Tales in Scarlett

I forgot so adding here...cover was generated by Chatgpt.

Previous Chapters can be found here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

In the silhouettes of her apartment, the neon of night was disintegrating into the first traces of dawn. Scarlett sat amongst her own chaotic darkness, her mind contorted by uncertainty. She had learned of her past in the library, her ancestors at least, but the revelations had left her disconcerted. Shell-shocked almost. As she learned more, she doubted more, questioning herself and her existence. Wondering how to proceed.

She was born of the blood moon - a Syched Coch, but she couldn’t find a way to process what that meant and what her place in the lineage might mean - for herself, for the prey and of course, for the predators. A dichotomy of vengeance and protection, she was a shadow navigating within alternating shadows. In her heart she could feel the pulse of the city, sense the hidden fears and unacknowledged desires of its inhabitants but in her mind she could think of nothing but her own life; dictated and predetermined. The lack of free will made her desperate.Angry. She could move back home. Do what her Great-Grandmother had done all, she thought apathetically, knowing that she was far too entrenched to do anything of the sort.

Her thoughts turned to Manawydan’s words, “Never for revenge”. They twisted and mutated in her head like an endless echo. She began to replay her encounters in the city – the terrorised eyes of the men she had destroyed. Their last silent scream. And the women. Had she done it for them or for herself? She remembered the surge of power she had felt as she donned her crimson trench. The adrenaline rush of energy. The anticipatory caffeinated exhilaration of the hunt. The primal satisfaction of retribution. But lingering, no matter which way her thoughts turned it churned at the edges of her mind - Was justice truly being served, or had she merely been satisfying her own abeyant desires?

As dawn slithered into the blur of morning, casting an effervescent golden light across her troubled face, Scarlett made a vow to herself and to her Great-Grandmother and the Syched Coch. She would create her own destiny. She would not be a harbinger of blind vengeance but would temper her innate darkness with the light of justice. She would learn how to manage her powers and become the Syched Coch Manawydan would wish her to be.

She closed her eyes as she began to formulate a plan.

Her attention turned to her blog. There she could give voice to the stories of the women of the city. There, they would speak louder than the predators who had harmed them. And, there she could seek out worthy prey.

"Hunt for justice, never for revenge."

She set to work. By the time the dull slope of afternoon had set in, she had arranged to meet with Melissa, one of her blog followers who had left a message indicating that she would be willing to share her story.

They met in downtown Peturbia in the understated lobby of, 'The Maison de Blanc'

Melissa was self-conscious at first, anxious - her hands cupping her coffee with the innocence of a child seeking comfort from a teddy bear.

She talked gently of her life back home, somewhere among the foothills of a valley. The innocence of it all. She had moved to the city at 21 –drawn by the lights and the vigour of the shifting skyline. The intesnity of it. She had longed for a new life, her whole life. And there she was. Her job, she had loved, a secretary for a big city banker. We’ll call him Jed.

She began to cry as she spoke his name; vigorous tears leaving lines of black across her sunken cheeks. She wiped them away quickly, embarrassed to show such emotion in front of a stranger and in such a public place.

Scarlett, leaned forward, “I understand”

It was all Melissa needed to relinquish her secret shame.

She told her of the office Christmas party – waking up unclothed in his office. She could remember nothing of the night. But the bruises between her thighs had told her all she needed to know. She had returned home the next day for the festivities but she had lost something of herself. The lights on the tree were dimmer and the turkey tasted of stale sex.

She had dreaded returning to work. Her stomach sick and knotted but she had no choice. She needed the money and the experience, otherwise she would never reach her ambitions of moving upwards in the world of finance.

Sat at her desk that first morning after the holidays, Jed had sauntered up to her. He had dangled her panties in front of her like garbage, “You should be more careful where you leave your belongings” He smirked, dropping them on her desk, before walking to his office, secure in the knowledge that he held the power.

Her nostrils flaring - Scarlett listened intently. Melissa, flustered looked at her with bleak eyes that were tainted with degradation and disgust,” I have to go’ she said softly, “I took a…a late lunch break” she added by way of explanation.

Scarlett had watched her leave; her heels clacking tentatively as she headed towards the door. She turned briefly, bowing her head in gratitude to the one person she had told of her ordeal. The stranger so often hears more than the friend.

With a newly ignited purpose, Scarlett returned to her apartment. She typed vigorously into the evening, first researching and then typing Melissa’s story with clarity and righteous fury. She hit ‘Publish’ before readying herself and heading into the swollen night.

As he headed to his car, Scarlett leant nonchalantly against the grey pillar of the underground car park, contemplatively inhaling the smoke of a Marlboro. As he approached, she exhaled dramatically, throwing the stub onto the floor, and using her healed boot to stamp it out deliberately and with precision; making sure he caught a glimpse of the innocent white flesh between her legs. He liked that.

“Hi Jed” her dulcet Irish lilt swilling upwards into the air, vibrating momentarily before falling gently downwards. like summer rain.

“I’m sorry… I don’t think I know who you...” He began.

" You should be more careful where you leave your belonging" she whispered as her teeth suck into the side of his obnoxious neck. The last thing he saw were the glinting red eyes of an avenger seeking blood. He slumped against his Mercedes momentarily alive, before her breath eviscerated him into nothing but invisible particles in a world he had once owned.

Scarlett stalked away, her red trench sashaying confidently behind her.