Posted by PK on June 22, 2003 at 17:28:30:
Amanda looked up, distantly aware that someone had asked if she could sit down. "By all
means," she said automatically. Her own thoughts were still circling. Theakstons Old Peculier
had that effect.
"You don't know me, do you?" the other person persisted.
Amanda focussed. Attractive girl. Oddly dressed, but that was hardly unusual in this watering
hole. Vaguely familiar though. She took a sip of her ale. "No," she said honestly. "You do
look vaguely familiar though. Do you know me?" Of course she did. She must do. Everybody
knew who she was. Silly. Blame the alkaloids. "I'm sure I'd have remembered...."
"I'm Cody Chase," the girl said.
It suited her, Amanda thought. That sparked a memory.
"Ring any bells?"
"Still drawing a blank," Amanda said. "Is there a point to this?" Oh charm, where have you
gone? she reproved herself. Own worst enemy. Chase? Something there, on the tip of her
something or other.
"You might remember my sister...."
Hang on a minute....Chase...yes...
"You ate her," the girl prompted.
Amanda closed her eyes for a second. Yes. "Oh, right," she said. "That Chase. Yes, I
suppose I did. Your Andrea's sister? Of course you are."
"You do remember her then?"
"I remember everyone I eat. It's a foible of mine. Easier than recalling football results."
Amanda wasn't sure what this was about. The girl was quite attractive, but she wasn't really
in the mood for any sort of profound emotional confrontation. A fight might be fun, but that
wasn't on the cards. The wench wasn't big or tough enough.
Odd, that. She did want to fight. Or, at least, she wouldn't mind. She remembered the last
time somebody had tried to throw her out of a club. Really big bouncers. That had been fun.
None of them had actually died, but...
"Did you fuck her before you killed her?" There was an edge to the question.
"Yes." This was getting weird. That could have been an accusation of rape but it didn't quite
sound like that. "And, before you ask...sorry, I'm being redundant. You know that, don't you?"
Amanda had indeed hunted, killed and eaten Andrea. If it really was that Andrea, one never
knew. And had thoroughly enjoyed doing so.
"I don't know that. You might have shot her first."
"I try not to these days," Amanda said, "Unless I have to." It was true enough. She preferred
to catch her quarry alive. Much more fun. The Theakstons was having its usual effect. Her
thoughts were slowed down a bit, but that gave her time to reflect in depth. "What I meant
was, I didn't rape her. You did know that. Sorry for the fox paws. Pardon my franglish."
Cody smiled as wickedly as she could manage. "And how do you know that I know that?"
The beer had other side effects. Amanda was suddenly entranced by the sight of Cody's toes
in the bizarre sandals she had on. Probably bought in an Oxfam shop. Feed the hungry.
Following that train of thought...
"Because I talked to her before I ate her. Because you're here asking questions like that. Is
there something you want to tell me, or something you want to know?" Amanda had a
random impulse to say 'or we could just fuck' but she bit her tongue. Yorkshire ale tended to
erode her suavity, if there is such a word. She'd have to look it up.
Cody's eyes were avid. Amanda could smell her intensity. "Tell me about it," she said.
So that was it. It was surprising it didn't happen more often, really. In an ideal world, her
relationships with the people she ate would be hermetic, sealed in a box and kept for her own
mental photo album. (And, of course, in her refrigerator) They would have no friends or
relatives and nobody would pursue the issue after the fact. Of course, that was almost never
the case. Everybody has family of some sort. Hardly anybody has no friends at all, though in
practice not everybody has friends who care enough to stand up for them. Where did Cody
(cute name, she couldn't help thinking) fit into this? Avenger? Unlikely. She'd met a few of
those, but not many, for the obvious reasons. Be kind and reasonable, she thought. Might get
a decent fuck out of her. Might even get to eat her. Unlikely, but hope springs eternal..
"What do you want to know?" was what she actually said. A psychotherapist couldn't have
done better. She recalled an acquaintance in another pub saying 'psychotherapist? Is that
another name for piss artist?' No, that was 'philanthropist'. The term for psychotherapist was
'the psycho rapist'. How could she explain what happened on a hunt to somebody who'd
never been there? O, the rising of the sun and the running of the deer...
Hunt this little doe and eat her. Yes. Bite her little head off. Nibble on her tiny feet.