Absorbed in her reading, Raye didn’t look up until the shadow fell across her letter. She blanched at the sight of Tanner leaning in over her.

“Hullo, Raye,” he said. It was a swamp water voice. His tone was calm on the surface, but there were ugly things moving underneath.

“Oh…” she said, taken aback. She looked him up and down. “Do I… know you?”

“We met very briefly,” he told her, flashing her a grin that was full of teeth. “I was just wondering about that necklace of yours.” She jerked and her hand rose to her throat. No necklace was visible and she seemed to remember that. She set her hand down again.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She said primly.

“Oh, I’m just sure I smelled a necklace,” Tanner purred, leaning in closer. He pressed his finger in her collar to roll the bead through the fabric. “Give us a look.”

“You stay away from me!” Raye stumbled away from him, clutching her letters to her chest and knocking over her chair. She had allowed herself to be cornered against a wall, though, and Tanner only had to step over the fallen chair to block her way. He had waited until she had found a private spot to read her mail. There was no one near enough to notice either of them.

“Calm yourself, sweetness,” Tanner’s hair slid over his blue eye, leaving her to stare into the golden one. “Am I that scary? I can hear your heartbeat pound like a rabbit’s from here. Ever catch a rabbit in your hands?” he asked, locking eyes with her. Her mouth opened as if she would speak, but left it hanging that way in silence.

“Ever feel its life beat against your skin like a hummingbird’s wings?” Tanner continued mercilessly. The smell of fear rose off her like steam. The horror in her eyes was even stronger. “Ever catch a hummingbird?”

“Leave me alone,” she whispered, unable to break his one-eyed stare, but beginning to inch to one side. “I have to go.”

“Go where?” He let her go, but moved to stay close beside her.

“That’s hardly your business, is it?” Raye was desperate to regain her composure. She sidled a pace away from him and seemed to relax a little when he made no move to follow.

“Someplace dark maybe?” Tanner asked, and the ugly things under his voice stirred the surface. Raye looked at him nervously.

“You have no business talking to me like that.” Her own voice shook. On some primal level, her brain was beginning to process a very ancient, ancestral fear of things with teeth.

“Vampire hunting is my business,” he said and she swallowed hard. “I know a thrall when I see one.”

“You’re insane!” she snapped. Her voice was steady this time, but her eyes were wild.

“You smell like vampires, little bird,” Tanner told her. “At first, I thought it was just blood, but no! Honestly shed blood is one thing. YOU. Smell like VAMPIRES.”

“What would you know about vampires?” she asked coldly. He could see her hands shaking.

“I’ve been hunting them for 10 years,” he said, leaning up against the wall on one arm. “Killed quite a few of them, too. While all you managed to do was wave a crossbow at your Headmaster.”

“How do you know about that?” Raye stared at him. “How do you know all of this??”

“There’s more to this than you’ve been told,” he told her. He reached into the pocket of his old coat and produced a folded piece of paper. It was the note he’d found in the cave. He held it out to her and she took it after a moment. “And what you’ve said has me suspicious.”

She looked at him and then back to the paper. She opened it and then gasped as she realized it was her own note, the one she had sent the last time she had seen her owl. Stay in the woods until its safe to come in. I’ll open the door for you, but you have to be careful. R. She looked up again, but the frightening stranger was gone. Her head spun as she looked around for him. The grounds were empty. She was alone. She looked back at the note.

“6?” she asked softly, her voice small and scared. He didn’t answer. He had already left.