Only the Thunder Knows_East End Girls Read Online Free PDF

raven black, shiny as silk, and hung halfway down her
exquisite uncovered back. When she turned their way, Burke and Hare gasped as
her dress was nearly as low cut on the front, brazenly exposing the woman’s
large full breasts, barely contained within a black leather corset. Everything
about this women said money; years of pampered living and classy refinement,
but there was also a subtle, dark, dangerous way she moved that screamed sex; a
street-hardened erotic temptress rather than the product of high society.
    “Look at that,
Billy!” Hare said.
    “I see her,
William,” Burke answered, his words slurred, dripping with drunken lust. “Do
you think I’m blind? How could I miss a strumpet like that?”
    “Not the
woman, dullard…quick, up there on the roof. Look!”
    Burke
reluctantly tore his eyes away from the lady in green, following Hare’s shaky
extended finger skyward. At the peak of the theatre’s roof, wings spread fully
out at its sides like a stone gargoyle protecting its chosen sanctuary, was the
massive white bird that had scared them last night, anticipating their every
move, forcing them to cower indoors until the break of dawn.
    “Blimey!”
Burke shouted, causing others in the crowd to look up and notice the strange
albino animal. “It’s that great bloody beast again! What’s it doing, William?”
    “I don’t—”
Hare began to answer.
    “You’ve seen
that bird before?” A strong female voice interrupted him. Burke and Hare nearly
gave themselves whiplash snapping their heads down to see who it was speaking.
It was the woman from the cab. Up close, she was even more impressive. Her jade
eyes perfectly matched the shade of her dress; so large and alluring they
actually managed to capture both men, holding their stare away from the
tempting pleasures exposed below. For a few seconds, at least.
    “Seen it?”
Burke replied. “Bloody thing chased us across half the city last night, it did.
Kept swooping down on us, claws ready to have a go at our eyes.”
    “Really…?” She
said, taking a step closer. “How fascinating.”
     “We think it
might be an albatross. Evil, cursed birds, I’m told. Tell the lady, William?”
    Those strange
jade-colored eyes turned Hare’s way, boring into him with an intensity that
made him uneasy for some reason. The woman was strikingly beautiful, the
sexiest woman he’d ever stood this close to, but there was something about her –
a hunger, perhaps – that made him distrust her.
    “Aye. I mean,
no. It’s not an albatross. I forgot to tell you, Billy. I was told it was
an...ahh...hell I can’t—”
    “An owl,” the
woman said. “A Snowy Owl, perhaps?”
    “That’s right.
That’s exactly what he said it was.”
    “What who said it was?” she asked, stepping even closer – too close – a quiet desperation
in her tone that set Hare’s alarm bells ringing again. Maybe it was all in his
head, her intoxicating flowery perfume playing tricks with his simple mind.
Regardless, he wasn’t about to expose his employer to anyone, even someone as
stunning as this.
    “Oh…I can’t
remember. Just one of the local lads down at the pub. He’d seen a bird like it
in one of those fancy picture books.”
    “I see,” she
said, stepping back and dropping her eyes to the ground. “Well…it’s been a
pleasure, gentlemen. Good evening.” She started to walk away, the men’s eyes
unconsciously drawn to her backside and the magnificent sway of her hips, but
she surprised them by turning back. “Forgive me for not introducing myself. My
name’s Magenta. Magenta Da Vine. A stage name, of course, but it has a certain
ring to it, don’t you think?”
    “Definitely,”
Burke answered, “I take it you’re part of the play, then?”
    “Aye. We’re
doing The Scottish Play , naturally.” When neither Burke nor Hare showed
any sign of knowing what she was talking about, she explained further. “It’s
called Macbeth . Shakespeare’s best, in my