Midnight Sun(67)

I drove back and forth between the bookstore and the restaurant a few times, hoping to see her on her
way. Jessica and Angela were already there, trying to decide whether to order, or to wait for Bella.
Jessica was pushing for ordering immediately.
I began flitting through the minds of strangers, looking through their eyes. Surely, someone must have
seen her somewhere.
I got more and more anxious the longer she remained missing. I hadn't considered before how difficult
she might prove to find once, like now, she was out of my sight and off her normal paths. I didn't like it.
The clouds were massing on the horizon, and, in a few more minutes, I would be free to track her on
foot. It wouldn't take me long then. It was only the sun that made me so helpless now. Just few more
minutes, and then the advantage would be mine again and it would be the human world that was
powerless.
Another mind, and another. So many trivial thoughts.
...think the baby has another ear infection...
Was it six-four-oh or six-oh-four...?
Late again. I ought to tell him...
Here she comes! Aha!
There, at last, was her face. Finally, someone had noticed her!
The relief lasted for only a fraction of a second, and then I read more fully the thoughts of the man who
was gloating over her face in the shadows.
His mind was a stranger to me, and yet, not totally unfamiliar. I had once hunted exactly such minds.
"NO!" I roared, and a volley of snarls erupted from my throat. My foot shoved the gas pedal to the floor,
but where was I going?
I knew the general location of his thoughts, but the knowledge was not specific enough. Something,
there had to be something-a street sign, a store front, something in his sight that would give away his
location. But Bella was deep in shadow, and his eyes were focused only on her frightened expressionenjoying
the fear there.
Her face was blurred in his mind by the memory of other faces. Bella was not his first victim.
The sound of my growls shook the frame of the car, but did not distract me.
There were no windows in the wall behind her. Somewhere industrial, away from the more populated
shopping district. My car squealed around a corner, swerving past another vehicle, heading in what I
hoped was the right direction. By the time the other driver honked, the sound was far behind me.
Look at her shaking! The man chuckled in anticipation. The fear was the draw for him-the part he
enjoyed.
"Stay away from me." Her voice was low and steady, not a scream.
"Don't be like that, sugar."
He watched her flinch to a rowdy laugh that came from another direction. He was irritated with the
noise- Shut up, Jeff! He thought-but he enjoyed the way she cringed.
It excited him. He began to imagine her pleas, the way she would beg...
I hadn't realized that there were others with him until I'd heard the loud laughter. I scanned out from
him, desperate for something that I could use. He was taking the first step in her direction, flexing his
hands.
The minds around him were not the cesspool that his was. They were all slightly intoxicated, not one of
them realizing how far the man they called Lonnie planned to go with this. They were following Lonnie's
lead blindly. He'd promised them a little fun...
One of them glanced down the street, nervous-he didn't want to get caught harassing the girl-and gave
me what I needed. I recognized the cross street he stared toward.
I flew under a red light, sliding through a space just wide enough between two cars in the moving traffic.
Horns blared behind me.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I ignored it.
Lonnie moved slowly toward the girl, drawing out the suspense-the moment of terror that aroused him.
He waited for her scream, preparing to savor it.
But Bella locked her jaw and braced herself. He was surprised-he'd expected her to try to run. Surprised
and slightly disappointed. He liked to chase his prey down, the adrenaline of the hunt.
Brave, this one. Maybe better, I guess...more fight in her.
I was a block away. The monster could hear the roar of my engine now, but he paid it no attention, too
intent on his victim.
I would see how he enjoyed the hunt when he was the prey. I would see what he thought of my style of
hunting.
In another compartment of my head, I was already sorting through the range of tortures I'd born
witness to in my vigilante days, searching for the most painful of them.
He would suffer for this. He would writhe in agony. The others would merely die for their part, but the
monster named Lonnie would beg for death long before I would give him that gift.
He was in the road, crossing toward her.
I spun sharply around the corner, my headlights washing across the scene and freezing the rest of them
in place. I could have run down the leader, who leapt out of the way, but that was too easy a death for
him.
I let the car spin out, swinging all the way around so that I was facing back the way I'd come and the