DESI
“Scout!”I leapt to catch her mid-air. I pulled her up, but her eyes were closed and her mouth was falling open.
Fuck.
Shifting my weight, I hauled her into my arms and started back to the car. Resting her in the back, I dug for water. I poured a smidge into my hand and wiped her face.She blinked and then groaned loudly.
“Are you okay?”
She gulped down the bottle. “Yeah, just a little lightheaded. It was so fast, I’m not sure what happened.”
“Well, it’s been a bit since we’ve ate. Let’s go back to the hotel and I’ll order in.”
“What about Ida?”
“Fuck Ida, she can die tomorrow.” She passed out and was worried about our kill?
When we got back to the hotel, Scout insisted on napping instead of waiting for food.
“Just a little nap, and when I wake up, I’ll scarf down everything.” She fell asleep almost the exact moment her head hit the pillow.I sat in the chair by the table, watching her sleep until midnight. I wasn’t tired in the slightest. I was too worried to sleep.
I was going to ask her. By the end of the summer, I was going to do it. Beg her to hear me out, understand my situation, and ask her to commit suicide on the off chance she’d change and be with me for eternity.And either one of three things would happen.
She’d leave.
She’d do it and die.
She’d do it and turn.
I needed to ask her though because I couldn’t imagine a life without her in it. I didn’t want to live if she wasn’t in my life.
If she died, I would kill myself too. It was only fair.
I bounced my leg while watching her. The piece of paper with a phone number scrawled on it weighed heavy in my wallet. I couldn’t take it anymore and left the room and went down to find a payphone. I walked down the block, slid a few quarters into the machine, and dialed.
“Hello?”
“This is Desiderio Amato, we’ve spoken before. Xerxes?”
“Ah, yes, the Bloodborn who thinks my kind is inferior yet is still interested in knowing how we operate.”
“Yes. We spoke about an interview.”
“How Anne Rice of you.”
“Who?”
The man on the other side cackled dryly. “Nothing. Where are you currently?”
I looked around me. “Up north. And you’re in Kalamazoo, right?”
“I am. When can you come this way?”
“Tomorrow.”
We set up a time, and I hung up. I looked at my watch. I had time to take care of Ida and come back to Scout and sleep.
I caught the old bag doing what she did best, putting a body on her boat to dump out onto the lake. I joined her, and together, we tossed her last lover overboard and then I did the same to her. She deserved to drown.
