Shadows in Light

A gun being pointed at you is concerning, no matter what you’ve been through in the past. To me though, sad as it seems, it wasn’t as concerning as it properly should have been. It got even less concerning when the gun shifted from being pointed at my head to my chest.

If what Joesph was saying was true, at this point it would hurt. Maybe take me out for a while, but I’d be back. But it wouldn’t kill me long term. Still, not moving seemed like a good idea.

“I don’t have anything valuable on me.”

I looked up from the gun, to the holder of said gun. He was wearing sunglasses and had a long dark brown beard that was an impressive foot or so long. I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous, I could barely grow stubble. Bastard. Despite the beard, his hair was kept almost military short.

He was an older gentleman, I could see a few wrinkles here and there on his face that showed a life lived, and he even had a scar that ran almost from his cheek to his ear. He wasn’t someone I expected to try to rob me in a parking lot, frankly.

He was wearing clean jeans and smart looking shirt, a jacket over the top left undone, with some shiny rings on his fingers that looked like gold. He probably wasn’t homeless. And he didn’t look like a gang type to me.

“You don’t want to get involved in Joseph’s affairs. The last guy he sent running around poking his nose into things on his behalf didn’t end up so well.” He spoke firmly, but politely, with a deep voice. Well, he was talking as politely as you could be and still be pointing a gun at someone. And the gun was staying steady on my chest.

“I don’t know what your problem is with him, and I definitely don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not involved in anything. I was told to introduce myself OK?”

“I got his number, gave a call, got a meeting.”

“You’re new to Seattle then?” he asked me, and then leaned forward a little, the gun going down a little as he peered at me over his sunglasses quickly before he straightened. “Huh. You’re new to everything? Who gave you his number?”

It didn’t feel like he meant me any real harm at this point he just wanted to warn me off... something in the end. That was interesting in some strange way, meant there was more going on in this little world than Joseph wanted to tell me.

I nodded “Apparently. That’s all OK? Not into anything. Not trying to cause any trouble.” I considered his other question for a moment but answering it didn’t seem like it was a bad thing to me. “And Bianca gave me his number?”

After a few heartbeats of staring at me from behind his sunglasses, he lowered the gun and slipped it into his jacket. “My apologies. I can understand why Bianca gave you his number then but do yourself a favor and don’t get too involved with Joseph. He’s into things you don’t look like you want to get involved in, kid.”

I looked at the man and thought about what happened in Joseph’s apartment. I wanted to see if he was more than what was in front of me. I focused on that desire, giving a few goes before I managed to get it to work. The purple and blue tinge came active around me, and the man changed in front of me. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but much like Joseph he gained a small edge of darkness around him.

This man had some swirls of fire around his hands, which was unsettling, but his skin was the most interesting thing about him to my vision, as his skin looked like metal.

Watching him for a moment, there was the briefest glimpse of what looked like a crown on his head, the middle of it looking like the Space Needle Tower here in Seattle before it crumbled to dust as I watched.

Then as before it all disappeared leaving, he and I staring at each over.

He turned without another word and headed out of the car park, and after grabbing my bike I tried to catch up with him.

“Hey! What is he doing? What are you talking about?”

My question remained unanswered, as when I got around the corner, he had gone around not a second before, he was gone. I was greeted with a street that was empty of anyone matching his description, hell there was no one near me at all.

Huh, that was a neat trick.

Despite the neatness of the trick, it was annoying, and frankly a little bit scary. This whole day had been one mad crazy ass mess from the moment Sally had knocked on my door. I thought: Screw this shit, I want a beer. Maybe another whiskey or two as well.

I think I deserved one.

Despite living in Seattle for the last seven years, I wasn’t that familiar with it to know where to go for a drink. I was sure the places around were I lived weren’t somewhere I wanted to go. At least not unless I wanted to get stabbed and robbed. Again.

So out came my phone and I started looking up where to go on the Internet. A few minutes of hunting and searching, and Pioneer Square got my interest.

To those unknowledgeable about Pioneer Square, it’s one of the first neighborhoods settled back in eighteen-fifties. It’s a fantastic area to go around, and I have enjoyed walking through it in the past. There are amazing stone buildings that mix history and modern day architectural together. The city has, in my opinion, worked hard to keep this area looking beautiful and it shows when you walk down it.

This was the first time I was walking down it at night, with the time rapidly closing on midnight. The moon was high in the sky above me as my gaze went over the pubs, clubs, microbreweries and other such places you could go and enjoy late at night. I wanted to enjoy one of them, but they all looked a bit... same old to me, nothing jumped out at me as somewhere I wanted to go really. And they were all packed up with people too, so I kept walking around the several blocks, pushing my bike along beside me until I ended up in Occidental Square.

Occidental Square is another interesting place to walk though, it’s got buildings on three sides, and unfortunately a building site on the fourth currently. But in the center is a park, filled with cobblestone and lots of maple trees, although currently without any leaves on them due to the winter weather. One of the roadways still had old tram lines and tram stops on them that gave the square an interesting vibe that you don’t see too often anymore, even if the trams don’t run.

The buildings around the place had a strange mix of things in them from art galleries, to more bars, a comedy club, bookstores, and the ever-present cafes. It was a fascinating mixture of shops in one place that I’ve never seen anywhere outside of Seattle.

In this Square currently wandering around there was a mass of people even in the cold weather, some of them dressed up warmly, others dressed up like it was still summer and that they weren’t likely to catch something by wandering around in short skirts as wide as my belt and heels of unmeasurable height.

In amongst all this, there wasn’t anything special that was jumping out at me. I considered for a moment heading back to a club that had caught my eye not a few minutes ago, even if it had been a little busier than I would have liked.

Then something got my attention as I was about to leave.

Stood on one side of the street, there was a man. Nothing unusual there, even if he was a large bulky man. He was dressed in a warm jacket, stood amongst the many windows, watching people as they walked back and forth. The unusual part was that I was getting the feeling that, as I watched people go by him, they weren’t noticing him. Like he wasn’t anything special to them. Something to ignore and pass on by.

Boy did I know how that felt.

As I watched him, curious as to why I was getting this feeling from him, and why everyone was just ignoring such a bulky man, behind him in the wall a stone archway with a large wrought iron wood door appeared in a gap amongst the windows.

One moment it wasn’t there, the next it was.

The man was stood directly in front of the door, and now I saw it, it made sense to me why he was stood exactly in that spot. He was a bouncer for it. He was there to stop those who didn’t belong from entering. Although why they would need anyone like that when no one could see it puzzled me. But the place felt like somewhere I would feel comfortable in. I walked up to the door, pushing my bike along as I went. Thankfully, Seattle is health conscience, and quite frankly a little hippie a times place, so it had a bike stand nearby to lock my bike up against.

The bouncer looked me over as I approached, but said nothing, giving neither an indication I was welcomed to enter, nor likely to get my head bounced off the floor if I attempted entry. Instead, his attention went back to watching the street. Taking his lack of anything as a good sign and I locked up my bike, and then moved up to him. He wasn’t taller than me, perhaps half a foot or so, but with the muscular mass he had over me, he could loom me. Which he did for a moment before he stepped to one side, opening the door for me to pass.

“Welcome.” He rumbled as I went by and closed clicked shut behind me.

Why on earth had I come here? I wasn’t even sure what this place was. This could be a murder pit or a drug dealing den. Or both. But I was in, and I might as well carry on now.

The doorway had a bit of an entrance area, then a staircase, and it wasn’t one of those wooden ones, this was old stone staircase with grooves worn into it from many feet using it over many, many years. Stone walls that were only just big enough for two people to pass by each other as you went down the stone steps carefully.

Walking downstairs took me a minute or two before I hit the bottom stair, where I was greeted with another door, and after pushing it open, and a wave of noise came out to greet me from inside.

I entered to find myself in a large stone floored room, with genuine brick walls throughout most of it. It had a mass of tables and booths set around the place. In one corner was a large dance floor that had a few people dancing away on it, enjoying themselves without an ounce of shame. Lighting was kept low around the place, and music thudded out through speakers on the walls. Posters were pasted all over the place for various events held around the city, and a noticeboard was set up just past the entrance. The best part of all to me was a large bar that was set up to take up a large corner where a couple of bartenders were busy serving people.

Even though it was midnight, or perhaps because it was midnight, the place had quite a lot of people in it. Looking over them some of the gave me thoughts and feelings. One extremely attractive woman dressed in tight leather corset and an extremely short leather skirt, topping off the look with high heels and stockings combination brought on feelings of lust and desire as my eyes looked over her extremely feminine figure in the light she stood under. It took me a great force of will look away in the end. There was another that caught my attention, a short, balding gentleman, who was a little hunchbacked. His hands fidgeted as he talked to his companion and he made me want to check if my wallet was still there. It was.

As I looked over the people, I spotted dark section of wall without any light to it, hiding in that was an archway. In there was just a mass of dark that made me shudder and think perhaps I should go home for a moment. It wasn’t hard to stare at her for far longer than I should have. I’ll be damned if I’ll be scared off by darkness, regardless of what’s in there.

Overall, though, this felt like a place where I belonged, and frankly where I wanted to be right now. I could see many of them casting their gaze over me as I looked over the place and its clientele. What they made of me I can’t be sure, but some stared for several moments, some glanced. No one bothered me and I took this as a good sign.

I walked over to the bar and leaned on it, waiting for the bartender to come on over. Behind the bar was a mixture of alcoholic drinks that I was familiar with, drinks I wasn’t, and unmarked bottles that made me faintly worried about their storage system. But as I wasn’t planning on drinking them, I decided in the end I wasn’t that bothered. It didn’t take me too long to decide what I was having once I looked over the beer taps and the hard alcohol bottles. The moment I had a decision sorted in my head; the bartender walked on up giving me a nod as he stood in front of me.

“Welcome. You’re new here, so first things first: This place is inviolable. No violence here. So long as you’re good with that, we’ll get along fine. Now what can I get you?”

He was a young-looking guy, seemingly barely out of his teens, but then again, most bartenders these days are. His blue eyes sparkling with enjoyment as he spoke to me, and his tone cheerful even as he gave me a warning. He made me feel calm, relaxed and utterly disinterested in causing violence. Besides, I wanted alcohol.

I nodded to his words and gave him my order of a beer and a couple shots of whiskey; I paid the bartender making sure to give him a tip before I turned and looked over the place for somewhere to sit down.

Despite the likely social setting of the place, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to sit with anyone just yet. He was right, I was new here, and I wasn’t entirely sure what this place was about. Somewhere to watch and observe would suit me perfectly for the moment.

As I searched the place over, I saw a glimmer of red from one of the seats that was empty. It wasn’t too far from a group that was gathered chatting away to each other, so if I wanted to talk to some people they were nearby, but not too close that I’d be drawn into their conversation the moment I sat down. Perfect.

I got to the seat, getting my alcohol on the table and put my bag down before I turned to sit down and discovered I wasn’t alone in choosing this table.

Sat in the corner of the seating, hidden in part by the shadow and by her small stature was a woman. She was somewhere over four foot tall naturally at most, the top half of her dressed in a tight pink corset that she filled out without any trouble to give a very womanly figure. She wore a short pink skirt, white stockings and white heels that probably gave her an additional five inches when she was stood up. Her hair was a bubble gum pink that was bunched up on top of her head, and then braided all the way down to her waist.

Her face was beautiful to look at, with full lips painted bright siren red, a cute button nose, and large lively brown eyes regarding me through long thick lashes. She’d put black make-up around her eyes to accent them even more. She was truly a vision of beauty and desire, but... well shorter.

“Hi!” she purred at me as we stared at each other.

OK. It was probably me in surprise at seeing someone so... beautiful and yet short. She leaned forward a little, biting her lips a little as she did, giving off a little sense of mischief and delight at my staring.

My brain rebooted and I realized I should talk, “Oh. Hello. I am sorry, do you want company?” I asked her, which got her eyes sparking even more at me.

She shook her head, “You’re welcome to join me but you have to buy me a drink. It takes me ages to get served.” She spoke with such a soft voice, but it was perfectly suited to her in my opinion. It carried elements of cheerfulness, sexiness, and friendliness all in one. She handed me some money, batting her lashes at me “I’ll look after your drink. I’ll have a whiskey too please.”

Never one to say no to a woman, especially a beautiful one like her, I headed back to the bar and got another whiskey. The bartender seemed amused at my sudden return but didn’t make a fuss about it and soon I was seated with my drink in my hand, and she had hers. She beamed at me and raised her glass.

“Thank you dear. My names Caoimhe.” she said as we tinkled glasses gently, pronouncing it as Keevah. Careful emphasis was placed on it, and somehow it was clear to me that her name mattered a great deal to her, far more than it might to you or me. I introduced myself to her and got another joyful expression on her face.

We sipped our whiskey for a moment before she asked me, “You’re new to here aren’t you?”

I looked at her, and my sight flickered with ease this time. Apparently, this vision thing was getting easier to use. Caoimhe didn’t change much to my sight. The major change was around her throat appeared a silver band that shimmered and glowed. It looked like she was giving off heat haze, the air around her shimmered and twisted a little. The sense of general mischief from her increased. Her eyes turned from brown to red, and by red, I mean all of it turned red, except the pupil which remained black.

I tried to do it quickly, within a second or so, but it took me a couple of seconds or so to turn it off. Caoimhe didn’t seem notice to took me a bit longer than it should have to reply, as she was busy looking at her drink with happiness as she sipped it daintily, her legs bouncing a little as she did.

As she wasn’t too bothered, I decided to give it some more thought, taking a long drink of my beer before I answered the question. She looked quite nice and sweet to me in the end, so I decided to be truthful with her. It couldn’t hurt me in the end now I’ve seen Joseph, “I’m not new to Seattle? I’ve been here a few years. I just... haven’t gotten involved in anything.”

She frowned a little, “You’ve lived here, and no one’s noticed you?”

“Why does everyone have such a hard time believing that? I just... I came here and stayed away from everyone. I live in a quiet place. Until earlier today. Well yesterday, I didn’t have any interaction with the community.”

She leaned forward looking at me closely for a moment, looking into my eyes. “Wait. Are... Are you a newborn?”

I nodded, “Apparently so, that was what Joseph used at some point.”

Her lips tightened in thought at that, taking a long look at me before she took a long sip of her whiskey, looking around thoughtfully before she looked back to me, shifting a little closer and carried on talking.

“Okay, here’s a bit of a low down in Seattle. Mr. Ortiz, and by the way that’s his name unless you want to get in trouble. But Mr. Ortiz is the head guy, and he and his allies have been building up power over the last... Few years. Fifty years or so without any major issue. He ran Seattle without any issue, picking up things around the edges and sorting out problems. Overall people feel that he is doing a fantastic job. However, there’s been rumors of a kind of... rebellion that have started up recently. Trying to remove him, mostly since last year when he took leader of the State.”

“He’s more than just in charge of Seattle then?”

She paused taking another sip before she continued “Oh yes. He’s got friends and allies all over the place. And his own power is growing after he took the state. It was what some would consider a brilliant political move, and others would consider a political assassination of a potentially innocent person. But as such he’s gained more enemies and his suspicions has grown vastly.”

She looked at me directly “And a Shadow caster like yourself appearing out of nowhere is going to tap into those suspicions, especially a young one. A lot of other people are going to be paranoid about your appearance in this City too.”

There was something about her look that made me think she was trying to warn me about something other than what she was saying, which was faintly annoying. Why can’t people just tell me those things?

I realized my whiskey was empty, and surprisingly so was hers. Being the gentleman, I asked her “Would you mind if I bought you a drink?”

She looked absolutely amazed by that one for a moment before her lips curved with delight. “I would love one thank you.” She said in the sweetest voice I’d heard.

Smiling at her, I got up and went over to the bar ordering a couple more drinks. I got the other bartender on duty this time to serve me. He was older and gruffer than the bartender I’d been dealing with already. He looked at me suspiciously for a moment before he glanced at where I was sat and at Caoimhe before he leaned up against the bar to speak quietly to me.

“Look kid, you’re obviously new. Be careful with her, she’s trouble and I’d stay away from her if I were you.”

That’s faintly odd. I can’t remember ever being warned off a woman, nor imagine why I would be being warning off one, even a short sweet one. Admittedly, like everyone else I’d met so far, there was more to her in the end, but she was being rather nice to me and I felt that mattered.

“Thanks for the warning, but I like to make my own friends and mistakes.” I said it politely but firmly, I can’t say that he was or wasn’t right with his warning, but it was my life and I wanted to learn things myself.

He shrugged at me, giving off that man’s signal of ‘Well, I warned you. On your head be it’ and served me the whiskeys. Caoimhe was still sat where I left her when I got back, although she was now dancing a little in her seat to the music that was playing in the bar, getting some strange looks from people around her. She either didn’t care or enjoyed the looks as she just danced some more as I sat down and put her drink down in front of her, giving me wonderful smile that made happy I was sitting down.

Now I was sat down, I could tell some of those strange looks were following me. Well, she had warned me I was going to set off people’s paranoia. Didn’t realize that was going to happen at a bar for god’s sake.

She took a drink of her whiskey and batted her lashes at me, before looking back to the bartender who was still watching us, “Bartender warned you off me huh?”

I nodded without a pause, “Said I’d rather make my own decisions about who is and isn’t my friends.”

“Are we friends?” her voice went quiet, and she blinked at me.

“Well, yes? I mean you’re being nice to me, and I bought you a drink. Isn’t that a universal sign of friendship?”

She grinned and giggled a little “You might be right there.” and sipped her drink watching me for a moment while I enjoyed my sip, then some more beer to go with it.

“So, he wouldn’t tell me. What am I?”

She paused in her drinking and a vacant expression appeared on her face for a moment before she blinked focusing on me.

“I’m sorry Ryan. I can’t answer that one, I wish I could, but... Well, I’d get in a lot of trouble from a lot of people. Far worse than you can imagine right now.” She had a sorrowful look on her face as she spoke. I gave a brief nod, as she continued, “You’re a neonate and those who would answer your question you don’t want to deal with. I know you don’t know me, but do yourself a favor and just wait? It’s for the best it really is.”

She gave me a warm look that made me feel better about myself from my toes to my ears “You’re better off walking the path you have to go down to learn this OK? Friend?”

I don’t know how to feel about unsolicited advice like that but, well, some days you must listen to it. Especially when you’re out of your depth, and two people have given it to you, it shows there’s a reason for it.

Okay, the fact she was pretty and cute might have swayed my opinion a little too.

“Very well, I’ll take the advice. Really though? Everyone follows it?”

“It’s a... what’s the best way of describing it... a known law that is dangerous to disobey. Those that have disobeyed it tend not to end up well one way or another, which means everyone obeys it. It also helps they’ve heard the stories of those who haven’t, and they know what you’re up against. No, won’t tell you that either.”

We drank some more at this point, and to be honest, I had the most fun I’d had in a while with this beautiful little woman. I dare say I might have tried to flirt a little in between our drinks, as to whether she noticed, or was flirting back I honestly can’t say, I’ve no real way of telling that in the end.

We finished off the drinking somewhere around three am, laughing and joking between ourselves, which did cause many to stare at us. And some to move to tables further away like we had some form of disease or something.

Eventually she looked up at me and batted her eyelashes “Will you walk me out of here?” she asked in that sweet voice, that was utterly sober despite the pile of glasses we’d built up on the table in front of us. Regardless of my blood alcohol level, I couldn’t and wouldn’t have said no to her.

Gathering my stuff together she dropped down off the seat and stretched lazily. I was right. She was all woman despite her height. She had a fantastic hourglass figure, just small. And the heels made her hips sway and move as she walked ahead of me, heading up the stairs. I might have stared a bit more than I should have.

Damn, I need to get out more.

Exiting the building wasn’t an issue for me, but I was sure the stairs weren’t too easy for her, but she didn’t complain.

We got out and I got my bike, letting her lead as I walked alongside her. We chatted and laughed, although she got some funny looks, and by extension so did I.

Still, it was nice to have some social fun. It reminded me of what I’d been missing all these years.

She led me out of the Pioneer Square area, heading towards the Superior Court, chatting along happily about recent news, and random things people talk about when they’ve been out drinking. When we got to it, Caoimhe stopped to look up at it, the gray stone building looming over us both in the darkness. The trees nearby didn’t do anything to take away the sense of justice and fear that you get around such places. Not everyone taken there is guilty in the end.

We both ended up staring at it thoughtfully. I’m not sure why I was in truth.

“It’s big isn’t it?” She asked me softly, “Even for you”

I nodded, “It is that, although truthfully I can’t imagine how difficult life would be for you. Everything looming over you so much.”

I saw her gaze jerk away from the building to me, looking up at me in utter surprise as I spoke.

“For what it’s worth I hope I’ll see you around again Caoimhe. It’s been fun having a friend to talk to.”

She looked a little sad for a moment, then looked down at her feet before she murmured, “Me too. I’m sorry too, Ryan.”

That did catch my attention and I looked at her in time to see the world bend around her, and she disappeared with a little flash of light. I jerked back in surprise then looked around like an idiot in time to see someone else standing in the shadows of the Court house watching me. My senses were telling me that they were not friendly and interested in me. I took a step to approach them and then they too disappeared in a flash of light.

Did I just get played?