Free Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block Page B

like shit.”
    “I can’t do this anymore,” I say. “Everywhere I go with you, something horrible happens.”
    “I know. It’s as if I attract it. Maybe you bring it out in me. It’s gotten a little out of control now, hasn’t it?”
    “It’s like we’re stuck in hell together.”
    “We are, my darling. We are. But what’s thealternative? Being in hell alone?”
    I get up from the couch. Suddenly a rush of anger infuses me with energy. I go into the bedroom and find the Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. I pack it with as many of my vintage clothes as it will hold. (Later I will pay two men to come when William is not there and take the rest.) And then I leave.
    Willam just reclines on the sofa, watching me go. He thinks I will be back in no time.
    He is wrong.
    Los Angeles, 2001–2007
    In no time I meet a wealthy gentleman who worships me and gives me everything I desire. All I have to do is accompany him to his premieres and parties and let him fuck me once in a while. I know it sounds bad, but remember, I am a monster. At least I treat him kindly and never drink his blood or the blood of his friends or employees. To be honest, none of their blood smells good to me anyway. I spend my daysshopping for treasures. When he dies, he leaves me everything.
    The one thing I do not have for all these years is a friend, a companion, someone to share my riches with, someone who is not afraid of the strange girl in the palace of beautiful things. Someone intelligent and beautiful and sweet. Until Emily comes into my life.
    I never hear from William Eliot again, but I can also never shake the sensation that someday he will return.

William Stone
    I t was Halloween, the night after Jared’s questions on the beach.
    I thought it was another trick-or-treater, and I opened the door. The dry-ice mist rising from the bucket on my porch and the strings of orange jack-o’-lantern lights made the man glow. He wore a hideous mask from one of those disgusting slasher movies and carried some kind of ugly plastic sword.
    “Trick or treat,” he said. “Or should I say, dark trick, dark treat?”
    “You should say nothing,” I replied. “You shouldgo away and never come back.”
    A group of little goblins with pillowcases full of candy were coming up the path. William stepped back into the shadows while I placated them with sweets and watched them hop off into the night.
    Before I could close the door, I felt William’s hand on my wrist. His grip was firm and steady. I thought of Jared, with his gentle touch, his tender kisses. I thought of Jared shaking on my red velvet couch. Jared, who would die like all the rest, leaving me alone.
    But William would not die. He would be here when the sun burned the earth to a crisp through that growing hole in the sky. We would be in hell together forever.
    “Forgive me,” he whispered.
    And then I let him lead me into my house.
    Or perhaps I led him.
    He took off the horror-show mask. He tossed away the sword and dropped to his knees on my Oriental carpet. His hands held my hipbones.
    “Forgive me,” he said again. “I’m sorry I appeared like that, so suddenly, and startled you. I’ve been searching for so long. When I saw you I experienced all the same sensations I had at the moment of your making.”
    I turned my back to him and he rose.
    “What? Didn’t you feel it, too?”
    I tensed as he touched my shoulder, touched the hair that fell down my back. Wrapped a lock around the middle of his hand, turned it, wrapped it, tugged so gently but enough that my head went back a tiny bit toward him.
    “Why are you here? What do you want?”
    “At first I came to take you back.”
    “Take me back?” I said, turning to face him. My scalp pulled as my hair slipped from his hand. “You will never take me back!”
    “But then I changed my mind,” he continued. “I have released you. I have given you what you always wanted.”
    I stepped closer to him, my heart thumping with anger. “What