Chapter 1: Introduction

The fluorescent bar sign flickered in a dim reflection from the puddle-soaked street. With a resolute nod, I pushed open the door and stepped into a different realm.

The bar was neither classy nor seedy, but straddled that fine line, the sort that hid the night’s secrets and carried out whispered confessions until the sun peeked over the horizon. A blues track slid over the pattering rain outside, each quivering note a hook reeling me into a stupor of damp hair and weary shoulders.

I scanned the crowd, seeking a respite from the evening's aloneness, when suddenly, my gaze locked with a pair of striking green eyes.

She stood at the bar, poised with purpose against the peeling wallpaper. Her hair-- short, brash, and formidable as a lioness's mane-- seemed almost shocking against the termite-ridden wood. A bushy tail twitched beneath the hem of her petite black dress, no less alarming for its unabashed symmetry.