Before the hunt –
The hunger.
The strident beeps of the alarm pinched my foggy brain into a state of semi-alertness. I groaned involuntarily, swinging my arm over the side of the bed to swat at the clock on my bedside table. When my left arm hit the mattress after I slapped the snooze button, a dull pain thrummed in the veins at the crook of my elbow, swimming up my body to vibrate behind my eyelids. The sensation was a little strange, but nothing I gave too much notice to. I was more concerned by the fact that I had to drag myself out of bed sometime within the next five minutes.
When I cracked my eyes open, the gray morning sunlight sliced through the blinds and increased the tempo of the pounding behind my eyes. I felt groggier than usual, and the room spun when I sat up on my bed. As I moved to stand, I was surprised at how dizzy and faint I felt, and mentally told myself that I should really have eaten something the night before.
I stumbled through my morning routine in a haze, nearly falling asleep again in the shower before stopping in the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit. Juvia was sitting at the table, chin resting in one hand as she stirred something in her bowl. The beatific expression on her face told me her date had gone well.
"Have a fun time last night?" I asked, propping myself against the refrigerator as I peeled a banana.
"Yes…" she responded dreamily. "Gray-sama and I spent hours talking about—Lucy, what happened to you?! You look terrible!"
The description of her night was cut short when she turned her head to look at where I stood. Her blunt exclamation made me frown. She really could have tried to be more tactful.
"Well, I'm a little tired, that's all."
"Lucy, have you looked in a mirror?"
I thought back, and realized that I hadn't even glanced at my reflection since waking up. Juvia handed me the compact out of her purse so I could see my face staring back at me out of the tiny mirror inside. Only then did I realize that she was still in the outfit she'd worn last night, shoes and all. Now that was interesting. The hint of a smirk crossed my face as I popped the little compact open and saw my face for the first time since waking up.
Sucking in a breath, I instantly realized Juvia was right. The deep blue circles under my eyes caused my face to look skeletal—although that might have been because my skin was several shades paler than normal. My freckles stood out sharply against the stark white, and my lips were cracked and bloodless. I looked downright creepy. I snapped the mirrored compact shut with a little more force than necessary, and offered it back to her while trying to keep a neutral expression.
Still, Juvia had seen my eyes widen, and she took the compact back from me with a concerned look on her face.
"Did you get enough sleep last night? Did something happen?" she questioned, and a small voice in my brain reminded me of the strange dark form that had flitted across the window. I dismissed that fear, trying to reason that it was far more practical to attribute my appearance to lack of adequate rest and nourishment.
"No, nothing happened. I guess my late nights and early mornings are catching up with me, that's all."
I laughed, both to add credibility to my words and to convince myself that I was right. Hopefully it was nothing more than that.
Finishing the banana, I detoured to the bathroom to dab concealer under my eyes and lightly powder blush across my cheekbones. I hoped it would do something to mask the pallor and bring life back to my face. The results weren't great, but would stave off any questions from my coworkers. Looking across the narrow hallway, I saw that Levy's door was still closed. She must have been going to work at the library later today, and was taking the opportunity to sleep in a little more.
Once I completed the barely successful attempt to revive my appearance, I headed out the door. I called a goodbye to Juvia, who was fully re-immersed in her good memories from the night before.
The walk to the office slid past me; I felt like I was underwater. Maybe I was getting sick. I tried to ignore the strange feeling tugging at the back of my brain that the shadow in front of the window from last night was somehow tied to my exhaustion and horrifying appearance.
To my relief, everyone at Love & Lucky was too deep in their work to notice anything "off" about how I looked. Cap dumped a ream of pages on my desk, and I reluctantly brought out my red pen in preparation. If copyediting had me nearly dozing off before today, now it might actually put me to sleep at my desk. The other two barely glanced up at me when I arrived. Loke was bent over his notepad, scribbling forcefully, and Ari was trying to diplomatically reason with someone over the phone, who apparently wanted to complain about the facial mask recipe of ground mustard, radish peel, and watercress that had been in L&L's last issue. Apparently, it made her face smell like the unholy combination of last week's trash from the deli mixed with rotting seaweed.
Ari's soft, repetitive apologies and the scratch of Loke's pencil were so familiar to me that my ears nearly tuned them out entirely. I looked over the first page on my desk, ready to start correcting errors. Three paragraphs in, and I was drifting into unconsciousness before the end of the first article. Shapes flickered behind my eyelids, and I caught myself right before my drooping head touched the pages.
I groaned internally. It hadn't even been fifteen minutes since I'd arrived, and I was already down for the count. The black text rippled in front of my eyes, and the more I tried to hold my lids up, the heavier they felt. What was happening to me? I wasn't usually this much of a mess, even after a short night.
"Lucy?"
Loke's voice slid through my ears and into my slow brain. The two of them were looking at me now, and at this point they had to see just how awful I looked. Sympathetic concern flickered in Ari's eyes, and she got up from behind her desk to set a soft hand on my arm.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she inquired. Instead of answering her, I only succeeded in yawning massively. To my horror, drool started making its way out of the corner of my mouth. I had some dignity left, damn it.
I shifted my arm in her grasp, getting ready to explain away my hellish tiredness. Before I had a chance, she glanced down at her own hand on my elbow and a quick gasp left her throat.
"What is that?"
I followed her stare down to the crook of my left elbow, where a small, blue bruise had formed. I pressed it with the fingers of my right hand, and winced at how sore and sensitive it was. Suddenly, I remembered the pain I had felt turning my alarm clock off this morning when my left arm hit the mattress—the exact same spot Ari was now looking at with apprehension.
"What is it?"
Loke walked over, eyes widening as he saw the surprisingly dark bruise against the total pallor of my skin.
"Whoa. I knew you were clumsy, Lucy, but that's some mark you've got there."
Immediately self conscious, I pulled my arm back from Ari and pressed the mark against my body.
"It's just a little bruise, that's all. Not a big deal."
For some reason, Ari was looking at me like I was about to collapse.
"Are you sure?" she asked fearfully.
I tried to smile.
"Yep! I must have hit it on something."
Obviously unconvinced, Loke dropped the teasing and pinned me with a serious gaze.
"You don't know how you got this?"
Now I was in for it.
"Guys, please—"
Loke cut my words off, at the same time grabbing my arm and trying to inspect it more closely:
"Did you leave a door open? A window?"
"No, I didn't! Come on, please let go—"
"Lucy, this could be really bad. I'm going to go tell Aquarius—"
I yanked my arm back, fed up with their pointless worry.
"Absolutely not! Haven't you even looked at it? Even I can tell it's harmless."
I pointed at the bruise with my other hand.
"No double punctures. And it's in the wrong place, too—my neck is fine."
Turning my back on them, I delivered my last remark with a tone of finality:
"And there's the most important detail you both seem to have forgotten: I'm still alive. So obviously, there's nothing to worry about."
They still stood there, watching me, until from the corner of my eye I saw Loke turn and give Ari a resigned look. They both returned to their desks, but every now and then each spared an irritatingly concerned glance in my direction. To my relief, neither of them went to speak to Aquarius.
The rest of the day dragged. I lost count of the number of times I drifted into half-consciousness and yanked myself out of it through sheer force of will. An hour before my usual time of departure, Cap stopped in the doorway, took in my utterly pathetic appearance, and demanded that I leave early for the day. Not having the energy to argue, I thanked him and gathered my things, conscientiously hiding my marked arm by folding it across my stomach.
When I walked outside, the bright sunlight of the outdoors sent a small, welcome pulse of energy through my veins. I started walking with a sure step, and after a block, I began to convince myself that this was just a strange day altogether. Nothing would prevent tomorrow from being perfectly normal.
As if to contradict my thoughts, I had taken just a few more steps when a dizzying jolt raced down my spine, followed instantly by the overwhelming sensation that something—someone—was watching me. My legs locked, and my breathing picked up. Turning my head incrementally to the side, I saw the shadowed alleyway between two derelict buildings. Of course I happened to be in the most abandoned area between work and my apartment.
There was no doubt about it. Something was in that alleyway. I couldn't see it, but every sense in my body was screaming at me. The increase in my breathing and the deafening thud of my heart rate sent a clear message: get away from here. Right now.
I forced one foot forward by an inch, and a jolt of pure electricity shivered through me again, tingling behind my shoulder blades and up my scalp.
The instinct to flee was overwhelmed by something else, something that was tugging me toward the alley, into the darkness. Nearer to whatever was waiting there.
Like hell. There was nothing that could have convinced me to even look in that direction. I stumbled forward, knees locking against movement, and when I felt the powerful feeling finally begin to fade, I ran.
