Knight Predator (9 page)

“You’re not stodgy or staid and you fucking know it.”

“Language, Bronwyn. Language. You’ve quite a foul fucking mouth on you there.”

She slapped my arm. “God, you’re such a brat.”

I inclined my head and smiled. “Thanks. What would you like to do with me now?”

“
With
you or
to
you?”

“And you’re a forward little thing, aren’t you?”

“I’m not little. I’m a grown woman and, on top of that, I’m almost as tall as you.”

I folded my arms. “Grown, are we?”

“Oh, hell yes,” she said, grinning, and pulled her tee shirt out a little, giving me a delectable view of her beautiful, full breasts, barely encased in a lacy bra. It took me a minute or so to reclaim my self control.

“Yes, Sweetpea, we certainly are grown, aren’t we?” I reached out, amazed my hand wasn’t shaking, and pulled out her tee shirt so I could ogle her a little more. I gently brushed her lips with mine.

Bronwyn fell against me, flushing. “God, Crowley.”

I gave her a smug grin. “Gotcha.”

“Let’s go home,” she said breathlessly. “I want your body against mine, even if it’s only to dance.”

I sighed. “Bronwyn, love, we aren’t going to be together that way.”

I captured her green eyes. “You’re only going to get hurt if you keep doing that.”

She flinched. “Stop doing that. I can hope, can’t I?”

“It’s a bad idea to hope for something that can never be,” I said. I took her cold hands into mine, and she tried to pull away from me, a glimmer of tears in her eyes.

“Look,” I said. “Let’s try being friends, all right? Like I said, I really like you.”

“You won’t hurt me?”

I flinched and cupped her face, soothing her tears. “No. I’d never intentionally hurt you.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I still want to go home. I still want to dance.

I like you too. Forget love, I really like you.”

“Okay. Let’s go home. We can keep dancing.” I gazed into her eyes, and her smile returned, lighting up her beautiful, green eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s all right. I really do think we’re friends. I’m sorry I can’t give you more.”

“I know. One day you will, Crowley.”

I gave her a sad and slightly frustrated smile, and saw the answering flinch in her eyes.

We held hands and walked through the sea of humans, which unconsciously parted to let us through. I scanned the crowd for Chris Carlton, but he was gone.

Bronwyn avoided me for the next two nights. She was not home when I got up. I went out to feed and when I got back she was normally home. She stayed in her room, door shut, television on in the background.

I didn’t want to disturb her because I knew she was hurting. She needed a little time away from me, and I wanted to respect that.

It didn’t last long. I broke.

I grinned as I went to bed at dawn. On the kitchen table was a crystal bowl of chocolates, held by a stuffed effigy of the Count from Sesame Street, along with a card.
Forgive me
, it said.

The next evening when I got up, I bounded up the stairs, expecting to see Bronwyn in the kitchen. When I burst through the door, my heart sank when I saw it was empty.

My shoulders sagged until I saw the crystal vase of red roses in the center of the table. I went to it and pulled out the card nestled in between two of the roses. I scented them, smiling at their fragrance.

My beloved angel
, the card said.

“I was wondering when you’d get up.”

I turned and saw Bronwyn leaning in the doorway, hands stuffed into the pocket of her jeans, crooked grin on her face.

We tangled together. I could feel her soft breath on the skin of my chest, and buried my face in her hair, taking in her warmth and gentle, feminine fragrance.

“Crowley,” she began, “I . . . I . . .”

“Shh,” I said. “It’s all right.”

She pulled back. “No, it’s not all right. I don’t understand. Your words say no but your actions say yes. You say you don’t love me but everything else about you says you do.”

I shook my head and sighed. “You keep teasing me, and I’m doing it back. I’ll try to stop because I know you’re not taking it the right way.”

“It means I’d have to stop as well and I just can’t.”

I couldn’t say anything to that. She was right. I liked touching her as much as she did me.

We stared at each other, then I tore my gaze from her eyes.

“It’s Saturday night, isn’t it?” I said.

She nodded, and I smiled. “Want to go out with me?”

“Sure,” she said. “I love going out with you.”

“I like taking you out with me,” I replied and made the mistake of gazing into her intense, green eyes. This time she broke it, and I cleared my throat. “You want me to tell you where we’re going, or you want it to be a surprise?”

“I think I like your surprises,” she said, blushing.

I could not help myself. I took her hand. “Come with me.”

Twenty minutes later we were in a dusty parking lot at the local recreational park. There was a carnival in town, and I had felt the urge to smell popcorn, teeming humanity, and animals. They also had a circus traveling with them, but we would only go to that if Bronwyn wanted to. I could do everything that the circus performers did and better at that, so they had lost some of their appeal for me.

We got out of the car and took each other’s hands as we hit the first sets of tents. There were shooting galleries, a Ferris wheel, pony rides, cotton candy, parents, and children.

I was hungry. I had not fed. I looked around for my first victim and thought about how I could slip away from Bronwyn long enough to take them.

“Hey, Bronwyn,” a young girl said, surrounded by her friends.

They were all whispering and staring at us. Bronwyn and I both pretended not to notice.

“Hi, Lauren,” Bronwyn said cheerfully, and they began to chat.

“Bronnie,” I whispered into her ear. “I’ll be right back.”

“Sure,” Bronwyn said. “Are you all right?”

I smiled. “I’m fine.”

I really was. I scanned the crowd, looking for the eyes I could feel on us.

I found them.

Chris Carlton, aloof and alone, stood at the edge of the trees that bordered the carnival, staring at us. He had dropped all pretence of good humor, his expression and eyes feral as he took me in. I openly stared at him, and he returned it with malice.

I ran faster than an eye could blink and stood before him.

“What’s going on in that nasty little head of yours?” I whispered.

We stood not two inches apart, meeting each other’s eyes.

“I want her,” he said. “You’re unnatural.”

“We feel exactly the same way on both scores,” I replied.

I felt something sharp dimpling the skin of my stomach and looked down at the knife he had touching me.

“Put it away or I’ll make it painful for you,” I said.

He laughed.

I pounced.

He did not have time to scream before I had his arms pinned to his sides and my fangs in his neck. I pulled out great drafts of his blood, draining him almost as much as I normally drained my victims.

I didn’t want to kill him; I wanted to teach him a lesson.

I dropped him where he stood and cleaned up the fang marks on his body. As the flesh of my wrist closed, I thought about what I’d said to him, that I wanted Bronwyn.

Oh fuck, I realized. I liked Bronwyn, all right, and there was nothing platonic in it.

My heart sank as I ran back to her. Her friends had left, and she was waiting for me close to a shooting gallery.

“You want to win a girl a stuffed bear?” she asked.

I laughed. “Anything you want, my succulent young charge.” I caught her expression and her half open mouth. “Ah, ah, ah—
almost
anything you want.”

“Bugger,” she muttered playfully.

I stared at the prizes at the shooting gallery. If she wanted a bear, I would give her one. The largest one I could find. The one I had spotted as we walked past the Test Your Strength challenge.

Two minutes later, Bronwyn was choosing her bear, and I was collecting applause. She hugged me and her bear—almost as big as she was.

“My beloved angel,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome, BronwynHunter,” I said.

She gestured toward an empty shooting gallery close to where we were standing. The spruiker stood outside, staring at the passersby with glassy, disinterested eyes, calling for all he was worth.

“Step right up! Come and relive the wild west! You, young lady!” He zeroed in on Bronwyn. “You look like you’d be a great shot!”

She pulled me over to him and handed me her bear.

He gave her a smile and a rifle.

She gave him a pearly, polite grin. “Sure, I’ll give it a go.”

We both watched in amazement, the spruiker shocked into silence, as she shot the shit out of every target in the shooting gallery.

I laughed as she put the rifle down, giving the now morose, heavily painted man a dazzling smile.

“I’ll have that one, please,” she said, pointing to a bright purple dinosaur.

My laughter increased as he opened and closed his mouth several times, and fished out a toy. He glared and thrust it at her. Her smile did not falter as we walked away and stopped to exchange toys.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a real dinosaur,” I said, capturing her gaze. “I like it.”

Her eyes sparkled with mirth. “So did I,” she said, taking my hand.

We walked aimlessly. Bronwyn saw the freak show nestled off to one side, down a roughly formed alleyway. We looked at each other and grinned like a pair of children.

We went toward the booth, and I bought us tickets. I gestured for her to lead the way, and she did so.

We went into the first darkened tent to see a genuine mermaid.

“Okay,” I said, eyeing the exhibit. “No worries.”

Bronwyn giggled. “C’mon. Where’s your sense of fun?”

“Not in a tent looking at a wet, stuffed monkey wearing badly painted neoprene flippers.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I think I lost it a long time ago.”

“You’re so strange,” she said, pulling me to a halt as we left the tent to go on to the half man, half woman.

“How so?”

“You keep talking about how old you are, but you’re young. You’re alive. You’re vital. It sounds corny, but you
shine
. You’re amazing.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

She put her hand on my shoulder and gazed deep into my eyes.

“I’m trying to help you. I don’t know why you’ve given up on life.

You won’t tell me. I’ll live with that. But I have trouble with the fact that you’re so much fun to be around, such a worthwhile person, and all you seem to want to do is lie in a rowboat, moan ‘woe is me’ and die.”

I raised an eyebrow. ” ‘Woe is me’? Good grief, Bronwyn.”

“What’s the matter? Don’t you like being around me? Don’t you think I’m fun to be around?”

I nodded, emotions churning. “I do, young Bronwyn, very much so. I like being around you, too.”

“Then could you please enjoy every day you have with me? One by one? I know you want to get rid of me, fine. But while you’re stuck with me, can’t you just live for the moment?” She flinched, as if afraid of my response.

“I don’t intentionally want to get rid of you. Don’t think that. It’s just that you’re so young. I’m sure you’re going to change your mind about me in a year or so.” I stroked her face. “I thought I
was
living for the moment with you.”

She braced herself. “I’m so afraid of you, of being hurt by you. I always get the feeling that you don’t want me to get close to you at all, that you really want to get rid of me. I feel like all the kindness you’re showing to me is lies.”

“Hey! It’s not lies.” I cupped her face. “And stop nibbling.” I held her pained gaze. “Look, let’s go home. I don’t know about you but I think I’m finished with the carnival for one evening.”

She returned my gaze for a moment or so. She nodded. “All right, angel.”

I took her hand, and we walked back to the car. She clutched her bear.

When we got home, she was the one who turned on the music and began dancing with me.

“I don’t know where to begin,” I said, breaking the gentle silence between us. “I don’t hate you and I would never intentionally hurt you. None of the kindness I’m showing you is lies. I mean all of it. I don’t just invite anyone into my life.”

“But you didn’t invite me into your life, I put myself here.”

“What on earth makes you think I don’t want you around? Where’s this coming from?”

“You told me right from the start.”

“Oh, Bronnie.” I sighed, tightening my arms around her. I felt her tears against my chest. “Would it make it better if I spelt it out for you? Okay, I’ll do it. I don’t mind at all that you’re living with me. I like you. You’re fun to be around. You’re not an inconve-nience.” I was surprised to realize that I actually meant all of those things.

She peered up at me uncertainly. “You mean it?”

I smiled and nodded. “I mean it.”

“You won’t throw me out?”

I flinched. “No, I’m not throwing you out any time soon. If you want to leave, that’s your decision.”

She nodded and snuggled into me again. I let the silence play itself out for a few minutes as we moved in time to the music. My emotions were tearing me apart. I meant every word I said to her. I really
didn’t
want her to leave.

“Why are you so insecure?” I asked. “What have I done?”

She began to cry in earnest. “I went to see my mum and dad after school today.”

We stilled, and I rested my cheek on her head. I rubbed her back as the tears came. “What happened? What did they say?”

“It was bad. I’m not welcome in their house any time soon.”

I waited for a minute, but she remained silent.

“How about I go with you the next time you go and see them,” I whispered. “Maybe it won’t be so bad for you then.”

She pulled back and gazed into my eyes. “No, and stay away from them. This is my problem.”

“I’m part of it. They don’t know me. I’m sure they’re blaming me for all your problems. If I went with you, it would give them something to focus on aside from you. If they think I’ve done something to you, it’ll all go away if they actually get to meet me.”