s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"I'll share if you're nice to me," he added, a new note of cunning in his voice.
"Show me," she coaxed. "I want to see if it's worth my time."
"Ha, you're lying, Viv," he spat. His eyes glittered and narrowed with malice. "Want to see if it's your
meat-boy, Viv?"
The asshole was toying with her. She took another quick step forward but he blocked her, laughing.
She darted to the right, but Rafe was in front of her again.
"Does Vivi want her plaything?" he taunted, and she wanted to shove his pointy teeth down his throat.
She feinted to the left; then, before he could recover, hit him head-on and knocked him down. Distantly
the crowd cheered with the first thunder of fireworks. She scrambled over Rafe as he thrashed, elbowing
his neck, kneeing him in the stomach, and crawled into the bushes.
In an orange burst of light she saw brown eyes already glazed over with an opalescent sheen. Brown
eyes in a furred face. A large dog with its throat torn open lay on the ground.
Rafe scrambled to his feet, laughing. "Had you going, didn't I?"
His laughter was echoed from the trees, and the rest of the Five slunk into the clearing -- Finn, Willem,
Gregory, and skittery Ulf. Their faces flickered with multicolored light for a moment, etching them with
ghoulish shadows. Had they all been out there watching, laughing at her?
The gaping throat leered up at her, black and clotted.
"Smell yummy, Viv?" Rafe mocked. "Think you might like a little taste, since it's not your boyfriend?"
She spat a curse at him as she stood up. It was punctuated by another crash in the sky. She walked right
up and knocked him flying with a cuff to the side of the face that left claw marks.
Willem gasped, and Ulf ran back to the bushes giggling hysterically.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Finn helped Rafe up while Gregory glanced back and forth between Vivian and Rafe, nervously licking
his lips.
Rafe wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. "You think you're different from us," he
snarled. "But you're not. We know whowe are, Vivian. And we know what we want. We don't run away
from it. You're sick, Vivian, if you think you can play human."
He snapped his fingers. "Ulf, get your ass back here and help Greg carry this." The Five fell in silently
behind Rafe and followed him into the woods. Only Willem looked back.
"I'mso impressed," she yelled after them.
I know who I am,she thought.How dare he say I don't? I love being loup-garou.Iadore the sweet
change and the beauty it brings me in the night. When I hunt, I hunt wild prey by the laws of the Goddess.
I don't kill pets for the fun of it.
A machine-gun rattle above made her look up to see shooting stars between the leaves. A warbling
whistle came fast on its heels and a fountain of fire dripped red in the sky.I'm missing it, she thought.
She raced back to the Amoeba, winding through the color-bathed crowd. She found Aiden waiting, and
her heart leaped at the sight of him.
"Where did you get to?" Aiden asked. He hugged her.
"I could say the same." She didn't hug back. Now he was safe she could be angry with him -- for a
moment anyway, until he struggled to make amends with kisses. Then, wrapped in his arms, she oohed
and aahed with the faceless multitude around her, made one with them under the bursts of
chrysanthemum light.
But danger lurked for the crowd out in the wood, and she prayed to the Moon that all who watched
with her came home safe this night. The Five killed a human once. Did they still have the taste?
The thunder crescendoed. The night was full of whistles and the whoosh of man-made comets. Smoke
singed the air and was sharp in her throat, and when she saw sparks falling, she remembered another
night more than a year before.The fire was my fault, too, she thought. I should have told my father that
Axel and the Five were running wild.
She buried her face in her human boy's shoulder and clung to him to suffocate her pain. He kissed her
hair, and the tremor of his laughter vibrated through her chest. He was full of rushing blood and smiles
and dreams -- things her father would never have again.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, too soft for him to hear, but those she spoke to were all dead.
11
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
On their way back to Vivian's house Aiden stopped by the river. "Don't go home yet," he asked, so they
made a nest in the knee-high grass and gazed at the sky.
"Isn't midnight magical?" Vivian asked, and stretched her arms to the stars.
"Not real magic," Aiden said. "I wish it was. Life is a drag most of the time -- birth, school, work, death
-- you know. I wish something magic would happen."
You want magic? I could give you magic,she thought. "What kind of magic?" she asked. "Like finding a
door to a magical country? Or a coin that grants wishes? Or meeting a witch?"
Aiden laughed. "All of the above."
"What if she's a wicked witch?"
"Maybe I'd find the good in her."
"What about vampires?"
"I dunno. Maybe there's some good ones, too."
"What about horny werewolves?" Vivian said.
Aiden slid his arms around her. "Now you're being silly."
They sank into the long fur of the river meadow, entwined with each other. The smell of sweet crushed
hay filled the air.
"You're wild," Aiden mumbled woozily into the cleft between her breasts before he kissed the mole
there.
"Um-hmmm." Vivian stroked his hair, reveling in the way she'd made him drunk with wanting her.
He kissed her mouth, and she returned his kiss fiercely, pressing hard against him, holding him tight by
his shirt. Her fingers found a circle behind his pocket -- the rolled rim of a rubber encased in foil. A thrill
ran through her so sharp and delicious that for a moment she thought she was changing.
With trembling fingers she unbuttoned Aiden's shirt. She smoothed her hands up his firm abdomen and
across his chest. His flesh was burning hot and oh so sleek and alien to her touch. She tested his neck
with her teeth and tried not to bite too hard. His breath became ragged.
A chorus of howls echoed down the river. A cherry bomb burst in the distance.
Or was it a gun?
Vivian froze.
"Ow! Your nails." Aiden pulled back.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
She quickly sheathed her claws. "I'm sorry. I . . ."
Aiden laughed wickedly and reached for her again. "You wild woman."
Vivian felt a vibration in the ground. She struggled to her knees while Aiden held on and murmured in
protest. Out in the night a dark mass swept though the grass, coming their way.
"What's wrong?" Aiden asked and rose to kneel beside her.
"It's nothing," she said, and flung her arms around him and carried him to the ground.That can't be the
pack, she thought.They wouldn't run in town. But there were too many to be only the Five.
Aiden rolled over on top of her, and she tried to fake interest. She had to keep him occupied. If he saw
what hunted tonight, he might panic and run; if he ran he was prey.
The grass hissed louder and louder as if a storm approached. Voiceless they came -- many paws softly
thundering.
They passed to the right.
"What the . . ." Aiden sat up.
Vivian snaked an arm around his neck and dragged him back. "Stay down," she told him. "Dogs.
They're crazy in packs."
Aiden looked startled. "Jeez, there's a lot." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]