The Beast That Was Max by Gerard Houarner Read Free Book Online Page A

said. Her voice was a breeze lost in bare branches. In the shadows of the backseat, she was so small she was almost invisible. No wonder the Khmer Rouge, or the beisac, had missed her.
    But the Beast had her fixed. Max knew exactly where she was, what she was.
    "I remember," Max said. "All the things I felt and saw in you, I remember. You gave him what he wanted. You were afraid he was going to kill you after he got it, weren't you? That's why you held out, spent so much time away from him doing his work, finding other ways to be useful to him. But in the end, when you realized you could use his need to your advantage, you gave in. That's when you went ahead with your escape plan. And that's why he wants you so badly. Why you could bargain for your freedom. You're carrying his baby."
    Lee smirked. "Bingo, we have a winner," he said. "Fuck pride and all that shit."
    "I taught him about life, to want a child," Mani said vehemently. Her legs and arms whipped around as she sat up and filled the backseat with her anger. "Before me, he knew nothing of the living world. It was always the dead he wanted, the dead he could control. He tracked me after the massacre because he thought he'd find something in a survivor to dominate the beisac. I showed him what I knew, but it was not enough. My father's way was life; that's the way I was born into. That's what I had to offer. But he corrupted me, turned me into what I am."
    "The beisac changed you before he found you," Max said, dismissing her justifications with a wave of his hand. "Now you're getting what you need from your bond with his child."
    "It's not the same," Mani said, collapsing into a corner like a broken spider drawn in on itself. "I still feel so alone...."
    "The child is enough to fill your emptiness and let you run. You can live without Rithisak, as long as you keep his child with you." Max glanced at Mani in the rearview mirror. In her excitement, she had lost her self-control and her scent filled the car. He smelled a boy. “But Rithisak's son is his future, his legacy, and he can't let that go. That's the real reason he's coming after you."
    "A son," Mani said, looking down at her belly and rubbing it. "Less than a month old, and already you know. I wish you could've been the father."
    "I don't want a child any more than you do. But you needed one, for your freedom. Are you going to make him your tool, as Rithisak made you his?"
    Mani frowned. Her eyes blazed, and rage colored her face. The hunger of the dead reached out for him, tried to snatch him as it had in the street and pull him into her. But this time he was not distracted by her allure. He felt the cold of the grave creep through his flesh, the tug of bony fingers on his heart. His own rage answered, and the Beast's. Their joint roar filled Max's mind and broke her grasp on him. Her eyes widened, her lips parted. As the cry carried on, she shuddered, looked away, and put a hand up between them.
    "I wanted the baby, too," she said, a tremor in her voice. "But not for Rithisak to use like me. I wanted one on my terms, to serve the living, as my father did, and as he wanted me to do. I need him, yes. I may not be able to let him go if he chooses to leave me when his time comes. But by then there may be someone else to fill me." She turned back to Max, gave him the slightest of smiles. "Or if not, the boy may care more for his mother than for the world's mysteries and dangers." She widened her smile, allowing a thin line of teeth to show.
    "Damn, I must be getting old," Lee said, pushing Mani with his free hand back into the seat. "I almost missed her having an angle. I really do need a fucking vacation."
    The Beast volunteered to toss her out of the moving car. Max held its reins tight, using its energy to fuel his racing thoughts. Lee's comment about the show of respect and honor in having someone important escort her came back to him. She was a trophy, being passed through various circles of power in a kind of