Night Owls

Jerry glanced down at the photograph in his hand, then back up again at the woman sitting alone at the back of the cafe.

Her face was familiar, but the years had blurred the details. Jerry hesitated, wondering if she would recognize him, if she even remembered. The soft clink of coffee cups around him seemed to fade as he took a cautious step forward.

All at once a blinding light coursed through the space. Jerry and the woman froze. And then a creature appeared, seemingly from the air itself.

Its form shifted and writhed, a mass of shadows and flickering tendrils, its eyes glowing like molten embers in the dim cafe light.