Read Online Paint It Black by Nancy A. Collins - Free Book Online Page B

locker's threshold. Judd grabbed the door's handle and yanked it open. There was a faint crackling sound, like that of static electricity, and a rush of cold, foul air. He squinted into the darkness, covering his nose and breathing through his mouth to try and mask the stench.

    'Sonja?'

    Something moved in the deepest shadows of the freezer.
    'J-Judd? Is that you?'

    'It's me, baby. I've come to get you out of here.'

    'Go away, Judd. You don't know what you're doing.'

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) Judd steps into the locker, his eyes adjusting to the gloom. He sees me now, crouching in the far corner with my knees drawn against my chest, my face turned to the wall.

    'No, you're wrong, Sonja. I know exactly what I'm doing.'

    'I let her hurt you, Judd. I could have stopped her, but I didn't I let her... let her--' My voice grows tight and my shoulders begin to shake. 'Go away, Judd. Go away before I hurt you again!'

    Judd kneels beside me. I smell like a side of beef gone bad. My hands are covered with blisters and oozing sores.
    Some of the fingers jut at odd angles, since I'd broken them and they healed without being properly set. I pull away at his touch, pressing myself against the wall as if I can squeeze between the cracks if I try hard enough.

    'Don't look at me.'

    'Sonja, you don't understand. I love you. I know what you are, what you're capable of, and I love you anyway.'

    'Even if I hurt you?'

    'Especially when you hurt me.'

    I turn my head in his direction. My face looks like it has been smashed then reassembled by a well-meaning but inept plastic surgeon who only had a blurry photograph to go by. My eyes glow like those of an animal pinned in the headlights of an oncoming car.

    'What?'

    Judd leans closer, his eyes reflecting a hunger I know all too well. 'When you did those things to me, at first I was scared. Then, after a while, I realized I wasn't frightened anymore.
    I was actually getting into it. It was like the barriers between pain and pleasure, animal and human, ecstasy and horror, had been removed! I've never known anything like it before! I love you, Sonja! All of you!'

    I reach out and caress his face with one of my charred hands.
    A renfield. The Other turned him into a renfield. And he doesn't even know it, the poor sap. In the space of just a few hours he had been transformed into a junkie, and now I'm his fix.

    'I love you, too, Judd. Kiss me.'

    I want to think I am being merciful.

    I sit behind the wheel of the car for a long time, staring out into the dark on the other side of the windshield. Nothing has changed since the last time I was out here, disposing of Kitty.

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) I press my fingertips against my right cheek, and this time it holds. My fingers are healed and straight again, as well. I readjust my shades and open the car door and slide out from behind the wheel of the Caddy I bought off the lot, cash in hand, earlier in the evening.

    Judd is in the trunk, divvied up into six garbage bags, just like Kitty. At least it was fast. My hunger was so intense, I drained him within seconds. He didn't try to fight when I buried my fangs in his throat even though I didn't have the strength to trance him.
    Maybe part of him knew I was doing him a favor.

    I drag the bags out of the trunk and head in the direction of the alligator calls. I have to leave New Orleans, maybe for good this time. Kitty might not have been missed, but Judd is another story. Arlo is sure to mention the missing Judd's weirdo new girlfriend to the authorities.

    It is time to blow town and head for Merida. Time to go and pay Palmer a visit and check on how he and the baby are making out.

    Palmer.

    Funny how I'd forgotten him. Of all my human companions, he is the only one I've come close to loving. Before Judd.

    I hurl the sacks containing Judd's remains