Shadow Knight.

                                                        Shadow Knight.

Midnight wasn't the best time to be out.

The only people that were out at this time of night were the people incapable of getting home by themselves, people that had nowhere to go, and me.

My legs were stiff because of the cold wind, my hair was in a mess on the top of my head and my eyes couldn't adjust to the dark light of the city. 

For almost an hour I'd been walking around the almost-empty streets, trying to find my best friend, who had decided she wanted to go find the guy that refused to dance with her earlier.

"Where are you, Sophie?" I muttered to myself. I sighed once I reached the point I started out from. "This is why I hate going out with you, Sophie." 

Talking to myself wasn't the best thing to do, since that's what you see the crazy people that are out at midnight do, and I really didn't want to be labeled as crazy when they find my frozen body, Sophie's name on my phone screen as I tried to, unsuccessfully, call her.

With fresh annoyance running through my veins, I walked towards the fountain in the middle of the square and sat down, sighing. If I went home and didn't find Sophie first, she could be the first thing on the news tomorrow morning, or I would be the first thing on the news tomorrow morning because I didn't go home. 

My phone vibrated on my lap and I quickly picked it up, my eyes scanning over the caller ID before pressing it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, girly!"

"Sophie, where are you?" I demanded, standing up instantly. "I've been worried sick about you!"

My best friend giggled down the phone before hiccupping. "Why, I'm where the party's at!"

"And where is that, Sophie?" I asked slowly, noticing the slur in her words. I lost her for an hour and she was already on her way to being well past drunk. "I'll meet you and we can go home."

"No, I don't want to go home!"

"Sophie." I sighed. "Please, where are you?"

"Where the party's at!" she cried cheerfully before hanging up. 

Cursing under my breath, I realised that she had called off a payphone and I didn't know how to trace calls, I wasn't that much of a genius. I rubbed my forehead and looked around, wondering which way to go from here.

"What's a pretty young thing like you doing out at this time, aye?"

My spine stiffened and I'm pretty sure my eyes almost popped out of my head as I listened to the guy step closer until he was right behind me. Daring to peek, I looked over my shoulder to see a man that was no older than thirty-five standing there, a vicious smile on his face.

"Well, I best be going," I squeaked before spinning around and running towards the other side of the fountain. My footsteps echoed as I ran towards the alleyway, the short way towards the only bus stop that runs at this time of night.

In one single minute I managed to trip over the laces to my boots, I dropped my bag with everything in it and the guy caught up with me, his hand grabbing the bag before it hit the floor. As I lay on the floor, I realised my scarf was hanging out of my bag and the guy was about to trip over it. 

 "It's not very nice to take what isn't yours."

My mind couldn't quite register where the guy had come from, but he was there and slamming the man that stole my bag against the wall. I quickly scrambled to my feet and looked at them carefully, would they harm me?