The Darkest Embrace (6 page)

What you saw wasn’t my sister
.

That’s what Freddy had said. The question was, if it wasn’t his sister, what was it? And if this wasn’t Max—

“Get the hell off me!” Jessie put all her weight behind the sharp, upward jerk of her knee into not-Max’s crotch.

The blow would have felled a normal man, but the thing gobbling and grabbing at her only grunted and went back half a step. She caught sight of its face and screamed, a high whistling cry of disgust and terror. It had Max’s eyes, but his mouth had turned into a long, fleshy tube capped with a contracting ring of muscle.

Jessie jerked her knee upward again, harder this time, as she shoved it. Simultaneously, she wrenched herself free of its grip. Its fingers had gone long and wiggly, its arms dangling far below its sleeves. Its head swooped loosely back and forth on its neck as it grabbed for her, but she stumbled back, out of reach. Her hand found the knife on her belt and she pulled it free.

This thing wasn’t Max, and Jessie was going to make sure it didn’t get her, too.

Chapter 6

Max came to shivering, curled on his side on a bed of damp leaves. He wore only his briefs. Every part of him ached, especially several raw spots on his neck and chest that came away sticky with blood and slime when he touched them.

“Jessie.” He was on his feet in seconds, though he sagged against the stone cavern wall to steady himself.

Everything seemed far away, everything seemed muffled. Max shook his head, then again, hard enough to rattle his eyeballs. When that didn’t work, he bit his tongue until the copper taste of blood squirted into his mouth. The pain was white and bright and knocked him down.

He got up.

He made it to the doorway before the earth came up and hit him in the face. Spitting dirt, Max rolled onto his back and found strength in the sight of the sky. Blue with white, fluffy clouds, just a glimpse of it visible through the canopy of trees, but it was enough.

His bare feet found every rock and thorn, but those pains were nothing compared to the thought that Jessie might be in danger. Max pushed through tangled branches, fighting the slap of pine needles. From the clearing up ahead, he heard the sounds of struggle.

When he burst through the final, entangling embrace of the underbrush, Max was in full-on battle mode. Fists raised, heart pumping, he staggered toward Jessie who was on the ground, the thing ready to pounce her. It wore his clothes, the son of a bitch. His hair. Fuck, it probably wore his face, and the idea that it could have used it to try and seduce her vanquished any last trace of fuzzy head or weak limbs.

Max grabbed it by the back of the shirt and yanked. It stumbled back, gangly arms flailing. Crimson arced, spattering the ground and Max when the thing turned.

It didn’t look like him anymore. It didn’t even look human. Blood gushed from the slash in its throat, and even though the thing scrabbled helplessly at the wound, there was no stanching it.

Jessie sprang up, a carving knife in her hand, but she didn’t use it to slash again. “Max!”

Together, they watched the thing go to its knees. Every part of it had distorted now, bulging and shuddering as it shifted rapidly through face after face. Hair in a rainbow of shades grew and shrank. It sprouted breasts that just as quickly disappeared. Its mouth contorted, the shriek coming from it like the sound of tires screeching, kettles whistling.

Incredibly, it looked at them. It saw them and it knew them. It wasn’t human, but whatever it was, knowledge gleamed in its narrow-eyed gaze. Intelligence and something like hatred. It lurched upward, slashing at Jessie with fingertips suddenly transformed into claws.

Max didn’t think, he moved. He pushed himself between the talons and Jessie, catching the brunt of the blow. Pain ripped up his side and across his chest. Behind him, Jessie cried out.

Then she was at his side, gripping the rake like a baseball bat. “Down!”

Again, no thought, just action. Max ducked as Jessie swung like a pro. The rake’s tines connected with the thing’s jaw, the sound thick and meaty as the blow rocked the monster’s head back. Its wounded throat gaped and tore, more blood gushing.

Jessie swung again. This time, the thing’s head completely came away, leaving a jutting, gore-spattered stump from which sudden writhing tendrils sprouted. Its entire body heaved and shuddered before slumping forward, finally still.

“Not so greedy now, are you?” Jessie said and spit on it.

That’s when the monster started to change again.

* * *

The monster never dies the first time.

Jessie knew that from the movies, but this was no movie. This was real life, and apparently when you cut off something’s head, it really did stay dead. The thing in front of them shook and shifted, melting. Flesh oozed and bubbled like it had been dunked in acid. The stench was horrific.

In moments only a puddle of Max’s clothes remained. The dirt had soaked up whatever remained of the Greedy One. What had been green was now dead and brown. Jessie wondered if anything would ever grow there again.

“Jessie?”

She turned and gathered Max into her arms, not caring that he was covered in muck and blood. She kissed him hungrily. She breathed in deep, taking in his smell. Then she burst into exhausted, exhilarated tears.

* * *

Cleaned and bandaged, Max’s wounds were far from superficial, but he’d live. Dressed in clean, dry clothes, the only indication that he wasn’t his usual self was the stiff way he moved. Jessie had tried to get him to stay on the couch while Freddy changed all four of their tires with replacements he’d brought from the garage, but Max had insisted on overseeing the installation. He didn’t trust Freddy, and Jessie didn’t blame him.

“It was too early,” Freddy said miserably. “I thought youse would be okay.”

“How could you rent this place to anyone at all, knowing that thing was out there?” Jessie demanded.

Freddy shook his head, looking away, and Jessie caught a glimpse of something sly on his face before his expression became contrite. “Needed the money.”

“And so long as it was taking us, it would leave you alone,” Max said. He’d been quiet before this, but now his voice stabbed the air, harsh. “Right?”

Freddy stammered, twisting his hands together, around and around. Grime had sunk deep into his knuckles, but it was better than blood, Jessie thought. He shook his head again.

“No, no...”

“Bullshit,” Max said evenly.

Jessie looked at him and took his hand. Their fingers linked, squeezing. “Max?”

“That thing,” Max spat, “was inside me. In my head. You think I wasn’t inside of it a little, too? I know what it wanted, and why you let us come here, knowing what would happen. If it took us, it would leave all of you alone.”

Jessie’s gut twisted, and looking at Freddy’s guilty face, she knew what Max had said was true. “You son of a bitch!”

“What are you gonna do?” Freddy cried, making a fist that didn’t look at all threatening. “You gonna go to the police? What will you tell ’em? Nobody will ever believe you!”

“How long?” Max demanded, advancing on him. “How many years?”

“Forever!” Freddy shouted. His voice softened and trembled. “It’s been around here forever.”

“Why didn’t you just kill it?” Jessie asked. “I mean, it was strong and scary, but...it wasn’t invincible. Why wouldn’t you have hunted it down and killed it if it kept feeding off people?”

Freddy said nothing, and finally, Max answered for him.

“Because it was family,” he said quietly. “Right, Freddy?”

Freddy got that sly look again, but just for a couple seconds before he completely broke down. “It didn’t take anyone for a long, long time. Years. It took Carrie when she was twenty, that was twenty years ago.... We thought maybe it was satisfied. We figured maybe it had had enough! But then she started showing up, hanging around and it was Carrie, but it wasn’t anymore. At first she was young, like she’d been. Young and pretty. But then she started getting old, her face was a mess. And we knew it would only be a matter of time. And I got kids!” he shouted. “I got kids.”

“So you thought you’d sacrifice us?” Jessie spit away the sour taste. “Because it looked like your sister? It just looked like her, Freddy, don’t you get it? It wasn’t Carrie any more than it was Max!”

“But it was still family, wasn’t it, Freddy? That thing belonged to you, and you all belonged to it. It had become part of all of you.” Freddy said nothing. Max made a rude, dismissive gesture. “We’re gone. C’mon, Jessie, let’s get out of here.”

The cell still didn’t work and neither did the GPS, and the bridge wasn’t repaired, but Freddy had sketched them an accurate map of how to use alternate roads to get back to the main highway. They spent the time in silence until they reached asphalt, and then Max pulled to the side of the road and turned off the ignition.

He turned to her. In an echo of that first day when they’d made out in the front seat after almost running off the road, Max and Jessie dived for each other. She clung to him, his hands in her hair, while she kissed the breath out of him.

“I was so scared,” she said around the lump in her throat.

“I wanted to make sure it couldn’t hurt you,” Max answered.

They kissed again for what felt like a very long time, and even though there was need behind the embrace, it was more a comfort than anything else. When finally they broke apart to breathe, Jessie buried her face against him. She fought tears. Max held her close.

“I would never let anything hurt you,” Max said. “I love you.”

She already knew that, of course. She’d seen it in every look he ever gave her. But Jessie lifted her face to his and kissed him with salt on her lips. “I love you, too.”

More kissing, this time a little more heated, although she had to be careful because Max’s wounds had to be sore beneath the bandages. Still, when he took her hand and put it on the bulge in his jeans, Jessie burst into breathless, ecstatic laughter. She cupped his face and looked deep into his eyes.

“Never take me camping again,” she told him.

“Never,” Max promised. “Never ever.”

“Feel free to take me to the nearest hotel, though,” she said, “and to make mad, passionate love to me until we both can’t see straight.”

“Gladly,” Max said with another kiss that set her on fire. “Always.”

Then he put the truck in drive and they left the horror behind them.

* * * * *

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