She felt Gabe's hands on her shoulders as she stared off the front porch towards the rising sun. If she stared for too long, then the clouds changed, morphed before her green eyes, changed into impossible shapes until she closed her eyes tight and told herself it wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real--
"How are you feeling?" his voice was soft, like a caress, and she relaxed as his fingers kneaded into the tense muscles of her neck when Gabe came up behind her.
"Fine." she lied fluidly. He sighed, and walked across the porch until he could turn and lean against the porch railing, arms crossed over his chest.
"You look tired." he noted, eyes skirting over her face, frown lines creasing his perfect skin.
She tore her eyes away from him and back towards the sky. She hadn't slept in two days. Her dreams were plagued by terrible things. Her usual nightmares of her granddad were morphed now, changed so that he didn't just stab her, but he talked to her, told her how much he hated her, how she ruined his life. She couldn't sleep. Refused to, not so she could just listen to things like that.
"How long do you think until you go crazy?"he asked.
Her eyes flickered to his, surprised by how straight forward the question was. His face was still lined with concern, giving nothing away. Charlotte swallowed, then looked away once more. "I don't know."
But judging from how stressed her mind already was, she had to guess just a few more days until she was trying to catch her own imaginary tail.
"Why do you think your granddad is making this so complicated?" he continued, not catching the hint that Charlotte just wanted to watch the sunrise quietly.
"Complicated?" she asked, scratching at the burning in her calf.
He shrugged, and pushed off the railing so he could shove his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I mean, he's a powerful guy. I bet you he could waltz right into the house and stab you in the heart again if he wanted."
She started as though he'd slapped her, shifting in her seat so she could stare at him wide eyed. He wasn't looking at her anymore though, instead strolling across the porch to the other end, glancing around casually.
"Excuse me?"
He turned then, catching her green eyes with his blue ones. "Come on, Charlotte. He could kill you a thousand different ways. Why this backwards route?"
"B-because my soul would be trapped inside my dead body. I couldn't die, technically until my soul is unbound-- why are you asking these questions like that?"
"Like what?" he laughed humorously. "I'm asking it like it is, Charlotte. Your granddad tried killing you when you were a kid because he couldn't stand you, and now he's come to finish the job. What'd you do to make him hate you so much?"
YOU ARE READING
King of Beasts
WerewolfIf you can see them, then you're already dead. If you can hear them, then you're not far from it. If you can smell them, like the forest they live in, then avoid danger at all conceivable costs. Because they're the monsters in the shadows of Harve...