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Finally, she squared her shoulders, and walked inside. To his surprise, the hostess seated her a few booths down from his.
Actually, he was glad she had been seated close to him, but he wasn't about to admit it.
Trigg watched the girl intently as she frowned over the menu. She looked over the items many times, turning the menu over
and over before staring down at one section. He knew the menu inside and out, having been here too many times to count, and
knew she was looking at the side orders. As skinny as she is, he thought, she should be ordering everything on the menu!
When his cheeseburger arrived, Trigg situated the plate in front of him and grabbed the ketchup.
After squirting a hefty dollop of ketchup on his plate for his fries, he picked up the very rare, jumbo cheeseburger and launched
in with a huge bite.
Looking up over the cheeseburger he held to his mouth, he saw the girl staring, but she wasn’t staring at him. Those big, blue
eyes were looking almost reverently at his cheeseburger.
Before he could blink, she had lowered her eyes back to her table and placed a hand over her mid-section. With his keen
hearing he heard the long growl of her stomach.
Trigg had the powerful urge to pick up his plate, walk over and sit at her booth, and share what he had with her. He felt the
need to give her anything she asked for, to feed her from his plate by hand.
Where the hell did that come from? What the hell was wrong with him? What did he care about this all too skinny girl who had
the air of a kicked one-time-too-many dog?
After giving himself a mental ass-kicking, he took another bite of his cheeseburger and tried to push all thoughts, except for his
delicious dinner, out of his mind.
As he finished off his meal, Trigg couldn’t stop himself from watching the girl eat her fries. She ate slowly, intently, savoring
every bite as if it were her last meal.
Though she wore a jacket, Trigg could see by her hands and wrists that she was bone thin. Her face was long and pale,
making her dark blue eyes seem too big for her face. With every quick glance around her, he saw the look of fear on her face,
as well as loneliness.
Loneliness was something he knew all too well, but didn’t dwell on. In fact, he enjoyed being alone. There was no one to tell
him what to do, where to go or even how to act. He relished the freedom, or did he?
His focus returning to the girl, he gave her the once over, noticing the small shirt she wore under her jacket, which was soaked
from the rain. She had to be chilled, he thought, his forehead creased in a frown. Running around in the rain with her frail body
would surely make any human sick. And why did that make him concerned?
Shaking off his thoughts, which were beginning to annoy him, he rose from the booth and plopped down some bills to pay for
his food and a decent tip. He turned to leave, but took one more look at the troubled girl, still chewing her fries while glancing
around the room.
Trigg breathed a sigh and sat back down in the booth. He sent a compulsion for the waitress to come back to his table. When
she did, he pulled a twenty out of his pocket and gave explicit instructions to take a loaded cheeseburger and a big chocolate
shake to the girl sitting four booths down. He also instructed the waitress to allow the girl to sit as long as she wanted and not
be pressured into leaving once her meal was finished.
The waitress glanced in the direction to which he was referring and nodded. Trigg sent another compulsion to ensure his
instructions were carried out and that the waitress didn’t just pocket the money instead.
After the waitress left for the kitchen, Trigg stood once again, and this time he left the restaurant without daring to glance back
at the girl who had captivated his attention. He didn’t question his reasons for what he had just done. In fact, he didn’t want to
think about it at all. He had to focus on the events at hand and needed to get back to the place he shared with three other
Watchers, his Cell-mates.
A small grin almost touched his face at the thought of that phrase. It was used often enough among his comrades as a joke,
although it was, in all honestly, a true endearment. Even to him.
One big family. Brothers and sisters who had taken a vow to uphold the mission to eliminate vampires who preyed on humans
and even other vampires.