Chapter 1
Flashing lights, pounding bass lines, and sweaty, intoxicated bodies were a part of Adriana's night life. Serving alcohol and dancing for cash was her job. Not completely by choice, she insisted, but because she was desperate for rent money and it was the only job available at the time. It was a relatively uneventful job until some of her coworkers and friends began to go missing while walking home at night. Cardiff was always seen as a safe place, and no one had had any trouble before, but now people were disappearing for days and turning up dead in the bay. Adrianna was determined to find out the cause of the tragedies.
She worked on her own to get to the bottom of it, and she wasn't getting very far. She'd taken on extra shifts, ordered everyone to either call a cab or walk with someone else if they didn't have a car. She personally carried pepper spray and had bought instructional karate DVDs in attempt to protect herself. There had been no advances and no suspicious behavior since she started her investigation. She took note of everyone that walked in her bar door and everyone who left, when they left, and who they left with. She was obsessed with cracking the case.
Then, one Saturday night, a man walked in the front door. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a pressed, button down shirt and a suit jacket. No one wore that type of outfit to a bar. His stance was semi- stiff from the moment he walked in the door and continued when he sat at a stool at her bar. He looked nervous, like he'd never been there before. He barely looked at Catherine who was dancing on the stage at the time, and simply ordered a pint. Catherine was one of their sexiest and most talented dancers. She captivated and aroused everyone who saw her, but this man only glanced. He was terribly suspicious.
"Hey, sexy, haven't seen you around," Adriana said and leaned across the bar. "You new in town?"
"No, just checking out the scene," he said and sipped his drink. He looked at her, but at her face and not the cleavage that she was exposing. It seemed that it would take more than that to get him to talk.
"And how do you like it so far?" she asked, flirtatiously.
"It's . . . interesting," he said, glancing about again, completely unaware of Adriana's advances.
She frowned and stepped away from him to mix drinks for a thirsty couple. She was away for two minutes before she was able to look back again. He was closely examining the people in the bar and seemed to be talking to himself.
She edged her way closer and listened.
"Any activity? . . . Well, there doesn't seem to be anything here. . . . No, no one to follow or keep an eye on," he was saying.
She went around to the other side of the bar when it was her break and let her hand slide across his back. He spun around quickly.
"Wanna dance, sweetheart?" she cooed.
There was a pause before he turned his head and said: "No, Jack," under his breath. "It's not funny! . . . Fine." Then he turned back to her, smiled, and said "I'd love to."
He wasn't a very good dancer, and he seemed more interested in the people around them than her. She sighed and gave up on wooing him into telling her that he was the killer. His head was turned and she noticed an earpiece in his ear. So he wasn't talking to himself, he was communicating with someone else! Adriana reached up and quickly took it from his ear. He not must be the only person doing the killing! Maybe he was just the attractive bait that hooked girls in and brought them back to the others. She took off running through the crowd, around the bar, and into the back room. She shut the door and locked it.
Breathing heavily, she looked at the earpiece and saw a small button on it. She pressed it and put it in her ear.
"Ianto, what's happening? I don't hear the music anymore," said an American man's voice.
"Hello?" she said.
"Who is this?" A woman asked.
"First, who are you?" Adriana asked.
"We're trying to figure out who's been killing those people," said the woman. "What's your name?"
"Adriana," she replied. "And I'm trying to figure out who's doing this, too."
"Where's Ianto?" said the American.
"Probably looking for me. I kind of grabbed his earpiece and ran for it," she replied.
The American chuckled. "Please go find him and give him back the earpiece."
Adriana turned around to go back to find Ianto, but there was a loud slam and the door opened. It was Ianto, looking extremely pissed off.
"He found me," she said, staring wide-eyed at Ianto.
He walked swiftly towards her and she quickly handed him his earpiece.
"Don't move," he said sternly as she had begun to walk towards the door. He put back in his earpiece. "I'm here. . . . There was nothing I could do! . . . She what? . . . Yeah, I have some. I'll find time. . . . Adriana?" he was talking to her now.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me everything you know about the killer," he demanded.
"I don't know much. Actually I don't know anything. I've just been calling cabs for the dancers, making sure everyone walks with another person when they leave, paying attention to everyone who walks in and out of the door and who they're with. You were the first suspicious person so far," she explained.
"Good work. I'm sure you saved many lives," he said.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"Now would you like to help us? We have an idea," Ianto said.
"Sure, what can I do?" she asked eagerly.
The plan was for Adriana to leave the bar last and walk on her own down the block. Jack, Gwen, and Ianto were going to be watching from three separate locations, waiting for something to happen. It was risky, but she was up for it. Anything to stop her friends' killings.
At about three in the morning, she was locking the door of the bar behind her as she was leaving. Her heart was racing in her chest already and she hadn't even been attacked yet. Adriana began her walk down the street listening intently for any sign of movement. She was two minutes away from the bar when she heard a strange wind-like sound. She spun around to see the most hideous thing she'd ever seen. She screamed and began to panic as it continued to approach her. It looked like a ghost; it was partially transparent and didn't have any footsteps. It was black and grey with piercing and terrifying red eyes. She couldn't help but stare into them in fear. It was just in front of her when its eyes seemed to cry blood. Blood dripped down its hideously deformed and decayed face and onto her hands. Adriana lifted a knee to strike its groin, but it wasn't solid. It felt as though she was kneeing water. When she couldn't injure it she began to run away from it.
She reached a corner of a building and Ianto came running from the alley. They collided and he pushed her into the alley and then followed her in. They peeked around the corner and saw Jack and Gwen pointing guns at the hideous figure. Ianto whispered "Stay here" to Adriana, and ran out of the alley with his own gun raised. She winced as they fired. The bullets went through the monster and hit the building behind it.
"It's not solid," Adriana called to them.
"What do we do, Jack?" Gwen asked with a panicked worry in her voice.
He didn't answer; he reached into the pocket of his military style jacket and pulled out what resembled a sea shell. He threw it on the ground and a blue light shone out of it. The light seemed to trap the terrifying creature because it no longer was slowly moving towards Adriana. Ianto and Gwen lowered their guns and looked at Adriana. She stood up and approached them. Ianto nodded to the others and said to Adriana: "Let's go for a coffee."
Adriana was pleased he asked and agreed to go. He even paid for her drink and carried them to the table. "Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," he said kindly.
"Do you have any idea what that was?" she asked and took a sip.
"Not yet, but we'll figure it out later," Ianto said, eying her drink and putting a hand in his pocket.
"I have so many questions to ask, I don't know where to begin!" Adriana laughed.
Ianto shifted in his seat and eyed her drink again. Adriana had worked in a bar long enough to be able to catch the signs that someone wants to slip something into her drink. She'd saved enough girls' lives to be able to catch it in her own. So she excused her self and stood in the hallway that led to the toilets. She didn't enter the toilets, but she peeked around the corner of the hallway and watched Ianto put something in her coffee and stir it. She sighed and went into the toilets and washed her hands before returning to her seat.
"So, do you think it was aliens?" she asked, whispering the word 'aliens.'
Ianto smirked. "Possibly. That's one theory."
"Oh, wow," she said and sat back in her chair, pretending to take a sip of her coffee. She looked at her cup. "I should have gotten something without caffeine; I'm going to be up all night!"
"Nah, you'll get tired soon, you've had a long night," Ianto said, looking down.
"Maybe I am sleepy," she said, feigning a yawn.
"Here, I'll walk you home," Ianto said and jumped up. He seemed anxious, like he wanted to get out of there as soon as they could.
"No, it's fine. Thank you," she said and squeezed his hand. "For everything. You three are life savers."
"It's our job." He shrugged. "Aren't you afraid to walk home alone?"
"No, why should I be? The monster's gone," she said simply.
"You mean you're really not scared there's more?" he said disbelievingly.
"No, not really. It's possible, but I'm sure you'd know before I would," she smiled and began to walk to the door. "See you around."
He nodded his goodbye as she left the coffee shop. Adriana quickly made her way back to her apartment and immediately did a search for a Ianto living in Cardiff. There were a few results, but she was able to narrow it down by his approximate age. Tomorrow, she'd pay him a visit and ask more questions about the possible alien and why he tried to drug her.