!!TRIGGER WARNING! INTENSE, GRAHPHIC GORE.!!
The gray-skinned man rose from his place on the table, long black talons leaving deep engravings in the wooden table beneath him as he dragged his hand across it.
"You have stolen my eyes, and now I reap your souls,"
His face, stained with an uneven mixture of blood and tears, scanned each and every being before him. It was quite a large group, about fifteen or so mask-clad individuals.
"Lead us to our everlasting paradise, as we have dutifully fulfilled you," A mask-clad female spoke, her claim followed by a deafening silence.
Jack's face stared at the mask, no, at the woman behind the mask. His movements were fluid as he flung himself over the edge of the table, towering above her. It was eerie how he could go from moving so fast to being completely still, and it didn't go unnoticed by the woman.
She pushed her chest outward toward him as she raised her arms level with her shoulders and raised her head to the heavens.
"I have no use for this life even a minute longer. I will be safe with you to protect me on my journey. Send me to paradise."
He let out a low chuckle, but it quickly grew into a loud, sinister laughter.
He abruptly stopped after a few moments, tweaking his posture slightly to where it had been before.
"You are undeserving of this everlasting paradise in which you speak,"
He thrust one of his talon-clad hands out to suspend her in the air by the collar of the robe she wore while his other hand followed the motion, except a sickening series of cracks echoed throughout the otherwise silent forest when his hand made contact. The rest of the onlookers took in the scene, some of them gagging, some of them starting to back away slowly.
Her body gave little resistance to his razor-sharp claws and god-like strength; he had thrust his hand into the woman's chest with a force so great that his hand had went completely through.
He could feel her beating heart thrum against his fingertips, his entire hand buried in her chest. He located the exact location of the thrumming, and gave a hard tug, another deafening series of cracks rang throughout the dark forest as her heart was completely separated from her body. He threw her body to the ground so hard that on impact, her body recoiled a bit, the back of her skull cracked open and a small piece of her brain spilled out from the depressed fracture.
Her severed heart had stopped beating in his hand for all of the bystanders to see; veins still attached and hanging off of the gangly-looking organ.
An overpowering urge to sink his teeth into the blood-infused thing overtook his body as he gave into the urge, biting a chunk of out the woman's heart.
He looked at the bite mark he had left, noting that his teeth weren't the same as they were before; the indents the bite had left showed pointed marks rather than marks that were more rectangular; he wasn't human anymore.
"None of you deserve an everlasting paradise. But, do not be afraid, for I will send each and every one of you to where you truly belong,"
A scream left my lips and my eyes flung themselves open. I sat up in the queen size bed quickly, sending the blanket that once covered me straight to the floor.
Jack would be rushing in at any second because of the scream, but what the fuck was that?
Had he killed the entire group? I hadn't seen it in the nightmare, but he had hinted at it, and after seeing him dislocate both of Jeff's shoulders using his teeth, I didn't doubt that he was more than capable.
As I had been anticipating, the heavy metal door flung open, his tall form rushing in at a speed I could barely process.
"What happened?"
His face cautiously scanned my form below him, looking for any signs of injury.
I slung my legs over the side of the bed, not bothering to answer him just yet.
These nightmares were getting a bit much. It seemed to have been a continuation of the last two nightmares I had, except it was gory and, frankly, horrifying. He had tore through a woman's chest completely, and pulled out her beating heart with his bare hand. And bit into it.
If I told Jack that nothing was wrong, I knew he would let it go for the moment only to bring it up later. So I decided to dodge it all together for now. It wasn't something I needed to have proven, especially after seeing his interaction with Jeff. Him being capable of slaughtering a singular woman wasn't a whimsical thought, but to then take out fifteen people at once? Was he really that efficient of a killer? What would he have even done with their bodies? Would he have consumed their hearts, too? At least the nightmare had the courtesy to end at the murder of a single woman rather than show me the absolute decimation of fifteen people. The nightmare didn't confirm nor deny he actually had done it, but I didn't have a doubt in my mind that he held his promise.
"None of you deserve an everlasting paradise. But, do not be afraid, for I will send each and every one of you to where you truly belong,"
I knew the entirety of the event was a sacrifice of sorts, but was the cult's goal really to sacrifice someone in the hopes of gaining an eternal paradise? There was still so much information I was missing, and I didn't have any means of digging for said information unless I confronted Jack head-on, which just wasn't an option. At least, not right now.
"Just frustrated,"
I lied through my teeth, hoping he didn't see through it.
He hummed to himself, seemingly accepting the response. I waited a few moments for him to speak, and when he said nothing, I decided to.
"What do you need the laptop for?"
I knew asking him may trigger one of two things; he would act out violently again and curse me for having human emotions as he had with Henry, or he would answer flatly. Either way, it was worth a shot.
He sighed, sounding exhausted. I took notice of the navy blue mask grasped lightly in his hand by his side. Perhaps when he had grabbed Jeff by the collar and quite literally tossed him out the door, he had made Jeff's friend, Toby, grab the mask.
Toby didn't seem like he was really all that bad, but I had to pin Jeff against him regardless. Though, Toby had spoken to me in the same manner Jeff had when he first entered into the cabin. I wasn't going to try and focus any unnecessary attention on figuring out Toby when I could barely figure out myself.
To my surprise, Jack sat beside me, his face turned toward the door. He didn't seem rigid, as if he was anticipating an attempt at escape, but relaxed.
"The laptop belonged to Henry, correct?"
I nodded, realization dawning on me without having to hear the full explanation.
The laptop belonged not only to Henry, but also to his company; they had given him the laptop for him to be able to work from home. Him being a financial advisor meant that he would have had access to the business accounts from that same laptop.
And it all hit me at once, tears pricking my eyes.
Back when Neil had interviewed me, I had said that a possible cause for foul play could have been the fact that he was a financial planner. At the time, I thought I was just answering harmless questions, trying to help solve the possible murder of my fiancé. Now? I knew that I had given Neil just enough information for me to become a prime target; I knew of the access on his laptop, and though I didn't know any of the passwords to the financial accounts, just knowing about them made me valuable.
'You're the most valuable asset in this entire house,'
My brain echoed the words, slamming into my temples and forcing the floodgates behind my eyes to open.
I had made myself a target, and never even had a clue.
Jack stayed staring straight ahead, unmoving.
"So that's it then? You want me to open the laptop, and let you rob my dead fiancé's company?"
I was exasperated, and the feeling laced my voice as I spoke my shaky words to him.
His face slowly turned to meet my own, his face coming closer by the second.
Before I could register the feeling fully, his lips touched my own. Just as fast as our lips had gently pressed together, the feeling was gone. Despite the kiss being oddly nice, rage sputtered inside of me. Instead of answering me, he had done something to try and distract me. I was thankful he didn't use violence as an answer, but invading my personal space without consent definitely wasn't within bounds.
I pulled back my open palm, and in my fleeting fit of anger, I slapped him. It didn't do much damage to him physically, but it would get a message across.
"Don't ever touch me like that without my consent ever again,"
He scoffed, standing on his feet in less time than than it took a normal person to blink
"Apologies, I just wanted to see how it may have felt to be Henry,"
Anger bubbled in my chest. So that was the game he was going to play?
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I raised my arm to wipe away the tears that had fallen down my cheeks from moments before and stood facing him, inches away from him yet again.
"How it would feel to show affection to a liar. You act defensive regarding him, as if you're so worried about his honor, but I have yet to see you cry for him more than only one measly time. Instead of having an issue with yourself for deceiving a man at his lowest point, you have an issue with the company he worked for being robbed,"
And at that point, I couldn't even be mad anymore. Jack was absolutely right. Instead of being upset about my fiancé passing away, I was upset about his company possibly being robbed.
Henry had died all alone at the hands of a brutal murderer, which I may very well have met by now. I could have enrolled him in some sort of rehab, some sort of therapy, something. But I did nothing. And all that was left to do now was cry. And boy, did I ever.
--Chapter Twenty-one, and OMFG A KISS? But it wasn't a nice one, because jack didn't get consent. what he did get was slapped, though
this chapter is sort of self-explanatory, the next few chapters i have planned are going to be based around some of the outside character's POV's of all of this
youll see lol i dont wanna explain much and give spoilers
And as always, if you're going to Meatball, do it Extravagantly.--