Excerpt from Chapter One

         Hey,” Kevin said his mouth almost covering Jess’s nose.  The words ‘personal space’ never enter a drunken man’s mind, and to Jess’s dismay, the stench of a dozen shots of whiskey was still lingering on his friend’s breath.  The smell alone was enough to kill him twice over, but the taste was on his own tongue, and he had grown accustom to the odor after so many nights out with the guys.  He refused yet another shot from Robby, knowing already that he would have hell to pay in the morning to come.  Kevin, who was obviously drunk off his ass, swung his arm around Jess’s shoulder, pulled him in close, and spoke into his ear.  “Hey, man.  There’s this insanely hot chick at the bar.  She keeps looking over here.  I think she wants you.”  Unfortunately, Kevin’s ability to control the volume of his voice was shot to hell.  So instead of whispering, he murdered Jess’s eardrum and announced the supposed secret to the entire bar.  Luckily, the music was blaring, and no one even noticed the group of drunken men.
         Semi-interested, Jess looked over the girl out of the corner of his eye.  She was sitting cross-legged on a bar stool, her slender legs revealed by the slit sown down her midnight blue dress.  The gown accented her hips and heightened the beauty of her fare, even skin.  It was aligned with silver rhinestones around the chest and hooked at the nape of her neck, exposing the length of her back.  Worn plain and down, her ebony hair fell straight and draped passed her shoulder blades.  Her attire was too elegant for Mike’s bar; she was out of place.  Jess thought of a situation in which the woman had been attending a party, became displeased, and went searching for some fun.  Fun, that he was going to present to her.
         That is, until he caught a glimpse of her eyes.  Sapphire.  Elahna.  Those are Elahna’s eyes. Jess shook his head, knowing he was being ridiculous.  There were six billion people in the world.  There was bound to be more than one person with the same color eyes as her.  Smiling at how absurd he was being, Jess regained his calm but lost it once again as a streak of red flashed across the girl’s black hair.  He turned back around, steadying his breathing and collecting his thoughts.  When he looked for a second glance, she was gone.  Scanning the bar and coming up empty, he rushed into the adjacent restaurant of Mike’s.  Nothing.
         Askance, Jess saw another red streak through the window.  Bursting past the doors, he ran down the sidewalk shoving through the late afternoon crowd.  Within minutes, she had escaped him, and at a crosswalk, he searched franticly for the slightest sign of her black and red hair.  Not again.  I won’t lose her again.  All these years and she comes back when I’m wasted.  Damn it!  A horn blazed as the hood of a car barely hit Jess’s leg.
         “Get out of the way, asshole!” an angry man yelled.
         Jess ignored the enraged driver, all his focus concentrated on finding the ghost of his past.  Something inside him urged him to follow the walkway and round the corner.  Obeying, he ran. I won’t loose you again, Elahna.          



         
         It was unlike her to feel anxious or nervous.  But as he seemed to find her with incredible accuracy, her heart began to race, and she felt the rush of the tables turned in which she was the prey.  Thinking on her feet, she quickly but casually ducked into a crowded nightclub and disappeared into the throng of people.  A beer would do nothing to quench her increasing thirst, but she grabbed one anyway, falling into a becoming routine that destroyed so many unfulfilled lives.  She was overdressed for this bunch but nonetheless blended in perfectly, lightly mingling and relaxing against a pillar in the dance floor.  Within minutes she felt him enter but kept to her place so as not to draw attention to his scanning eyes.  She had come to find him, yet she hid like a frightened child in the shadows.  How silly.
         It was only him, only him who she teased like this.  He was so easy to inquire but keen enough to unravel pieces that others couldn’t, and because of that, her presence there was a huge risk to all she had accomplished.  All those under her were in enormous danger if she didn’t stick to the plan and keep him at a distance.  If he turned that cunning mind onto her and her work, everything could be jeopardized, and as a result, all could be lost.  She was so drowned in her thoughts that she almost didn’t notice that he had come to be at her side.
         As brilliant as he was, he wasn’t immune to the impairment of alcohol.  And therefore, he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was swaying mere feet from her propped body.  She studied him as he stumbled a short distance away.  She could clearly see that he had maintained his incredible physique over their time apart, even as it was hidden under his layers of clothing.  The shirt he wore was a deep blue with dots of what she assumed was whiskey spilt from his evening drinking.  His jacket was black and torn along the left sleeve.  His jeans were loose and hung low on his hips, his belt evidently forgotten in his hast to leave home.  There was no other word to describe his appearance except disheveled.  He was a complete mess.  Whether it was from his night out or from her disappearance, she did not know nor did she care.  She smiled.  Tufts of his dark blonde hair stuck every which way on his confused head.  His hair was longer, different.  He was different, older.  Of course he was.  He was human after all.
         All the more reason why I shouldn’t be here.  She silenced her thoughts.  There were reasons for her to leave, yes, but the reasons for her to stay were dominant over her fear of exposure.  This was important.
         She was lost in her thoughts and almost missed his eyes on her.  His stare bore into her, and her heart began to race.  He started towards her, but she allowed herself to be swept away with the crowd.  Soon, she was lost to him again.  That was close.  Her smile spread as she suppressed a giggle of amusement.  She could be such a child sometimes.
         She found his searching head in the crowd, feeling a new sense of impression.  He always found her.  Somehow, someway.  All that time ago, she had always expected to find him at her doorstep, that amazing sense of his leading him there.  She often wondered why he hadn’t, why he didn’t follow his instincts that could have paved the way to her.  He didn’t know how to control it; she had learned that the hard way, but he followed his gut all the time, now being a prime example.  What had stopped him back then?
         It had been four years since her fall out, four years since he was sent to find her.  In the beginning, she was just another job, just another case of a missing person…but she wasn’t really.  She had lost it.  She had run away, away from her responsibilities, away from her family, away from the life she knew.  She was free…or so she thought.  He had tracked her down like an animal, and she was put back in her place.  She had left because she was tired, tired of always having to do everything, tired of this existence.  She still was, but her head was in its place now, and she was forever thankful to her loyal vizier for hiring the man she saw before her, the man lost in the masses.  It had been four enduring years for them both.  A living hell.  His, in her opinion, being the more bearable one but nevertheless, hell on earth…and it only got worse.
         Her amusement was gone and apparently so was his drive.  She watched as he exited the club, his body showing his defeat.  Her legs moved to follow, but she stopped herself.  As much as it killed her to waste time, she let him go.  His head needs to be clear and his answer absolute.  There’s no time for maybes or reconsiderations.  Leaning against the wall, she waited.  It wasn’t long before she felt the pull in her mind that signaled the arrival of one of her own.
         He arrived at her back, looking respectable and of high power as always.  She didn’t need to turn around to know his expression or his attire for that matter.  He always wore black pants with a black belt; a clean and pressed black, buttoned up shirt with a white ascot puffed below his chin; and a tailored, black jacket that showed his form well.  His long, blonde hair was fastened securely at the nape of his neck, a traditional style for the men of his time.  He also wore an ankle-long coat that perfectly concealed the steel blade at his waist.  His expression was neutral, showing no hint toward his thoughts, but she knew he disapproved of the game she was playing.  It was a huge risk, but one she was willing to take.  If the private investigator could find her whether she wished it or not, then he could definitely find the one she sought.
         “Elahna,” he acknowledged, his voice even and full of respect.  He spoke in the way a willing servant spoke to his master, eager to please.  Though, there was always a sense of power when he voiced, the sense of an Elder.  He was an Elder; he was her elder, but she was his better, and he understood that.
         “Matthew.”
         “Shall I await at his office?” he suggested, knowing time was of the essence.
         “No,” she said in an almost daydream-like way.  She was astray in her thoughts again, a newly forming habit.  “No, someone needs to confront him there but not I nor you.  It is best if the question comes from someone else…someone who’s got a glimpse into the unknown.”  Elahna smiled, thinking of the one she suggested.  Matthew bowed at his command, accepting without question.  She waved a hand and added, “And send Meya too.  It’ll be nice for him to see a familiar, friendly face.”
         “Of course.”  Matthew bowed before his silent departure to carry out his duties.
         When she no longer felt his presence, her focus went to that of the clawing need within her.  Noticing the forgotten beer still in her steady hold, she downed the last of it and tossed the empty bottle into a nearby trashcan.  Her throat was still dry and burning from thirst, her stomach tearing itself to shreds from hunger.  She left the club, no longer needing its dim lighting and horde of people for cover.  Now, the darkness of the swiftly approaching night would cast her into the shadows, concealing all that she was.  Now, she was alive.