A Shadow In The City

Chapter 1: Neither Death Nor Life

The taxi trunk slammed shut as Amy placed the rest of her luggage on the curb. She tipped the cabi handsomely- maybe too handsomely judging by how fast he ducked back into the drivers seat- and looked all around her as he sped off. Apartment buildings lined both sides of the streets each looking startling different than the ones next to it. But even then, this place didn't seem too different from Boston. Except that the skyline boasted roughly ten times the amount of skyscrapers. The streets seemed just as busy, though she had arrived between rush hours so she imagined that the craziest was yet to come.

A problem arose when she realized she hadn't the slightest idea as to which one of these apartments she was supposed to be looking for. She had only told the cab driver the street name, expecting someone to be outside to meet her. She began to fish her pockets for the paperwork she haphazardly folded up in her haste to get a taxi, when she suddenly felt the sensation of someones eyes on her. She turned toward the building where a man leaned against it in the shadows cast by the towering buildings overhead.

He clearly found some amusement in seeing her confusion. The smirk he was failing to hide nearly pushing his eyes closed.

"You must be Mr. Fischbach." She approached him with an outstretched hand.

"Call me Mark," He pried himself from the wall and took a few steps toward her, "We're gonna be working with each other for while."

Amy gave him the once over, noticing some little and not-so-little quirks. A heavy sweatshirt with baggy sleeves covering his knuckles and with it's hood pulled over a black baseball cap. The front zipper was half opened with a pair of sunglasses hanging from the crew neck shirt underneath The way he stepped forward just enough so when their hands met, his was still out of the sunlight. And, of course, the big give away: The extended canine teeth.

"The University didn't tell me anything about my contact being a vampire." She remarked. She only noticed how badly it sounded after saying it.

Mark raised both eyebrows. "I'm impressed."

"I mean-" She stumbled a bit, "It just seems like something that would have been brought up is all I'm saying-"

"It's fine," He giggled, his eyes disappearing behind his cheeks. "I knew what you meant." He looked down at the three rolling suitcases just behind her. "Oh, is this all you brought?"

Amy adjusted the large tote bag on her shoulder and sassed back, "Ya know, it's just the essentials."

"Oh, 'just the essentials,' you say?" He moved around her to grab two of the suitcases. Facing as to have as little uncovered skin in the sunlight as possible. Amy made quiet note of how the few, small bits of light that made it seemed to have no effect on him.

"Mr. Fi-" She caught herself, "Mark, you don't have to do that."

"Don't you worry your pretty, little head about this. I got it. Just get the door for me."

Amy quickly grabbed the last suitcase, pulling up the handling and rolling it toward where Mark was carrying the other two off the ground with what seemed like no effort. The brick building Mark had been leaning against was the destination. It had double doors, wood and glass with ornate brass handles that opened to a lobby with cream colored walls and tiled floors. A wide stairway with wooden railings spiraled upwards with an aged, brass cage elevator in the center of it. Amy propped one door open with her suitcase and held the other open so Mark was able to enter the building with out twisting to accommodate the luggage he held. After retrieving it, she looked up and noticed Mark making his way toward the elevator rather than the stairs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," She protested as he clicked the 'up' button on the small panel, "We are not going up in that, are we?"

"You wanna go up to the fifth floor by way of stairs?" He looked at her with a brow raised.