Bang! Bang! Bang!
The pounding on the door grew increasingly frantic. The door of Ethan's small apartment shook violently, as if it was about to be torn off its hinges.
Ethan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He waited for his heartbeat to stabilize before cautiously creeping toward the door and peeking through the peephole.
On the other side of the door stood the landlord. The family of the landlord and his wife lived in the rooms on the second floor of the mini apartment complex.
The landlord and his wife were a middle-aged couple known for their kindness. The landlady had even stood in as Ethan's guardian when the town police had come to take his statement during the investigation of Felix Hoang's case back in early September.
Normally, the landlord and his wife were always very polite. They gave their tenants plenty of space, allowing them to feel as comfortable as if they were in their own homes. If there was anything important, they would send a message via Zalo to schedule a meeting rather than dropping by unannounced.
And what is the most important thing for a landlord?
Of course, it's collecting the rent on time! Ethan always paid his rent punctually, without fail. So, that couldn't be the reason why the landlord would climb all the way up to the rooftop in the dead of night to bang on his door like this.
Ethan didn't dare to make a sound or even breathe too loudly. He didn't dare open the door, even if he recognized the person standing outside.
Because the Bloodbound mark on Ethan's neck was still throbbing with sharp, stinging pain. That only made him more resolute not to open the door.
Crack!
Through the peephole, Ethan saw the landlord twist and snap the door handle right off. It dropped to the ground with a loud, echoing clang. In the dead of night, the sound seemed amplified, reverberating through the silence.
The landlord was normally a very small and frail-looking man, completely the opposite of his large, plump wife.
How could he possibly be strong enough to snap off a door handle?
After displaying that unnatural strength, the landlord suddenly clutched his stomach and doubled over. He coughed violently. The sound of his cough was oddly guttural, more like the growl of a wild animal than that of a man.
Suddenly, Ethan caught the smell - a sickening, metallic stench filled the air. Through the peephole, he saw dark red, viscous blood pooling around the landlord's feet.
When the landlord slowly straightened back up, Ethan's heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the sight of his transformation.
The landlord's body began to bulge with pulsating purple and pink veins. They intertwined and spread across his skin, which was gradually turning a sickly grayish hue.
His upper body swelled unnaturally, becoming larger and more muscular, a stark contrast to his normally frail frame.
His pupils dilated to their maximum size, making his eyes look abnormally large and completely black. Meanwhile, the whites of his eyes were laced with vivid, blood-red veins.
The man let out a guttural roar. Then he began pounding furiously on the door with both fists. His knuckles were bleeding, but the door held firm.
After spending what seemed like an eternity smashing against the door to no avail, the landlord finally paused. He straightened up and slowly started walking back towards the stairs. Ethan thought he had given up.
But no…
The man was only backing up to get a running start. He hurled his entire body at the door with every ounce of strength he had. The impact was so violent that his forehead split open, blood spilling out profusely.
The door hinges began to loosen.
Ethan immediately stepped back from the door.
He fumbled for his phone, his hands shaking as he dialed 113 to call the police.
The dial tone rang…
Suddenly, the screen went black. The battery had died. Ethan cursed under his breath, something he rarely did. He had been so engrossed in crafting paper flowers all day that he'd completely forgotten to charge his phone.
What was he supposed to do now?
He considered escaping through the other door - the one leading to the rooftop.
But then Ethan remembered that the mini apartment building was seven stories tall. It was the tallest building in the area, with the surrounding houses only reaching four or five stories. So escaping via the rooftop wasn't exactly ideal if he wanted his bones intact.
But then again… was it more important to save his life or preserve his bones? Which was really more important?
Ethan didn't particularly like the idea of surviving with a paralyzed body. He wasn't exactly a genius like Stephen Hawking. It was best to be cautious.
He scanned the room desperately, searching for anything he could use as a weapon.
Completely pointless!
Ethan's tiny room had nothing remotely useful for self-defense. He regretted not listening to his mother when she told him to learn how to cook. If he had, there would have been a frying pan in his room - a frying pan is clearly an effective weapon, just like in that famous animated movie.
Suddenly, something glimmered on the floor. Ethan crouched down and snatched it up.
It was his craft scissors. Though small and seemingly fragile, holding them in his hand gave Ethan a tiny boost of confidence - like his chances of survival had just gone up a little.
The door hinges snapped. The door sagged, leaning inward.
Bang!
The landlord crashed through the door, barreling straight into Ethan's room, stumbling over the heap of paper flowers that Ethan had painstakingly crafted over the past week.
Meanwhile, Ethan was still scrambling to shove his laptop - the most valuable thing in his apartment - into his backpack.
His face twisted in despair. All those paper flowers he had spent countless nights and early mornings creating were now crushed, splattered with blood and mixed with the landlord's drool.
The landlord thrashed wildly on the floor amidst the bed and blankets. His grotesquely swollen upper body, so out of proportion with his spindly legs, made it nearly impossible for him to stand back up like a normal person.
Ethan seized the moment while the landlord was still preoccupied with tearing apart his bedding. He dashed toward the door, hoping to escape down the stairwell.
Not good…
His instincts and the burning pain from the Bloodbound mark - warned him that running down the stairs right now was far from wise.
Ethan could smell a strange metallic scent wafting up from the stairwell, accompanied by unsettling growls and snarls.
And then those growls turned into full-blown howls, echoing in unison with the landlord's monstrous roars from upstairs.
At last, the landlord managed to stumble to his feet.
His grotesque form, with bulging purple-pink veins pulsing all over his skin, was now smeared with blood, stuffing from Ethan's ruined bedding, and bits of shredded paper flowers.
Ethan hesitated, uncertain which way to run. But before he could make a decision, the landlord lunged forward, slamming him to the floor.
The small pair of craft scissors Ethan had been clutching slipped from his grip, sliding across the room and out of reach.
Ethan gripped the landlord's shoulders, using all his strength to hold the man back and prevent him from sinking his teeth into his flesh. Surprisingly, the landlord wasn't as strong as Ethan had expected. Maybe, just maybe, with a little more effort, Ethan could push him off.
But of course, things were never that simple.
The landlord suddenly opened his mouth.
And it just kept opening wider…
Until it tore all the way back to his ears, revealing a grotesque set of jagged, overlapping teeth. Ethan counted; the number of teeth was easily three times that of a normal human.
But that wasn't all, the landlord's neck began to stretch, elongating as his face - now completely unrecognizable as human - hovered mere inches above Ethan's own.
Drool dripped thickly from the landlord's mouth, splattering onto Ethan's face, mixed with rancid blood oozing from the torn flesh stretching to his ears.
(If I don't die from being bitten, I might die from disgust first.)
Boom!
The door to the rooftop suddenly flew off its hinges from the outside.
A rush of cool air flooded into the room, carrying with it the fragrant scent of lilies, overpowering the metallic stench of blood that had suffused the small space.