A.N.: So this is the third part of the volens!verse, and this one is another three-shot.
Disclaimer: Don't own Sherlock
Prologue – Ambush
Contrary to popular belief, the morgue was not a scary place. People are often moved to fear by places where the dead reside, but that was a fear that she had never found herself subject to; death was part of life, just like taxes. The guests lying in drawers along the wall of the morgue had never frightened her – after all, it was not the dead whom people should fear; it was the living, and those capable of creating the dead.
She watched from the shadows as she worked the late shift, completely unaware that she was not alone. The poor girl had been doing a lot of late shifts lately; bad news for the girl, but excellent news for the woman watching; a tired victim could more easily be caught unawares. Maybe she was already botching her autopsy report, and if she wasn't even focussed on that which was right in front of her, then the girl had no hope of detecting the presence of the woman who was hiding in the shadows watching her every moment, whose fangs were elongating in her mouth as she did so…
She was hungry.
Not hungry enough to drive her to kill someone, but hungry enough that her self-control was waning considerably. She didn't have a volens, which – considering the situation that she had found herself in – was not the best of ideas. This lack of a willing blood supply was not for lack of offers, and indeed there was one whose blood she had so desperately wanted to taste that she had almost accepted.
But she had learned not to mix her true nature with her work; it may end with some awkward questions. Besides, she had no time for such frivolous things as permission to feed; she was much more suited to hunting, to taking what she needed from whoever happened to have it: and right now, the girl had what she needed.
She watched closely as the girl closed her file and put it in a drawer. She had turned away from her, but the woman could still see her rub her eyes in an effort to stay awake. If she would only move closer to the supply cupboard, closer to where the predator anxiously awaited her pray…
The girl pulled another file out of the drawer and took it to her desk. The woman had to try very hard not to growl in frustration. She wouldn't be able to keep her self-control in check for much longer.
In the silence of the morgue, she could almost hear the girl's heart beating…
The girl groaned tiredly, slapping the file shut violently. It would seem that her fatigue had finally caught up with her, and she was calling it a night. Shoving the file back into the drawer and slamming the metal door shut, she turned swiftly on her heel and made to leave, heading for the door to the corridor beyond. With each step, she was nearing the supply cupboard – nearing where she was lying in wait.
When the girl was within arm's reach, the woman emerged from the shadows and grabbed her by the arm, slapping a hand over her mouth and dragging her backwards into the supply cupboard.
The girl tried to struggle against her. It was almost funny.
When they were both inside the cupboard, the woman closed the door, plunging them into darkness. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light quickly, for she spent a vast amount of her time in the dark.
When the girl's deep, rapid, panicked breathing had begun to slow, the woman carefully removed her hand from her mouth. The girl let out a frightened moan, but the woman slammed her back against the shelves of the cupboard, effectively silencing her.
"Wh-" the girl gasped, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw clearly for the first time the woman who was standing before her. "You!" she breathed, her eyes filled with horror and confusion.
The woman placed a finger on the girl's lips and waited for her to lapse into silence once more. When the girl had quietened, the woman lowered her hand to her side, smirked, and struck.
The girl gasped in pain as the fangs tore into her flesh, sinking deep into the blood vessel and letting out the delicious crimson. It flowed into the woman's mouth, sweet and wonderful. The girl's pain manifested itself in vocalisations, and as they increased in volume to near screams, the vampire reasoned that she should attempt to quieten her; while she had not seen any one in the surrounding corridors when she had snuck in, it would never do to risk being heard.
She shifted her teeth within the girl's flesh, until the cries of agony ceased abruptly. Slowly, carefully, she slipped her fangs in a little further, and the girl moaned.
The woman smiled against her neck.
She knew what she liked.