'Antebellum' (Prologue)

When he slipped by the thick-bodied Strong-Mind who was guarding the door, there was not so much as an angry or annoyed yell from the line of others waiting impatiently behind him. It was not because they thought he was someone important, or even a special guest like the girl about his age that was let in just a few minutes before. They never actually saw the young man in the hooded grey duster jacket. He was not invisible. In fact, he had been standing in the line making small talk with the other youthful partygoers. But as soon as the door opened and he could see the lobby inside, no more than a blink of an eye later, he was standing in the dimly lit foyer leading up to the dressing rooms or downstairs to the dance floor and bars. 

He slid the cuff of his sleeves back down over his forearms, hiding the markings that still poured an iridescent cobalt blue light from his skin. He still had not got used to the ability that allowed him to slip so easily inside. To the crowd outside who actually saw him, it would have appeared that he was there waiting with them one second, and gone the next. To him, it was as if the world around him grinded to a near-halt as he walked through the door into the eerily quiet club while beams of light hung in the air and the sound of the music droned on. 

The crowd on the dance floor was hypnotized by a replay of the performance that had ended just minutes before. Between their dancing and their clanging of drinks, it was simple enough to step through the nearly solid wall of people. He took a moment to look around, a statue in comparison to the flailing and swaying around him. She had to be at one of the two bars on either side. His target. But after looking through the faces at the first neon lit bar, a young woman grabbed his shoulder from behind and turned him around to face her. 

"Hey there. You alone," she asked with a slurred voice. He thought for just a moment that she may have actually been fairly attractive had she been sober and he not had a solitary reason for being there. She beckoned him over with a single seductive gesture with her index finger, forming a soft aura of light at the tip of it. He sighed to himself, knowing that he was going to have to break her confidence when any other night he would have followed after her. 

"Sorry, beautiful," he spoke into her ear as he leaned in beside her, trying to be heard over the thumping of the music. "I'm sure someone else would be happy to dance with you, though." He had hoped he had let her down easily, but he knew that she probably wouldn't remember the rejection by the end of the night. She turned on her heel, annoyed, and changed her hair color with a run of her hand through her hair as she trudged away. 

He turned immediately to the other bar and spotted the girl he was looking for. Behind the bar, she was pouring drinks for the flock of egotistical Strong Minds who were pushing and shoving trying to get her attention. He had wasted enough time with the girl on the dance floor that he knew he had to risk another blink to get to the open chair at the bar. So trying to blend in, he began to dance. Even if it was terrible, and was calling more attention than he'd like, as he bumped into nearby patrons. His hands began to glow that same cobalt hue as before. This time it grew brighter. Hopefully, the people around him thought he was just a Light, like many of the dancing mob who surrounded themselves in auras of lights to enhance their sensual dancing. 

The music began to drone. A deep guttural moan compared to the smooth ringing of strings and rhythmic thumping it had been only a moment ago. The crimson beams of light hung in the air nearly motionless, creeping along with the drone. Everyone around him had frozen in place, or at least slowed down to such a pace that they had turned into the statues, while he snuck back and forth through the crowd. He was the only one moving now, towards the empty seat at the bar, just a few feet from the beautiful girl he had been looking for.  

It wouldn't be easy with every man at the bar looking right at her while she poured the clear liquids into the line of glasses. But he knew that now was his only chance. Everything around him slid back into its normal rhythm. The man next to him took a few looks, wiped his eyes, and shrugged it off to one too many drinks. A lucky break. One less person to get in his way.  

He reached inside his jacket, grasping for the shiny metal hiding inside. As his hands wrapped around it, she stepped a few feet closer. Within an arm's reach of him now. He pulled the metal from his pocket and pointed it toward her. The glimmer of the lights reflecting from it caught her eye. She turned a looked directly at him as he began to pull the hood from his face. 

"Hello there, darling..."