Michelle's eyes fluttered open. She instantly winced against the bright florescent lights of what she quickly deduced was a hospital room.
Her head ached, and she could feel the sickness on the underside of the bandage that encompassed most of her head.
Before her, at the end of the bed stood a nurse, conversing with a uniformed police officer.
Beyond them, in a vile mint green faux leather sear, sat a blonde haired woman in her 40s, her hair pulled over to flow die along one side of her angular face.

"Where..." Michelle breathed, unable to finish her question before the nurse dashed over to her side, offering her the staw of a plastic cup of water.
As Michelle drank, the policeman spoke.

"Miss Hutchinson, I'm constable Marlowe. How are you feeling?"

She swallowed the water before gulping for air. "Tired."

"I'm not surprised. I'm part of the investigation into your assault, and the disappearance of your colleague, Alex Nicholls."

"Alex is missing? I- I don't remember an assault."

Constable Marlowe reached into a paper folder and presented a large A4 blown up photo of a pavement, and pool of blood. Michelle realised this must be her blood. She noticed a depression in the surface of the mirrory red pool.

"I'm sorry to show you this. This is a foot print we found in your..."

"My blood." She sensed his discomfort.

"Yes. It looks as though your assailant may have removed their-"

"Her." the blonde woman's voice sliced through the room like a share of ice.

Marlowe continued. "Her shoe off."

"And stood in my blood? Why?"

"A display of power." her powerful voice pierced the room once again.

Marlow sighed. " Miss Hutchinson, this is Karin Vogel, she is a..." he clearly struggled to find an appropriate word.

"Independent investigator." Karin spoke.

"Oh." Michelle was clearly unnerved by her guests.

"Could two give us the room?" Karin politely ordered. The nurse and the policeman did not argue, and promptly left the small room, Marlowe taking his small paper file with him. Michelle thought for a moment how thin the file was. How much did they have on whatever happened. There should be the restaurant CCTV, witnesses, anything. And Alex...

"The doctors here have spent the last 24 hours observing you and drawing conclusions based on those observations." Karin spoke as if to a child, pausing and choosing each word with precision. "The conclusion they have drawn is that your injuries were self inflicted."

"What? No, I wouldn't do this to myself!"

Karin stood, walking slowly over to the bedside as she referenced from a small tablet in her hands. "And yet, you have no recollection of an assailant, there is no corroborating evidence to show that anyone else was there, and you have a history of depression coupled with subsequent self harm." Karin placed the tablet on to the bedside table as she came to a hault.

"Th- that doesn't mean anything, I- I-"

"And yet, I find myself drawn into an untenable position. One that my peers do not look so kindly upon." She leaned in close to Michelle. "I believe you."

"What?"

"I believe that you do not have any recollection of the events of the night of October 14th. I believe that you're wounds are self inflicted."

"But-"

"I also believe that there was an assailant. Possibly more than one."

"I don't understand."

Karin leaned even closer, brushing her long cascading hair behind her- she was missing her left ear.

"Because I didn't do this to myself. And yet..."

"You didn't?"

"No. But atleast I can remember. You..." Karin leaned back to standing rigidly upright, allowing her hair to cascade back down to cover the scarred remains of her ear, regarding Michelle thoughtfully.

"What? What can you remember?" Michelle sat forward.

Karin clearly thought about what to say, before finally choosing her carefully worded response.

"You are useless to me like this." Karin began walking around the bed toward the rooms only door.

"What? WAIT!!"

Karin turned, one hand on the door handle. "Get well soon."

Without another word she was gone. Michelle's mind was racing. What should she remember? Or who? Alex was one of her best friends, she had to do something to find out what happened to him, to her.

She leaned over to retrieve the cup of water. That's when she realised the tablet left on the bedside table.

Karin didn't pause as she stode from the room, causing the bashful constable to cut off his flirtation with the nurse to follow her.

"Ma'am?" he chirped as he struggled to keep pace with her in the corridor.

"Nothing. The bitch either intentionally removed her memory or the injuries she sustained has caused her memory loss- how long it will take her to regain it if that is the case is anybody's guess."

"Are we even sure the subject did this? This could be a wild goose chase-"

"It was her." Karin stopped and snatched the paper file from her subordinate. She withdrew the photo of the blood pool and held it before his face. "This may as well be her calling card."

"Ma'am? A footprint?"

"Believe me-" She slipped the photo back into the folder before handing it back to him. "I am intimately familiar with that foot print."

She began walking walking at her brisk pace once again. He paused briefly in confusion before following her.

"I don't understand."

She sighed, but did not break pace. "It's a long story. But it has been seven years since I have seen that footprint. Seven years since she was last sighted. She has either grown complacent or arrogant. Either way, if we don't use this opportunity to draw her out in the open, we will have gained nothing."

The two emerged from the hospitals entrance. It was raining heavily as a sleek, black car pulled up before them. The driver jumped out, opening an umbrella, holding it over Karin as he opened the door for her. She turned to face Marlowe, who was already soaked.

"Keep trawling the CCTV footage in the centre of town and all of the roads out of town. If she or any of her 'acolytes' were here," she took the folder back from him "I want them on a silver platter to go before the end of the week. If I go back to the board empty handed..." She sighed again before stepping lithely into the car. "Just find the little bitch."

"Yes ma'am. What about Alex Nicholls?"

"Who?" She said blankly as the door was closed for her. The driver wasted no time in entering the car, speeding off into the downpour, as Constable Marlowe began to job for his own car.

Nestled in the comfy, heated leather seat in the back of the car, Karin closed her eyes. She was so tired.

Opening them and reaching for the paper folder once again, the withdrew the photo and stared at it absentmindly.

She didn't even react to the disembodied voice, or to the barely in focus, red headed blur sat in the seat beside her.
"Acolyte." The smooth Irish voice giggled. "I wonder if you'll ever tell them..."
Karin looked to her right to see the steely eyed, red headed beauty swathed in a long, nighty. The girl smiled a perfect smile as she swung her legs up to present her feet, enclosed in delicate light pink socks. They rushed forward, smothering Karins face and silencing her delayed scream.
Karin seemed to begin to sink as the dainty, socked feet became bigger, and heavier.
"Will you ever tell them that you were my first?" the voice echoed.

Karin gasped as she awoke. She looked around the back of the car wildly for her attacker. Nothing. The rain drummed against the car window as she glanced through it, breathing heavily, to see they had stopped at her temporary apartment.

She shook her head free of the haze that her brief nightmare had left in its wake. Her driver appeared though the window and opened the door, umbrella at the ready.
Karin scooped up the photo and file and exited the car, not giving her dream a second thought.

On the floor of the back passenger seat a gift went unnoticed.
A small card with a little red bow in the corner, upon it written the letter 'M' with a lipstick kiss below it, was nestled atop a single white sock, the bottom- in a perfect, dainty footprint shape- was caked in dried blood.