Kaylee stared at the disturbing scene of the insane lunatic in his room; how he sat cowering in his circle of sketch paper, staring into the void in horror, repeating this one sentence over and over again: "He shouldn't have let them in!"

"Let whom in?" Kaylee asked in a calm voice.

Mr. Hadley didn't seem to be listening to her at all. He continued to mumble to himself. Kaylee realised he was clutching something and pressing it to his chest.

Two sheets of paper had been rolled up tightly, and the tubes had been tied together to form something like a cross. The sight made Kaylee shudder even more. What the hell was going on here that even the mentally disturbed were seeking salvation in faith?

"Who let whom in somewhere? Did you see anything?" Kaylee repeated her question slowly and clearly, trying hard to suppress her fear and get the madman's attention.

Suddenly, Mr. Hadley turned his head in Kaylee's direction. With a jerk, he put his index finger with its conspicuously dirty and brittle fingernails to his lips and let out a hissed 'Shhhh!' Then he glanced fearfully at the door.

His eyes were wide open and deep, dark circles lay beneath them as if he hadn't slept for a long time. "Can't you hear it?" he murmured mysteriously and quietly, letting out a whimper as his fingers clenched tighter around the improvised cross.

"What do you mean, Mr. Hadley? What are you hearing? The screams?" Kaylee asked, listening intently to the loud, dissonant uproar of voices and noises.

There was rumbling thunder, rain pattering hard against the windows, eerie howling of the wind, menacing hissing of the gas lights, whose flames had gone out and plunged the sanatorium into dim darkness, and the panicked and manic screams of the other patients, their desperate howling and banging on walls and doors.

But none of the sounds stood out.

Then Kaylee noticed that something was missing amidst all the noise, which made her worry all the more: Nowhere were the voices of the attendants and the nurses to be heard, keeping order and stopping the madness that prevailed here.

But what did the mad Mr. Hadley mean?

What was she overhearing?

The confused Mr Hadley slowly turned his back on Kaylee, and she realised the poor lunatic was unlikely to get her anywhere. There was a soft click as she pulled back the trigger of the revolver, took a deep breath and stepped back up to the door. Her heart was pounding in her throat as Kaylee leaned forward carefully to peer into the hallway.

'Let's find out what's going on here, then.'

Carefully, the Seeker took one step in front of the other. Occasional flashes of lightning lit up the corridor, painting grotesque shadows on the walls.

Kaylee kept close to the wall. It was reassuring to know that she couldn't be attacked from behind for some reason. She kept glancing over her shoulder to ensure nothing could surprise her unexpectedly from that direction. Secretly, however, she was also desperately hoping that the doctor had ignored her instructions and followed her.

Then, all at once, the door to the common room slammed open and crashed hard against the wall behind it. The wood shook under the force, and Kaylee's heart almost jumped out of her chest in shock. Then she heard a pitiful whimper and hoarse gasp as if a strangled cry was desperately trying to escape from panicked lips.

Staggering, the figure of Nurse Enid appeared in the doorway.

Her face was contorted into a grimace of sheer terror, blood streaming from her forehead as she opened her mouth to scream. But it never came to that.

Kaylee watched in absolute horror as something grabbed her robe, and she fell abruptly to the ground as if her legs had been pulled away. A thudding sound that cut off any further sound accompanied her body as it hit the hard floor.

Nurse Enid whimpered in pain and sheer panic.

"Oh God... Oh God... Oh, please, God! Help...!"

In desperation, she tried to hold on to something. Her fingernails scraped across the floor, leaving a bloody trail on the ground. Her hand clung desperately to the door's frame when something jerked her back into the room and out of Kaylee's sight.

Blood rushed in Kaylee's ears, and she could painfully feel her pounding heart beating wildly against her ribcage. Ice-cold sweat stood out on her forehead, and her hands trembled. She was torn between fleeing and the crazy thought of running forward to see if she could help anyone.

Then, there was a clink and clatter as numerous wooden beads rolled across the floor. Kaylee recognised them immediately - they were the beads from the rosary Sister Enid had worn on her belt.
Sobs and cries seeped into the air. Then, every sound was choked off in a desperate gurgle, the source of which Kaylee didn't need to see with her own eyes to suspect that the sister was choking on her own blood.

Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Kaylee tried to breathe calmly—and above all, quietly. Whatever was there, apparently, she hadn't noticed it yet.
And then she heard a female voice, as soft as snowfall and just as cold. It sounded in a language she didn't know, but it was definitely of Eastern European origin.
The tone of the words, the sound of the voice, her pleasurable singsong - everything suggested to Kaylee that she had been noticed - and the thought that she was now prey did not please her at all...

A humming sound like a cat's purr rang out. Tempting. Lulling. Sweet as honey, sharp as a blade. Another voice, also female. Whatever was lurking in this chamber was intelligent enough to communicate and...
Shit. There were two of them.

Then, the two voices sounded together. Kaylee couldn't understand them, but she thought they were calling to her, asking her to join them. A whisper and a murmur slipped between the other sounds and drilled into her mind as if it belonged there—like mortar between bricks, honey in honeycombs, or pages between book covers. It was a melodious sound that framed the incomprehensible words supernaturally perfectly, adding meaning, even power, to them.

Kaylee felt the influence lingering in the air and penetrating her mind like practised fingers gliding over the strings of an instrument. They struck something inside her. It was only light as a feather, barely noticeable, but it was enough. Her whole body was suddenly frozen like a pillar of salt. A shiver ran through her body, once, twice, with every new note that was struck with the words.

They lured. They called out to her.

Kaylee didn't understand a word they said, but she felt it. She felt as if a soft blanket was wrapped around her body, warm and cosy but much too tight. It suffocated her body because she was resisting it with all her might.

The world around her blurred like a thick fog rose, taking over her vision. Everything became distant and slipped away from her perception, yet somewhere deep inside, Kaylee knew that this wasn't happening. It was as if something was gumming up all her senses with syrup and making all thoughts heavy, slow and sluggish.

A sound reached her ears through the veil. Footsteps slowly approached from the common room. But Kaylee saw no shadow on the wall opposite or the floor.

Nevertheless, the first one, then a second figure, stepped through the door. Elegant, lithe and as proud as if they owned the walls.

Two women were dressed in dark, expensive robes, their slender bodies wrapped in tight corsages. Pearls and lace adorned the fabrics, but their clothes looked strangely old-fashioned. The cut, the style, the corsetry—everything reminded Kaylee of the clothes in paintings of nobles or aristocrats during the Age of Enlightenment.

They were breathtakingly beautiful—both of them. Their delicate features and full, red lips could have attracted the attention of any man. Their dark-framed eyes, full of longing and desire, enticed them to lose themselves in hedonistic fantasies.

They set alarm bells ringing in Kaylee's head.

She wanted to pull the trigger. Fire at the two creatures.

But her body refused to obey.

One of the women raised her hand placatingly and repeated something in the foreign language. Immediately, Kaylee felt the muscles in her arm wanting to lower the weapon. Her fingers trembled from the mental effort it took to keep the gun pointed at the two women.

The fabric of her clothes billowed around her legs as the figures walked slowly towards Kaylee. Dirty and partially tattered, the hem of their skirts hung in tatters. Both women were slender, almost scrawny, their fingers long and blackish before they ended in long, claw-like fingernails. They walked barefoot, and each step left a soft splash on the ground, and they were both completely soaked. Their hair, the front one blond and almost whitish, the second one black as pitch, stuck to their faces and shoulders in thick, wet strands.

And they were pale.

Pale as death.

The first girl's lips curled into what might have been a smile.

But behind the enchanting mask, Kaylee saw and felt the beast trying to hide there.

The mouth and chin were red-smeared with the blood of her victims, and as she smiled, her lips bared a pair of sharp fangs.