Chapter 04
Tina removed the gauze that covered a puncture on her forearm. Uriel had taken her blood under the pretence of needing it to improve her morning shake -- such an obvious lie. If Uriel could improve the potion, he would have done that weeks ago. She stuffed the gauze in her pocket and rolled down the sleeve of her brown T-shirt. She cast a last gaze in the direction of the room that Uriel claimed as his own before she went across the narrow hallway toward the living room, hoping that Irene had already fulfilled her request and bought a television and a satellite dish. There was no way Tina was going to stay cooped up in some house without television, even if she would only have German-speaking channels at her disposal.
She stepped into the living room, a large space, which housed two brown L-shaped couches with a large coffee table between them. A bar with four bar-stools stood by the wall, its half-circle faced the door, inviting Tina to go to it and use the shining coffee machine that stood on its counter -- but which to her sorrow only had decaf coffee -- or to pour herself a drink from one of the bottles that lined the glass shelves.
“Hey.” Muriel gave her a smile over the book he held in his hand.
“Hey,” she greeted back and plopped down on the couch opposite Muriel, her eyes on Haniel, who standing before the wide mahogany cabinet and wall-mounted LCD screen, fiddled with a laptop and narrow black box. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure that we can watch more than just German-dubbed movies,” Haniel said over his shoulder before he bent over the box again.
“Great.” Tina had learned a little German in high school, but beyond a few simple phrases she didn’t remember much. “I hope that there is something good on today.”
“We are going out in the evening.” Haniel disconnected the cables from the laptop and connected the black box to the screen.
“Hunting?” Tina shook off her slippers, slid lower on the couch and rested her legs on the table before her. She wasn’t in the mood for playing bait today. She would rather spend her evening engaged in a more enjoyable pastime.
“Tristian said that there’s not much to hunt,” Muriel said. “He has this notion that Munich is Deadeater-free.”
“Bullshit, if you ask me.” Haniel closed his laptop before he faced them. “The Lost are too clueless about Deadeaters. They could have a Deadeater’s nest under their noses and they probably wouldn’t even notice it.” He leaned his backside on the cabinet. “But I didn’t have hunting in mind. Uriel seems to be busy tonight; he found himself a little project” -- his eyes zoomed in on Tina -- “something to do with you, probably. He forbade me to bother him or to go near his room and I thought, why not use this? We could go out on the town, you know, just the three of us and have some fun, not drinking, of course, since Muriel looks like he escaped from kindergarten --”
“Oi.” Muriel pushed out his lower lip.
“But go sightseeing or something.”
“Just us?” Tina straightened. “Are we even allowed?”
“Uriel wouldn’t like you running around without him, but he wouldn’t know, would he? And if he finds out later, what can he do?”
“You know what he will do.” A pout on Muriel’s round face curved into a smile. “He will lecture you.”
“Ah.” Haniel waved with his hand. “I’m used to that. And he won’t be so hard on me if you are involved too. Don’t glare at me like that. That’s not why we invited you to come along.”
“What about Irene?” Tina asked.
Haniel flashed a naughty grin. “We will just have to sneak out without her noticing, that’s all.”
“You know what? I don’t know why we should sneak out -- we are doing nothing wrong,” Tina said, even though she knew that neither Uriel nor Irene would appreciate them going out on their own. “We will leave them a note in the kitchen and just leave normally, through the front door. We are going to go out, on a short stroll, sightseeing, and maybe a little shopping, what’s wrong with that?”
“Yeah.” Haniel nodded.
And they did stroll out through the front door, as soon as Haniel disabled the alarms.
Tina wanted to go to a shopping centre and they found a bunch of stores four blocks away, near the main train station, just across from a Starbucks.
The store they went in looked small from the outside, but when the sliding door opened to them, the large space with racks, shelves and baskets with various things spread before them.
Tina pushed her sunglasses, that protected her from the weak four o’clock sun, on top of her head. She wanted to buy some long-sleeved shirts, maybe some sweaters and jeans. She also needed a warm jacket. She liked the one she had snagged from Muriel, but she needed a warmer one and couldn’t visit Muriel’s closet every time she was short on clothes, even though she did like Muriel’s and they fit her well.
She used escalators to ascend to the second floor where she should, according to the inscription on the board beside the stairs, find the Kleidung Abteilung -- the clothing department.
Haniel and Muriel followed her.
Tina noticed the passers-by’s glances following their two companions. “Don’t you have anything else to do?”
“Nope.” Haniel shook his head.
“And there’s no way we are leaving you on your own. What if anything happens?” Muriel pushed his way under Haniel’s arm to step closer to Tina.
“Yeah, Uriel and Irene would skin us alive,” Haniel added.
“Like something could happen in a broad daylight.” Tina rolled her eyes, but she didn’t argue with them further and let them accompany her; they even proved useful with their fashion tips -- actually Muriel proved useful, while Haniel busied himself with nodding while the extremely nice saleswoman delivered piles of clothes. Being with two ‘alluring’ guys had its perks, despite that they attracted too much attention for Tina’s liking.
After Tina finished her shopping spree, with two large paper bags in her hands to show for it, they found themselves back into the street, with the sun already gone and streetlights illuminating the pavement.
“So, what’s next, boys?” Tina pushed one bag into Haniel’s hand and the other into Muriel’s, before she hooked her arms around theirs.
“Whatever madam wishes.” Haniel placed the bag into his other hand and tucked Tina’s arm more securely around his elbow.
“Why don’t we drop by the Starbucks?” Tina’s gaze found a large green sign that read “Starbucks Coffee.”
Haniel stopped. “No.”
“What? Why?”
“You are going to drown yourself in coffee again and then you won’t be able to sleep.”
“What are you talking about? It’s not even seven yet and you know that I only drink decaf.” Tina released Haniel’s arm. Actually, she was lying; she had started to drink the real thing in Norway, pouring it down her throat as if it were water whenever she got her hands on it. Not that she could do that since coming to Damon’s Munich house; because she hadn’t drunk coffee before, it wasn’t on the grocery list and asking for it would expose that the thought of sleep frightened her.
“Oh, come on. Did you really think that we wouldn’t notice how you wear yourself out until you collapse?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Tina took a step backwards, her shoulder bumping against a passerby.
“Please.” Muriel’s hand found Tina’s. “Don’t lie to us.”
“It’s nothing... it’s not like that. I never collapsed.” Tina wrinkled her forehead. They shouldn’t have noticed, not when she went to her room every night with a laptop or book in her hand, pretending that she was going to sleep, excusing her bad shape in the morning by saying that she’d had that dream again. The dream that she so desperately tried to avoid, no matter how her body screamed for rest and no matter that she could hardly keep her eyes open. The only reason her body still functioned and she could still think clearly was because she forced herself to use a Sarniikzi for those thirty-minute long restless naps she took. “It’s just...”
“I know.” Muriel’s fingers slipped between Tina’s and he squeezed them. “But don’t lie to us, please, or try to hide it. We might object to your methods, but we will be there for you. You should know that by now already.”
“You will? Yes, you will.” How could she even doubt that for a second? Tina flashed her teeth in a smile. “Does that mean that I can get my coffee?”
“Nope, not regular, but I will bring you a decaf.” Haniel gave the bag to Muriel and would have rushed toward the coffee-shop if Muriel hadn’t grabbed his wrist.
“What?” Haniel turned.
“I just got this weird feeling.” Muriel furrowed his brows. “Actually, I’ve had it since the moment we stepped into the store, but I thought it was because of the discomfort -- you know how crowds make me feel -- but it’s getting stronger and it makes me feel like something is crawling under my skin. It’s similar to --” He shook his head as he pushed the bags higher on his shoulder.
“What, Muriel? Similar to what?”
Muriel lifted his head and his eyes stared into Haniel’s. “A Shadow is coming.”
“You have to be kidding me.” Tina raised her gaze, searching above the street lights for a dark, moving blob.
“I’m serious.” Muriel darted forward, with his hands wrapped around Haniel’s and Tina’s wrists, he pulled them along, the two bags hanging from his arm swinging with the motion. “Come on. We might not be able to get to the house before that thing catches up with us, but we should get away from the main street.”
“What about humans, what if it attacks them?” Tina dug her heels into the pavement.
“It won’t.” Haniel sidestepped, grabbed Tina’s shoulders and pushed her forward.
“How do you know?” Tina let Muriel drag her with him, mainly because of the curious glances directed their way. Couldn’t people just mind their own business?
“Because, from everything we learned about them, there could be only two reasons why a Shadow is roaming around.” Muriel hooked his arm around Tina’s elbow, forcing her to quicken her stride as they turned the corner into a narrow deserted alley.
“And that is?”
“To track somebody or to feed. And you don’t have to worry about Mamaels, they are not nutritious to them, instead you should worry about us, because we are,” Muriel said.
Tina closed her eyes for a moment. Shadows didn’t feed on their victims, they devoured them, leaving nothing but dust behind. She could remember it so clearly. Something cold and intangible touched the nape of her neck, causing goosebumps on her skin. The feeling of danger. Her heart fluttered in her chest, it started to accelerate and time started to slow down.
“Not now. We can’t take care of you and keep you safe when you use your ability.” Muriel shook her arm before his hand slid lower and he wrapped it around her fingers, his words became slow and distorted, but she could understand him nevertheless. “Focus on my heartbeat.”
Tina’s fingers tiptoed higher and found the pulse on the inside of Muriel’s wrist. She took a deep breath and concentrated on his lazy pulse. Her heart adopted Muriel’s rhythm. The sounds around her become clear again: the echo of their soles against the pavement as they ran through the alley, the rustle of the bags as they swung on Muriel’s shoulder and the noise of people drifting from the main street.
Over her shoulder she looked up at the grey sky, knowing what she would find there. A dark blob. At the sight of it her heart started to speed up again, despite her concentration. The blob shot down, it was gaining on them fast. She couldn’t breathe, but not because of the strain of the run. She stumbled. Her heart almost stopped before it hammered against her ribcage.
Haniel’s hands reached out for her, the movement slow as if he were under water and his mouth formed words, but the sounds were deformed and long.
Muriel’s wrist shifted under her fingers, becoming larger, she could feel fur under her fingers. He half turned, then he scooped them up, and the large wings spread, flapping as they soared up into the sky.
The world around her slowed down, so did Haniel’s movement, but not Muriel’s. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. What was going on?
“It seems we don’t need to worry about the Shadow anymore.” Muriel showed her a row of serrated teeth.
Yes, but for how long? Tina’s eyes found the dark shadow under them, its progress looking slow as a toddler’s run. “How is it even possible that the time thing works for you too?”
Muriel adjusted his grip on Haniel. “I don’t know. But we will find out.”