Breathe Under Water - Shadows of the Night 1

Chapter 2

Hi!

So, things are starting to get interesting. Slowly, but surely, this story is developing and moving forward. Please let me know what you think and don't forget to vote! Surreal as it may sound: I'm competing in the Watty Awards! :-)

Lara

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Chapter 2

Patience paid off. It took me two days to get this far in my 'investigations.' I had been meandering through this part of the city for two hours, waiting for Jonah to show up. I spotted him, picked him out of the crowd like a ripe fruit out of a budding cherry tree. Yeah, he fit the description Tamurè's barmaid gave me perfectly. Turned out she didn't lie about this one. I still wasn't sure how much she told the Circle's Force. Maybe she sold them the same story. Then again, in all likelihood the Force hadn't threatened to choke her. Not that I would really have done it, but that was valuable background information the barmaid didn't have.

Though I didn't know many details, I knew that Maria was involved in a drug case, and that she was working undercover in Tamuré. The consequential conclusion was that there was drug traffic in the club.

Jonah was one of the punk kids that used to linger around the East side of the river, at the very end of the Crimson District. They were junkies – junkies that used to frequent Tamurè. I caught him alone. He was fishing for a pack of cigarettes.

"Hey!"

He jerked, but relaxed when he saw me. I guess nobody in his right mind would have been intimidated by my looks. My eyes narrowed as I walked up to him, enthralling him with the brainy one-liner I came up with on my way there.

"Hey, you got a cig?"

"For you sure, babe," Jonah said, words coming out in a slurred heap, and gave me a boyish grin.

His dark brown eyes were black-rimmed, while his black hair was streaked with green and blue highlights. The style made him look like an anime character gone Goth.

I visually raided our surroundings. Apart from the people at the liquor store further down the street – presumably his drug buddies – the place was deserted. I grabbed him by the collar of his leather jacket and pushed him against the brick wall.

"Hey, no need to get rough," he yelled, grabbing my wrist. I stepped back in time, reaching for my magic and my element. I gathered the air and arrested it in front of me so that he couldn't move an inch.

"You're Jonah?"

"What the fuck?" He looked at me with big eyes in a motion that made him even more anime-characterish.

"You want me to repeat the question? Spell it out for you? Fine with me, I'm in a bad mood already. Trust me, you don't want it to get worse. So, are you Jonah?"

He nodded and swallowed. There was too much white in his eyes showing. Looked like I finally had his attention.

"You talked to a girl named Maria in Club Tamurè about a week ago? Tall, blue eyes, black shoulder-long hair?"

I shook him once more. After a moment of wide-eyed hesitation he finally talked.

"She didn't say her name, but there was a girl like that I talked to... Who the fuck are you anyway?"

"What did you talk about, Jonah?" Silence. "What did you talk about? Tell me, or I'll make going for another cig a virtual impossibility for you!"

The emotion had been brimming under the surface for long. It was hot and ready. I was unfamiliar with it, but I embraced it freely. I handed over the reins because it felt good to blame someone and direct this anger, this hatred. I heightened the air pressure and didn't care if Jonah felt like being pinned down by a bulldozer. I was too far gone, driven into red-sheeted and hungry anger.