Chapter Two

At first, Dana couldn’t do anything. So unexpected was the ambush, she had no time to work out how she should respond, and what she should do. Fighting seemed impossible. When this strange woman jumped her, Dana could only gasp when she was shoved to the floor.

Then adrenaline kicked in.

Just as the stranger straddled her and tried to cut at her throat, Dana’s brain switched back on. She moved her right leg, drawing it in at the knee and pushing at the woman. The stranger seemed surprised, and she wasn’t very heavy. Dana could use that to her advantage. She wrapped her hands around the woman’s, twisting to the side. She pushed with all of her right knee and her hands, and finally managed to force her off her.

As soon as the stranger was on the floor, Dana leapt to her feet.

“Who the f**k are you?” she demanded. “Why have you done this?”

The woman grunted. She was still getting up from the floor, struggling in her ridiculous ballgown, knife still in hand. On her knees, she looked up at Dana with the filthiest look on her face Dana had ever seen.

“You may call me,” she said, holding her head up high, “the Reasoner. And that,” she gestured roughly towards the body of Dana’s father, “is just a taster of what I have planned for humanity.”

Dana stared at her. “That,” she repeated in a growl, “is my father. And you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”

By now, the Reasoner was standing. She was a significantly taller than Dana, and had the advantages of knowledge and a weapon on her side. Dana had nothing of the sort. She had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that her father had just been murdered right in front of her, and she didn’t know what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to react.

The Reasoner was still pointing a knife at her.

“Not today, princess,” she said, grinning.

Her smile was too gloating. Dana looked around, suspicious. And gasped.

Behind her was an entire gang of…of creatures. They were women, but that sounded too little a word to describe them. They looked more like angels, or goddesses, or something else equally as otherworldly and beautiful. Their skin seemed to glisten with a sea-coloured tint, and their eyes were so large and black, it was almost frightening. It was the eyes that ruined their images. They looked hauntingly beautiful, but those eyes were alien and ghostly. Those eyes told Dana that they were definitely not human.

The eyes, and the fact that they all had their mouths open, revealing rows upon rows of terrifyingly sharp teeth.

“Oh my God,” Dana whispered.

“Not quite,” the Reasoner gloated.

Instincts told Dana that she would never win this fight. She was outnumbered, and those things were not humans.

She looked at her father’s body, still and cold on the floor. His eyes were glazed over. If it wasn’t for the blood still trickling slowly from his throat, he would even have looked peaceful.

“Oh, don’t worry,” the Reasoner said quietly, following Dana’s eyes. “We won’t kill you. You’re one of a kind. If you die, well, what’s the point?”

Dana blinked, eyes returning to the Reasoner. “What?”

The Reasoner stared at her. Then, her eyes widened. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know? Know what?” Dana demanded.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Dana knew she shouldn’t have said them. Her ignorance was making the Reasoner grin. And despite the little amount of time they had known each other, Dana was beginning to understand that anything that made the Reasoner grin was very bad indeed.

“Oh, she doesn’t know!” she gasped, her eyes wide and manic. “She doesn’t know! This is better than I ever expected! First I discover that you exist, and then I discover that you don’t even know? It’s like Christmas!”

Dana stared at her in complete bewilderment. What the f**k was this batshit insane woman going on about? And why was it sending so many shivers down Dana’s spine?

The Reasoner continued babbling to the creatures behind Dana. Wildly, her eyes darted towards the door. The Reasoner was distracted. The creatures were distracted. Whether they wanted to kill her or not, Dana knew that whatever fate they had in store for her could not be a pleasant one.

She was a mother of three. She couldn’t die, and she couldn’t just disappear. For the sake of her children, she refused to allow it.

“Oh, you just wait till we bring her in!” the Reasoner was half-shouting at the creatures. “Can you imagine? Their faces! Their lovely little faces!”

Dana swallowed. She wanted to know what the hell the Reasoner was on about, but she had an opportunity here.

Years ago, when she’d been around twenty-one years old, she had told Lukas Holmberg that she was a survivor.

Will you be okay? He had asked, his fingers gentle and cautious as they grazed hers.

Of course I will, she had answered, withdrawing her hand. I’m a survivor.

She thought of this now.

Her father was there.

Her father was dead.

Her children were at home.

Alive and at risk of losing their mother.

Dana closed her eyes, just for a moment. The Reasoner turned into white noise, a dull drone at the back of her mind. By the time Dana had opened her eyes again, she had made up her mind.

“...going to be such a delight!” the Reasoner was saying. “Think of all the things we could do.”

Dana eyed the door. And abruptly, before anyone could even process it, she was darting past the Reasoner, running down the hallway and flinging open the front door. She was out on the street before the Reasoner could even think of going after her.

She darted down the street, her legs and lungs working overtime as she sprinted across the road and flung herself into the driver’s seat of her car. She threw her bag into the seat next to her, rooting around for her keys.

“F**k, f**k, f**k,” she hissed under her breath. “Come on, come on, come on.”

She couldn’t f*****g find them. She picked up her bag and emptied the whole thing out onto the seat. There!

The creatures followed the Reasoner out of the house. They had reached Dana’s side of the road by the time she had the key in the ignition, but by that point, she had already started the car and was driving away.

But where would she go? If they followed her, she would lead them straight to her home. To her children.

She couldn’t do that. She needed to go somewhere else.

Julia’s? No, Julia was performing in the show--she was Dana’s understudy.

Andrea? No, she would be watching.

F*****g hell. F**k, she had no friends.

Think, Dana! Think!

I’m a survivor.

She turned left at the crossroads, picked up her phone, and dialed a number, clicking the option to put it on loudspeaker.

After three rings, Lukas Holmberg picked up.

“Dana?”

“I need your address, right now,” she said, driving as fast as she possibly could.

 

~

 

When he opened the door, Dana didn’t even hesitate before pushing past him, seeking safety in his apartment. Her heart was still racing, her blood pounding in her ears. All she could hear was ringing; all she could feel was the heavy blanket of adrenaline pulsating all around her. She didn’t look at his apartment. She wasn’t aware of anything at all. As soon as she walked in, she bashed into something, but she didn’t even realize what it was.

“Dana, slow down,” she heard his voice pierce the film of panic that was shrouding her. Soft and slow and comforting. The voice she had once associated with calmness, with safety. She clung to it now, clung to the sounds of him. “Stay still. Breathe. Okay? Just breathe.”

But she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Now that she was away from the Reasoner, now that she wasn’t in immediate danger, everything came crashing down around her. She replayed it in her head over and over again. Her father. The knife. The blood. I love you.

She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt wetness on her face. She turned around, gasping, trying to find something to ground her.

What she found was Lukas.

He pulled her into a hug, his arms tight and protective around her. He was soft and comforting, careful but certain. He had one arm around her waist, and one hand in her hair, his thumb rubbing gentle circles into her scalp. He was speaking, too, his voice low and soothing in her ear.

“It’s okay, you’re okay. Shh, shh. You’re safe. You’re all right.”

“He’s dead,” she gasped, sobbing into his shoulder. “He’s dead. He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.”

“Hey, hey, okay,” he whispered. “Everything is going to be okay. Just tell me what’s happened.”

“My father,” she gasped, her eyes stinging. She felt rather than heard the sob escape her lips. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. “He’s...he’s...oh, f**k, I can’t...”

“I know. I know, Dana, I know.  Just breathe.”

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t. She moved closer to him, needing his grip to be tighter on her, needing him to ground her more. Her hands were fisted in his shirt, nails digging into his chest. It was probably hurting, but he stayed calm.

“Can’t,” she gasped. “Can’t.”

All she could see was colours. Bright colours, bright lights blinding her.

“Yes, you can,” he said calmly. “Deep breaths, in…and out. In…and out.”

He continued to guide her through her breathing, and she listened closely, obeying every command. In…and out. In…and out. She felt like she was doing some stupid meditation or something.

“Now I want you to hold your breath for a few seconds,” she heard him say. “Okay? Now.”

She held her breath.

“Now breathe out.”

She did. It helped. The breathing helped.

A cold wave rushed over her. Yes. Sense. Reason and sense. She couldn’t freak out now. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t stand here screaming or crying; she could grieve later, when she had had time to figure out what, exactly, she wanted to scream and cry about. When she knew what was going on.

Her panicked rambling turned into slow, steady breathing into his shoulder.Her shaking calmed. She relaxed.

“Okay?” asked Lukas.

Slowly, Dana shook her head. “He’s dead.”

“I see.”

Lukas released her. “Sit down, Dana. Let’s talk.”

Author's Note

What do you guys think? How am I doing so far?