Chapter-1-


    Cassidy couldn’t escape the feeling she was being watched.


    And it wasn’t the first time she’d felt this way.


    A shiver of apprehension crawled up her spine and rattled her skull as she hurriedly walked home. The


    walking path was illuminated by the barest of streetmps — budget cuts within the city had eliminated


    bulb recement — and it was her bad luck that she didn’t own a car and so had to walk home from


    the university.


    Normally, she enjoyed the time to herself to walk home. Buttely, she couldn’t shake the feeling that


    eyes were on her, watching her every move.


    Of course, the dreams didn’t help either.


    For the past week, she’d woken out of a deep, almost drugged sleep, sweat-soaked and achy as if


    eaten by a fever, and oddly, aroused.


    It was disconcerting and a bit embarrassing considering the men in her dreams weren’t exactly men but


    more like beasts.


    Thank God she lived alone. She’d hate to have to exin her behavior when she didn’t have a clue


    what was going on with her body or her mind.


    The bite in the air signaled snow wasing and she pulled her scarf tighter around her neck to ward


    off the cold. Almost home, she noted with relief, when the old apartment building loomed in the


    darkness.


    A sound, much like that of a coyote or wolf, echoed in the night and she startled at the mournful sound.


    What the hell?


    She quickened her step, her heart thundering in her chest. Probably someone’s dog, she told herself


    when her imagination threatened to run away with her.


    It’s not like there were actual wolves running around the city. The idea was ridiculous.


    So stop freaking out.


    But even as the stern advice seemed rational, she continued to jump at the shadows from the moving


    foliage, until when she stepped onto the paved parking lot of her building, she broke out into a run,


    mming into her front door and fumbling with the keys to let herself in.


    She slid the bolt and leaned against her door to release a shakyugh.


    God, Cassidy…get a grip. No one is out there.


    Willing her heart to slow down, she took several deep, calming breaths and when she was sufficiently


    recovered, she tossed her backpack to the table and went straight to the kitchen. She was starved. No,


    she was beyond starved. She was ravenous.


    Cassidy cracked her fridge and peered inside, her eyes lighting on the package of raw hamburger


    she’d purchased yesterday on impulse.


    For a weird moment, she pictured herself ripping into the package and devouring the raw meat,


    slurping the blood as it ran in rivulets down her forearms.


    Shocked and disgusted at the errant thought, she deliberately shut the door and grabbed a box of


    cheese crackers.


    Maybe she had the bird flu or something, she thought as she munched on the crackers and tried to


    ignore how the cheesy taste was starting to make her a little nauseous.


    She wanted meat, not wheat.


    Damn it, she thought, returning the box to the cupboard. Her stomach cramped from hunger and she


    almost doubled over from the pain.


    Fuck! What was wrong with her?


    Was her stomach caving in? This had to be some kind of weird virus.


    Great timing. When she should be cramming for finals, she was doubled over like she was dying. It


    wasn’t likely her professors were going to care about her stomach issues when she came to ss


    unprepared.


    She inched her way to the kitchte table her mom had given her before leaving for college and


    levered herself into the chair.


    For a brief moment, the pain subsided enough for her to take a deep breath. It felt like that time she got


    food poisoning while on vacation with her parents in the Bahamas. Her stomach cramped and


    clenched, threatening to expel everything in her body at once.


    The pain came in waves that built with each crest.


    She wracked her brain, trying to remember when she could’ve eaten something bad but for the life of


    her, she couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary.


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    Could it have been that burrito from the taco truck that was always parked by the university?


    Maybe.


    The pain shot spikes of red-hot agony twisting through her body and she copsed with a cry to the


    tiled kitchen floor. She writhed, knowing she needed a hospital, but she couldn’t reach her cell phone.


    Oh God, she was going to die on her kitchen floor. Cassidy struggled to rise to her feet, or at least


    climb to her knees, but she cked out before she seeded.


    Herst thought before total oblivion was, damn, she should’ve been friendlier with her neighbors. Now,


    no one was going to find her body until it started to stink.


    The only saving grace? At least she didn’t have a cat to worry about eating her carcass.