Part 3
Dorian crossed the street towards his motel when he heard a rustling sound behind him. He spun around to face a little old man. He was going through the trash in the alley behind the motel. When he saw Dorian he fled, like so many before him. Dorian sighed and continued towards the entrance. From a distance he could see a girl walking down the street. He slowed down and gave her a second look.
  Her dark curls were bouncing off her shoulders as she walked. Her pace was confident and he guessed she had walked this road many times before. This was probably her hometown and he instantly felt jealous.
  Just as he was about to reach for the door he froze. He was certain that he had seen a shadow sprint across the street, right behind the girl.
  He quickly gave up the thought of ignoring what he had just seen and hurried stealthily down the street. The muffled sound of someone screaming lead him to a dark alley. His eyes adjusted quickly and he saw a creature pushing the girl to the wall, baring her neck.
  “Stop!” Dorian bellowed. The creature froze and looked up.
  “What?!” the creature said furiously. “She is mine!”
  “Let her go!” Dorian commanded.
  “Try and stop me.” The creature grinned and bent his head down again.
  Dorian moved instantaneously behind the creature and pulled it away from the girl. The creature wriggled out of his grip and gave him a blow to the head. Dorian was taken aback and the creature gave him another blow in the stomach. When he looked up the creature was back at the girl.
  “Let her go!” Dorian commanded once again.
  “Fine.” The creature slammed the girl into the wall. She took a hard blow to the head and Dorian was afraid her skull had cracked. He hurried towards the creature and filled with rage he struck it down. The creature landed flat on his back and Dorian bent down and put his knee over its chest. From under his sweater he pulled a silver dagger and shoved it under the creature’s throat.
  “Now, here’s what we are going to do,” he said in a calm fashion. “I am going to release you and you are going to get as far away from here as possible. Understood?”
  The creature nodded frenetically and Dorian lifted his knee, after which he let go of the pressure on the creature’s throat. The creature crawled away quickly but before he turned the corner he stopped.
  “To think that you were once one of us, it’s disgraceful,” he spitted out. “You’ll regret this.”
  Dorian watched from his cat-like position as the creature disappeared. A new enemy and he had only been here a day.
  A sigh woke him from his thoughts and he turned around to see the girl awake. The fear was evident in her eyes as she shied away from him. It pained him to see. He wanted to leave her alone but he knew he had no choice but to take her with him.
  He picked her up as gently as he could, he could see she was in pain. Her arms dangled as he lifted her and she grimaced. He carefully placed one of her arms around his neck and the other on her stomach.
  The girl felt tiny in his arms, like a wounded bird. He could feel her heart racing and the warmth of her body as he held her closely. He thought about taking her to a hospital but that would draw to much attention to himself. As quickly as he dared he took her back to his motel.
It wasn’t easy getting the door open without putting her down, but he managed. He had prepared a story about a drunken cousin in case the manager had any questions but he was in the back room watching television. Dorian could easily smuggle her to his room where he put her on the bed.
  He watched her silently for a while. He couldn’t help to think of her as beautiful. Her curly hair was spread out over the pillow and for the first time he dared to look closely at her face. She had all the features of a classic beauty, with full lips and high cheekbones and he fought the urge to trace her lips with his fingers.
  Suddenly he realised she was shaking and he felt her hand. It was ice cold. Carefully, not to disturb her, he tugged at the blanket underneath her until it was freed. Gently, he wrapped it around her and soon she stopped shaking.
  He leaned against the wall and waited. He listened to the sounds of the motel and her rapid breathing. After a while she calmed down and he relaxed.