Contributor: David Gardiner

When it struck, it struck fast, sliding out of the shadows with a fury that was unreal, inhuman. Derek swung as it rushed him, but the strike came too late. The creature brushed the bat away like a fly as it dug its claws into him, buried talons deep into soft flesh. It grinned a sadistic, razor-edged grin as it drew him in, bound him in the slimy folds of tentacles that shot out of the darkness, swallowed him.

When the inspector finally stumbled into the alley, ragged and limping, eyes wide, terrified, the thing was gone. Only a shred of fabric remained, a splash of crimson that inched through the cracks in the brickwork walls.