Chapter 19

Sunday had been a pretty boring day, and I couldn’t have been happier when Monday rolled around. Most people hated Monday’s but Esme’s class made Monday’s somewhat better for me. I sat in her class, mesmerized by today’s lecture. She talked more about Lady Desiree, and how she changed our world with her Guardian Angel idea. I didn’t bother to take notes, since I was paying so much attention, but Eric wrote them down anyway just in case. He always did that. Sometimes I tended to forget things. Sometimes I felt like he knew me a bit too well. When the bell rang, Eric and I walked up to Esme’s desk. She was sorting through some papers, and she looked up at us. She smiled. I had a feeling she knew exactly what we wanted to talk about. She confirmed as much.

“You two want to know more about Mary-Lynn, don’t you?” She asked.

“Yes ma’am.” said Eric. There was a knock on the wall. We looked over. Dante was standing in the doorway. “Hello Mr. Salvatore.”

“Hello Eric.” He said. I couldn’t help but smile at his Italian accent. Esme got up and walked over to Dante. She wrapped her arms around his.

“I asked Dante to come speak to you guys since he and I have a free period next class. I can write you guys a pass if you’re late, don’t worry.” She said.

“Please, let’s have a seat.” said Dante as he motioned towards the desks. The four us turned the desks around and sat down. “So what can I help you with?”

“Aren’t you a human?” asked Eric.

“That is correct, but Esme and I met in a library. The section that just so happened to be all about angels, and demons and everything else of that sort. I know all there is.” He said.

“Even more so than myself.” Esme added.

“However, art is my true passion and I’m human, so I chose to be the art teacher instead.” This was fascinating, but we needed to get down to business. We only had so much time in between classes.

“What do you know about demon hunters?” I asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t tell you much about them. Not many people know much about them. They usually tend to stay in hiding, and out of too much publicity. I can, however, tell you that most of them do reside all over Europe. Most of them do in fact live in England.” said Dante. Eric looked at Esme.

“What can you tell us about Mary-Lynn? When was the last time you saw her?” He asked. Esme thought for a moment.

“I saw her about two years ago. She was around your age, I’d say eighteen. If she’s still alive, then she must be about twenty now.” She said. “She’s a bit odd too.”

“Odd? What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, she’s not afraid to express how different she is, and you wouldn’t believe she’s around your age. She tends to act like a child. She was an amazing person to meet though. She’s very nice. Unless you get on her bad side. I’ve seen her fight. Do not make her angry.” said Esme. Eric chuckled.

“Reminds me a lot of Skylar.” I glared at him. The bell rang. We all stood up.

“Last I saw her, she was living in a hotel somewhere in London. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name, but it was a very nice hotel.” Esme said. She walked over to her desk and wrote us some passes. We thanked her and Dante before hurrying to our next class.

When lunch rolled around, I met my friends down in the dining hall. Austin already had my lunch at the table. He always seemed to amaze me. Eric and Wyatt were playing chess as usual. I slid next to Austin. Dawn sat next to Eric, watching them play chess. I started digging into my lunch. I was hoping Devitri would get back to me soon with a for sure answer on the London trip. The waiting was agony. I had checked my emails this morning, and there was nothing. Not even on Facebook. I even checked before lunch, and still nothing. I’ll have to check sometime before dinner. I should have figured someone was going to ask.

“Have you heard from Devitri yet?” It was Dawn who asked.

“No, not yet. I guess he’s pretty busy again.” I said.

“At least we have more of a lead on who we’re looking for, and where we might be able to find her.” said Eric. “I’ll ask Esme if she can give me a description of what she looks like later. Want to come with?”

“Sure thing, Eric.” I said. “When do you want to go?”

“Sometime before dinner would be nice.” He said. I nodded and continued to eat my lunch.

After school, Eric and I headed to Esme’s classroom. Austin decided to invite himself along, and apparently so did Dawn and Wyatt. They had never really met Esme before, and they really wanted to meet her. I hope she didn’t mind. We got to Esme’s classroom and Eric knocks on the door. She opened it and smiled at us. She welcomed us into her classroom, and we sat in the desks. We introduced Wyatt and Dawn. Both were surprised, even though we told them about her countless times. Esme sat on the corner of her desk with her legs crossed.

“What can I do for you all?” She asked. “More on Mary-Lynn, huh?”

“Yes ma’am. We were hoping you could tell us what she looks like, so it would be easier to find her.” said Eric. Her smile faded a bit.

“I’m afraid that won’t be too easy, Eric. You see, when I met her for the first time, she had blonde hair and blue eyes.” She said. “But then a couple days later, she walked up to me in a restaurant and I had no idea it was her. She had brown hair and green eyes.”

“It’s obvious she wears contacts since she most likely has demon eyes. How often does she change contacts?” I asked.

“Well, four days later she walked up to me in a clothing store. She had black hair and light purple contacts. She had just about every eye and hair color marked. Green, purple, blue, orange, black. You get the point. She likes to mix it up a lot, and sometimes she does the same thing more than once every few weeks.” said Esme.

“I think I get why she does that.” said Austin. All eyes were on him. “It’s so obvious. She changes her hair and eyes so much so that she can wear her demon eyes out in public. You know, so people will just think they’re contacts? At least, that’s what I’m hoping it is. She could just be really weird.” Esme laughed a bit.

“You’re right on both terms, Austin.” She said. “The only way you might be able to see that it’s her, is a tattoo on the front of her right wrist.”

“Of the symbol.” said Wyatt. Esme smiled at him.

“Exactly. You’re a bright one, Mr. Grey. So keep a lookout. Eric suddenly asked a question I never thought he’d ask a teacher.

“Ma’am, would you mind coming with us?” He asked. She smiled.

“Eric, I would love to, but I’m going to Italy with Dante.” I remember Eric telling her about our plan, and she seemed fine with it. She knew exactly what was going on. “I wish you guys the best of luck. She remember that you need to bring an adult guardian.” We got up. Before we left, she added something.

“Before you leave, you should at least know Mary-Lynn’s style.” I could imagine Austin making the comment “besides weird?”. She continued. “She’s very goth chic. I wish I had taken pictures. She also likes to wear short skirts and shoes that go up to her knees. Things like that.”

“Thanks Esme.” I said. The five of us left her classroom.

When Dawn and I go back to our room, I immediately checked my emails. I was disappointed when I saw I didn’t have any from Devitri. I decided to check my Facebook. No messages. I scrolled down my news feed until I came to a picture that Devitri had posted an hour ago. It was a picture of him dressed in his white guardian attire, and this time it wasn’t all loose like it was at the dance. Dawn walked over and gasped, but I knew she wasn’t gasping at Devitri. She was gasping at the man next to him. He couldn’t have been but twenty-five, with medium length blonde hair (that look straightened), and the most gorgeous amber eyes I have ever seen. In fact, it’s the first time I had ever seen them. He was skinny, and nicely toned with beautiful fair skin. The guy wore a white tuxedo with a bowtie. He was so handsome. I wasn’t sure who looked better. Both men were smiling, and Devitri had his left hand over the guy’s shoulder. The man was holding a glass of - what I assumed was wine - in his right hand, and on the middle finger was a silver ring with an amber gem in it. It was a big ring. Dawn continually made the comment of how handsome he was, and asked me who it was. I told her I didn’t know, and just now decided to read the caption Devitri put for the picture. The caption read: My buddy Lord Nick and I, ready for his birthday bash! He just turned twenty-six. What an old man haha. I was speechless. Dawn wasn’t for very long.

“That’s Lord Nicholas?” She asked. “And I didn’t know Devitri was that close to him. I knew he worked for him, but I had no idea they were ‘buddies’!”

“Yeah, neither did I.” I said. I posted a comment saying “happy birthday”.

“I didn’t know Lords were so open about their life.” said Dawn. I shrugged.

“It’s their choice, Dawnie. I mean, Lord Nicholas doesn’t seem like the type who needs a bunch of Guardian Angels in the first place. He looks like he can take care of himself just fine. I’m sure if Dark Angels burst in trying to attack him, he’d be right next to his guardians. Especially since he’s a very powerful Light Angel. I kind of want to meet this guy, actually. I’ve heard stories, and Devitri sometimes talked about how great he was. I should have guessed that they were friends.” I said. I suddenly heard a bing. It was a message from Devitri.

Hey little sora. Nick says thanks for the happy birthday. How was school?

I replied, Anytime, Dev. I had no idea how close you and Lord Nicholas were. Oh, and school was fine.

A slightly quick response came back to me.

Ha, “Dev”. I like that. I’m sorry I never told you. I figured you already figured it out for yourself. I’m glad school was fine. Just an update for you, I’ll be heading to Hollywood the day after Halloween. Do you and your friends have plans for Halloween night? Nicky and I are going trick-or-treating in one of the private neighborhoods around here. The richy rich neighborhoods. He felt inclined to put a winky face.

I sent a reply instantly. I sort of figured it out. I can’t wait to see you! Eric says we’re probably going to go trick-or-treating, and then spend the rest of the night helping Aunt Lily pass out candy. I thought Lord Nicholas was already rich. He could just buy all the candy he wants.

Devitri put a laughing face before his next reply. But that would take the fun out of trick-or-treating! Even for oldies like us! He knew very well that they were nowhere near old. I started typing but I got another reply. I’d love to chat more, little sora. But Nicky and I have to leave to go birthday bashing. By the way, I told him about you and he really wants to meet you! Okay? Okay, talk to you later! And with that, he logged out. Also leaving a status saying that he was about to leave, and that he would post pictures for everyone later.

“Lord Nicholas wants to meet you!” exclaimed Dawn. “That’s so exciting!”

“Yeah but...” I started. “I kind of want to know what Devitri told him about me.” Dawn gripped my shoulder gently.

“Don’t worry about it, Sky! Be excited that the Lord wants to meet you!” I smiled. She was right. That truly was an honor. For anyone. I was feeling a bit excited.