Pet Shop Boys: A Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

himself. Felicity’s family was just too weird.
    “Isn’t she soft?” Emily said right in front of him, and he pulled his head down to find her standing between his knees, far too close. She had shoved her sleepy cat right into his face, and he straightened, taking her shoulders and moving her to stand beside him instead. “She smells so good!” Emily added, pushing the sleepy cat into his face again.
    Taking the kitten in self-defense, Cooper buried his nose into the long fur, breathing in a scent that smelled vaguely like rabbit. “She smells perfect,” he said, and Emily’s green eyes narrowed.
    “Mine!” she demanded, hands reaching.
    “You shouldn’t feed her cake,” Cooper said as he handed the kitten back. “She’s a carnivore. You know what that is?”
    The kitten once more in her arms, Emily gave Cooper a big sloppy kiss, the cat pressed between them. “It means she likes blood,” the little girl said in her high, innocent voice.
    Surprised, Cooper wiped his lips, wondering at the slight bitter taste Emily had left behind. “I suppose. Cake might give her a tummy ache.”
    Emily dropped to her knees and crawled back under the table with her cat. Cooper settled back in relief. She was a sweet girl, but he wasn’t comfortable around kids. There were a few children on the outskirts like Emily. None of them were playing with each other but were alone, talking with grown-ups. Talking with beautiful, lyrical people with black hair.
    Frowning, Cooper wiped the bitterness from his mouth again and sat up. Where had all the redheads gone?
    Leaning, he looked at Emily under the table, playing with her kitten. What is taking Felicity so long? “Are you excited to be able to stay up late?”
    “No,” came her sweet voice, and she crawled out to climb into the chair beside him, swinging her feet and cuddling her kitten. “Are you sure you don’t want to dance?”
    “Pretty sure,” he said, looking for Felicity’s red hair among the brunettes. He finally spotted her clear across the bar, arguing with her father. Slowly he frowned. “That’s odd.”
    “What?” Emily asked as she buried her nose in her kitten’s fur.
    Cooper ran a finger between his collar and his neck. “I could have sworn there were more people here with red hair.”
    Emily laughed. “You’re funny, Mr. Cooper,” she said, cuddling her cat.
    “And you need to name your kitten, young lady.”
    He’d meant it as a joke, but the little girl looked at the cat seriously, purring in her arms with her eyes closed. “I’ll name her Happy,” she said, and Cooper nodded, satisfied.
    “That’s a good name.” Sucking on his teeth, he watched the people around him, counting the red to brunette ratio. Everyone on the dance floor had black hair now, moving fast in a complicated line dance, feet hitting the floor simultaneously to make the chandeliers shake.
    His gaze drifted over the shadowed booths, landing on a particularly amorous couple, arms wrapped around each other and heads locked together as the rest of the table ignored them, one blond woman with her head on the table next to her wineglass, and the other staring vacantly into the dancing mob.
    Chuckling, he started to look away, but a glint of teeth yanked his attention back.
    Jaw dropping, he stared as the man pulled from the woman for a breath of air, then slowly bent back to her, shifting her head slightly to show her bleeding, torn flesh. Holy shit! he thought, going cold as a wash of fear hit him. He’d bitten her! The woman was bleeding!
    Cooper looked from the woman passed out on the table to the one staring vacantly at nothing. Sweet Jesus , he thought in a panic. Was he in a bestial bar? He’d heard about these, places where bored, wealthy people went to abuse poor slobs . . . like himself.
    His blood pounded, and he forced himself not to move, freezing like a cornered animal. The food he’d been warned not to eat . . . Was it drugged? Why else would someone