The Clash of Shadows by Joseph R. Lallo

Author:Joseph R. Lallo [Joseph R. Lallo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heart Ally Books, LLC
Published: 2024-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Jessie, accompanied by three other officers, approached the door of the apartment building. It said something about how seriously the police department was taking the ATM thefts that they’d set up this raid for after midnight rather than wait another day. She tried to remain calm and keep her eyes open. Frightful had curled into her shadow, but seemed oddly tense, flexing her unseen talons in a way that caused Jessie’s back to twitch with vague pins and needles. She hadn’t shared the specific nature of the threat in this place with the other officers. They wouldn’t have believed her, and there was no way for her to provide proof that wouldn’t cause them to doubt their own sanity. In what was probably a for-the-best scenario, Frightful showed no interest in leaving her as a perch, and indeed held on far more firmly when other humans were around. It meant asking her to share her gift of being able to see Shades by giving the other officers a turn was likely out of the question, but it also meant the rikt wouldn’t grab onto someone who wasn’t ready to have the truth revealed.

In what was becoming an unpleasantly common experience, she’d carefully constructed a story that had only the faintest relationship with reality, but guided those around her into as near an approximation of the proper behavior as she could. So the other officers weren’t prepared for mysterious, supernatural magic or unseen attackers from another world. But they were prepared for “possible attack animals” and “unregistered weapons.” She’d run a thousand scenarios through her mind on how best to get the others to evacuate safely if they were headed into a situation they couldn’t understand. Every few moments the nagging feeling of doubt, the feeling she may have gotten in over her head, urged her to pull the plug. She had no fewer than six different plans for preventing the bust from happening on short notice. But this was the world now. Her eyes had been opened. She could close them and pretend the Shades weren’t real, but that wouldn’t change things. This was important. This was how she would prove to herself that she could still navigate a world where Shades were a part of the law enforcement duty to society.

“Flashlights ready,” she said quietly, opting to let one of the other officers take the lead at the door. “Informant said they keep things dark.”

The others nodded and readied their big, chunky flashlights. The lead officer hammered the door.

“Philly PD. Open up!” he barked.

Jessie shivered a bit as she heard the distant, not-quite-natural sound of Shade voices mixing with human shouts.

“We have a warrant and we will enter,” the officer shouted. “This is your last chance to cooperate.”

She saw a darker form against the dark sidewalk slide out from beneath the door and whisk away. Then another. They were starting to escape. Her training said to pursue, but her training didn’t allow for beings who could slip through any crack and move at incredible speed without a vehicle.

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