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Prologue – A Calm Stroll on the Beach

The night was silent, except for the sound of the waves gently lapping the beach. It was a cool night with a bright moon shining overhead and twinkling stars dotting the clear, black sky. It was peaceful.

But that peace had not translated well from what he had just gone through.

"I had to stumble on that during my first time out in a long time. What a nice way to relieve stress and get plenty of exercise." He mentally scoffed.

His feet shuffled throwing sand in the night air. The cooling breeze provided comfort, but he still ached all over.

"After all that, I hope she got away."

He stumbled over his steps a little before his legs finally gave out and his body landed in the sand. Liking the icy sand against his flushed skin, he laid there.

He was glad no one was here to bear witness to this moment of extreme weakness.

Sighing, he listened to the natural sounds of the night hoping to gather enough energy to make it back home. But the rhythmic crashing of the waves in the distance was soon interrupted by a gasp.

"I guess I thought too soon."

He could hear their running feet hitting the ground, making their way toward him.

He stayed still; eyes closed. "Maybe they'll think I'm dead and leave me alone."

A familiar scent wave through the air and he groaned.

"On second thought that probably won't be happening."

He could feel hands shaking him, which after a few moments turned annoyingly desperate. He growled an "Ok" before slowly pushing himself up. The person's hands wrapped around his arms intending to help him up, but he pushed them away uttering a quick, "I'm fine." As he got to his feet, he glared at the person who was a thorn in his side during the day.

Ignoring the questions and concern spewing from the person's lips, he wiped sand off his face, and quickly glanced down at himself making sure nothing seemed out of place. He frowned when he noticed something missing.

An image of its tattered remains lying in a pile of leaves quickly fluttered through his mind.

He frowned. "I liked that jacket."

He turned looking out toward the ocean, continuing to ignore the person 'dancing' next to him.

The dark blues were lightening.

A brief image of greenery with splashes of liquid shadow overlaid the sand before disappearing.

His frown deepened.

"This situation needs to be dealt with quickly and discreetly before something spills out…"

Although with the way things were looking, he stole a quick glance to his right at the person next to him, things were going to turn ugly, real ugly.

Unless…

A particular thought filtered through his mind making his right hand twitch, but he quickly squashed it and instead chose to rub a hand through his hair.

"Can't do that, he wouldn't like dealing with an extra body."

Taking notice of the large full moon and bright twinkling stars, he muttered lowly, "At least the sky is beautiful," and then he turned away heading back home. His feet shuffled with a little less difficulty then before.

A hand grasped his left arm and he yanked away, growling for the pest to stay back and to not follow.

But the person still wanted to follow and as they made it pass the threshold of concrete, he again expressed that he was fine. When that didn't work, he half turned and stated with extra venom "Go home, puppy," topping it with a murderous glare.

The response was immediate. He couldn't tell if it was shock, confusion, or fear, but all was mixed in the air and coming from the now frozen source.

He paused. "Oh great, I slipped. Should I reconsider?"

He shook his head and continued his walk, happy that his follower finally stopped following. As long as he stayed away for the moment, he didn't care. He was tired and ready for the hours of sleep that was waiting at home.

Before disappearing down an alley, he muttered as an afterthought, "Hopefully they heed the warning because if not… I'll have to step in and I know he definitely won't like that."

He glanced up at the brightened sky before hurrying his steps.

"But maybe it's time for him to wake up and stop running, anyway."