Friends with the King of the Underworld | Book 1

Chapter Twelve

I didn't like being followed.

I was painfully aware of Cat - still disguised as a raven - following us from roof to roof as we strolled down the busy downtown street. Since it was Saturday night, the bars and venues were busy, overflowing with crowds and live music.

I wasn't ever a fan of going out on Saturday nights Downtown, preferring to stay home and watch a movie ... but the dream unnerved me and I needed to be out with people. Staying home alone didn't seem like a safe option for me.

Which was why after we finished dinner at my favorite restaurant, we decided to take a stroll and find somewhere to sit down and talk.

It seemed that Cat couldn't come in at all. I'd lost sight of him as soon as we found an empty enough bar that we could sit at and talk comfortably. The place was small and upscale. There were black and white pictures on the brick exposed walls, red cushioned stools at the bar and deep mahogany wood.

At the back of the scarcely populated bar, there was a man on the guitar crooning in the microphone in front of him singing acoustic versions of popular songs.

"Tears for Fears," Chris mentioned casually as the waitress left our high top bringing our drinks. He nodded behind me towards the singer as he sang a popular Tears for Fears song. "He's pretty good."

I nodded in agreement and took a sip of my water. I sat facing the entrance of the bar and watched as the people walked back and forth at the entrance, not once glancing inside.

He took a drink from his glass of beer. "So what are you studying? You're still in college, right?"

I fiddled with the corner of the napkin under my glass of water in a nervous gesture. "Yeah, I'm working on a dual degree - I'm a Computer Science major. One more year to go."

"Have you thought about an internship? My company does that for the summer, I could ask around for you if you'd like."

I frowned. "A bank does that?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I actually work in one of the big offices. It's actually in charge of the IT infrastructure of the entire bank and its branches."

I found myself leaning towards him trying to absorb everything he was saying. "What is it that you do, exactly?"

We spent the better half of an hour talking about his work, then about the internship program. He gave me advice about school, what to expect as I was graduating in my senior year since he was a recent college graduate himself.

The advice was invaluable, and for once, I was happy my mother meddled in my life.

A low rumble broke through the small bar causing the guitar player behind us to stop playing. The patrons looked around the room trying to find the source of the noise. The glasses shook on the table and the dimly lit room grew darker still. Chris moved slightly closer to me in a protective stance.

The darkness and shadows converged to one corner of the room and I watched Damien as he stepped out of it, as if he was created from it. It was almost as if the shadows were all on that section of the bar on purpose to conceal his sudden appearance.

Anyone that had looked before would have thought that he had been standing in the shadows all along.

But I knew better.

The lights in the room suddenly grew brighter and the room was as dimly lit as it had been a moment before Damien appeared. Everything returned to normal, the rumbling ceased.

It was careless, even for Damien. We'd always been so careful when appearing in public. For him to suddenly materialize in a bar, even as dark as it was a moment prior, was very un-Damien like.