Monsters Within by Victoria Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

visits to the house in less than twenty-four hours , Saul thought.   This can’t be good. The Guard will surely know about this and I’ll end up having to answer a bunch of stupid questions.
    All of this went through his head as he dressed and headed for the door. He opened it quickly, a flick of a motion; the woman on the other side looked alarmed. He studied her slight built, the nervous way in which she attempted to smile at him, and frowned. The woman was dressed in the local police’s uniform. The name on her breastplate read Deputy Humphrey. Deputy, huh. Not good.
    “Hello?” Saul said.
    “Hi, Mr. Benton,” said Deputy Humphrey. “I am Deputy Kara Humphrey. I’m sorry to bother you.”
    Saul shrugged. “What can I do for you?”
    Kara looked at her feet, as if she didn’t want to explain why she was there. When she looked back at him, she had to crane her neck upwards. “I got a visit from Lester Dobbs this morning. He says you invited him and Hank Dooling over here for a beer last night and then attacked them.”
    Saul let out a weary laugh. “That’s what he said? Yeah…that’s not how it went at all.”
    “He also says that you pushed him through the window at Randy’s Roost. Randy backs this story up; there are at least four other men that saw it as well.”
    “Yes, that might have happened,” Saul answered. “But I did not invite him over here.”
    “Lester claims that you invited him and Hank over for a beer as an apology of sorts. I honestly don’t believe him, but he had bruises on him. He’d been i n som e kind of altercation. I hope you understand I have to ask you some questions or I wouldn’t be doing my job.”
    Saul nodded. “Come on in, I guess,” he said.
    Kara stepped into the cabin and Saul could tell right away that she was uneasy. She didn’t take a seat when he offered her one; instead, she stood close by the door.  Saul could tell that she was scared but was doing her best to hide it. He smelled the fear on her, but he smelled something else as well: excitement. And it was more than just excitement—it was a woman’s excitement. It was one of Saul’s favorite scents and not just the lust-fueled excitement that he had longed for in his youth. There was really no better smell, other than that of freshly spilled blood.
    “Would you mind telling me your version of the story?” Kara asked.
    Saul did. He told the whole truth with a few slight exceptions. He did not tell her that he had been sitting on the couch, reading. He didn’t tell her that he had known they were coming as soon as they had stepped onto his driveway. But other than that, he told her everything. Of course, he had also left out the part where he had felt his eyes go red. He wondered if Lester had mentioned that during his visit to Kara earlier in the morning.
    He saw her looking around, trying to find any evidence of the fight. He was relieved when he saw that she looked almost embarrassed to be here. She didn’t believe Lester’s story at all but, as she had said, she was doing her job. He didn’t blame her. Hell, he wasn’t even angry that this was the second human being that had come through his doorway in the past day.
    “You’re welcome to take a look around,” Saul offered.
    He rather hoped she would. The scent coming off of her had him getting rather excited, too. However, his better judgment told him that could lead to danger. He had his urges under control and knew that he would not kill a human no matter how strong the urge got—but there was no sense in testing things.
    His desire for blood he was able to control. But the need for sex…that was still a struggle.
    Kara Humphrey let out a sigh and shook her head. “I appreciate it, but I think I’m good here. Lester is…well…he doesn’t have the best reputation.”
    “Yes, so I hear. I feel for him, as I can say the same.”
    A slight blush rose to the Deputy’s cheeks. “I guess so. Although I wouldn’t say yours is a ba d