Successors Read Online Free Page B

paused with stuffed cheeks and looked at her. “Do you want some?”
    Despite being famished she shook her head. She got the impression he would have held back eating so much if he knew he needed to share. Given his condition, she didn’t want to interrupt. She had been on more calorie restrictive diets than the last two weeks. Besides, it was the least she could do to repay his kindness.
    After a few minutes, Ethan let out a cavernous burp and sat back against the couch. “I’m so stuffed.” He looked back at her and shoved his plate over to her. “There’s a chicken leg there I haven’t touched.”
    Satisfied that he was indeed done, she leaned over and took the untouched chicken. It tasted like heaven—cold, chewy, glad-to-be-alive heaven. After she finished the chicken, her hunger spiked, demanding more than the meager drumstick as a meal. “Any ice cream left?”
    “Yeah.” He shoved over the carton. “You want a new spoon?”
    “No, I’ve had worse than cooties.” She gave him a half smile.
    Ethan moved to toast his body by the fire. He rotated himself like a pig on a spit. Cori eventually gave in and grabbed the chips off the coffee table too. She was hungrier than she thought. “I’m surprised he doesn’t have a big screen TV sitting above that mantle instead of dead animals,” she said between bites.
    “He probably couldn’t get reception out here,” Ethan pointed out.
    “And where is here?”
    “I think we're in western Russia.”
    “Siberia?”
    “Sort of.” Ethan shrugged. “I'm still trying to figure out what happened to that village. That was not an earthquake.”
    “Yeah.” Cori nodded. “That was too weird.”
    “You don't think it really moved, do you?” he asked.
    “I don't know. I have as many questions as you do.” 
    “Maybe we should check the rest of the house.” Ethan nodded to the hall leading to the open staircase. “We might get some answers.”
    She looked back at the other half of the house. Perhaps there was a backdoor. “Yeah, that's a good idea.”
    They searched the remaining rooms down the hall on the lower floor, but didn't find a backdoor. They found a master bedroom with bland beige walls and simple furnishings, a pristine bathroom, a laundry room, and a study with ample books. None of the rooms contained a television or anything resembling modern electronics.
    “Well, he has books,” Ethan said, fanning his finger over the books lining the wall in the study. “If we read past the boring descriptions of inanimate objects, it might be like watching a sitcom.” He pulled out a dusty, red, leatherback book with yellowing pages and a spine that cracked when he opened it.
    Cori rummaged through the study desk for anything that might clue her in to what she had gotten herself into. Or at least something that might help her get out of said predicament.
    The only thing of interest on the desk, was a red rotary phone. Unfortunately, the antiquated device, was missing the finger plate that would allow her to dial. There was just a single button in the center. That was perhaps her answer though. The key to her buyer's true identity.
    He was Batman.
    “Check out these titles.” Ethan pulled out a few more books. “The Hobgoblin Lineage, Mating Habits of Merfolk, Examining the Werewolf Hierarchy, Understanding Vampiric Digestion.” Ethan laughed and shoved all but one of the books back into place. “This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger. What do you make of this guy?”
    “I don’t make anything of him. I don’t plan to get to know him well enough to make anything of him.” Cori slumped back in the desk chair. 
    “Oh, yuck, there's pictures!” Ethan grimaced at the remaining book in his hand. “You have to look at this. It's like porn for fish.” He laughed raucously at his discovery and turned another page. “
    “Aren't you freaked out?” Cori asked, shocked that he could find any humor in this situation.
    He looked up at her