Headlights blinded Emma’s vision followed by the loud crash she knew all too well. Knowing she was in the dream Emma had no choice but follow where it took her. She was thrust inside the car as it rolled. Her mother was unconscious but Emma witnessed everything in slow motion from the back seat. Their bodies flew up and down crashing into everything as the car rolled over and over again. Windows shattered, metal crumpled, and then the rolling finally stopped as the car slowly sunk into the water. Pieces of glass clung to the blood and sweat coating her mother’s skin. The glint of the full moon reflected off the pieces at odd angles almost as if her mother were glowing. She was so beautiful. Deathly silence shrouded the wreckage as it descended to its watery grave. A river of her mother’s blood began pooling below their feet mingling with the water from the bay. Blue green swirls mixed with viscous red before turning a hazy brown as the water got higher and higher. Fully submerged now Emma watched in horror as shadows slithered through the car weaving in and out of the windows. They rattled and hissed as they surrounded the car almost as a beacon for other creatures to join. She gasped in fear and bubbles escaped her lips, replaced by murky water rushing down her throat. She was drowning and the shadows rejoiced. Darkness started at the corners of her vision and closed in. But then she saw it, a glimmer of golden light and Mattox said her name, Emma! She tried to focus on the light and swallowed more water. Her lungs burned. She just wanted to sleep. Her eyes started to close. Fight it, Emma!
Emma bolted upright in bed gasping for air. Panic consumed her before reality began to reemerge. As her breathing slowed she grabbed the sides of her head, shaking. She sat there for a long time before looking at her clock. Five a.m. Even now she wasn’t alone with her own thoughts. Would she ever know a moment’s peace and be able to process them? Her mind screamed, trying to silence the other emotions always surrounding her. Angrily, she flung her blankets off and got out of bed. The wind current from the tantrum blew her mother’s letter off the dresser and onto the floor. Emma stared at it as she got dressed, leaving it where it was, peeking out under the dresser and tormenting her. She grabbed her backpack for school and tip toed out of the front door. It was still early and dark enough so she decided to explore the forbidden alley before school.
†
The second period bell sounded and all the classroom doors closed leaving the hallway empty. Mattox paced back and forth in front of Emma’s locker. He knew something was wrong and was beginning to panic. Emma had left for school this morning, he was sure of it, but she’d never made it in. He doubted she was skipping just because it was a Friday. That wasn’t in her nature. I’m an idiot! I should have asked her to wait for me, he said to himself. Mattox had been following her since his assignment began, though he preferred the term reconnoiter over stalking. Today, however, he’d been summoned to report his findings early and was late for school. At the very least he should have texted her. Maybe she would have waited. After spending the day together at the Vaughn Institute Emma finally had warmed up to him enough to give him her number. Mattox already had it, but he couldn’t tell her that of course. He’d already slipped up enough the rainy day in the cab, once for calling her by name, and then he pretty much blurted out that he knew her mother had passed away, but she seemed to have blown it off maybe thinking he had asked someone about her. Mattox couldn’t help but think about how he first met Emma. What should I have said? Hi I’m Mattox a shepherd in the King’s Court, oh by the way, those emotions that you’re feeling? Yeah, they probably mean you’re meant to be a shepherd like me. What’s that? Being a descendant of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table sounds insane? Yeah, you’re right. And so Mattox had decided to wait and reveal things to Emma slowly once they got to know each other. A tinge of guilt crept into his throat. The moment he saw Emma he had felt something for her other than being her guide. He knew waiting to tell her everything was risky with the state she was in, but he had been selfish and wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.
Mattox tugged at his hair in frustration. She was bound to be a walking target for any netherwalkers in the area. Even though Emma was his first assignment, Mattox knew full well the Court would have swooped in if they had known she was harboring so many humans’ emotions. He had broken protocol again when he had kept that information to himself. Now he was regretting those decisions immensely. Bernie’s going to kill me, he thought as he tried to call Emma. Wait, what am I thinking? Bernie is a true Southern Gentleman. He’ll have Lourdes Reese kill me, banishing me to the-- There was no answer, but Emma’s sweet voice was telling her caller to text her because voicemail was archaic. Mattox relented and made a second phone, call this time to a friend in the Court. He walked out to the courtyard, slipped off school grounds, and headed straight for Emma’s apartment.
A cold front had swept in and the midday sky was a dark gloomy grey. Just great! Mattox grumbled to himself as he tugged his jacket closed. He concentrated and opened all his senses, something he didn’t do very often. The empathetic noise could be maddening to the untrained. Mattox sympathized with the struggles Emma was facing. He listened to everyone around him, hoping someone had seen her, but there was nothing. Dociles are useless! He thought, but kept his senses open to them none-the-less. Then, as he neared a dark alley a block from Emma’s apartment he felt it, her bliss. Emma, no!
Without thinking, Mattox ran down the alley. He found Emma sitting in front of a rusty metal door that had been painted shut years ago. She was staring up into the sky, unblinking. Her back was hunched and she looked like a rag doll or a dog’s chew toy, limp and wilted. He rushed to her side and grabbed one of her hands, but it was too late, the shadow was already materializing, it had sensed him as a guardian and a threat. Mattox put his finger against her lips, knowing the fog in her mind was lifting and she was about to scream. “Emma, you have to shut it off,” he whispered not giving up hope.
She looked at him then, confused, “Shut what off? Mattox, what’s happening?” Emma turned her head towards the unnatural shadow as it floated off the windowless brick wall to the ground. It rattled and vibrated with power as the temperature around them cooled to almost freezing. The shadow, moving of its own accord, started to transform. Emma seemed transfixed as the edges of the shadow slowly, impossibly morphed into thick, animal-like legs.
Mattox grabbed the sides of Emma’s face, “You’re being hunted. You need to shut out everyone’s emotions. You have to try, Emma, please.” Never losing physical contact, Mattox helped Emma to her feet hoping there was still time to run, but the translucent shadow creature was already becoming solid, and they couldn’t outrun a krim in its four-legged form. Still making contact with her skin, Mattox pushed Emma behind him. He became her physical and mental shield as the unnatural shadow morphed into a huge corporeal beast. Mattox concentrated all his energy on becoming a void in space, an empty pocket of nothingness, along with one scared neophyte in tow.
Dark grey, billowing shadow became opalescent skin. A slick black body and pristine white, razor sharp fangs appeared in front of Mattox. It weaved back and forth searching for them. He’d never seen a krim in real life before and was stunned at how beautiful its skin actually was. Simulations in the virtual chamber had not done the creatures justice. The surface of the netherworld creature’s skin shimmered from emerald green to fiery red, but always within the blackest depths Mattox ever seen. No eyes greeted him, krims had none in either form. An expanse of its opalescent skin stretched out across the bridge of its forehead and nose. This creature had no need for eyes for it only needed to sense the emotional signature of its prey. Its massive head was only an inch away from Mattox now. In frustration, it snorted air, blowing Mattox’s hair from his forehead as it searched for its prey. A droplet of its icy snot landed on Mattox’s cheek and singed his skin. Mattox winced in pain and barely let out his breath. His faint whimper filled the air with a frosty trail, betraying his location. The krim stopped moving and zoned in on Mattox. More of th
e creature’s snot and spittle fell to the ground and shattered as ice. As it reared up on its back legs for an attack, Mattox squeezed his eyes shut and prepared to be slaughtered by the beast.
“Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” A female voice yelled from behind the creature as a faint boom from her weapon filled the alleyway. It was Lourdes Reese. Relieved, Mattox let out the rest of his breath and pulled Emma to safety behind a dumpster. Lourdes and her partner Ryan Kapoi hit the beast with another stun shot, but it still didn’t go down.
From behind the dumpster, Mattox was looking over Emma to make sure she suffered no injuries. “Emma-”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. Or, at least, I think I am.” She tried to stand up, but Mattox knew how weak she still was from being in the creature’s snare. He tried to help her so they could leave, but she was determined to stay. “I just... I need to see.” Emma was able to twist herself enough in order to look at the combat between Kapoi, Lourdes, and the otherworldly beast. “What is that thing? It’s like you made us invisible.” She furrowed her brow and looked at him. “And, who are they?” Emma asked the last question pointing to Lourdes Reese and Ryan Kapoi now locked in battle with the krim.
Mattox opened his mouth, but could not seem to make a sound. He sputtered for a moment and could feel his face flush. “I’m sorry, Emma. I--”
“Wait. You… knew? You knew what I’ve been going through? How?” She shook her head. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me keep thinking I was losing it? You hid all of this from me! You knew about me, about my senses, didn’t you? Even before we met?” Her last statement was more of an accusation than a question.
“Yes,” was all he could muster.
“And that thing, you knew it was hunting me, and didn’t say anything?”
Mattox didn’t know what to say. How could he explain that it had only been a possibility up until the moment he had found her lying in the alley? How would she ever understand that he just wanted to be near her before changing her life forever? “You’re right. I should have told you. I should have told you everything.”
Just then Lourdes created a violet orb and surrounded the beast. The sphere hissed and popped before disappearing, taking the creature with it. Emma’s eyes grew wide. “I can’t do this.” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head before bolting from the alley, “This can’t be real!”
“Emma, please!” Mattox yelled as she ran down the street. In an instant he thought of something and yelled before she disappeared. “Emma, your mother’s letter!” but she didn’t stop.
Mattox turned and gave Lourdes a pleading look.
Lourdes held up her hands, “God, Mattox, what were you thinking?” The hunter shook her head, probably realizing Mattox didn’t need much of a lecture. He could only imagine how defeated he looked. Lourdes sighed, “At least you called us, but you could have gotten yourself killed!” Lourdes scolded.
“I, uh-” Mattox didn’t know how to explain the situation without sounding like an idiot about his first assignment.
“Lourdie,” her partner said seeming to understand the situation.
“What!” she whipped her head around and put her hand on her hips.
“Kid’s uh, got a crush.” Ryan Kapoi whispered in Lourdie’s ear trying to explain Mattox’s embarrassment. The master hunter sighed, crossed her arms and let her partner ask his questions.
Mattox gave the hunters an abbreviated run-down of his entire assignment. He glossed over the infatuation part, he still felt embarrassed by that. He ended his account with the tactic he used at the last minute that bought enough time for reinforcements to arrive.
“Do you think it worked, you shielding her? Could the krim sense either of you?” Kapoi asked. He seemed intrigued by the possibility.
“I’m not sure. I don’t think it could.” Mattox was thankful the focus had shifted away from his screw-up. He was a shepherd, not a hunter. He knew better than to confront a krim like that.
“Well,” Lourdie stared Mattox down. “You better go get her, Romeo!” she admonished. “And, fix this fast before we have to report it. Without you shielding her, she’s a walking buffet for any netherwalker within a ten mile radius. With all those emotions flowing through her she might as well have a neon sign above her head!”
Ryan Kapoi looked at his partner in protest, but Lourdie held up her hand.
“He can do it. Can’t you, Mattox?” Lourdie demanded. She pushed a button on her stun baton and the purple glowing blade disappeared as her weapon transformed into an innocent looking flashlight. “Just no more dark alleys, capiche?”
“Y- yes. I mean, no, it won’t happen again.” Mattox stuttered and took a deep breath.
“Good. A rogue neophyte running around is the last thing the King’s Court needs right now. Especially one that can’t control her powers.” Lourdie stated coolly. “You should have told us that from the beginning, Mattox.” The hunter began walking down the alley towards the street. Mattox could sense a tension in Lourdie that had nothing to do with him or his current debacle. Though his hearing wasn’t as keen as the hunters, he thought he heard her mutter something about packing for London and ‘tally-ho’, but he dismissed it. It was none of his business and he knew a pissed off Lourdes Reese wasn’t someone to be trifled with.
Kapoi followed his fellow hunters lead and holstered his own weapon. His black carbide stun rifle turned into an even larger flashlight. Ryan Kapoi, a former marine, turned to Mattox. “Get it done, or I will report it,” he urged Mattox before running to catch up with Lourdie.