My jacket was damp to the touch. A grey mass of cloud lay over Babel, its vaporous tendrils snaking through the streets of the city and blotting out the evening sky above. The change in weather had arrived that morning. Scarlett had seemed anxious at the sight of the sky darkening. As evening rolled around the moon was still nowhere to be seen, and so I supposed that didn’t bode well for her fighting capabilities.

The past few days we’d been without luck. Scarlett had narrowed her search range on the ‘sandman’ with the results from her mud sample to an industrial area just outside Kur, near to the docks. From there however the trail had gone cold and there had been no subsequent killings.

There’d been no sign of our second murderer either. Avi and I had gone each night to the streets around the last killing site but had seen nothing out of the ordinary. With the help of Leo’s connections, we’d issued an unofficial curfew through Kur. It seemed the majority of citizens had adhered to our warning as the streets after twilight were dead.

I’d spent some time in the afternoons practicing with the sword Scarlett had given me out of her arsenal of unknown size.

“Your stance is terrible,” she said to me one day.

I frowned at her. “What am I doing wrong?”

She walked around me and took a hold of my arms from behind, making small adjustments to my pose. “There,” she said.

My face felt hot.

“Try swing now.”

I swung.

“Much better,” she said with a nod.

Avi was simply watching and laughing.

“What do you think of Scarlett?” I asked him, staring up into the sparse droplets falling from the sky.

“Hmm, she’s cute. And she cares more than she lets on.”

“You’re quite insightful for your age, you know?”

“Huh, girls can read each other.”

My brain ticked over. Girls. Each other. My whole perception of this conversation had been suddenly turned on its head.

“This is going to sound dumb but, you aren’t a girl, are you?” I asked cautiously.

Avi gave me the ‘What, are you an idiot or something?’ face, very reminiscent of someone else I know.

“Don’t tell me you thought…” Avi couldn’t contain her laughter.

“That’s embarrassing.”

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“You never asked,” she said.

We stood awhile in silence. I put my hand to my sword, anxiously feeling at the pommel on my hip. In unison our heads turned. We’d heard something from down the alley. Had it finally arrived? Squinting in the dim, fading light of the clouded evening I saw a faint shadow fall upon the wall at the far end of the alley. I pressed the panic signal button Scarlett had left with me frantically before withdrawing my weapon. She wouldn’t be here in time to help us. Somehow, I felt that to be the case.

I heard a click beside me.

“So, you really did bring a gun huh?”

“I never lie,” Avi said, holding up what looked to be an old M20.

“Who’d you steal that off of?”

She smirked. “Magician never reveals her secrets. Now look sharp, we gotta smoke this thing.”

I nodded. In that moment I imagined a situation where I charged in and Avi fired away, killing the monster along with me. I shuddered. I’d have to be careful not to let her have the macabre satisfaction of doing something like that.

The figure drew closer, lumbering slowly down the alley. It had a feminine form, though the way it walked; dragging its feet; its arms laying limply on each side; you’d scarcely have called it human. Avi fired without hesitation. The figure flinched at the impact but continue walking towards us, faster now than before.

“Shit, what is this thing?” I said, anxiously readying my own weapon.

“Not sure,” Avi said. “But it looks like it won’t go down easily.”

Closer now, I could make out its face. Though it was distorted, the flesh peeled back in places and grime covering its surface, I recognised it. Mr Green’s daughter who’d fled out her window after being attacked by the sandman. Scarlett was right about the cases being connected then.

I made a silent apology to Mr Green before rushing at the figure and plunging my blade through its exposed chest. Its back arched as the blade penetrated its flesh and protruded out the other side with a sickening squelch. I shuddered as I felt the metal grind past bone.

Its head rolled, bringing its eyes around to face me directly. Though they still contained hints of what must have once been a striking blue, they were now pale and devoid of any signs of life. Bulging and white, the flesh around their edges yellowed. It made a terrifying hissing noise and I recoiled. Reaching in with its shrivelled hands, the monster withdrew my blade.

“Crap,” I said, quickly backing away.

The thing didn’t look to me however, but to my companion.

“Avi! Quick, get out the way!”

It rushed at the girl. She fired once and it hardly seemed to take notice of the shot. It gripped her forcefully by the shoulders. I ran as fast as I could manage, but before I could reach Avi the thing had bitten into her shoulder with fanglike teeth. I charged at it. With the back of its hand it batted me to one side with strength that shouldn’t have been possible from such a small figure.

It was starting to rain harder. As I got to my feet, blinking away droplets of water that ran down my face and wiping the mud of the street ground from my bloodied lip, I was blinded by a flash of purple. Before I could comprehend what was happening, the monster flew across my vision and Avi collapsed to the ground. I ran and knelt beside her. She was out cold. Her face pale and her shoulder soaked with blood. I pressed down on the wound, trying desperately to stop the flow.

Looking over my shoulder I saw a new arrival. They had a long-curved blade in either hand, held so that the edge ran along the length of their arm, with the tip of each just above their elbow. Their hooded cloak was white, almost unbelievably so against the backdrop of the dirty alleyway. They turned briefly to me. Their face was covered by a metal mask, narrow slits around the mouth area and two larger ones for each eye. They faced me for only a second before turning back to their target, swiftly driving a blade into the monster, which screamed in agony as its life was ended.

Then, just as suddenly as they’d appeared; with another flash of purple light engulfing their form they were gone, leaving my alone with a wounded girl and the monster’s corpse in the rainy back alley. Moments later Scarlett arrived.