No Date

"What are you doing here with him?" Evan asked.

"He said that there was something serious we need to discuss. What are you doing out and about anyway? Aren't you third-shift?"

"Yeah, but I'm not nocturnal. I'll have you know that he is a convicted felon. He was part of a juvenile gang when he was in high school. He was a shoplifter and jumped multiple people in an alley."

"Listen, man, just stay cool. Eehh---" here he forgot my name.

"Ainsley," I filled in.

"Ainsley and I had some very important business to discuss. And it doesn't concern you."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that it does concern me. I am a law enforcement officer and another fabula creaturis. Anything that you say in front of her can and probably should be said in front of me as well."

"Well, if you insist. Have you ever heard of the dangerous fantastical creature known as the Shadow Beast? It's sometimes known as the Black Dog or the Cadejo Negro."

"It sounds like a Black Shuck to me," Evan grunted.

"Well, it's not me, because I'm completely corporeal. Anyway, the Shadow Beast is a creature that is basically its own independent shadow. But it can jump off the walls in the blink of an eye and kill you. Then it'll jump back and continue its stroll. In its true form it is a large, shaggy dog the size of a cow and with cloven hooves and horns. It has large, glowing red eyes. The majority of them had been hunted to extinction, but there was one that we locked up, and we locked it up in such a way that its shadow would not be able to pass."

"Why are you saying 'we'? You had a part in this?"

"No, but I'm talking about fabula creaturis as a whole. Now don't interrupt me in the future. Some new numbskull released it by accident when trying to feed it, and now it's out and about terrorizing both regular people and others like us. I'm gathering up as many fabula creaturis as possible to help me out. Now, are you in?"

"Sure," I said.

"As am I," Evan interceded.

"Then it's settled."

Black Shuck

Tomorrow after the same class, the Black Shuck came up to me again.

"Listen, I don't think that I caught your name the first time that we met," he said. "I know that the professor always calls on you, but he only refers to you as 'Ms. Aithne'."

"My first name is Ainsley. It's traditionally a guy's name, but you can use it for a girl too. And you never raise your hand, so I don't have anything to call you except for 'Shucky'."

"Please never call me 'Shucky'. Naw, you can call me whatever you feel like. I don't really have a name."

"Fine then, Shucky."

"Fine, you can call me whatever you like as long as it isn't Shucky."

"What name are you enrolled under?"

"Ripley Thorpe."

"Interesting name."

"I know, right? You don't happen to have a class directly after this today, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't."

"Great. Let's go somewhere off-campus for coffee."

"Like a date?"

"No, there's something serious that I need to talk to you about."

We went to the closest off-campus Starbucks and sat down with coffee. As he sat down, he said to me, "You're Irish, right? Where's your accent?"

"It goes back and forth. I've been in America forever."

"If I listen really closely I can hear a couple dialect hints."

We talked for a little bit about nonsense, and I began to think that there was really nothing serious to talk about. Then I noticed a familiar tall man with blonde hair. Officer Ryans was here, and he didn't look too happy seeing me with another guy.