Life churned like a river down the walkways of the outdoor mall.  The restaurant patios were packed with diners huddled around propane heaters.  The cooler weather hadn't deterred anyone from coming out this night.

Horus Benning had just eaten alone at an Italian restaurant.  The steak Florentine and the different pastas with their rich meaty ragus tempted him but he had been good.  He only ordered the grilled chicken Caesar and a San Pellegrino with a slice of lime. 

His doctor would be pleased with him.  The waiter, however, was not impressed.  He made no effort to hide his resentment of Horus taking up a table on this very busy night and ordering so little.

The unvarnished rudeness only spurred Horus to remain there longer than he normally would have.  He sat people watching.  Each table provided a microcosm of everyday life.  They were like museum dioramas of what regular people did on a Saturday night.  There was the family with the two young children, who clearly had just been to see a movie.  There was the thirtysomething couple out on date night, their kids likely at home with a sitter.  Six teenagers sat at a round table talking loudly and eating like animals.  But two of them.  A shy boy with steel rim glasses and a girl with orange-red hair in a ponytail secretly stole glances at each other.  Their friends missed it, but Horus saw.

With all the people enjoying a night out in the company of others, it was easy for him to feel like the only person without company in the entire city.

The thought didn't bother him.  Loneliness wasn't a problem for Horus.  He had been on his own far too long to feel the weight of his solitary existence.  There were some who said he was still young enough to find new romance, but it didn't interest him.  He had learned that his own company was the most agreeable and solitude was the only place where he was fully at ease.  Perhaps he had grown fussy in his old age.  Gotten too set in his ways.  And as Horus's ex-wife would say to all the women he wasn't dating: no big loss there.

He finally left, leaving behind a tip that wasn't generous but was polite, and instead of going straight home, Horus strolled around the lanes of the mall.  There was nowhere that he needed to be and his heavy wool cardigan held back the crisp fall air.  He could stay out for hours.  Not particularly interested in any of the stores, he contented himself with passing through all the people out having fun—absorbing their energy to elevate his low spirits.

Lugubrious, Horus thought.  That is my mood tonight.

A young couple passed him. The woman wore cat ears on a band in her hair and the tip of her nose was painted black with whiskers spreading out over her cheeks.  If her beau had any sort of costume, he hid it under his black leather trench coat and sunglasses.

She wasn't the first person in costume he'd seen.  There must be a party at one of the bars in the plaza.

Turning a corner, a bright shop window caught his attention.  It sparkled with a wall of shimmering silver.  Rows of display shelves were lined with mercury glass ornaments.  Dozens of pumpkins filled the lower ranks and the whole top shelf was made up of perching owls.

A flock of owls. No, that's not right.  It's a parliament, I think.

Decades of crossword puzzles had given him some odd but interesting bits of knowledge.  If he were walking with someone, he could point at the window and say, look at that parliament of owls.  Of course, that wasn't much of a conversation starter.  More likely, the statement would stop any talk in its tracks.

Horus was so absorbed with his thoughts, he didn't immediately notice a man peeling himself away from a group and making a diagonal beeline across the lane to one of the alleys leading to the parking lot.  He walked with his head down and his long, scruffy hair bouncing loose across the back of his T-shirt.

There was an unnatural determination to his skulking.  It was at odds with the leisurely pace of the crowd.  Perhaps that's what drew Horus's eye.  His teeth clenched at the sight of the long, black hair, and reality began to blur when Horus got a glimpse of the snake tattoo entwining the man's left arm.

He didn't breathe.  His heart didn't beat.  Everything was frozen as he looked at Kyle Silver making his hasty getaway.  And then, time lurched forward again and so did Horus.  He dodged through the crowd as quickly as he could.  Everyone stood like mannequins and in his rising panic, he wanted to shove them aside and clear a path.

He broke through the current of the milling people and the man in front of him started running, dashing from the shopping center.  The leather of his boots reflected the street lamps in flashes with each loping step.  Horus was already breathing hard and he hadn't even gotten past a swift walk.  He would never catch him.

He closed his eyes tight.  They burned with bitter tears.  Once again Kyle had eluded him.  Mirage, ghost, or demon, he was always there and then gone before Horus could get close.  Always two steps away from giving any answers.

Feeling very alone—much more alone than he had felt in years, Horus swept the throng of shoppers, hoping to see someone else reacting to the presence of the dead man.  That at least might offer him some cold comfort.

And there was Kyle, looking back at him.

The man he'd chased, he'd only seen from behind, but Horus would not mistake that face anywhere.  The Roman nose that made his gaze look forceful.  The long eyelashes that lent to a feminine appearance.  The thin bloodless lips that gave his expression an insipid quality.  

Their eyes caught for a second, then Kyle turned on his heel and retreated into the crowd.

Horus threw himself after him, charging through the people.  There was no more thought of avoiding them, he pushed and shoved them out of his way.  He would not lose Kyle again.  There was screaming as he crashed passed the bodies in his way, but it seemed like something distant and far removed from what was happening.  He drove on, pushing his legs faster than he had in years.

The ghoul got blocked by a knot of young people in costume.  A woman dressed as some sort of pirate queen stood in his path.  It was the opportunity Horus needed.  He lunged forward and reached out wildly trying to take hold of the apparition. 

His hand grabbed the greasy tangles of Kyle's hair.  Horus stopped, staggering the last couple of steps, but Kyle kept moving as though Horus had only gotten a hold on thin air. 

 A second man ran up alongside Kyle and clapped him on his shoulder.  He had long black hair and the exact same snake tattoo.  They were twins dressed identically, as though a parent thought that putting them in matching rock star clothes would make them look cute.  They nodded to each other and raced side by side expanding the distance between them and Horus, who grabbed at his sides and gasped for air.

Horus stood there trying to force oxygen into his lungs as his equilibrium disappeared and the ground beneath him started to heave and spin.   He couldn't take his eyes off the two of them as they fled into the distance.  He clutched with all his strength to the long tresses he still held in his hand as though it were the last vestige of reality.  But the mange of hair felt more like the first manifestations of madness.

What is happening?

Pain burst across his side and his legs failed him.  His head crashed to the paving bricks.  Blood trickled down his face but he ignored it to look up and see who had shoved him down.

Kyle Silver stood over him.  Anger narrowed his eyes and his mouth was twisted into a familiar sneer.

"I know what you did, old man.  Watch you're back."

Then a circle of onlookers crowded around Horus seeing if he was alright and the fourth Kyle Silver vanished into the night.