Read Online Bright Angel by Isabelle Merlin - Free Book Online Page B

that.’
    â€˜Mmm,’ I said, wondering if he was going to start telling me he believed in vampires as well. I hoped not. I’ve heard enough of them to last me a while. Jessie has a huge crush on vampires – well, really on that Edward Cullen guy in Twilight, you know. Not me – well, that’s to say I really liked the book and I even kind of based a poem on it, called Waiting, which I wrote for English and made into a clip last year – except that I didn’t think of the guy in that as a vampire, not really. The idea of hankering after a guy who was just stopping himself from drinking your blood, like you were some kind of rare steak, seemed pretty yuck to me, even if he was gorgeous like Edward Cullen.
    But I needn’t have worried. He didn’t go on about vampires, thank God. Instead he said, ‘Where are you staying?’
    â€˜In the town.’ I waved around at the cars. ‘We just came here today because of the film shoot.’
    Oh, yeah, okay. You said there was a film. What is it?’
    â€˜It’s a film set in Roman times, based on a book by a guy called Marc Fleury.’
    His eyes widened. ‘You’re an actress?’
    â€˜No. No way. I’m just here on holidays. The film people – we only just met them. My sister and me, we’re here on holidays with my aunt. She’s working on a book. About Herod. You know.’
    â€˜Oh yes,’ he said, without much interest. His phone beeped, and he pulled it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go now. But, look, are you in St-Bertrand for long?’
    â€˜Two or three weeks, I’m not sure. Till–’ I broke off. I’d been about to say, Till we feel better about what happened, but decided I really didn’t want to tell him about that. It was none of his business. And even if he was cool, I’d only just met him, after all. Some things you couldn’t spill straightaway.
    Mick didn’t seem to notice my hesitation. He said, ‘That’s good. I will be here for at least a week, maybe more, to complete my investigation. I hope we might meet again.’
    â€˜Sure,’ I said. ‘Sure, I’d like that.’ And I watched him as he loped away down the track towards the main road, the phone glued to his ear.

Out there
    I was going to go back to the film shoot after that but suddenly decided I didn’t feel like it. They’d probably just be shooting that same scene for the tenth time. And I didn’t want to be around Daniel anyway. Instead, I’d just walk back to the town. I had a pretty good idea of how to get there. I like walking, it was a lovely day, and I wasn’t feeling tired at all.
    But five minutes in a car is more like an hour on foot. By the time I got within sight of St-Bertrand, my feet were pretty sore and I felt really thirsty. But I’d still enjoyed it. It was very quiet on that road – only two cars had passed me in all the time I was walking. I hadn’t caught up with Mick, either, as I’d half thought I might. Of course I didn’t know if he’d come on foot or car or whatever. I hadn’t heard an engine. But some cars are pretty quiet, and he could have had it parked by the side of the road. Anyway, it didn’t matter. I was sure I would see him again, though come to think of it, he hadn’t told me where he was staying. Still, he looked like a cluey sort of guy. He’d find me, I thought. I hoped he would, anyway. He was intriguing. Not your usual sort of person. And he seemed nice. Friendly. Easygoing. He wasn’t stunningly handsome, like Daniel, but he wasn’t ugly either. If he wore contact lenses instead of those glasses, and styled his hair into a better shape, he’d not be bad at all. A bit nerdy, sure, but that was way better than being arrogant and hostile.
    And the UFO stuff, well, the more I thought about it, the more cool it