Dancing With Monsters Read Free Page A

his whole appearance changed into something softer. If
I didn’t witness what he had done, I would have never guessed him
to be a murderer.
    “ Running away are we,
fledging, then you’d better join me. They will be coming for you,
and I’m not waiting.”
    Bright lights suddenly blasted from
behind us, and burned through the cold air. Was I hallucinating all
of this, or was it real. Whatever it was, it was unnatural. No one
can suck life out of another human being and leave them as bits of
tissue paper.
    “ If you doubt me, don’t.”
He pulled back my sleeve exposing my wrist. “This isn’t just some
tattoo. This is a hexmark.”
    I looked at the tattoo my mom made me
get right before she gave me away.
    “ It’s for our
protection.” I could still hear my
mother’s words.
    I closed my eyes. A veiled woman gave
me the tattoo. We had gone to what I thought was a carnival, but
through the bright colors, balloons and performers, was a dark
feeling that made me want to run.
    “ I’m asking, are you
coming with me or not?” He shook my wrist bringing me to my
senses.
    In that split second, I had to make a
decision that could mean escape, death or going back to Sunrise
Acres—I’d never see the sun again if I went back there. He knew of
my tattoo, and maybe about the things that lurked in the darkness.
I had to take a chance. Voices from the search party echoed around
us.
    “ I’m coming with…” Before
I could finish, my feet left the ground, and trees whisked by like
speeding cars.
    The truck stop lights faded in the
distance. I had no idea where I was or what direction we had gone.
We moved like flashes of lightning through the timber and then we
stopped as quickly as we had left.
    He put me down and my feet landed on a
paved road. A log cabin home washed in moonlight stood before me
with a split rail fence surrounding it. A light shone through the
window beside the door making it look like a welcoming
house.
    “ Are you coming?” He asked
standing on the opposite side of the road.
    I could run, but I’d never make it
five feet away from him. It was unnatural to move that quickly
through the woods, and without tripping or getting slapped in the
face from low limbs. Even if he did know about my tattoo, I still
felt uncertain.
    “ You moved…” I took
account of my surroundings. We were in a wooded area, and with no
other houses in sight. I couldn’t possibly outrun him to get
help.
    “ I moved like anyone of
our kind can move, and I can teach you how, if you like.” He spoke
so casually. “And like I said, I’m not going to hurt you, and you
are running away, aren’t you?” He looked back over his shoulder at
the house. “This is my home, and you are welcome to come in if you
like, or you can take cover in the forest. It’s up to
you.”
    He turned and walked up to the house
while searching his pocket. He pulled out a set of jiggling keys,
and glanced back at me as he whistled.
    I crossed the road and stood at the
edge of the brick paved sidewalk. What was I doing? He had just
sucked the life out of a man, and we had run through what seemed
like miles of timber in the matter of seconds. I should get the
hell out of here, especially since he was going into his house and
leaving me outside.
    “ You can go if you want,
fledging, but I’m curious about the mark on your wrist. Not many
humans have those kind of marks,” he said, glancing over his
shoulder at me as he cracked open the door.
    I gingerly curled my fingers around
the small tattoo on the inside of my right wrist. I remembered
getting it from an old lady that my mom took me to right before she
gave me up. How did he know I had it, and how could he had possibly
seen it covered up by my sleeve and in the dark.
    I took a step forward followed by
another. He waited for me letting me enter the warm house
first.
    I stepped inside just enough to let
him in. The interior was pretty much what you’d expect a log cabin
house to look like. It