What the heck!

Claudia was frozen to the stop, she couldn't move not even an inch. Today was clearly not her day. This wasn't good, her day was getting worse with every passing second. Never in a million years would she have thought that it would turn out like this!

Her arms fell flat against her sides, as if they were now made from pure lead weighing her down, trapping her where she stood in the middle of the room. The sound of her heart ringing in her ears louder and louder with each passing second. Was this the end for her? Was this how she was going to die? No, this couldn't be where she perished! Claudia still had too much left to give, too much still to achieve. This wasn't fair but what was she going to do?

Her eyes widen like a deer trapped in a car's headlights. She was prey and this woman the predator. Her gaze firmly fixed upon the face of her would be murderer. Claudia was almost certain that she never clapped her eyes upon this woman until today but what had she done to this stranger to deserve such malicious intentions. Nothing was coming to mind, she tried in the limited time to remember that face but still nothing. Questions soon arose.

Had she been someone that she had once crossed paths with years before? Had been an friend of friend that had harbored a crush on her that she viciously quashing? Claudia had been a different person during her student days, nothing of those days were left well expect Tina. A thought cropped up, was this woman sent by Jack to as he would put 'sort her out' for her varied but failed attempts to get him out of both Tina's life and the apartment. He had drunkenly threatened her on more than one occasion in the past but nothing had materialized. No he was all talk and no trousers when it came to following through. His threats were as a empty as his wallet.

Could she have left this woman scorned after a single night of passion and now she was simply looking for revenge. After the malice and hatred had festered within and burnt her heart black as the nights sky. Was this now her only solution? To snuff Claudia's life out, to rid herself of the stain left behind on her memory. Was it her killer only way to move with her life? She did not know but Claudia knew one thing for sure, that she had to get out of here!

This was not the time nor the place to contemplate and think back on the many thoughtless and selfish decisions that she had made in the years gone by especially when trapped in the cluttered, cramped space that usually housed Professor Walker. It was more often than not a nightmare to even attempt to clean and shelf the books that were normally tucked away in some unusual places after Theresa was finished with them. The older woman had a habit of laying them down on one surface, that included the room and then forgetting where she had put them when she next needed to reference when working on her next article or paper. Theresa would then either blame her for misplacing said book or expect her to know exactly where it was that exact second in time. It had put strains upon their working relationship more often than not.

'Move, Move, Move' Claudia screamed at herself, trying to will her body to move and get out of the proverbial firing line that she walked into. Slowly her body started to respond, her hand twitched as she took a shaky step backwards, edging herself ever closer to the door. Her eyes remained glued upon the woman, she wasn't going to caught out again. A cowardly thought flashed across her mind, she could always beg and plead for her life but then again that only worked in the movies and this wasn't a movie, this was real life. Claudia was not a heroine caught in a trap, waiting to be saved by the hero at the last minute like in those flimsy romance novels that Tina loved to gush over. No she was trapped in a deadly trap and she wasn't about to become the victim and simply lie down, accept this fate and let this woman take her life.

A fire was burning up inside her, Claudia was certain that she would not be able to fight her way out of the corner that she was now in. Neither could she charm her way out this mess, she lacked a silver tongue to accomplish that task. There was still one option left, she would run and escape the oncoming jaws of death that were coming to claim her life.

Her eye quickly flickered around the room, trying to find something, anything that she could wield like a weapon to buy herself more time. Time wasn't on her side but Claudia needed more in order to make her escape. Lamia was on the hunt as she take one step then two getting closer to the fretting Claudia who blinded grasped for the nearest object, picking it up and wildly throwing it her direction. She dodged at the last minute but this had provided the window that Claudia needed.

Without hesitation, she turned on her heel, reached for the door handle and yanked the door open with all the mighty she could muster. Once the path was clear, forgetting that she had heels upon her feet, forgetting her prior worry about tripping. She broke out the office, running for her life, not caring how she looked if anyone saw her as that didn't matter anymore. All she needed to do was escape this building and get back into the heart of the campus, hoping that it would be brimming with students. This way, she would be briefly disguised, hidden from view to further her escape for the university, from her attacker.

Claudia replayed her earlier footsteps, in order to get out the building, knowing that if she looked back that she would see Lamia hot on her heels. She just ran, pushing her body forward as weaved around the next corner. This was definitely not the time to be getting lost. She rushed down the next corridor, turning right then left.

Getting to the doors then out of the building would be her first step toward freedom.

Maneuvering the maze-like corridors was now twice as difficult. Claudia was running with all she could muster but trying to keep track of which way she was going, now that a different matter altogether. Had she turned left or had she turned right? She didn't know! However she hadn't run into a dead end and that was a good enough for her right now. She had to keep on moving forward, hopefully in the right direction.

It felt like she had been running for hours trying to find the way out but it had actually only been a few minutes. By the time she had reached the doorway, Claudia was sweating profusely, her once slightly loose blouse was sticking to her like a bee to honey. Her hair which had been quickly brushed a few hours earlier, now looked windswept and messy with strands sticking out at different angles. She looked as if she had been on a ten mile run but in heels instead of the running shoes laying in the bottom of her wardrobe.

The sound of rushed footsteps gaining on her brought her back to reality, dread hang over her head at the seriousness of this situation. Claudia pushed herself on even if she was reaching her physical end, she had to keep going in order to come out the other side alive. Her face was turning red, sweat dripping from every pore as she continued on, trying not to trip especially not now and if she did then that would be it. She would be caught and this game would be up. One foot in front of another was a step closer to the door.

The thought of getting away was getting her through this craziness. Her heels echoed through the surprisingly empty halls as she made her way out of the maze that made up the history department and into the entrance hall. Freedom was in her grasp, Claudia continued on knowing if she stopped to catch her breath inside this building would be a mistake. She took the ten step it took to cross the relatively small hall and reach the doorway as the echo of her pursuer was growing louder. Lamia was closing the gap between with them, no time to linger at all.

With her hands firmly pressed against the wood of the door which had seen better days. The paint chipping in various places, time was not its side but would be it on hers? Claudia pushed the door open, disappearing out and into the mid-morning crowd. With the wind at her back, she raced off into the crowd, disappearing and blending in with the student buzz as they moved between morning lectures. Her jacket flying behind her like a cape, her top riding up as she darted left then right revealing two words, two separate fragments of her soul marks that were peeking over the edge of the waistband of her trousers.

Two words

Flynn

Guardian

Lamia stood in the doorway, frustrated as she tried to find the potential Librarian and end their life before it could begin. This Claudia Wolfe was more resourceful than she had initially thought possible, by getting away from her with no help other than a singular heavy tome. There was no hide nor hair of her to be seen in the crowd of students that move throughout the university campus. This was a failure and he would not like this, not one bit. Lamia hated to fail and she would be punished for this.