The figure didn't turn. It seemed more interested in the seagull that had landed on the parapet of the jetty and was sitting there motionless.

Natalie saw the figure extend a hand towards the bird as if to welcome it and the gull left its temporary perch and dropped down close to the figure.

Natalie hesitated, slowing her pace as the figure moved towards the gull. The bird seemed unconcerned and merely let out a squawk. The figure knelt close as if inspecting it.

The speed of the movement was incredible.The figure grabbed the gull by the neck in one hand and stood up instantly. The gull flapped its powerful wings once but the reflex was stopped as its head was torn away by the figure's other hand. The body jerked involuntarily, the wings flapping again as the bird's body was tossed away over the parapet of the jetty into the dark water below.

Natalie stood motionless, watching as the figure looked at the ripped-off head of the gull, holding it for a second longer before hurling it into the water in the same direction as the body.

Natalie closed her eyes briefly then sucked in a deep breath that was tinged with the taste of the sea.

At last the figure turned, nodded, then scampered back towards her.

Natalie scooped the figure up into her arms, smiling broadly as she felt the embrace returned so warmly.

*Come on,' Natalie beamed. *Let's get home before the rain starts.'

She looked at the figure's hands and saw that there was some blood on them. Natalie reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a tissue and wiped the crimson fluid away, stuffing the rag back into her pocket.

Chloe Mason smiled back at her, reaching for her hand as they walked back down the jetty.

They were still halfway along it when they felt the first spots of rain. Laughing, they began to run, wanting to reach shelter and escape what threatened to be a downpour.

Natalie pulled the bloodied tissue from her pocket and tossed it into a waste bin as she passed.

This wasn't the first incident of the kind she'd just witnessed. There'd been a dog, a rabbit and several other birds. She didn't know why. She didn't want to know.

It was, she told herself, a small price to pay for having Chloe with her again.

The rain fell more heavily now, large cold droplets hammering down from the threatening clouds but to Natalie and her daughter it didn't really seem to matter.

*I shall but love thee better after death.'

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

BY SHAUN HUTSON.

Assassin.

Body Count.

Breeding Ground.

Captives.

Compulsion.

Deadhead

Death Day

Dying Words

Erebus

Exit Wounds

Heathen

Hell to Pay

Hybrid

Knife Edge

Last Rites

Lucy's Child

Necessary Evil

Nemesis

Purity

Relics

Renegades

Shadows

Slugs

Spawn

Stolen Angels.

Twisted Souls.

Unmarked Graves.

Victims.

Warhol's Prophecy.

White Ghost.