Shade City

by Domino Finn

  I just lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, reveling in my awareness of it all.

  I'd never really noticed Los Angeles earthquakes before. One time I was in a restaurant with big glass windows and everybody stood up and started looking outside. I'd thought there was a fight or a car accident or some other city drama. Afterward, somebody told me it was an earthquake. I just shrugged and finished my burger.

  Before I could fully grasp the sensation, completely appreciate the scope of it, the bed lulled itself to sleep. The hint of movement was gone. I tried to close my eyes, but my comfort was empty now.

  My phone said it was noon. I usually checked the watch but I didn't want to talk to Violet right now. I glanced around the room as I put my pants back on. It was still dark in here, but I knew the sun would be blinding outside.

  I admired Eva's unconscious body on the bed. My hand brushed the box of cloves in my pocket. It would be so easy to do it right now, I thought. Instead, I pulled a strand of platinum hair away from her face. I wanted to kiss her on the forehead, but I was afraid that would wake her up.

  I scrolled through my contacts. My head was still fuzzy. I thought I remembered everything about the night, but I wanted to be sure. Yes. I had Eva's number. That made me happy.

  I scratched my head and tried to wake myself up. I had to go. I had to figure out what was going on with Soren. With Marquis. I had to get some real sleep tonight. At my own place.

  Saturday

  Even though it was starting to get dark outside, it was still the morning for me. I had slept as long as I could, but that didn't stop me from feeling like a dried up sponge after it had been used to clean a sewer. The Advil was helping, as was the half-finished bottle of Gatorade that sat beside me on top of the kitchen counter. My feet hung over the floor in dirty socks. I wore old jeans and a ten-year-old T-shirt that I owned back in Miami. It said "Duffy's Tavern" on it and was issued to all employees. It was only supposed to be a month long gig, but I ended up wearing that shirt every day for twelve. Despite the grease stains and moth holes, it was probably still in better shape than my head.

  I forced the last bite of my PB & J sandwich down. It was sad. I know. I just hadn't had a chance to go shopping this week. Right now what I needed was sustenance. The last thing I was prepared to do was to leave the apartment. Some more Gatorade, some TV, a shower, maybe another snack, and then it would be bedtime. Just like Saturday never happened.

  I'm the last person that should be saying this...

  I rolled my eyes. Violet knew not to talk when I was hung over. I didn't even know why I'd taken the watch with me.

  You and Eva goes against everything we've worked for.

  "Great. Are you jealous that I've found another troubled spirit?"

  Please. I'm twelve.

  "You're a hundred and twelve."

  Whatever. Not only is she distracting you from very pressing matters—she's taken. And on top of that, she works for Red Hat.

  I kneaded my temples. "I admit she has some baggage."

  She's using you. She's watching you. She's gonna—

  "What? What is her motive?" I put my hands on the edge of the counter and slipped down to the linoleum floor. "Keep in mind that I hit on her at Avalon. I approached her at the observatory. And I have no idea what that Mexican freak show intended to do with me. Eva saved me from a beatdown at the very least."

  Violet didn't say anything. She didn't have to. What I was doing might not have been wrong but it certainly wasn't right. I just needed time to figure it out. I put the empty plate in the sink and took a gulp of lemon-lime-glacier-ice (or whatever edgy name Bob from Marketing had come up with). Then I grabbed the watch and left the kitchen.

  "I can't do everything at once," I said to her. "There's only so much time in the day and, I might add, this one's almost over already." I didn't want to worry about pocket watches or estranged fathers or Royals or even smoking hot Asian chicks. I just needed some Netflix and maybe some Cheetos. Some downtime, is what I'm saying.

  I tossed the watch on the cushion of the sofa and collapsed next to it, then realized the TV remote was out of reach. I didn't move to recover it. It felt good to be motionless. Free of worry. Responsibility.

  Dante, you might be right. Maybe Eva has nothing to do with any of the plots we're looking in to. But she's a shade—

  "You're a shade, Violet." I couldn't contain it anymore. My voice rose with my anger. "Are you gonna give me some more advice about how you're the only shade I can trust, then lie to me about the things you've done? Do you wanna go visit Catriona again to see your work?"

  I made a mistake!

  "A mistake? You've made plenty of mistakes, Violet. I don't know that you could have ever saved Aster, but you could at least have not been a part of it."

  He was my father! I did what he told me to. He—

  "He's a twisted fuck, Violet. If I could kill him I would!" I launched myself off the couch, no longer comfortable sitting. I don't think Violet disagreed with my words, but I said them to hurt her anyway. She needed to feel pain. As the others had. "This one man has probably done more harm in his life than all the shades I've expelled put together. And you helped him. You realize that? He needs to go down, one way or another. For Catriona. For Aster. For..." I trailed off when I realized I was going to say something nice. I was going to say that I needed to stop Ambrose for his daughter. For Violet. But I was too mad at her. I didn't know how to soften my hard edges now.

  He does. And we can stop him. But we need to stop Red Hat too. And—

  "You don't think I know that, Violet? All shades are my enemies. Every single one. They're all gonna be taken care of. But I need to work with some to get others. That's why I'm laying off Marquis."

  So, what? You're just going to sleep with Eva and buddy up with Marquis and join the Red Hat team?

  "I joined up with you, didn't I?" My voice had reached a pitch that the neighbors could hear. I stopped myself and massaged my eyes. The headache had almost been gone. Riling myself up had forced it back.

  Violet didn't say anything. I had just told her that her dad was Hitler and she had enabled him. I had just said that this world needed to be rid of all shades. We both knew that working with Marquis was like making a deal with the devil, and I had equated that to working with her. I was pissed, and those things sounded true enough at the time, but a part of me still felt I had gone too far.

  I just heard crying again. Crying that reminded me of the girl in my dream, trembling under the scorn of her father. Terrified of him. Disappointed in him. Hating him. I stood silent, trembling myself, thinking I had said enough.

  The front door of my apartment shook as something heavy pounded against it. The sudden commotion startled me because I was still on a short fuse.

  "What now?" I screamed. I stormed over to the door when there was no answer. A quick peek through the peephole did not settle my nerves.

  "What do you want?" I demanded through the closed door.

  "Open up," said the man. It was one of the strongmen from last night.

  "Are you the chandelier one?"

  "I'm Emilio," he answered, as if that helped.

  "Do you know how much I drank last night? Are you the chandelier one or not?"

  "No, that's my brother, Eladio."

  I leaned my elbow against the door and buried my head against it. Was a little TV too much to ask?

  "Any large jungle knives on you?"

  "Open up."

  I answered with a heavy sigh. Looking to Soren's iron ring hanging above me on a nail, I decided it best to open the door before Emilio had a chance to break it down.

  "How did you find me?" I asked, not hiding my annoyance.

  "We scanned your ID, remember?"

  I didn't remember that. But they did take a look at it. Was I going to need to move now?

  "What does Marquis want?"

  The man blinked plainly. "He wants to know if you've found Soren yet."

 
"What? That was like, a few hours ago."

  "Seventeen."

  I ignored his passive-aggressive correction. "Marquis asked me to bring him by the Hollywood office. I'm gonna need until tomorrow, at least."

  The rotund man nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't disappear."

  "Don't worry. I'm here. When I find him, I'll call the office to make sure Marquis can meet us. If Soren wants to come, I'll bring him in." I started to close the door but Emilio jammed his foot in the way. As I pulled back, I looked up at the horseshoe ring skeptically.

  "If he doesn't want to come, bring him anyway. My boss doesn't like when people don't keep their commitments to him."

  I just stared at the ring, thinking I was an idiot for even trying it. "Yeah. It's his thing. I got it. Anything else?"

  Emilio furrowed his brow, ducked his head down, and peeked up. "What do you keep looking at up there?"

  "Uh, it's nothing."

  "What is that?"

  "This. Um. It's a horseshoe."

  Emilio pulled back. "Humph." He stood there, looking at me with a quizzical expression. His bushy eyebrows and mustache made him look like a cartoon. And then I noticed the band of metal around Emilio's neck. It was a single bar without a clasp that had been bent around in a circle, almost like a nearly closed horseshoe.

  "What do you know of cold iron?" I asked.

  The strongman reached to his neck but didn't complete the action. He backed out of the doorway and turned to go. "Tomorrow then."

  "Yup," I said. "Or Monday."

  "Wha—"

  I slammed the door shut. Then waited until I saw the shadow disappear from the peephole. Once I considered him gone, I locked the door and retreated to the couch.

  "Great, now I have two goons showing up at my door." I buried my face in my hands. This was awful. Especially when I realized I had forgotten to grab the remote again.

  What happened to us? We used to be so careful.

  I shook my head slowly and spoke softly. "We used to be a lot of things..."

  Again silence. And it was welcome. I listened to my breaths. I let the oxygen revive me. I wondered what it felt like to be a shade, taking in the sage. Realizing that their bond to the living was slipping away. It was cleansing. Almost beautiful.

  Five minutes must have passed without a single word. It was peaceful, for a time. Then I imagined Eva's face. Her naked body close to mine. Then I recalled her second shadow. Another girl about her age. I didn't know anything about her or who she was. Or actually, she was the only one I did know. Everything Eva said and did was a result of her shade. It was the little Korean girl with bleached hair I didn't know.

  It was an unsettling thing to imagine. I tried to think of anything else to keep my mind off it. Of all the things, I came up with Emilio's goofy face in my hallway. He had a funny look. He was puzzled by something I'd said about the cold iron. He reached for the bar on his neck, then stopped himself short, as if he didn't want to expose a secret. What was it?

  I pulled my laptop close and did some image searches for the jewelry. They were called torcs. I couldn't believe they were actually a thing. From the Iron Age, primarily, but still. Stiff rings of metal worn around the neck. Usually permanent fixtures.

  I didn't get it. What did Eladio and Emilio need the theatrics for? I had joked about them being circus performers but they were really just bodyguards. Like Bedros.

  I thought of Soren's horseshoe ring. Cold iron. A metal ring that repelled spirits. And then it hit me. Soren had been difficult to expel. He was wearing the iron during the fight. He'd resisted the sage. Until the end, when I was choking him out. That's when the large ring fell off his finger. Maybe it wasn't that the cigarettes were weak. Or that he was strong. If spirits couldn't cross a loop of iron, then wouldn't it be a two-way street? Maybe the horseshoe wasn't meant to keep shades away, but to keep them in. It was a form of armor.

  It suddenly made sense and I knew I was right. Ten more minutes of silence allowed me to do some research, sparking ideas for how this information could help me. But the momentary satisfaction didn't last. I had figured out the puzzle of the ring, but there were much larger forces to unravel. Only now, I was on a roll, and couldn't think of ignoring the problem. Marquis. Alexander Ambrose. Soren. They were all involved in an intricate dance. Only I didn't know the moves.

  "None of this makes sense," I complained. I'd gone through the thought in my head already but I wanted Violet to chime in. I wanted to invite her into the conversation without saying I was sorry. "Marquis is a man of resources. He doesn't need me to find Soren. What do they want from me?" I shoved my laptop aside with my feet as I placed them on the coffee table and slid down the leather sofa into a more relaxed position.

  You did say you were his friend.

  "Sure, but Red Hat can pick up the phone just as easily."

  So Soren must be hiding from Marquis.

  "Avoiding his calls. Not going home. Sure, that's a possibility. Or..."

  Have you considered that Soren may no longer be Red Hat's priority?

  "I..."

  He wants you, Dante. He can make the same calls you can make, but he wants you working for him. He wants you comfortable with him.

  "He'll get to know me better than that."

  That's what I'm afraid of.

  I frowned. Violet was a little girl who'd fallen victim to the temptation of immortality before. She knew the pull it had. Perhaps she was afraid I would be drawn to it. But I wasn't a helpless kid, dependent on somebody else's twisted morals. I was good. They were evil. It was that simple, even if others wanted to muddy the distinction.

  "Listen," I said, taking a neutral tone. "Right now we need to think about Soren. We can't deliver him to Red Hat. I'm not gonna do that just to save my skin. But if we want to protect him, we need to find him. There's another possibility besides him simply avoiding Red Hat. And that's that he's in trouble. I still think he would've made that party if he could."

  It's possible he changed his mind. Found something better. Maybe his fiancée wanted him to stop being a DJ.

  I tilted my head in concession. "Girls are hard to get away from." I looked down as the obvious came to me. I chuckled and picked up my cell phone. "Maybe I was selling myself short. It seems I do have a contact that Marquis doesn't." I scrolled through my contacts and made a call.

  Who are you calling?

  "The girl," I answered. "They're hard to get away from."

  She picked up, surprisingly, on the second ring.

  "Hi Pam."

  "Good to hear from you, Dante! I can guess why you're calling."

  "Really?"

  "Sure. It's Saturday night. Almost six. Time to start doing the rounds and finding the right crowd to go drinking with."

  The thought of alcohol almost caused me to throw up in my mouth. Pam was wrong. Besides, I never put out feelers until ten. That didn't stop me from playing along though. "You got me. What are you two up to tonight?"

  "Funny you should ask! Look, I'm not really supposed to talk about it. Soren hasn't been speaking with anybody. He hasn't been home in two days. But he's working on a big deal right now."

  "I know. He told me about Red Hat at the party."

  "Oh good! Then I don't need to keep it a secret from you."

  "Keep what a secret?"

  "The deal," she said. "Red Hat Events. Initially they only wanted him as a DJ, but their music manager said they liked his ideas. They said he had a good feel for youth trends or something like that. Can you imagine?"

  I didn't know what to say. I didn't expect to hear that he was in touch with Red Hat.

  "Anyway," she continued, "we can't hang out because we're headed to dinner at eight. The music manager wants to celebrate the signing of the contract. His lawyer made reservations for all of us at Perch. Can you believe it?"

  I couldn't. Soren sounded like a hot commodity, no matter who I talked to. "You're eating dinner with a lawyer?"

  "I gue
ss. You know how it is. Their executives have a whole entourage. They're even picking us up in a limo. Anyway, I have to go. I've never been to Perch before and I still need to finish my hair. But we'll definitely check in with you next weekend."

  I didn't try to extend the conversation. My head was still fuzzy and I hadn't been able to digest most of it yet. I congratulated them and told her to have fun and hung up. Violet couldn't make sense of it. I called Eva to see if she knew any details but her phone went to voicemail. I didn't bother leaving a message. Chances are she knew less about Soren than I did.

  "What are we missing?" I asked Violet after several minutes of silence. "Why is Red Hat looking for Soren when he is going to dinner with them tonight?"

  Maybe they just found him. Emilio wasn't notified yet.

  It didn't feel right. "I don't know. Pam made it seem like Soren had been in contact with them for the last couple of days. If she's telling the truth—"

  Then Marquis was lying.

  I nodded. "If that's the case, then the strongman wasn't here about Soren. He was just checking up on me."

  I told you they want you now.

  I cursed and sank down further in the sofa cushions. "It just seemed like Marquis was telling the truth. I thought I got a good read on him."

  He's a powerful shade.

  "He's a bastard. I know. But something about him struck me as honorable. I thought he would keep his word." Violet didn't say anything. I knew she disagreed but she didn't want to press the point. Talking about it to death wouldn't help matters. "No. All of our troubles started with Soren. It's him they want. Could it be that even Marquis doesn't know what's going on?"

  As we thought about the question, my eyes fell to a glossy black envelope on the coffee table. The side had been ripped open when I removed the invitation. "Ambrose. He has to be involved."

  My father? I wouldn't put anything past him. We know he hates Red Hat.

  "It makes sense, given his history. There's some link we're not seeing." I put my feet on the floor and sat up. "Let's go over it, from the beginning."