A Kiss That Bites

"Did you give Angerona the package?" A man said on the other end of the phone. "I trust there weren’t any problems. Because if you backed out, you know what will happen, don’t you?”

Kile slightly shuddered from the wicked sound of the voice and spoke, "No. I mean, yes I gave her the package and no, there was no problem. I didn't back out, sir. I did just as you instructed."

"Excellent." The evil voice all but purred on the other end. "Now then. I have a new assignment for you, Kile. I want you..."

Before the man could continue, Kile began to stammer, "I-I thought... th-this was my only tar-target? I-I th-thought... I wouldn't h-have to do a-any more?"

"You will not interrupt me when I am speaking!!" The voice growled and a shot was heard over the phone. "You don’t want to lose any more members of your family, right? Poor Olivia.” Cold, maniacal laughter was heard for several minutes before the voice continued speaking. "She was such a pretty little thing. Now you listen. You will watch the Savalides’ house and call me when it goes boom. Yes? And make sure none survive and if they do Kile... Well, I’m sure your mother would be sorely missed.”

The insane laughter began anew and Kile began to shed silent tears for his recently departed sister. Kile was speechless for several seconds. Finally, the laughter died and Kile could speak again. "I understand and I’ll do whatever you want. Just please, please don't kill any more of my family. They’re all I have, sir."

“I won’t have to as long as you do everything I’ve asked you to do. If you can finish this without incident, I may even be persuaded to let your youngest sister go. Don’t let her down.” The line disconnected.

A wicked grin grew quickly across the twisted face, as the man leaned back in his office chair. He gazed down at the slain body of a young girl and the grin grew still wider. “Such a pity. You there,” he called to a man standing nearby, “Get this thing off my carpet before it starts to smell and stains the carpet.”

“Yes, sir!” the man replied, running over. He hoisted the body over his shoulder and carried her out of the room.

* * * *

Angerona stared out of the back seat window of Eva’s little black Honda Civic, the scenery flying by quickly. How they managed to talk her into this or even why she agreed to go, she still didn’t fully understand. They were on their way to the airport; their destination was Colorado. She would be away from her house and grandmother for over a week. She wondered how Agatha was getting along with Rupert and if he was making sure she was taking her pills. She continued to stare unseeingly out of the window while the other two chatted happily in the front seat.

"Earth to Angie! You in there girl?" Eva called to the silent woman in the backseat as the car continued to approach the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

"Huh? What?"

Angerona was brought back to reality by the sudden use of her name and dimly recognized that she was being addressed. She hadn’t heard a single word of their conversation and experienced a pang of guilt for leaving her mind at home and not trying to have more fun with her friends.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t listening; I was thinking about MeMaw. What were you saying?”

“Stop worrying. She’ll be fine with Rupert there to look after her. He’ll probably wait on her hand and foot.” Eva said gently, looking in the rear view mirror at Angerona.

“And if not, Eva and I will hold him down and you can hit him with a sock of oranges! Anyway, did I tell you the name of the hotel? It’s really nice; they have heated pools and kitchenettes, and stuff. There’s even a restaurant if you don’t feel like cooking. Supposedly, the chef is amazing. The pamphlet had all kinds of information.” Lexie said, smiling widely.

“Um, sure. What’s the name of the hotel?” Angerona asked, making sure Lexie knew she was paying attention.

“It’s called The Wolf’s Den. Weird name, right? I thought most places were like ‘Days Inn’ or whatever. But this one is family run, so the guests get more attention than those chain places. And you know what that means. It means we get to have an extra relaxing vacation for once!” Lexie chirped excitedly, her blond hair gleaming brightly in the sun pouring in though the windshield.

Angerona smiled a little as she said, “I just hope they have cell reception out there. You’re making it sound like this place is in the middle of nowhere. Where is it, exactly?”

“Uh, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think it’s somewhere near Rocky Mountain National Park. Something along those lines.” She turned to Eva and asked, “What was the name of the town again?”

Eva glanced sideways and back again before answering, “Yeah, it’s right near the National Park. It’s called Jamestown. It’s really small, only a few hundred people live there, so chances are cell service could be iffy. On the bright side, we’re in for some amazing sight seeing.”

“Why do you even know how many people live there? Did you Google it or something?” Angerona asked irritably. She hadn’t planned on being in the middle of nothing for a week with no connection to the outside world.

“Whoa there, missy! No need for that tone. In fact, I did look it up. I thought you would be more comfortable in a small place with less people than in somewhere like Denver. This vacation is about you, so we did put some thought into it, you know.” Eva said, stung. Evahraine frowned slightly as she turned her car onto the exit that would take them to the airport and decided to say nothing else on the subject.

Angerona felt horrible for biting Eva’s head off and realized she should be thankful that they had taken her feelings into consideration for once. She had asked them once why they always dragged her off to a bar on her birthday. They guiltily admitted that they wanted her to meet a hot guy. As if that were ever likely to happen. The day Angerona Savalides met a hot guy in a bar would be the same day the clouds turned to whipped cream and pigs grew wings. The only men, or more accurately boys, that frequented the local boys were cowboys or bubbas, definitely not the kind of person Angerona envisioned herself meeting. She seriously doubted she would ever find someone who could rise to her high standards.

Angerona wanted someone tall and slim, with broad shoulders, more muscles than you could shake a stick at, and long, dark hair. Mr. Fantasy would have a deep, purring voice and would move like a jungle cat. Only, it would be a cold day in hell before anyone like that would appear in her life. Angerona laughed internally at the thought that he probably didn’t even exist. Men like that only existed on the covers of romance novels.

Lexie looked back and forth between Eva and Angerona a few times before turning back around and looking out the windshield again. She would never understand why they bumped heads like that sometimes. It was never anything serious, but Angerona had been spacing out a lot more lately and they were starting to worry about her. She usually wasn’t like that and from what Lexie could gather from talking with her, Angerona was even behind at work, which wasn’t like her at all. Both she and Eva hoped this vacation would help snap her back to her old self.