“Don’t beat yourself up, Olivia.” Talon’s voice soothes. “What’s Halloween without a little murder, mayhem, and madness?”
A smile curls around my mouth. “You’re right.” I peck Talon on the cheek and a deeply guttural animalistic sound rumbles from his chest.
“That’s my little ghoul. Now make her bleed, I’m feeling rather hungry.”
“You wouldn’t.” Callie scoffs.
She’s right. The Olivia she thinks she knows wouldn’t, but the person I’ve become tonight absolutely would. I know what she sees when she looks at me. Meek, mild-tempered, Olivia. Go-with-the-flow, Olivia. The same girl I’ve been since we met in kindergarten. Always bending to Callie’s will and doing whatever she thinks is best.
“No?” I taunt, spinning the axe around as I stalk closer to her. “You watched that man,” I point at Trent’s lifeless bludgeonedbody with the tip of my axe, “make my life hell for years, and you stood by my side acting like you were being supportive. Acting like my friend. But friends don’t do that to each other.”
She settles me with a stare I’ve seen one too many times. It’s the one she reserves for people she thinks she’s outwitted. “Who do you think told him about the cats peeing in Isobel’s crib?”
My stomach plummets to my feet. When Trent and I were in court he accused me of having the cats pee in our daughter’s crib as a litter box. Which they’d only done once, and I’d went and purchased a brand-new mattress for Isobel with the little money I’d had saved. Though at the time, the judge was too keen to believe Trent’s version of the story, making me take parenting classes while Trent walked away Scott free.
That story was nothing but a twist of the truth that caused myself and my girls’ immense amounts of pain having the court think I was somehow neglectful. I’d cried on Callie’s shoulder that night, shaking with anger at how unjust the justice system could be, and the whole time it came from her? A wolf in sheep’s clothing that I had let burrow into my life, trusting with my secrets and my children. They call her Aunt Callie for Christ’s sake.
“Want me to light her on fire?” Matchbox offers, and a flicker of fear jolts across Callie’s face. Good. She should be afraid, because if she thought what I did to Trent was bad, she has no idea how terrible it could be. Trent’s death was quick. Nearly painless.
“Yeah, you know what? Burn that bitch to the ground. But make it slow.”
“WHAT?” Callie screeches, but it’s too late, flames lick the bottoms of her boots causing her to start screaming and kicking. Phantom’s grip holds tight as he allows his bottom half to turn into his ghost form, making it so that Callie’s still being held inplace. She kicks uselessly at the flames, but they only crawl up higher, wrapping around her like a golden snake.
“Stop! Stop this please! Olivia, I’m s-sorry. I shouldn’t have- AHHHHH, Fuck! It hurts! Please, stop!”
I tilt my head to the side taking in the sight of my former best-friend flailing about and begging for mercy. Pathetic.
The scent of her charred skin wafts through the air making me scrunch up my nose. I should be feeling a twinge of regret right now. An ounce of remorse or guilt. But in the space where those emotions should inhabit is a big fat expanse of apathy.
“Olivia! Fuck please, you’re my best-friend. I’m sorry, I fucked up! Ahhhh! Fucking stop this you cunt!”
The flames crawl higher, wrapping around her waist and causing her to writhe in pain.
“Drop her, Phantom. I want to see the look in her eyes when I take her life.” I say raising the axe above my head, held tightly in both of my hands.
Callie plops to the ground in a heap of burnt flesh and painful sobs. The flames extinguish upon impact, but smoke still emanates from her ruined legs.
“Since we’re not really friends like I thought, you won’t mind if I just finish what I started.” I say looking down at her. My arms come down hard and lodge the edge of the blade straight into her neck. A gurgle of blood sprays out from her mouth and her open wound, as her life ends with one abrupt hit, severing her head completely. I marvel at my newfound strength in disbelief as Talon steps over and grabs two finger-fulls of her blood, sucking them into his mouth as he wraps his hand around my calf. My chest rises and falls with an immense amount of labor as I marvel at all the gore.
“Fucking delicious.” He moans, leaning down to suck her dry. And he does. Her body is devoid of any blood in a matter of moments as Talon feasts from her corpse.
He stands, blood dripping from his handsome face as he leans down to take my mouth in his.
“Taste what you’ve done, my murderous little ghoul.” He demands closing his mouth onto mine. The metallic tang invades my tastebuds immediately as he languishes his tongue against mine in a heady, passionate kiss. My adrenaline is still pumping through my veins as I let Talon explore my mouth, relishing in the feel of him against me. My monster.
All of them feel like mine. These creatures I’ve stumbled upon in this cursed place. Forever altering my life as I know it. I came here afraid. A shrinking violet in a world built to crush my delicate petals, but I came out forged in fires of hell. Strong as iron and unashamed of my choices. Though, I’m admittedly shocked by my actions, I guess we all have that breaking point, and this was mine.
Giving into the feel of Talon, I embrace my newfound boldness breaking the kiss and exposing my neck to him. “Bite it, please.” I beg, wanting to feel everything he has to offer me.
He groans, and I watch as his fangs lengthen. “Such a beautiful little temptress. Offering yourself up like my own personal sacrifice.” His fangs drift over that sensitive area on my neck, hovering ever so lightly above my pulsating jugular. He pierces my skin gently. Like a pinprick. But the sensation it brings is delectable.
“Woah, dude, look at that charred bitch. So fucking lifelike. It even smells fucking burnt.” We break apart as a few stragglers burst through the corn maze. I can feel small drops of blood sliding down my neck as they pass us by, hardly paying us any attention in their meandering state.
The sound of a chainsaw whirs to life behind them as the spotlight drags over the tips of the corn, illuminating the gruesome scene before us.
Trent’s and Callie’s severed heads have rolled together, and their bodies lay haphazardly strewn across the dirt path.
“This place is so fucking cool.” One of them chuckles, kicking Trent’s head like a goddamn soccer ball into the corn field. I can’t help but let out a giggle seeing the way it wobbled.
