Bright light and the sweet haunting music of the Shinkae fill the room. Kaylee and Rodney stand rooted to the floor, their jaws slack, eyes staring dreamily into space. Kaylee's grandma's eyes flicker open. A few drops of blood dribble from a cut under her eye as she pulls herself upright. She absent-mindedly rubs the side of her face where Rodney struck her. Ambin steps into the hallway. She shifts her weight from foot to foot, unable to keep still, her muscles throbbing with rage and anticipation. It is a long time since she has felt so intensely excited. So intensely alive. "Oh Rodney," she says, shaking her head and smiling. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you here." Rodney says nothing, but merely continues staring dopily into space, the Song of the Shinkae holding him firmly in its trance-like grip. His mind, normally a perverse and tortured instrument of cruelty, obsessed with avenging some long-forgotten trauma that haunted his childhood, is now blank, open to suggestion, completely under Ambin's control. But some part of him, some deep recess of his blackened brain, is still awake. It wriggles and squirms inside the prison of his hypnotised brain, all too aware of the danger he is in, and the threat lurking in Ambin's furious quivering voice. And it remembers how she made him feel the last time they met: the intense, heart-bursting fear; the strange, somehow horrific look of hunger in her eyes; the way she had looked at him less like a person and more like a meal who's flesh was to be gnawed and stripped from his bones even while his heart still beat in his chest. A small tear wells in the corner of his eye. "Kaylee, sweetheart," Ambin says, her voice calm, pleasant, almost dreamy. "Grandma is awake now. She's going to be fine. And you're going to be fine, too. Grandma's going to take very good care of you." A faint smile touches the corners of Kaylee's lips. A curious, intensely happy thought pops into her head out of nowhere: Peace at last. Ambin senses the thought and is pleased. But Ambin's night is far from over. She and Rodney have unfinished business. "Kaylee, darling," Ambin says, that dream-like quality still in her voice. "I'll be leaving soon, and I'll be taking your daddy with me. You won't see him again." She pauses, making sure Kaylee has heard and understood. Kaylee's eyes fall to the floor for a moment, ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, and then climb skyward, as if a great weight has been lifted from her soul. That strange thought comes through again, loud and clear: Peace at last. Ambin smiles and turns to Rodney. "You," Ambin says, her eyes blazing. She notes the tear rolling down Rodney's cheek. Good. He knows. He knows this is the end for him. "You," she says again, suddenly aware that her hands have curled into fists. Her legs quiver, full of desperate energy, wanting to pounce. Blood pounds in her ears. Perspiration streams down her forehead and stings her eyes. The bright white light shining from the depths of her chest suddenly flickers...and then it changes colour for the first time in her life, casting everything in the room in a deep, furious blood red. She takes a deep breath and shakes the sweat from her wings, taking a moment to compose herself, surprised at how strong the bloodthirst is this time. Finally, gradually, she regains her composure. "Rodney," she says at last. "You and I have unfinished business." Another tear rolls down Rodney's cheek. Ambin bares her teeth. There is a moist, sucking sound as her teeth retract into her gums, revealing a row of small, razor-sharp fangs. "I'm taking you out for dinner," she says. Then, running her tongue over her inner row of fangs, she adds: "And I'm ever so hungry." Credits: Celeste Clothes from DAZ