Dreamwalk || Lilith & Claire
The ominous creaking of the door signaled its arrival, the boy sucking in a breath next to her enough of a sign that this was what had terrified him. Sheād had few expectations of what she might see, not shaded by a childās imagination and a childās dreamscape. But even so, the monster that stepped into view was human only in shape, and that shape was something back and shifting. The only thing truly visible were teeth, sharp and wide like a sharkās mouth in a human head.
It slides into the room, itās attention on the bed next to them and the quiet shape that wasnāt there before. She canāt tell if the whimpering comes from the boy next to her or the ghost of one with his back against the mattress, but it echoes off the wall and the smile in front of her grows wider. She watches dispassionately as it leans over the small figure occupying the bed, back arching and hands out with long, sharp fingers stretched towards its prey. Thereās a muffled scream, and the lights flicker around them, the whole room momentarily going black.
When the flick back to life, itās gone, and so is the boy that theyād come here looking for. And she doesnāt have to guess what happened. The child next to her closed his eyes. It left him with only those screams in his head, no image of whether his roommate was devoured or stolen. It has her sighing in some mild disappointment before she closes her eyes and slips back out of the dream world and into something more like reality.
Her hand pulls back, head tilting to the side to focus on the door behind her. Somehow it doesnāt surprise her to see Claire waiting. āIt feeds on fear. Shapeshifter, possibly,ā she offers, and maybe thatās something.Ā āWhether heās still dead or alive, our friend here didnāt see.ā
Claireās quiet as she letās Lilith do her job. Whatever she feels about the concept or what Lilith is, sheās put aside long ago. She no longer judges monsters just on what they are, just on being monsters. She judges them just the same as though they were ordinary humans. Everyone gets a blank slate and usually that blank slate is tainted with mistrust and detachment. Itās nothing personal. Itās survival.Ā
The moment Lilith is done walking in the dream, she speaks. Claire lifts her head to look at her, taking the words in with a nod of her head and that narrows it down even further. She has an idea now to what it is, sheās studied the monsters in the world the same way a doctor would study medicine, or a zoologist animals. Cryptozoology was the real thing for her and sheād spent years learning about it when the rest of the world learned about professions and their own brand of science. It was a shame none of the science that was important to Claire managed to sneak itās way outside of Tenebrae knowledge.Ā
The news about not knowing if the child is dead or alive doesnāt phase her. Sheās already made up her mind that heās dead. Thereās a theory that unless you solve a crime in the first 48 hours, it is less likely to be solved. Claireās not sure if she shares the sentiment, but she knows that there are very few monsters out there that like to play with their food for more than 48 hours. Maybe thatās what she goes with.Ā
āThat gives us a few candidates,ā she tells Lilith, which the woman probably already knows.Ā āShapeshifter would explain it being able to move around the hospital.āĀ












