Three Hearts One Soul

Chapter 6: Diplomacy

Vincent rearranged his tie a third time, glancing at himself in the mirror. He sighed, feeling very overdressed. The last time he had worn this suit was when he'd graduated high-school and that had been underneath his robes. He grimaced and headed out the door, deciding that diplomacy sucked if it meant having to wear this get up. At the very least, with the meeting place being far away and him in formal clothes, he got to use his car instead of his bike.

The drive was quiet but for the radio he had turned on; surprisingly or maybe unsurprisingly, he had found a station that played all shanties all the time. It was actually really pleasant to sing along, even if he had to admit to himself that he sang off key. Still, he decided he didn't care and just wanted to have a peaceful drive before he had to be stressed at the meeting.

Pulling into the driveway of the 9W Diner, he glanced about. He had never been down here, though reading the information on his phone, the building used to be a steakhouse before it became a diner. The look of the area suggested a normal strip mall, which wasn't a bad thing and with the location being in Saugerties…this was neutral territory owned by neither pack. Most of the territory fights tended to happen in the south-east, to leave diners like this as meeting areas.

Relaxing against the hood of his car, he waited for his contact from the Kingston pack. It was quite obvious that he was a bit early, as the parking lot was empty but for employee cars. He hoped he didn't have to wait too long, as he actually had things to do outside of talking to people. Such as figuring out what he was going to do about Tallow and Bonnie, and how he was going to deal with having two Mates.

His thoughts were interrupted as a neon green car drove in, parking nearby. Vincent wondered if some grandmother had gotten a paint job done to try and fit in with the cool kids. He certainly wasn't expecting two rival shifters to step out of the car once the engine was off. He definitely was surprised when he saw that one of them was none other than Lucas Tallow. He decided that his day had just gotten that much more complicated.

The shifters nodded at each other and Vincent led the way inside. He hated having potential enemies at his back but he knew that shifter law stated no fighting was to happen in neutral territory. So he felt fairly confident getting a booth in the back, saying to the other two that they would have to take care of their own meals. After all, retail workers didn't really get paid well enough to treat others.

There was some grimacing at that but they all agreed. They then sat down and began looking at the menu. Vincent decided to order a simple and cheap meal of pancakes with a soda; it actually fit in his budget, surprisingly, and he was glad he had brought money with him. The others ordered similarly, though Tallow did get a pot of coffee for the table. Vincent understood though, as it was customary for the highest ranked shifter to get coffee for meetings like this.

Once their food arrived, they got down to business. Vincent was actually having a hard time concentrating on the other shifter, as his eyes kept getting drawn to Tallow. The man wasn't bad looking, a bit on the rugged side with a few cheek scars. His hair was actually a dark black, in tight curls. The most striking thing about him though, was the occasional time when he would bare his teeth at something that was said by his underling. The stark whiteness was very noticeable in the dark brown skin.

Vincent was, however, rudely broken out of his thoughts by something the underling had said. Apparently the other had noticed how distracted both of them were and had suggested that the conflict might be resolved in a unique way. He suggested that the packs unite through marriage, that way instead of two fairly moderate sized territories, there would be one large territory that could support both packs. This, naturally, was discarded by Tallow as ridiculous…why would anyone from either pack agree to marriage after all.

Those words cut Vincent deeply and he replied in a harsh voice that sometimes things happen. That maybe there would be a connection between the two packs that couldn't really be helped! There was silence after that before Tallow and his underling got up and left. They thankfully had left the money to pay for their food so Vincent wouldn't have to worry about that. He just had to now deal with the fact that he had messed things up…maybe a trip to Kingston was in order.