The Dream Market
1492 Words
Evelyn
***** The Following Night — Blackwood & Co. Books, Seattle *****
Something was wrong with the bookstore again.
The lights above aisle seven kept flickering like something was moving through them.
I stood on a ladder pretending to organize books while trying not to cough hard enough to scare customers.
My chest hurt badly tonight.
Every breath felt sharp.
Like my lungs had tiny blades hidden inside them.
Mina noticed immediately.
“You look awful,” she said from the register.
“Thank you. Your support means everything.”
“I’m serious, Eve.”
“So am I.”
She frowned harder.
“You should go home early.”
I looked away.
Lately Mina watched me too carefully.
Like she was memorizing me before I disappeared.
I hated that look.
Before I could answer, the bookstore lights shut off completely.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Mina cursed softly.
Emergency lights flickered red overhead a second later.
Wrong.
Everything looked wrong in red.
The shelves.
The shadows.
The silence.
Then I felt it.
That pressure in the air.
Heavy.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
Kairen.
He stood near the back shelves motionless, black coat dark against the dim lights.
Mina stiffened immediately.
“…Who’s that?”
Interesting.
So she remembered him this time.
Kind of.
Not fully.
Her face already looked confused.
Kairen walked toward us slowly.
Every movement deliberate.
The atmosphere changed with him.
Like the room itself knew something dangerous had entered.
“You are late,” he said calmly.
I blinked.
“I work here.”
“You should have left already.”
“Wow. Very romantic.”
His eyes lowered briefly toward my sleeve.
Blood stained the fabric again.
Fantastic.
Mina noticed instantly.
“Eve…..”
“I’m fine.”
“You are literally bleeding.”
“Minor inconvenience.”
Kairen stepped closer.
Too close.
That suffocating pressure around him deepened instantly.
“The city is unstable tonight,” he said.
“That sounds fake.”
“It is not.”
“You always talk like a haunted warning sign.”
No response.
Typical.
Then every light exploded overhead.
Glass shattered across the bookstore.
Mina screamed.
Something moved between the shelves.
Fast.
A clicking sound echoed nearby.
I froze.
Then I saw it.
A creature crouched upside down on a bookshelf.
Long limbs.
Black eyes.
Skin stretched too tightly over its face.
Its mouth split open slowly.
Rows of sharp teeth.
Absolutely not.
“Nope,” I whispered.
The creature launched forward.
Kairen moved first.
One second he stood beside us.
The next, the creature crashed violently into the wall.
Concrete cracked.
The thing shrieked horribly while Kairen held it by the throat one-handed.
Mina stared in horror.
“What IS that?!”
The creature suddenly stopped struggling.
Its black eyes locked onto me.
Then it inhaled deeply.
Like it smelled something.
“The vessel,” it whispered.
Kairen went still.
Dangerously still.
“What did you say?”
The creature smiled.
“It smells her already.”
Kairen snapped its neck immediately.
The sound echoed through the bookstore.
The body dissolved into black ash seconds later.
Silence crashed down afterward.
Mina looked pale.
“…I’m quitting.”
Honestly fair.
Kairen looked at me.
“You are coming with me.”
“That somehow sounded both threatening and annoying.”
“You are no longer safe here.”
“Bold assumption that I was safe before.”
Mina grabbed my sleeve instantly.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Kairen looked at her once.
Just once.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“You should stay away from her tonight.”
Mina visibly stiffened.
“Why?”
Silence.
Of course.
I rubbed my forehead tiredly.
“Can somebody explain things like normal people for once?”
Kairen ignored that too.
Naturally.
Then pain twisted sharply through my chest.
My breathing caught instantly.
Damn it.
Mina’s expression fell apart immediately.
Fear.
Helplessness.
That same awful look she’d been giving me ever since the diagnosis.
“I’m okay,” I lied.
“You can barely stand,” Kairen said.
“Yet somehow still standing.”
He stepped closer.
Rainwater still clung faintly to his coat.
“Come with me, Evelyn.”
Quiet voice.
Controlled.
Not optional.
I grabbed my coat.
“Fine.”
Mina looked horrified.
“If I die mysteriously tonight,” I told her, “delete my search history.”
“That isn’t funny anymore.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
Guilt hit me immediately.
I squeezed her hand once.
“I’ll text you later.”
“You better.”
Outside, rain hammered Seattle hard enough to blur the streets.
Neon signs reflected across wet pavement.
The cold air burned my lungs.
Kairen walked beside me silently with his hands in his pockets.
Calm.
Like murdering monsters inside bookstores was normal behavior.
Honestly, maybe it was.
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“You will see.”
“I hate when you answer questions like an ancient curse.”
No response.
Three blocks later, I noticed the streets were becoming emptier.
Too empty.
No traffic.
No people.
Even the city noise sounded distant now.
Like Seattle itself was avoiding this place.
We stopped outside an abandoned subway entrance.
Rust covered the gates.
I stared at it.
“…Seriously?”
Kairen pushed the gate open effortlessly.
“This way.”
“You keep saying things that would get women killed in documentaries.”
“You are already dying.”
I stared at him.
“You somehow make concern sound offensive.”
“It was not concern.”
Right.
Obviously.
The underground tunnel smelled like rust and rainwater.
Voices echoed deeper below.
Not human voices.
Too distorted.
Every instinct in my body screamed leave immediately.
Then the tunnel opened.
I stopped walking instantly.
An enormous underground market stretched beneath the city.
Crowded.
Loud.
Wrong.
Lanterns glowed blue overhead while creatures moved between stalls wearing human faces slightly incorrectly.
Too pale.
Too tall.
Eyes glowing strangely beneath hoods.
Some didn’t even bother pretending to be human.
And every single one of them stopped moving when they saw me.
Silence spread unnaturally fast.
Cold dread crawled down my spine.
“…Kairen.”
The atmosphere beside me shifted instantly.
Dangerous.
Controlled.
Protective.
He stepped slightly in front of me.
The crowd backed away immediately.
Fear flashed across several faces.
Not because of me.
Because of him.
Whispers spread through the market.
“She smells human.”
“That mark…”
“The vessel…”
I grabbed Kairen’s sleeve instinctively.
The market somehow went quieter.
Kairen looked down briefly at my hand before facing the crowd again.
“Continue your business.”
Nobody moved.
His voice stayed calm.
Didn’t need volume to sound dangerous.
A hooded merchant stepped forward smiling.
Silver teeth flashed beneath the lantern light.
“Well,” he said pleasantly. “That explains the scent.”
I instantly disliked him.
His eyes moved over me slowly.
Hungry.
“How much?”
I frowned.
“…Excuse me?”
He looked at Kairen casually.
“For the human.”
The air around Kairen changed immediately.
Subtle.
Terrifying.
“I can offer seventy years,” the merchant continued. “Maybe more. Her soul is unusually bright.”
I stared at him.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your remaining lifespan.”
My stomach dropped.
Kairen answered quietly.
“No.”
“Eighty.”
“No.”
“Ninety.”
“I said no.”
The merchant tilted his head.
“She’s already dying. Why keep damaged things?”
The stall exploded.
Wood shattered violently across the market.
The merchant slammed into the stone wall hard enough to c***k it.
Gasps erupted nearby.
Kairen stood perfectly still beside me.
One hand lowered slowly.
Gold eyes cold enough to stop breathing.
“You will not speak about her again,” he said calmly.
Quiet voice.
Deadly enough to silence the entire market.
The merchant coughed blood shakily.
“Kairen….”
“Another word,” Kairen interrupted softly, “and I remove your jaw.”
Nobody moved.
Even the creatures nearby backed away carefully.
Because he sounded completely serious.
Kairen grabbed my wrist suddenly.
“Come.”
We moved deeper into the market while whispers followed us.
“You just destroyed that guy’s business,” I muttered.
“He insulted property that belongs to me.”
I blinked.
“…Excuse me?”
“You
are under contract.”
“That sounded deeply possessive.”
“It is legal.”
“That somehow made it worse.”
Then I noticed symbols carved into the nearby walls.
Black crowns surrounded by twisted markings.
The creatures near them avoided looking directly at them.
I frowned.
“What is that?”
Kairen went still beside me.
Not fear.
Something colder.
Older.
“The Hollow King,” he said quietly.
The name settled heavily into the tunnel.
Wrong.
Like the market itself reacted to hearing it.
Then every lantern overhead went out simultaneously.
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