Nepal meets Kard

The sound of shattering glass startled Nepal as he walked up the stairs. “Was that a scream?” He lost his footing and slipped catching himself on the railing. His knee hit down on the hard step, accompanied by a loud popping sound from under the kneecap. Pain shot through his leg and up his spine. He managed to keep from crying out as he cradled his leg.

He feared he may have injured himself and carefully checked for wetness under his pant leg. He touched a sensitive spot at the joint. He winced more from the anticipated pain then any actual pain. It hurt like hell, but he'd live. Relieved, he continued up the stairs.

That was a scream. He could have sworn it was. His pace up the stairs slowed. He didn't want to chance another spill, and he dreaded whatever was on the second floor. Or was it the roof?

He'd never been on the roof of the building. As far as he knew, no one had ever gone up there, and he didn't know why he was thinking it now. But sure as his knee hurt, there was someone on the roof. It was a patient. He was sure of that too. It had to be a patient.

“Nepal?” He asked himself. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Of course, he had wanted to do this. How could he not?

The top of the stairs opened up into a common room. He could smell the coffee coming from the nook in the corner. It was a few hours old, but he guessed no one cared for a cup at the moment. He looked and found the night watchman was actually laying next to the coffee pot. Its contents spilled onto the floor.

He tried to remember where the roof entrance was. It didn't come to him right away, but after a short search he remembered the door once he spotted it.

He made his way to the door and stopped. Someone was coming. “How can I know that?” But it was true. He had known it. The sensation was getting stronger, and they were going to be coming from that door.

Nepal's pulse was racing. Whoever it was that killed these people, they were coming. Right through that door. The murderer is coming, “and his name is Kard.”

The door leading to the roof flew off its hinges and went flying back toward Nepal. It landed less than a yard from where he stood.

Karden stepped through the doorway and walked toward Nepal. His eyes were an intense blue that seemed to have a florescence about them, a light all their own. Karden cocked his head to one side, as if to listen to something, and a second later, Nepal felt an icy touch caress his skin.

“No,” Nepal said. He knew this man was causing this. “Stop.”

Karden smiled like a boy who just discovered an exciting new toy. “You are not like them.” He gestured to the corpses. “You taste different.”

Taste? He wanted to ask what Karden had meant by taste, but then got an additional tactile sensation. Something or some things were crawling on him. He quickly checked his arm, but nothing was on him. The crawling things were cold and it felt like ice biting into him.

Like the door that was holding back Karden a moment before, the door holding back Nepal's fear at that moment had let loose.