It was all making her crazy. And homesick. Maybe it was her looming birthday that was causing her unease. Though you wouldn’t think turning twenty-one would be traumatic.
Pausing at an intersection, Kate swept her gaze in a circle around her. The can of mace in her pocket boosted her confidence to be out here, but a woman still had to stay aware of her surroundings. Finally, the light changed and she tugged her hood snug to her face as she crossed the street. Shops, businesses and office buildings gave way to apartment buildings. She didn’t know this neighborhood well, but she was familiar enough with the city after living here for five months to be certain if she kept going a few blocks, she’d come to a metro stop on the line she needed. Hell, maybe she’d even pass the closest one and keep walking until the one after.
A couple tucked against each other passed her on the sidewalk. Their low voices and laughs heightened her loneliness, unleashing a deep-seated fear she’d never find that sense of belonging others seemed to develop so effortlessly. It was as if she was a square peg in the round hole of life. Never had a boyfriend. Barely been kissed. Parents urging her to join them in something she couldn’t fathom. And the closer it got to her birthday next Friday, the more acute all these confusing, ridiculous feelings became. It was almost as if a clock was ticking down to…something? What, she just didn’t know.
Suddenly, her scalp prickled and the hair on her neck and arms rose. Her stomach clenched and flip-flopped. What the hell?
Sure someone was stalking her, Kate shook her hood off and whirled, but the street was empty. Still, the ominous feeling was so convincing, it took every ounce of willpower to restrain her desire to run..
Finally, she stopped trying to resist, and broke out into a jog, relief flooding into her when the squat red M of the metro came into view up ahead. Gloved hand grasping the mace, she passed one apartment building, then another,.
“Shit.” Her ankle twisted off the edge of a broken curb she hadn’t noticed. Thankfully, the height of her boot prevented her from rolling it enough to cause a sprain. Damn thing still hurt, though. She paused and leaned a hand against the corner of the building, her exhalations fogging on the cold air.
Take a freaking breath, Kate.
She rotated her foot and stretched her ankle, reassuring herself it was fine. She just needed to go home and go to bed. Everything would look better in the morning.
The breeze kicked up and…Kate froze. What was that smell? Something spicy and warm. She couldn’t begin to place it, but all at once she forgot her panic. Swallowing the saliva pooling on her tongue, she inhaled more of that enticing smell like a lioness scenting the most delicious meal on the wind. She looked up at the apartments, but everything was dark. Behind her, the street remained empty. To her left, a driveway disappeared into darkness…
And the darkness concealed the source of that scent.
She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did.
One step. Another. Lured into the darkness. By something that called to her very soul, that appealed to her on a primal level. She had to…what? She wasn’t sure. Find it? See it?
Taste it.
The urges were so instinctual she didn’t even think about questioning them.
Shaking off the odd haze, Kate removed her smartphone from her jeans pocket and woke up the screen to provide a bit of light. A series of selections turned on her flashlight application and cast a brighter, broader illumination.
Boots. The first thing she saw was a pair of big black boots.
She gasped so hard and unexpectedly, the cold hurt her throat.
The man attached to those boots was huge, unmoving, and facedown in the dirt and stones of the driveway.
Without question, he was the source of the scent.
*
She had the oddest sensation of being sucked through a tunnel, or of seeing her life replayed in fast-forward behind her eyes. And, either way, the end led her here. To this moment. To this alley. To this man.
Weeks and months of foreboding and worry and dread all culminated right here.
Pomogite mne. Help me.
At the sound of the distant voice, Kate spun, wielding her flashlight phone like a weapon and shining the light around. “Who’s there?” But the alley was otherwise empty.
Trembling, she cut the glow back to the man and scanned his body with it. Blood soaked through the dark fabric of his pants on his right thigh. A lot of blood. A hole tore through his coat near his right shoulder. Long strands of blond hair peeked out from underneath a black knit cap.
She stepped to the other side of him, the dull ache of her ankle forgotten, and crouched near his head. Her light shined on the side of his face, but between his position and the cap she couldn’t make out much except… “Oh, shit.”