The evening air had turned brittle and cold, carrying a dampness that clung to the stone walls of the university campus. Lina walked quickly, her heavy bag of textbooks pulling at her shoulder. She had stayed late in the library, trying to bury the memory of the boardroom disaster in the pages of a French cookbook, but the silence of the campus now felt heavy and ominous.
As she turned the corner toward her dorm, the sound of her own footsteps seemed to echo with an unnatural rhythm. There was a second set of thuds, faint and scraping, following just a beat behind her. She slowed her pace, her heart beginning to hammer against her ribs. When she glanced at the pavement, she saw them, long, distorted shadows stretching out from the oak trees, moving independently of the wind.
Fear, cold and sharp, flooded her system. Lina didn't wait to see more. She hiked her bag higher and started to run.
She was only a dozen yards from the safety of her dorm entrance when a dark blur streaked across her path. The sudden movement made her gasp, her foot catching on a raised root in the grass. She went down hard, the air leaving her lungs in a painful rush as she skidded across the gravel just in front of her door.
Lina scrambled to turn over, her hands scraped and bleeding. Two figures emerged from the darkness, their bodies shifting and contorting in a way that defied human anatomy. They were tall, their eyes glowing with a sickly yellow light, and their breath came out in guttural, animalistic snarls. One of them reached out, a clawed hand closing in on her shoulder.
"No!" Lina screamed, pulling back.
Before the creature could touch her, a streak of black shadow descended from the roof of the dorm. The impact was like a thunderclap.
Nicole appeared out of nowhere, her movements so fast the human eye couldn't track them. She landed between Lina and the shapeshifters, her posture low and lethal. Her silk blouse was torn at the shoulder, and her face was transformed into a mask of terrifying beauty. Her vampire fangs were fully extended, gleaming white against her lips as she let out a snarl that sounded more like a mountain lion than a woman.
With a roar of fury, Nicole grabbed the lead shifter by the throat and flung him twenty feet across the lawn, his body hitting a brick wall with a sickening thud. The second one tried to lunge, but Nicole caught him mid-air, her strength immense as she snapped his arm and tossed him aside like a rag doll.
The creatures, sensing they were outmatched by a true predator, scrambled to their feet and vanished back into the treeline, their whimpers fading into the night.
Nicole stood still for a long moment, her chest heaving, the crimson glow in her eyes slowly receding. She didn't move toward Lina. She didn't offer a hand. She simply turned her head, looking at Lina with an expression of deep, agonizing regret. The moonlight caught the sharp edge of her fangs before they retracted.
Without saying a word, Nicole stepped back and melted into the darkness of the trees, leaving Lina alone on the cold ground.
Lina lay there for a long time, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She eventually found the strength to get up, her legs shaking as she unlocked her door and collapsed onto her bed. Her mind was a whirlwind of images, the claws, the yellow eyes, and Nicole's terrifying, protective fury.
She stared at the ceiling, the scrape on her hand stinging, until the vibration of her phone on the nightstand startled her. She picked it up, her fingers trembling as she saw the name on the screen.
Nicole: Now you know why we can't be together. I am a monster, Lina. I don't want to hurt you. Stay away.
Lina stared at the words, the memory of Nicole's body shielding her from the dark still fresh in her mind. A small, defiant smile touched her lips as she typed back a response.
Lina: Well, I am not staying away. You saved me, Nicole. And a monster wouldn't look as sad as you did before you left.