Free Rapture Untamed by Pamela Palmer Page B

pretty little thing, isn’t she?” the male with the Redskins cap said, eyeing the darker-haired girl.
    The girls glanced over their shoulders at the pair, but continued what they were doing, looking over several items on the racks. Though uncomfortable with the boorish attention, they didn’t appear to be genuinely worried.
    Olivia wondered if they should be. She continued to feed lightly as she watched with an eye toward stepping in.
    But the second boor noticed her, his eyes lighting.
    “I’m partial to redheads,” he said, hitching his pants up under his protruding belly.
    Olivia said nothing, just held his gaze as she slid one of her knives out of the sheath hidden beneath her jacket, twirled it around her finger in a quick arc, then made it disappear again.
    The man’s eyes widened, and he blanched, taking a step backward.
    “Let’s go, Earl.”
    “What? Why?”
    But the other one grabbed his arm and took off around the end of the aisle.
    “Jerks,” one of the girls said under her breath when they’d gone.
    Olivia had to agree. As she moved away, the girls’ voices carried to her, excited talk of iPods and birthdays and prom.
    She found herself smiling, their pleasure infectious, but her smile quickly faded. Humans knew so little of what really went on in their world.
    She prayed to the goddess the Ferals and other immortals could keep it that way. If Satanan and his Daemon hordes ever managed to get free, life as the humans knew it would be over. As they’d done five thousand years ago, the higher, thinking, Daemons would once more begin to round up humans by the thousands, mostly children, torturing and terrorizing as they fed on their pain and fear. Panic and misery would quickly rule the world.
    Olivia continued to walk and feed for a few minutes more, until she felt full and strong, then headed for the doors. As she strolled into the sunshine, she wondered how long before she turned hungry again. She’d gone almost twenty-four hours without feedingthis time. Would she be able to go longer next time? Or less? Almost certainly, she’d have to escape Jag again sometime tomorrow. When the time came, she’d have to come up with another excuse.
    She headed for the Hummer, anxious to get back to Harpers Ferry before Jag realized she was gone. Ahead, she saw the two boorish males hitting on yet another female in the parking lot.
    One adjusted his hat while the other tugged up his pants. Then suddenly, as one, they went perfectly still, their arms dropping limp at their sides.
    Olivia’s eyes narrowed, her instincts ringing a warning alarm. As she passed the trio, she glanced at the attractive auburn-haired woman, then looked quickly away, her heart beginning to race. The woman’s green eyes had been ringed in copper.
    Mage eyes.
    Which meant the enthrallment of those men was real.
    Why? What would a Mage possibly want with humans, and two such poor examples of the species, at that?
    Keeping her stride casual and even, she continued to the Hummer, watching out of the corner of her eye as the three climbed into the red pickup truck they’d been standing in front of. The men moved like automatons.
    Olivia climbed into the Hummer, then pretended to study herself in the rearview mirror as she watched the truck drive off at a calm, sedate pace.
    She started the bright yellow vehicle and followed, wishing like hell she was in something a little less eye-catching. Clearly Jag’s work rarely called for clandestine pursuit. If only she could contact him to tell him she was following a Mage and her victims.
    But she was out of range, and on her own. For the time being, they both were.
    She followed the truck back toward Harpers Ferry, but lost it as it turned left between too small a gap in oncoming traffic for her to follow. And by the time another gap presented itself, her quarry was nowhere to be seen.
    Olivia?
    The sound of Jag’s voice in her head sent her pulse into a small, odd skitter.
    I’m