Chapter one

He had always loved the darkness. It enabled him to observe people quietly. They were walking in two's, some were walking alone, and others were carrying large grocery bags or a pet. They were laughing, talking, texting or silently praying in their hearts.

They were in their natural habitats, they were relaxed, free and happy until they walked got to the front of the building. Many of them would hasten their steps, some would cuss, hold their breath or just suddenly go quiet till the building was out of sight. 

It made him chuckle, at their naivety, their foolishness and weak minds. It was not the building they should be afraid of, it was him they should be afraid of. He's the real definition of fear.

He suddenly perceived a familiar scent, he knew that scent all too well, it was the smell of shower gel mixed with honey, it was her. 

He was at her window in an instant, he loved watching her go about her normal night routine, she moved gracefully and elegantly, she was wearing a bathrobe and she had a towel on her head. She moved about the room picking up a few things as she did. She sat on her bed and with graceful movements, she applied lotion to her legs, it was so seductive the way she moved, every gentle movement was elegant and luscious.

She suddenly stopped as if she could sense his presence, she turned towards the window but she didn't see anyone, she shrugged and continued applying the lotion ever so delicately as she hummed a sweet tune. 

He started in awe at her. She had a lovely sculpted figure which was accentuated by her robe, her strawberry-pink puffy heart-shaped lips looked so soft, her dainty nose sat adorably on her oval-shaped face, a pair of perfectly arched eyebrows looked down on a pair of gorgeous hazel eyes with velvety eyelashes. 

She looked even more radiant with the moonlight bouncing off her glossy skin, she dropped the towel on her head and her long fluffy molten red hair draped over her shoulders looking like a flowing river of blood, it was making him thirsty and he could feel his eyes getting darker. 

There was something about the colour of her hair. It was red, but he'd seen plenty red-haired in his lifetime and none of them caused this feeling in him.

Her hair was the exact colour of blood!

She stood up, went to her closet and wore her night robe, he could make out the outline of her slender figure through the thin fabric as she sat at her reading table and began to read.

He adored her passion for intellectual things, she was simply perfect in every way and it made him long for her even more. She put her book down and turned to the window again with a frown, it was like she could sense his presence and her heartbeat confirmed it. She walked towards her window and stood there for a while staring outside, staring straight ahead with squinted eyes like she was trying to see him.

She had never been this close to him, she smelled so delicious and so sweet, it was torturing him and he found himself holding his breath. She looked left and right, and finally giving up, she yanked her curtains close and returned to her book. 

He could still see her through the closed curtains and he decided to stay a little longer. 

The reason she couldn't see him was that anytime she senses his presence, he made himself invisible. He felt a little out of place admiring her, she was a human, a mortal, a normal person and he was a monster, a bloodsucking monster, she could never be drawn to him no matter what. 

Dwelling on that, he vanished the same way he came.

Hadassah’s POV

The hair on the back of my neck rose and my heart started pounding hard and I had a gnawing feeling that I was being watched. I've been getting this strange sensation of being watched every night. It was so undeniably real and as a detective, you learn to trust your gut feeling because it's never wrong. Well, I won't say never, I'll say it's rarely wrong. 

I just wonder who it was that could be watching me, it's getting a little creepy. I stood up and went to my window, I studied the atmosphere looking for anything out of place, something to prove that I'm not imagining this feeling and then I felt it. I felt a light breath on my face, I know it's weird to say breath rather than air but this does not feel like air, I could have sworn that someone was standing in front of me but I couldn't see anybody. I squinted my eyes to see if I could make out anything or anybody but I didn't see anything, I looked left and right but didn't see anything, finally resigning, I closed my curtains and went back to my book. 

But I didn't erase that thought from my head, someone was standing in front of me, maybe invisible but I was sure someone was there. It sounds crazy but as I said, my gut is rarely wrong.

**********

“Hi” Isabella greeted me warmly and I smiled back at her.

“Hey Belle” 

She looked at my face and frowned “are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure” I lied.

Isabella pursed her lips and frowned at me.

“We both know that's a lie, you look like you didn't sleep at all” she said and I felt obliged to tell her. 

I pulled her to my seat, lowered my voice and said,

“Do you believe in ghosts?” 

She stared at me in disbelief and then she started laughing “ghosts?” she chuckled again.

“why? Are you being haunted?” 

I sighed in exasperation.

“This is serious Belle, I don't know why, I keep feeling….” I hesitated a bit, and looked left and right before whispering “a presence or a force or something like that”

Isabella suddenly looked serious, she felt my forehead and looked at me with concern

“oh my God, Hadassah are you okay? Do you need a day off?”

I slapped her hand off my forehead with frustration. This is exactly why I hate telling people things.

“I'm serious Belle, someone or something has been watching me lately, it's spooky. Yesterday, I felt hot breath on my face but there was no one there. And before you think I'm crazy, I know what I felt and I can feel it in my gut that something creepy is happening.”

Belle opened her mouth to speak but our commander entered just then and began to address us.

_______________

“Morning everyone. We have a problem” he displayed a picture on the office projector.

“We've recently been getting complaints on the death of many people whose bodies are being found on the gates of that old cursed house with strange marks on their necks.”

A picture of a dead man came on the screen and he zoomed in to make his neck visible. Everybody gasped and Hadassah exchanged glances with Belle.

“It is speculated to be an insect bite but what type of insect leaves this mark”

“And why do they look so pale,” another detective asked with horror visible in his eyes.

“It appears their blood has been drawn from their bodies” the commander said as he displayed another picture of a woman with the same mark on her neck.

“What if it's not an insect bite?” Hadassah finally asked and they all turned to look at her. She rose and went towards the projector.

“Look at the marks closely, it's like teeth marks, fangs to be precise, the victims look pale, their blood has been sucked out of their bodies and they just happen to be found outside the cursed house that was rumoured to be haunted.” 

Her heart was racing with excitement as she finally put the pieces together and might just have figured out who has been watching her.

“Does this ring a bell….”