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“I don’t know how it’s going to work,” I breathe. “But yes. Fill me with your seed, Jack, and I’ll give you the family you desire.” I grin as the thought crosses my mind. “We can have our very own little pumpkin patch!”
Chapter Three
Something in the undergrowth rustles nearby, followed by the telltale sound of a twig snapping underfoot. Jack’s entire bearing changes in an instant. He covers me with his body like a cat on all fours, his fiery eyes blazing. His many pumpkin vines and tendrils rise, some bursting through his coat—creating the illusion of wings—alive and ready to fight …to protect me.
Silently, and carefully, so not as to alarm Jack, I roll over beneath him, my eyes searching the darkness for any sign of danger. I hear it again, and faster than lightning Jack moves as stealthily as a shadow, plunging into the woods. A second later a strangled scream pierces the night, and my brow furrows.There’s something strangely familiar about that voice…
A body skids through the darkness, landing on the path several feet away. And in a shocking moment of recognition, I know who it is.I’d recognize that blond mop of curls anywhere. It’s Cooper.
Cooper groans in pain and moves to lift his head, but then Jack’s on him, plucking him from the earth by his neck, his claws wrapped tightly around his throat. My monster roars at my ex-boyfriend, though his menacing carved smile doesn’t move. I hear the trickle of fluid on the earth as Cooper grasps uselessly at the giant hand choking him.
I look down, following the darkening trail on his jeans in the moonlight.He’s pissed himself.Gross.And for half an instant, I’m surprised by my own callousness.
Once upon a time, we’d skipped stones down by the lake, and stolen bread from our folks to feed the wild ducks. We’d climbed trees, shared stories, mud-wrestled, and raced our bikes down long dirt roads, the colorful beads on our spokes clinking noisily as we went. Then we grew up, and that innocent childhood friendship suddenly became something more. We shared our first kiss in my tree-house and played hookie from Sunday school to enjoy heavy petting sessions down by the river.
A half-smile almost flits across my lips, but then I remember all the bad; the memories that are still painfully raw. The way he’d changed the older we got. How he’d grown aware of his man-candy good looks and transformed into an arrogant jock overnight. The way he flirted with other girls while we were still clearly together. And then the night he cheated on me comes roaring back with crystal clarity.
I’d found him balls deep in my dorm mate … my slender, blonde, cheerleader dorm mate, Cassidy.I taught that bitch basic Biology! Ugh.And his words from that night still ring clear as a bell in my mind, and still sting—even now. “What’re you looking at? It’s over, Morticia. No one wants your freak ass.”
Why did I ever give him a second chance? I wonder, as I sit among the fall leaves, watching Cooper’s urine-soiled legs flail hopelessly. Desperation? The need to feel loved? Validation? His pleas that he was a changed man, and that he’d realized how shallow and cruel he’d been? All of it, really, I guess. But now, I know the truth. After tonight’s cruelty, I know that I mean nothing to him. He finds me so repugnant that he couldn’t even follow through and fuck me before he dumped me. He just stole my candy and threw me out of the car like trash.
Anger resurges, hot and resentful. Rising to my feet, I brush myself off, straighten my dress, and approach Cooper, standing beside Jack. “This sorry excuse for a man used to be my lover, Jack,” I say, unsure if the ancient monster would understand a more modern term likeboyfriend. “And he’s broken my heart, twice.”
Jack growls in response, a deep rumble that seems to vibrate through the very earth, and he draws Cooper nearer, intimidating the poor simpleton with his fiery gaze.
“What are you doing out here, anyway, Cooper? Come to gloat? Maybe you thought you could take advantage and fuck me out-of-sight? You wouldn’t want everyone seeing you—the shining jock—fucking around with the town goth, would you?”
Cooper chokes out something unintelligible.
I sigh. “Let him down, Jack. I want to hear whatever pathetic excuse he has to offer.”
My monster drops Cooper like a sack of shit, and he hits the ground hard, grasping at his throat, gasping for air.
I give him a minute before pressing the matter. “So, why are you here in the woods, Coop? You left me for dead up at The Lookout.”
My pitiful ex scrambles backward on his ass, his eyes full of terror as his gaze flits from me to Jack. “I always knew you were a freak,” he spits, struggling to his feet. “Everyone was right about you; you’re a fucking Devil worshiper, aren’t you? And what the fuck is this? The demon you summoned to fuck?”
My laughter fills the night, and I bump into Jack as I cover my mouth to suppress my giggles, my eyes glistening with tears. “Oh, honey. No, no, no. The Devil’s a bit of a jerk, really. I worship no one. I’m my own woman. And this? This beautiful beast of darkness is Jack. See, the difference between you—pretty boy—and my Jack, is that he actually wants a chance at redemption. He wants to bring a beautiful legacy into the world. You, on the other hand, you’re just an immature shit who’ll spend his days fucking over everyone you can. You’d play women like you play your sport. Then you’d no doubt become a corporate whore and a sell-out.”
I step toward him, a crooked smile on my face. “You have nothing to offer the world, Cooper Mackie. You’re an oxygen thief, and I don’t think it’s fair that you continue to exist, quite frankly.”
Cooper’s eyes widen in understanding, and he licks his lips, the cogs ticking desperately behind his baby blue eyes. “Hey, you can’t judge me,” he fires back, clearly choosing stupidity over survival. “Only God can do that. You’re just a fat bitch! No one wants you—except this fucking jack-O-lantern.”
“Ope. You shouldn’t have said that. It’s obvious that your survival instincts are just as non-existent as you’re about to be. Goodbye, Cooper Mackie. I’ll probably see you in Hell, sometime.” Looking up to Jack, I hold his burning gaze before nodding resolutely.
Cooper turns on his heel and tries to run, but he doesn’t get more than a single step before Jack’s pumpkin vines lash out like sentient green ropes. They seize his limbs, wrap around his torso, and tighten around his neck, holding him several feet off the ground.
“Do it,” I cry, adrenaline pumping through my veins as Jack twists and squeezes while simultaneously ripping outward. Cooper explodes in a spray of bright red beneath the moonlight, the blood misting and showering down upon us as Jack flings Cooper’s severed limbs and head into the woods. I laugh and dance in the red rain, running my fingers through my hair, my face upturned toward the stars. “It looks like the wolves won’t go hungry, after all!”
A throaty rumble ripples from Jack, and I’m almost certain he’s laughing.
Imagine having such a wicked sense of humor after hundreds of years?The thought sets my heart at ease, and suddenly everything feels right with the world. Cooper’s days of hurting women are over, and thanks to his very own series of bad choices, he will never procreate, which means one less family of arrogant, conceited, stupid quarterbacks taking up precious real-estate in Farrowville.
Looking down at my blood-stained dress, I bite my lip, a wry smile spreading on my face. “So, Jack, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”
My monster seizes me in his tendrils, holding me securely to his chest, and then we’re blurring through the night like bleeding shadows, leaving the dark woods in our wake.
Chapter Four
