Darrell Schweitzer - Full MoonCity

She’d erased the message and, just for the annoyance factor, turned off the machine before heading over to Russ’s for the night. The woman was obviously nuts… or not.

“The lady does get around…”

Russ stopped tearing lettuce apart and looked at her. “Excuse me?”

Karin shook her head and stole a grape tomato out of the bowl. “Nothing. So she wants us to be friends, huh? What did you tell her?”

He looked down so quickly Karin thought she heard his neck pop. “I… told her I’d ask you-but that I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

“Uh-huh.”

Russ finished dismembering the lettuce and picked up a homemade cheese crouton and held it out to her… an offering she couldn’t refuse.

One of the many things Karin loved about Russ was his skill in the kitchen. The man could cook, and while she managed well enough to keep from starving, her meals tended to be of the simple boil-in-the-bag variety. Russ, on the other hand, prepared real food, from scratch, using recipes that required more than “place in pot” and “turn on heat.”

If ever a man knew the way to a girl’s heart…

Karin sighed-a bad mistake, considering the mouthwatering aromas that filled the kitchen. She took the crouton and crushed it between her back teeth. “It’s not going to happen you know… the friends bit, I mean.”

“I know.”

“Then why didn’t you tell her?”

He shrugged. “I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have. Lily may seem strong, but she’s not, Karin… not like you.”

Karin concentrated on chewing and swallowing and not destroying his obvious delusions about his fragile , broken , weak ex. “Yeah, well… I guess she’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Here’s hoping.” He leaned across the island counter and planted a kiss on her nose. “Now, how’d you like to do me a favor?”

Russ generally didn’t need any help when it came to cooking, so Karin had already toed off her croc sandals and had made herself comfortable on one of the counter’s tall bistro-styled chairs-where she could filch the occasional nibble while he worked. She was already looking for a glass when he picked up a wine bottle and upended it. A lone drop, the color of ripe plums, landed on top of the lettuce.

“I thought I had another bottle of Cabernet when I made the dressing. How do you feel about running out and getting some wine? Do you mind?”

Karin snagged her purse off the back of the chair and slid her feet into the plastic shoes. “I can do that. Need anything else?”

“Not a thing. Thanks. Now scoot.”

She left him wreathed in a cloud of steam and paused only a moment to listen to the utterly domestic sounds coming from the kitchen. They were good sounds, echoes of hearth and home and refuge-sounds that she had missed and hadn’t even realized until that moment.

“I don’t hear the door closing,” he shouted, and it made her smile.

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir. At once, sir.” Karin stepped out into the bright late-summer evening and made sure the door banged shut behind her. Smiling, she walked past her car and continued down the drive to the sidewalk. It was too pleasant a night to drive the quarter mile to the wine-and-spirit shop.

One of the benefits, if there were any, of living in a “covenant-controlled planned community,” aka ‘acre-o-condos,’ was that there was always a strip mall within walking distance.

Not that many of the community-dwellers seemed to take advantage of it, as was evident by the number of cars that filled the parking lot. Their loss, she thought, and waved the right-of-way to a harried-looking woman in an SUV that could have housed a family of six, plus pets. Given the choice, Karin preferred feeling the ground beneath her feet.

He called her cell just as she’d finished signing the credit card receipt.

“You walked, didn’t you?”

“Can’t put anything over on you.” Mouthing her thanks to the salesclerk, Karin picked up the bagged wine and began weaving her way through the crowd to the door. “I won’t be five minutes… start dishing out the salad.”

Russ humphed through the phone. “Okay, but the wine’s supposed to breathe before it’s served, you know.”

“I’ll jog and we can give it CPR when I get there.”

Karin snapped the cell phone shut and dropped it back into her purse. She had no intention of jogging, even though the sky had grown considerably darker while she’d been perusing the wine aisles. Night didn’t bother her. And even if the city planners had attempted to keep the original “country feel” of the area by leaving the sidewalks tree lined and avoiding the overuse of streetlights, it was still upper-middle-class suburbia, for God’s sake.

Once she left the strip mall, with its ring of sodium security lights, Karin had only the full moon to guide her way, and that was fine. What could happen to her?

She’d only gone two blocks when she heard a soft scuff on the sidewalk behind her. It could have been a dog or a cat or a deer or a-

When a second, then third, then fourth scuff condensed into steps, Karin felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Someone was following her, and that someone was getting closer.

Tightening her grip on the wine, Karin forced herself to look straight ahead and continue with the same easy, unhurried stride, as if she hadn’t heard a thing. Every college self-defense lecture she’d ever heard came thundering back to her, along with each possible reaction’s chance of actually working:

Run- 50 percent, if you were faster than your assailant.

Turn and confront- 30-65 percent, depending on who was behind you.

Scream “rape” or “murder” -0 percent.

Scream “fire” -75 percent, but only if you were near a building.

Fall down and play dead- minus 5.3 billion percent.

Fight -100 percent, but a bad idea for a number of reasons.

The breeze shifted and carried with it the scent of lilacs and musk… and a low, trembling growl that slowly, very slowly formed into words.

“He’s… mine.”

Before Karin could react, something cold and hard and sharp raked down her back, shredding her shirt and the skin beneath.

Karin spun to the left, only partially aware of the squeal of brakes and blaring car horn as she darted out of the tree shadows and into the street.

Russ was setting the table when she walked in.

“A couple of minutes? I was about to send out the… Jesus , what happened to you?”

Setting the bottle down on the table, she glanced over her shoulder at the tattered remains of her T-shirt and gave him a sheepish grin. “You won’t laugh?”

There was only concern in his eyes. “Of course not.”

“I… slipped and fell into some bushes. Never said I was overly coordinated.”

“God, apparently not.” Turning her, Russ gently examined her back. “You’re lucky you only got scratched. They don’t look very deep, skin’s hardly broken, but you’d better let me put some antiseptic on them just in case.”

“After dinner?”

“Now.”

While Russ went to fetch the disinfectant and cotton swab, Karin opened the wine and poured herself a glass.

She didn’t give it so much as a moment to catch its breath.

Lily was in the book, too. She answered after the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Lily. You’re right, we need to talk.”

“Who is this?”

“You know very well who this-”

“Oh, Karin , of course.” The laughter was condescending. “Yes, I suppose we should talk if you want to. Frankly, I thought you’d have already gotten my message. But if you insist…”