You have seen the officer only once before tonight. He had a big goofy smile stretched across his face as he held a struggling thief with one hand and tossed someone's wallet back to them with the other. You watched, frozen, as he lifted the thief into the air by the neck of her shirt, then hurled her a hundred feet in the air with a mere flick of his wrist. He turned his head, looked directly at you, and tipped his hat, as if saying that he was simply doing his job.

You ran, but the pounding of your heart and stumbling feet could not drown out the sound of the thief's body hitting the pavement.

This is Nimue's Bar.

The sound of her name goes through Kaia's stomach like an icicle. In any other circumstance, she would be crying with joy that someone knew who she was. In this case, however, it makes her want to curl up into a ball and scream. A member of the Circle knows her name. She is as good as dead.

“My name is Cahiel,” the police officer says, taking a sip of his drink and continuing to grin. “But most people just call me Officer C. Makes things easier.” Officer C laughs, although for the life of her Kaia cannot see what is funny about this situation. He sets his drink down on the bar, allowing it to skid carelessly across the smooth surface. “You and I have some business to discuss, Miss Sommers. You see, I have a little problem that I could use your help with.”

From behind Officer C, Dirk shoots Kaia a look. She shakes her head helplessly, and tries to communicate to Dirk with her eyes to keep taking care of Aiden. “What could you possibly need my help for? I'm just a bartender.” She moves to pick up his glass, and is ashamed to see that her hand is shaking.

Officer C touches his temple. “No need to play dumb, Miss Sommers. I know you're a shade.” He ignores the way that Kaia fumbles with his glass when he says this. “Fascinating creatures, shades. Almost impossible to kill, on account of them already being dead. More importantly, as soon as you stop looking at them, you start to forget the details about them. First their name, then their face, then everything else. How positively dreadful.”

The simple, callous statement sets Kaia off, such that for a moment she forgets who she is speaking to. “What do you want a shade for? We're a dime a dozen in this damn city.” As soon as she finishes speaking, she clamps her hand over her mouth. What is she doing? She's going to get herself killed.

“Ah,” Officer C says, and the flames in his eyes begin to dance. Instead of angry about being talked back to, he just sounds amused. “But that's the thing about shades. You know they're there, but they're almost impossible to find if they don't want to be found. And none of them want to be found, they all want to fade into the woodwork and be forgotten forever. Except for you, it seems. You've made a little bit of a name for yourself, so to speak. Everyone knows about the scary bartender who works in Nimue's little lair, but no one can seem to recall her name or what she looks like. It's almost like you're trying to get people to remember you.”

He's so on point that it hurts. Kaia has been trying so hard to get people to remember her. The best she's gotten is a reputation. “What do you need?”

Officer C kicks his boots up onto the bar. Kaia can feel the scuff happen as they squeak across the surface. “I've got a problem that needs to be dealt with... stealthily. I figured who better to do the job than someone who no one can remember? I can promise that you would be compensated handsomely. Better than Nimue would pay you, if she doesn't forget.”

“Get your boots off the bar,” Kaia whispers.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said get your boots off my Goddamn bar!” Kaia says more loudly. Dirk is waving his hands frantically at her, but she doesn't care. “You can come in here and threaten me all you want, I get that from a different drunk every week. But you don't mess with Nimue, and you don't touch this place! What the hell do you think you're doing, scaring everyone off, hurting a customer, and then trying to offer me a job? Not to mention what the Circle has been doing to shifters! What payment could possibly be worth my while?”

Officer C laughs, and the room seems to shake in time with the noise. “Well I could just threaten to kill you and everyone you care about, but I prefer to do things without violence whenever possible. I am an officer of the law, after all.” He touches his oversized badge and one of the flames behind the sunglasses winks in and out. “So for starters, I could make you mortal again.”

The response that Kaia has been putting together utterly falls to pieces. She can only stare blankly at Officer C, who seems to find her reaction very funny. “I can see you have a lot to consider. I'll give you three days to make your decision.” He swings his feet off the bar and hops to the floor. He stops when he walks past Dirk, who flinches. Officer C bends over Aiden's unconscious form and taps him lightly on the nose. Aiden jerks awake, making gagging noises and sucking in air.

“So sorry about that,” he says ingratiatingly, running his hand along the luxurious fur on Aiden's arm. “Rulebreakers just tend to get on my nerves.”

Then he walks out the door, and for the second time that night, Nimue's is silent.