Serpentine Love Read Free Page A

opponent.
    That was all the opportunity Maya
needed. With a fierce yell, she launched herself at the man closest
to her and gave him a good kick in his back. Even as he fell, she
turned her attention towards the other and delivered a solid hand
jab to his neck. He fell with a surprised look on his face. She
eyed the third. Seeing his two fallen companions, he looked from
her to Arya, and jumped back.
    “ Come. Take what you want.”
She strutted up to him.
    Making perhaps one of the best
decisions of his life, he dropped his knife and ran back into the
forest from where he had emerged.
    Maya turned, and saw the first man she
kicked rising on unsteady feet, his knife no longer in his hand.
With a resounding thwack she delivered a hand jab to his neck,
rendering him unconscious. With a groan, he fell on top of his
friend and lay still.
    Maya looked up at Arya who was staring
at her as if he’d seen a ghost.
    “ Ah…” He cleared his throat.
“I guess you didn’t need my help after all?”
    “ I’m a karate expert,” she
said.
    He looked down in awe at the
unconscious men. “So, I see.”
    “ You were following me,” she
accused, walking closer.
    “ Well, yes,” he admitted
with ease. “I thought you were perhaps visiting your grandfather
and…”
    “ I see.” Maya stood not four
feet away from him, debating what to do. He really was most
annoying. Sighing, she turned and walked to her car. “I thought I
was being followed, but I could never see anyone. You’re good at
stalking.”
    “ Thanks, I guess,” he said.
“I apologize…”
    “ Don’t bother. You would do
the same thing all over again, given half a chance. You’re a
persistent man, Mr. Manav.”
    “ And you’re a dangerous
woman, Ms. Lois,” he countered with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“I’d be scared to meet you alone, any day, any time.”
    She opened her car door and turned back
to face him. “Well, what now?”
    “ What do you
mean?”
    “ Oh, don’t play the innocent
with me. Why don’t you save us both any further misery and just
stop following me?”
    Arya smiled. “As you said, I’m
persistent, and I do need your grandfather’s help. I’m sure he has
some anecdotes or folk tales he has heard during the course of his
research regarding the inagimi.”
    “ Why are so sure that the
inagimi exist?” Maya could not help but ask.
    He ran a hand through his hair.
“Consider the possibility. What if they do exist? Wouldn’t it be
wonderful?”
    Maya eyed him speculatively. Their eyes
met and a spark flew between them. With great effort, she managed
to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
    “ That’s all you’re going to
ask him? Just stories regarding the inagimi?”
    “ What else?”
    “ And what if you ever found
evidence that the inagimi do exist?”
    “ I would love some evidence.
It would do wonders for my book sales.”
    “ Ok.” Maya sat on the
driver’s seat. She closed the door and unrolled the
window.
    “ What were you doing out so
late anyway?” he said.
    “ I like late night drives,”
she said. “Meet me day after tomorrow at seven sharp at my house.
We’ll be gone for three days. Pack a bag and don’t be
late.”
    The perplexed look on his face was
almost amusing.
    “ What?” he said.
    Maya buckled her seat belt and switched
on the car engine. “You want to meet Isaac Lois or not? Come
prepared because you won’t get a second meeting. And remember that
you’ll behave on my terms, and there will be rules--the first one
being that you need to stop following me.”
    “ Hey, thanks. It’s a
deal.”
    “ Someone should get these
vermin off the road,” she said almost as an afterthought. “Do you
have a cell phone?”
    “ Yeah, sure.” He took it out
of his pocket.
    “ Use it. Call a hospital.”
Reversing the car, she zoomed off.
    Arya stared long after her car
disappeared into the dark.
    “ Tonight’s my lucky night,”
he muttered. This was just the break he was looking for; a