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Lucius licked his lips unconsciously; a tiger had seen the perfect prey. Yuri Jansen set his appetite on edge as had not happened in decades. Her seductive, questioning eyes, like liquid pools of caramel set his teeth on edge. Her full lips, brown and round thrilled him to the point of ecstasy. She reminded him of the trill he used to experience before setting after his prey, back in the old days, when Tiger-shifters used to hunt flesh. He would have her, and he would keep her. He thought so with the same self-assured confidence with which he bounded down the 60 meter tree. He first let himself fall, then midway through the air, he turned, took one agile step along the tree, and landed on the ground the next second-on his four feet.
There was no breeze, at the level of the road, and the dark, slightly greenish overcoat that he wore in a bid to hide better in the trees, lay still on his back as he walked back into town.
By the next week, everyone at school with an old person at home had a story to tell about how Lucius had visited their home. Yuri found it strange that Lucius was so interested in the senior community. She did not find it amusing in the least like others did. Above all she was jealous. She could not explain why, and she felt absolutely childish being so, but she could not help it. He had come into her house that first day and set her body on fire. She would have loved to feel that in some way she had impacted his mind, imprinted herself-or that they had shared a moment. Alas, she had not heard as much as a pip from him. She carried this burden on her mind, throughout the first two days of the week, and by the end of Wednesday she was livid. She was going to his place to give him a piece of her mind.
Old man Jacob had already told her that traditionally people hardly ever went up to the old house on the hill, and when they usually did it was on invitation. She had smiled politely as he said this, having already made up her mind to go there at the first opportunity.
Chapter 5
It was already gathering dusk on the Wednesday after school when she set her face hard as flint in the direction of the mansion upon the hill. The road, as opposed to the road that led to the Northern woodlands, swerved to the right from the town square, winding aimlessly through two suburbs before setting itself on a straight course that ran between two areas of scattered trees that stretched for about three hundred meters, before climbing steadily, and winding steadily for about a half mile before opening up to a plateau that led to the house fifty meters away. The house stood on a hill that over looked the entire city, like a beacon. It was certainly not a house that could be walked up to easily, and people suspected that defense was the raison d’etre for the location.
Yuri parked on the final bend before coming up on the fifty meter plateau before the house. She had not been invited, and the utter loneliness of the place, seemed a reproach to her for trespassing. The house stared at her sternly. She approached the door carefully, wondering if she should knock. The door was old, but sturdy; a product of a bygone era. It even had a knocker on, in the middle.
The day was getting chilly at that point, but she could not be sure whether it was the weather or the absolute violation she had embarked upon that made her hands shiver slightly. She shoved any qualms aside, and moved to bang the door.
Somebody grabbed her firmly from behind. Firm but not harsh, and spun her round. She stared into the forever eyes of Lucius the landlord, and her scream died in her throat.
His arms were stronger than she would have ever thought. His face was stern, but not unkind. He gripped her shoulders, and held her against the door. Yuri thought she could stay there forever, but that was not her aim of coming.
“Let go of me, sir,” she began pushing him away.
“Lucius” he said. He let her go, and took a step back to give her room.
“Lucius, yes. I don’t know how they do things where you are from, but it is rude to just waltz in and waltz out of people’s houses and lives like you do,” She began all self-righteously, while also aware that she was making absolutely no sense. “I would have thought that you would have come more often seeing as grandpa gets lonely most of the time and he is your friend, and-“
She stopped, breathless, still not quite sure why she had come. He stood away from her, but still managed to look like an impenetrable doorway. He had a tank top that exposed his surprisingly muscular arms. Yuri could not read the expression on his face. It occurred to her for the first time that this man might be dangerous-and she was stuck on a hill more than two miles from anybody with him!
