The hairs on his skin rose with the static of an approaching thunderstorm. Meryl had the knife pointed in his direction, knuckles growing white around its girth. Her forehead was shining with sweat. Malin smiled, though he knew they didn't have much time.
"You seem to be short of a hand or two," he said.
"Shut up," she hissed.
"Right, I'm sure you have a better plan. Because you surely don't expect me to be intimidated by a butter knife."
"This is a hunting knife," Meryl said, taking a step forward. "Crafted by the most talented of the Lord's men."
"Why do you have– Oh." Malin grinned. "The good Christian woman is a thief."
"Shut up! He'll understand. When I bring him your corpse– when your true form is visible on your face, then he'll understand."
"And I'm sure God forgives too."
"He forgives me, she-demon."
"Even though there are," he made a show of counting his fingers, "Ten commandments to avoid breaking, and I'm quite sure you've broken two of them just by being here with me."
Meryl was close enough that he could smell the fear on her. The knife-hand twitched when she attacked, and Malin almost felt disappointed that his first proper kill would be so inexperienced. She practically growled when his hand closed around her wrist, stopping the knife short of his ribs. Then, in desperation she swung the lantern towards his head– but he was quicker and repeated the process. The lantern-hand shook with the effort of holding back as he forced it between them, keeping the eye contact between them.
"I don't have the time for this."
"Burn in hell," she replied.
"Those are good last words," he said. "I hope you're not afraid of the dark."
Meryl tumbled back as he snatched the lantern out of her hand. The tiny hatch on the side opened, and he watched her prepare for a second attack as his breath extinguished the light. After that, he made short work of the human as his shell fell to the ground near the lamp. By the time he picked it back up there was nothing left of Meryl Burke– and if there was, Malin was the only one set to enter the stables the next morning. He picked up the lantern and said goodbye to the cows, walking across the grass towards the house as the sky grew slowly darker above. By the time he arrived in the kitchen, he had just enough time to light the lantern and pretend he'd been outside searching, before others arrived to check on him.
Sarah slept by the time he returned to their room, and nobody seemed to notice that Meryl didn't return that night. He'd report her missing in the morning.