The Ridge(108)

Jafar came on through the dark, and then she could see his eyes looming just before hers, could smell his snow-dampened fur. The leopard made a soft but deep growl, almost like a purr, and then he reached for her face with his. His mouth was open, and his breath smelled of meat and blood. Every one of her muscles went warm and liquid, and for a moment fainting seemed a very real possibility.

He thumped her shoulder with his head, and she bit back a scream. He made a displeased sound, thumped her a second time, and she whispered, “Okay, baby. Okay.”

She reached out with a trembling hand and touched his muzzle. There was snow melting on his fur and held in crystals on the long whiskers. If he decided to strike, from this distance, and with her unable to move…

The leopard extended his muzzle as she caressed it, then nudged the side of her face. She could feel the smooth fur on her cheek, the bristling whiskers against her neck. His head was enormous. Her fingers slid lightly down the span of his massive jaws, and she thought of all the times she’d seen them close around a piece of bloody meat, the tremendous power as his teeth snapped and shredded flesh that was far tougher than her own.

“Good boy. You’re my baby, aren’t you? I love you, buddy. I love you.”

He licked her neck, then along her jaw. His tongue was warm and rough and beyond it were canine teeth as long as her index finger. One bite was all it would take. One bite.

He made the low growl again.

That’s a friendly sound, Audrey. He is happy to see you. He is happy.

“Thank you, honey. Oh, thank you.” She felt able to breathe for the first time since he’d entered, and when he nudged her again, rubbing the top of his head against her shoulder, she got her hand high enough to scratch behind his ears. That was as brave as she had ever allowed herself to be before, from behind the fence. Now, the two of them alone in the dark, the big cat was just as content.

I’m okay. I am okay. He will not hurt me, and Dustin will not find me, and as long as I stay in here I am okay.

That was when the flashlight beam passed close by, illuminating the inside of the leopard’s enclosure.

“Audrey, get the fuck out here,” said a voice that had once belonged to a young man she had kidded about his resemblance to the boy in the Harry Potter movies, a man who once seemed as harmless as anyone she’d ever met but who now spoke from a place of unyielding blackness. He told her to get out with such confidence that she was sure he knew where she was, almost felt an impulse to respond. Then he continued talking, and she realized from the sound that he’d turned away, was speaking in another direction, still seeking.

“You don’t understand this place. You don’t understand how special it is. What I can be here. What you can be. Kimble, even. He doesn’t have to die. That’s up to him. I doubt he will make the right choice. What he cannot be allowed to do, though, is burn that bridge.”

He paused, searching for her in the night, and then continued.

“You’re thinking about Wes. You’re blaming me. Well, Wes didn’t have to die, either, Audrey. I watched it happen. The cats are what kept him away, and if he’d been able to get there, then Wes might be with us now. It was going to be up to him, but the cats prevented that chance. Don’t worry—I won’t let that happen to you. I’ll bring you to him. When you see the torch yourself, you will understand. When he touches you with that flame, you will understand.”

Silence. She had stopped moving, but her hand still rested on Jafar’s ears, the fur beginning to bristle, the leopard unappreciative of Dustin’s tone.

“Where did you go, you stupid bitch?” Dustin called, impatience returning. “You wouldn’t have gone into the cages. You’re not brave enough for that, no, you’re still scared of them, your own damn cats. Or did you get brave tonight?”

He was passing through the fences close to her, and he began dragging the handle of the flashlight across them, metal on metal, a loud rattling sound. Jafar heard it and growled in Audrey’s face. Peeled his lips back and even in the dark they were so close that she could see those teeth, the ones that tore through meat so easily.

“Calm down, honey,” she whispered, barely audible. “Calm down.”

Dustin banged against another fence, this one closer, and the leopard growled again. The next fence he hit belonged to the leopard’s enclosure. He was at the gate.

“Were you brave enough to go in with your favorite?” he said, voice lower and musing, as if he found the idea plausible. She was glad she’d fastened the lock.

But the snow, she realized, my tracks are in the snow, he will see those.