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.Her face was blurred in his mind by the memory of other faces.Bella was not hisfirst 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 fromthe more populated shopping district.My car squealed around a corner, swerving pastanother vehicle, heading in what I hoped was the right direction.By the time the otherdriver honked, the sound was far behind me.Look at her shaking! The man chuckled in anticipation.The fear was the drawfor 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 wasirritated 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 firststep in her direction, flexing his hands.The minds around him were not the cesspool that his was.They were all slightlyintoxicated, not one of them realizing how far the man they called Lonnie planned to gowith 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 caughtharassing the girl and gave me what I needed.I recognized the cross street he staredtoward.I flew under a red light, sliding through a space just wide enough between twocars in the moving traffic.Horns blared behind me.© 2008 Stephenie Meyer172My phone vibrated in my pocket.I ignored it.Lonnie moved slowly toward the girl, drawing out the suspense the moment ofterror 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 expectedher 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 hepaid 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 hethought of my style of hunting.In another compartment of my head, I was already sorting through the range oftortures 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 fortheir part, but the monster named Lonnie would beg for death long before I would givehim that gift.He was in the road, crossing toward her.I spun sharply around the corner, my headlights washing across the scene andfreezing the rest of them in place.I could have run down the leader, who leapt out of theway, 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 theway I d come and the passenger door was closest to Bella.I threw that open, and she wasalready running toward the car. Get in, I snarled.What the hell?Knew this was a bad idea! She s not alone.Should I run?Think I m going to throw up&Bella jumped through the open door without hesitating, pulling the door shutbehind her.© 2008 Stephenie Meyer 173And then she looked up at me with the most trustful expression I had ever seen ona human face, and all my violent plans crumbled.It took much, much less than a second for me to see that I could not leave her inthe car in order to deal with the four men in the street.What would I tell her, not towatch? Ha! When did she ever do what I asked? When did she ever do the safe thing?Would I drag them away, out of her sight, and leave her alone here? It was a longshot that another dangerous human would be prowling the streets of Port Angeles tonight,but it was a long shot that there was even the first! Like a magnet, she drew all thingsdangerous toward herself.I could not let her out of my sight.It would feel like part of the same motion to her as I accelerated, taking her awayfrom her pursuers so quickly that they gaped after my car with uncomprehendingexpressions.She would not recognize my instant of hesitation.She would assume theplan was escape from the beginning.I couldn t even hit him with my car.That would frighten her.I wanted his death so savagely that the need for it rang in my ears and clouded mysight and was a flavor on my tongue.My muscles were coiled with the urgency, thecraving, the necessity of it.I had to kill him.I would peel him slowly apart, piece bypiece, skin from muscle, muscle from bone&Except that the girl the only girl in the world was clinging to her seat withboth hands, staring at me, her eyes still wide and utterly trusting.Vengeance would haveto wait. Put on your seatbelt, I ordered.My voice was rough with the hate andbloodlust.Not the usual bloodlust.I would not sully myself by taking any part of thatman inside me.She locked the seatbelt into place, jumping slightly at the sound it made [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]