Tarot Cards

Four

I gasped at the sight before me. The three slender shadows stood inhumanly still-their faceless black husks dared Marshala's car to challenge them.

"Marshala...wha...what are those?" I asked; my voice quivering in fear.

"Shadow Walkers." She said; her eyes didn't move the scene before her.

"What do they want?"

"They sensed your power. They know you're not protected." She slowly turned to me. "They want you."

"Me?" I said, almost inaudibly.

Before I could fully grasp my next thought, the car lurched forward just as Marshala's lips moved quickly. I couldn't comprehend the language in which she spoke, but whatever it was, a brilliant white light exploded around the car. I shielded my eyes with my arms and just as quickly, the light vanished, leaving the road ahead cleared.

"What the hell just happened?" I scrambled in the car seat, turning to look out the rearview window.

"You've been tracked. We have to find sanctuary for you now." She spoke quickly, keeping her attention on the flitting streets around us. She drove so fast it we definitely should've been pulled over blocks ago. I didn't dare to look at her speedometer.

We were just about to cut a sharp left on the next street when Marshala screeched to a stop. There was a mass of people entertaining a parade happening and the next street had been blocked off.

"Shit!" Marshala swore under her breath. "We're going to have to continue on foot."

She quickly cut off the car in the alleyway and snatched her seatbelt off. I followed just as hurriedly; matching her sprint once we were out the car. We were met with a couple tourists stares and curious glances, but we ignored them.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I kept up at her flank.

"We're almost there." She panted.

We cut two left corners and beelined down a dimly lit alleyway. The next right turn we took was a dead end with a painted red door at the end of it. Two burly men dressed in all black stood at the door with their arms crossed.

"Mot de passe." One of the two men called to Marshala as we approached them.

"What did he say?" I asked her quietly.

"French for 'password'" she informed over her shoulder. When she turned her head back to the two men, she so elegantly spoke, "Matrem omnium."

The hulking man at the right of the door opened it and let the two of us pass.

"That wasn't French." I said to her once we entered.

"It wasn't. It was Latin. It means 'All mother'." She said quickly, grabbing my arm and dragging me down a narrow stairwell leading down.

The EDM music mixed with reggae was the first thing I heard. It made the walls of the narrow stairwell vibrate. When we reached the bottom of the   stairs, we were met by another set of red double doors, which Marshala pushed through to reveal a nightclub.

"Welcome to 'La Lune Noire'." Marshala looked over to me.

"Marshala you brought us to a nightclub? Were we not just chased by literal shadows five minutes ago?" I rose my brows at her.

"Amara, this is our sanctuary. If you ever feel danger, come here. It is our most absolute Law as a people." She called over the music. 

"Law for who? Who are we?" I called back.

She smiled and took my hand; leading me through the mass of glistening gyrating bodies. Through the swaying hips and arms I made out the silhouettes of four bodies surrounding a massive oxblood, leather chair-no-a throne. An actual throne was placed atop of a platform of the club where I imagined VIP should've been. The closer we approached the throne, the more I could make out the goddess-like woman that was draped in the seat like an old Hollywood starlet. I couldn't make her out much in the club lights, but I could make out her deep red lips, the red leather pants she donned and the mystic-green glint in her eyes, which were all of a sudden fixed on me.