The overhead jingle electrified his already raw energy. The tension in his body was at boiling point.

“Hello?” Thomas called into the depths of the dark shop. He shuddered. It felt like a dusty crypt with cobwebs and animal teeth to boot.

“That’s amethyst, my dear, in the shape of a fenn.”

“Jesus!”

“Not quite, Love.”

The woman, round as she might be, seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

“Ummm, what is a fenn?”

“Ya knooow, fenn!” She put her fingers to her top teeth and pointed down.”

“Oh! Fangs!”

“Yes, Love. Would you like one for yourself? Or, maybe a pretty girl? I have many varieties of crystals. Carnelian for passion, Obsidian for protection, rose for love, and bloodstone for courage and endurance.”

“The last one!”

“The bloodstone? good choice.”

“And the obsidian, maybe she doesn’t need protection anymore, if..”

The young man trailed off, a look of grief flashed across his face, maring his handsome features. The young man looked at her, they stared at each other, for a long moment searching each other's face.

“A young woman came in here. It was four months ago on Summer Solstice. She bought a ring from you, or at least that’s what her friends state. She has been missing. I know the police have already come in here, but maybe you’ve remembered something else since then? Anything? Did she seem sad or scared? Was anyone with her? Maybe she was lonely? Did she talk about leaving or perhaps going somewhere else after the ceremony? Please, if you can remember anything, I have to know. I have to find her, even if she’s…look, I’ll go crazy if I don't find out what has happened to her…why she never came home.”

Thomas clenched his fists as the older woman continued to shake her head and turn away as he spoke about Lark. The fat, old woman had pity in her eyes, as if she could understand how he felt about Lark, as if she could understand anything! Suddenly, Thomas had a feeling that Helena knew something, that she had to know something. Thomas could tell when people were lying to him, he felt it in the pit of his stomach, by the way she avoided eye contact and turned her shoulder to him as she casually eyed the open/closed sign in the door. Every part of Thomas screamed that this lady wanted him to leave, that she was protecting a secret that could lead him to Lark.

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“Why did she come into your shop? It would have been very early.”

“I told the police everything, from the time that she was here to the receipts. I don’t have security cameras but the cameras from McDonalds was able to catch catchin the coach at the time I said. Thats it now me boy, I’ve got no more to say and you’ve got to be goin.”

Receipts? Thomas clenched his fists, he had demanded the police tell him every detail but as the investigation was still underway, the pigs had kept much from him.

“What did she buy from you?”

“I’d hardly remember now. Would I?”

“Try.” His retort was harsh as he felt the anger in him begin to build.

Her eyes, flashing to the sign and back to him. Why was she so afraid? Why wouldn’t she tell him? The only possible conclusion was that she knew.

Thomas sighed, he had not wanted it to come to this but how could he possibly turn away now? He couldn't, he really had no choice. A slow tick began, a thrumming deep in his core that rose to a crescendo, the sound roaring in his ears. Heat spread through his body as he eyed the woman coldly.

“You know.”

It was a statement that Thomas knew to be true, delivered as casually as if he were a news anchor on tv giving the direction of a killer hurricane about to sweep a coastal city.

“No.” The woman whispered, seeming to shrink into her very skin, as if her exterior had become too loose, too baggy. So much so that she might disappear into a hole like those pink little moles, leaving her naked and disgusting carcass behind.

He laughed, sounding carefree even to his own ears as his blood thrummed and hissed and boiled. Thomas turned, the roaring that had reached its pinnacle culminating into a symphony of hate and rage and hurt. She would tell him what he needed to know, that was a fact, and God himself could not prevent what happened next. His fingers stroked along the borders of the sign, feeling the chips and grooves, worn with age from the ratatat tat against the windowed door.

“You will tell me. You know, I’ve worked all my life in my fathers veterinarian clinic. Can I tell you a secret? Sometimes the animals got worse, and sometimes they died. No one has ever looked twice at me. Me, the veterinarian's son. No one will find you, no one will hear you scream. The things that I will do to you will make God himself weep and clutch in terror for his angels.”

The woman choked back a scream as he slowly turned the lock in the door and languidly flipped the sign over to close.

“I, I’ll tell you but you...” that voice, almost hysterical with fear.

“Shhhhh,” He inched closer to her, prowling on the borders of her periphery like a lion as she stared fixedly at the phone in front of her. Could she call the police fast enough?

“You can’t.” He whispered soothingly to her, making little sounds to comfort her as he came closer, the pace unbearable as even the shadows in the room shook in horror.

“I gave you your chance,” he crooned as he spread his fingers towards her throat, “and now it is too late. Do you have children?” he whispered, stroking her cheek like a lover, “What pieces should I leave for them?”

A scream sounded and the wind answered, whipping through the street in a frenzied howl. Someone may have heard and could have intervened, but no help came. No one looked towards the little shop as the rubbish bins crashed over into the street and dogs howled. Folks turned their collars to the wind and hunched their shoulders as the rain came and washed the streets clean, but inside, the laughter rose and blood flowed. She had told him, before he had even touched her, but he had already given her a chance and she had lied. The blood, so much blood, but it was all her fault. No one could stop him, he would find her. He would find Lark