Johnny.
Her eyes searched the horizon as the thought brought her back to her senses.
Johnny could be anywhere. Why was she standing out here alone?
The sound of heavy footsteps, moving fast, echoed from the catacombs behind her.
She gasped and turned to find Officer Wagner coming out to join her.
“What were you doing out here by yourself?” he asked. “I thought you were going back inside.”
“I-I thought you might need me,” she said.
He studied her for a moment. “What shift do you normally work?”
“I’m the night clerk,” she said. “Midnight to eight.”
“You should be sleeping by now, shouldn’t you?” he asked.
She shrugged.
“Who’s on duty now?” he asked. “The muscular guy, or the pretty Black lady?”
“Uh, Zander,” Dru said. “The guy.”
“Alrighty then,” Wagner said. “Go to bed. I’ll find Zander if I need anything.”
“Thanks,” Dru said.
“Are you okay to get up there on your own?” he asked.
“Wagner,” someone called before she could answer. They both turned to find an older, uniformed gentleman with a white beard and mustache stepping out the door of the solarium and coming to join them. He was heavyset and shorter than Wagner, with twinkling eyes that reminded Dru of her Grandpa Frank.
“I see you found a pretty girl to talk to, eh Wagner?” the man asked, and then laughed at his own joke. “Left me to watch the crew while you took in the local talent, ha!”
Dru smiled in spite of herself. He was clearly just trying to break the ice.
“Miss Holloway, this is Officer Clemens,” Wagner said.
“Pleased to meet you, dear,” Officer Clemens said, giving her a Santa Claus-like smile.
“Miss Holloway was just leaving,” Wagner said. “I’ll fill you in while we check out the tunnels.”
“Very good,” Clemens said, giving Dru a little wave.
She headed into the warmth of the solarium as the officers talked about visiting Hemlock House before on an elementary school field trip.
4
Dru felt exhaustion descend on her like a heavy blanket the moment she opened the door to her room.
The past few hours had felt like a lifetime, and it was later than she normally went to bed. The shadowy rose-wallpapered space felt sheltered and dreamy in the late morning light.
The heat was back on, the comfort only adding to her drowsiness.
She checked to be sure her bed was still blocking the bookshelf from sliding open to reveal a secret door into the catacombs.
When she was satisfied that it was, and that her phone was on its charger, Dru collapsed into bed, fully dressed.
She closed her eyes and gave in to the pull of sleep, which came on so quickly it felt like the room was spinning around her as she sank into sleep.
Immediately she was falling, falling…
In her dream, Dru landed soundlessly on her feet, the scents and sounds of the forest filling her senses.
She was hungry, so hungry that the pain of it clawed at her from the inside. But instead of heading back to the hotel to find a snack, she held perfectly still.
There was no need to breathe, her body merely paused.
All around her, the denizens of the night forest revealed themselves.
She could hear the light tap of a squirrel’s heart beat and the frantic thrum of a bird’s.
Too small…
A light snow fell all around her, and she heard each tiny flake land on the leaves and branches, saw the crystalline perfection reflect in the moonlight in a spectrum that included colors she had never noticed before.
She waited.
Time had a different quality here. It stretched and bent. She had no idea how long she remained in statue stillness. Minutes? Lifetimes?
She discovered her quarry at last, not by sensing the creature itself, but by the other animals’ reactions to it. One by one heartbeats sped and tiny feet scampered into nests and burrows.
Then the predator’s scent filled her senses, and she felt the frenzy of her hunger solidify, turning her vision ruby red.
When she moved it was as if the forest around her slowed in her wake. She flashed through the underbrush, delirious with hunger as she grew closer to her prey.
Enticing, scarlet blood pulsed through its body - enriched and fortified by the other creatures it had consumed. She could smell it, the salt of the plasma, the tangy spice of the platelets, which would course and spin in a chase of their own long after she had drunk her fill, making her own body effervescent for a time, as if that life were her own.
Its heartbeat lubbed slowly in comparison to the smaller creatures she had sensed.
Dru flew into the meadow, and it was in her field of vision at last. She staggered mentally, even as she felt herself carried inexorably forward to her target.
The sensations she was experiencing weren’t just unfamiliar. They actually belonged to someone else.
I’m Viktor. This is Viktor’s memory…
The fox froze in place, as if it knew something was very wrong.
She was moving so fast that its flame colored fur lifted slightly at her approach.
The thrum of its pulse set off a chain reaction in her body, and she felt her canine teeth lengthen and slide downward.
There was a twinge of pain, but then her mouth was filled with saliva and her hands were plunging into the silken fur, grasping the creature before it even had time to fully realize she was there.
Her teeth sank effortlessly into warm flesh.
By instinct, she hit the unfortunate creature’s jugular on the first try, as she’d done a thousand times before. Blood jetted against the back of her throat, and she might have gagged if she actually needed to breathe.
She felt her whole body coming back to life, as if she were a cold, dry sponge being soaked in warm water. She imbibed that life through every part of herself, her throat, her stomach, her nasal linings. It brought wild pleasure to every surface it touched.
The fox finally remembered to struggle, but it was far too late for that. Each kick of its hind legs sped more of the glorious feast down her throat. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she gloried in the sensation of warmth and satisfaction.
Visions of lush meadows full of rabbits, and the warm sun reflecting in the perfectly smooth surface of the lake flashed through her mind and she feasted on the creature’s memories as well as its life force.
Too soon, the fox grew light in her hands.
She let its desiccated form drop to the snowy ground and sailed away from it, feeling a twinge of guilt even as she knew it was better this way. Better than gorging on her own kind.
But then again, humans hadn’t really been her own kind in a long time.
Something else called to her, and she paused again, stone still, waiting, her heart shot through with anticipation.
Another pulse coursed through her.
If the fox had excited her senses, it was nothing compared to this.
This new heartbeat pounded at a rhythm that woke her soul, if she still had one. This was hundred times, no, a thousand times more intense than hunting the fox.
She could already taste the exquisite bouquet of the blood, the heady perfume of the creature that held it, pale and wide-eyed.
Everything in her body hummed with the need to protect this human.