A Bloody Passion Volume I

Chapter 5

He had led her to one of the abandoned buildings, as it had started raining.

When he closed the door behind them, he asked, "They didn't hurt you, I hope?"

"No." she answered numbly, still in shock at what had happened.

As he turned around to face her, she could finally see what he looked like. He seemed so oddly familiar: he had dark brown hair falling down to his neck, short side whiskers, stubble across his- it was him! The man she had bumped into the other day!

As the realisation kicked in, so did fear. Had he been following her?

As if she had asked the question out loud, he gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry you had to witness that. I doubt it is anything anyone in your position could have wanted to see."

Elsie slowly averted her eyes to the ground as the images of him tearing the throats of the raggedy men flashed across her mind. It made her shudder.

He walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, which startled her and made her jump back.

He pulled back his arm and said, "Maybe it would be best if you sat down."

He went to a corner of the room they were in, where a dusty old sofa lay upturned. He positioned it properly and pushed it closer to Elsie.

The whole room seemed to have rubble lying about it. Elsie couldn't make out all of it, but she could see some of it were broken chairs, a table at one end of the room and smashed cutlery lying scattered on the ground.

She sat down on the sofa, which turned out to be more dusty than she ever thought a sofa could get and put her bag on the ground.

"Are you cold?" he asked, after a short moment of silence.

Elsie was still wearing her school uniform, which, by now, was filthy from all the dirt she had huddled in between during the incident, and soaking wet from the rain.

Whether she was cold was undoubtable, but the trauma she had witnessed made it impossible to feel that. Yet, as he brought it up, her body must have been reminded that she should be shivering.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said.

He took off his cloak, revealing that he was wearing an old-fashioned suit beneath. He draped the cloak around her, which she accepted gratefully.

"It's a bit damp, but I hope it'll be of help in keeping you warm."

"Thank you." Elsie said with a brief glance at him, before she returned her gaze to the ground.

That man had killed maybe around seven other men by tearing their throats out with his bare teeth, yet here he was, trying to make sure she was warm. Elsie simply had to say something. But what? What if the wrong word could trigger him to kill her in the same fashion?

She looked up at him, to meet his eyes, and carefully asked, "Who are you?"

He smiled and answered, "I have had many names, but the one I'd like you to know me by would be the one my own parents gave me: Eric."

Elsie nodded, then, while keeping eye-contact, asked, "Why were you following me, Eric?"

Eric took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh as he looked to the side. "It's complicated."

"I'd like to know."

He returned his gaze to her. "No, I don't think you would."

She watched as he walked over to one of the broken windows.