Jack's Back ((Ascension: Book 2)) (14 page)

Stifling Desires

Shelly was an enabler. Lucifer had hoped she'd help him fight the urge to lust for her but she'd spent the past hour doing just the opposite. Apparently she had just as little control over her desires as he did.

Was this how a succubus operated? If so, he finally understood why one could spell trouble for the object of its desire.

He made a tough decision but one that he thought might help them rein in their passions. He decided to take Shelly home to meet Melanie and Jessie.

Shelly hated the idea but once Lucifer explained himself she reluctantly agreed.

The idea was that they'd be too uncomfortable in the presence of Melanie and the child to jump each others bones. It was worth a try
despite how awful the idea sounded coming out of his mouth.

She
lly looked uncomfortable during the ride there and said, "Do you think your girlfriend will beat the tar out of me?"

"She's not my girlfriend. She's Jack's. I've never been intimate with her."

"Then why does she stay?"

"She loves Jack and she thinks I'm him.
I think it's time to come clean."

He
realized for the first time that he could let her and Jessie go free now that his plans were underway. They were basically worthless to him now anyway. He had to admit to himself that he'd miss them but not so much that he was willing to maintain this charade into the foreseeable future.

Plus Jessie had begun to creep him out these days. The kid was a weirdo.

But maybe he'd hang onto them for a while anyway. If Jack attacked, he would do so cautiously if he feared Melanie and Jessie might get caught in the cross-fire.

Yeah, he'd wait to release them. It was the smart thing to do.

Shelly said, "I want to take a hot shower as soon as you're done showing me off to the missus. I reek."

"You smell delicious to me."

They pulled over half a mile from the house and attacked each other with renewed vigor. Each time was like the first time.

Lucifer wondered just how much the prophecy had to do with these latest carnal desires. If Shelly was already pregnant then the prophecy was complete and he should no longer feel compelled to be with her. That meant that this was real. It wasn't preordained any more.

Lovers Reunited

Melanie had just finished strapping her thigh holsters on when she heard footsteps coming up the front sidewalk. Lucifer had tricked her for a year, taken the love of her life, and now she was going to have her revenge.

The booze helped fuel the hatred in her and give it teeth.

She didn't think bullets would stop Lucifer but she was done being a puppet. She had to make a stand even if it was a foolhardy one. Again, the booze helped inform her decision to confront the fallen angel.

Jessie's revelations had meant only one thing to h
er: She was all alone in this. If what he said was true then everyone had a side or an agenda, and she was just an afterthought. Well fuck that.

The only reason she hadn't packed her shit up already and hightailed it out of there was because Jessie wouldn't leave. Otherwise they'd be on their way to a normal life by now.

The front door opened so she took up her position at the top of the stairs like she had against the military folks. It was a good vantage point, but there was a loud, screaming part of her brain telling her that this could only end in her own death and that she was wasting her time. Too bad she didn't give a shit anymore.

She yelled out, "Stop Lucifer. I know who you are. I know you're not Jack."

A demonic voice shook the entire structure of the home. It said, "I am Jack. I'm back."

Melanie almost popped out of her hiding place and ran downstairs
to embrace her long lost love when she saw a beast emerge into her line of sight below. It was humungous and hideous. Clearly Lucifer had shed his Jack suit. That could mean only one thing: He was done with the charades and he was going to dispense with her and Jessie.

She cocked her pistol and said, "Get out of this house if you know what's good for you. I'll shoot you dead
, so help me God."

"Is that you Melanie?
This is Jack. I look different now but it's me. Honest."

A giant horrendous head appeared at the foot of the stairs. Melanie shot. She was a crack shot so she knew she hadn't missed but the head remained, unharmed. A wicked smile of jagged teeth crossed the
mottled, burnt face of the demon.

Could it really be Jack or was it Lucifer in the flesh, playing another trick on her?

Just for good measure, she shot it in the head again. The head didn't so much as shudder from the impact. The demon slowly ascended the stairs.

Melanie didn't realize she was wetting herself until it was already too late
to stop it. She got to her feet and backed up a step, firing off another round as she did so. That one was useless against the monster too. As the demon closed the distance she gave up completely.

The beast was upon her in a second. But instead of tearing her legs off, it wrapped her up in a hug. It's skin was like steel and smelled of charcoal. Her skin stung
and itched on contact. It was frightening but eerily familiar.

And the familiarity brought clarity with it. This was Jack, disfigured from his stint in hell
. She wept openly and Jack hugged her tighter. Her skin stung less as the seconds ticked away. She heard his heart booming within his cavernous chest. He took her head in both of his hands and stared down, into her eyes. "I found you. I finally found you. I've missed you so much."

She noticed for the first time that his eyes were exactly the same
green color and shape as Jack's eyes. If they weren't framed by such a grotesque face, they might almost be described as kindly.

She said, "I only just realized that the person I thought was you for the past year was really Lucifer in disguise. That's why I had my gun. I was going to try and fight him."

"Let me do that baby. You just get Jessie to safety."

She was about to say something along the lines of, Jessie can't be trusted. He might even be God in disguise, playing games with all of us, but she never got the chance. There was an almighty roar that came from outside. It sounded like it could have come from a dinosaur or a jet engine. Through the window, she saw a jet of molten lava streak across the front lawn.

"What the fuck is that?"

Jack stared through the window. His breath caught in his throat. Finally he said, "Do you remember that weird spider with the ding-dong and those human eyes? Well he came back with me and he turned into a kind of giant dragon
thingy."

"Ok."

"Well he just gave me an early warning. Lucifer's coming."

"Shit."

"You got that right. Take Jessie out the back way. Wait, is Jessie alright? You haven't mentioned him yet."

"Yes he's fine. It's complicated. We'll make a break for it but you better come back to me in one piece."

Jack looked down at his hooves. "I don't think we have a future together. If I win, I understand that I have to return to hell immediately."

"But you just came back to me. You can't leave so soon." She could hardly believe she was saying this to the beast that loomed over her. But she was starting to see through the armored hide of the monster to the man within.

"We'll see what happens. Now go."

Late to the Party

"Cerberus!" Lucifer yelled. "You dare to go against me?"

Cerberus said, "You don't belong in hell. I should have never let you call it home. You are tainted meat."

"I'm about to take over hell you dip-shit. You've aligned yourself on the wrong side." This wasn't the first time this kind of thing had happened to Lucifer so he wasn't too surprised by the treachery.

Cerberus said, "Jack is here now. Jack is my master."

"So you are a pet then? I must say I like your new incarnation. What are you, a dragon or something?"

"Something like that."

"It suits you. So where is Jack then?"

Cerberus turned its giant head away from Lucifer as an act of defiance. Lucifer decided right then that Cerberus would bear the brunt of hells punishments after he took it over.

He
turned to Shelly who was cowering and hiding behind him, fearful of the goliath dragon parked on the front lawn.

He said, "Sorry about this. I need to dispense with Jack and then we can move on to better things. Sometimes when a mosquito buzzes around your head you lose sight of the bigge
r picture. I need to squash the mosquito. I know you've grown fond of him so I'm sorry for what I'm about to do."

Shelly was paralyzed with fear. She nodded dumbly as Lucifer took her hand and led her back to the car. He put her in the passenger seat and said, "This won't take long."

Then he popped the trunk and took out a five gallon gas canister. He walked ten feet from the car and started pouring the gas over his head.

He yelled at Cerberus, "Care to do the honors?"

Cerberus huffed and a thin wisp of smoke escaped from its mouth. "I'd rather get sentenced to an eternity in heaven than help you."

"Suit yourself."

Lucifer pulled a Zippo out of his pocket and lit it. He sparked up like a flare.

Shelly started screaming and tried to get out of the car to save him but he yelled, "I'm fine. This is how I shed the Jack suit."

She shook her head but she trusted him and remained seated. Now she was visibly shaking which just made Lucifer more furious that Jack had come here. Maybe he'd take his time with him. Jack had endured hell but Lucifer could do worse to him than hell ever had.

He was fully enflamed when he heard a gruff voice behind him saying, "Fuck off."

He turned in time to see what looked like a cross between a goat and a giraffe standing a few feet away. Then the thing spat on him. The spot where the spit hit his skin sizzled and the flame went out there. The goatraffe spat again and another spot went out.

Lucifer yelled, "You'll fucking pay for this when it's all over
you ugly piece of shit.

The goatraffe said, "Fuck off," at which point Lucifer decided to end this stupidity. But before he could take a single step towards the annoying creature, he was bowled over.

He jumped to his feet in time to stop the werewolf from goring him. It lunged at him again, and he grabbed it by the snout. He picked it up and tossed it over his head, into the street. It yelped but quickly regained its composure as it got back to its feet. It rushed at him like a runaway freight train but Lucifer was ready. As soon as it was within striking distance he reached out with both hands, took the beasts head and twisted in one deft move. The werewolf fell into him, carried forward by its own momentum.

But by the time it hit the ground it was already dead. As it erupted in a flash of blinding light, Lucifer said, "I'll see you on the other side pal."

It was only then that he noticed the flames on his body had been almost completely extinguished. He was covered, head to toe, in goatraffe spit. It made his stomach turn. Lucifer moved towards the goatraffe and as it took a backwards step, it said, "Fuck off," one last time before it too erupted in a flash of light and subsequently vanished.

Lucifer looked back at the car to make sure Shelly was still safe. He didn't know how many hell spawned creatures there were and he didn't know for sure whether they'd stoop low enough to go after her.

She was sobbing uncontrollably in her seat. Her head was in her hands and her body shivered. He had to end this if only to end her misery.

As the last flame flickered to death
, he popped the trunk of the car again and grabbed some shop rags. He wiped the viscous spittle from him but there was a lot of it and it was too slippery to stick to the rags. He had to sort of wipe it off, using one rag after another.

By the time he was done, he was still damp and smelled like a mixture between a barnyard and a gas station. Luckily he hadn't used up all of the gas from the can. He was about to go back to it and dump the remain
s over his body when he saw a white tiger standing between him and the can.

The tiger had a blowhole and a thick red ooze gushed upwards from it. It splattered all over the road. Lucifer made for the gas can, figuring he could easily dispatch with the tiger on the way, but as soon as his feet touched the red ooze, they came out from under him. He hit the road hard and then had a tough time getting up as his hands and legs slipped around under his own weight.

His vision went white so he knew the tiger had vanished in a flash; its work here done.

He felt helpless. He couldn't gain purchase of the ground beneath him, try as he might.

Then he heard the car door open. He turned in time to see Shelly bolt from the passenger seat. She worked her way around the red ooze and snatched the gas can up. She slid it towards Lucifer and he reached out to grab it but it whizzed right by him, just out of reach.

Shelly muttered, "Shit," and ran back around the red fluid to retrieve the can again. This time her aim was true and Lucifer grabbed the can as it rushed towards him. He poured the contents over his head and body while laying in the road. It wasn't the most dignified way to do things but by now Lucifer just needed this to end.

He flicked the Zippo and he burst into flames. Only then did he notice Cerberus laughing his stupid dragon ass off.