NOCB 008 - Scions 02.5 - Patrice Michelle - Perception by Silhouette Nocturne

Chapter One
    “I can see the headlines now: Martial arts expert taken out by bald tires,” Abby mumbled, sighing in relief once her Jeep final y slid to a stop on the icy asphalt less than an inch from her friend Kaitlyn McKinney’s garage door. Cutting the engine, she rol ed her head from one shoulder to the other. Her nerves were frazzled from trying to keep her car on the sleet-covered roads between Manhattan and the suburbs. The weather had become steadily worse the farther she traveled from the city. Stil , even the “worst ice storm of the decade” wouldn’t make her go back to her apartment. Thanks to the fact that her roommate had hooked up with Abby’s ex-boyfriend, she’d never been more thankful for Kaitlyn’s offer of a place to stay while she looked for another apartment.
    Abby wished Kaitlyn was home now, but appreciated her wanting to spend as much time as she could with her new partner. Kaitlyn had told her wear to find the spare key and let her neighbor, Mrs. Donohue, know she’d be coming so the older woman wouldn’t be concerned when she saw a strange car parked in the driveway overnight.
    Pul ing her red jacket’s hood over her head and zipping the jersey material closed, Abby climbed out of the car. Frozen leaves and pine needles crunched under her shoes in the dense woods beside the house. Other than the sound of sleet pinging on the icy ground, the woods were eerily quiet as she made her way toward the circular seating area. Abby started to lift the knee-high garden gnome when something large blurred through the woods ahead of her. She gasped and let the statue fal back into place. Pushing her hood back, she tried to track the shadow that had now disappeared. Had she seen black fur?
    “Who’s there?” she whispered into the woods. A cold shiver trickled down her spine as visions of grisly bears formed in her mind’s eye. Nothing but darkness greeted her from the thick forest. Bears? In the suburbs? Get a grip, Ab! You’re going on four hours of sleep. Your imagination is taking over. Shaking off the sensation she was being watched, Abby focused on her task and lifted the gnome again. Only, the space where the key should’ve been was empty. Damn it!
    Setting the statue back down, she considered cal ing Kaitlyn to ask if she’d changed the key’s hiding place. But it was after eleven, and she was freezing her ass off, getting wetter by the minute in her thin jacket. Plus, she did have another way to get into the house.
    After spending a good ten minutes searching her car, her hand final y landed on the lock-picking kit tucked under her driver’s seat. Palming the kit, she grabbed her overnight bag and locked the car.
    Thankful for the front porch’s overhang that keep the heavy sleet at bay, Abby slid the tools into the door’s lock and went to work. A few seconds later, she smiled when she felt the tumblers slip into place, unlocking the door. “Like riding a bike,”
    she murmured and quickly put the tools and the case away in her overnight bag. But her confidence was short-lived. For the moment she entered the dark house, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. Shutting the front door, the person cupped her throat and shoved her against the wood. “What the hel are you doing?” The man’s deadly snarl made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
    Heart thudding, Abby dropped her bag and instinctively grabbed the man’s wrist. Her attacker’s wide-shouldered silhouette towered over her, and for a split second, she thought she saw a bright green glow where his eyes should have been. She blinked to clear her vision. Nothing glowed in the darkness shrouding his face, but she sure as hel felt his dangerous vise hold around her neck. He wasn’t choking her, but he definitely had her pinned in place with a steel lock. His speed briefly stunned her, but this burglar had picked the wrong chick to try to intimidate. “I real y don’t want to deal with this