Chapter 23 #2
He does it twice more before I realize he’s herding me like a sheepdog.
Indignant frustration rises in my chest, and when I see him again, I make an attempt not to run in the direction he clearly wants me to go.
But then he snarls, showing off all those teeth, and I stumble backward and trip, landing on my ass on the ground.
That brings a chuckle to Cairo’s lips, and he stalks forward until he’s standing over me, his head tilted in amusement. “You’re not very good at this game,” he informs me.
A jolt in my chest makes me realize he really does see this as a game. It’s obvious in the way he’s chasing me, plus the fact he hasn’t taken me down and gutted me like a deer.
Like the man in the clearing.
“Fuck,” I hiss, stumbling to my feet. “You are so not touching me right now. Not when you’re this bloody.”
“Why?” he steps closer, invading my space.
“Because you’re clean ? No…You’ve lost all rights to complaints, little bird.
” There’s a hint of reproach in his tone, and before I can take a step back, Cairo lunges forward to drag his tongue up my throat, then doing the same with the side of his face, undoubtedly leaving a trail of blood on my skin.
He straightens suddenly, looking around like he can hear something I can’t.
Letting go, Cairo tips his head the other way and surveys my face with one last flash of a grin.
“I have to go move my kill,” he informs me.
“I’m saving it for later. If I catch you before you get back home, you’re mine, Fern, because you didn’t listen.
And if there aren’t consequences for your actions, how will you ever learn?
” He sounds amused more than pissed, but there’s a touch of a growling frustration in his voice I can’t ignore.
I stand there, silent and shocked, as he turns and walks away. But finally I move with a start with a sound of confusion in my throat that makes him stop. “Wait! Cairo!” He stills and turns to look at me over his shoulder with a withering glare. “I’m lost.”
His smile is more than a little concerning, and the arrogant pride I see on his face hits me with the realization even before he opens his mouth to speak.
“I know.” Cairo chuckles. “You are so so lost in these woods. Good luck.” Then he’s gone, fading into the darkness again with an unnatural quickness that looks like magic when I’m watching.
After all, there’s no way he can just simply be there one moment and gone the next.
“God, I’m going to regret this,” I murmur, fear and anticipation curling together in my chest. But I scan the surrounding trees, noticing without hope that they all look the same. He actually got me lost in an area of the woods I don’t think I’ve ever been in before.
But he wouldn’t kill me… right?
I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t, but I’m also not so willing to stake my life on it, if I can help it.
I take off at a jog, being careful not to trip over roots or loose branches.
Without knowing where I’m going or being able to see any landmarks, it’s just a shot in the dark. Really, I just pick a direction and go.
The house I come to is definitely not mine.
There’s a light on the broken-down back porch, and I don’t recognize the place at all.
It’s in a state of disrepair, that’s for sure, and if I had to guess, no one has lived here in a while.
But if I can find the road, I could likely find my house from there.
It’s my best shot, and worth a try, at least. I have nothing better to do, so my steps slow and I walk to the back porch, wondering if I could hear Cairo show up if I try.
Probably not, truthfully. I hadn’t heard him approach before. Hell, anytime he’s wanted to sneak up on me, he’s been more than able to do so. And with the way I’m panting and my heart is pounding almost painfully, I doubt I’m in any circumstance to hear him now.
My feet take me up onto the low back porch, where I stay standing for a few seconds to look around. I was mistaken before; there are signs of habitation in the still-living flowers in planter boxes and the door that’s scraped free of dust.
But I don’t get to admire anything else about the place.
A low growl makes me whip around. My hand lands on the railing of the porch, and my heart lurches into my throat when I see Cairo standing there. He’s freshly bloody, with his mouth and hands dripping gore.
“Good girl,” he praises, eyes dancing even in the darkness. “You ended up right where I wanted you to. I thought I’d have to do more work to get you here, but you really are the unluckiest person alive.”
His words take a moment to sink in, and only then do I turn to look more closely at the old hunting cabin. “You—Do you live here?” I gasp. “Did you herd me to where you live?”
Looking entirely too pleased with himself, Cairo licks his fingers like a cat cleaning its paws. “It’s not much,” he says smugly. “And I don’t stay here very often. But when I’m not with you, yeah. I sort of call this place home.”
“How far are we from my house?” My hands tighten on the rail of the porch, and I try to look bold instead of terrified and a little humiliated at how easily he pushed me to where he wanted me. “And…” I glance behind me. “Who owns this place?”
He glances at the cabin as well. “It’s on some old guy’s land. He and his son used to hunt here, but not anymore. And we’re maybe”—he tilts his head, thinking—“three miles from your house.”
My stomach sinks, and I look back toward the woods.
“So, which direction is my house from here?” I ask weakly, but his eyes on mine tell me he’s not giving that away so easily.
He just walks up the stairs with a confident, dominating air, and his hand comes up to grip my throat, getting more blood on my skin.
“I told you not to come out here tonight.”
“What did you do with the body?”
Cairo growls at that, showing off his teeth, and pulls me closer toward him.
“I told you, little bird. I can’t be human for you tonight.
But”—his hand tightens, a warning against me speaking, as he surveys my face—“you think you don’t need that.
You’re about to tell me I don’t have to be human for you.
Oh, Fern…” He clicks his tongue in disapproval.
“I will take great joy in testing that resolve of yours tonight. You know, Agatha will save you from Tyler and his…followers,” he sneers.
“But there’s no one alive who can save you from me.”
Without warning, he picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder, as if I weigh little more than an inconvenient backpack.
I squawk indignantly and kick at him, but he barely notices.
The door slams open on its hinges before bouncing back, and even though we’re inside the slightly warmer little cabin, he doesn’t put me down.
“Cairo!” I shriek, trying and failing not to sound terrified.
I kick again at him, not that he notices.
But finally I feel myself coming off of his shoulder, and he tosses me onto a heavy rug in front of a long-dead fireplace.
I don’t know what I expected, but staring up into his face lit only by the moonlight outside is… terrifying.
“I can’t see,” I breathe when he moves to close the door. “Cairo?—”
“I know.” He cuts me off in a voice not entirely his.
“But that’s all right, little bird. Because I can.
” Without warning, he pounces, though I don’t see or hear it coming.
I only know because he’s suddenly above me, shoving me to the floor on my back and snarling against my neck.
“Show me your throat.” It’s not a request, and I barely stop to think before I shove my head back against the rug, my neck bare and on display for him.
Cairo wastes no time in nuzzling his teeth against my throat, his fangs are wet and smearing my skin with blood and something that feels thicker and more solid. I push against him with my hands as the fear in my chest rises, but he only snarls.
“If you’re going to fight me, then fight me,” Cairo urges. “Don’t shove at me like a helpless little thing. Come on.” He grabs my hand and brings it to his chest. “Curl your fingers. Claw at my skin. Fight me, Fern. I know you have it in you.”
I shouldn’t want to fight him. But something in his growl, in his words maybe, has me in fight-or-flight mode. I surge up against him and my other hand comes up to grope for his neck. He even lets me until my fingers tighten just below his jaw and I feel his pulse fluttering under my fingers.
“Oh, you could never kill me like that,” Cairo goads. “But then again, a weak, clawless little thing couldn’t kill me at all unless you find a flamethrower lying around.”
I’m not focused on his words. I’m too intent on the feeling of his unmarred skin, and my hand slips down to his shoulder to be sure of what I hadn’t noticed in the woods. “Holy shit,” I breathe, gripping him tightly. “Cairo, you’re completely healed! That’s?—”
He shoves me down again, once more burying his fangs against my throat.
“That should terrify you,” he tells me, frustration heady in his voice.
“Don’t you get it, Fern? If I get too hurt, if Tyler almost kills me, all I have to do is eat you.
” His mouth opens, and his fangs prick my skin.
He’s like a snake that can unhinge its jaws, and I swear I feel his teeth on either side of my throat, ready to snap shut and tear out my jugular.
Cairo could do it. It would be so easy for him.
“If I keep you around, what’s stopping me from giving in, hmm? I’m a monster, Fern. But maybe I haven’t been clear enough about that. Maybe I’ve been too human for you.” Suddenly, he grabs my shirt and rips it, tearing the fabric until he can yank it off of me.