She was letting him go. She was giving him an excuse to escape. For a moment, Noah was almost faint with relief from knowing he wouldn't have it go in the room with the blood. That he wouldn't have a reason to scare the nice lady like he had everyone else.
Charlie.
He looked down at her for a moment with an expression of inexplicable gratitude that startled her. He smiled briefly and said "Thank you" before turning around and walking briskly toward the back door. It wouldn't do to run, not yet.
But as soon as the door closed behind him, he took off, a blinding blur of movement, straight out through the front door and down the next street before it even finished its outward swing.
He should get out of town. He should just leave before he had a chance to hurt anybody. Especially Charlie. He was startled to realized that he liked her, the nice woman who smiled at him. But liking people only left them hurt, and right now, she was the last one he wanted to hurt.
But instead of heading for the road he followed to get here in the first place, he forked and dove into the forest. Before anything else, he needed to feed. He couldn't go anywhere, let alone talk to anyone, until he had blood to fill his stomach.