by May, W. J.
“What? I’m not going anywhere. Classes have just started, and I’m already behind. Plus, my last visit with my folks was plenty for a few months, trust me.” She reached for his chin, forcing him to look at her. “What’s this running away all about?”
She didn’t get it. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone about our life. There are…consequences. Serious consequences.” He waited for the humor in her eyes to turn to concern. It took a bit, but when he began to chew on his inside cheek thinking they were screwed, Aurora’s pupils grew big.
“Are you in trouble?”
He felt nauseous and didn’t even know what it meant. “I’m not worried about me. If a Shadow knows I’ve told you, they have to report it to the handler, in my case, Janus. He’s then required to tell the Night Council. So you need to get on a flight home. If the Night Council know, I’m punished according to our laws and you’re…you’re…” He couldn’t finish. He tossed the money onto the coffee table.
“What?” She squeezed his chin tighter.
“Terminated.” There. It was out.
“What? How? Why?” Then silence filled the room. Erebus watched her mind process what he’d said. He saw fear in her eyes and concentration as she bit on her lower lip. He imagined her contemplating whether he was worth the threat. Now she’d leave and be out of his life forever. He held his breath as he waited, frozen.
“If you don’t tell Coty or any other Shadow, no one will know, right? I won’t tell.” Her finger played a rhythm on his jawline. “Then, we’ll be in the clear.”
Fifty percent lawyer, fifty percent silly girl. “Possibly.” Coty already knew about them. He wouldn’t tell but Erebus had no right to risk his friend’s life over his own. “The big problem is Nanny’s just showed up. I need to find out what she wants. She’s dangerous. I don’t trust her, no one should.”
Her hand dropped from his face like it was hot. At least that’s what he thought, but she reached for his hand and held it tight. It felt warm and soft against his.
“She’s just a nuisance. I’m not scared of her.”
“You should be.” Erebus rubbed his face. She wasn’t listening. He reached for her other hand and held them together in his. “Nanny’s got a vendetta against me. Anyone remotely related to me is in danger. She has no idea Coty and I are buddies. She’d go after him if she knew. And you... Even if she thinks you’re just my plaything. She’s –”
“Plaything? D’you mind explaining that to me?” She tried to pull her hand away from his and sat straight.
“I kinda told you about this last night, but obviously, not very well. Shadows don’t have relationships. We’re supposed to have toys. We’ve got a talent, uh, under the sheets to, uh, keep ourselves entertained and amuse humans.” It suddenly felt really hot in the room.
“I knew there was a reason why you were, sorry are, so great at sex. You don’t have to brag about it.” She nudged him lightly. “That’s just an added bonus really.”
“Aurora.” He sighed, long and loud.
“Please Aar—Erebus. I’m just joking. You sound so serious about the whole sex thing. It’s like you’re from the Renaissance with your modesty.” She laughed. “I do actually get it.” She used her free hand to move around as she continued. “Coty’s the epitome of what Shadows represent, right? It’s obvious then that you’re unique. It doesn’t have to be a big deal if we don’t want it to be.” She watched his face. “What’s this got to do with Nanny? I get the feeling she’s the poster girl for Shadows.”
“She’s problematical.”
A sarcastic laugh escaped her mouth. “I hardly doubt that. I think if you strip those outer layers, she’s pretty simple-minded. I doubt she’s as bright as you think.”
He chuckled. “Perhaps, but she’s pretty pissed at me. She’s seen you, so that puts you straight in her line of fire. I can’t let you stay here in town. If she followed me, or you, and sees you at my place, she’ll put two and two together. It’ll only be for a little bit.” He shuddered. “She only knows how to burn the things she touches. I can’t take the risk. I won’t take that chance.” He kissed her fingers.
“You’re really worried.” Her eyebrows wrinkled together. “I don’t want you to be scared for me.” She slid off the couch and crawled between his knees, hugging him as if suddenly cold. “How about we compromise? Let me take my exam on Friday, then I’ll take off for a few days. However, I need to be back next Thursday for a presentation.” She tilted her head. “Would that give you enough time to deal with Nanny or whatever else you need to do?”
That meant two days of having to protect her, then almost a week to get things sorted out. It might work. He’d make sure it did. “Fine. After tonight, I think it’ll be better if we don’t see each other until I contact you.” He watched her open her mouth. “Or you call me if you’re in any danger. I’d rather err on the side of caution when it comes to Nanny. I hate to say this, but it’s actually safer if we aren’t together.” At least it’d look more like a one-night stand last night and Nanny wouldn’t go hunting Aurora down.
“Oh, alright. But I’m not going to Texas. It’ll raise too many questions for my folks and I’m not going to worry them. I’ll find some cheap all-inclusive holiday. Maybe Torie’ll come along.”
“Fine with me.” As long as it’s not here. He wanted to jump up and down now that she’d agreed. He reached behind her and pulled the money off the coffee table. “There’s a thousand here. I’ll get you more. I just don’t have it here in the apartment.”
“I don’t need –”
“I’m paying for your trip. No argument.”
“Only if you answer my questions about Shadows.”
Chapter 4
Bad Dreams
“What’s it feel like?”
“Pardon?” Erebus pinched the bridge of his nose. It was well after midnight, and they hadn’t moved from the living room. He’d shifted from the ottoman to the couch, where he sat rubbing Aurora’s feet.
“You know, what does it feel like being a Shadow compared to being human?”
“I don’t know. What does it feel like being a girl compared to a boy?”
Aurora laughed. “Okay. Fair enough. You’re normal, so I don’t get how you’re different from me.” She rubbed a foot against his inner thigh. “Except you being a boy, of course.”
“Shadows and humans are similar in many ways I guess, but we’re different, too. Since meeting you, I’ve had so many unique feelings running through me.” His brow furrowed. “I think they’re emotions. I understand fear because I face it every morning before dawn. Now I have this other terror inside – fear you’ll be hurt. I-It’s different than anything I’ve ever felt.” He concentrated on his hands squeezing and rubbing her toes and the pads of her feet. “I don’t know what pain is, but now I think I catch glimpses or little tastes of what it might be like. If you’d asked me these questions a year ago, there’s no way I’d really understand how a human thinks and reacts compared to a Shadow. Now I think I know a bit more.” He shrugged. If he was going to love her, he might as well be honest with her, and himself.
“Sounds pretty deep. I’ve never thought of you as superficial, so it seems weird you can describe a Shadow like that. I’ve always thought you were solemn, sometimes too serious.” Aurora grabbed a cushion and placed it behind her head. “When did you become a Shadow? I’m not sure how to ask this right. When were you, I guess, born?”
“Early twentieth century. It isn’t recorded anywhere. I know when phones were made, and I emerged from one of the earlier models. It was a K-One.” He pointed to the bright red phone booth in his living room. “That’s a K-Six. It’s a later model than the original K-One, and trust me, a big improvement.”
“What about Nanny?”
He grimaced at the mention of her name. “I don’t know her exact creation date. She’s American, probably from the thirties.” He grabbed her other foot. “Next topic or question.” He didn’t want to think
about Nanny anymore tonight.
“What happens if you don’t go into a pay phone at dawn?”
“I’d be eliminated. It’d be like suicide, I suppose.”
“Ouch. I’ll skip that topic as well.” She pulled her skirt up a bit so he could rub her lower leg. “Do Shadows have ESP?”
He glanced to see if she was joking, but her face looked serious. “I can’t read other people’s minds or communicate with other Shadows in my head, if that’s what you mean.”
“You don’t really have any super powers?” Aurora smiled like she was thinking about something but wasn’t going to mention aloud.
“Nope. Just immortality.” He grinned when he caught on to her subtle hint. “And maybe special powers in the bedroom. Would you care to test them out?” He shifted forward, still holding her legs.
“Wait!” She held her hands up in mock surrender. “I still have more questions, and if we go in there,” she nodded to the bedroom, “I won’t remember to ask them.”
“Alright. Five more questions, then that’s it for tonight.” He relaxed against the couch again and let his hand travel to the warmth along her inner thigh. “You’re eventually going to need some shut eye.”
Aurora closed her eyes as Erebus let his fingers trail up her leg. She pressed her hand over top of her skirt against his to gently stop him. She opened her mouth but paused a moment before speaking. “Have you ever been in love before, with a Shadow or a human? You’ve been around for over a hundred years…it makes sense.”
It was Erebus’ turn to hesitate. “No. I guess I’ve never met the right female to shake up my world. You’re my first.” He grinned, trying to joke.
Aurora sat up and patted his arm. “You’re my first Shadow, so I guess that makes us about even.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “What about these Shadow rules? You talk about these laws like they’re sacred.”
“The laws are sacred. They were made thousands of years ago by Shadows who no longer exist.”
“They’re dead? I thought you said you’re immortal?”
“We are. However, if the object you possess is no longer around, you become extinct as well.”
“Why laws back then?” She now sat crossed-legged on the corner of the couch and reached for a chocolate chip cookie on the coffee table.
Erebus grabbed his empty coffee mug from the table and walked into the kitchen to refill it. He came back into the living room. “Laws are needed in every society. We need them to prevent wars, keep the fear of the gods instilled in us, and most importantly, to keep us alive. When we first came about, humans knew about us and treated us as gods. They feared us. Most kept their distance. However, times changed and stories grew into folklores. We became hunted, so we hid. We set up simple rules to follow to have humans oblivious to us. Time continued to tick, and these rules evolved and became laws.” That was what he knew.
“Yeah, but if Shadows have evolved, humans have, too. Probably hand in hand. To be honest, you still don’t seem much different than me, except your job takes you away during the day. What happens when you’re in the booth?”
Erebus flashed a quick smile. He liked her analogy. His day job was covering a pay phone. “I guess you could say I disappear. I act as the phone’s shadow. I’m just an occlusion, not a person with a brain or a memory…just the thing stretching across the sidewalk. Maybe something does happen, but I never remember in the morning. Maybe there’s some other world I go to that has no memory of this life, like I have no memory of it.” His shoulders shook as he laughed silently. “I’m just making that up. I probably shouldn’t joke.”
“If we’ve all evolved, why is it a big secret for Shadows now not to come forward?” Aurora brushed a crumb off her shirt.
“Fear. At least that’s what I think. Fear of getting caught by you and being destroyed. Can you imagine what the world would do to us? If humans felt threatened by us? We’d be treated like some alien coming to visit earth. Our brains put in jars for display.” He rolled his eyes at the thought. “We’re immortal. Most Shadows would prefer to stay that way. Imagine some army colonel keeping us out in the day just too teach us a lesson? We’d eventually all just disappear.”
“That’d be kind of a bummer. Especially since we’d be experimenting on how you functioned and worked. Forcing a Shadow to try and possess some other object or who knows what else.” She snapped her finger. “No need for a lawyer to protect you. Speaking of that, who upholds justice if your laws get broken?”
“The Night Council.”
“Who’re they? A bunch of old guys playing judges?”
Erebus felt the corners of his mouth curve up at her analogy. “Not quite. It’s five of our oldest Shadows. They comprised the Council long before even I came into existence.”
“Like I said; a bunch of old guys.”
“No, five females: Disciplina, Indivia, Furena, Laverna, and Poena.”
“That’s their names?” Aurora’s lips pursed together as she squinted deep in thought at Erebus.
“Yeah. Five beautiful women who have the devil’s wrath inside of them.”
“Interesting.”
It was Erebus’ turn to be curious. “Why?”
“I’ll have to double check, but if I recall correctly, those are all names of Roman goddesses, maybe even earlier prehistory times. It’s from that mythology course I’m taking. I’m going to have to check that book at the library again for their meanings.”
“Probably Doom and Doomer, Gloom and Gloomier, and the Punisher.” He grinned. Coty would’ve laughed at his joke. Aurora just looked confused. “Forget it. It’s too hard to explain, and it’s getting late. Do you want to stay here tonight?” It’d be safer for her to leave in the daylight.
“Definitely. If I’m leaving in two days and you’re going to fight the powers that be.” Her lips twitched, but she kept her face straight. “I want to spend tonight with you.” She stood up and reached for his hand to pull him in the direction of the bedroom. “What about you in the morning? Can you use this pay phone?” She tapped the British booth as she walked by.
“It’s set up as a working phone but not as a pay phone. I think I have to get it converted back to a paying phone.” He gave a quiet, husky laugh. “I’m still a little paranoid to test it out. Nearest pay phone from here is two blocks away.”
“Oh…That’s too bad.”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head. I’ll leave in plenty of time.” He glanced at the bedroom, a raw hunger deep inside begging to be satisfied.
“Oh, one more question.”
He rolled his eyes before she turned around.
“Are there any famous Shadows? Like in Hollywood or anything?”
*****
Erebus shifted uncomfortably. He fought to push through the darkness and the current that wanted to pull him back. Struggling to stay conscious, a new terror pulled on the fringes of his mind he couldn’t place. Someone was in danger besides himself, and he swirled around helpless in this oblivion. An angel blurred into his vision and disappeared into the darkness engulfing him.
“Aurora.” Erebus jumped with a start. His head brushed against the metal ceiling of the phone booth. He clung to the sides of the glass walls, trying to steady his racing heart and the panic.
It was dark outside of the booth, and the pavement was wet. The snow that had fallen the past week looked to have disappeared. It must have been a sunny, warm day to melt it. He stepped out of the booth and opted to head straight back to his apartment instead of the coffee shop. He could make some of the French vanilla coffee Aurora had bought.
As he walked, he glanced around to see if he was being followed. He didn’t sense another Shadow, but when it came to Nanny, nothing could be assumed. No one seemed to pay attention to him. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stared at the ground in front of him.
He thought about his waking tonight. He’d never before thought about anything other than fighting the darkness
. To have Aurora in his unconscious thoughts was disturbing and intriguing at the same time. He knew she was safe and sound asleep when he left this morning. Nanny had no idea where Aurora lived, or her last name, or of any other information. Aurora should be fine for now.
Climbing the stairs to his apartment, he touched in the keyless entry numbers to his door. The only light inside came from the phone booth in the middle of the room. Shrugging out of his coat, he tossed it onto the back of the couch. The sliding door had been left partly open so the light didn’t turn off. He pressed his palm against the cool glass, about to close it, but paused when he noticed the white lined paper taped to the phone.
His heart missed a beat as worry filled him. He shoved the door open, stepped inside, and snatched the folded paper. Stepping inside the K6 helped erase the anxiety, and he stood calm as he opened the sheet. He noticed Aurora’s neat, script handwriting.
Welcome home, (excuse the pun as I put this into the booth!)
I’ve got a group meeting tonight which might run a bit late. I’ll book a flight today as well. I’ll call you around midnight, so don’t forget to turn your cell on.
Hearts, Aurora. Xoxoxo
Relief flooded through his body. He thought again about his waking and wondered if it had been some sort of premonition to something happening tonight. What if Nanny got to Aurora or what if she went to the Night Council? If she approached them with concerns Erebus might be in a relationship or worse, telling a human the truth about himself, she’d create more problems. The Night Council wouldn’t touch Aurora without proper proof, but they’d trail him and find out whatever they needed about her. They might go after Coty or Janus, and putting them in the line of fire wasn’t a safe thing, either.
Erebus needed to find Janus before Nanny did. He couldn’t wait till tomorrow night’s meeting. He stuffed the note into the back pocket of his blue jeans.
He stepped out of the booth and rubbed his face with both hands. Brushing his fingers through his hair, he let his hands rest on the back of his head as he tried to think of a way to find Janus. He had no idea what Janus did during the week, so he didn’t even know where to begin to look. He could approach one of the Night Council and see if they had the means to contact Janus, but that would just arouse their suspicion. He didn’t need any sort of attention at the moment.
