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.But he didn t.Of course he didn t.Teeth came in sets.You didn t get extras. Pretty flowers for the pretty lady? he asked.His voice sounded oily rather than aged and carried just The Sexorcistthe slightest trace of an accent.Brittany ran her hands down her arms, feeling like she had been greased by the sound. Er, well, yes, she said slowly, battling down the urge to say no and walk quickly in the other direction.He was just a little old man.A perfectly normal little old man.In a cardigan, for heaven s sake! Sowhy did she feel like she d just brushed against a snake? A very poisonous snake.With too many fangs.He tapped his chest with one finger. Any flower you want.Trust in Mikos.I ll take good care ofyou. Mikos.What an odd name. His smile twisted strangely and Brittany kicked herself.Great.She d just insulted the name of the nicelittle old man offering her flowers.The only flower seller who hadn t run in the opposite direction as wordspread that she was the new wedding planner for that wedding.She couldn t afford to alienate Mikos. And how lovely, she added quickly. Is it Greek? The too-many-teeth smile returned slowly. Er, yes.Greek.You want flowers? Brittany forced her own smile to brighten, ignoring the twitching at the base of her spine that urgedher to run back to her car and not look back. I m planning an& event in three weeks and I will need avariety of arrangements.Centerpieces, decorations for wall sconces, and, er, some, ahem, bouquets.Andperhaps a boutonniere or two. There really was no getting around it.It was impossible to even describe the flowers she neededwithout making it painfully obvious that her event was a wedding.But Mikos didn t even blink.In fact, she didn t think he d blinked once since appearing in front ofher.Like a snake.Brittany shivered.Did he even have eyelids? Whatever you need, he said, smiling toothily and nodding with steady bobs of his head. The, er, guest of honor is particularly fond of lilies. Lilies. Bob, bob, bob went his head.Brittany found herself nodding along with Mikos and forced herself to stop, feeling a bit disoriented.His head kept bobbing, the motion oddly hypnotic.She cleared her throat, again feeling the urge to escapescratching its way up her spine.She had to leave.Now. Do you have a card? she asked abruptly. Can I visit you in your shop? A card? he repeated, seeming irritated by the question. Or you could just tell me the name of your store.I m sure my car s GPS can find it.So handy, GPS.What did we do before we had it, eh? Calling information all the time. She was babbling.She knew it, butthe words seemed to fill the air between them like a buffer, a safe-zone, and she just kept throwing morewords into that space, trying to make it wider. I really must be going now, she said, backing away. Ican t be late for work.It s my first day.New job.I need to make a good impression.Begin as you mean togo on, and all that.Thank you for your time.Goodbye! www.samhainpublishing.com 37 Vivi AndrewsShe turned and began rushing away.She got about three feet before the dual realizations hit that shehadn t gotten the name of his shop and that she was, in fact, running away from a man who had to be sixtyif he was a day and had been nothing but friendly to her.She tried to slow her feet, but they kept onhurrying toward her car as if they knew better than she did where she ought to be going right now.Brittany glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Mikos gazing after her with a rather puzzledexpression on his face.She was behaving exceptionally oddly.Even for her.What she saw instead sent a wash of ice water rocketing through her bloodstream and had herbreaking into a run.He wasn t watching her walk away.He was following her.And he had far too many teeth.Rows of them.Like a shark.Small and pointed and vicious.Some of them looking more like fangsthan teeth and.Was that gore? Were there little bloody bits snagged on that snaggletooth?Brittany ran, her feet beating into the hard-packed earth of the park.She pressed a hand against herchest, the banging of her heart suddenly loud enough to drown out the chatter of the florists.Upon later reflection, she would acknowledge that, while running down narrow pathways boxed in oneither side by unstable tables, one really ought to take her eyes off the creepy man with too many teeth andactually look where she was going.She didn t see the first table she slammed into.Nor did she really have any awareness of the fact thatit flipped wildly in the air and landed on another table, destroying the contents of both.After she ricochetedoff and overturned another table, then wildly flailed into another, she turned and started looking where shewas running.But she didn t stop running.Mikos was still behind her.Brittany sprinted down the aisles amid the hysterical shrieks of the flower sellers.She leapt overtables and, having very little experience leaping tables, managed to topple fully half of those sheattempted to leap.She dodged between rows and the outstretched arms of the florists trying to stop her madprogress.She sprinted toward the parking lot, pursued by Mikos and the screams of those whose waresshe d demolished so thoroughly.The Audi bleeped cheerfully, unlocking as she approached.Brittany threw herself into the driver sseat.She would pay for the flowers.She would send a personal apology to every florist, gardener, andgreenhouse owner in the state, but right now she needed to get away.Brittany slammed the key into the ignition and started the car, glancing back once at the destructionshe d wrought.A trowel came flying toward her car, thunking off the window next to her face.Thankfullyit hadn t been thrown hard enough to smash the glass, but the angry mob of florists were getting closer38 www.samhainpublishing.com The Sexorcistnow, armed with hoes and nasty little three-pronged hand-rake thingies.What the heck were those thingscalled?Then Brittany caught sight of Mikos, standing on the edge of the crowd.He was no longer advancingtoward her, just watching with a sly, toothy smile.Her heart lurched forcefully and she lost her breath in arush.She threw the car into reverse and sped out of the parking lot, but not before she took one last lookback at the shark-like face of Mikos.In the morning sunlight, she almost thought she saw a pulse of angry red come from his eyes, but shemust have been seeing things.She was too far away to see his eyes or his teeth clearly.Wasn t she?She was panicking.Being utterly ridiculous.There was nothing wrong with that little man.Perhaps there had been some problem with her medication.She was on a new regimen that wassupposed to have fewer side effects, but what if they just didn t know about all of them yet? Couldhallucinations and paranoia be side effects?The miles flew under the car
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