You try to avoid being alone at night in the city. Although you have grown more used to how the city functions, you still do not fully understand the hierarchy. How do you know where you are safe, and how do you know where you are prey? The answers to these questions elude you, much like the meaning of the graffiti on the walls of the alley. Crescent moons, eight-pointed stars, and skulls cover every available surface, save for one wall, which is occupied solely by a neatly-stenciled print of an eye.

This is Nimue's Bar.

Kaia stalks through the dark streets to her apartment, cutting through several alleyways she would usually skip on a Friday night. Although it is almost four in the morning, the Grotto thrums with the sort of unique style of life that only it can support. Dancers at rooftop parties scream, music blasts from open windows, and the infrequent beer bottle plummets from a fire escape to shatter against the wall of a building. A winged shape occasionally obscures the moon above, and every so often a group of bestial shapes will rush around a corner. It's easy for Kaia to blend in here; no one notices a shade on a night like this.

Or rather, it would be easy to blend in if not for the very loud person following her.

“You can't do this, K!” Dirk cries, putting a hand on the shoulder of her leather jacket. She's tempted to shrug it off, but she allows it for now. “You can't work for one of the Circle!”

“I'm pretty sure I can, Dirk,” she says, walking more quickly. She steps lightly over a pile of broken cinderblocks. A poster brushes against her foot. All it has on it is a white butterfly against a black background, and a number to call for anonymous tips.

“K, he could kill you as easy as snapping his fingers! The Circle doesn't control the city because they're merciful, they control it because they can murder anyone who disagrees with them!”

“Yeah, which is part of why I'm doing this! He didn't directly threaten me, but he got as close as he possibly could.”

“I could tell Nimue!”

Kaia winces at this particular threat. “We both know how that one ends. She chews me out, probably tries to kill Officer C, and brings the whole Circle down on our heads. You know how she gets when we're in danger.”

Dirk curses. “I can't believe you're doing this to me, your oldest friend. You know what the Circle thinks of shifters. Their rulings are getting people like me hurt!”

Kaia whirls around to face him. He draws back in surprise, beard curling up. “Yeah, because you did so much back there when he hurt Aiden. Hell, you were the only one of us left in the bar who didn't stand up to him or mention what he's been doing to your people. You talk a big game, Dirk, but you've always been a coward.” Dirk looks as if Kaia has just slapped him, and she hopes she hasn't gone too far. “You think I like this any better than you do? You're my best friend, Dirk. I hate the idea of doing something for someone as awful as him, and for even being a fourth-degree accessory to the Circle. But I can't turn this down.” She tries to stop, but all the words are coming out now, and there's no halting the flood. “In the six years I've been here, you and Nimue are the only ones I've met who can remember me. Do you have any idea how lonely that is? My life as a mortal was shit, but at least I had a life! I'm tired, Dirk. Tired of being unable to make friends, or find love, or even just get a friendly nod from someone at the store. Can't you understand that?”

When she finishes, Kaia realizes that she has been shouting. Her cheeks are wet with tears, which she roughly wipes away before blowing her snot onto the ground. She glares resolutely up at Dirk, trying to keep her lip from trembling.

“I understand that,” Dirk says, his tone betraying his anger. “But I still—“ His face slackens and he shoves Kaia against the alley wall, before flattening himself against it as well. Animalistic howls echo down the street, followed by the sharp crack of gunshots. Kaia steps in front of Dirk and takes the spot closer to the mouth of the alley. In this moment, their argument is all but forgotten.

A dozen shifters rush through the street outside. Although only a few of them move on all fours, all of them are covered in matted fur, their faces elongated into snouts and hands twisted into claws. Each of them has a crescent moons dyed or tattooed somewhere on their upper body. Lunars. Neither Kaia nor Dirk breathe. The group rushes around the corner, followed by a dozen more bestial shapes. A moment later there are screams, howls, and more gunshots.

Kaia can feel Dirk quavering, and squeezes his arm reassuringly. She glances back, and notes that he is picking at his shoulder. Kaia does not have to wonder why. Even though he does his best to keep his upper body covered, Kaia has seen him with his shirt off before. She knows about the burn scars, which do a poor job of obscuring a faded tattoo of a crescent.

The gunshots and howling eventually cease, silence sneaks its way in, and Kaia pushes herself up from the wall. She glares at Dirk, who has his face carefully turned away from her. “I'm sorry, Dirk. Even if it hurts people like you, I have to take this chance. For me.” She leaves him in the alleyway, and takes the fastest way home she can.