Not My Sort of Town Who: K-lee and Malo (NPC) When: 11:15 p.m. on Where: Driving into Scarlet Oak, Liberty Inn
If work hadn't been so hard to come by since the damned Light of May had occurred, then K-lee would have been happy to have all of her things moved by packers while she bought herself a first-class ticket and gave not a second thought to how long it really took to go across the country. Hell, if the Light of May had never happened then she wouldn't have needed to move in the first place! She could've stayed in her luxurious L.A. home with her choice of modeling offers, making the money she'd become accustomed to. But no. Some vampires or whatever had decided it would be a 'good idea to tell the humans' and that was it. Glaring at the empty road ahead of her, K-lee reminded herself that she'd never really liked vampires.
"I hate it when you glare at stuff without talking, makes me nervous," her familiar, Malo, informed her from the passenger seat. It was so weird to be hearing a voice in her head without thinking that she was going crazy, but according to the news that she had seen in hotels, familiars were popping up all over the place. Just another thing to make it obvious that she wasn't a human. Normal people didn't just have a bobcat following them around. "It's only been two days but really, I can't read your mind."
"I'm thinking about how I'd rather be anywhere but here." Even if there was something about the name of the place that had been tugging at her memory since she first heard it nearly a week prior. Something dealing with someone she had known... did she know someone living here? Highly doubt anyone I knew has such bad taste.
"But if you weren't here then I might have never found you," Malo pointed out, like that was the most important thing. Two days and K-lee had already discovered that her familiar had an irritating habit of thinking that he was the most important thing in her life. He was going to be in for a rude shock when she started modeling again, or when someone caught her eye.
"You found me because I hit you," K-lee said with a roll of her eyes. That had definitely been her least favorite part of the road trip. Not only had she hit a bobcat running around in a residential zone (she hadn't even meant to be there, she'd gotten lost looking for a Starbucks somewhere in Nebraska) but that bobcat hadn't even had the decency to be dead! No, it had hopped up out of the bushes and started talking to her. If she hadn't been exhausted, lacking caffeine and just wanting to find a Starbucks and hotel, then K-lee might have gotten back into the car and tried again. Oh, right, and when he had remarked that if he died now that he'd found her she'd go insane. Yeah that wasn't going to happen.
Malo was no longer paying attention to her, having turned to cleaning himself, and K-lee made a disgusted noise. She was about to say something about how that was going to need to be kept to a minimum when he was around her when she saw a green sign with big white letters that read "Scarlet Oak Township". As much as she disdained the idea of being here, K-lee was undeniably grateful that she'd be able to stop driving for longer than a night. She even had a reservation at one of the local hotels.
Driving through the city, searching for her hotel, K-lee found that she was just as disappointed as she had expected to be. Where were the big name designer stores? Oh, thank god, there was a Starbucks! Not to mention a load of other cafes; looked like she'd never be lacking for her caffeine. But even that little tidbit of good news wasn't enough to combat the rest. Some new start. What the hell had Whisper Charlton been thinking when she came here?! That was going to be the first question K-lee asked when she saw her. Okay, the second, the first was going to be how long she could expect work. Over the phone she'd gotten plenty of assurance, but things could change. No one understood that better than K-lee.
"This instead of a big city?" Malo remarked, finally done with his cleaning. "I like it."
K-lee took her eyes off the road to glare at her familiar. "I don't."
"That means you're insane."
"No it doesn't," K-lee grated. The bobcat was starting to get on her last nerve. She was tired of being awake, tired of driving and most definitely tired of having someone else's voice inside her head. "It means I'm normal."
"Normal people don't talk to bobcats. Or have them riding around in their passenger seat, which definitely means you're not normal."
"I didn't want you in my passenger seat. You remember that before you start talking like I invited you in. I know a fashion designer, I could have myself bobcat gloves for when this forsaken northern place gets cold."
Malo didn't respond, thankfully, and before too much longer K-lee saw the hotel that she had called before leaving California. The Liberty Inn.
This is more depressing than the rest of the city, the model thought as she pulled into a parking spot, resting her forehead against the steering wheel. Maybe it'd be easier to just sleep in my car. And be thought of as hopeless? Oh no, no no no, her reputation had been given enough of a lashing without that being added to it. "You stay here," she informed Malo as she grabbed her purse and opened the door.
"I'm not sleeping outside."
"No, but you're not coming through the front door either. I'd rather not cause too much of a stir when I just want to get some sleep. I'll get you after I check-in." The bobcat was doing his version of muttering, low growls and a wiggle that would have been a lash if he'd had a real tail, when K-lee reached into the bag, grabbed her overnight bag and slammed the front door. The model pushed him out of her mind easily as she walked into the lobby, or what passed for a lobby. Her face fell as she glanced around, having harbored a little spark of hope that maybe it was better than it had looked on the outside. Totally not true. Of course it could've been a lot worse and for people who hadn't spent their entire life staying in only top of the line hotels.
"Can I help you?" the man behind the desk asked, eyes a little wide as he took her in.
K-lee had all she could do not to roll her eyes at the stare. Sure she was used to it, but it was late and all she wanted to do was get her room and sleep. "I've got a reservation," she informed him. "Kayla Lee, best room you've got for an undetermined amount of time." There followed the typical exchange, but she was so used to going through it that it didn't take much thought.
"Have a good stay!" he called after her. Probably not, K-lee thought with a sneer as she headed towards the top floor. It wasn't until she had finished washing off her makeup and taking her hair down that she remembered Malo was still in the car. Sighing, she walked out of the bathroom to grab her keys.
"You're not very nice to me," an irritated bobcat informed her from where he had seated himself on her bed. "You should change that."
"How'd you get out of the car?"
"You'll probably be happier not knowing that." When K-lee shot him an absolutely murderous glare, he backed up. "Just kidding, I figured the handle out and climbed in here through the window. Don't get your hackles up."
"I don't have hackles."
"Yeah? That's what you think."
K-lee found herself wishing for just the twentieth time that day that she was back in California. Without this hotel room, without just an overnight bag because she didn't want to go get the rest, without an irritating bobcat and most of all, without the niggling thought that she knew someone else in the town. "Get on the floor," she snapped at the bobcat.
Malo gave her a look before hopping onto the comfortable chair by the desk. "I'm not sleeping on the floor."
"If I wake up with you on the bed again, you're going out the window," K-lee informed him as she crawled in between the sheets and flicked the light off. Tomorrow she'd find out more about this lame excuse of a city.