Personally I’ve never seen that as a necessarily good thing, though maybe that’s just because I know what’s in the dark and trying to get out often leads one into trouble. Business always gets going around this time of year. Its so busy that they don’t think a few people going missing will raise any heads, or cause any real alarms until its too late.
It does. Mine.Not by choice mind you, I hate this damn job, but its the only one someone like me is good for.
I’m what you’d call a freelancer. What I call me, however, is something very different.
I am a Keeper.
I keep the things that go bump in the night, in the night and the dark. When people try to get out of the dark at this time of year, they don’t like it, so I Keep them in line and people alive. You see, here, ‘half way out of the dark’ means that very thing. It’s dark down here after all, hard to see for normal folk and easy to get got. People get out round this time of year, they go up to the light, but only a handful every year. The rest of them go back to the counters and put their names in for next year then get on with life in the dark.
This year things have already started and it’s only the first of this 13th month, the dark month. Typical that, isn’t it. Always the way. No-one can escape it down here, well, except me I guess. Keepers, like me, we see things differently than normal folk. Black is white and white is black with me. All the other colours are fine, but those two, well, lets just say I’m the only human down here that can see in the dark. If I went up there, into the light, I’d probably go blind, wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing. I never put my name in at the counters for that very reason, it’d be a waste on me.
I go to the announcements though, so I know who I’m watching out for till they get out. I met him there last year, a random meeting that, for once, led somewhere other than mindless sex and never calling the poor guy again.
Unfortunately, I have a habit of not telling people what I am and what I do for a living. Thus this year, things are getting a little complicated for me.
By the way, I should warn you now about my name; as it’s highly ironic if you ask me. My parents had a great sense of humour, I however, prefer sarcasm, can you tell? I only warn you because the guy I mentioned earlier, the one I met a year ago, he’s about to come in and call me by name. Do try not too laugh to much at the irony of it, combined with my sunny disposition.
“Light? You home?” my darling boyfriend calls. Don’t get me wrong, I adore this man, he doesn’t take my dry humour as offensive and that in itself is a miracle. Not that I believe in those.
“In here, Kuni,” I call back. I don’t move though, bar taking the un-smoked cigarette out of my mouth and dropping it into a nearby ashtray. As Kuni walks in I turn my head to see him carrying a paper bag into the kitchenette of my small flat. “Did you buy me food AGAIN?” I ask him. He’d gotten into the habit of it lately after staying over more than a few times and finding no food anywhere in the place.
“Am I staying here tonight?” he asked me with a suggestive smile. I grinned back, I still hadn’t moved from my position on my bed.
“It is a possibility,” I say as vaguely as possible while still sharing a grin with him. With that he began putting the contents of the bag away in cupboards or my small fridge.
So yes, this is Kuni, my tall and seemingly dark haired, self proclaimed ‘Knight in Shining Armour’. Or something to that effect. He changes his title from time to time, though it’s always something to do with him being my hero. If only he knew what I do, I won’t tell him though, too dangerous. Though if I get into the dangerous metre, knowing me at all let alone dating me is far more dangerous than knowing what I do. At least he’d know what he was getting into then. But no, I’m far to comfortable to tell him now, besides, I’m not even sure if we’re going anywhere. Of course, I wouldn’t know that if he beat me over the head with a rotting fish with the words ‘serious relationship’ carved into it.
The sound of things falling to the ground in the kitchenette broke into my thoughts suddenly and I look over at Kuni again. “You okay in there, hot-stuff?” I ask. I hear him quickly start to pick things up before answering me.
“Uh-yeah, I-I’m fine,” he says quickly. I frown, he never stutters unless flustered, he’s never flustered unless he’s hiding something. He’s hiding something, from me, at my place. Where was the logic in that?
“You sure, I can come give you a hand if you want?” I offer.
“No-no! I got this,” he assures me. Oh yeah, he’s hiding something alright, I can tell. My curiosity is, unfortunately, rather large which is troublesome when I’m working. When dealing with a boyfriend, it’s just downright dangerous. One can never be certain when it is okay to be so inclined and when not to be. As such, I’ve not held a boyfriend this long before. So this incident is unprecedented and I am not entirely certain whether I should move or not.
As usual I throw caution to the wind. I allow my hands drop to the floor below my head and position them carefully before throwing my body off the bed, my once awkwardly long legs swinging in the air to land on my feet gracefully. Kuni didn’t notice, I was too quiet and me removing myself from my bed in such a fashion wasn’t exactly unusual anyway. When he’d asked the first time I’d waved it off as being a gymnast in high school, needless to say he’d bought it and found it rather sexy. Padding over toward the kitchenette in my bed socks, over large tee-shirt and shorts I found Kuni fiddling with something. I couldn’t see what as his back was turned to me and decided against just walking over and peering around him. Leaning against the bench I sighed quietly and grabbed a hair tie from a jar I kept for bits and pieces and pulled back my thick dark hair into a ponytail.
“What are you doing, idiot?” I asked bluntly. Tired of waiting for him to stop fiddling with whatever he was fiddling with I made my presence known, to be met with a pair of surprised silvery eyes as Kuni spun around in fright.
“I-I said I was fine,” he stammered slightly. I frowned at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Yeah, I got that bit, then you stopped putting things away and got all jittery so I got curious,” I shrug to make it known I didn’t actually care too much.
“Oh, right, sorry bout that,” he said laughing at himself a little. I notice he puts one of his hands in his pocket, hiding whatever he’d been fiddling with from my sight. Annoying, but nothing to be done about it. He’ll spill his guts eventually.
“So what’d you get this time?” I ask, changing the subject for him. He relaxes a little and opened the fridge for me to have a look. At the sight of the beer I give him a peck on the cheek gratefully. “You’re a mind reader,” I say as I grab one.
“No, though that would be brilliant, I just know you and that you’d be out by now,” he admitted to me with a grin. Kuni grabs a beer for himself and follows me back to my lounge-cum-bedroom to lounge on my bed with me as we watch the nightly news.
This is the amazing thing about Kuni, no matter how bad I might feel before he arrives, he always makes it better and that’s what really does make him my ‘hero’, just don’t tell him that, I’d never hear the end of it. It was unfortunate that he chose now to voice one of the things he shouldn’t have today. “So I went to the counters today,” he said nonchalantly. I choked on my beer, coughing repeatedly as my mind quickly took in the implications.
“Oh,” I finally managed to choke out, “did you?” I tried to seem unconcerned. I don’t think I was very convincing.
“Yeah, I, uh, put your name down too, hope you don’t mind,” he told me awkwardly. Now my mind went blank, I had never put my name down before, though I hadn’t told him that.
“Why?” I asked him slowly.
“I was chatting to the guy and mentioned your name, he offered to check if you’d done yours yet and when he said you hadn’t I did it for you,” he explained to me. I tried to hide my discomfort but it seemed my face was not the mask I was trying to make it as he looked openly worried now. “Should I not have?” he asked after a few equally agonising moments for the both of us. I took a deep breath, knowing I needed to tell him at least that I don’t put my name down, ever.
“I rather wish you hadn’t,” I said slowly. My mind was ticking over, trying to find the right words in order to not cause any permanent hurt or cause an argument. Not something I was good at in any regard.
“Oh,” he uttered. Another silence, this one longer as I tried to find my words. “Why not?” he finally asked. I took another deep breath.
“I, generally, don’t,” I said shortly. Kuni frowned at me, seeming confused. I knew he needed more than that, but the words were eluding me and making me panic slightly inside. Monsters in the dark I can handle, hurting Kuni, not so much. He was important. To me. Oh crap, I do have feelings after all. Damn.
“Don’t what, Light?” he was frowning more now. I swallowed. People tended be horrified at those that didn’t want to escape the dark of our world down here, now I was going to get it from him.
“I don’t put my name in with the counters, ever,” I explained quickly. The words just tumbled out in one quick burst and when his brows furrowed in confusion I knew I’d spoke too fast for him to catch what I’d said. Another breath. “I don’t actually ever put my name in with the counters, Kuni, I don’t want to get out,” I said slowly. He stared at me for a long time in silence, then he slowly got up from the bed and walked away from me a little. I looked down, feeling more than a little rejected and expected to hear the door open and close any moment. Then he asked what I didn’t expected.
“Why not?” I looked up in surprise. He was sitting on my only chair which, as always, was covered in my clothes. I shrugged at him, unable to tell him the truth about our world, about who and what I was; I lied.
“I just don’t think I’d fit in up there in the light, not my think, I like the dark,” I said simply.
“Is that the truth?” he asked me. Another surprising question. He was on a roll tonight.
“What do you think?” I replied in a straightforward manner. I didn’t want to tell him, I didn’t want to scare him off. I should have.
“I think you’re lying, but I also think you wouldn’t for no reason, I trust you Light,” he told me with a smile. I blinked in surprise, this man truly was my hero.
“Thank you,” I said quietly as I walked over and hugged him tightly. Kuni hugged me back just as tightly, I felt him sigh against me and wondered if he was sad I wouldn’t tell him.
“Will you tell me one day?” I hesitated, thinking over my answer.
“Yes, I will, just not now,” I said quietly. I felt him nod as he continued to hold me tightly against him.
“Okay,” he said to me. Then finally, “sorry I put your name in without asking,” he apologised. I couldn’t help but laugh lightly into his chest.
“It’s ok, not like I’d win on my first go anyway,” I joked. He laughed and agreed.
We returned to the bed, though this time we were far less interested in our beers, the tv and the news report I would have been watching intently in other circumstances. Unfortunately, this time I missed it and more people died than was necessary. I didn’t find out I’d missed a big one until the next morning and boy was I pissed.
~ ~ ~
“Fuck,” I said blankly as I watched the morning news. There had been five murders last night, one after another, they were all highly public murders as well. Though as usual no-one had seen the perpetrator at all, the victims had simply been torn to pieces in front of people by seemingly nothing. The more I watched the more my single syllable word was repeated with more emphasis. The second one had been a news reporter that had been covering the first murder of the night, she’d been torn apart on live television.
“I’m assuming by the way you’re swearing it’s pretty damn bad,” Kuni commented from my kitchenette.
“FUCK,” was all I replied with as I watched in horror as yet another reporter was torn to pieces in front of the camera. In broad daylight. Or what that comes to down here. Kuni was at my side the moment I stood up in shock.
“Gods, what the hell happened?!” he asked me. I just shook my head, unable to believe what I’d just seen. A Shadow operating in the day shift and killing publicly wasn’t normal behaviour to say the least. What Kuni and the people at the scene couldn’t see was a large dark shadow with impossibly long claws standing over the now dead reporter. I was just horrified they were still rolling. I had to get over there. Now.
“Kuni,”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t leave the apartment,” I told him seriously.
“Why? Where are you going?” Kuni watched me as I dressed in clothes he’d not seen me don since we’d first met. This last year had been quiet, far too quiet and now I knew I’d been right. The clothes I pulled on were durable and light so as not to impede my movements and then I opened the wardrobe I always kept locked. Kuni stared in shock as I equipped myself with a sword, two pistols, one shotgun and a grappling gun. “Light?” he called weakly. I glanced back at him as I opened the door, I knew there was a big chance he wouldn’t be there when I got back, but I had to go and help those people. That Shadow was on a rampage and it needed to be put down.
“Just stay inside, and if you do go out, don’t stay out,” with those brief words I was on my way.
Instead of going downstairs like a regular person, I ran up to the roof of the apartment building I lived in. I preferred it up here, it was quiet and I could see everything from up there. Including every Shadow currently hunting up there in the dark of the huge barely lit ‘roof-sky’ as we called it down here. Now, your probably asking yourself something along the lines of ‘she said before that she sees black and white inverted, so how is a Shadow a shadow?’, right? Well, that’s the thing isn’t it, Shadows aren’t black, they’re shadows, they can be any colour they want to blend into the rest of the world. Hence why regular people can’t see them. The easiest way to blend down here was to appear black as it’s always dark down here, they don’t exactly have a sense of colour though so their black and ours is a little different. It’s always a very dark version of a single colour like red or blue. Which is why they don’t just appear white to me. Cool huh? When I looked up at the roof-sky I saw a huge mob of the bastards, just floating around, looking for an easy target. This many out during a day shift wasn’t right, even at this time of year. Swearing repeatedly under my breath I turned away from the massing Shadows, there was nothing I could do about that lot now, they were too high up. I zoned in on where I could hear the emergency services sirens going off and started running, using my grappling gun to move from roof top to roof top as quickly as I could. This was how I travelled when on a hunt, it was easier and regular folk were less likely to get involved then.
It took me five minutes to get down town, I stood on the corner of a roof overlooking the scene. The camera crew were still rolling even as yet another person was ripped apart in front of them. People were screaming and running, even from their own homes, into the street and right into the waiting Shadows. There was more than the one down there now, five of them circled the civilians, police, camera crew and medics as they ran blindly from the seemingly invisible creatures. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the carnage. It was the one thing about this job I hated, all the blood. Steeling myself I dove from the roof top and grabbed hold of a lamp post, swinging with ease to the ground and into the chaos of the bloody scene.
The first thing I did was draw my sword and pull a pistol, going after the closest Shadow before it tore into another innocent. I shot it first, getting it’s attention. It got everyone else's attention too. The camera crew focused on me, the police started freaking out and hollering at me to put the weapons down. Everyone else stayed still, becoming easier targets in seconds. I ignored them all, the Shadows noticed me and surrounded me quickly, as if they’d been waiting for me to show up. That was a scary thought.The one I shot was the one that attacked first, no doubt I’d pissed it off by shooting at it. It lunged for me, it’s impossibly long claws barely missing my stomach as I moved out of the way at the last second. Another was on me before I realised it. It’s claws tore into my side, but not enough to down me. As soon as I felt it hit I moved to the side and slashed at it with the sword in my hand. I connected, one slash through it’s core and it became visible to the rest of the people around me. A shriek of terror almost threw me off my pace, I pushed the noise aside and took aim with the pistol; I unloaded three rounds into the Shadow and watched as it vanished. That’s when everything went to hell.
The other Shadows lost it then, they started attacking everything that moved and breathed and I had to move that much faster to save them. It was hard, I got more than a few injuries, but I just kept moving, slice and shoot, that was the pattern that worked the most. The sword weakened them, the gun and, more importantly, it’s bullets were the real Shadow killers in this fight. Infused with crystallised light, it was the Shadows’ main weakness. I really needed to find a way to infuse the sword with it, it would save me so much time and I preferred the sword.I shot the last of the Shadows on the ground, keeping an eye out for any more coming from above, but the mass above the city seemed to be staying put for now. Breathing hard I looked around me, many people lay dying or dead, but many others were simply injured or just scared to hell. The police seemed to be unsure who’s side I was on and the camera crew seemed to be trying to find a working microphone. It was time to get the hell out of there. I gave the area one more scan to see if there were any more waiting for me to leave. There weren’t.
I put the gun and sword away and pulled out my grappling gun, nodding to the police I shot it at the roof of a nearby building and took off, sailing through the air like some sort of super hero. I snort at the thought, it’s absurd, I’m not a super hero, I’m a Keeper, the last Keeper.
