Chapter 1 - Blake's Best Friend

I perched on top of the roof, looking down among the people, searching for my prey. The moon stood full before me as I lept down into the alley below. Taking out my favorite revolver, I crouched behind a trashcan, waiting eagerly for my prey. Perhaps the time had finally come for me to take action. After all these years. Or was it just days? When had it all begun?

~*~AK~*~

“My best friend's strange.”

“Yeah? How so?”

“She disappears a lot.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Your move.”

“I mean, she's always saying she'll go to something and then never shows up and she's always going on long trips to places.”

“Don't you do the same though? Your move.”

“Yeah, but that's different. That's a part of my job and I always tell someone if I'm going to be gone long.”

“Maybe she's doing some side jobs. It's your move.”

“Ah, I don't know, man. Maybe I'm just over thinking this thing.”

“Exactly. It's still your move.”

“Huh?”

“It's your move.”

“Oh.” Blake took one look at the board and moved his queen over. “Check mate.”

“What?!”

“Whelp. I'm going home. Thanks for talking with me.”

“Ah, no! Come on, best 11 out of 20!”

“No.” Blake grabbed his coat and slinging it over his shoulder, walked out the door while Jack remained looking at the board, trying to figure out just how his friend beat him... again.

As Blake walked home, he continued wondering about his best friend's constant disappearances. They were supposed to go to a movie together a few nights ago, but she never showed up or called or anything. He still hadn't heard from her, even three days later. He remembered the longest time she was gone was two weeks. He had gone to her house, but the landlady said she hadn't been there in a long time. When he asked her where she might be, she claimed she didn't know. Blake worked as an investigator, so when he found out that no one had seen her for two weeks, he told them and asked for their help. The next morning she showed up at his house with breakfast and talking like nothing had happened. When he asked her about it, she avoided the question. She had always been like that, even before they became friends. He remembered when he first met her. She sang at a bar where he went to gather some information. When he tried to talk her into telling him some stuff, she just smiled, pulled out his badge from his pocket and checked for its authenticity. Then she returned it and told him that his kind wasn't wanted there. After that, she became like a challenge for him and he would always go back to try and get information out of her. That's when he learned that she was always going on random trips here and there and would be absent for a long time. But she was rarely ever gone for more than three days. Over time, they eventually became best friends, and whatever information he needed now, she always had it on the spot.

He walked along, checking his cellphone in case she texted him. This was why he wasn't paying attention to what was around him as he walked through an intersection. Suddenly, he felt a firm hand grab him and pull him forward with great force, as a car hurtled past where he used to be standing. He turned to look at who it was who had saved him, but no one was there. Quickly glancing around, Blake searched for where he might have gone, but there was nothing. He walked on to the other side. No one was around to ask.

Blake decided to stop by the bar where his best friend worked to get a drink and to see if she might reappear there. The bar was mostly empty and it was someone else who stood singing on the stage, though she wasn't nearly as good. Blake ordered a beer and sat down. Everyone around him he knew were probably criminals. Nearly everyone in that old town was. There were a great variety of criminals too. It just seemed to be the kind of place that all the criminals flocked to, though there really was no explanation as to why. Everyone carried a gun for protection. Even women and children carried small guns or knives at the very least. Most men carried multiple guns as well as knives. A few carried special swords. (He himself carried one gun and had studied martial arts.) The whole place was like a combination of all the movie genres into one. Fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, western, magic, even musical. Yes, there were people who would go around singing songs that had anything to do with their situation. Of course, those were usually the insane people that did that. Whatever the town was like, it was easy for an investigator to make money because all the criminals were mostly easy to figure out. The main mystery was why the criminals hid out there, but everyone seemed to agree that it was just coincidence.

Blake sipped his drink and studied the picture on the wall. His best friend actually owned this place. That was why she could skip work as much as she liked. The picture he stared at was one her father had done of her when she was little. Sitting next to her was a little boy she never mentioned. When asked about it, she would just give a sad smile and say, “A dream.” Their smiles were kind, and she held a little kitten in her arms. She had always loved cats. Perhaps that was why there were so many pictures of them on the walls around the room.

He took another sip. Why was he there? Why was he sitting here waiting for that strange, little girl to come back when she might not come back for another week? Still he sat there. What better things were there to do? It's not like he had work or anything to clean up at the apartment. He'd just as soon stay where he was than go home.

He heard someone come in and sit down beside him. “Scotch,” the man said. He set his hat down on the counter and ran his fingers through his hair. Blake took a quick glance at him and sized him up. He was a pretty big fellow, with muscular arms. A revolver hung by his side and a cigarette which had gone out long ago hung limp from between his teeth. He had an unshaven look about him and his thick, black hair fell past his ears. He wore a leather jacket and boots and was obviously a part of the “western” part of the mixed up town. Then, talking to no one in particular, he said, “Ah, that singer's pretty bad, ain't she? Whatever happened to that pretty, little chick with the dark, brown hair and legendary golden eyes? Now she had a voice!” Here he took a sip from the glass that had been set in front of him. “Ah. Boy I do miss 'er singin'. Yep. I hear that girl up and disappeared from this town. Had enough of it, I betcha. Hey, ain't that a picture of when she was a youngen? I do say that must be her brother sittin' next to 'er. I heard he was murdered, that boy. No one knows who done it, though. 'Cept that little girl. But she don't tell no one. Instead she's just bidin' her time. No doubt they'll come for her too one day.” Here he finished off his drink, put on his hat and left the bar. Blake dared not believe what he said. Though she never told him about anything, he knew she originally wasn't from around here, so no one but herself should know about her past.

Blake took one last sip from his drink and returned to his apartment. As he was busy taking out his keys, he sensed a certain familiar presence nearby. Stepping in and switching on his light, Blake watched as the armchair in front of the fire spun around to reveal a young girl with dark, brown hair and golden eyes, holding a black cat in her arms. “I've been expecting you,” she said ominously. Blake was surprised at first and then laughed. The cat scurried out of the girl's lap at the sound. “Now see here, you've scared poor little Coal.”

“You've wanted to do that at least once, haven't you?” Blake asked, still laughing. The girl joined in. “Well, of course!”

“But tell me, how did you get in? You don't have a key, do you?”

“Why, didn't you know I used to be a professional thief?” she said sarcastically and winked.

“Ha! Right. No, seriously, though, how'd you get in?”

“Ah! I know!”

“What?”

“I know what I want for dinner now! Noodles!” Blake just stared at her, then closed his eyes and shook his head. “She dodged my question again. Ay yi yi.” She smiled gently. He knew she saw right through him. He had learned after a while that it was no good to question her when she didn't really want to give an answer. However, he always asked at least once where she had been whenever she went missing. “So, where were you this time? Off visiting your boyfriend?”

“If that's what you want to think, go right ahead.”

“So where were you then?”

“In another place,” she answered as she searched his cabinets for some noodles. Blake just smiled and watched her back as she stood on tiptoe to reach the top cabinet. “Ah!” she exclaimed, grasping a can of chicken noodle soup. After she took out all the necessary utensils, she began cooking. As he watched her, he wondered just who she was underneath that mask she always wore. There was one time when he had asked her to be his girlfriend, but she refused gently, saying, “Are you sure you want to date a girl who can't show her true self to you?” Now that he thought back on it, he just laughed at himself for not realizing that he really knew nothing about her. For him, she was just the girl who gave him information. But not a single bit of information was about herself. He thought about what the cowboy in the bar had said and ventured to ask, “Alameda.... Do you have any family?”