Chapter 17 #2
“What!” he repeated with a snarl, taking another step.
“Hi there,” I said, trying to figure out how to separate these two so I could eat him without traumatizing her. This was always the hardest part. “Is that your car?”
He looked at where I was pointing to the four-door sedan with the driver’s door open. He was still angry but now he also looked confused.
“Yes.”
I moved my gaze to her. “Do you have the fob or key?”
She unconsciously put a hand on her purse. “Um, yeah. Why?”
“I think you should leave,” I said, moving to stand between him and her. It didn’t worry me that my back was to him. I’d be able to sense if he tried to strike me. “You need to leave right away.”
Her confused gaze jumped from me to the guy behind me. “I, uh, I don’t know.”
“Trust me,” I said, giving her my most confident smile. I felt the guy move, and I quickly stepped aside so his shove met nothing but air. He wasn’t prepared for that and stumbled past me. I grabbed her arm and moved her to the driver’s side of the car.
“I’m an undercover cop,” I lied, coming up with a story on the fly. “I’m here to meet the leadership of a drug cartel. I need you to leave before they get here.”
“What about Steve?” she whispered, letting me shove her into the car. By now, Steve had recovered and was charging around the car.
“He can walk out,” I said. “But if he gets in the car with you, you're both dead. No one was supposed to be down here, but they probably won’t care if a single woman leaves in a car. But two people would be suspicious. They could kill you both. I’ll make sure Steve makes it to the stairwell. Go now!”
I shoved the door closed as she fumbled a key out of her purse.
Good, she was going to obey my order even though I was totally talking out my ass. It wasn’t a great lie, but she was already thrown off by Steve's earlier anger, so she wasn’t thinking straight.
“Don’t you dare leave me here, Luna!” Steve thundered, reaching for me, probably to toss me out of the way.
I’d been disappointed to find out that I wasn’t any stronger in my physical body as a wraith, but I did have a special talent that the other wraiths didn’t.
Before he could grab me, I turned my right hand to mist. I shoved my hand in his belly and wiggled it around.
He gasped and staggered back, clutching his stomach. “What did you do?”
“Nothing yet,” I said as Luna drove a little too fast around a corner, making her tires squeal. I hoped she didn’t get into an accident.
He shook his head. “You have some kind of weird weapon. What is it?”
I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers at him. “Nothing here but me.”
“Fucking liar, give it to me!”
When I kept smiling, he rushed at me, hands fisted. I misted, and he moved right through me.
I loved this part. I waited for him to look all around and not find me, before materializing right behind him.
“Boo.”
He screamed, jumped, and turned around, swinging wildly. I misted again and reappeared behind him again.
I wanted to keep playing with him, but my hunger was starting to overwhelm me, and I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. I rushed to say the line I voiced every time.
“You’ll never hurt anyone again.”
Then I misted and enveloped him. As I ate him, I heard every woman he’d berated. I listened as he moved from words to violence. This happened every time I ate one of these people.
Being a witness to his history of cruelty didn’t make me sad, it was satisfying. My hunger fed on it, greedily consuming every evil thing he’d ever done, and all that was left of his body was what he was wearing.
I spat out his clothes and re-materialized to find Vie and Teo standing there. They’d probably been there the entire time, but I hadn’t noticed. When I was hunting or eating, I wasn’t able to sense other wraiths. Vie said it was always hard to do both, but I’d get better at it as I practiced more.
“I love watching you work,” Vie said, holding out his arms. I moved into his embrace, enjoying a hug after eating. At first, I needed him to comfort me after I consumed someone. Now I liked to be held simply because I was full and sleepy.
“Thank you for letting me watch,” Teo said. “It was very enlightening. I need to write down what I saw. Don’t forget the bread and cheese in your office.”
Teo misted and disappeared.
“You did a good job of getting Luna away,” he said.
I nuzzled my face into Vie’s neck. “I still scared her.”
“But you scared her as a human,” Vie said. “Last time, you had to pretend to be a vengeful ghost. That was probably more traumatizing.”
I chuckled at the memory. “I didn’t know what else to say. I couldn’t get that woman to leave before I ate her husband. I wish my hunger was easier to control.”
“It’ll get better, but you’ll never have absolute control,” Vie reminded me. “We are creatures meant to feed. There’s no denying that instinct.”
“I know,” I said. We stood holding each other until a car moving down the nearby ramp reminded me that we were in the spot that Luna would tell the authorities was the last place she saw Steve alive. It might take her a day or two, but she’d contact them. It was better if no one saw us.
“Let’s go home,” I said. “I’m craving our couch, mindless TV, and cuddles.”
Vie’s next words proved yet again that he was the most perfect man ever. “I want the same thing. Race you home!”
He might’ve challenged me to a race, but after turning to mist, he didn’t move away. He remained hovering over me until I misted and joined him. Rising through the parking garage, we traveled together through a perfect blue sky.
It was a scene right out of one of the urban fantasy novels I read, except I got to have a real life happily-ever-after.
I might be a deathly nightmare to abusers, but I was living in a fairytale, complete with the prince of my dreams.