Full MoonCity (16 page)

If ever a man knew the way to a girl’s heart…

Karin sighed-a bad mistake, considering the mouthwatering aromas that filled the kitchen. She took the crouton and crushed it between her back teeth. “It’s not going to happen you know… the friends bit, I mean.”

“I know.”

“Then why didn’t you tell her?”

He shrugged. “I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have. Lily may seem strong, but she’s not, Karin… not like you.”

Karin concentrated on chewing and swallowing and not destroying his obvious delusions about his
fragile
,
broken
,
weak
ex. “Yeah, well… I guess she’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Here’s hoping.” He leaned across the island counter and planted a kiss on her nose. “Now, how’d you like to do me a favor?”

Russ generally didn’t need any help when it came to cooking, so Karin had already toed off her croc sandals and had made herself comfortable on one of the counter’s tall bistro-styled chairs-where she could filch the occasional nibble while he worked. She was already looking for a glass when he picked up a wine bottle and upended it. A lone drop, the color of ripe plums, landed on top of the lettuce.

“I thought I had another bottle of Cabernet when I made the dressing. How do you feel about running out and getting some wine? Do you mind?”

Karin snagged her purse off the back of the chair and slid her feet into the plastic shoes. “I can do that. Need anything else?”

“Not a thing. Thanks. Now scoot.”

She left him wreathed in a cloud of steam and paused only a moment to listen to the utterly domestic sounds coming from the kitchen. They were good sounds, echoes of hearth and home and refuge-sounds that she had missed and hadn’t even realized until that moment.

“I don’t hear the door closing,” he shouted, and it made her smile.

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir. At once, sir.” Karin stepped out into the bright late-summer evening and made sure the door banged shut behind her. Smiling, she walked past her car and continued down the drive to the sidewalk. It was too pleasant a night to drive the quarter mile to the wine-and-spirit shop.

One of the benefits, if there were any, of living in a “covenant-controlled planned community,” aka ‘acre-o-condos,’ was that there was
always
a strip mall within walking distance.

Not that many of the community-dwellers seemed to take advantage of it, as was evident by the number of cars that filled the parking lot. Their loss, she thought, and waved the right-of-way to a harried-looking woman in an SUV that could have housed a family of six, plus pets. Given the choice, Karin preferred feeling the ground beneath her feet.

He called her cell just as she’d finished signing the credit card receipt.

“You walked, didn’t you?”

“Can’t put anything over on you.” Mouthing her thanks to the salesclerk, Karin picked up the bagged wine and began weaving her way through the crowd to the door. “I won’t be five minutes… start dishing out the salad.”

Russ
humphed
through the phone. “Okay, but the wine’s supposed to breathe before it’s served, you know.”

“I’ll jog and we can give it CPR when I get there.”

Karin snapped the cell phone shut and dropped it back into her purse. She had no intention of jogging, even though the sky had grown considerably darker while she’d been perusing the wine aisles. Night didn’t bother her. And even if the city planners had attempted to keep the original “country feel” of the area by leaving the sidewalks tree lined and avoiding the overuse of streetlights, it was still upper-middle-class suburbia, for God’s sake.

Once she left the strip mall, with its ring of sodium security lights, Karin had only the full moon to guide her way, and that was fine. What could happen to her?

She’d only gone two blocks when she heard a soft scuff on the sidewalk behind her. It could have been a dog or a cat or a deer or a-

When a second, then third, then fourth scuff condensed into steps, Karin felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Someone was following her, and that someone was getting closer.

Tightening her grip on the wine, Karin forced herself to look straight ahead and continue with the same easy, unhurried stride, as if she hadn’t heard a thing. Every college self-defense lecture she’d ever heard came thundering back to her, along with each possible reaction’s chance of actually working:

Run-
50 percent, if you were faster than your assailant.

Turn and confront-
30-65 percent, depending on who was behind you.

Scream “rape” or “murder”
-0 percent.

Scream “fire”
-75 percent, but only if you were near a building.

Fall down and play dead-
minus 5.3 billion percent.

Fight
-100 percent, but a bad idea for a number of reasons.

The breeze shifted and carried with it the scent of lilacs and musk… and a low, trembling growl that slowly, very slowly formed into words.

“He’s… mine.”

Before Karin could react, something cold and hard and sharp raked down her back, shredding her shirt and the skin beneath.

Karin spun to the left, only partially aware of the squeal of brakes and blaring car horn as she darted out of the tree shadows and into the street.

Russ was setting the table when she walked in.

“A couple of minutes? I was about to send out the…
Jesus
, what happened to you?”

Setting the bottle down on the table, she glanced over her shoulder at the tattered remains of her T-shirt and gave him a sheepish grin. “You won’t laugh?”

There was only concern in his eyes. “Of course not.”

“I… slipped and fell into some bushes. Never said I was overly coordinated.”

“God, apparently not.” Turning her, Russ gently examined her back. “You’re lucky you only got scratched. They don’t look very deep, skin’s hardly broken, but you’d better let me put some antiseptic on them just in case.”

“After dinner?”

“Now.”

While Russ went to fetch the disinfectant and cotton swab, Karin opened the wine and poured herself a glass.

She didn’t give it so much as a moment to catch its breath.

Lily was in the book, too. She answered after the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Lily. You’re right, we need to talk.”

“Who is this?”

“You know very well who this-”

“Oh,
Karin
, of course.” The laughter was condescending. “Yes, I suppose we should talk if you want to. Frankly, I thought you’d have already gotten my message. But if you insist…”

“I do.”

“All right, then.” She yawned. “Where and when?”

“Now’s good for me. Open your front door.”

She wasn’t dressed for company-cutoffs and a shapeless purple tank top, no makeup, hair in a tangle-but the look on Lily’s pale face, although she was trying hard to suppress the shock when she opened the door, made Karin wish she’d brought a camera. It was one of those precious moments she’d want to remember.

“There’s a law against stalking, you know.”

Karin closed her cell phone. “Funny you should mention that.”

Pushing past the startled woman, Karin walked into the living room and sat on the edge of an overstuffed white sofa. The room was all cream and beige and lace and soft pillows; silk lilies in china vases and scrollwork furniture; knickknacks and framed pastels. There were no hard edges in the room, nothing sharp or prickly or that in any way reflected the true nature of its owner.

Karin found that interesting and wondered if Russ ever noticed.

“Oh,” she said when her hostess finally arrived, “and before you say anything, I know there’s also a law against breaking and entering… and even if I didn’t have an uncle on the police force, I could always say you invited me in. But don’t worry… I haven’t said anything to my uncle
or
to Russ. This is between you and me.”

Lily stood like a queen-head held high, movements sure, her eyes as hard as slate and just as brittle. Karin couldn’t help but admiring that.

“But where are my manners?” Lily asked, hand dramatically placed at her chest… undoubtedly to reinforce the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Karin fought the urge to look down at her own size 34Bs, knowing the comparison wouldn’t be in her favor. “Please forgive me. May I offer you something to drink?”

“No. Thanks.”

“Well, since you’ve already made yourself at home…”

Silence-profound and heavy-filled the moments until Lily had settled herself in the chair directly opposite Karin.

“So you wanted to talk.” Lily crossed one leg over the other. “Go on, then. What did you want to talk about?”

Karin sat a little straighter. “Let’s cut the bullshit, shall we? I want you to stop bothering Russ.”

Lily smiled. “I’ve never bothered Russell. We’re friends.”

“No.” Karin smiled back. “You’re ex-lovers-emphasis on
ex
-and that’s all you are. Now, I know sometimes people can remain friends after a relationship, but, lady, I am positively certain you’re not one of those people.”

Lily’s pantomime smile faded, and before Lily could control herself, Karin saw the hardness beneath her skin. It was impressive.

“You don’t know how right you are. However, you should be very careful about saying things like that. It could be dangerous.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not like other women. I can’t be intimidated or shoved aside. When I want something, I get it… and when I have it, I keep it-until
I’m
tired of it.”

“So what you’re saying is that Russ hurt your pride and you’re going to try and get him back just so you can… what, return the favor? Do you think I’d let you do that?”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Lily’s voice deepened until it was a growl more menacing than the one Karin had heard the night before.

“Russell belongs to me. I decided that the first moment I saw him. I never expected to find anyone after my husband died, but Russell… managed to fill the void very nicely. We were good together, he’s just forgotten that.”

“But he still left you.”

“No, he ran because he realized what I am.”

“And what is that?”

“Dangerous. Poor Russell, but I forgive him for his weakness and will continue to do so until he finally comes to his senses.”

Lily smiled and ran a hand languidly through her hair while Karin dug her nails into the palms of both hands.

“Meaning,” Karin translated, “when he comes back to you?”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

“And until then, you continue to harass us?”

Lily laughed, tossing her head like a schoolgirl. “I won’t dignify that with an answer.”

“Okay, then,” Karin said, “how about this-from this moment on, you will leave Russ and me alone.”

Lily smoothed down her hair. “No.”

“He doesn’t want you.”

“He doesn’t know what he wants.”

“I’m warning you, Lily-get out of his life.”

She blinked her sad gray eyes. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Russell. I knew I’d find your weak spot. You’re just like all the others. I only want to be friends and you… and you come into my house and threaten me. He’ll be so disappointed when I tell him.”

If Lily hadn’t started laughing, things might have gone… differently.

Karin opened her hands and watched the blood that had filled the small crescent-shaped cuts in her palms reverse direction as the flesh regenerated. “You know, I had a strange feeling you were going to say something like that.”

She leaned back against the white sofa cushion and Lily gasped.

“Don’t!”

“It’s okay, I’m house-trained. Oh… wait, you’re worried about what you did to my back, all that bloody seepage and stuff like that. Well, you don’t have to be.”

Karin stood up, lifting her shirt as she turned around… and wished she could see the woman’s face. There wasn’t a scratch, or a scar, or the faintest hint of the four jagged wounds that had cut her to the bone. Nothing but solid, healthy, unmarked flesh.

“We heal quickly. It’s part of some inherited survival trait, I guess.
People
were always trying to kill us.” Turning, she tucked her shirt back into her jeans but remained standing. “What did you use? My guess is a cultivator, right? And I have to say, I admire the restraint you showed, although it could have done some pretty serious damage if I were human.”

“Hu-hu-”

“Yes, me, but we’re talking about
you
right now. I hate to say it, even though it’s already been established that you’re not a wholly rational, understanding woman, but I can’t leave a body. The trouble is, Russ would think he was responsible for your killing yourself.”

Karin extended her jaw, sighing with pleasure as the canines elongated to their full and deadly length. They made her lisp a little, but she didn’t have any choice.

“He would blame himself until the day he died, and frankly, lady, you’ve already hurt him enough.”

Lily’s mouth kept opening and closing, but fortunately for both of them, she didn’t say anything.

“So, you see, I really have no choice. Hope you understand.”

Karin didn’t have to do it-it was an absolute, unadulterated, and selfish indulgence on her part and she knew it. Over the generations, her kind had learned it was easier, and much
safer
, to transform after the prey animal was dead… but she’d wanted Lily to see what a
real
Alpha Bitch looked like.

Right before Karin snapped her neck and dragged her body into the bathroom.

Tile was much easier to clean than carpet… especially white carpet.

While Russ turned the steaks on the firepit’s grill, Karin used the sizzling flames to reread the words that she’d so carefully scripted in Lily’s beautiful forward-slanted handwriting. It had taken her a bit more practice, but once she’d found a sample, she had to admit, she’d done a pretty good job.

Russell… and I hope you noticed I didn’t add “dear” or “dearest” or “my beloved”… because I’m finally tired of this. It’s over. Foolish me, but I thought you were a different sort of man. I need a man who is my equal, and, let’s face it, Russell, you are hardly that. Still, I can’t bear the thought of seeing you with… her, so you’ll be pleased to know, I’m sure, that I won’t be around to witness the charade any longer. There’s a wide world out there, and perhaps, if I’m lucky enough, I’ll find someone truly worthy of me. The best to you and what’s-her-name-