Page 11 of Unlikable
This is exactly what he needed.
A challenge.
The young man with the ridiculous disguise has been on his heels for some time. At least, he is trying to. Little does he know that the one he is looking for is practically standing next to him. Oh, what delightful entertainment.
Because he is here.
Catch me, if you can .
He grins.
When he got wind that someone was looking for him and made no secret of it, he had become too curious to let it pass him by. He has been following the young man from pub to pub for some time.
He almost managed to put the drug in his drink. His victims are normally of the female sex, but if the man is trying so hard to look female, it is a bit lame of him not to treat the man the same way.
For a moment, a little voice whispers in his ear that he is freaking out. He quickly shakes off that voice.
Anyway, he had almost succeeded. Almost. He became incredibly curious to see how the drug would work on the man. A new and different experiment.
Unfortunately for him, they turned up: the two young men, one of them is immensely neatly dressed and the other obviously has to make do with his hand-me-downs. The young men accompany a lady, someone whose face looks an awful lot like that of the man in the dress.
Now that he looks closer…
Their faces look familiar to him. Very familiar. He just can’t place them, much to his frustration.
The party moves to a table at the back of the pub. The girl almost knocks him over, but he manages to step aside just in time and duck behind an elderly man, who has obviously had too much to drink, as he staggers as if he were standing on a ship caught in a storm.
He waits a moment until they are seated, and then his curiosity takes over. He sneaks up on them, positioning himself against the wall, next to a couple of men who are staring silently ahead with drinks in their hands.
Because it is so noisy in the pub, he only half catches the conversation. Then suddenly the man in the dress shouts something very loud and the entire room falls silent.
“What I mean,” he heard the man continue talking quietly, “is that Felicity was a woman with values and someone who…”
His ears perk up. He overhears the whole conversation. He thinks the young man with the neat clothes is just an annoying kid. Someone whose status has gone too far to his head. The girl balances uncomfortably on her chair, occasionally asking things of the man in the dress, who he is now sure is her brother.
He chuckles triumphantly. They are afraid of him. He is considered dangerous.
It feels wonderful to hear the fear in their voices. It also feels wonderful to be hunted, to be wanted. Excitement, thrills. This is what he wants. This is what he has come to London for.
Maybe he should give them a hand. His fingers slide to his coat, where the waist seems almost to be throbbing, screaming to be used.
Will he?
He moves away from the wall, walks back into the crowd to stare at the little table from another spot. There are cups of beer. The girl sips hers and pulls a strange face.
How would she look after he administered the drug?
His hands begin to sweat; he almost begins to salivate. A girl like her, she would surely reject him. She would want nothing at all from him. The fact that she has such a familiar face only encourages him more to administer the drug. After all, people with a familiar face are not to be trusted at all. He found that out at an early age.
A few times he is about to just walk up to the little table, pretend to fall and then very subtly pour the drug into her drink. In his head, it looks nicer than it is in reality because he will never in his life be able to pull that off. It is far too conspicuous.
He hesitates and doubts and gets mad at himself.
Make a choice. Don’t be a wimp .
Finally, the choice is made for him, as the girl suddenly stands and appears to be in a hurry. She also runs straight at him. So fast, in fact, that he has no time to move.
And then she bumps into him.
Immediately she averts her gaze. She doesn’t even look at him.
Anger bubbles up inside him.
“Forgive me, sir,” she brings out, startled.
He clamps his jaws together. “No problem,” he manages to squeeze out with extreme composure.
She rushes out, not looking back.
Her brother follows closely behind her and disappears from sight.
Now is his chance to administer the drug.
But he just stands there again, obviously at odds with himself. The table is still guarded by the other two young men. What excuse can he use to administer the drug?
Again, a choice is made for him as the brother and sister reappear, join the group and leave the pub.
No more drinks, then.
But the day is still young and he has all the time in the world.
With a dark smile on his face, he gets moving and sets off running. Looking for the girl with the familiar face.