. Her windows were tinted and it was dark, so seeing past her bright lights proved difficult. He was just about to exit his car when the car lurched to the side, and then Renata was pulling off in the opposite direction like a mad woman.
"Fuck!" He muttered and began his own three-point turn.
That was until he caught sight of someone standing only a couple feet away from his front bumper. Keone growled out in frustration and hit his brakes, before putting the car in park. He shoved his door open to confront the bane of his existence. His eyes leveled on Tahoma, the complete pain in his ass.
"Why were you following me?" Keone demanded. He was surprised Nirvi would send her son on a task as trivial as tracking—trivial yet dangerous, Angel was not known to take any display of challenge toward him or his soldiers lightly.
Tahoma was a striking man, standing at a staggering height with a pouty mouth and prominent hump in his nose. His long raven hair lifted in the night's breeze. The slash of his dark gaze and carefully shaped eyebrows left an intense look to his otherwise relaxed and amused expression. "She'll be fine," he hadn't heard Keone's initial question apparently, "I'm giving you the chance to answer my questions. Prince to prince."
Keone tilted his head, looking the man up and down. The man was a walking fashion show. Theme: a Victorian lord had sex with a experimental pirate. "What did you do?"
Tahoma rolled his eyes. "Everyone assumes I've done something. I'm just here on account of Nirvi's curiosity." He shrugged as though him being here wasn't a big fucking deal.
Keone's back straightened but he gave nothing else away. He thought he might have had more time, but it was too late, Nirvi somehow found out about Renata. Keone prayed they didn't know too much. "Curiosity?"
Tahoma made a disapproving clicking sound. "Don't bother acting stupid, it's not a good look for you. Remember Renata Jimenez, you know, the one you've been playing guardian-slash-stalker for this past year? The one that was tailing you just now? Most likely heading toward Angel's safegrounds, the one place no vampire can enter—besides you, of course." Keone gritted his teeth as fury began to overtake his body. How dare Nirvi have him shadowed? This was practically a declaration of war. This was not good at all, for anyone.
Tahoma continued on with that damn composed demeanor of his. "Like I said, she's fine. She's just checking in with Diamond."
Keone was swiftly removed from his own thoughts. "If you did anything to Diamond—"
Tahoma waved him off. "We wouldn't dream of touching a strand of blue hair on that lovely head of hers. She happened to run into Rocio, who acted a bit impulsively, not surprisingly," he made a disapproving expression. "So, I'm assuming Diamond was a bit startled."
"Rocio?" Keone retrieved his mental file on Renata. He immediately thought of one of few known, living relatives in Renata's life. They'd grown up together in the fucked foster care system. They'd been seemingly close up until around five years ago. Then, they just lost touch. "What does she have to do with anything?"
Tahoma's eyes widened. He looked around with that dramatic flare of his Keone wanted to strangle him for. "You don't know." Tahoma scoffed. "Oh, boy. Well, I never thought I'd see the day when the great Keone's detective skills failed him. Rocio is undying." Keone felt his whole body go cold.
"Who is her designer?" His question was clipped with barely-concealed horror.
Keone didn't expect Tahoma's face to turn somber and grief-stricken, creating lines of stress in his darkly-tanned skin. "Awe."
Keone took a step back in pure shock. "No, but she's..."
Tahoma's eyes flashed with rage. "It obviously happened before that." He shook his head at Keone. "You're clearly not willing to comply. That's fine. We'll be finding out what's going on with this woman either way."
Keone laughed with anything but amusement. "You dare threaten me? Have you all lost your mind? Especially Nirvi!" Keone came closer so that there was no mistaking the promise in his eyes. "If you continue to shadow me, or to seek her out, I will come after all of you, with Angel backing me."
Keone accepted the victorious feeling in response to Tahoma's apparent uncertainty, though it was soon replaced by confidence. "No need to get daddy involved quite yet. Besides, she's her own woman. If Renata prefers our company over yours, that sounds like you may need to work on your people skills."
"Don't." He put his hand on his weapon at his hip. "Don't push me, Tahoma."
Tahoma stepped back. "I'm just looking to make a new friend, that's all. Tell Angel I said 'hello'." He vanished into the darkness of the night, leaving Keone feeling more desperate than ever. He needed to catch up with Renata. There was no time left. If Nirvi's clan got their hands on her, who knew what kind of devastation would result.
It was only a matter of weeks or even days until they realized that Renata couldn't be killed, not even by Death.