by S.J. Finch
Chapter 9
The panes in one of the French doors exploded inward and hurled Vanessa and Ryan to the ground in a hail of broken glass.
Ryan uncovered his face and looked up to see a man standing in the remains of the doorway, the biggest man Ryan had ever seen.
He was six and a half feet tall with gigantic muscles that rippled beneath ebony skin and thick dreadlocks that fell past his massive shoulders. He wore a black t-shirt with cut-off sleeves that were fraying at the ends. Baggy black tactical pants covered tree-trunk legs and most of his huge black combat boots. His face was square with a low-hanging brow and a wide, pointed jaw. Despite the rest of his colossal frame, the eyes were the most striking feature. They flashed with an unnatural glint that made them look brighter and more pronounced than any normal pair of eyes. Ryan might not have even noticed this glint had the eyes been brown or blue, but these were an unmistakable shade of deep violet, and they were unlike anything Ryan had ever before seen. The man spoke with an impossibly low voice, but there was no threat in it.
“My apologies for the door, Ms. Tate, but I cannot allow you to kill Mr. Fisher. At least not yet. Ryan, I must speak with you of an urgent matter, but this place is not safe for such a discourse. There is a park downtown, on the corner of Grand and Sullivan. Do you know it?”
“Uh, yeah, but-” Before he could finish, the man continued in his businesslike tone.
“Good. Please be there in one hour. I will find you. I would recommend picking up a copy of this morning’s newspaper on your way. You might find it contains something of a particular interest to you.”
The gun had crashed to the floor along with the chairs and the teenagers, and the man stooped down to pick it up.
“This will be returned to you after our meeting, at which point you may do with it what you will. Until then however…” He dropped it in his pocket.
The man turned back to the broken door but as he did, he turned halfway back to Ryan. “Do not blame yourself for what has happened. The events were well beyond your control. And do not fear the beast’s power, only the moon can unleash it fully.”
He turned, stepped out onto the patio, and was gone.