The Ninth

Part 7. Where are you?

Evening of the same day.

"Damn it, where do I find you now", Dean indignantly ran his eyes around the park, looking out the window and now and then hiding from the sun until its last ray went beyond the horizon. At that moment he ran outside. "What a fresh scent I'm smelling..."

He turned towards Corona and instantly ran there.

Entering the bar, he didn't see Dana there, but the scent marked her recent presence.

"Dean? Hey", the bartender called.

"Skeet, hey, listen..."

The upturned collar of his sweater came across Dean's eyes.

"Why is your collar up?"

"I... I don't remember, oh, so weird", Skeet was about to put it down before Dean quickly stopped him.

"Don't."

But he noticed two hole-shaped wounds on his neck behind the collar.

"Dana, damn it!" Dean exclaimed loudly and started looking around.

"Oh, are you looking for her? Such a sweet girl, but she behaved very weirdly when she came. And we went out for a smoke, and then... And then... Oh. Well, she probably went home. I don't remember, man, really", Skeet sounded confused.

"Ah. Yeah. I guess I know what's up."

Dean left the bar and went in the direction of Dana's house hoping to find her at least there. And he guessed right: Dana was at home, looking at her face in the mirror. Not being embarrassed by anyone or anything, Dean climbed into her apartment through the balcony. She felt his presence immediately and absolutely not controlling the crazy surge of strength, she instantly moved to him and pressed him very powerfully against the wall. The answer wasn't long in coming: Dean loosened her grip with a couple of deft movements, lowering her hand down - he still had much more strength. Dana, still very confused, took a couple of steps back, and almost cried.

"Hey... Don't cry, just don't cry, come here", Dean hugged her tightly. "I'll help you. And everything will be fine."

"I'm scared," Dana said. "I can't leave the house. I smell everything... well... you get it. I'm craving blood. And I really want to do something bad. I bit the bartender... I'm so scared. And I think I remembered something..."

"I shouldn't have let this happen, damn it, Mary Louise is such a burden. I didn't even think that she would want to take revenge like that. But... What have you remembered?"

"It was after my birthday. September 20th, I think. I was walking back home from my friend's, through the park, and the murders, the killing spree, had already started. And I was a little drunk, we were drinking wine; and I decided to walk straight through the park. And then... Oh my god," Dana sat on the edge of the couch. "I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and see you... You look at me for a long time. Your eyes start to get a little red, dark veins appear... And you tell me: go home. Go home right away, because I'm literally starving. I keep standing. You walk up to me, take my hand, and you... What did you do? It cuts off... What happened next? Dean?"

"I compelled you to forget that moment and go home," Dean sat down beside Dana. "I decided that it would be too easy, because I thoroughly tracked down all the victims back then, and then killed them, it amused me, the whole process. And then... It was the first time I didn't want to kill. So I decided to not scare you off and had to use compulsion. And after that, as you already know from my sister, I came and told her all about it. I was sure that it was a sign... And from that day on, continuing my misadventures, I started following you. Until one fine day you noticed me. Believe me, I could no longer hide then."