Read Homecoming (A Finn McCoy Paranormal Thriller #1) Page 9

  Chapter Five

  She stood on the rocky crag and watched the man. She was well above him, out of earshot, and he had no idea she was there. He couldn’t see her; she was too far off and she took care to keep hidden from his eyes.

  She couldn’t recall how many times she had watched the man’s passing. Hundreds, at least. Maybe more. He came every day, no matter the weather. Sometimes it was earlier in the day, sometimes later, but always he came, travelling the same well-worn path, always alone.

  She never allowed the others to come with her when she watched the man, and she took great care to make sure that she wasn’t followed. If the others discovered the man, they would want to rip him up, and though they usually did as she told them, there was always the chance that she might lose control. It was hard enough to keep them from the children, but she had promised them a nearly unlimited supply of adults to prey upon, and so far that had satisfied them.

  Except for the man in the woods below her, she didn’t care about any of the other grown-ups in the town. In fact, it pleased her to watch the others stalk and take their prey. The people were useless bags of bones and meat. They lied. They made promises they had no intentions of keeping. They cheated on each other and rejoiced in one another’s suffering. They deserved to die.

  On the path below, the man stopped. He stood still, and he seemed to be listening intently. She instinctively crouched and held her breath, even though it was impossible that he could have seen or heard her. He stood for a moment longer and then resumed walking. As she watched him go, a feeling of sadness crept over her. She found herself wondering how long he would go on. He was getting older, and one day he would simply be unable to continue. But he was determined, and he would go on for as long as he could.

  That thought both comforted her and saddened her even more.

  She turned from the man and headed back across the rocky hill. Sharp rocks dug at her bare feet, but they had been toughened by years of never seeing a shoe. It would be dark soon and the others would be getting restless. It would not do to leave them unsupervised for much longer.

  They would be waiting for their Queen.

  She strode through the shadows, already smelling the blood and hearing the screams.