As Shadows Play

I sighed. Most of the house had gone to bed… or at least settled in their rooms for the night. I sat on the Rail of the wooden porch, looking across this city that seemed so new to me. As much as I wanted to give in to my ever present excited side, I felt like I had a ton of bricks laid on my shoulders. I was amazingly apprehensive, edgy, and worn out… I felt so unlike myself. For the first time in a long time I was feeling the brunt of the loneliness that was burned into me at the beginning of time. I sighed again. I’m sure I’ll feel much more at ease when the rest of the coven gets here… I stared at my pocket. Maybe if I stared long enough, it would ring and tell me what I needed to hear.

Restless, I got off the railing and was about to start walking when I felt a close presence. My head snapped up to the outline on the roof. It was looking off into the darkness. It wasn’t one of my coven, so normally I wouldn’t intrude… but I was so desperate to find a distraction. I blinked and was on the roof, standing next to the solitary figure. His head snapped my direction and he scowled.

“Any conception of the word ‘privacy’?” he growled, glaring at me.

“Nope,” I couldn’t suppress the smile that made its way onto my face. He rolled his eyes and looked back to the night sky. “Coven leader right?” I asked, looking out to the view of the slightly cloudy moon. He nodded an air of power about him.
“And you? The same right?” He asked, not sparing me a glance. I nodded as well, knowing he could feel it. “Hmm…” was all he said.

“I really don’t mean to be nosy, but why aren’t you…?” I trailed off, letting him interpret in his own way.

“Inside? Occupied? Anything but lonely?” he finished, sounding oddly numb.

“Yah,” I ended, looking down at him.

“It’s just…” he blew out his lips, “what I do.” He was sounding cold and detached now. I plopped down next to him.

“Does that by any chance have a double meaning?” I asked, feeling hopeful. Wow I was doing a lot of feeling lately. He glared at me again.

“Yes.” He snapped, looking as if he were about to rip my head off my shoulders. Before I could get another word in, he had jumped off the roof. As he hit the ground, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking. Something inside me made me follow. My hopes had been confirmed right? He was like me…. Wasn’t he? I jumped down after him. I could tell he rolled his eyes and ignored me. He kept up his brisk pace, walking to the street. It was only now I realized that all the streetlights on this block were inactive. He kept walking until we reached a corner that intersected an alley, a business block and a residential block. We were directly under a seemingly blinding streetlight. He stopped in his tracks. I looked him up and down, seeing my hopes confirmed. He had no shadow. Powerful… extremely powerful… but so lonely.

Just like me. He whipped around, his glare meeting my eyes and melting. Little did I realize I was grinning like a dork. He looked suspicious at first, not taking his stare off my face. I looked him over once more to prove to myself it was real. He seemed to be doing the same. When I met his eyes again he was smiling warmly.

“I- umm... Sorry. I didn’t know,” he said, rubbing his neck. I nodded. Without saying a word, we had established that we would be very good friends. We just stood for a while. Then we started walking. When we made it back to the house it was starting to get light out. I gasped and bolted to the house. In a split second I realized when I had jumped off the roof; my phone fell out of my way too tight jeans pocket. I swooped down and grabbed it off the damp grass; flipping it open with such force I thought I was going to break it.

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Be there by sunrise