R.E.D. Tiger Ch. 02

I started to walk towards her with the intent of doing just that, my eyes honed in on her cleavage until I saw a small necklace nestled in between her breast. It had a pearl(her birthstone),and a chain that housed a locket. Inside the locket was a picture of us together when we were kids at the beach. I had given her that necklace when she turned fifteen and I had never seen her without it on. The necklace made me realize who this was, this was my sister Rose. I was supposed to protected her from lecherous creeps not be one. Felix had warned me about the animal lust that came along with my new powers but I assured him I could handle it. He told me I'd never be sure until I had to deal with it myself and I had nearly let it control me.

I hadn't gotten laid in over a year which probably contributed to the way I felt. I made a promise to myself to go out sometime in the next couple of days and find a nice girl at a bar or club to relieve some "stress", but first I had a meeting to go to.

I decided on a casual suit. A simple beige jacket and pants, with a white shirt and black tie. I went downstairs to make some breakfast that consisted of some bacon, sausage, grits, eggs, and toast along with some orange juice. As I was leaving I stopped by Rose's room to tell her I'd be back later and that I had made some breakfast for her. A muffled reply came back and then I was out the door.

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Samuel worked in the Masters' Law Firm offices which were located on Summers St. I was a little apprehensive about strolling inside of a demon's workplace but figured everyone working at Masters couldn't be a demon so with a deep breath I walked in. The first floor was just a lounge and I was greeted by a young blonde woman named Emily.

"Hello Sir. How may I assist you today?"she said in a voice that actually made it sound like she liked her job.

"Hello, my name is Alan Thorton and I have a meeting with–"

"Oh yes, Samuel told me you'd be in today, third floor room three o six."She pointed me towards the elevator and I went up to the third floor. It amazed me just how many people were here this early in the morning. I always had the image of lawyers showing up to work around ten, going to lunch around noon and then not leaving until two or three in the morning. Oh well I guess you learn something new everyday.

I walked into Samuel's office and he looked completely different from what I was expecting. I didn't expect red skin a tail and horns mind you, but I did expect to find at least an imposing person. What I saw was a scrawny, pale man, who was balding a little, only about 5'5" and the thickest coke-bottle glasses I had ever seen.

I walked in and he ushered me to a seat across from him while he got up and pulled out some files from his cabinet. When he returned to his seat he reached across his desk offering his hand while saying,

"It's good to finally meet you Mr.Thorton, Felix has told me a considerable amount about you and I've been looking forward to this meeting for about three weeks now."

I reached for his hand to shake while conveying that I also was anxious to meet him. When our hands met a slight jolt went up through my body and I could feel heat coming from my hand. I quickly snatched my hand back thinking that Samuel was up to something and instinctively prepared for a fight. I looked up at Samuel and found he had the same look on his face only a little less hostile and more surprised.

"What the hell was that?"I asked, trying my best to keep from yelling. Samuel looked around with a confused look before admitting kind of sheepishly,"I truly don't know, it's never happened to me before."

For awhile we sat there just looking at each other until he finally cleared his throat and advised us to move on. The subject of the meeting was very simple, from here on out I would have control over the vast fortune of the host collective as Samuel called it, while I was free to spend it however I felt it was kind of an unstated law that you had to give back to the fund in order to help future generations of host. Felix himself in his extended lifetime had owned thirteen overseas oil wells, a couple of diamond and precious stone/metal mines and a couple of other small companies and I'd probably never even scratch the surface of that money. Hell I think most of the assets came from the original dragon host. From his memories alone I could tell he amassed over ten trillion dollars alone. I guess dragons really were known for hoarding their treasure. The only reason he felt comfortable giving it to the next host was because he was essentially giving it to himself.

I also found out that I would be required to visit some of the companies in Europe that Felix was the active chairman or board director for because I was named his replacement after his death, but that could be done at a later date and was not a priority. I had always wanted to go to Europe anyway to visit some of the properties my mom left me and try to learn more about her anyway so it pretty much seemed like killing two birds with one stone.

After about a hour of talking and signing papers I was just about through. I could tell that what happened earlier was still on Samuel's mind because he seemed nervous and jumpy the whole time. As things winded down I said my goodbyes to him and almost made it out the door before the other shoe dropped.

" Mr. Thorton come back here" Samuel shouted from his desk. When I sat back down he continued to talk."I'm sorry but I don't think that I'll be able to be your lawyer like I was for Felix and Marco, Felix's predecessor." I made to ask him why but was promptly cut off.

"Let me finish. I've been the lawyer of two host and a slew of demons, werewolves, and vampires, angels of course won't ever be my clientele, but the truth of the matter is that host have always felt different to me. I start all my meetings off with a handshake. Why? Because it lets me get a read of my client and you sir in all honesty scare me. I don't know what you are but I definitely never want to see you ever again."

"You see Alan I know a lot about you. I know about the things you did in the military, the classified things that were so awe-inspiring that your file looked like a children's superhero story, yet so horrendous Wes Craven would flee in terror...and after all that I was determined to meet you, determined to prove to myself that the things your fellow soldiers reported were just delusions conjured up by fear during the mission. But now I'm forced to admit that everything they said was probably all true, that there was probably even more things that a humans tiny perception couldn't even catch."

"You probably will refute this, I don't know how you could with so little you know about your parents, whom by the way I couldn't find anything about no matter how hard I looked, but nevertheless I can say without a shadow of a doubt that you weren't human when you became the host. I don't know what you originally were but human for damn sure wasn't it."

"So,"Samuel said pointing towards the door, "I want you out. And, I can't believe I'm even saying this but, I pray to GOD that I never have to see you again."

With that he wheeled his chair around to face the window and refused to make a sound for the next ten minutes while I sat there digesting what he said. I thought over everything he said and refused to believe that I was anything besides human. I know I had always been physically gifted but I was by no means a super human, well not until I met Felix and there were guys in the military both stronger and faster then me. The one thing he said that did stand out to me was that I didn't know anything about my parent's families. It looked like that trip to England might need to come sooner rather then later.

I grabbed my things and made my way out of Samuel's office in a daze. I barely responded to Emily as she told me goodbye.

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When I got home I couldn't do anything but go straight to sleep. I had so much on my mind that I doubted I be able to sleep but I guess the fatigue of the last few days caught up to me despite my supernatural endurance.

That night once again I dreamed of my father. He was looking at me with that same smile again. Only every once in a while he would say something I couldn't hear, as if he were talking to somebody and then look back at me. I had finally had enough and I began to lash out.

" WHAT!!?" I yelled at him. What do you want from me?"

With a smile and a wave he started to disappear and I begged him to come back. That's exactly how Rose finds me when she came home: curled up murmuring come back over and over again.

"Alan?" I heard,"Alan wake up!!" it was Rose she was sitting on the bed next to me shaking me awake. I sprung up and Rose jumped back in surprise. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." I lied. There were few things that I didn't tell Rose, but I had a feeling that the list was going to grow from now on."Just a nightmare."

"What is it? Is it PTSD?" she asked worry over her face. I looked at her sitting next to me with a scared expression on her face and couldn't help but laugh.

"No,no. Nothing that serious Squirt. Just a bad dream. A good friend of mine died and his funeral is the day after tomorrow. I'm just kinda shook up by it, but seriously I'll be fine." She looked like she wanted to argue, but I guess she thought better of it because all she said was that she was going to go to her room to study, apparently she had a big test coming up as well.

After she left I laid back down. Already the dream was starting to fade from my memory. I had always been like that though. Most times I didn't have dreams, Rose tried to convince me that everyone had dreams and that I just forgot mine as soon as I woke up but I didn't buy that, the dreams I did remember though still only lasted for a couple minutes after I woke up then I forgot them completely.

Getting up I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before I headed downstairs. I had intended on making dinner but found that the fridge was pretty spare. I guess I'd have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow while I was out. I called up the stairs to tell Rose I was ordering some pizzas for dinner. She seemed okay with the idea so I called up the local pizza place and placed the order. I ordered my usual meat lovers and got Rose her usual cheese pizza. I never understood paying ten dollars for a pizza with no meat on it whatsoever but it was Rose's favorite so I picked one up.

In about twenty minutes the pizza had arrived and Rose and I sat down to eat. She asked me what I had planned for tomorrow because she had early classes and probably would be home by five o'clock.

"Well I have to go and get ready for my friend funeral so i'll probably need to go see a tailor about getting my suit altered and then a trip to get a haircut would probably be nice. Oh and we need groceries too so i'll probably head to the store for that stuff as well."I told her.

"Sounds like a full schedule, i'll write up a grocery list tonight before I go to bed and leave it on the counter for you."

"I have a better idea,"I said," how about I pick you up from school and then we can both go on the way home."That idea seemed to please her so we made plans for me to pick her up at five-ish tomorrow afternoon meaning that I had to drop her off as well. It wasn't a problem though because her first class was at seven thirty and the tailor opened at eight so I had the time to do it.

After we finished eating and washing the dishes Rose went upstairs to finish studying and I went upstairs to go to bed. I figured that in the next few days I would have little time to sleep so I figured I stock up now. So after calling Rose to tell her goodnight I stripped down and went off to bed.

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I woke up just in time to hear the alarm going off. With a groan I reached over and turned it off. Since me and Rose were leaving together this morning I decided to wake up a little bit earlier so we wouldn't run all over each other trying to get ready.

After a shower I went back to my room to get dressed. I decided to wear a suit again today. My dad had taught me growing up that it's best to wear a suit when visiting a tailor. It showed that you meant business and it let the tailor get a look at your personal style and preference. Unfortunately I only had about three suits I could still wear. One I had worn yesterday and the other I was taking to the tailor to be modified for tomorrow so that left me with only a white Armani suit that I didn't really want to wear.

The suit was a little flashy and I had only bought and worn it once about a year ago. It was the same one I wore to Angela's graduation and I only wore it because it was a black and white affair and Rose already had picked out a black gown. According to her it was "tacky" for to people together to wear the same color so she forced me to buy a white suit. Maybe I should pick up a couple of new suit while I'm at the tailor today.

I put on my white tie and put the white handkerchief in my shirt pocket and looked my self over in the mirror. I had to admit I looked pretty good but something was missing. The outfit didn't look as complete as it did when I wore it last, and then I remembered what else Rose had forced me to but for Angela's graduation.

Going over to my closet I sighed as I walked into it. I went straight to the back and went to open the safe. The safe was where I kept all my large items of value. I opened the safe and pulled out the stainless steel case of my Frank Muller King Conquistador Cortez watch. I laughed to myself as I thought about it, even in my head I called the watch by it's full name because the jeweler had promised me that you aren't allowed to call a forty thousand dollar watch anything else but it's full and proper name.

The watch itself was pretty nice though, I couldn't lie. It was a stainless steel folding bracelet with a black dial and had clear diamonds all over it. The final diamond weight came out to thirty four point seventy five carrots or something like that. I dreaded having to walk around with it on because it was pretty much a "rob me" beacon but I knew that if I didn't put it on Rose would just send me back up here for it when she saw what I was wearing.

Making my way downstairs I heard Rose puttering about in the kitchen. From the smell of it she had made us breakfast of pancakes and hash browns. I walked to the entry way of the kitchen and stood there with my hand behind my back and cleared my throat. When Rose turned around she was surprised to see me standing there in my white suit.

"How do I look?"I asked with a smirk on my face. Rose laughed as well before she remarked.

"You look absolutely dashing... now go put on the watch." she said. I chuckled at how well I knew her then pulled my hands from behind my back and showed her the watch on my arm. She walked right up to me, got on her tip-toes, and patted me on the head.

" Good boy,"she said, "it's looks like you're learning." then she burst out laughing once again. Making my way past her I went to sit down and she brought me a cup of apple juice along with a plate. I ate slowly to prevent spilling any on my suit so by the time I was finished Rose had already went back upstairs and was ready to leave. Grabbing the suit I needed altered off of the back of the couch me and Rose headed out the door.

I walked outside and went to get in my RoadRunner but stopped when I realized that Rose was still standing at the front of the house staring at me with an incredulous look. After about a minute I had had enough.

"What?"I asked her.

"You can't be seriously thinking about driving that are you? With what you got on? You'll look like and idiot in an old school muscle car wearing a white suit."Sighing I made my way to her porsche assuming incorrectly that she wanted me to drive it instead.

"Just when I thought you were learning." she said with mock(I think)disapproval in her voice,"Go get Mickey out off the garage and bring her around." This time I looked at her Incredulously. She couldn't be serious. There was no way in the world I was driving that car. After just standing there for awhile Rose reached in her purse and threw me the keys assuming that's what the delay was for. With a pout she pointed to the garage and I begrudgingly made my way to it to get out Mickey.

Mickey was a Mercedes SLR Mclaren but according to Rose and even Angela that name wasn't sexy enough so the took the Mclaren out and changed it into"Mickey".

Pulling Mickey out of the side garage and down the side driveway I pulled up just in time to see Rose walking down to get into the car. When she got into the car she looked at my face and smiled.

"Oh you look so cool right now." she said,"I should take a picture of you, post in on Facebook and call you the "White Knight"."

"Yeah only problem is the car's silver doofus." I retorted ruffling her hair. Rose looked down blushing before she looked up and stuck her tongue out at me and called me a "spoilsport."

_____

After dropping off Rose at the University of Charleston, I quickly made my way over to the tailor. I wanted to be the first one in so I could leave him to do the alterations and then hopefully he'd be done when I was through with my haircut.

I walked in and found the tailor. He was a fairly tall man about 5'10", wore glasses and appeared to be in his late forties. After getting my measurements for my alterations and handing over my suit I also picked out a gray Armani suit, and a blue and a silver Michael Kors suit for casual wear.

Leaving the tailor I headed over to the salon. Hopefully Gina, my stylist was free. I had started going to the salon when I was about fourteen because my dad had said,"trust me son, you'll prefer a woman with scissors doing your hair over a man with clippers I promise."

Gina had just started working there, she was about eighteen so they decided to pit the new client with the new stylist and Gina had been my stylist ever since.

Even back when I was fourteen I had thought that Gina was hot. Of course the onset of puberty might of had something to do with it but Gina really was gorgeous. She was medium height with very large breast easily a DD-cup and the longest raven black hair I had ever seen. She had these hazel eyes that made my teenage self melt every time she looked at me and I used to fantasize about her every night. Hell I still fantasized about her every now and again, but I'm sure she never looked at me as anything other than a friend or at best maybe a younger sibling.

Still last time I saw her she was twenty seven and still looked wonderful. She had put on a little weight over the years no longer being the eighteen year old high school cheerleader, but the weight had filled her out nicely. Where she used to be a lithe, dainty girl now she was a curvaceous mature woman that oozed sex appeal.

With baited breathe I parked the car and walked in, hoping to heaven that Gina was here and free. I walked in and Gina was standing over by her chair preparing her station. She was wearing a green shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Her hair was shorter than I remembered, only going to the small of her back instead off around her legs where it used to rest.

When I walked in all the ladies gasped at seeing me, apparently a man in a white suit wasn't common around here. I knew this suit was a bad idea. All the noise must of caught Gina's attention because she looked up and gasped as well when she saw me standing there. She could barely control her excitement when she rushed over and hugged me.

"Alan!! It's so good to see you. Why' re all dress up? Big date tonight?"I couldn't help but laugh as I hugged her back.

"Quite the opposite in fact, I have a funeral to go to tomorrow and I need a haircut and now that I'm out of the service no one touches my hair but you."