Where Dark Things Wait: Night Creatures Book One

Chapter Four - The Thing Inside

She'd barely slept. She felt too wired and too anxious to rest, but the guards on the doors of the hospital wing unnerved her enough to keep her in bed. Hours passed, too slowly, so slowly that she ended up caught between boredom and out of her mind with anxiety. By the time Maloney arrived carrying a pile of towels and clean clothes - those not stained with ash and blood - Kalyna had stood up and sat down more times than she could count, trying to find the courage to tell her guards that they needed to take her to see the Major, or at the very least they needed to get her a book to read.

"I thought you might want a shower and something clean to wear before I take you to see the Major," PC Maloney offered, holding out the jeans and t-shirt, and a bag containing more personal items.

Kalyna glanced at the offering, then back up at the dark haired, dark-eyed witch, whose brown hair and eyes almost looked black, stark, even against her bronzed skin. She'd lost her police uniform, donning black cargo pants and a black t-shirt instead, that looked like they came from the same supplier as the olive drab worn by the guards at the door. Her garb wasn't what grabbed her attention though. No, what held her focus was Maloney's scent, of cardamom, and something citrusy, like coriander. Did all people smell so good? Why hadn't she noticed before?

"What are you?" Kalyna asked, frowning, "The police called you Police Constable, but Dr Pullman called you Corporal. What are you? What is this place?"

"Most of that is better answered by someone else, but I am both. Or I'm sometimes both," Maloney explained, placing the clothing on the bed when she made no move to take it. "I'm a Corporal in the Occult Task Force, a multidisciplinary, multispecies wing of national security funded jointly by the mortal Ministry of Defence, and a collaborative partnership of supernatural organisations. However, sometimes that means intervening in police matters, in order to keep the supernatural world and the human world separate. Some of us trained as Police Officers too, and we serve whichever purpose is most needed on any given night."

"Alright. So, you are both Corporal of... like... a supernatural army division, and also a Police Constable of... some paranormal specialist branch of the police?" Kalyna mused, not completely convinced she believed such a thing. 'And Dunstan Eorl is both a Staff Sergeant of and a Police Sergeant... and I assume Dr Pullman is... Medical Officer? This place is craving with vampires, and witches..."

"And werewolves, incubi, succubi, shifters or various kinds, fae of multiple types, even a minor demon or two," Maloney agreed, then added, "Although there are a lot of humans too; people who were exposed to the supernatural world somehow and found their way here."

She offered a smile, encouraging, "Come on, I'll show you the way to the showers... I spent a few weeks trapped in this place when some prat summoned Rahab, and the sea serpent got his coils around me. Shattered my pelvis. Took the doc and several witches to put me back together, and rehab was a bitch. Rahab and rehab. Bad days."

Kalyna stared at the witch in a mixture of horror and bemusement. Maloney barely seemed real. She spoke of sea serpents, and demons, and shattered bones that needed magic to heal, as if it was all nothing.

"I don't belong here," she murmured, absolutely sure that was true.

"Dun's throat says otherwise," Maloney retorted, then winked, "You belong, even if you don't realise it yet. But the Major won't wait forever, and you really do need to shower."

Unable to argue and not in a position to escape, Kalyna picked up the clothing and towel, then she followed Maloney out of the bed area and into the corridor. The witch led her passed a nurses' station to a door marked 'Ladies Showers'. The plaque had a paper notice fastened under it, which said 'For patient use only'.