So did she, but she quite liked the idea of an excuse not to be available at the weekend.

“Well, I’ll be here,” Alex said.

“I would wait a while before you look into the house where the victim was attacked, imagine there will still be some government presence around there,” Drew said.

“The priority is finding out who the victim is,” Alex said.

Drew passed her a small piece of folded paper, which opened up to reveal the picture of the victim Alex had taken on her phone the night before.

“I printed off another copy and the secret squirrels didn’t manage to find it when the cleared out the place. Be careful Alex,” Drew said. “I don’t want you to lose your job quite yet.”

- Chapter 19 -

Realisations

Falling. Falling through memories, through abstract thoughts and disturbing nightmares. Dozens of lives lived, dozens of lives lost. Pain, the only constant and repeated through time, again and again. It always ended in pain, yet the dreams continued and reality was lost.

He walked alone in the darkness, the revolver gripped tightly in his right hand, hidden by his coat, the oil lamp outstretched in front of him to guide the way. He could feel it, the Dragos was his.

The shadow in the distance took a right into an alleyway, but it would not elude him. Slowing as he reached the turn, he raised the gun ahead of him, his finger poised on the trigger. He turned ready to adjust to wherever the creature stood, but the alleyway was empty. His back against the wall, he walked into the darkness. Dragos were tricky to hunt, reptilian in their physical and moral attributes, slippery and scheming by their very nature. He reached the end of the tunnel and looked either way, but there was no sign of it. Damn. It had escaped.

A drip of sweat fell through the air, forming a perfect sphere before it struck his forehead. He looked up and the shadows fell toward him. He could not raise his gun quick enough as a blade pierced his neck. Blood poured from the wound, like hot water flowing down his body. The oil lamp smashed to the floor with a last flicker of life before it died, the world crashing into nothingness. All was lost, his time was over. Now his thoughts, lay with his son.

Henry awoke with a jolt.

Beep Beep. Beep Beep.

He reached out to quell the noise, but did not find his bedside table as expected. Henry continued to search for it in vain, before realising he wasn’t in his bed, he hadn’t made it that far last night.