Page 59 of Starve
“Why?” he steps closer, invading my space. “Because you’reclean? 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’remine,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 bethereone moment andgonethe 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 whereI’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 youlive?”
Looking entirely too pleased with himself, Cairo licks his fingers like a cat cleaning its paws. “It’s not much,” he sayssmugly. “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. “Itold 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’thaveto 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 Ican.”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, thenfight 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.
