Dazed, Sasha tried to get her bearings, but found she simply couldn’t move. Her head ached, the reverberations of where it had hit the ground sending waves of pain through her skull. Stars sparkled in her vision, her lungs burning as she fought to take a breath.

Groaning, Sasha managed to roll herself over onto her side, her breath coming in short sharp gasps. The wind had been knocked right out of her, but her mind was screaming at her to move. Whatever it was that had knocked her down, she was certain it wasn’t without malice. She had just gotten almost upright when another blow had her thrown back against the wall, her skin tearing as she slid down the gravel covered bricks. She was no match for whoever this was.

“I am an officer of the law,” she tried to shout, her voice reedy and breathless. “I am warning you now. Stop immediately.”

A deep chuckle came from the darkness, the sound going right to her bones and making her shudder. It was a dark, earthy sound, but filled with malevolence.

“You thought you could stop me,” said a growling male voice. “Stupid, stupid humans. So easy to spot. To smell.”

Alarm bells were screaming through her mind as Sasha pushed herself back up against the wall, hating that her legs were shaking.

“You’ve killed a lot of people,” she replied weakly, aware that she was talking to the killer she’d hunted for so long. “I’m not going to stop until I take you in.”

The laughter that followed her statement mocked her, making her shrink inside. A vision of the other bodies she’d found – their limbs torn apart, blood pooling over the ground – swam to the front of her mind. Was she going to be the next victim? Would the police find her in the morning, as ravaged and as decimated as the other women?

“I’d prepare to defend yourself, Sasha,” came the voice, a long shadow slowly beginning to move along the ground. “I think you’re going to be more of a challenge than the others, but then again, I’ve always enjoyed that kind of thing.”

Sasha held herself tall, lowering her stance just a little. Her training kicked in and she put one hand on her holster, ready to pull her gun if she had to. Her training dictated that she should pull her gun only when faced with lethal force, not when faced with the threat of it.

Her eyes focused on the shadow, calculating where the assailant was coming from. Moving slowly along the wall, she moved herself into shadow, hoping to make herself as difficult to find as possible. The plan was to take him alive, but she’d shoot him if it meant saving her own life.

“You don’t think hiding is going to help you, do you?” The male voice was abrasive and scornful, as though he could see her. “Let me tell you, I’ve got a lot more weapons at my disposal than you do. There’s no way you’re getting out of this.”

Swallowing hard, Sasha felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead as she crouched behind one of the large rubbish bins, not able to discover where the man was. The darkness would be equally helpful for him though, she supposed. Did he mean that he had someone working with him? Were there two of them searching for her? Or did he mean actual physical weapons, like firepower or knives?

Moving away from the bins, she looked around but saw very little. The alley was poorly lit anyway, but from what she remembered, there weren’t a lot of places to hide.

Should she run?

The thought was dismissed almost immediately. She was closer to the killer than she’d ever been, and she wasn’t about to let him intimidate her into running away. Clenching her jaw, Sasha pressed her back against the wall and tried to listen for any kind of sound. Whatever happened, she was determined to bring the killer to justice. Running away from him, even to call for assistance, simply wasn’t an option. He’d managed to avoid them once, and she guessed he’d be easily able to do it again. No, she had to stand her ground and face him. She wasn’t going to think about the other victims or let the fear of what he could do to her stop her from carrying out her duties as an officer of the law.

Minutes ticked by with an agonizing slowness, as Sasha slowly moved forward from behind the bin, her eyes searching for any kind of clue as to where he might be. He hadn’t said anything for a while, but her instincts told her that he was still close. There was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the alley, the cold air nipping at her ears and nose.

Without warning, something grasped at her collar and dragged her from behind the bins, making her stumble as she tried to find her feet. She finally stood crouched a few feet in front of him. With one hand, Sasha pulled a flashlight from her pocket and trained it on the man in front of her, feeling her heart slamming into her chest.

The tall, dark haired man did not look in the least upset at her finding out his identity. In fact, he grinned at her almost lazily, as though he knew he would be the last thing she saw.

“Well, hello, Sasha,” he said, quietly. “How good to meet you at last.”

“You know who I am?” she asked, keeping her voice firm.

“Of course,” he replied, taking two slow steps towards her. “Everyone knows that ‘our new Chief Inspector is doing everything she can to find the killer of the recent brutal murders that have terrorized the town’,” he stated, quoting from the recent article in the local paper. “You were too obvious tonight, Sasha.”

“You’ve got someone on the inside, is that it?” Sasha moved away from him, keeping her stance defensive. If she could keep him talking for long enough, she might be able to find a way to bring him down. He was possibly one of the largest men she’d ever seen, both tall and broad. The cruel smile on his face reminded her of a wolf, his teeth bared as he began to advance.

“I don’t need anyone else, Sasha. I can find my own food.”

Food?

“You ripped those women apart,” Sasha breathed, filled with disgust. “You used your strength and power to take their life away, just because you felt like it.”

He shrugged. “Something like that. Don’t forget that I enjoyed it, too.”

Sasha’s stomach rolled, a bitter taste filling her mouth. He was too horrific for words. “This ends now.”

He chuckled. “Do you really think I’m going to let you go, Sasha? You’re not going to win this one.”

“We’ll see about that,” she bit out, trying to keep control of her growing anger and revulsion. “Want to give me your name?”

There was a flicker in his eyes, as though he was surprised by her tenacity. He lifted one shoulder as if he didn’t care whether she knew his name or not, but Sasha could see how he tensed, his jaw clenching.

“You can call me Cliff,” he said, brushing off her question. “Not that you’re going to live to use it.”

He lunged at her then, but Sasha, having anticipated as much, dodged to her left, the flashlight in her hand still held high. His laughter echoed around the alley.

“You’re a fast one. That’s funny. One of the other ones was pretty fast too… although she wore out by the end.”

Sasha let his words bounce off her, refusing to let her focus shift. He dodged out of the flashlight’s beam, but she followed him with a roundhouse kick, catching him hard in the chest. He barely moved, other than to stagger back half a step, but a low growl rattled from his chest. Sasha held the flashlight steady, knowing that she was going to have to reach for her gun if she wanted to survive. He was too big for her to fight alone.

“Give it up, Sasha,” he growled, his teeth bared. “It’s easier just to let me take you, instead of fighting until you can’t stand up anymore. I’ll make it quick, I promise. Just give up,” he reasoned, sounding almost sane.

“Never!” She ran at him, but he was ready for her. His hands grasped her clothes, picking her up with ease and throwing her, hard, against the large dumpsters in the corner. Sasha couldn’t cry out, her breath knocked out of her again. Her body refused to move, pain coursing through her. Her flashlight was a few feet away from her, lying on the ground. The thin beam of light spread across the alleyway, illuminating the menacing figure of Cliff who was slowly making his way towards her.

“I told you to give up,” he muttered, shaking his head. “But you want it the hard way. Don’t worry, Sasha. I’m going to draw this good time out for as long as I can too.”

Finally managing to push herself up with one hand, Sasha tried to reach for her gun with the other, only to realize that her hand wouldn’t move. It  hung, uselessly by her side. Trying to lift it just shot piercing darts of pain all through her neck and side, but Sasha knew she didn’t have time to give in to the agony she felt. Using her other hand to reach for the gun, which forced her whole body to twist, Sasha turned her head to see Cliff almost within touching distance of her, his leering grin bearing down on her. Bile rose in her throat. If she couldn’t get to her gun, then most likely her colleagues would find her body lying in pieces on the ground the next day.

Pulling out the gun, she aimed it at him, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

“Just stop right there, Cliff,” she said, hating that her voice sounded so breathless.

A sneer appeared on his face, his eyes bright with laughter. “No, I don’t think so, Sasha.”

Sasha opened her mouth to say something, only for the words to die on her lips. Cliff was standing with his arms out wide, the sound of tearing and ripping filling her ears, although she didn’t know where it was coming from. He laughed aloud, looking at her with eyes that seemed to glow yellow. Reaching forward, he caught her with his hands, sharp nails digging into her chest, scraping her skin.

“Just try it,” he whispered, his breath hot and fierce as he grinned. “Everyone else tried to stand up to me too, Sasha, but none of them stood a chance against me. You’re weak. So weak compared to me.”

A loud retort filled her ears. Sasha stared into his face, her breath coming in sharp gasps as she saw the shock in his eyes. The yellow tinge she’d seen there slowly began to fade away, his eyes growing dim. The nails that bit into her seemed to shrink and he toppled away from her, as if in slow motion. His head hit the ground, illuminated by the flashlight. The hair on his head seemed to shorten, his mouth losing the snarl it had held as his facial muscles relaxed. Sasha couldn’t understand what she was really seeing, keeping her gun trained on him just in case he suddenly came to life. After what she’d experienced, nothing seemed impossible.

She waited there for several moments, until she was certain he wasn’t breathing any more. The hole in his chest streamed with blood, his eyes wide and staring as she moved away from him.

Leaving her flashlight where it was, she managed to get her gun back in her holster before making her way back to her car, feeling weaker and weaker with every step. Managing to get into the front seat, she leaned heavily against it, trying not to shake with the relief of just being alive. That had been too close.