There were exactly ten items in Kali's shopping cart, yet the lady in front of her was in the express lane with well over that amount. The cashier scanned at a snail's pace, and the bright fluorescent lights were migraine inducing. Generic pop music blared through the grocery store's tinny speakers, compounding her discomfort.

She checked the time on her phone and sighed, prompting the lady in front of her to turn around—her wrinkled face twisting into a disarming smile. Kali forced a smile back while managing to not react to the old lady's porcelain white veneers. 

Kali had practiced feigning contentment for most of her adult life. If she could survive her supervisor's insistence on repeating the same three jokes ad nauseam, she could make it through this.

After passive aggressively inching her cart forward for what felt like an eternity, the lady with the toilet seat veneers finally finished checking out.

Once all of Kali's items were on the conveyor belt, she looked longingly at the bottle of wine sandwiched between two bags of rice. It had been a long week, and she was due for a glass of wine and a good book.

The cool night air sliced at her face the moment she stepped outside. Her curly black hair danced as a gust of wind swept across the parking lot. Damn it, she thought. I knew I should have brought a jacket. Having to walk home at night sent a stab of anxiety through her, but she quickly collected herself as the crescent moon above radiated like a lamp in the dark, starless sky.

Her bottle of red Moscato and copy of A Lover's Quarrel awaited her, so she grabbed her bags and started walking.

There was an alleyway she had to cross to get to her apartment. During the day, it was nothing more than an innocuous stretch of pavement. But without the cleansing properties of sunlight, she felt as if she was staring into the abyss. A shiver permeated throughout her body, raising the little hairs on her arms and legs. She took a deep breath, counted down from three, and then plunged into the darkness.

At about the halfway mark, the smell of cigarette smoke assaulted her nose, causing her to wince. The source was a figure leaning against a brick wall a few feet ahead. Kali hastened her pace, keeping her eyes forward. 

The stranger moved to block her path, glaring at her with a pair of crimson-red eyes. Two glowing orbs that seemed to burn with an otherworldly intensity, piercing through the clouds of smoke like taillights on a misty country road, leaving her naked under his gaze.

"What are you cooking for us?" the man asked—his voice a bone-rattling baritone. There were flecks of gray in his beard, and his face was as still as the brick wall he leaned on. Kali ignored the question and tried to dart past him, but he anticipated her maneuver. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" he bellowed. She flinched, causing her to drop her bags.

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"Please, leave me alone," Kali said as she inched toward her groceries. She stared into his eyes and froze—terror gripping her like a vise.

"Hey!" a voice from behind the man yelled. Kali frantically inspected the darkness before her, searching for the source. 

A person eventually crept forward into the moonlight.

It was a man. His dishwater blonde hair was in a messy ponytail, and his green eyes were two luminous emeralds on a fleshy backdrop. He was easily the most beautiful person Kali had ever seen. If she wasn't so consumed by fear, she might have even blushed. He was dressed in all black—his long-sleeved t-shirt snug enough to accentuate a slim, yet muscular build. There was something protruding from the side of his hip, but Kali couldn't decipher this mystery appendage.

"Mind your own fucking business," the red-eyed man said.

The beautiful man sauntered forward, his movements as graceful as a lynx. He methodically lifted a finger to his ear. Kali squinted and made out what appeared to be white earbuds. The man with emerald eyes then started bobbing his head to a beat no one else could hear, dissipating his aura of elegance. He then started... dancing—if one could call violently jumping up and down while pumping your fists dancing.

Am I dreaming? Kali thought. The dancing man looked to be possessed by the music. His eyes were closed, and his faint grin morphed into an all-encompassing beam. He opened his eyes again and Kali gasped. The twin emeralds had somehow turned into two violet-colored amethysts.

The man with now violet eyes bolted toward them. "Move!" he demanded. Kali started her escape, but after a few steps, she stumbled and crashed into a dumpster. She leaned against it, grabbing at her injured lower back.

The beautiful man let out a howl as he landed a punch to the red-eyed man's cheek, causing his cigarette to fly out of his mouth, illuminating a small section of the pavement several feet away. Kali flinched at the sound of his fist making contact. As the creature with red eyes was recovering from the strike, Kali noticed the beautiful man mouthing something. Is he... singing?

The red-eyed man sprung up, snarling. But the beautiful man kept mouthing lyrics, settling into a rhythmic bounce. The red-eyed man lunged forward and put his full weight into a punch that hit... nothing. He tried again, and again, and again, whiffing on each swing—fists whirring past his violet-eyed target, who dodged with the grace of a dancer. The beautiful man responded with a booming kick to the side of the red-eyed man's knee, causing him to collapse. He reached into his mystery appendage and pulled out a hatchet. Kali focused her eyes and saw the outline of a sheath holster, putting her curiosity at ease.

The silver of the hatchet's blade shone in the moonlight as the beautiful man initiated a swing aimed at the fallen man's neck. Kali reflexively closed her eyes before the hatchet made contact. When she opened them, a pile of ash was all that remained. 

The beautiful man with eyes of violet put the hatchet back in its holster and pressed a finger against one of his earbuds. He swaggered his way to the groceries she had dropped and pulled out Kali's bottle of wine. The man—with her treasured wine in hand—casually walked away while not once looking in her direction.