"I'll be back before you know it. If you want, you can count to fifty. I'll return before you finish."
Elise hesitated… then nodded slowly.
She sat down and closed her eyes.
"One… two… three…"
"Good girl." Lucien stepped out of the shop. The ice cream man quickly locked the door behind him.
"Ten… eleven…"
"You should have stopped him," the man muttered. "He's as good as dead."
Elise opened her eyes and looked at him.
"My Master Lucien is stronger than you think. He'll be fine," she said quietly. "What is happening out there?"
The man swallowed. "Death." His body trembled. He had seen it. He had seen them. "Every morning, we find bodies on the streets. People are being eaten by strange creatures."
Elise's heart dropped into her stomach.
Lucien had just walked into that.
"Some say it's a wild dog, others say it's an unknown animal bite. They just cannot identify the bite." He said.
