S. Cedric: Of Fever and Blood

She stepped out and shut the door.

Through the glass, she saw the animal. It was no longer a mere image in the mirror. It was on all fours in the middle of the living room.

The wolf bore its fangs and darted in her direction.

She stepped back as the beast’s paws hit the glass door.

“Help!” she screamed.

She leaned over the balcony railing. There were apartment buildings all around but nobody in sight.

“Help me! Help!”

A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

The sky opened up and started pouring rain.

On the other side of the glass door, there were two black animals now. Their red eyes were glaring at her with perfect malice.

“Can anybody hear me? Help me! Somebody! Help me!”

Down below, people were rushing to get out of the downpour. They couldn’t hear her cries for help.

She crossed the narrow balcony. At the far end was a rusty metal ladder bolted to the wall. It led to the roof.

Eloise grabbed on and started climbing.

She had gotten halfway up when she heard the glass shatter and the beasts leap out, growling, on the balcony.

She climbed faster.

Just as her hand reached the edge of the roof, she lost her grip on the knife. It went twirling down.

“Shit!”

The beasts jumped up at her. Their jaws clamped the air just a few inches from her legs.

Eloise Lombard quickly pulled herself onto the edge of the slate roof, grazing her hands in the process.

Now she could rest.

Maybe.

6:45 p.m.

Leroy parked on the pedestrian crossing in front of the building as the rain began to fall again, at first hesitantly.

Then lightning streaked the sky. The crack of thunder followed, and a torrent of rain pummeled the cruiser.

Vauvert, in the passenger seat, had kept his mouth shut the entire drive. Now he turned and shot Eva a hard look.

“Me and Leroy are going. You watch the car.”

But he knew there was no reasoning with this inspector. She just adjusted her dark glasses. “The car will watch itself just fine. You wouldn’t want me to catch a cold, would you?”

Vauvert stormed out of the vehicle.

Sensing something, he ran his eyes up the building. All he could see were the furious sheets of rain.

“A problem?” Leroy worried.

“Just a feeling,” Vauvert said. “Did you hear anything? Sounded like someone was screaming.”

“I have a terrible feeling too,” Eva said as she headed toward the entrance.

The main doors were wide open. Three people were standing in the hallway, which was dimly lit by two emergency lights.

They shot questioning glances at Vauvert and Leroy as they walked in. They stared at the strange woman with white hair and sunglasses who was shivering in her suit and leather jacket. “Can I help you with something? I’m the janitor.”

The man who had just spoken stepped out of the group. He was tall, all skin and bones, with intense blue eyes and a face full of wrinkles. His thinning gray hair was combed across his skull.

Leroy took out his police ID and waved it so that everyone could see it.

“Got a power outage?”

“That’s right, sir. No juice at all in the entire building, but don’t ask me why. I called the power company. They should be here soon.”

Back outside, though, all the street lights were working. The neon sign on a pharmacy across the way was flashing. And through the window of a bar next door, they could see a soccer game on the wide screen.

“A selective outage, for sure,” Eva said.

“Maybe it’s just the lighting,” the janitor replied. “It came down pretty close a couple of times. Hell, it felt like it was aiming for us. These landlords could care less. I’m the one stuck with all the problems, with no help at all. I have the feeling that I’m spending all my time putting bandages on a broken leg, if you know what I mean.”

Vauvert grinned. “We’re cops, sir. We know exactly what you mean.” He quickly scanned the hallway and didn’t see anyone else. “Do you know all the tenants here?”

“Pretty much,” the janitor said.

“How about a girl, Eloise Lombard?”

“Sure. She lives with her father. A shy kid, but really nice. Actually, she got here right when the power went out. She took the stairs.” He pointed at the ceiling with his index finger. “Their apartment is on the top floor. Say, they’re not in any trouble, are they?”

“No, don’t worry,” Eva said. “But we have to talk to them right away.”

Leroy opened the stairwell door.

“Is this the only way up?”

“Well, yes,” the janitor said.

“Perfect. Make sure nobody else goes up. We’ll be right back.”

They made it up the first two floors as quickly as they could. They walked in single file, not saying a word to each other. Vauvert led the way, followed by Leroy. Eva came last. She had removed her sunglasses. In here, there was only the dim glow of the emergency lights.

Halfway between the second and third landings, even the emergency lights were off.

“Shit. What does that mean?”

“That we’re heading into some real trouble again,” Leroy said, his face lit by the screen of his cell phone. “Guess what? No signal in here.”

He put away his cell and turned on his flashlight.

The beam swept across the steps.

“We keep going anyway?”

“You bet we do,” Vauvert said.

They reached the fourth floor. Leroy directed his beam at the emergency light. It wasn’t on here either.

Behind them, Eva suddenly called out.

“Did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?”

They froze.

“I can’t hear anything,” Leroy finally said.

“Me either,” Vauvert said.

“I swear I thought I heard a growl,” Eva said.

Leroy swung the beam of his flashlight down the stairs.

There was nothing there.

They started up the stairs again, more slowly this time.

On the fifth-floor landing, they found a book bag. The contents had spilled all over the stairs.

Vauvert bent down and picked up a plastic ID card bearing Eloise Lombard’s name.

None of the three said anything.

They had only one floor left to go, and then they would know.

As they headed up the steps, Eva checked her cell phone. It was not working.

Whatever they might find up these stairs, they’d have to deal with it all by themselves. Still, they pressed on, their guns out and ready to fire.

“Here we are,” Vauvert said.

He grabbed the handle of the door leading to the sixth floor.

“We’re covering you,” Leroy whispered.

Vauvert nodded. He pushed the door wide open, his gun brandished before him.

The flooring gleamed with fresh blood.

“Holy shit,” Leroy mumbled.

Vauvert scanned every dark corner. There were only two apartments on this floor. Both had their doors open.

“Be extremely careful,” he whispered, pressing his back against the wall.

With the huge inspector leading the way, they took a few hesitant steps. Their shoes made sucking sounds as they walked through the puddles.

They pointed their guns into the first apartment.

“Holy shit,” Leroy said again, this time in a stricken voice.

Two naked bodies, horribly mutilated, the flesh punctured numerous times. One was still hanging upside down on the sofa. The other one lay broken on the floor in a river of blood. Bloody footprints led directly from the corpses to the door.

“We came too late,” Vauvert said. “She took their faces. Do you think the Lombard girl is one of them?”

“I don’t think so. They look like they were just young teenagers. Eloise is older than these poor kids.”