Round 135

The sound is unmistakable—stone grinding against stone, deliberate and purposeful. The ornate door at the chamber's far end begins to open, moving inward toward them with agonizing slowness. Halie presses herself harder against the wall beside it, her blue-grey eyes fixed on the widening gap. Jeane staggers backward instinctively, her tall frame;
—the movement jerks her arm free from where she'd been pressed against the wall. "What the fuck was that?" Her voice comes out higher than intended, panic bleeding through despite her best efforts to maintain composure. Jeane's crimson eyes are wide with terror as she stares at the now-open doorway. "I didn't touch it—I swear I didn't—" Her words trail off as something moves in the darkness beyond—the sound of heavy footsteps echoing from the corridor beyond. She grabs Halie's arm without thinking, fingers digging into soft flesh in a vice grip.* The shadow-kin feeder chooses that exact moment to surge forward...