I stumbled back in shock when the intruder stopped pounding on the door and began firing at the lock until it blew apart in pieces.
That was when I heard Andre’s alarmed scream from the upper floor, and his voice pierced my brain like an arrow, jolting me awake, forcing me to react. I clenched my teeth hard; the pain from the gunshot faded into second or third place among my priorities. I threw myself against the door as it began to open, and a bitter, unknown smell—visceral, repulsive—flooded my lungs, making my skin bristle in an instinctive reaction of rejection. That smell only provoked me further. It was familiar, and yet alien to me at the same time. I heard the savage growl of a beast, and once again a shove shook me all over, until a second shot through the wood made me stagger ba
