The man looked across the street at the apartments, and checked his watch. 9:00 am. They should have left by now. He lowered his hand and looked back at the apartments, a silver ring glistening in the morning sun before his hand disappeared into his pocket.
What am I afraid of? He thought. It's not like she has anything to defend herself with. She probably doesn't even know we exist.
Finally, he began walking, his boots clacking on the deserted street, and his long black coat flowing behind him in the wind.
Stepping up the concrete stairs, he came up beside the door marked 2J. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cell-phone and dialed.
Moments later he spoke,
"Hello, this is Narcariel. I've found the address. Are you sure this is right?"
The voice on the other end replied, "Yes. All the other possibilities have been checked. This is the only place it can be."
"Well good." replied Narcariel, "I'm tired of spending the past seventeen years on a wild goose chase."
"Enough bickering, Narcariel." said the voice, "Can you sense anything....odd about the place?"
Narcariel paused and closed his eyes, and drew in a breath through his nose, as if smelling the nearby air. Seconds later his brow creased in confusion. He opened his eyes and brought the phone back to his ear.
"Sir... I may have found something, but I'm not sure what it is."
"What do you mean?" asked the voice impatiently.
"You probably won't believe me..... but it smells like Mandrake."
The voice on the other end paused. There was a moment of torturous quiet.
Narcariel tried to recover the conversation, "But.... that's impossible isn't it?"
"Yes....." replied the voice after a few more seconds of silence, "Impossible. Never mind what you sensed, Narcariel, simply do as we discussed."
"Yes sir." replied Narcariel, and he turned off his phone and stuffed it into his coat.
"Mrroww."
Narcariel froze, and his hand closed around something in his coat, and he looked around.
Sitting at his feet was a black cat, its green eyes fixed on the strange man that had invaded its home.
Narcariel breathed out a sigh of relief and stared back down at the cat briefly before turning back the way he had come.
As he walked away, the cat, lying on the floor near the door marked 2J, watched Narcariel through slitted eyes as he disappeared into the distance.