Shadows in Light

I got out of there fast, stopping briefly to flick the coin into a drain, and limped my way into an alley to check out myself. My hand was bleeding, but I got that wrapped up. Breathing was causing my lungs to hurt, and my hip wasn’t feeling great either.

But overall, I’d say it was likely I’d survive. And my coat was still fine too, so that was good. Destroying two coats in a week would be annoying to say the least.

I got myself back to where my bike was, avoiding all the spots I’d caused chaos in. I could hear the police sirens as I moved around it all, but no one bothered me, or really looked in my direction as I went along.

I took advantage of this time to look at the phone I’d gained from Waddle and found that the phone was unlocked. Searching through it gave me a list of numbers that I compared to my own phone. Sure, enough there was a number listed here for John and Joseph, as well as a few other names that I didn’t recognize either. I typed up the numbers into my own phone, storing them in a note rather than my own phone book. It seemed wise to store them.

I got out my keys to unlock my bike and saw that little ring that I had found in Danielle’s and Rachel’s. The midnight blue it had given off was the same as the bar/staff. I pulled out the bar and got the ring, looking between the two. They seemed identical in color, so I tried putting the ring onto the bar. For a moment nothing happened, then it snapped to the middle, locking in place.

Then nothing. It just looked like a metal bar with a ring on it. Nothing more, nothing less. I tried shaking it, but it wasn’t seemingly ready to do anything, so I shrugged and put it back in my bag. Maybe that would make sense later. Meanwhile I had to get to Johns.

Cycling wasn’t easy with my leg and arm, but I got to Johns by around one pm, and stayed out of the way, looking at the place. I’d only ever broken into somewhere when sneaking home after a night out later than I should have. I wasn’t that good at it then.

I got caught every time.

I’d had one plan today, so it was time for me to find another one. As I was thinking one up, my cell started chiming in my pocket.

“Hey Dave.”

“Ryan, I hear things went well for you?”

“And how have you heard that?”

“The Priestess got reports of a Light show down that area of the Underground. Especially as I’d sent warning to ensure that area was clear for you.”

“Wait, you cleared it out so I wouldn’t have any help?” I frowned at that

“More accurately, I cleared it out to make sure you wouldn’t have any interference. He wasn’t alone, was he?”

“No. I think it was one of us.”

“It was, one of John’s top level people from what I’m being told. Nicely done overall, although shame you couldn’t kill Eli.”

“Thank you. Wait what? He gave off that Light flash!”

Dave chuckled, “Oh Ryan. You fell for that? He’s not dead. He is however extremely injured. The building you dropped on him got thrown off, and someone thinks they saw him leave. But you’ve beaten him twice now. I would say you won’t hear from him again any time soon. You’ll need to be on your toes in future mind. He will be back.”

“Great. Just freakin great.” I ran a hand through my hair in frustrated annoyance. I’d thought I’d dealt with that problem forever, but now I had to keep an eye out all the time.

“Worry about that some other time, right now I suspect I’m about to tell you some good news. John is about to get a call from the Priestess about the clothing found and will likely need to come down to check it out. So, you need to get yourself out of sight but watching the entrance way.”

I looked around concerned, “Are you watching me somehow?”

Dave chuckled “No, but I know your type. You’ve worked things out, and now you’re following the trail back to the beginning.”

I paused, this obviously meant he knew like what I had found out, but was unable to do what I’m doing, or unwilling. Didn’t matter though, I was still going to do what I intended to do.

“Thanks Dave.”

“Just be careful okay Ryan? You can already tell you’re in something deep. I don’t know how deep it goes, but I know going after one of Josephs people won’t go well for you unless you can prove what you’re going to accuse him of. Am I clear?”

“Perfectly.”

“Good. And good luck. Oh. Remember, you’re breaking into someone’s home. Your Shadow won’t work as well if you throw it at house members or invited guests. Understand?”

“I do yes.”

“Good, I’ll hope to hear from you soon”

I hung up my phone and switched it to silent mode. Looking around the street, it was empty of on-the-street hiding points, so I found a house that didn’t seem to have anyone home now, and parked my bike up in it, locking it up out of sight and began my waiting.

It wasn’t an instant thing, I was stood there far longer than I would have liked, but eventually the gates opened, and I could see John behind the wheel of a car leaving his property.

I gave it a couple of minutes, then moved across the road and looked over the place. I couldn’t see any cameras watching the gardens or walls, only watching the gates. And no one was doing any guarding or walking around the outside of the property. In the end I went with the old-fashioned method of climbing a tree and jumping the fence.

I landed and tweaked my leg more, causing me to hiss and curse in pain but I managed to keep it together for at least a six-point landing. I didn’t fall over, and that was all I cared about in the end.

I limped around the back, looking it over. The side of the house was like the front, full of tarmac and gravel. This place was dull and boring, and as far as I felt, matched John’s personality. Then I ended up around the back area of the house.

Surprise was my friend today, as instead of the expected tarmac and gravel, the back of the house had a beautifully bright and colorful garden laid out. The grass areas were well maintained, there were freshly dug out areas here and there around the garden, and even despite the fact it was Winter, plants were flowering.

I looked at it all in a faint sense of confusion. This didn’t seem like something John would be interested in, and his maid I met didn’t seem like the type either. She seemed, well, I guess I didn’t know anything about her now I thought about it. But I didn’t think John would let his maid do all of this.

I looked to the house, but all I could see was darkened windows and a door. There was no sense of life or light in there. I moved over to the door and gave it a try, to my utter lack of surprise it was locked. I didn’t want to try to break in just yet, it would leave a definite trail that I’d be there. I checked out the outside of the building. To my utter annoyance, every window was shut.

I was about to give up and break a window or door to get in when I remembered that Waddle had some keys on him. Trying them in the doors finally got me in when the last key on Waddle’s keyring opened the front door.

It’s always the last one isn’t it?

I got inside and closed the door behind me, listening. The place was utterly silent, no one was moving around, no sounds you usually associate with a house. No clicking, ticking, floorboards creaking. This place was as quiet as my coffin was when I woke up in it.

Isn’t it nice when you can compare a house to a coffin?

Limping down the corridor, a couple of the doors I’d seen when I’d first come here now had padlocks on them. Pausing to listen at the doors, I could hear someone moving around inside. Did he lock up his maid when he wasn’t home?

While a little disturbing, it did at least make my life easier. I counted off the doors and got to his office. The door was shut but no padlock on the outside, so I went in.

The room hadn’t changed at all since I was there. I moved over to his desk and took a seat. It was a nice seat too, expensive leather, comfortable. Explains why he didn’t offer it to me.

I tried the desk drawers, and found they were locked again. I checked Waddles keys, however none of them were matches. John had unlocked it using a key. I didn’t remember him moving to get it from a pocket or anything though. I got onto the floor and looked up under the desk and grinned as I found the key stuck to a magnet on the bottom of the desk.

Unlocking the drawer, I was greeted by the paperwork I’d brought him, sat there in a couple of envelopes. I frowned a little and pulled it out and flicked through it.

The first one was a boring generic business thing that I didn’t understand so I tossed it onto the desk.

The second one was far more interesting and relevant. It was paperwork on Alice. Her full name, aliases, place of birth. Family members, their addresses. Every detail on her that could be found. I felt sick as I looked through it, there was pages and pages of stuff on her, all nicely printed out with dates.

The bottom page was a handwritten note.

Alice was hired to steal it several weeks ago. She had hired a group to help her accomplish this, and while she was successful in doing so, multiple members of her group have been eliminated by the Angels to reacquire it. The information we’ve gained is that she is dealing with an unknown contractor at this time, or at least she never revealed it to her group. As this is not one of our people, we must assume the worst. It is assumed her contract is in Seattle. It must be regained. Failure is not an option. All expenses will be repaid

What were the odds I had that on me now?

I put the paperwork back in the envelope, then after a moment’s consideration, it went into my bag. I’d brought this here; I couldn’t let my mess remain. Now I had to find Alice, get her out of here.

And I was sure she was here.

I closed the desk making sure to lock it back up and wiped it down to remove any fingerprints. I didn’t want to be stupid, although I doubted, he’d report me to the police.

Moving through the house quickly, I came across a tiny kitchen, it was barely big enough for the various kitchen appliances within it. It was the opposite of the vast open kitchen Bianca had, and I suspected she’d have had nothing but bad things to say about this room.

There was a couple of doors off this room, excluding the one I just came through. One went to a dining room, and then one went downstairs into a basement.

The steps into the basement creaked as I went down them, and the air gained a feeling of dead air. Darkness reigned in this place, but my night sight flicked on as I encountered it.

The basement was made with concrete walls and metal doors. I could hear water dripping from somewhere, and I could smell something that was potentially the most horrible smell I’d ever come across, even if I had no idea what was causing it.

I moved to the first door and opened the little hatch to view inside. I could see a bare metal bed. The walls however were splashed with something that I was sure would be a reddish color if I didn’t have a blue/purple tinge to my sight.

Well guess this was a dungeon. I go to the nicest places now.

I heard a noise a head in one of the rooms, or cells, whatever you wanted to call it. I moved up to the cell and opened the little hatch to see what was inside.

I was expecting to see lots of things. People chained to the walls. Weird creepy creatures. Dead people being eaten by rats.

I wasn’t expecting a pretty room laid out with soft fabrics, a comfortable chair, and a fluffy bed. All of it in pink.

“Hi Ryan” came an awfully familiar, but sad sounding voice.

I had to look down a little before I realized it was Caoimhe, stood there in her pink corsets and skirt, looking up at me.

“Caoimhe? What are you doing here?” Okay, that was probably a dumb question,

She didn’t move an inch as she stared at me, looking into my eyes, trying to ask for forgiveness as she said softly. “I’m Master John’s Imp. I serve him in all things as he orders and demands.”

That took a moment to sink in, then a wave of hurt came to me as it all hit me, “That’s why you were at the Pub? Both times?”

She looked down at the floor, “I’m sorry.” She moved over and sat down on her chair, using a stool to get onto it. “More so when you told me what you’d seen and heard. It made me realize what Master was up to. She’s in that room.” She pointed down the hall. “So sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“All of it? You were so nice to me, like no one’s been in so long. You treat me like a normal person, not as an Imp, or as someone to hit upon.”

“You are my friend. Or were you just pretending to be my friend Caoimhe?”

She shook her head, “No. I was there for the obvious reasons, but no one tells me who I am friends with. You are my friend Ryan.” She looked around. “You need to hurry up though. He won’t be gone too long. Especially now he knows I know all of it.”

I nodded a little, looking at her “Can’t you, I don’t know? Run away?”

“No. I... he owns me. In ways you don’t yet understand. That’s all that matters right now. Get going Ryan, please?” She looked at me pleadingly from her chair.

I gave another nod “Should I shut the door again?”

She gave a sad nod herself, watching as the door closed and I locked it again. I wanted to say more to her, but she wasn’t wrong. John could be back any time soon.

Following her directions, I moved on down the doors, looking inside. They were empty except for the occasional blood stain on the wall.

The final door I unlocked, finding myself in an absolute mess. Alice lay on a blood caked table, some of it dripping down onto the floor occasionally.

I thought she was dead for a long moment before her head moved a little to allow her to look at me.

“Ry... Ryan?” Her voice was croaking

“Oh shit. Alice?” I moved over to her. She looked horrific, like a victim from a horror movie. I’d never seen anyone suffer so much. John had apparently been working at her hard, she had small cuts all over her, and there were lots of them.

“Guess you know? I’m sorry. I should... should have been truthful.” A tear escaped her eyes, “He... knew I had it. Tried to get it... kept it quiet” she whimpered “He’s... gotten hold of stuff now. About me.”

I looked away, “I found that. I’ve got it right now. I’m here to try and get you out.”

“No! He’ll hurt... everyone. Just... make sure he doesn’t get it! You know where it is?” I nodded a little.

“Keep it safe! If they... if they find it, they’ll use it to... ” She coughed and gave a groan of pain. I had absolutely no idea what to do. She was way beyond anything I knew how to deal with.

I felt lost. I had Power, but I didn’t have anything that could deal with this, could help her. And now I couldn’t rescue her because I’d delivered the information, he was using against her.

“Please Alice? There’s got to be something I can do for you.” I took her hand in mind, looking at her.

She was about to reply when her eyes widened looking behind me. I knew without looking what was there.

“Hello again Ryan. Fancy seeing you here.”

John was home.