AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I killed a man.” He clenched his fingers into fists. “I enjoyed it.”
Kris tilted her head. “You think that makes you a monster?”
“I didnae have to be made a monster. A monster is what I am.”
Not even a rustle sounded from the grass as a third voice disturbed the gloaming: “Tell me more.”
Kris cursed, her gaze going past Liam. “Do you ever knock on a door, walk up a road, wait for a damn invitation? Or do you always lurk about, then appear from nowhere with a gun?”
Liam didn’t need to turn to know that Edward Mandenauer had come.
This time for him.
*
Kris’s heart was pounding so fast she nearly missed the old man’s response.
“I hardly appeared out of nowhere. And if I didn’t lurk, I’d never find out anything at all.” His gaze went to Liam, who still had his back to Edward, eyes on Kris. “For instance, the identity of a monster that has just killed a man.”
She saw the intent on Edward’s face and threw herself in front of Liam as the gun came up.
“Kris.” Now Liam turned, picking her up bodily and hoisting her out of the way. “He can’t hurt me.”
“No?” Mandenauer’s bushy white brows lifted. “How very interesting.”
“He’s done nothing wrong,” Kris said softly.
“Killing a man and enjoying it is not wrong?”
“He ended a serial killer.”
“Kudos,” Mandenauer drawled, faded gaze still on Liam as if he were the last slice of dessert at a chocolate buffet. “It is not the killing I mind so much as the enjoying of it.”
“Dougal Scott was a serial killer,” Kris said. “We may never know how many people he murdered. He beat Jamaica Blue nearly to death, and he planned to kill me, film it, and blame Nessie.”
“Diabolical.” Edward still didn’t lower the gun. “Unfortunately, I cannot let a monster that has killed remain on the loose. He may have developed a taste for it.”
“He didn’t,” Kris said.
“Nevertheless—”
“I won’t let you hurt him.”
Edward managed, just barely, to keep his lips from twitching. “My dear, you won’t be able to stop me.”
“I won’t have to. His curse does that.”
The old man’s eyes glittered. “How so?”
“He was cursed to eternal torment. If he can be killed, not very eternal.”
Liam continued to hover, tense and ready, between Kris and the ancient Jäger-Sucher.
“Remarkable.” Edward stared at Liam as if he were a fly in a web. “We will have to find a place to study you. A more controlled environment.”
Liam sighed. “All right.”
“Like hell!” Kris stepped in front of him again. Again he moved her out of the way. “He’s not putting you in a fishbowl. He’s not going to experiment on you like he’s Mengele,” she spat.
