Cara MIA - By Book One of the Immortyl Revolution - By Denise Verrico Page 0,77
you service, little one. You need only call and I’ll come.”
I withdrew from his arms. “Gotta ticket to a play, maybe we can get one for you?”
“I have to go back— business matters.”
I hugged him. “Goodbye, old fool.”
He slipped a knife into my bag. “Be careful, sweet sister, I wouldn’t lose you for the world.”
“I can handle myself, remember? I’m the Bird of Prey.”
“Kurt will come, Mia, now that Ethan is out of the picture. Don’t turn him away.”
The aching loneliness I’d staved off in the past months washed over me. I hesitated. Why not just go with Philip and find out? But to go was to accept Brovik’s yoke around my neck again. Not even the sweet temptation of Kurt would make me give up my hard-won freedom to that bastard.
“I’ll think about it.” I pushed my way out of the bar and into the chilly spring, breathing in the crisp air. Mortals filled the streets like so many cattle, but I barely noticed their scent as I made my way to the theatre. My mind was occupied with everything Philip had told me. Maybe all Ethan had said about Kurt was just another of his myriad lies. Maybe Kurt was everything his letters and our brief meetings promised. For the first time in decades, I saw a ray of hope.
But despite Philip’s prediction, Kurt didn’t come. Loneliness gnawed harder now that I’d given it a fresh opening. I chided myself. Kurt had no interest in me except to further Brovik’s plans. His master’s love was the only thing he desired. It was a very shrewd philosophy, actually. He remained Brovik’s prized possession, while no one cared if a cast-off like me lived or died.
I didn’t see Philip again for a long time. In fact, I didn’t run across any Immortyls for a long time. It’s a big city and I never haunted the same place often. Ethan had told me there were sewer rats there, so I was always careful to mingle in crowds of mortals, but aside from seeing furtive dark shapes and hearing whispers from the shadows, I never encountered them. Still, there was the omnipresent problem of taking victims down in private venues where one wouldn’t be observed. I couldn’t kill in hotel rooms or apartments. Those measures were only taken in extreme circumstances. It was much better to lure them to a secluded spot, where I could easily dispose of the remains, or ambush them unawares in some dark and forsaken corner, but once I strayed away from mortal eyes, I left myself vulnerable to attack from my own kind, and as Philip had warned, my luck couldn’t hold out forever.
Inevitably, one night a pang of hunger awakened me. I was pretty good at reading the early warning signs now and took Ethan’s advice to feed early before my judgment was impaired. Hopping a subway uptown to the park, I took down a would-be rapist, taking a dozen nice thick gold chains, a diamond ear stud, some cash, a watch and a gram of coke. Not a bad night’s hunting. After I slashed the throat with my hunting knife to disguise the teeth marks, I dragged the body into the trees and hid it under some brush, scooping out a shallow grave for burial. Then I stopped off at the Turtle Pond to wash off the dirt and gore.
I followed the path up to the Belvedere Castle and stood for a while on the overlook, surveying the deserted Delacorte Theatre across the water, reflecting on my own little Winter’s Tale, cast out to the elements at the mercy of wild beasts like the infant Perdita. Yet this is what I wanted, wasn’t it? Freedom— yes— but not complete solitude, cut off from my own kind however reprehensible they might be. Post-feed languor washed over me. Stretching out on the stone railing, I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the cool wind wash over my face, wishing for someone to share the zipping and popping inside of my veins. Kurt materialized in my mind, looking as he did standing on the terrace in Italy, skin like porcelain and eyes filled with light. His hand reached out to me and he smiled. I might have joined him in my fancy if the smallest sound hadn’t alerted me, the snapping of a twig and soft footsteps.
My hair suddenly stood on end. Danger! As I rose to my feet, I caught the scent, two, males, unfamiliar from