Gutsy, page 22
An odd, distant delight thrilled through me, and I rubbed my chest, blinking. Nothing here should be causing me to feel that way. I glanced toward the front door and swore the sensation was coming from somewhere in the woods.
“Pious wanted a lot of things he never had.” Esau clutched Amos against his side. “Maybe that empty-belly feeling was the closest thing he could link to the unmet needs he had when he created the original hex. Pious was hungry for life, starving for affection.” He scowled. “It hurts to be alone.”
Amos rested his head on Esau’s shoulder. “Now it’s going to steal lives.”
“He didn’t eat me,” I said, stepping away from a spot of entrails on the floor, the first bit of gross that had my stomach wobbling. “It’s possible he won’t.”
Esau let go of Amos and tugged something out of his pocket. There was a bit of pride in the way he straightened to his full height while holding the piece of rope out at arm’s length. The thin line unfurled to dangle, and there were small rocks tied every so often. They were green, with veins of red streaking them that reminded me of the mess around us.
“What is that?” I asked, poking at the strand. It swung back and forth.
Esau ducked his head. “Something I was working on for you. I don’t know if it will do anything for him. The rocks are bloodstone, they’re used in healings, and I worked an oil into the rope that chases away sickness. I didn’t find this anywhere, came up with it myself. We tried to lift the hex on you and it didn’t work, but I thought maybe. . . . I thought this might’ve kept you from killing again, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to give you false hope. It was going to be the next thing I tried for you.”
“And now what do you plan to do with it?”
Esau’s face ran red and he cleared his throat. “If Pious attacks, we’re shooting him to wound. I need this around his neck, and then I want to try to lift the hex again.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled out of me. “You think waving your hat and some rocks and ropes will end this?”
Amos laid a hand on Esau’s chest when he moved, as if he might come closer to deck me. The expression on his face spelled out my death, but after having fangs in my face already tonight, it didn’t faze me much. “Pious started this with nothing but his bitterness. At least we can see the bloodstone. What makes my method crazier?”
My face crumpled and I couldn’t stop it. I took deep breaths. “Why didn’t he eat me? I was right there. Why the cop?” I glanced around at the mess again.
“Oh, that’s simple.” He shrugged. “Pious loves you. He tore right out of the house after all those men on the property. He’s never much liked strangers.”
I tugged on the rope, and Esau let it slide free of his fingers. I coiled the cool line around my hand, and it thudded with the same pleasant warmth Pious’s charm had held, which had enamored me so much at the start of all this. Was the friendly thrum magic? How could something that felt so good end so bad? “Let’s go find him.”
Amos cleared his throat. “Maybe me and Esau—” He stepped back when I fixed a glare on him.
“You should stay here. Thinking back, Pious didn’t smell like food most of the time. Maybe I don’t to him now? Did you see his fangs? Do you want them in you?” I took a distinct pleasure in seeing Amos pale.
He shook his head frantically, and I didn’t bother to wait. I stalked toward the door, snagged my peacoat, which had thankfully been spared too much blood spatter, and was on my way. Someone had to get Pious and bring him back here, and even if he was a ravening beast, I wasn’t going to let him hurt himself or any more people than he already had.
He was mine, for better or worse.
And he’d kept me as safe as he could.
Now it was my turn to help him.
17
PIOUS
Where am I? It was difficult to think with the forest smelling so bright, like snow and pine and bark. Hungry. Need food. What smells good? So good. Where’s Journey? He smells good. Hunger pain beat at me. Something was wrong. I felt strong, though. Strength was good because I could eat easier. Get what I needed. My feet were chilled but not cold, and that was wrong. I kicked at the snow with my bare feet and glanced down. Hair startled me but didn’t worry me. I combed my claws through the fur on my belly and stilled when I heard voices close by. They were talking to each other.
Who were they? I could see their bright lights in the distance. They didn’t know how to use their senses to see at night in the winter.
Anger pulsed through me. This is my land.
The voices and awful lights drew me like a beacon, and when I got close to them my vision went green around the edges until the entire world glowed with the color. The scent of a tasty meal drew me on.
Stalking my prey was fun. I walked all around the men, and they got scared and put their hands on their guns. Pointed the muzzles in spots I darted away from. I was quiet and grabbed both men from behind, men I didn’t know well. They struggled as I picked them straight up off the ground with an arm around each of their chests. I pinned them, and they kicked, but their harsh heels barely registered as pain where they landed on me.
My stomach hurt too much.
A pang of guilt hit me, but I sank my fangs into the shoulder of the first man, then the neck of the second one, ripping as I pulled away. Deliciousness filled my mouth, and though they screamed and strained against my grip, they were easy to subdue. The man whose neck I’d bitten fell to the ground, aimed his gun, and then fired.
The man in my arms cried out.
“Fuck, Johnny, sorry!” the man on the ground shouted.
I threw the one who’d been shot into a tree. A loud crack split the air, and I bent, grabbed the gun waving at me, and then snapped off the man’s arm, easily tearing it from his body. I threw the arm and gun and didn’t think anymore as I consumed his flesh to make the hunger go away.
When I was done eating the hunger was less, but not gone. I snorted and sniffed, poking at what was left of both bodies. I’d eaten all the best parts, and what remained wasn’t as good, so I covered my kills as best as I could with snow and went on. I found another man in the woods, and he was a quick kill. I couldn’t consume more than a few bites from him, and covered him with snow, too, saving him for later.
Then a scent tickled my nose. A beautiful, wonderful smell—my Journey. My entire body reacted with excitement. He was somewhere in the woods, somewhere close. I sniffed the wind and stalked his way.
18
JOURNEY
Holding the old-fashioned gas lantern higher in my hand, I peered into the darkness to see what the other guys were doing. It was a good thing they were here because I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what to do with all the equipment they were carrying. The headlights on the red farm truck cut pale slashes through the night, illuminating the logging trail we’d navigated to reach this far into the forest. None of the officers had come back out of the woods, so we were working on the theory they’d all been ripped to pieces, which wasn’t a comforting scenario.
“Are we absolutely certain about this!” I called above the rising wind to Esau from where I stood in the truck bed. Snow whipped from the ground and pelted my face, making it ache. He grunted as he and Amos secured the heavy chains to the underside of the truck. They were massive, three on each side, and I couldn’t help thinking nothing could stop the beast Pious had become, though that couldn’t be true.
“What precisely did you have those lying around for?” I gestured at the silver chains glinting in the yellow light from the lantern.
Amos smiled up at me. “We use them to do a few things, but normally Pious moves the chicken coop around with them. They’re free-range, and during the summer the enclosure gets parked in different places around the farm. Oh, I’ve also seen him use them to pull out stumps when a new piece of field is cleared. Other things, too.”
“I’ve never needed a chain in my life, leastways not anything that big.” It was a shock when he laughed as if he got my joke. Maybe the little Amish boy was kinkier than I’d given him credit for.
Esau held up a red pipe-looking piece of equipment with thick hooks on both ends. “This is a ratchet binder. As long as the chains don’t snap—” He gritted his teeth for a moment and shook his head. “—it’s rated for thirteen thousand pounds. Amos has one on his side. We should be able to use them to tighten the chains down and get him held in one spot. But yeah, like Amos said, off the top of my head we use chains for at least fifteen things around the farm.”
“Oh, silly me for not being aware,” I said faintly, and he snorted, giving me a wink. My nerves were off the chart and sweat had my borrowed winter clothes sticking to me. I set the lantern down on the roof of the truck at my back.
“Okay, we’re almost set up. Be bait,” Esau said.
“Shall I pull down my pants and wave my arse in the air?” I muttered.
He hummed as if he was thinking. “Bet that would work.”
Flipping him off was childish, but I did it anyway. “What if he comes and kills you and then me?” I ran a hand over my hair. “I don’t think he will, but what if he does?”
“Guess we won’t have to worry about this anymore, then.” Esau’s lips curved in something resembling a smile, but he was a tad green around the gills.
“Absolutely lovely,” I grumbled, and his nervous burst of laughter rang in the night. I wanted to tell him to be quiet, but we’d spent the last hour rigging up this. . . trap, I supposed it could be called, although, it was dubious at best. Our whole plan involved getting Pious on the truck and trying to loop the chains around him. I wasn’t to move off the bed of the truck for any reason. My job was to keep him in one spot.
Oh, this will be a grand time. My knees shook.
Esau rested his chin on the side of the truck bed for a moment and sighed. “Okay, if it looks like he’s going to eat you we’re shooting him.”
My heart hammered and I shook my head. “Don’t kill him.”
He closed his eyes. “Between you and him, he did this. You shouldn’t die for it.”
Amos went around the back of the truck to Esau’s side and gave him a hug. I stared at them, jealous I didn’t have Pious here. No, he was roaming these dismal woods, searching for food. I closed my eyes.
“So, once the chains go over him, I try to put this around his neck?” I pulled the rope studded with stones out of my pocket. “And it will help?”
Esau rolled a shoulder and crinkled his nose in my direction. “I hope so. I don’t rightly know what it’ll do. Might not do anything. Just wrap it around his neck and get the hell out and help us with the chains if you can. I think he’s big enough that if we string the chains across the truck bed and secure them, we’ll be able to keep them in place. Unless he’s strong enough to rip apart the truck. As soon as you’re out I’m going to sling barbed wire across the bed, too, and hopefully that’ll convince him to stay put. It won’t be nice to touch.” He gestured at the dangerously glittering pile of twisted silver metal nearby. The tines didn’t look friendly at all.
“And what if he breaks the chains?”
Amos picked up the gun from where he’d had it leaning against the truck and cradled it in his arms. “Then we have no choice,” he said direly. “I was under you when you weren’t. . . whatever Pious is right now. You were unnaturally strong, too strong for your size. It was frightening.” His voice got caught by the wind and the effect was eerie as it seemed to sweep away from us.
My cheeks burned, and I dutifully ignored the glare I got from Esau because he probably had a right to that.
“What if he doesn’t come for me? He could be a hundred miles away by now.” There was a faint pulse of familiarity that bounced around in my chest, which I was beginning to think was coming from Pious, but I could be crazy. I had to account for every scenario.
Esau shrugged. We didn’t have any good answers, and I hated this. So much relied on Pious’s actions. We settled in to wait, and everyone was alert for the first hour, but the coldness started sinking into my bones. Esau went from crouched beside the truck to standing with his head leaned back against the side, and Amos was smarter because he stayed curled next to a tire. I shuffled my feet and leaned against the cab of the truck from my spot standing on the bed as I stood staring out into the impenetrable darkness. The flame in the gas lantern flickered and cast unnatural shadows.
It was difficult to stay ready for a long time, and my chin was nodding toward my chest as sleep ate at my attention when a gasp from Amos had my head snapping upright.
My heart froze.
Bracketed between two tall trees stood the creature that had replaced Pious, sniffing at the air with his elongated snout. He had a stark, wild beauty and didn’t seem out of place in the frosty woods. His eyes glittered, the familiar brown I loved, and his nose twitched. The long hair on his body rippled as the wind gusted, and I swallowed hard when I realized he was nude. The fur settled again along his front, hiding his cock from view.
For a flash of time he seemed vulnerable, but then a deep growl escaped him as he went down on all fours and crept toward the truck, his gaze stuck on me. I slammed back against the cab. The moment had arrived and I was unprepared.
“Pious, it’s Journey. We want to help you. Don’t eat me, love.” I laughed and couldn’t help it. I glanced at my saviors in hiding and gulped. Amos and Esau had both slid back on either side of the truck until they were out of my line of sight. I knew they were there, and Pious probably did as well, but his attention never left me. My skin tingled, and I was trapped between the impulse to flee and open my arms.
He was still Pious.
“I don’t want you to hurt as badly as I did. The spite was there, in the back of my mind, but I don’t think you deserve this anymore,” I mumbled, feeling broken. Tears prickled at my eyes. “No one deserves this.”
The truck creaked and rocked as he put his hands—front paws?—on the tailgate, and I slid my fingers into my pocket. He growled when I pulled out the rope with the rocks secured at intervals, which seemed even more of a meager defense than it had when Esau handed it to me earlier, and I forced myself to stand tall. A cold wind blew, making the branches overhead creak. He hauled himself up onto the truck in one graceful motion, muscles flexing under his fur. The truck bounced with his weight, and I gasped as I kept myself from falling over sideways. I couldn’t breathe or think, and my hands shook as I raised the rope.
Then the first chain flew up into the air, heaved by Esau, and Amos shot around the truck to pick it up where it fell on his side, then secure it to the red metal thingy with the hooks. The metal landed across Pious’s back and he roared and turned toward Esau, but he couldn’t easily slip out from under the chain because he was so big. Esau sent another chain over. Amos heaved two chains at the same time, and even while the assault was happening, it occurred to me that the restraints wouldn’t be enough. I wasn’t even sure the barbed wire would make this stop. Pious was simply too big, and he proved me right as he grabbed the metal links and began to strain, intent on tearing them apart. Another flew from Esau’s side and one more from Amos’s, and I gasped at the sight of the claws tipping Pious’s hands. My body had attempted to grow weapons just like that, but I’d never fully changed.
The snap of metal was louder than a gunshot and he twisted to grab another chain.
There was a horrible high-pitched grating sound as he dragged the sharp edges of his claws across the metal links. Maybe the chains wouldn’t hold in the end, but he was certainly distracted pulling at them.
Darting forward, I dropped the rope around his neck and flung one side of it so that it wrapped around. He whipped his attention to me, and I gasped in pain as he swiped at me and sent me stumbling over the side of the truck. I went ass over teakettle and landed, winded, on the ground near Esau, where he was trying to tighten down the chains that he had threaded underneath the truck bed.
“Gloves, put them on! Sling that barbed wire up there!” He nodded toward the gloves on the ground near the pile of metal, and I crawled over and fumbled with them.
The lantern bounced off the top of the truck, sending the action into deep shadow, and I groaned as the glass cracked and the oil flared brighter, but there was snow on the ground and the fire wasn’t going anywhere. The bed of the truck creaked where Pious struggled against the chains, and he let out a horrendous bellow.
“My side is done, but it’s not enough!” Amos yelled, then went pelting around to close the tailgate of the truck, as if maybe that would help, while Esau snatched the gloves from my hands and put them on himself. He turned to the stack of barbed wire, and I shook my head as Pious strained against the chains and there was a horrible clink. One of the chains fell on our side to coil like a snake on the ground.
“Come back to me, Pious,” I whispered, and he stopped struggling to look at me.
Then Esau slung a roll of barbed wire up across the bed in an attempt to pin Pious, and a scream that was nearly human hit our ears and sent us crashing to the ground with our hands over our heads. The next thing I knew there was a thud that rocked the cold, frozen ground at my side, and a huge paw sent me sprawling on my back. I gasped and closed my eyes as a cold nose touched my cheek, bracing for the inevitable, painful finale, but instead, a warm tongue lapped at my cold skin.
No one moved. Esau lay nearby, clearly having been knocked down, and I didn’t think he was even breathing. The ends of the rope necklace, or whatever we wanted to call it—collar?—swung free, and I shuddered as something inside compelled me to reach up and tie the rope to the other dangling end. I was quick.
Pious snarled. Heat blasted me and I felt like my exposed skin was burning after all the time in the cold. He was far too close, and I cringed away from the sensation because it was such a shock to my system. The fur began to flutter away in the cold wind, and I gagged and turned my head to spit as a few strands went into my mouth. Pious quivered on top of me, and the snout began to recede, returning the stern face of the man I loved. Second by second, he looked more like a human than a beast, but I was still scared because no more recognition had entered his eyes as he bent and sniffed at my neck, settling firmly on top of me. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind entirely was that I could still feel something like love as a distant pang in my chest, and I was more convinced now than ever it was coming from Pious.
