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."