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Dannika rubbed her chest. “I’m sorry. That guy scared the crap out of me. I heard him earlier, but I didn’t see him.”
Margo rubbed her leg. “You go home. Your shift is almost over, anyway. I’ll finish cleaning up.”
Normally, Dannika would never leave a half-hour early. Cleanup was the worst part of the job, and they were short-staffed, but her heart refused to resume its natural rhythm. “Thanks. I’ll come in early on Monday.”
Margo stood up. “Don’t you worry about it. You help out all the time and never miss a shift. You’ll be running this place one day.”
That was Dannika’s goal. To take over when Margo retired. It was a few years away, but it gave her time to brush up on the ordering and accounting aspects of the job.
The shelter had a small break room. A quiet place where the employees could have lunch and plan the next meal. It was also the location of the lockers. Dannika grabbed her backpack, pausing to glance at the picture of her and Carmen, before relocking it.
Margo handed her a takeout container. “This is for Don. He didn’t come in again today.”
Dannika smiled, putting the container in her backpack. “You’re a good person, Margo.”
Margo huffed. “Hardly, but Don is getting up there in age and he forgets to eat. I can’t get him to sleep at the shelter, but his tent is in the alley on your way home.”
“I’ll make sure he gets it.” Dannika slipped on her backpack and headed out the door, pausing outside as it chimed.
The shelter was on the outskirts of the Graydon County industrial area. Like most small towns, Graydon wished to keep its homeless population on the outlying area, unseen by the citizens who weren’t down on their luck. But the alleys between the warehouses and shipping containers all led to the city hub. She wound her way through the back streets until she arrived in the alley a block from her apartment.
Don had set up his green army tent beside a rusty blue garbage bin, beneath a steel stairway.
Dannika knelt in front of the zipper. “Don, are you in there? Margo sent food.”
When the roar of traffic from Main Street was her response, she unzipped the flap, intending to put the container inside.
She fell back, cutting her hand on the broken glass that littered the pavement. Pain sliced through her palm as she scrambled away from Don’s body. The smell of iron assailed her nostrils, causing her stomach to roll. Bile rose in her throat as the sight of torn flesh, and dripping blood painted a macabre picture of death.
Dannika blinked several times, praying this was one of her hallucinations, but the smell and Don’s milky eyes were all too real.
She stood, fumbling through her backpack for her phone and dialed 911. Someone knocked her to the ground, sending her phone skittering across the pavement. She struggled to catch her breath.
From beside her, a figure reached for her. She snapped up her elbow, connecting with the man’s face. She turned quickly, kicking him in the groin. Familiar red eyes flared from under the cowboy hat. She leapt to her feet and sprinted down the alley, away from the man.
As she ran, gray mist formed in front of her. She tried to keep going, but the mist obscured her vision. She skidded to a halt.
The dark shadow materialized into the man with red eyes.
She gasped. “That’s impossible.”
His fanged smile made her heart stutter. “I promised you answers, Dannika. Our leader is eager to meet you. You should feel honored.”
She held up her hands. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He arched his eyebrows. “You say that like you have a choice.”
His form dissolved into gray mist, then reformed behind her. His arm circled her neck like a steel band.
“I like a woman who fights,” he whispered.
She twisted, elbowing him, then stomped on his foot with the heel of her boot. Nothing dislodged his hold. He chuckled as he dragged her backward.
“Please,” she begged.
His lips touched her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. “I will not let you go, but I will free you.”
His fangs punctured her neck, shocking her senses. The pain radiating from her neck was to be expected, but the razor blades racing through her blood, attacking every cell in her body, was an excruciating torture unlike anything she had imagined. While the gulping noises echoed in her ear, her internal organs burned in agony. She dropped to the ground, praying for death. A shock of pain radiated down her spine. Her temple rested on a rock embedded in the pavement, cutting into her skin.
