Prologue. Death
At least an hour was left until dawn, and as luck would have it, only every other streetlight in the park burned.
“Hey!”
The girl quickened her pace. The clicking of her heels in the night’s silence made sounds which seemed much too loud.
“Stop! I need to talk to you!”
She thought seriously about taking off her heels, getting out of the alley, and running into the darkness, but she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t notice and follow.
The clicking of the heels became even quicker.
“Stop! I’m talking to you!”
It would appear that he also sped up, and it seemed to the girl that she had already caught the scent of his alcoholic amber. She could not take it any longer, and she simply ran—without taking off her heels or turning off the road, in a panic.
“Stop, damn it!”
Her face was now wet with tears, her breathing labored. Although she was in good physical shape, the last two cocktails were clearly too much.
He seemed to have fallen behind. Did I really manage to outrun him? She slowed down a little to catch her breath.
At that moment she felt a sharp pain exploding on the back of her head—and then nothing.
…
“Damn.”
