Chapter One #2
“This is where I live,” Michelle said. Fear was building in the pit of her stomach now that the adrenaline was fading.
Something wasn’t right here. She had gotten herself caught in something bad.
What was it? Was this woman a drug dealer?
Had she stepped into some kind of drug war?
You heard about those things on the news all the time, of people getting killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, didn’t you?
But if it was a drug thing, then why had the other shape seemed so… inhuman?
The woman finally let go of Michelle’s arm, and she suddenly found herself missing the support, feeling unmoored in the night. She stared at the woman mutely, unsure of what to say.
“Oh, your coat.” The woman held out the bloodied jean jacket. “Sorry about—”
A sigh sounded behind them. The woman whirled around, the coat dropping into a heap on the ground, a blade suddenly in her hand.
Where had that come from? How could she have missed it before?
Had she been hiding it underneath her clothes somehow?
Michelle felt panic rising, with anger closely behind.
Whatever the hell this was, she didn’t want any part of it.
A strange silence surrounded them. The woman stood in a pose that should be ridiculous, the blade in front of her, poised to strike.
But there was a strength in the lines of her body, a natural grace that made the pose seem second nature.
Only now did Michelle notice the breadth of her shoulders, the woman’s powerful build.
It wasn’t the ostentatious muscularity of a bodybuilder, but the kind of understated strength of an athlete.
The woman seemed ready for some kind of danger, but Michelle couldn’t see anything.
No scary people skulking behind lampposts or in the shadows around them.
She started to back away from the woman, inching towards the front door of her building.
It was only thirty paces away or so; if she broke into a run now, she would be inside within seconds…
“Stay behind me,” the woman hissed. “Don’t draw its attention.”
Michelle was about to give the woman a piece of her mind, but the words fled as something rose in front of them. Her mouth dropped open, her body frozen painfully still. For a moment, her mind was unable to parse what it was seeing. This was certainly no drug dealer, no mugger.
Whatever this was, there was absolutely no way that it was human.
For one thing, it seemed to be made of smoke.
Michelle could still see the outline of the houses on the other side of the street through the creature as it shambled towards them across the asphalt.
It didn’t have a body, exactly, although it did have the rough shape of four limbs.
It had no facial features, the shape of its head just an emptiness of shadow.
As it came closer, its eyes opened, two gleaming orbs of fire which were somehow even more uncanny than the lack of features had been.
Michelle’s feet were rooted to the ground as the woman turned into a whirlwind of action.
She dashed towards the shadow, lunging forwards, blade outstretched.
The shadow dodged the strike and continued its path forward, advancing towards Michelle.
The woman stepped aside and struck again.
This time, the strike hit—bright flames sizzled on the surface of the blade where it passed through the shadow creature.
There was a loud hiss, and Michelle couldn’t tell whether it came from the creature or the blade itself.
This strike drew its attention. The creature turned onto the woman, and the two locked into a battle that moved faster than Michelle could follow.
A strange black liquid oozed out of the shadow creature, splashing the ground and the woman’s hands, slicking the blade.
The shade slashed at the woman’s head, causing her to duck and roll out of the way.
Immediately, the shade surged forward towards Michelle.
It all happened so quickly, she had no time to react, to duck, to run, before it filled her vision.
It reached, a tendril of its uncanny shadowy body licking against her cheek.
Agony exploded across her face, and for a moment the pain was so intense she only saw a blinding white light.
It was only when the searing pain subsided the tiniest amount that she was able to focus on what was happening.
She was on the ground—how did she get here?
Did she fall? A loud grunt nearby revealed the woman, still locked in close combat with the shade.
The shade tore at her, somehow leaving bright red scratches on the skin of her arms, as if the shadows of its body hid claws.
Though the creature was fast, the woman was faster, slashing, stabbing, relentlessly pressing forwards, moving the shade away from Michelle, shielding her.
Then, with one last lunge, she lanced through the shade in the middle of its body, flames combusting it from the inside out, until it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The woman’s blade dropped beside her, her shoulders rising and falling with fast breaths.
“What the actual hell was that?” Michelle said, her voice shrill, echoing down the empty street.
The woman turned around. From Michelle’s position on the ground, she seemed larger than life.
The light of the streetlamp fell dramatically across her face, revealing the black splatter of what Michelle assumed was the creature’s blood.
The woman smiled wryly, wiping her blade on her black jeans. “Hell is about right.”