There was no response from the deathly pale woman. Her eyes remained fixed on a point that none of them could see. In her eyes Clarissa could see the shadow of death. Clarissa couldn’t recall actually seeing him, even during her own brush with him. Death never revealed much of himself to the world. He preferred to give only a glimpse of his true self. It was speculated by many that he was beautiful and fair to look upon, but only those who had felt his cold kiss could tell you that.
A shadow fell upon the women in the street, but it wasn’t the result of clouds roving over the moon. It was the shadow of an inflictor of death, deaths servant. Clarissa looked up into the face of a creature that was as deadly as he was beautiful. The paranormal world was an upside down version of the normal world Clarissa had thought she lived in. Where beauty hid evil and those that appeared young were ancient while those who looked older were freshly new. It was bizarre and it was strange. Then again, what was normal except someone’s warped ideal standard that no one could live up to?
“You should call an ambulance before she bleeds out.” He stood almost motionless over the women. It wasn’t in his nature to care about the living. What had they ever done for him but turn him into an animal? However, in this moment, he found himself sympathetic to this one woman.
No. It wasn’t her at all. It was the woman who was staring up at him with malicious hatred in her beautiful blue eyes. Clarissa. It was because of her that he had stopped himself from taking what should have been his, by right.
He could feel the sticky blood on his fingers and it took ever measure of his self control not to bring them to his mouth for a taste of it. It was like getting barbeque sauce on your fingers and hands; you were compelled to lick it off.
“How dare you attack an innocent woman?” Clarissa raged as she stood up from her crouched position in the street. “You don’t deserve to exist in this world.”
Those words stung deeper than he would have expected, but they were true. He didn’t deserve to exist in her world. He was a monster with a ravenous appetite for living flesh and that was all he’d ever be to her. But he refused to allow her to condemn him for a crime he did not commit.
“I did not attack this woman. I don’t target the innocent,” he explained all the while closely watching her reaction. Clarissa’s expression said she wasn’t buying it.
“If you didn’t do this than who did?” Leah asked. Holding one blood soaked hand to Candice’s throat she dug into her pocket for her cell phone with the other. Bringing it to her ear she began talking in animated Korean to what had to be her grandmother. In the next instant she was off the phone.
“The paramedics should be here in about two minutes.” Looking up at the creature before her, she was at once filled with a plethora of emotions, not least of which absolute awe. Her first encounter with the legendary flesh-eater, he was the complete opposite of everything she had ever expected or heard about them. If she didn’t know better she might have believed he was as alive as she, until she looked into those iridescent blue eyes and saw the emptiness of death; a shadow that told the truth of his species.
Corrigan remained immobile as Clarissa came to stand in front of him. Her rage was evident in her eyes. “Someone attacked her and you’re the only person found on the scene. The evidence of it all is on your fingers.” Clarissa glanced down to see him fist his hands, droplets of Candice’s sweat blood dripping through the cracks.
“I didn’t do this and you know it.” His face solemn, he stared down at the breathing specter of his dreams. Something flashed in her eyes as she matched his stare before quickly turning away.
You should leave before they get here.” Clarissa turned to look at Leah as she continued to hold the last of Candice’s life inside her body. Already she could hear the ambulance siren and just behind it she could feel the panic of the humans in a car. Leah’s grandmother, Mi Sun and her mother, Hana, along with other S.S. members she couldn’t remember the names of. Not too far behind that were the Eidolon, just emerging from their homes. In another few seconds they would have all their company.
Corrigan remained standing fixed in the street, seemingly uncaring of the fact that at any moment he would be caught. If the police didn’t put him in jail, surely the S. S. or the Eidolon would find a means to detain him. For some strange reason, she couldn’t understand yet, Clarissa wasn’t ready to turn him over to them.
Though she knew he was a monster, there was something she had seen in his eyes that told her he was telling her the truth. Even odder, there had been a moment there where she had felt the reality of him. Where she had felt through the ugly emptiness and there underneath it all a bright circle of beauty and tenderness; something he was unlikely to reveal or even admit to.
“Leave,” she commanded him, invoking her voice on him. For some reason it wasn’t working because he remained standing, unmoving, staring down at her from his impressive height, refusing the chance to escape.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Clarissa cried. Seeing the flashing red lights and knowing that the decision would be out of their hands at any moment.
Leah looked between the two of them, then over her shoulder as she too saw the Calvary coming. “Get him out of here, Clarissa. They’re not going to care whether he’s innocent or not. If they see him here, they’re going to assume the worst.”
“You are such an idiot,” Clarissa groused at Corrigan before she grabbed his warm arm, holding on to him tightly.
She wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but there was no time to question the theory of it. With a silent pray she made up her mind about something and in the next instant they were gone.
The ambulance stopped short of the scene, paramedics leaping into action as a car pulled up behind it. The occupants of the car stood silently by as they watched one of their own being placed on a gurney.
Mi Sun closed her eyes for a second then quickly opened them to stare out far across the bridge to the other side. From this distance she couldn’t possibly see the two figures on the opposite end of the bridge. But she knew they were there all the same. The old woman frowned before whispering something to her daughter. Hana frowned as well, looking off into the distance.
A shadowy figure of a man stood in the dimness of the night, unnoticed by the medical staff and the living humans. If not for that upstart of a ghost, his plans would have worked out perfectly. Corrigan should have been caught in the act and taken to task over this most grave error of judgment, another dead S.S. member. It should have started the ball rolling, bringing around a most climatic and enjoyable moment where the final threads of forced amicability between the Eidolon and the flesh-eaters would be severed and the war would begin. But that hadn’t happened.
Oh well, he thought. There was always another he had his sights set on. And in the mean time, he’d make it a prime mission to see that the burgeoning romance of these two sickeningly sweet creatures was exposed to the world.
Chapter 14-
“Did you just do what I think you just did?” Corrigan questioned as he as looked out over the bridge from the opposite end of where he had, just seconds ago, been standing. In one heart-stopping instant he had shifted through the atmosphere as if his body no longer existed, then reappeared in a new location.
“Yes, and it worked,” she answered proudly. Clarissa couldn’t help but reveal a smile of triumph at her talents. It should have been impossible to move a corporal body through the atmosphere, yet she had. It was both a little scary and amazingly empowering to know she could do such a thing.
Corrigan looked down to see her hand still clutching his lower arm. She obviously was oblivious to her mistake or distracted by her newly learned ability, either way he didn’t mind in the least. He also didn’t mind seeing her smile so proudly at her accomplishment which was indeed a great one. As far as he knew, no other of her kind could do such a thing. She was truly a unique woman.
Unfortunately, for him, she did finally realize her hand w
as still on him. With a sudden jolt she removed it, stepping a few paces back and away from him. That action did a strange and unpleasant thing to his stomach, somewhere along the lines of nausea or the sensation of a heavy boulder falling through his intestines.
Clarissa felt the heat of his arm penetrate her soul. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was, but by then it had been too late. Clutching her fist tightly to her side, she held the warmth of him against her skin until as the seconds slipped away from her it disappeared leaving her cold once again. Strangely, a slight sting of pain pierced the area where her heart used to be as if it were telling her something she should have known all along but refused.
“What the hell were you thinking back there?” Clarissa started in on him again. It was easier to be mad than to examine her own thoughts and feelings at the moment. “I told you to make a run for it, but no, you had to stand there like a giant lump.”
Corrigan eyed her curiously. Her colors changed as she went through a succession of emotions all the while yelling and calling him names. He stood there quietly, taking it. If she had been anyone else he might have retaliated and his retaliations were deadly. Instead he watched the beautiful show of her soul.
After several minutes Clarissa caught the odd look in his eyes. “Stop looking at me like that you completely daft man. I should have let them have you when I had the chance.”
“Why didn’t you?” he asked, taking a step closer to her.
Clarissa took a step back, a frown on her face. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
A deep sadness crossed his eyes before it was gone. It was only by chance that Clarissa managed a glimpse of it. But she was all too aware of it and in a deep secret part of her soul it reflected her own.
“You should go back to your side now.” Corrigan stepped away, intent on finding his way back to the LeMoyne complex. Pulling out a paint stained rag from his pocket he wiped his hands of the woman’s blood, stuffing it back in his pocket. Turning to walk away, he suddenly felt a cool hand on his arm. He would know that touch anywhere. It was imprinted on his memory for all time.
“You didn’t attack that woman, did you?”
“No.”
But she had seen him over the woman’s body, his hands at her throat. If he had wanted to he could have taken her. Even if she wasn’t his kill, he could have ended her life and taken what he wanted from her. He hadn’t though and she had a slight inkling that it had been extremely difficult for him to restrain that desire for flesh and blood. Candice had been laid out before him like a feast and he had pushed his plate away and denied himself the luxury of an easy kill.
I don’t target the innocent.
Clarissa hadn’t wanted to believe him at the time. It was so much easier to blame him. He and his family were after all the only monsters in the area, and if not him – then who? It was a question she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to.
“Then your family isn’t responsible for these deaths against us, are they?” There was still some doubt there, but every time she thought about it, something didn’t seem to add up to that conclusion. The murders were done up too precisely and with obvious intention at being discovered. If she didn’t know better, Clarissa might think it all a set up or someone trying to throw gasoline on an already smoldering fire between her people and the flesh-eaters.
“I already told you that my family is not responsible for the murders of your human servants.”
“Why didn’t my command work this time? I asked you to leave, but you refused. I thought as a bokor, you had to carry out my orders.”
Corrigan took the cool and delicate hand that was still resting on his arm, holding it firmly within his own hand. “I did not listen because even though you used your voice, it wasn’t what you really wanted, so it didn’t work.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted? What are talking about? Are you saying that I wanted you to get caught?”
He shook his head in the negative. “No, you just didn’t want me to leave. That’s all I know.” Corrigan held her cool hand tightly, touching her soul and wanting the privilege of holding it close to him. “I just don’t know why you wanted me to stay.”
Clarissa refused to look at their intertwined hands. It would be too much and at this moment she needed to be in complete control. But as she felt the warmth of him penetrate her cool spirit and that place within her body were the beat of her heart had been cut short she felt a moment of completion. It was a place in time where she wanted to bask in forever.
“Does your family know where you are now?” she asked the question instead of answering him. “Won’t they worry? I’m sure they’re already aware of what happened. Don’t you all communicate through thoughts?”
“Won’t your people wonder where you have gone?”
Clarissa made a snort of disgust. She wasn’t a child to be looked after. Yet everyone seemed to be overly concerned about her whereabouts all the time. Telling someone with her capabilities to be careful was without a doubt offensive to her pride.
“I can take care of myself,” she said irritably.
“So can I", he said pointedly. "What choices I make are mine alone. My family doesn’t need to control my every movement.” A tiny smirk edged its way onto his lips. “And yes we can communicate through our thought patterns as you are obviously more than aware of this capability.”
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. It was an accident, I swear.”
“I know,” he assured her. “Chas, however, wasn’t particularly enthused by your skills. He suffered a great blow to his pride when you knocked him on his ass the other night. You’ll be pleased to know my brothers are teasing him to no end on that one.”
“Well, he deserved it. Tell your brother it isn’t nice to growl at people.”
Corrigan failed at hiding the smile that was threatening to reveal itself. She was a complete contradiction to how he had always perceived the Eidolon people. In his brief encounters with her kind, they always seemed to hold themselves above him, like his lack of a soul made him less than human in their eyes. But they hadn’t been the only ones who looked at him like that. Except for Clarissa, she spoke to him now as if she had completely forgotten that at any moment he could end her existence. Then again, she could easily end his.
“I’ll remember to tell him that.”
The wind blew across the bridge again, this time bringing with it the smell of the ocean. Clarissa turned toward it, taking in a deep breath of the salty fresh air. She had a peculiar fondness for the ocean sea. The vast stretch of it always made her feel calm when things in her life seemed to have her spinning endlessly without anything to ground her. The seeming eternity of the ocean put her insignificant world into manageable perspective. Again, Clarissa had no inkling why she liked the ocean. There was no specific memory of it to make her know this with such certainty, it just was.
“Have you ever been to the ocean at night?” She heard Corrigan ask the question with only a brief hesitation in his voice.
Clarissa shook her head. “We’re not allowed to cross the bridge after dark.” Anastasia Island was their property, quite legally too. She had only recently found out from Eleanor that the flesh-eaters had their hands in commercial real-estate.
“Would you like to go there, now?” Corrigan asked the question. For a moment he actually held his breath as he waited for an answer. The rational section of his mind told him to put her from him, keep her firmly in the light of enemy. The nonsensical part of him wanted to keep her forever in the night, close to him.
“Yes,” she answered him after several heart-stopping seconds.
It was a serial moment for Clarissa, walking along the beach at night with a flesh-eater. Corrigan seemed at little hesitant as well of her company. She was fast coming to realize that he didn’t socialize well with others. Not that she could blame him. Most people weren’t friendly with creatures that they feared. And who wouldn’t find Corrigan and his family a little scary?
/> “Do you come here a lot?” Clarissa asked, breaking their reserved silence.
“What?” he asked. Looking down at her, he had only just remembered she was walking next to him. He felt too comfortable in her presence. “I wasn’t paying attention. What did you ask me?”
“Just like a man, tuning me out.” She glided along the sandy beach, bare foot. It wasn’t that she could get sand in her shoes it was just the social custom to go without shoes when walking along the beach. “I asked if you came to the beach a lot, do you?”
“Yes.” Corrigan looked out into the waves as they crashed against the shore, spraying them at times with their force. Walking close to the edge where the water met the cool sand he remembered how he always thought the sea reminded him of himself, how it existed alone. People would cross its path but ultimately in the end they would all seek the safety of land.
“Explain,” she commanded, but not in her bokor voice.
Corrigan looked away from his kindred spirit in the sea to another spirit, a spirit who was fast becoming kindred to a part of him he believed long since dead. Though he didn’t know why yet, a part of his psyche already knew that Clarissa was no longer an enemy. She had thought to save him when she could have easily turned him over to her people. For whatever reason or twist of the hands of fate, she had come to this ancient city, it was quite evident that her presence alone was heralding in a new era in his existence. Would he survive it? He wasn’t sure of that yet.
“Explain what, exactly?” Why was she so curious to know him when others had simply written him off? Clarissa should be home with her own kind; not out in the night with a creature such as him. But she looked up at him, an inquisitive curve to her enticing little mouth, her eyes honest and lacking fear. It was then he realized he wanted to tell her everything.
Grave Danger Page 19