Fierce Reads
Page 8
AB “I should take you back down the mountain while there’s still a little light,” he said sadly.
EL “No,” Jen said. “But I-I want to … I want to—”
AB “You want to what?” he said, desperation rising in his voice. “Stay with me? Live this insane life with me—beast by day, man by night?”
EL “It’s absurd,” he said, looking away from her. “You have to go.”
AB “Maybe later,” Jen said. “I waited all day to talk to you.”
EL “All right.” Ian sighed. “What do you want to talk about?”
AB “Well, for one thing, who hit me on the head? It was a Sasquatch, but it wasn’t you because you were, um, in your man form.”
EL “My ‘man form,’” he said. “I like that. It was Edna. She, uh, she likes me.”
AB “Edna?” Jen screeched. “There is a girl Sasquatch named Edna?”
EL “Yeah,” Ian said. “Edna. She used to be human at night, too, but after a few years, your human hours dwindle away.”
AB Ian looked into the fire. His future was grim, Jen realized. “Oh, Ian,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
EL “There are upsides to being a Sasquatch,” he said. “I have superhuman strength and I heal crazy, crazy fast.”
AB “But I do miss my mom. And I’ll never get to travel. I’ll never get to see the pyramids at Giza, or the Taj Mahal.”
EL “But, look”—Jen gestured to the mountaintops, the sandstone vista painted purple and navy by the evening—“this is better than the Taj Mahal.”
AB “I’m dreading going back east,” Jen confided. “My parents want me to conquer the world of high finance and I’d rather fall off a cliff.”
EL Ian shot her a glance. “Not this cliff here,” she joked. “But you know what I mean.”
AB Ian took her hands in his. “You’re going to go back home and tell them you’re changing your major,” he instructed her.
EL “And then you’re going to find a great career and marry some great guy and be happy,” Ian said.
AB He looked so sad, Jen felt like her heart was collapsing inside her chest.
EL Instead of speaking, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Then the back of his hand. Then the delicious area under his jaw.
AB An area that now smelled nothing like wet Chihuahua and everything like the Ian she knew and craved.
EL The skins they lay on were warm and the fire burned brightly against the blue-black sky.
AB She couldn’t keep her hands off him and he couldn’t keep his off her either.
EL “I should get you down the mountain,” he murmured. “We need to stop.”
AB “Don’t tell me to stop,” she pleaded. “Not when we just got started…”
EL A few hours later, Jen awoke to the feeling of Ian’s fingers brushing a few strands of her hair out of her face.
AB What a great view to wake up to, Jen thought. In the embers of the firelight he looked like a blond Jensen Ackles. Supernatur-yummy!
EL He was sitting up, gazing down at her with an expression so tender and full of regret that Jen’s heart caught in her throat.
AB It was the kind of look that had “never” written all over it. As in they could never be together.
EL But Jen ignored his glum expression. There had to be a way to work it out.
AB If he loved her … if he wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him—they could find a way to make it work. They had to.
EL “It will be dawn soon,” he said. “Let’s get going. I’d like to get you as close to town as possible before I turn.”
AB “But there’s something you never told me—”
EL “I have to be really careful around town,” Ian interrupted. “If anyone catches sight of me as a Sasquatch, I’ll be hunted day and night.”
AB “There’s just one thing I want to know,” she said, stalling.
EL She wanted to know if he loved her as much as she loved him. But somehow her nerve failed.
AB “How did you get this way?” she asked. If he says “I was born this way,” I’m going to freaking pass out, she thought.
EL He rubbed his stubbly face. “I guess you deserve the story,” he said.
AB “I had a fight with my dad and I left home in a stupid fit. I was determined I would make it by myself,” he told her.
EL “I was only 16 and I got a job washing dishes down at the tavern. Then this woman came in. She was … she was gorgeous.”
AB There was a faraway look in Ian’s eye that Jen did not like. She snuggled nearer to remind him where he was—and where he wasn’t.
EL “She was exotic. Sophisticated. Wild. At the end of the night she said … she said … Well, it doesn’t matter what she said. She kissed me.”
AB Jen really didn’t like the way he looked now! He was clearly lost, remembering a kiss from the past.
EL Jen gasped. She realized that for all their making-out and romantic moments, they still hadn’t kissed on the lips.
AB This mystery woman not only enjoyed a permanent space in Ian’s memory, she’d also enjoyed his lips!
EL I’m going to kiss her right out of his memory, Jen decided.
AB She put one hand on the back of Ian’s neck and drew close to him, closing her eyes as her lips moved toward his—
EL “No!” Ian shouted. He stood up. “Are you crazy?”
AB “Crazy to want to kiss you?” Jen cried. “You’re foaming at the mouth about some old biddy from the past.”
EL “And I’m right here in front of you. I feel like a chump!”
AB Ian strode away from Jen and faced the edge of the cliff.
EL “She turned me,” Ian said softly. “Edna kissed me on the mouth and turned me into this half man/half beast.”
AB “Edna?” Jen gasped.
EL “Edna.” He spat her name out like a curse. “She wanted me for a mate. She still does. It’s dangerous here for you.”
AB “She’s the one who hit me over the head,” Jen said. “Shouldn’t she have been in a human form then?”
EL “After a few years, Edna stopped turning human at night.” He shrugged sadly.
AB “Do you think that’s what will happen to you?” Jen asked. “That’ll you stop turning into a human?”
EL The sky was beginning to glow.
AB The question hung in the air like a pestering mosquito.
EL “I don’t know,” Ian said bitterly. “I’ll probably die a monster. Hiding from hicks with iPhones. Eating rabbit and foraged weeds. Alone.”
AB “But I’m not like Edna,” he said. “I’d never turn someone to keep me company.”
EL He looked down into the woods as if Edna were there, watching them. Listening.
AB Jen tossed a dirty glare toward the tree line, just in case she was. She wondered again whether Edna would still understand the middle finger.
EL Ian kicked at a rock and sent it tumbling down the hill.
AB It felt like all Jen’s hopes and dreams were on that rock, now irretrievable.
EL “Why don’t you just go already?” he shouted. “Go now, before I turn!”
AB “Okay … Okay,” Jen said. The sun was cresting the mountain. But she didn’t move. Couldn’t.
EL Ian began to shake. He gritted his teeth, growling. “GO!”
AB “But you love me,” Jen cried.
EL “No, I don’t!” he snarled. “GO!”
AB It was just too much. Jen tore down the cliff side, tears coursing down her face.
EL She loved him, she loved him. She did. But it was impossible. Ian knew it already.
AB And she’d better start getting used to it.
EL Crashing down the mountain, roots seemed to grab at her ankles and branches snatched at her hair.
AB No detangler would win in a fight against her rat’s nest of a hairdo now.
EL She ran and ran, getting nearer to civilization all the while when she tripped over one last rock.
&n
bsp; AB Jen fell, sobbing, to the ground. Dirt in her mouth, hair, nostrils. She didn’t care.
EL This was the end of something big. This was the end of something she wanted more than anything else. An end before it ever really began.
AB Sitting there, crying in the clearing, Jen realized she’d left her purse in Ian’s cave. She snorted with a derisive laugh.
EL What was she going to do? Hike up the hill and face Sasquatch Ian again?
AB Or maybe she’d just leave it, cancel her credit cards, and start over. It wasn’t like Ian was about to use them anytime soon!
EL Only then did she hear the snarl.
AB Jen looked up. There, on top of a boulder, was a mountain lion, poised. Ready to spring.
EL She reached out and grabbed a stout scrub oak stick.
AB In a flash of golden fur and jagged teeth, the beast was upon her.
EL Jen pushed against the snarling lion with the branch, shoving it away as it swiped with razor-sharp claws.
AB It turned out she did have fight left in her, even it was just pent-up frustration. She whacked the massive feline with the branch.
EL “Help!” Jen screamed. “Ian, if you can hear me—Help!”
AB The lion clawed her ear and neck with its claws. A scream rang out—a scream that mingled with Jen’s. It was the lion. Her victory cry.
EL And then Ian, Sasquatch Ian, was there. He grabbed the cat by the back of the neck the way a housewife would handle a kitten.
AB Well, maybe not as gentle (depending on the housewife).
EL He threw the cat off to the side and squared off, ready to fight. Jen watched the lion—tail twitching in anger—size up the Sasquatch.
AB It was sizing up Ian. Her Ian.
EL Jen pressed her hand against her neck. There was blood. Lots of blood. And her ear. It was … it was torn and dangling.
AB She was glad she couldn’t see it. As it was, she was trying to keep from passing out.
EL Maybe she was in shock. Maybe she’d lost too much blood. Maybe she was dying.
AB She fought to regain full consciousness. Her eyes struggled to focus. On Ian. On the lion.
EL Just as Ian the Sasquatch moved threateningly toward the giant cat, a third figure stepped into the clearing.
AB It was just a blurry shadow in Jen’s vanishing sight. But she knew what—who—it was.
EL Edna! The She-squatch launched herself at Ian, grappling with him.
AB What was she doing? Why was she choosing this moment to show up?
EL Jen got her answer as the mountain lion turned its merciless golden eyes back onto her. Not the fighting Sasquatches. Edna was distracting Ian on purpose!
AB The lion licked its chops and let out its blood-congealing victory scream. Then it took a step toward her.
EL Jen shook her head, trying to clear it. Everything felt like a daydream.
AB Or, maybe a day-nightmare resulting from blood loss.
EL Edna wanted Jen dead. And all she had to do was keep Ian busy until the lion finished Jen off.
AB Which might be pretty freaking soon if she didn’t do something!
EL Ian pulled free from Edna and tried to reach the mountain cat but it jumped and sped ahead—bounding toward Jen with a wild cry.
AB Jen reached for another branch—a rock—anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing.
EL Jen pushed back, scrambling to get up, to run.
AB The effort was laughable—the massive feline was on her in a flash.
EL It sank its teeth into her thigh, hamstringing her. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
AB Of all the things she accepted in the last 24 hours, she couldn’t accept this. But, hey, who really can accept their own death?
EL The mountain lion threw Jen to the ground and sank its deadly teeth into the back of her neck.
AB She was in so much pain her whole body felt like one giant scream.
EL But then the animal whimpered and released its hold.
AB She didn’t care.
EL Jen fell face-first onto the ground.
AB She didn’t care about that either.
EL She looked up to see Sasquatch Ian twisting the lion’s head sharply, with a resounding crack. He threw the cat to the ground.
AB And still she didn’t care. What was there to care about? She was dying and death has a way of keeping you from sweating the small stuff.
EL Jen saw Edna’s motionless form lying beyond the cat. This she cared about. A little.
AB Edna was dead—good! It felt like a thorn had been removed from Jen’s side—but the rest of her body was still ripped to confetti.
EL Sasquatch Ian squatted down and grunted at Jen. He touched her face gently with one thick-skinned finger pad.
AB “It’s okay,” Jen said. “I’m going to die. Just…”
EL She sputtered as blood bubbled up in her mouth.
AB Death, real death, was not like you see in a play or a movie. And whoever heard of a Sasquatch Romeo and Juliet, anyway? Nobody. That’s who.
EL “Leave my body somewhere the cops will find it,” she rasped. “So my folks won’t worry…”
AB Sasquatch Ian shook his head, No. She saw determination in his eyes.
EL He picked her up, as if she were a small, frightened child, and cradled her to his chest.
AB He does love me, Jen thought. She was weakening by the moment. But in that thought, a tiny hope sparked. It was faint, but it was hope.
EL Jen felt her warm blood wetting Ian’s thick pelt. I’ve got to hold on, she told herself. We must be nearing town now …
AB All she could do was cling to Ian. And to her hope. Somehow consciousness came easier.
EL Her head bobbed against the thick, muscled chest of the Sasquatch. She tried to hold on, but she was so weak …
AB She’d heard of people fighting off death. How they weren’t “ready” to go yet. She’d never put stock in that. Until now.
EL The Sasquatch gave no sign of slowing. Oh no.
AB There! Ahead, down through the trees she could see the winding gray road—the town’s only highway. And the gas station …
EL The beast—Ian—looked into her eyes.
AB “Wait,” Jen cried. “No! You can’t take me into town. They’ll see you. They’ll capture you.”
EL “No!” she shouted. But only when she struggled to get free did Ian stop running.
AB She could read his expression. His face said he didn’t care about being caught. That her life was worth his. That he’d already decided.
EL She lifted a weak hand and put it to Ian’s ape-like face.
AB Pure love shone down from his gray eyes.
EL And then she did what she had wanted to do from the first moment she laid eyes on him …
AB With the last energy in her body, Jen reached up and kissed him on the lips.
EL An electric shock shot through her body.
AB A golden light poured from Ian’s hairy body and filled up her own.
EL The light … it was healing her wounds. She looked at her body.
AB She was leaking light through all the slashes and punctures and wounds.
EL And before her eyes, they began to close up. She was healing so fast the wounds were gone before she could blink.
AB She no longer felt the fingers of death coaxing her away from the mountain.
EL Then the light was within her and Jen became aware that she was still kissing Ian.
AB Now she knew what all those Disney princesses were talking about. This kind of kiss could make a girl do crazy things.
EL The light pulsed between their two bodies then faded away. Leaving her … feeling awesome!
AB She felt strong. And she was. Stronger than death. She felt like a sharpened version of herself.
EL Ian dropped her to her feet and she stretched her arms. They were hairy and long.
AB Gillette didn’t have nothin’ on these pits now, she thought. And she laughed
—her laugh was something like a grunt crossed with a woof.
EL She was covered, head to foot, in downy, auburn fur. And she was beautiful.
AB Her parents might not think so …
EL But she would call them, and tell them she was staying in Colorado forever. They would accept it. They would just have to.
AB “My beloved,” grunted Ian. Maybe “beloved” wasn’t the exact word, but this kind of communication was different than human language.
EL She could understand his grunts perfectly now. They didn’t form structured sentences, but emotion and meaning came through.
AB “A human observes us,” he grunted, pointing.
EL Jen saw a gangly gas station attendant watching them. He had a doughnut crammed in his mouth and the keys to the station in his hand.
AB Well, “watching” wasn’t the right word in English (or in Sasquatch).
EL It was more like “ogling in slack-jawed disbelief.”
AB “Ogling in slack-jawed disbelief while choking on his frosted rainbow-sprinkled cruller.”
EL “We must flee,” Ian grunted. “Can you run?”