All these news must have put me in a state of shock, because when Jude leapt on his feet to crouch behind a pile of shaky cardboard boxes near the door with a knife in his hand, I didn't even react and sat there with my head in the clouds. The door opened slowly and I heard a familiar voice that brought me out of my trance and stood up. It was Charles. Jude must have called him while I was asleep, apparently rightly believing that there was no longer any immediate danger.

We didn't linger any longer in this damp cellar and returned to the village where Jude and I had to go through the infirmary hut, especially him. Curiously and without explanation, he asked me to keep silent the fact that he had drunk my blood. He seemed so concerned about my answer that I promised him, without forgetting, however, to ask an explanation later.

Having to stay a little longer than me at the clinic, it was a young blond man named Sean who brought me to the building on the edge of the forest where Charles had stopped on the morning of my "hunt" in the woods. He opened the door to the same apartment and told me, leaving me on the threshold, that I could wash and rest there. Finally, he left without a word, gently closing the door behind him.

I remained passive for a moment, only able to find the strength to lean softly against the door and close my eyes. I was exhausted. Not wanting to collapse there, at the risk of staining the floor because I was so dirty, I forced myself to reopen my eyes and analyze my surroundings in order to find the bathroom as quickly as possible.

I was in a kind of rather large and bare studio, almost impersonal. The small open kitchen with its different shades of grey was well arranged and separated from the rest of the room by a bar surrounded by two high stools. Against the left wall, and hidden by a small recess, stood a double bed, adorned with grey sheets. The whole place felt empty, a bit like a sample house. Which must have been close to it, because I suspected that this studio was being used by visiting guests.

I easily found the bathroom in one of the only two other rooms in the apartment and accessed it through a door to the right of the entrance. It was white and functional, with clean and seemingly my size clothes, waiting for me, fold on a chair next to the sink. Slowly, I took off those that had turned into rags and quickly slipped into the shower, staying under the stream long after the last red spots had disappeared through the bunghole.

I was numb. The water may have been hot, but I couldn't warm up and it was then that I realized that I was shaking. I let myself slip gently to the ground until I found myself sitting, curled up in a corner of the shower, knees up against my chest. I would have liked to be able to cry, to relieve some of the tension, both emotional and physical, that had accumulated over the past few days, but I couldn't do it. I just sat there, foolishly under the water, waiting for my incoercible tremors to finally stop.

I would have liked someone to come in at that moment and hug me and whisper in my ear that everything was going to be fine, just like in the romance novels.

The saddest thing about it was that my unconscious had given my imaginary protector the features of Jude. I don't know if it was that or my little daydream that had finally helped me let go, but suddenly I started sobbing.

When I stopped and I was finally able to get out of the shower without falling, I dried, then wrapped myself in a soft grey towel hung on a coat hook behind the door, before realizing that some clean ones had been placed on the hinged lid of the toilet there for me. Then I started to untangle my hair with a comb on the small shelf above the sink. I hoped that this simple and daily task would relax me, when a familiar scent from the towel suddenly came to tickle my nostrils.

The fabric had an inimitable scent of undergrowth and particularly warm breeze. Smell that I now inevitably associated with Jude. Oh shit, I was in his house! I hurried to throw the towel, now dirty, into the basket next to the shower and dressed quickly. So much for my hair. Anyway, with a simple comb, it was a lost cause. I didn't know why it bothered me so much to be in his house, but it did. Perhaps the feeling of being even more of a troublesome burden, my conscience whispered nastily to me.

My olfactory revelation was quickly confirmed when I came out of the bathroom, dressed in my borrowed clothes, with my hair tangled and my eyes red, my old rags in hand. He was there, his hand on the doorknob, about to leave. He had obviously come to drop off the tray full of food that I saw on the kitchen worktop. Not only I was a ball and chain hanging from his foot, but he was also now my delivery man and felt compelled to leave his own house!

Despite all the emotions that beset me, my eyes could not help but drift towards the tray. When I saw it, my stomach gurgled significantly and I realized that I was starving. All the recent events had put my primary needs in the background, but now in relative safety they were coming back.

- 'Wait!' I called out to him before he had time to open the door, dropping my old clothes in the process. 'Aren't you going to eat?'

- 'I've already had something to eat in the infirmary. It's for you,' he said in a measured voice without turning around, before changing his mind and turning to me.

- 'Will you want them back?' he asked me, pointing to me as the shapeless rags full of dried blood with a wave of his hand.

- 'Uh... no. I don't think they're salvageable anyway.'

- 'In this case, I'll take care of them,' he told me, walking a few steps forward to pick them up. 'Eat and rest. I'll see you later.'

- 'Th...'

I didn't have time to finish my sentence that he had already left, gently closing the door behind him, without even looking back. All right. I remained undecided for a moment, not knowing how to interpret his behaviour, and decided to listen to my body. Besides, wasting such appetizing food would have been a crime. So I ate everything until the last crumb, before lying on the bed and falling asleep as soon as my head laid on the pillow.

***

When I woke up, leaving aside my puffy eyes and a throbbing headache from my overflowing tears, I felt much better physically than I had felt in days. On the other hand, emotionally, it was more like a beach after a tsunami, flooded, swept and devastated. Too many shocks, information, hopes and rejections. Too much of everything in too little time for my poor little brain. I decided that accepting things, revelations, disasters and whatnot, one after the other when they happened, was still the best, if not the only acceptable option, if I wanted to have a chance to function normally. When all this drama is over, I could allow myself an introspection with a pleasant visit to a rest home.

I got up without knowing what to do or where to go. It was dark outside, I had slept all day. No wonder then that I felt fit, but a little out of sync. I went back to the bathroom to freshen up and wake up, then left the apartment. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I automatically wrapped myself with my arms. It was October and the t-shirt I had been lent had long sleeves, but it was not enough to protect me from the cold of an autumn night in this part of the world.

I began to feel cold after barely thirty seconds and decided to head for the council building, for lack of another place to go, when I saw Hannah coming in my direction with an energetic step. I hadn't seen her since the day she accompanied me to the village, three days ago, maybe four days ago now. I found her less cold and imperturbable, but perhaps it was due to the darkness? When our eyes met, she stopped abruptly and turned around.

- 'Come, follow me!' she barked with her usual icy tone.

My imagination was playing a trick on me after all! I followed her as quickly as possible, in a hurry to get warm and safe from the icy wind. She did not lead me to the council building, but to the main house where Charles had first received me. We entered the same living room where a conversation, apparently lively, was taking place between the three members of their famous council and Jude, who did not seem to be winning. Instinctively, I came to stand next to him, with my back to the fireplace, which got me a hostile look from Hannah, and tried to join in the conversation.

After almost an hour of heated discussion where Daphnee called me names for daring to involve the police in their affairs and having, according to her, almost led them to their doorstep, we agreed that I should meet the inspector as planned the next morning and drive him to where Martha had been discovered. Perhaps with all the resources available to the police, they could find a lead that would help us understand what had happened.

Jude then showed them the bullets that he had had the foresight to pick up in my jeans pocket. It turned out, according to Charles, that these were made of an unknown alloy but above all, and this was the most worrying thing, Jude's body should have spontaneously rejected them after a few minutes, as with any other more conventional ammunition.

But in that case, the bullets had not been expelled and Jude had almost bled out. According to Charles, it must have come from this strange alloy. So they were going to try and find out exactly what it was. I was about to ask how he was going to do it, when Jude silenced everyone by suggesting that I give one to Inspector Worth so he could have it analyzed by the police lab. In his opinion, we could never have a better chance of knowing quickly what it was all about. Obviously, he should have kept his mouth shut!

- 'That's out of the question,' Charles replied coldly. 'They will find traces of your blood, have it tested and we all know very well what will appear.'

- 'Only if they look deep. Which they have no reason to do. The differences only appear in the DNA and some very advanced blood tests,' Jude explained to me as I opened my mouth. 'They'll just do an identity search and I'm not in the system, or at least not that way.'

- 'Too risky. If they still analyze the DNA, we don't know...'

- 'Oh, stop it, both of you!' Carla intervened for the first time that night. 'Is that riskier than losing one of our own again? Even if they find something, they will not be able to explain it and will have nothing to compare it to. They'll think the sample was contaminated and that's it. It's our best chance,' she said before leaning against the wall, annoyed.

- 'It has always been out of the question to involve humans in our affairs! And now you'd like to call in a cop? Have you lost your mind! Let's send it to Jerry in Seattle, he can do the analysis in total discretion...'

- 'And make us lose at least a week that we don't have,' Carla said dryly, giving her a harsh look.

- 'Charles! You know I'm right...'

- 'Yes, you're right, Daphne, but I also think, unfortunately, that we don't really have any other choice. It would be safer, but we can't afford to waste any more time. Let's send one to Jerry and try the other option too...'

- 'Are you crazy?!' she roared outraged and furious.

- 'Don't forget who you're talking to,' he replied in a hushed and intimidating voice, effectively ending the debate.

Finally, when everyone agreed, Charles gave me one of the bullets he had previously cleaned so that there was no trace of visible blood. Jude and I now had to find a credible scenario so that I could give Worth the bullet without arousing his suspicions. So we went back to his studio in order to relax and also so that I could rest. Surprisingly, we quickly agreed on how to proceed. Maybe because there was only one that was easily achievable. Once at the cave, I will discreetly place the bullet on the ground and let him find it himself. It was the best solution and the one that would bring the fewest questions. Once this problem was solved, we both remained silent. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but I was tired of quarrelling and I had had my fill of revelations for the moment. Besides, he apparently didn't want to talk.

- 'How am I supposed to find the cave? As the two Cerberus do not want us to approach the property...'

- 'For once, I agree with them, it's too risky,' he replied without commenting on the derogatory nickname I had given them.

- 'It doesn't explain how I'm going to do it. I no longer have Martha's trail to guide me,' I said, slowly, a little awkward in rekindling bad memories.

He just stared blankly without answering me for long seconds. I began to fear that I had said something really wrong. I never knew with him. When his eyes focused on me again, I smiled at him, embarrassed. Nonsense, I didn't even know why I was embarrassed.

- 'Don't worry... You'll find it,' he said suddenly before getting up.

- 'But how?' I insisted, really worried about being left to myself without anyone to guide me.

- 'Your senses and perceptions have improved over the past three days, I can feel it. You won't have any problems, believe me. Trust yourself and trust me.'

The bitter tone on which he said that surprised me, but I didn't say anything. I don't think I'd ever understand his mood swings.

- 'Now, get some rest, you don't have much time left.'

And upon these few words, he left.

I looked at my watch. Indeed, it was already after five in the morning. That left me with three or four hours of sleep at most. I laid down all dressed on the bed and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, between my big afternoon nap and the stress accumulated during the more than stormy discussion with the board, I was agitated and sleep was slipping away from me. I don't know when I fell asleep, but my sleep was chaotic and full of frightening nightmares about bullets, blood and monsters.