It was a Wednesday. Afternoon.
But nothing about the day felt normal. The hotel air was too still. Too thick. Like the walls themselves were bracing for something — holding their breath. Mina felt it in her bones before she could even name it. Something was off. Something had shifted. The halls buzzed, alive with tension, yet empty. Not the kind of quiet that came from peace, but the kind that warned. The kind that came before a scream.
That alone would’ve been enough to unsettle her. Sally always lingered. Whether it was a ghostly trace in the room, a breath at her neck, a whisper that curled around her like smoke—Mina felt her. Always. But today? Nothing. No presence. No sound. Not even at the bar, where she was usually perched with a glass in hand and a smirk that made Mina want to ruin her and worship her all at once.
“Sally… It’s not like you to just vanish.”
The words fell from her lips, more a plea than an observation.
She searched. Of course she did. She moved through the hotel like a storm with a cane, quiet but growing in pressure, each step drawn forward by something unseen — some dreadful magnetism. Hours passed. Or maybe time just warped around her. But eventually…
A lurch. Not of the floorboards, but the air. The hotel’s energy rippled, warped — and then snapped. And that’s when she saw it. A figure. Two. A laugh. A name she didn’t recognize, and a voice that belonged to the only person Mina had ever given a damn about.
On the sofa. Not at the bar. Not where she should be. And next to her — some man. Too close. Too familiar. Mina’s heart twisted violently in her chest. A cocktail of betrayal, fury, and something sickeningly like heartbreak surged up her throat like bile. Her eyes locked with Sally’s — and Sally, that wicked creature of wine and ash, only smirked.
“No,” Mina whispered to herself. “No, no, no.”
And then she moved. Fast. Furious. Cane clicking sharply with each step like the ticking of a bomb counting down to detonation. She didn’t think. She reacted. Stormed across the floor, eyes locked not on Sally—but him. That thing who had dared to sit too close. To breathe near what was hers.
She reached them. Snatched the man out of his seat before he could blink. Her hands trembled, not with fear — but with violence coiled beneath her skin.
“How dare you?” she hissed, venom dripping from every word. “How dare you speak to my girl. My woman.”
Her voice was lower now. Cold enough to burn.
“You think she’s someone you can charm? Someone you can just sit next to and touch? You stupid little parasite. You don’t even realize you’re already dead.”
She didn’t even look at Sally. She couldn’t. If she did, she might break. And there was no room for weakness now. Not when her blood was fire and her vision blurred at the edges.
“You filthy swine,” she growled. “You’re going to pay for looking at her. For even thinking you could speak her name like you’ve earned it. And there will be no mercy. Not from me.”
Her cane pressed into the man’s chest, slow and firm — not to shove him away, but to pin him in place. A warning. A promise. She hadn’t even begun. Because Mina didn’t need to scream to be terrifying. All she needed was one look, one word, and the certainty of what was coming.
He just didn’t know it yet.
