Snippets of Eventide

No. 3: Asher Meets Cirrus for the First Time

It was late, how late I had no idea. My phone ran out of charge sometime before midnight and that was at least a couple hours ago, before I started my walk down the mountain under the light of the full moon. As I reached the end of the trees the wind picked up, whipping through the pines and shaking needles from their leaves, and spitting rain over my shoulders. Strange. I thought it was supposed to be clear all night. That's what Ember said too... I shook the thought out if my head as I stepped into the gravel parking lot. It wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen here.

But as I rested my hand on the handle of Striker's car, I hesitated. Something.. Something was out there. Hunched against the pelting rain, I squinted towards the roar of ocean waves kicked up by wind and crashing against the beach. Just beyond the bushes, there was something there. Not human, but not anything I'd ever seen before.

Before I could think better of it, I left the car and crossed the empty parking lot. My feet crunched on the wet gravel, quickly soaked through by the puddles already pooling in every dip. The narrow trail down to the beach left me further soaked, water running off every leaf straight onto my hoodie. By the time I reached the beach, my sleeves soaked all the way through, and I had to pull my arms close to stay warm, already starting to shiver in the cutting wind.

I stumbled onto the uneven, smoothed rocks of the beach, feeling my way along the beach in the dark. The roar of waves cresting and crashing onto the shore filled my ears, and I slipped on the damp rocks, barely catching myself on larger boulders and washed up logs. I braced myself against the wind and peered out to the water. The light of the city gave just enough of an orange streetlight glow to see the motion of the waves, the bright white caps, the dark seawater and... I leaned forward, shielding my eyes against the needle-like rain.

Something lighter than sea water broke the surface. Just past the curve of the alcove's rocks, and... My eyes widened. A person.

"Hey!" I waved my arms over my head, yelling at loud as I could. "Hey! Over here!"

I couldn't tell if they heard me, disappearing under the cresting waves again. My heart leapt to my throat, racing fast and hard in my chest and through my veins.

The figure emerged again, bobbing in the water just a little bit closer to the shore, but a strong gust of wind sent a wave crashing over their head once again.

I kept my arms above my head, shouting louder than I had in years as they seemed to half swim, half drift closer and closer to shore, until they were close enough I could start to make out a face in the dim light. But their approach quickly slowed, their head coming up lower and lower above the as I watched, frozen to my place on the shore.

"Come on! You're almost there!"

They had to be at the shallows by now, where the water was just low enough to stand when the sea wasn't surging like this. But they weren't getting any closer either. My blood chilled colder than the surface of my skin. They were going to drown, weren't they?

Without thinking I rushed forward, stumbling across the loose pebbles. They were so close, so close, if I just waded out far enough...

The first wave hit like a wall of ice, knocking the breath from my lungs and forcing a sharp gasp as the water hit up to my waist. I braced against the torrent and pushed through, water soaking my clothes, my hair, and cold seeping all the way through to my bones. But I was already so close. So close. I could almost reach them, almost—

My hand closed around their arm, cold as the water around it and twice as slippery. I grappled for a second handhold, bracing as a wave cleared my shoulders and crashed over my head. I dug my heeks into the loose rolling pebbles and held on as tight as I could. Ny head cleared the water again and I gasped.

"Come on," I started to drag the body towards the shore, speaking between harsh gasps. "We're close!"

I felt a hand grasping at my shoulder, almost dragging me backwards into the waves. They were heavy, and as I shifted to drape their arm over my shoulders, I quickly found out they were taller than me too. They leaned heavily, coughing and gasping by my ear. More than once we both nearly went down with the waves hitting our backs, but then we finally staggered onto the beach out of the sea's reach.

I fell forwards, landing on my hands and knees as I struggled to catch my breath. My hair stuck to my face, and my clothes , soaked from the ocean and pouring rain, didn't offer much warmth as I shivered. Beside me in the dark, I could hear the stranger coughing, gasping for air and cursing with what little breath they had.

"Hey," I rolled sideways, sitting hunched on the cold rocks.

The person—he looked like a man—braced himself against the ground, riding out the last of the coughs wracked his body. He had light hair, no clothes, and a thrashing, wild power contained just barely under his skin. It felt dangerous, whipoing up in time with the wind and pelting rain. I stared, a little bit of fear creeping through the cold in my blood. What... Did I just pull out of the ocean?

Whoever he was, he sucked in a deep breath and sat back on his heels, looking down at his hands. Then he snarled and dragged himself to his feet, glaring at the clouded night sky.

"You can't do this!" His shout cut off with more coughing, half bowling him over as he scrambled for balance in the gale. "What am I—"

His knees buckled and he collapsed, cursing as he fell. I inched towards him, nerves biting at my muscles and stiffening my movements. He must have noticed, whipping his head up and twisting to see me, catching me in a hard stare. His eyes were bright blue, locked with mine.

I swallowed, breaking eye contact. Then, before I could stop myself, "What are you?"

The man recoiled, curling in on himself with a glare. "You're a fucking demon aren't you?" He narrowed his eyes, but even in the dark I could see him shivering.

I froze, heart skipping between my ribs. How? I stammered, but couldn't find any kind of response, slowed by the cold and the nerves tight in my throat.

But then he scoffed. "W-whatever. You, you're harmless a-aren't you?" He hunched forward, pulling his legs up and huddling against the cold, teeth starting to chatter. "G-go mess with s-s-someone else."

How long had he'd been in that water? I swallowed and shouldered off my hoodie. It was soaked, but hopefully it was better than nothing. He eyed me cautiously, but let me drape it over his freezing shoulders. He needed to get warm.

"My car's just through that way," I pointed to the path. "My brother keeps a couple blankets in the trunk."

He glanced towards the path, hesitating.

I took as breath and forced myself to stand. "You're going to freeze if you stay out here all wet." I shuddered as a well-timed guest cut through my shirt, then offered a hand. "Please?"

"Fine."

He batted my hand away and struggled to his feet, swaying in the wind as I started to lead the way. By the time we'd left the beach he was already leaning on me though, his arm held in place over my shoulders as I took most of his weight.

Maybe it would be best if I convinced him to let me take him back home with me. I didn't know if he was hurt, or if he needed some kind of treatment for the cold, but Striker would. He probably wouldn't be happy about being out so late alone in the park, and he definitely wouldn't be happy that I ran into the ocean in a freak storm. He also wouldn't be thrilled I brought a stranger to our house. I didn't even know his name yet.