Monster (19 page)

No, I don't want blood. I just want ham
burge
rs and
sausage.
I don
’t
wa
nt
blood
!

“
Oh, no,”
Angela whispered.

Shining Feather suddenly leaned over and gra
bbed Angela's wrist.
She tried
t
o shake
off his hold, but he
was strong. He tightened his grip and felt along
the soft
tissue just below her thumb. He was feeling
for her pulse.
She went still and let him complete his examination. H
e
didn't like what he found. A few seconds later he threw
her
hand aside and poi
nted angrily towards the door, y
e
l
ling something in Manton at her.

“
He wants you to get out
,”
the woman said, getting up in a hurry. She took
Angela by the arm and pulled her
to her feet.
“
He wants you to get out now and never come back. You've upset him
.”

“
But I have to talk to him some more
,” Angela protested.
T
he woman wouldn't let go of her.
Angela was
literally
being dragged out the door, but she was able to shake
free
and took a step back
towards the old man,
who continued to watch her as if she had the plague.
“What's wrong with me?”
she de
manded. “
Wh
y are you treating me this way?”

She couldn't bel
ieve his response, especially af
ter t
he
way he
had carried on about the word. “
KAtuu,
”
he said
.

“
You must leave now,
” the woman ordered.

“I am not KAtuu!” Angela screamed. “
I am a tee
nage
girl. Why do you accuse me of that when I come to
you for help?”

“
Get out of here,
”
the
woman said, grabbing at her hand again.

“Leave me alone,”
Angela yelled, shaking her off.
She
took another step towards Shining Fea
t
her. Even tho
ugh
he
saw
her as evil, he
was
not afraid o
f her. “
Why do call me KAtuu?
” she demanded. “
I've hurt no o
n
e
.”

“What want?”
t
he old man asked, and though it was
broken English, his question was clear.

“I want to know if this thing is real,” Angela, said. “
And if
it is
real, I want to know how to stop it before it spreads.
”

Shining Feather reached up and removed a small gold
chain
from around his neck. He held it out to her. At the
end
of
the chain was a tiny golden amulet of a hanging
bat,
which had been hidden beneath his shirt, Angela
too
k
it and
studied it closely.
The bat was missing its
head.

Shining
Feather nodded. “KAtuu.”

Angela frowned. “
What happened to its head?
”

“
Wear,
”
he said.

“Ar
ound my neck? But what good will that
do?
”
She was
desper
ate. “
What am I supposed to do?
”

The m
an made a
slash
in
g
motion
at his neck. “
Kill them
,” he
said.

“Who?”

“T
he hungry ones
,”
he said.

“
I have to cut
off their heads?”
she asked.

“K
ill them
,”
he repeated.

“W
hat about me?
” she asked. “
Am
I
infected, too?”

He
glanced out the window in the direction of the
settin
g sun. The bloated orange globe was already halfway
over the
side of the Earth, falling into night-time. The
room h
ad begun to darken, to grow chilly
.
Angela felt
a shiver
go through the length of her body as the old
man turned his eyes back on her.

“
Hungry?
”
he
asked.

She
nodded weakl
y. She was starving right now. “
All the
time.”

“T
he water. The blood.” He shook his head sadly and mutt
ered something in Manton. Angela gestured to the
woman.

“What did he say?”
Angela asked.

“Y
ou
swam too deep,”
the woman said.

“But
I have never s
wum in the lake. It's too cold.”

Shi
ning Feather lowere
d his head and spoke in Manton.

“What?' Angela said.

“Y
our
blood is as cold as the lake
,”
the woman translated.

Angela could feel
her heart pounding. But what
flowed
through her veins
she no longer knew. “I
think
I
will
leave,”
she said.

The woman was spooked. “
I think you had better.
”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

On the way home Angela found a grocery store that
took per
sonal cheques
so
s
he didn't have to locate an ATM.
Sh
e b
ought all kinds
of
food, it was true, but who was she fo
o
ling? She purchased more red mea
t
than she and her
grandfather
ordinarily ate in a mo
nth. Big steaks, fat steaks. She a
sked the man in the meat department if he had any cattle in the back, and he didn't laugh because she wasn't laughing when she asked him. She almost cried when the cashier ask
ed if she was expecting company.

“
Yes,
” Angela said. “
They're from out of town.
”

Plastic was waiting for her at the front door when she got home. She was whining. Angela had
forgotten
to f
eed her
that morning. Angela s
earched for a can of dog food but
couldn't find any. She ended up tossing Plastic a raw s
teak
on her upstairs balcony that overlooked the lake. T
he
dog chewed away happily.

An
gela was cooking herself a steak when the front door
open
ed
and in walked
Jim
K
li
ne, star quarterback, heavy
water
drinker, Batman him
self. He still had his head on his
shoulders. He looked up at her in the kitchen, a level
a
bo
ve,
and nodded. It was dark, and the only light she h
a
d on was a small lamp on a table in the living-room
bes
ide where he stood. It didn't seem to bother him. Her
steak si
zzled in the hot pan.

“
Hello, Angie,
” he said. “
Am I early?
”

“
No
.
Come in, I was just making dinner. Are you
hungry?”

“I’m starving,”
he said.

So, my
dar
l
ing boy. Are you a monster? Do you eat peop
le?
Do you want to eat me? Do I have to kill you? Are you fr
om another pl
anet
?
Are you evil? What do you want to do tonig
ht?
Kiss me? Love me
? Make me more like yourself?
Ah, my
darling
boy. Isn't that why you asked me out? Isn't that why you
came
to this world? To consume all the pretty young babes? And m
ake
them more evil than they already are.

“
Should we eat here?
”
Angela asked when she had steaks sizzling in the black pan.
Jim
sat silently at th
e
kitchen
t
able, watching her in the dark.

“
At the oil wells
,”
he said.

“You want to hike up there?”

“Yes.”

“
Fine
.”
She knew why she hadn't gone for her father's shotgun. First of all, he didn't have one. Second, there was a part of her that was in love with the dark side
.
There always had been, really
–
it was probably the same in all people.
Jim
both repelled and attracted her.
His
manner was cold. He was making no pretence of loving her tonight. He probably
realized
it was unnecessary. The bap
ti
sm
–
whatever he had done to her
–
w
as c
omp
l
e
te,
and she was already damned
–
at least from his point
of
view. There were also the things Mary had told her ab
out h
im
.
Angela still couldn't say she believed Mary,
b
ut she didn't disbelieve her, either. That was saying a lot. If
Jim
wasn't a monster, he was far from being a normal jock
.

“
I
want to eat and look down at the lake
,” he said.

“
It sounds romantic
,”
she replied
.
She wasn't being
sar
castic because she truly was looking forward to being
with
him in the worst way. It was as if her mind were operat
ing
on two levels. He was bad, but he was so bad he looked
g
oo
d
.
She was dying for him to
kiss her, to touch her. She craved
his fingers on her as much as she craved juicy steaks.
But he wasn't horn
y for her — he just sat there staring at h
er.

“
You look pretty tonight
,”
he said.

“
Thank you,
”
she said. She hadn't meant for him
to
come. She had planned to keep her promise to Kevin
, to
herself, intending to call
him to say she wasn't feeling well.
But she had got home
late and had had to make herself some
thing to
e
at
–
and then he had just walked in
...

“
What did you do today?
”
Jim
asked.

“Nothing.”

“Di
d you see Mary?
”

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”