Knight Predator (5 page)

It was so beautiful.

I let my eyes wander, darkness entering me, soothing me, whispering its secrets to me. The full moon shone brilliantly down onto the road that ran by the front of my house, bright and silvery.

I saw her silhouette in all its glory, as she bent down to pick at the twigs in the gutter. Each one she examined and replaced, clearly deep in thought, shoulders slumped in dejection.

I had to talk to her. I had to get her out of my life.

The irritation of being forced to live with another person crashed down on me—the knowledge of how she could not stay with me leaping foremost into my mind. My life as a vampire was radically different to a human life, and quite frankly I did not have room for a human to share it.

I steeled myself for the coming confrontation. Bronwyn would no doubt be upset by my news.

I let myself out the double front doors and padded down the path. I slipped through the open driveway gates and straight up behind her, relishing the feel of the freshly mown grass beneath my bare feet.

I dropped a smooth, cold white hand on her shoulder, and she gasped.

She whirled around and blinked, trying to make me out in the darkness. I smiled to myself. My eyesight was now so acute that darkness for me was the same as bright daylight for mortals.

I said nothing, my face unreadable.

“Hi.” Her voice was soft and dejected as she looked into my mask-like features. “Crowley?”

“Bronwyn Hunter.” I dropped down to sit by her on the curb and eyed her without mercy, then softened my gaze. I wanted to know what was going on in her mind as her eyes skittered away from me as though burned. I could see her steeling herself to talk to me. Was I really that threatening?

“What happened last night? Where am I? Did my parents really throw me out?” Her voice dropped to a whisper, and her breath hitched as the tears formed in her lovely eyes.

“You got drunk and passed out. You’re at my place. Yes.”

Bronwyn leaned forward, face in hands, and cried in earnest.

Inwardly I sighed, ever mindful of my raging hunger as I relented and pulled her into my arms. The events of last night had obviously registered deep inside of her, and she knew she was in major amounts of trouble.

After she cried for a bit, she pulled back and wiped her nose almost apologetically with the borrowed sleeve of my nice, clean shirt.

Inside I grimaced. As part of my protective coloring, I’d developed an over fondness for neatness. I pulled out my ever present, clean, striped handkerchief from my pocket.

She gave a watery sniff. “I have nowhere to go.” She bowed her head in dejection.

“Nice to see you know where you’re at.” My voice was calm and unemotional. “You can stay with me for a few days until you sort out something else.” I did not trust myself to say any more. I didn’t want to engage in a conversation that would give her an opening to worm her way into my life.

“I have nowhere to go.” The words were muffled. She covered her wet face with her hands as she tried to wipe away her tears.

I felt like the shit that I was for being so blunt with her. I was an adult and used to taking care of myself, and she wasn’t. She was nothing more than a child who had been thrown out into the real world far too soon. She had just learnt that it was fine to run amuck, but another thing to realize she was on her own to fix the resulting mess. I gripped her wrists and pulled her hands from her face, forcing her to look up into my eyes.

I kept my voice gentle and quiet. “You can stay with me for a few days until you sort out something else.” Once she realized she had friends, and that her parents loved her no matter what, she would be able to go home and resume her life. She was in shock, and it was stopping her from thinking clearly.

The gratitude was almost tangible in her expressive green eyes.

“Thank you, Crowley.”

Just then, my stomach picked the most ridiculous time to rumble.

As I stared at my midsection, she snorted with laughter.

“I’m starved,” I said, slightly embarrassed.

“So am I,” she said in almost a whisper as she captured me with her emerald eyes.

Although they were gentle, I was wary. Her parents had thrown her out of their house, and it wouldn’t have been for an over fondness for stuffed toys and sleeping in. I was a good hostess and I knew that I had to see to the needs of my guest. The problem was, it had been so long since I had eaten human food I did not have the faintest inkling of what appealed to a mortal stomach.

“Okay.” I got to my feet and took her hand so she came up with me. Her gentle study of me never wavered as I led the way across the grass to the garage and sleek, low slung sports car. My hand was there to steady her when she tripped on the deceptively smooth lawn.

I unlocked the car door for her, opened it, and helped her into the passenger side. I hoped that my coordination was fully recovered from the alcohol.

“So. What would you like to eat?” The car purred as I backed out of the garage.

“Something quick.”

“Okay, I know just the place.” I smiled at her for the first time and planted my foot down as we took off for the favorite bastion of young adulthood—McDonalds.

Lucky for me, the traffic wasn’t heavy and all the lights turned green in my favor, so about ten minutes later we pulled up at the drive-through. It was busy, and it looked like each of the four cars ahead of us had placed big orders, forcing everyone to wait for them.

We hadn’t spoken one word to each other, comfortable in the silence, though I could feel her sneaking a glance at me every now and again. Her expression was unreadable.

I knew what was causing that. I looked so different to mortals, and after the initial shock of actually seeing me, the differences became more pronounced. The fact that this child had a pretty large and healthy crush on me certainly didn’t help things at all. I silently cursed as we moved forward in the queue.

“Why don’t you have any food in your fridge?” She was hesitant—

clearly she still didn’t know how to approach me yet.

“I eat out a lot.” My words were clipped, and I was careful to avoid her eyes.

“Oh.” That came after a moment or two more of silence, as she realized I wasn’t going to add to my response.

Something caught my eye. The McDonalds was at the corner of a multi-story parking lot. At any hour of night, there would either be couples making out—too young to drive, let alone be in the back seat of their mum’s car, or humans stuffing their faces on fast food as they tried to ward off the aftereffects of a heavy night out. A young girl was being forcibly pulled off into the darkness by two young men, as they furtively looked around to see if they’d been discovered. They had—by me.

“Here.” I kept my keen eyes on the two men as I climbed out of the car. “Drive. I’ll see you in about two minutes. There’s change in the center console.”

“What?” Bronwyn’s voice was more than confused as I fled the vehicle. I broke into a fast run, eager to track my quarry. The car door opened behind me, and Bronwyn slipped around to my recently vacated seat.

I slowed to a jog, silent as I stopped pretending to breathe for Bronwyn’s sake. Ahead of me, I could see the two men, one of them holding down the woman, as the other rifled through her purse. Her black slacks were unzipped and half torn down over her large hips, flashing pink, floral underwear.

As fast as I could go, I slipped up behind the man pinning the struggling woman to the ground. With no particular gentleness, I grabbed him and ran for my life across the car park, bare feet making almost no sound on the smooth concrete. He struggled mightily in my grip, but it was almost no challenge to hold his hands by his side. His frightened eyes stared into mine, and I gave him a quick, savage smile, to let him know that his opponent outclassed him and would never fear him. He squeaked in a most girlish way as he realized I held his life in my hands, and I intended to squeeze them shut.

In the darkest recess I could find I wasted no time, extending my fangs and plunging them into his carotid artery. Air hissed out of his lungs, and his body became dead weight as the life fled from him.

I was greedy and so hungry. I drained him in almost one mighty draft, the heady power of the blood causing a huge, silly grin. As I dropped the corpse and tidied up the fang marks, I wondered if I was in the mood for another.

I thought about his hot, throbbing neck. I thought about her floral underwear.

Yes.

Oh my goodness yes.

Was I a greedy pig or what?

Smirking to myself, I went back to the place where they had held the woman captive. As usual, I’d been quick and there hadn’t been enough time for the remaining thug to continue with the woman. I zeroed in on her and lunged. Before she had time to scream, she was draped over my shoulder and the cold wind of my passing encircled the other man as I pulled the purse out of his hands. I grabbed him by the shoulder, pinned his wrists, and tugged him right along with us.

She kicked my back and stomach, while he bit at my hands, but to no avail for either of them.

In the blinking of an eye we were in my dark recess, and I just missed stumbling over the corpse of the first man. The woman fell onto his corpse in an untidy heap, while pawing and struggling with her torn underwear and tattered slacks. She breathed in with a hiss and prepared to give vent to an almighty scream. At the same time, she frantically backpedaled when she realized what cushioned her from the concrete.

I couldn’t let her go unscathed for fear of discovery, but I also didn’t want to kill her. Instead, with a move that used to amaze my fellow vampires, I plunged the struggling man’s knife into his gut and lunged over to sink my ravenous fangs into the woman. She moaned softly and went limp and I held her and nicked the smooth skin of my wrist with a fang. I dribbled my blood on the wound in her neck, and it closed over slowly.

In about a minute it was all over, and I was left with the heady feeling of the fresh blood coursing through my system, and two fresh corpses lying at my feet. Great gusts of air flowed in and out of the woman’s lungs, and I knew that she would be terribly weak when she woke up, but would still be alive.

I cocked my head and decided what to do next. I grinned. They had tried to rob a woman of more than her possessions while she was alive, and I would do the same for them after death.

Five minutes later, I finished dusting myself off, and whistled to myself as I strolled across the busy parking lot to my car and the wide-eyed Bronwyn. She had parked, badly, not far from the drive-through. She picked away at fries, obviously unwilling to plough into her hamburger until I had rejoined her. I noted with interest that she seemed to have some concept of good manners.

As I approached the car, I smiled broadly and climbed into the passenger seat.

“Uh, I bought you a burger.” Her voice was apprehensive as though she was waiting for me to explode.

Okay, so she was wondering if I was a bomb, just as I wondered the same thing about her. On the other hand, she was also probably wondering about my sanity. Who else would suddenly leap out of a car in the middle of the parking lot at a fast food restaurant?

“Thanks. I’m fine though.” I patted my stomach. The volume of the blood was making me feel lightheaded, the vampire equivalent of drunk. It was a wonderful feeling of fullness and raw, heady power.

Bronwyn raced through her food and tried not to peer at me, concerned. “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine.” All I wanted was to move and roam the night, looking for trouble. “Wanna go out for a while?”

Bronwyn looked at me in surprise. “Love to.” She pushed her shaggy blonde hair out of her face. “Where are we going?” She balled up her feed bag and threw it through the open window toward the overflowing plastic garbage bin not far from us. Much to my surprise, she made it first hit.

I smiled. “Ahh. We’re going for a ride on my bike.”

She grinned in return. “I love those.”

“So do I. Home, Jeeves.”

Her eyebrows drew together in an uncertain frown. “You want me to drive?”

“Of course. Who else was I talking to? I just wanna sit and cruise.

I trust you.” I could afford to say that. Okay, so she wrapped the car around a tree. So what? I would get up and walk away unscathed. She wouldn’t come off so lightly, but at least she wouldn’t be my problem anymore.

Bronwyn smirked and adjusted the mirror. While she wasn’t looking at me, I threw the burger out the window, reclined the seat, and crossed my hands across my pleasantly full stomach.

With a feral grin I’m sure Bronwyn thought I couldn’t see, she slammed the car into reverse, and we skidded out of our parking spot.

Without even casting a look at the light traffic she floored it, and we screamed down the road. I was amazed we escaped in one piece, considering the extent of Bronwyn’s driving skills consisted of looking straight ahead and pushing the accelerator as hard as it would go. She raced the traffic lights, speeding up when they went orange, rather than slowing down to avoid attracting attention.

I stayed in my seat with nary a flicker of emotion, completely relaxed, and closed my eyes. “Take it easy there, Bronnie. If the coppers book us you’re paying for it.”

I could feel her smirk as her fantasy of being a race car driver took over. “They won’t catch us.”

“They better not.” I aimed a severe blue eye at her. “If they arrest me, I’ll kill you.”

She must have realized I meant it literally. I didn’t think for one second she had a real driver’s license, so if the cops bailed us up on the road we’d both be arrested. I would not last long during daylight in a cell. I let her know by the glittering in my eyes that her death would precede mine.

She gulped and slowed down considerably.

“That’s better.” I shut an eye and let her go about her business in the heavier traffic on the road.

“Ah, Crowley? Where do you live?” Bronwyn asked after a few moments.

I chuckled and gave her directions without opening my eyes. The amount of blood I’d consumed left my senses more acute than usual. I could tell where we were by the smell on the wind.