Doug the slug,is faster than we expect. The trash can lid clips my temple and then he is on me, pressing me into the brick wall. He will smother me—his kinds preferred way of killing—if we do not get free. If I am killed, Light will be weakened. Not dead, but without the ability to manipulate light anymore. And worse, Light will be alone.
We have never been alone.
Now Doug has hold of me. We cannot hide in the shadows. His grip crushes my arm as his other hand tries to grab my face. I dislike doing this, but I have no choice. I apologize to Light, even though our thoughts are one. Then I melt.
There is no other way to describe the sensation. I leak away like spilled ink, spreading thin to run along the cracks in the bricks. Doug punches the wall. Again. And again.
The pain of melting makes me want to reform, but I keep moving, creeping higher to the vent.
Bricks crumble beneath Doug’s attack and I hug the wall tighter. Inside the vent, I slide deeper. It is the first place we would search for us, but we hope Doug wants to flee. Light should’ve gone after Doug. Light could’ve incinerated him. I was supposed to be unseen.
I reform, which is as painful as un-forming. The blows make by ribs, my head and my and back ache. For a few moments it’s all I can do to breathe as I pull the shadows around me until I am full concealed.
Light’s concern floods me, even though it is clear that I am alive, and he is aware of that because of our shared conscious.Mission fail.
* * *
There arepeople at the table. Two men. Only one is human. The other is the Ursh and will know that I am not Doug once I am close enough for it to hear my heart’s electrical impulses. My vision blurs as Shadow struggles against Doug.
The lady pauses by the table as though waiting for us. We can’t join them.
“I need a moment,” I murmur.
“The bathroom?” Cadence asks. She smiles at the woman, then leads me in a different direction. When Shadow dissolves, it’s like acid on my skin. I grit my teeth.
She keeps her arm in mine and I lurch into the room that in fact has no bath, and is an excrement station.
“What is going on?”
“Doug and Shadow are fighting.” I lean against the wall and draw in several slow breaths, knowing that I can’t help Shadow, yet a life without him is unimaginable.
“Shit. And the people at the table?”
“One is human. The other is alien and might be a contact or an employee. Do you know them?”
“Only by first name. Doug often has dinner with them.”
“What is discussed?”
She opens her mouth, then closes it. “Oh…all those trades and deals, they weren’t shares or companies, were they?”
“Probably not. The alien will be able to tell I’m not Doug.”
“So what now? We can’t hide in here forever.”
It doesn’t seem like a bad plan. Shadow reassures me he is fine, though he is hurting and unsuccessful.
We need to find Doug. No Doug, no bounty. Though hauling his accomplice in for questioning might be useful.
“You are law enforcement. Can you arrest them?”
Her eyebrows lift. “I cannot. I have no reason to. And while the alien appears human, you can’t either in case he rips his skin off like Doug.”
We don’t want another alien shedding his skin and running around the city.
What should have been a simple home-based grab, has unraveled. If we do not find a solution, we will lose him again.
Shadow agrees and begins making his way back to Doug’s place. Our ship won’t allow him to leave, but his transport ship is still out there and a viable option if he wants to get off world fast.
