Asalden shifted uncomfortably on the chair and poured himself another glass of wine. It wasn't that Keller was boring, exactly, he was just... quiet. Shy, nervous, and giving the impression he'd rather be anywhere but here. Asalden bit back a sigh and took a sip of his wine.

Keller met his eyes across the table and cleared his throat. "So... Adam... What do you, uh... Do you read?"

Asalden took the lifeline. "A little. I'm working my way through the Booker prize-winners at the moment."

"Oh," said Keller. "I... I mostly read mysteries."

At least, Asalden thought glumly, he hadn't said he read fantasy. "I like some mysteries."

Keller nodded slowly. "Cool." His attention seemed to be fixed on the window next to them.

Asalden couldn't bite back his sigh this time. He would have to have words with April about this. He'd only agreed in order to make her stop nagging him about her "poor, lonely neighbour, who never goes out".

Asalden had better things to do with his evenings than make poor, lonely men uncomfortable on dates.

Maybe, Asalden thought uncharitably, there was a reason he never went out.

Across the table, Keller stiffened suddenly.

Asalden put down his glass and raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"I have to go." Keller handed Asalden a handful of cash and got up from the table. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, what?" Asalden quickly added a couple of notes of his own and followed Keller out of the restaurant.

Keller was weaving his way through the tables at a fast pace, somehow managing not to crash into any of the waitstaff or customers.

That way of moving was familiar, actually. Asalden was intrigued. Now, where had he...

Asalden apologised for almost walking into a waitress and resolved to pay closer attention to what he was doing.

When Asalden managed to fight his way out of the restaurant, Keller was halfway across the carpark, heading towards an alleyway. He'd never be able to catch up without breaking into a run that would probably scare Keller off.

Asalden reached inside himself for his magic and stepped.

Keller shouldn't have heard a thing, but he whirled around in shock.

"Hey," said Asalden gently. "What's wrong?"

A second later, something large and heavy slammed into his shoulder. Asalden fell to the ground, biting back a yelp as claws dug deep into his flesh.

"Nightwalker?" he hissed.

Keller was fighting another of the beasts, blurring in and out of view as he evaded claws and snapping teeth.

With a blast of magefire, Asalden threw the beast off him and healed the wounds in his shoulders. He was breathing heavily, his heart beating so hard in his chest he thought it might burst. He was running out of magic fast, and nightwalkers weren't the type to give up easily.

Keller appeared beside him and grabbed his hand. "Run. We have to get them out of the open."

Before Asalden could even respond he was on his feet and running.

"Where... are we going?" Asalden gasped.

"The alley. We need to get onto the roof. I can get us to a safe place, but it's too dangerous at ground level."

Asalden didn't argue. Ground level was full of humans and cars and other distractions. The roof was safer.

Keller swore when he reached the back alley and put a hand on the drain pipe to climb it. "Iron." He glanced at Asalden, who shook his head. He couldn't touch it either.

Keller glanced back towards the alley entrance and swore again. Asalden didn't even need to look to know the nightwalkers had recovered - now that they'd shown themselves, he could feel them, a burning blight on his awareness of his surroundings.

Keller's form blurred in front of Asalden's eyes. "Get on my back."

Asalden didn't question him, wrapping his arms around Keller's shoulders and pressing his knees hard into Keller's sides as Keller leapt onto the back wall of the alley, then onto the roof of the building.

"You're... a shifter," gasped Asalden as they ran.

"Tell me something I don't know," muttered Keller, startling Asalden into a laugh. "You're a mage."

"Sort of," said Asalden. "Do you want me to get down? I can run."

Kelden shook his head. Asalden could feel Keller's muscles moving beneath Asalden's arms. "It'll be easier if I do it."

From here, Asalden had a great vantage point to watch a shifter at work. His body blurred and changed to deal with each different type of roof or gap between buildings. For small ones he used long strides, but for large gaps he would shift and perform a powerful leap, then shift again in the air to catch himself on the other side. Asalden tensed every time, but he never saw Keller miss his footing.

"How far have we got? I'm not slowing you down, am I?"

"You are, but I'm not letting you get off, those things will kill you. They've seen you with me now."

Nightwalkers. Best tracking beasts of the Feyworld. They couldn't go out during the daytime, but at night they would pursue their target to its death.

Hunters used them for sport. They'd pick a target and set them loose as soon as night fell. If the target survived until the day, the hunter might let them go. More commonly, they would set the beasts loose again, the next night.

They were supposed to be forbidden to enter the human world.

Asalden could still feel the beasts behind them. When they reached a gap they couldn't cross they simply dropped to ground level and swarmed up the walls, losing a few precious seconds in the process.

"How did they even get here?" Asalden wondered out loud. The wind whipped his hair around his face making it fall in his mouth and eyes, but he was loathe to remove his death-grip around Keller's shoulders to fix it.

Keller snorted. "How do you think? You know what Shifters are worth in the Feyworld."

Asalden froze. "They followed you into the human world?"

"I've been here a year. Haven't been outside after dark in a month. Guess I thought they'd given up." Keller leapt a twelve foot gap in a single bound.

"Have you ever seen the hunter?"

"Once or twice, in the beginning. Not recently."

Asalden couldn't even comprehend running for that long.

The buildings gave out all of a sudden, revealing a wide highway packed with cars. No chance of jumping that, and no chance of running across it either.

Keller hesitated for the barest second. "Hold on tight," he said. His arms blurred, and then Keller leaped.

Keller's arms had grown wide and flat, catching the night air and carrying them over the highway.

"I can't fly, even without a passenger I'm too heavy, but I can glide," said Keller, with a touch of pride.

"Incredible." A gust of wind lifted them higher into the air, making the lights of the city start to blur into little sparkling stars.

The wind dropped off, and they began to glide back to ground-level. "The safe-house isn't far now."

They landed on the road with a bump and shifted straight to running. Asalden couldn't feel the nightwalkers anymore, but that didn't mean the beasts weren't still tracking them.

The safehouse was a dilapidated church with high fences and "keep out" signs stapled at regular intervals. Keller leapt the fences easily and stumbled into the church, just as Asalden realised they weren't alone.

"Well," came a smooth, amused voice. "I see my gamble paid off."

Keller stiffened.

It took a moment for Asalden to convince his arms to let go, so stiff were they after the long run. He dropped to the ground and shook his hands out, studying the speaker through his fringe. Fey, and not trying to hide it - his aura burned brightly, and his clothes showed he'd expended no effort to blend into the human world.

The hunter glanced at Asalden, then seemed to dismiss him, returning his attention to Keller. "You gave me a good run, Shifter. But in the end you made the same mistake all the other animals do. Never take shelter in the same place more than once. Pity. I thought Shifters were supposed to be intelligent."

Keller was panting, dripping sweat. Asalden doubted he had much strength to fight, and Shifters were weak to magic. Once a hunter had his target cornered - worn out by the chase, and now Asalden could see how easily they had been manipulated - it usually wasn't long.

Asalden dropped his glamour and smiled pleasantly. "I thought the Feyking had forbidden the use of nightwalkers in the human world."

The hunter didn't take his eye from Keller, so Asalden walked into his line of vision. "I also thought he had forbidden appearing in the human world without a glamour," he continued thoughtfully. "In fact, I was under the impression that pursuing Shifters into the human world was specifically forbidden. What was it... too much danger of discovery, I believe."

The hunter bared his fangs at Asalden. "The Feyking has no authority here." His expression spoke of a little glimmer of recognition, but nothing specific. The hunter felt like he should know Asalden, but hadn't placed him yet.

Asalden smiled again, letting a glimpse of fang emerge. "Not if you're happy to stay here forever, no."

The hunter was still keeping a cautious eye on Keller. "The Feyking doesn't care about one pathetic Shifter."

A fair point. Time to change tactics. "I counted at least three incidents where your nightwalkers revealed themselves in front of human beings. That he will care about."

The hunter was still staring at him dubiously.

"Yes, I think my father will be very interested to hear what has happened tonight."

Now the hunter reacted. "Your father?"

"The Feyking. You cannot recognise a Feyprince when you see one, hunter?" He spat the final word, turning it into the insult it should be.

The hunter had been caught off balance. Asalden dared not give him time to recover, or to think about what Asalden had said.

"Get out of my sight," Asalden ordered, the tones of authority returning like it had been only a month, not fifty years. "Return to the Feyworld and never enter the human world again, or you will not be the one doing the hunting. I've seen your true form; I can find you."

He barely had time to blink before the hunter was gone.

Asalden turned to find Keller staring at him.

"You're not a mage."

Asalden shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't really have time to explain."

"You're really a Feyprince?"

Asalden smiled sheepishly. "Exiled prince, I'm afraid. The only thing my father would have been interested in would be executing me for returning to the Feyworld."

Keller blinked. "You bluffed a hunter into letting me go?"

"It was a pretty good bet he wouldn't recognise me specifically, my father has enough children that not even the members of court can keep us straight."

"But what if he'd asked what you were doing here?"

Asalden smiled. "By the time he thinks of that - if he thinks of that - he'll know better than to take on a Feyprince in magical combat. Hunters are used to weak prey." He could feel the adrenaline draining out of his body, exhaustion taking its place.

Keller was silent for a moment. "You didn't have to do that. The nightwalkers would have left a Feyprince alone once they'd seen through your glamour."

Asalden shrugged. "If I were that kind of person I wouldn't be an exile."

Keller frowned at him. "I'm trying to say thank you."

"Then you should say so. You're welcome."

Keller stared at him helplessly. "Uh. Your name isn't really Adam, is it?"

Asalden laughed, shaking his head. "Asalden."

"Kelaleran."

A much nicer name. Asalden cocked his head. "What will you do now? Stay in the human world?"

Kelaleran nodded. "I don't ever want to go back there." He shuddered.

The Alliance must have found him, or he wouldn't have been able to afford to be April's next door neighbour. Casting his mind back, Asalden tried to remember where Keller had said he worked. Something in construction...?

"Is it ironic that this went better than our actual date?" asked Asalden thoughtfully.

Kelaleran snorted. "I was about ready to kill April earlier. Now I think I may have to give her flowers."

They grinned at each other giddily for a moment, then Kelaleran leaned closer and pressed his mouth to Asalden's firmly.

It wasn't the most romantic location for a first kiss, and neither of them were in the best condition, but somehow it was almost perfect.