Read Online [Anita Blake Collection] - Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton - Free Book Online

else in the lake could displace water like our monster. He stopped and I put a hand on his side. I still couldn’t see, or feel his tail end. With a convulsive wriggle, Irving began to back out of the hole. It stopped almost as soon as it began, and I knew Susan was bribing him with some of the fish we’d brought. The way to a lake monster’s heart is through his stomach.
    Two hours later, the barricade was temporarily secure. We were making our last dive and had stopped at fifteen feet for our decompression stop. If you go up too fast, the air in your lungs doesn’t have time to adjust to the pressure as you swim toward the surface. Swim directly up with no decompression stop, and you’ll get “the bends”—decompression sickness. The nitrogen in your blood will bubble like soda pop, causing, among other things, unconsciousness and death. That is the worst case, of course. Susan says I dwell too much on the things that can go wrong when you dive. I prefer to think of it as being cautious.
    Irving butted me gently in the ribs, blowing bubbles at me. It’s hard to laugh with a regulator in your mouth, but Irving will make you do it. Sunlight hovered in the water at this depth, making the monster’s coils shimmer. He wrapped us both in his velvet muscled body, not tight, but to let us know he had us. Then he was gone swimming away into dimness.
    Susan’s fingers brushed mine, and I took her hand. We kicked for the surface, turning slowly together, caught in the soft, hovering brightness of light and water.
    We spent the rest of the afternoon searching for the lost Girl Scout troop. We found them asleep, drugged with music. They were curled around a sign that said, “No All-Female Groups Beyond This Point. Satyr Breeding Area.” Satyrs have a peculiar sense of humor.
    I had found the orders for their campsite. They hadn’t camped where we told them. The park was not liable for their mistake. Honest.
    That night Susan, as usual, was asleep first. She lay on her side, half curled against my stomach. My face was buried in the back of her neck. She smelled of shampoo and perfume and warmth. Nothing felt as good as going to sleep with Susan’s body pressed against mine. The soft rise and fall of her breathing was one of my top three favorite sounds in the world. The second is her laugh, and the first is the little sound she makes, deep in her throat, when we make love. It is a personal sound, just for us, no sharing. I’ve never been in love. Does it show?
    The phone rang and Susan stirred in her sleep, but didn’t waken. I rolled over and grabbed the receiver. “Hello.”
    â€œMike, it’s Jordan again…” His voice trailed off.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s Irving. A couple of drunks dragged their boat into his part of the lake. Said they just wanted to swim with the monster.”
    I pushed the cover back and crouched on the edge of the bed. “What happened, Jordan?”
    Susan touched my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
    I shook my head. “Jordan, talk to me.”
    â€œThey hit Irving with the propeller. It looks bad. I already called the vet. He’s out on a call, but he’ll get here as soon as he can.”
    We drove in silence toward the lake. The sky was black and glittered with the cold light of stars. So many stars. Susan’s tanned face was pale, her lips set in a tight angry line. Her eyes turn nearly black when she is really angry. They glittered like black jewels now.
    I just felt sick. It was too ridiculous, too stupid for words, that all our work was going to be screwed up by some drunks in a boat. How bad washe hurt? The questions kept running through my head like a piece of song. How bad was he hurt?
    It was Roy who met us with a boat. His thinning brown hair was rumpled; he’d forgotten to comb it. There was a smear of something on his glasses, too dark to be mud. We