A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters - Martin Harry Greenberg [42]
Helen felt Leis push her out of the way, sending her stumbling. By the time she righted herself, Leis had the chain in one hand and pulled it tight, cinching it around Jason’s neck and under his shoulder. With her free hand she grabbed the bolt and twisted.
Jason let out an inhuman scream, and Helen was surprised to see that he no longer looked like Jason. His body had morphed. In seconds he was flipping from form to form, becoming a whole string of people Helen had seen Leis date over the past few years—the drummer who had stolen her Bose system, the lighting tech who’d squatted in the room for three months, then the barista from down the corner on West 3rd Street. Dozens of faces flashed by, but they were moving so fast Helen couldn’t follow them all. Eventually, the scream turned into a far more feral sound, almost a howl of pain and as if to match it, Jason’s form shifted to that of a man with a wolf’s head. Its tongue lolled out of the side of its mouth through its sharp teeth, but with the chain of Hephaestus wrapped around him, he seemed powerless to do anything.
“Bad doggie,” Leis said. She lashed out with her fist, hitting him in the gut and dropping him to his knees. “Lykaion couldn’t resist coming out for Lupercalia now, could he?” Leis kicked him, catching him in the side this time and knocking him over. The creature growled weakly, but didn’t move.
“Stop it,” Helen said, despite being horrified by the creature before her. She was surprised at how hurt she felt watching him suffer. “You’re killing him!”
“I’m not killing him,” Leis said, rolling her eyes. She knelt next to the wolfman, grabbing his face and turning it to face her. “Something like him can’t be killed, am I right?” She grabbed him by his snout and nodded his head for him. Leis voice turned mocking. “You can’t kill love!”
“Jesus,” Helen said, “if that’s the case, then why did you come here?”
Leis looked up at her. “To put him on notice,” she said, turning back to him. She pulled the arrow from his shoulder. The man wolf hissed in pain, then slowly turned back into the man Helen recognized as Jason, albeit a bloody version of him. “Look at you, all happy with this Valentine’s action going on all around you.”
“Not really my holiday . . .” he said, panting. “Covers some of my old ways, though. Just works out nice that way.”
“Lovely,” Leis said, pulling the chain tight around him to shut him up. “Point is, I’m done with you. I’ve had it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, laughing through his pain. Leis stood up and kicked him viciously in the face. Blood went everywhere, and again, Helen felt overwhelmed with feelings for the poor man. She knew it had to be a part of his power, but she couldn’t help it.
“Shut up,” Leis said. “I’ve had enough heartache. If I catch you cavorting about with an arrow in my presence, I’ll do more than kick the stuffing out of you next time, got it? You think you want to tackle me? Just look at how quickly I found the instruments to bring you down. You come after me again and I’ll be sure I do have the tools to end you. Now let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. For now, though, if you see me coming, you walk the other way. Got it?”
The bloody man on the ground hesitated, but then nodded without saying a word.
“Good,” Leis said. She uncoiled the chain around him and tucked it under her cloak. She looked at Helen. “Let’s get out of here.”
Helen hesitated.
“Let’s go,” Leis said, impatient and still fueled by her victory.
Helen shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said.
“What?”
“Just go,” Helen said. She walked over to the curled-up figure on the ground. “I’m staying.”
“Are you kidding?” Leis said, on the verge of bitter laughter. “You’re not falling for this, are you? It’s love. It’s a sham.