WOE: Dusseldorf

Prompt:  For Friday, I challenge you with this opening line:  “It was a rainy night in Dusseldorf…”
Have fun with it.



It was a rainy night in Dusseldorf; the kind of night that is best spent tucked under a blanket with someone.  Instead, Lacy pulled her rusted Fiat into the very first parking place she could find on the Bolkerstrasse.  She was late, but she paused a moment to check her lipstick in the rear view mirror, and took a deep breath.  Lacy opened the car door and stuck the umbrella above her head. She was not the least bit concerned about the brief sparks of lightning she had seen. Her updo was not likely to survive the walk to the restaurant on  Schneider-Wibbel-Gasse, but perhaps her dress would only be slightly damp.

The lights of the city glared onto the wet sidewalk in front of her, defiant, as the rain tried to drown it into submission.  Lacy walked as quickly as she could in her four-inch heels, cursing the uncharacteristic impulse that had led to their purchase. Her feet were already protesting, and she knew that she would have blisters.  Blisters were the least of her worries, she thought.  The lights of the restaurant were a beacon just ahead. 

A gloved hand suddenly snaked out in front of her face, covering her startled scream. The umbrella fell out of her hand as she was lifted off her feet and dragged into a alley she hadn't noticed. Her back hit the brick wall hard enough to knock a grunt out of her, then a hard body was pinning her. Lacy opened her eyes wide, trying to see in the dark as she struggled.

"Shhhh."  She knew this voice.  She relaxed into Adrien's familiar warmth.  Satisfied, he pulled away, disappearing into the darkness just as another man stepped into the alley.  Lacy inwardly cursed; she had been so focused on her rendezvous that she hadn't even noticed that she was being followed.   She remained still, her back still pressed against the wall, as the man moved silently toward her.  He saw the whiteness of her skin against the darkness and moved toward her, one hand held at his side.   No loud gunshots this close to civilians.  A knife was quieter.  She opened her mouth to scream.

The man was gone!  A muffled cry turned her head just as lightning erupted above.  Adrien had his teeth sunk deep into the neck of her adversary; his eyes were already dim with death.  Thunder rolled in after the lightning, the sudden darkness more blinding than the light.  Lacy breathed in deeply; she hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath. 

"I could get the hang of this spy business." Adrien was there beside her in the darkness, the air around him electric.  Tiny hairs on her skin strained toward him as his mouth hovered above hers and Lacy kissed him, the coppery taste of blood still on his lips.  They held hands as they walked toward the lights of the restaurant.