Five Times The Incarnation of Darkness Scared Someone (4/5)

[heleentje]

 

Had Sam known how her day would turn out, she wouldn't have picked the nice skirt to wear this morning. She loved that skirt, loved how silky the fabric was and how the deep blue looked against her own dark skin. She'd bought it with her very first paycheck months ago, when she'd just moved in with Mike and found a store willing to hire her, and she wore it whenever she thought she could get away with it.

 

But she loved it a whole lot less right now, when she'd been on her feet for nearly eight hours and Asshole Customer of the Evening had delayed closing for so long that she'd missed her bus. The guy hadn't even bought anything, only thrown her a disgusted look when he finally left. She wished she could say it didn't hurt.

 

The next bus wouldn't arrive for another hour, and Sam definitely didn't want to stay here, near midnight, all alone with only a passing car every once in a while. If only Mike hadn't been out of town, he would've picked her up for sure. Sam let out a long breath. Walking home it was. Her skirt was absolutely no good for that, but home was only three miles away. If she hurried, she could be in bed with hot chocolate by one.

 

She was so engrossed in her vision of hot chocolate milk, with whipped cream and cinnamon and maybe even chocolate sprinkles, that she almost didn't notice the guy ambling the street in front of her. Sam tensed, but the guy —something Japanese?— only smiled up at her when she passed him and wished her a good evening. She didn't think she'd seen him here before. Sam resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. It was no skin off her back. Only one more mile to go and she'd be home.

 

She turned a corner and almost ran into a group of three twenty-somethings outside a bar. Sam quickly sidestepped them with a muttered apology. She'd forgotten about this place. Crossing the road would have been wiser.

 

"Hey!"

 

And there it was. Sam straightened her shoulders and wished she'd worn jeans. Could she get her keys from her bag?

 

"What're you, some kinda shemale?"

 

Derisive laughter. Sam kept walking. If she didn't pay attention, they'd find a new target. Of all days for Mike not to be in town...

 

"Where'd you get those clothes?" A girl yelled.  "Stole them from your sister?"

 

Sam risked a glance backwards. The girl was pretty, prettier than Sam could ever hope to be, and it hurt to know that even with the nice skirt, the one she adored, she still wasn't—

 

"Hey tranny, we're talking to you!" The first guy made a grab for her. Sam narrowly avoided him, but before she could run, he was crowding her against the building and looming over her. Sam balled her right hand into a fist.

 

"Please leave me alone," she said. She could take the guy, but all of his friends?

 

"Hey," the other guy in the group said. He was shorter than the first guy, with bleached blond hair that was dark at the roots. "I bet you fags love to suck cock. You gonna—"

 

"I think that's enough."

 

It was a new voice, one that sounded remarkably sober. Sam used the opportunity to duck away, but the guy grabbed her arm. Nothing to it, then. She punched him.

 

It was a good punch, and the guy reeled back, clutching his nose.

 

"You fuckin' slut!"

 

"I said, that's enough," the newcomer said. It was the Japanese guy, the one Sam had passed earlier. Was he following her?

 

"Piss off!" the girl shouted. New Guy looked entirely unimpressed. He walked over to where Sam had backed up.

 

"She said to leave her alone."

 

He was at least a head shorter than Sam herself. Not that she wasn't grateful for the interruption, but what exactly was he going to accomplish?

 

"Fuck off, this has nothing to do with you," said Bleached Guy. The Japanese guy sighed and gave her a wry smile over his shoulder.

 

"Well, I did try to be polite," he muttered, and then said, louder, "Last warning. Leave her alone."

 

"Or what?"

 

The guy shook his head. He waved a hand and the lights went out.

 

Sam blinked against the sudden dark. It wasn't just the lights from the bar, she noticed. Not even just the streetlights. Even the moon and the brightest stars, visible against the bright city lights, were gone. The street had gone completely dark.  Sam stumbled back. Had she just come across something even worse? Bigoted fucks she could deal with just fine, but this?

 

"I don't like people like you," Japanese Guy said. "You think you get to bully people, hurt them, because they are different?

 

"Hey bud," one of the men said, his voice wavering. Clearly they weren't so drunk that they didn't notice they were in trouble. "We're all friends here."

 

"Are we?" Japanese Guy's voice was utterly, thoroughly cold. "Yubel, what do you think?"

 

"Not very friendly," a new voice said, darkly amused. At long last, the light of the moon returned. Sam took one look at the scene in front of her and right away wished she hadn't. Because Japanese Guy was still in front of her, but now, next to him, there was... That was a monster. It looked at her and Sam willed her legs to move, to run, but then it smiled at her.

 

"What'd you do?" the pretty girl whispered.

 

"That? That was nothing," said the monster. "Judai and I can do worse."

 

"Much worse," Judai repeated. Sam caught his reflection in the window of the bar. His eyes were glowing. "I would leave now," he said. The monster spread its wings. "And I'd be very, very nice to everyone you meet in the future. Yubel and I will know if you're not. If you don't..." Reflection-Judai smiled, showing teeth. "I will find you. I will be the monster under your bed, the shadow lurking just around the corner, out of sight. Darkness, you see, is everywhere."

 

They ran. Sam was very close to following their example. But then the streetlights came back on and the guy—Judai—slumped and smiled, back to looking entirely non-threatening, not... Whatever that had been.

 

"Sorry, did I overdo it? Are you okay?" He turned around. His eyes were a very normal brown, only a shade lighter than Sam's own. He reached out a hand. "I'm Judai. This is Yubel."

 

"Sam," she said, and shook his hand. It was probably wise to be polite to the guy who'd just taken the moon itself out of the sky. "Thank you, but I could've handled it."

 

"I'm sorry," said Judai. He looked genuinely contrite. "I know that probably won't fix anything in the long run. It's just,  I heard what they said and I can't stand it when people..."

 

Yubel, the monster, wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder and glanced at Sam. "When I took this form, people weren't always nice."

 

"Even before," Judai muttered.

 

There was a story there that Sam wasn't sure she wanted to know. She still said, vehemently: "Fuck them."

 

Judai and Yubel both laughed. Sam hesitated. Where did one go from here?

 

"Can we walk you home?" Judai asked.

 

"You don't need to. I'm fine on my own."

 

"For the company, then." Judai looked at her imploringly. "I don't actually know the city. We're just tourists."

 

"Well, okay." They seemed nice enough when they weren't breaking the laws of nature. If they wanted to kill her, they could probably do so whenever they wanted, and if they didn't, she'd have an awesome story to tell Mike.

 

"So that thing with the moon, how'd you do that?"

 

Judai laughed, loud and happy. "Oh, that? Parlor trick, nothing more."