She turned and looked around. Cars, sidewalks, and landmarks were all buried under frosty blankets of white, and Bennett chuckled. She had no idea where she was or how far she had walked. Forgetting why she had stopped in the first place, Bennett pulled out her phone, thankful for the era's innovations. She removed her gloves, and tapping on the screen, she found her answer. She needed to backtrack four miles, and she’d be home.

Bennett straightened, her eyes narrowing as she looked to her left. There it was again. Someone was afraid. Someone was terrified. Someone was crying. It was a woman. Someone was pleading. It was a man. And then there was laughter. Vicious, bone-chilling laughter followed by vile threats and repulsive promises that caused Bennett’s jaw to tighten. More shouts. More warnings. Bennett stiffened. Did she just hear the whimpers of children?

As her hands turned to fists, Bennett hastened back the way she had come and reached a cross street. She turned the corner, running through the snow like a deer trying to avoid crosshairs. She stopped at the next intersection, holding her breath while she listened. Although muffled by windows and doors and plaster and lath, the sound reached her again, and Bennett bolted across the road, the traffic lights above her head flashing yellow…while in her mind, all she could see was red.

Her breath steamed from her nose and mouth as she came to a stop at the next street. She looked right and left, listening for only a second before the sounds of terror reached her ears again. She dashed toward the homes on the left, and halfway down the block, Bennett pulled up, her eyes fixed on the only house in the row with lights on in the front room.

Between her adrenaline and her anger, Bennett had morphed into her true self during her rush to find the house. Her canines had dropped, and her eyes were now crystalline blue, and she knew there would be no shadows to hide her trueness inside that home. There would also be no threats she could dare to make to silence those in danger, for they had been threatened enough tonight, and she would not add to their pain. The others…would not be that lucky.

If the myths had been true, the threshold of the house would have bested her. Without permission, a supposed invisible barrier existing at the doorway could not be crossed by a vampire, but myths are just that, and her own kind had started most of them. Bennett crept onto the porch and stood in the shadows while she listened to the voices inside.

“Please don’t hurt my family. I’ll do anything you want. I swear to God, I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt my family.”