Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
HIM
“Good night, Doctor…” Her words trailed off and she smiled. The forced kind that told me she wasn’t sure if she recognized me or not. But the rose emblem on the embroidered lab coat told her I belonged here. And I did, just not in the way she was thinking.
“Good night, Juliet.”
That gave her pause, a light shiver traveling up her spine that had her rocking back on the heels of her orthopedic shoes, before her eyes flicked down to her badge and her lips tipped up with relief.
That wasn’t how I knew it. Her name. But she didn’t need to know that.
I tugged on the sleeves of my white coat, a nervous tick—I wasn’t nervous, more like excited—and pushed off the counter with a bounce in my step.
It had been six months since my last kill.
And that itch was starting to turn into more of a burning ache.
A need. Like breathing took too much effort unless I was popping someone else’s pills.
That didn’t cure the ache, though. Just dulled it enough that I could forget for a few hours.
I’d thought the pretty little thing they kept locked away upstairs would be the solution to my growing problem.
Our most recent admission. I’d seen them carry her in, wave after wave of dark hair covering her eyes as they’d brushed past me.
So I’d pushed into her room, grabbed her chart, and waited for her to notice me.
My stomach had twisted. They were the wrong color. Green instead of blue. And as much as I’d tried, I couldn’t get passed ?em.
But Nurse Keller was just my type. A bit young, more na?ve than I liked them. But her eyes were perfect. More ocean than sky blue. With little flecks of gold that danced when she smiled at me.
I tipped my hat at her and watched her watch me exit the secure unit with a beep of a keycard.
Down the maze of halls and out the front door.
The first slap of fresh, cold air always had the bumps rising on my skin.
That prickly sensation that came whenever you were getting away with doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing.
I fought that urge to peek over a shoulder as my feet kicked up the occasional stone in the driveway, the gravel crunching with each step I took closer and closer to the old beaten-down Wagon I’d stashed at the side of the building a few years back.
Solid frame, despite the rust and cracked leather interior.
She was no show pony, but baby girl sure did purr when I kicked ?er engine on.
I swallowed down a handful of the white tabs I’d pocketed, Xannies by the looks of ?em, and tapped my hand on the steering wheel, tuning out the humming sound coming from the dash.
I hated wasting the gas but it was cold as fuck outside and I had at least another hour before shift change.
Then I lifted my arms, using the flats of my palms to brace my head, and leaned back in my seat.
Might as well get comfortable.