Demigods & Shadows

Chapter One

A boy with dark skin and a top hat enters a back alleyway, stopping at the sight before him. A girl with tangled curly black hair and wearing mostly all black clothes is slumped over unconscious at the end of the alley.

"You're not supposed to be here." He walks up and nudges the girl's body. "Please don't be dead." The girl groans and moves slightly. "Oh thank god you're not dead." The boy says.

"Who the Hades are you?" The girl rasps. She sits up and looks around. "And where the fuck am I?" She notices that he has a pair of guns at his waist and moves back slightly.

The boy holds out his hand to the girl. "Jesper Fahey at your service." She ignores Jasper's hand and he pulls it back. "You're in Ketterdam..." Jesper trails off waiting for her to introduce herself.

"Anna De Angelo. And am I supposed to know where Ketterdam is? I've never heard of it." Anna stands up clutching at her side where the chimaera got her with its claws.

"You look like you need some help. Are you running away from something or someone? My friends have connections and can help you." Jesper says.

"I'm fine. I don't need any help." Anna leans back, using the wall behind her as support.

"Look, I found you slumped over unconscious in a sketchy back alley with a huge gash on your side. I don't think you're fine Anna De Angelo." Jesper says. "Let's get that gash of yours taken care of and then if you insist on leaving still, you can. But it's getting late and you don't want to be out by yourself at night in Ketterdam."

"Fine." Anna decides it's in her best interest to go with this Jasper person. She is clearly in an unknown area and has no idea how she ended up here.

Anna follows Jesper to what she assumes is his place which is above a crow sign and by the sounds and smells, the downstairs is quite the popular place for people looking for a drink and to gamble.

"I'll go get you some stuff to take care of that gash." Jesper leaves the room to get some medical supplies.

Anna shrugs off her jacket and pack to assess the damage, hissing as she presses around the gash. She rolls up her shirt and sees something sticking out of the wound.

Jesper walks back into the room and hands her some gauze and an antibacterial salve. He cringes at the blood surrounding the gash. "Should you get a professional to take a look at that?"

Anna makes eye contact with him and rips out the thing sticking out of her gash and drops it on the floor, taking a piece of gauze and applying it to the wound. "I am a professional."

"What the fuck is that?" Jasper stares in disgust at the black jagged thing on the ground that somehow came out of Anna's gash.

"Part of a claw from the beast that attacked me." Anna tapes the gauze to her side and turns to rummage through her pack, pulling out a sealed container and popping a small square into her mouth. Instantly Anna's wound feels mostly healed but she decides to keep the gauze patch on to hide that she healed almost instantly.

"You know what, I'm not gonna ask any questions. Here's a blanket, couch is all yours. You look like you need some sleep. I'll take you to my friend in the morning. He can find you a safe spot to stay and probably a job too." Jesper hands her a blanket and Anna wraps it around her shoulders.

"Good night Jesper."

"Night."

Anna lays down and thinks back to the chimaera. She remembers a dark blue/black cloud of something before she lost consciousness. Maybe a portal of some sorts? This doesn't seem like her world at all. The shadows feel different than the ones in Nee York. Maybe somehow she traveled to another dimension?

Anna decides that is a problem for her to solve tomorrow and drifts off into a dreamless sleep which she is thankful for.