The Shifter

When Night Calls Out Shade

There she is.

As my eyes spot her, my body follows. I don't want to lose her again. I walk straight up to the seat next to her.

"Hey, beautiful," I say as I motion for a sprite.

She spins around startled.

I hide a smile, and choke down a laugh.

"Um... Do I know you?" she asks, hesitantly.

"No, but you could." I say, popping open my soda, to take a sip.

"I'm not gay," she blurts.

"Never said you were," I state with a smirk.

"Oh, uh, sorry." She says embarrassed. Her white face turns red, slightly. Her black contacts barely conceal her red eyes. "Sorry, it's just- I been- coming here for weeks and still haven't gotten any information from any one about who I looking for," she turns her eyes back to me. Then, like suddenly remembering her manners, sticks out her hand. "Brittany Hale."

I shake her hand saying, "Kayla Shade."

After there is a silence between us, so we turn our eyes back to the dancers.

Five minutes later I ask, "Who is it?"

As if she was waiting for my question she says, "A rumor, I'm chancing a rumor, about who some call a myth. The leader has a well-known non-myth group called The Shade."

With that I know who she's talking about. I stay silent, letting her figure it out herself.

"And what's ironic," Brittany continues, look at me. "Is that your last name is Shade..." her eyes widen.

I sigh and look away. "So... I guess you found yourself a massager." I look back at her. "What do you want, vampire?"

Brittany flinches. "How'd you know? What I mean is, is it that obvious? Never mind. I am sort of a massager also."

"If I was human, I wouldn't have known, but I can see your red eyes. Most supernaturals can't, but I can tell you by a look what type of supernatural any one is." I start. "It's just one of the things I can do. We may or may not be enemies, but we could still be friendly. What's your massage, Brittany?"

"It's nothing against you- well maybe..." she pauses. She takes a deep breath and recites a mental message: "The house of The Night invites the house of The Shade to a meeting in the mountains, where no humans can lay eyes, a Goodnight Peek, tomorrow at midnight; the full moon will act as our light. Do you except, massager to massager?"

"Of course, I mean, yes, absolutely. Yes, I, massager of The Shade, accept on behalf of The Shade, the challenge from The Night, given by a massager of The Night." this time it's my turn to take a breath. With the formalities over, I smile and say, "That wasn't that hard, now, was it?"

Brittany smiles back. "Well, as you can tell I'm new to this. Well, thanks. Well- uh- I gotta go..." she says standing up.

"See you tomorrow," I say standing up also. With a smile and a wave, she's gone.

A challenge? Good my group, (not coven, pack, nor gang) has been itching for a confrontation. I take out my phone and text "Code: two, two, two."

Within seconds I receive six assorted texts back. Whens, whys, hows, and do they knows. I mass text: "my home. At 10. 2morow nite."

Then I speed dial Dylan by just pushing two. (Why not speed dial one? Because one is to speed dial The Shade.) At the first ring, I start walking to the VIP room.

When she answers, on the first ring, she says, "Hey, you okay? What happened? Was it that girl? What does she know?"

"Whoa, give me a turn to speak," I chuckle. "Uh, your answers are: yes-just a challenge- yes again- and just that I lead The Shade. I'm on my way to the VIP, you there?"

"Yeah, see you soon." Dylan ends.

I stop about ten feet away, because there's a crowd of people trying to get in. I take out my pager and push the button. Immediately two burly, strong tough guys push though. Their shirts say, "Security Says: You Don't Get in Unless Your Somebody." When they lead me in, hear mixed "Heys!!"
Then: "Who's she?" someone asks. "The owner," somebody else says, in a low voice. No one but me hears them but me, nevertheless, I stop and my favorite body guards- Sergey and Fabio- stop also. (I know the name of every one of my employs at this club; I do live here you know.) They know exactly what I want. They each reach in and grab a person, the people. The two are strong vampires, but Sergey and Fabio are body building vampires, with big bulging muscles. I resume walking with them, as they drag along the couple.

When we are in, all four of them follow me to the absolute VIP area: reserved for only Dylan, the rest of The Shade, and I, plus only our "special" guests are aloud. I open the door; see to my surprise every one of The Shade's members is already here. Hiding my surprise, I step aside as the couple is thrown in.

"Thanks guys!" I say to retreating backs. They just hold up three fingers- the thumb, pointer and middle- up, our signal.

"Hi, guys," I greet the Shade.