Nothing. Of course there was nothing.
“Motherfucker,” she muttered. Her heart was still pounding.
With another murmured curse, she went back inside, weaving through the crowd until she was back at Iris’s side. The music she normally enjoyed turned to white noise, fading into the background, drowned out by the tumult in her head. She tried to hide her unease, but apparently, she wasn’t that successful.
Iris searched her face. “What just happened? Where did you go?”
Suyin shook her head, too lost in her thoughts to reply. She tried to remember what the stranger’s eyes had looked like. Had they been bloodshot like the eyes in her dream? Surely the neighborhood creep in the park couldn’t be related to her premonitions? But after seeing the way he moved, she wasn’t so sure.
“Suyin? You okay?”
She blinked back to the present, finding Iris staring at her. “You wanna get out of here?”
Iris’s frown deepened. “This is only the first band of the night. You want to leave already?”
She nodded. She wanted to get home where she was safe behind her wards. She wanted to succumb to her paranoia in privacy.
But she wasn’t telling Iris any of that. “I’m just tired. Guess moshing took it out of me.”
Iris looked dubious, which was fair. Suyin could mosh for hours on a good night. “All right,” she said anyway. “Let’s go.”
They made their way out of the stuffy club. It was spring, but the humidity made it feel cooler. The dark street was full of people coming and going between venues. There was still no sign of the stranger.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t out there somewhere, watching her.
Iris insisted on walking her home, and though Suyin would never admit it, she was glad. It took about half an hour to reach her neighborhood, and they took the path through the park across the street from her apartment.
As they approached the lilac bushes, Suyin almost hoped to find someone standing there. Now that she’d seen her stalker up close, she was determined to confront him. No more hiding behind the window curtain. The next time she saw him, she was going after him. If he tried to run every time she got close, maybe he’d give up and leave her alone for good. And if he tried to grab her, she’d stab him with her trusty boot knife.
But there was no one by the bushes. And she somehow wasn’t surprised.
They stopped at the base of the outdoor staircase to Suyin’s apartment.
“Are you sure everything’s okay?” Iris asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Suyin lied straight to her face. Guess that was a thing for them now.
Iris pursed her lips like she was thinking the same. “All right, well … it was good to see you tonight. Maybe we can go out again soon?”
Suyin nodded noncommittally. She was far too distracted to worry about Iris right now.
They went their separate ways, and Suyin let herself into her flat. Inside, it felt too quiet. She was safe behind her wards. She could relax. Yet the music in the bar had left her ears ringing, and her head was still buzzing with the adrenaline of seeing her stalker.
She felt jittery and full of restless energy. Trying to sleep would be a form of torture. She wanted to act. She wanted to hit something. Or someone. Someone like that white-haired freak.
She locked the front door but didn’t take off any of her outdoor clothes. Instead, she crossed the apartment and exited through the back.
She was going for a ride. Some fresh air and the feel of her bike’s engine rumbling between her legs would help her calm down. And maybe she wanted to prowl the streets and hunt for her stalker a little too.
She descended the spiraling steps into the yard and slipped through the gate. Then, she rifled through her keys until she found the one for the garage. But when she stuck it into the door handle and turned, it didn’t click open the way it usually did. Because it hadn’t been locked.
She frowned.Weird.She always locked this door. Her bike was too precious to risk with carelessness.
Then again, she’d been way too stressed out and overtired lately. She was bound to make stupid mistakes. Shaking her head, she pushed open the door and stepped into the blackness. She reached out to feel the switch on the wall. She flipped it. Light flared on.
The next few seconds happened in slow motion.
She saw a huge, towering form. Bloodshot eyes stared down at her from a cruel, pale face. Tall black horns loomed high above.
