King of Beasts

Chapter 21

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?"