The elegant marble stone floors were surrounded with similar matching walls, painted with a dull cream tint and etched with markings of what appeared to be flower wallpaper near the ceiling. The room was elegantly decorated in what seemed to be a modern take on gothic decor and furniture; dark wooden cabinets, filled to the brim with expensive tea sets and plates, set behind a glass case to display its graceful design for any eye to behold. Nearby the cabinets were a matching desk, only decorated in what seemed to be piles and piles of seemingly important papers. The room was illuminated by the peering sunlight from the now setting sun that hanged high above the cloudy plains as the only sound that could be heard at first from the room was what sounded to be a TV reporters voice: “There has been a rise of cases pertaining to monster attacks-- as such, the police has set a curfew in the attempt to reduce the growing concerns of civilians”.
Behind the stack of papers that seemed to pile endlessly on the dark-stained wooden desk, sat a young man with long platinum blonde hair; a sigh released from his porcelain fair skin, as his bright silver-tinted blue eyes glances away from the papers to look at the TV’s report before softly tucking a strand of his long locks behind his ear. His eyes then looked over at the grand clock standing at the corner of the room, realizing that the time was close to about 10:30 am, “The new intern…” the young man began as he heard a shuffle from his left side, turning his attention to the noise and noticing the young blonde woman beside him, “She should be here by noon correct? Perhaps it would have been wise of me to have picked her up instead…” he questioned himself out loud, as it was clear that the report from the TV was getting to him.
“Pardon me, Master Arlo…” the young blonde woman began, pouring another cup of Earl Grey tea into his empty porcelain cup. Once she was done, her bright blue eyes glanced back at the young man, now known as Arlo, with a smile as she continued, “I already told her where to go last week when we were in chemistry class.”
“Ah that’s right…” Arlo paused once more, now remembering the fact that the young maid and intern seemed to have a history together, “I forgot that the intern and you are friends-- apologies Ms. Athena.”
“No need to apologize sir, I know this week has been quite busy for you.” The young maid, now known as Athena, responded quickly as she placed the porcelain kettle back onto the cart before patting down her red maid outfit, “ We’ve been friends since elementary, so I know her better than anyone out there!” Athena paused as she glanced out at the window, her blue eyes looking at the scenery, “Though, I am curious as to how she’ll react when she finds out that we employ… special help, here.”
“She’ll be fine.” Arlo promises, “I’ve already told them not to disturb the young intern tonight.”
“You do realize that you-know-who’s curiosity tends to get the better of him right?” Athena commented, alluding to the fact that just because Arlo ordered them to behave, doesn’t mean that all of them will do such that.
“Yes, well…” Arlo sighed to himself knowing exactly whom Athena was referencing as his antics were beginning to become quite notorious around the walls, “I’ll just pray that he, of all people, will behave then.”
“I don’t think prayers will do anything against the definition of a devil, don’t you think?” Athena curtly responds as Arlo responds back with a sole dry laugh as they both knew tonight, no matter what happened, was going to be an eventful one.
The mutters and chatter among the crowded train didn’t reach her ears, as they were busy being covered by large headphones as music was drowning out their words. Her bright lavender eyes were looking down at the daily paper that was in her hands, her eyes quickly scanning the headline ‘Monster attacks on the rise’ before skimming through the contents, already telling herself that the story and the accounts of the victims were going to be similar to the accounts from last week's paper; in conclusion, nothing was going to change besides another pointless curfew that was going to do absolute shit in solving the issue. Her light pink hair slowly crept up on her face, invading her view, as she softly pushed the strands of hair behind her ear. Taken aback by the title of the article, she rolled her eyes before looking up at the train’s announcement of a stop coming up, realizing that this was the stop that she needed to get off as Athena had told her a week ago. As the train slowly crawled to a halt, she nonchalantly got up from the hard plastic seat and grabbed the metal bar belonging to her suitcase as the doors quickly opened. A sigh releases from her darken lips as she begins to walk off the train, only to feel the sharp shove from someone behind her before hearing, “Move it, you gorilla!!” before feeling another sharp sensation of someone grabbing her luggage from her. Her eyes notice the poorly dressed man running a few meters with her suitcase in hand… she sighs, as she reaches into the pocket of the jacket and presses what felt to be a small button. In quick response to her pressing the button, the luggage begins to light up furiously before electrocuting the man with what looked to be Zeus’s lightning bolts, as the man quickly dropped to the ground, releasing the luggage as his eyes began to roll to the back of the head. “Dumbass…”, the young woman mutters as she calmly walks over to her now released luggage and begins to pull it behind her, ignoring the man laying on the ground and the crowd staring at her walking off.
After walking for a short distance, her hands shuffled once again inside her jacket pocket and pulled out a hand-drawn map. Her eyes quickly scanned the map before peeling back up and noticing the forest, “This must be the way…” the young woman muttered to herself once more as she continued to venture closer to the forest.
Now encased within the thick forest, Claire made her way into the heart of what seemed to be the endless forest. She stopped for a moment as she glanced at the map once more before looking around and noticing a decaying statue of what appeared to be an angel. First glance she could tell that the statue had been at war with the exposure of the weather as only one of its wings had survived. Wait no… that can’t be right. Claire walked closer to the statue and realized that the broken wing wasn’t a result of the weather, it was as if someone, or something, made a clean cut… But what’s strong enough to cut cleanly through stone? Claire wondered to herself as she pondered on the thought for a second longer before turning her back on the statue. As Claire began to walk away from the statue, she felt the presence lurking behind her and immediately turned around, ready to face whatever danger that stalked her. But her gaze was only met with the same statue again; no one was there. “I could’ve sworn I felt someone…” Claire trailed off as she chalked it off to just the wind and continued her way towards the manor.
After a couple of more steps, she noticed a large stone stairwell leading up to a large gothic-style mansion. Her lavender eyes glanced at her luggage, realizing that pulling the large suitcase would be a hassle in itself. With a quick sigh, she clapped her hands as the suitcase responded by levitating in the air as she climbed up the steps and reached the large double doors to the manor.
Her eyes looked at the large doors, slightly hesitant to knock on its wooden frame as the size was intimidating to say the least. The dark wood polished and adorned with gold accents, looked as though it could easily swallow anyone who dared to enter its domain. With a quick sigh of determination, she quickly rolled her hands into a fist and was about to knock on the wooden frame, when one of the doors already started to slowly swing open.
“Claire!!”
A voice peered out from the door as her lavender eyes noticed the blonde haired young woman, dressed in a red maid outfit. Before the young woman, now revealed as Claire, could respond back, the blonde-haired maid quickly wrapped her arms around her waist, tightly hugging her,
“Oh thank goodness, you made it alright-- how was the trip here?”
“Ah, it was quite alright…” Claire paused as Athena had slowly released her grip from her childhood friend, “I got called a gorilla as that same person tried to steal my luggage here.”
“What!” Athena quickly puffed her cheeks, furious at the thought of someone harassing her dearest friend, “I’m so sorry about the rough ride-- I should’ve been there!”
“It's fine, I’m used to those ugly remarks-- besides, he’s worse off than me; after getting shocked by 3,000 volts is sure enough to put that asshole into cardiac arrest.” Claire responded nonchalantly as a sigh released from Athena’s lips,
“Well then, thank goodness I didn’t go and just grabbed the suitcase carelessly.”
“Oh don’t worry, its defense mechanics are disabled now so it’ll just follow you inside.” Claire responded as she and her suitcase followed Athena inside the manor.
Soon as she took her first steps inside, Claire’s eyes immediately glanced around, absorbing the elegant decor; dark marble floors smoothly interchanged with dark amber wood, excellently highlighting the soft-looking leather crimson chairs. The tall grandfather clock stood proudly amongst its lonesome, slowly ticking away as the time had now read 12:05pm.
...Strange, Claire thought to herself, instantly stopping in her tracks as she noticed something to be amiss out of all of the delicate decor, This is Saint Henry’s Organization, well known for being the guard dog to the crown queen of London- you’d think there’d be security surveillances all around and yet there’s nothing to be seen.
“Master Arlo is in his office, just walk through those bright red double doors, and you’ll be there.” said Athena, as she gave her friend a quick wave before walking away with Claire’s suitcase following her faithfully.
Deciding to push her concerns to the back of her mind for now, Claire followed Athena’s instructions and walked towards the large double sided red doors. “They certainly like their doors to be extremely large…” Claire commented as she pushed one of the doors open and walked inside.
Immediately, as soon as she walked in, her eyes noticed a platinum-blonde haired man sitting behind the piles of papers resting on top of the beautiful dark stained wooden desk. His eyes focused on the papers before making a quick glance up and noticing that his guest had safely arrived before him.
“Ah, Ms. Claire! I’m so glad you’ve arrived safely!” Arlo began as he quickly stood up onto his feet, swiftly brushing his clothes before walking away from the desk and stopping just a few feet away facing Claire, “I hope that finding this place wasn’t too exhausting?”
“Oh no, no problems at all, Mr…” Claire trailed off as she immediately realized that she never got to know her employers’ name when filling out the application.
“Ah, my name is Arlo Wilson, but everyone around here just calls me Mr. or Master Arlo.” Arlo introduced himself, giving her a quick bow before continuing his introduction, “As you can guess, I am the head of Saint Henry’s Organization and as such, my organization falls under the Queen’s playfield.” Arlo paused, wondering if he should mention the next part, but quickly decided on what to ask his new intern as the situation of her skills would take a huge influence on her work here, “Pardon for being brash but… are you aware of the recent rise of monster attacks?”
Claire silently nods as she continues to actively listen to her employer; as such, Arlo continues, “My organization is responsible for disposing of these creatures of the night.”
Claire couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as she couldn’t help but respond back with a question, “If that’s the case, then how so? It’s obvious that Saint Henry’s wall lacks the enhancement of technology…” Claire paused, deeply wanting this question to be answered by her new employer as she couldn’t help but feel an uneasy feeling wash over her.
“... My, you’re absolutely sharp.” Arlo commented, taking notice that his new intern was able to figure things out with just a quick glance; past interns of his never noticed that glaring issue for as long as they were with him, “Well then, may I ask you Miss Claire; What would be the best way in dispatching these horrid creatures?”
Not missing a beat, Claire responded back with confidence, “Such classic takes, such as holy water and stakes, may do some damage to weaker variants of monsters… but when it comes to stronger kinds, those would be child's play to them.”
“What would happen if we were to use monsters as our main force of attack and defense?” Arlo questioned, watching Claire's eyes softly twitch to that rhetorical question.
To Claire, this was starting to feel like a chess match; but the outcome wasn’t so clear to her, as she couldn’t determine if she was either winning or losing. Nevertheless, she answered, “Well, that is one way of dealing with the problem, now isn’t it…” Claire paused, thinking about such a strange circumstance that would be-- employing the help of monsters to take down its own kind? That’s something she hadn’t heard before, but nevertheless; to say that she wasn’t intrigued by this man’s rhetorical question would be an understatement, “The problem would then be, how would a human keep such monsters under his bond without retaliation?”
Arlo smiles, deciding to reveal his organization's secret to his new intern, “My organization is the only one that has the means to capture these monsters through unlikely means…”
“Let me guess…” Claire quickly paused, noting that it couldn’t be an outrageous method-- well, to others this method would be quite stupid, “You just persuade them.”
“Correct.” Arlo smiles once more, “I’m curious, how did you know?”
“Persuasion would be everyone’s guess before violence; but from all of my research on this organization, you don’t seem like the type to use violence first, unless necessary.” Claire answered as her lavender eye looked into Arlo’s silver tinted- blue eyes.
“I’m so glad that you, and your brain, are on our side; I shudder to think what would have happened had you been with the rival organizations.”
“You mean the Organizations in Wales and Scotland?” Claire paused as Arlo simply nodded at her before continuing, “I did get accepted to all the organizations, but I chose this one due to Athena never shutting up about how amazing it is to work here.”
A small laugh escaped Arlo’s lips as he easily imagined Athena going on and on about Saint Henry, “Well then, just for today, I want you to get to know the place and relax; we’ll discuss more about your role tomorrow.” Arlo added as the doors to his office slowly opened once more as Athena peeked her head inside, smiling at the two.
“Follow me!” Athena happily chirped at her friend as Claire obliged without a second thought.
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