Page 80 of Hollow

“No, no.” Patrick grabbed one of the guns from his hunters.

The metal burned bright and hot in his hands.

“Aaaauugh! Fuuuck!” Patrick dropped the weapon.

“Worthless endeavors to survive. Amusing in a tragic sort of way.” Astaroth leaned forward, stretching his front paws and raising his hips to get a full back arch. “Capitalism is such a predictable mechanism. Rather boring, in fact, but I suppose I can spice it up into an interesting apocalypse. So few things in this mortal plane provide proper entertainment. I only hope your screams of anguish offer me some solace in this somber reality.”

Astaroth approached Patrick, turning to face Jack momentarily.

“I will allow you to slaughter these nobodies, but I wish to feast upon this one.” Astaroth nodded in Patrick’s direction. “His hubris radiates in waves. I wish to take my time shattering his hope, breaking his mind, and consuming his soul.”

“Yeah, have at it,” Jack said with a cough.

Astaroth lunged for Patrick Hearst. The demon dog’s jaw cracked open wide and made room for six elongated gray arms. They were so slender, they were practically skeletal. In a swift motion, the clawed hands snatched Patrick, and Astaroth howled with excitement as he barreled deeper into the forest to devour his quarry.

“Guess that’s my cue to deal with you lot.” Jack twisted in his confined state, cracking his back.

It released the tension built up from all the stress these bastards had caused.

“Take him down,” one of the hunters shouted, aiming his gun at Jack.

Before he had a chance to fire, the crows swooped down cawing with fury as they pecked at any hunter with their gun trained on Jack.

He turned to spot Dimitri focusing his mind, likely communicating with the woodland creatures. Not just his crows or the wolves who leapt out and tackled men from behind. The trees uprooted themselves, encasing the area and preventing escape. When the hunters fired their rounds, vines stole their weaponry and strangled their screams.

“Can’t let you have all the fun, sweetheart.” Jack took off his enchanted pumpkin and tossed it over to Dimitri. “Hold this for me, will you?”

Dimitri watched in awe as Jack’s body cracked and snapped and was ripped to shreds. He stared at Dimitri, who didn’t blink, didn’t gasp, didn’t look away for a single second.

The shackles holding Jack captive shattered. The rods embedded in Jack’s flesh flew out like rockets. His skin ripped apart at the seams, falling away to pieces as his demonic form took shape.

Jack wouldn’t require the full strength of the Nuckelavee to defeat these foes. He rarely needed more than a fraction of his power to slaughter enemies, but he would take great pleasure in unleashing his wrath.

The Nuckelavee took on the strangest form as a fully actualized spirit. Jack never truly grasped his transformation, but he took great satisfaction in the fear it provoked.

In his true form, entwined with the dark spirit, Jack had turned into a man merged with a horse. Not a centaur. No, this was a skeletal demonesque creature riding atop a horse. Only the rider possessed no legs. No form below his waist. A rotted waist where the jagged spiked ribs poked out and the shadowy flesh burned alive with dark flames.

The horse’s head swelled with embers, and each time it snorted a heavy exhale, black flames scorched the ground beneath them. Its hooves stomped deep into the dirt, cracking through and tearing the earth asunder.

As the ground quaked, many hunters lost their balance. The trees around seized the wolves at Dimitri’s request, and the crows flew away. Soon, all that remained was a Leshy who watched a Nuckelavee in his full form.

“May the darkness offer you an escape from the hell I will unleash.” Jack galloped ahead, swinging one of his elongated arms and using the talon scythe-like fingers to behead several hunters.

Jagged spikes sprang from his back, seeking out targets. Screams filled the air, and the shadowy chains slowly coiled into Jack’s back again, bringing with them many hooked hunters.

They clawed at the ground. They shrieked with terror. They fired their guns futilely. Some fired a shot into their own head before reaching Jack. A smart move, for when the other hunters were within his grasp, Jack ripped their flesh off.

No one put up much of a fight; none of them knew how to oppose such a triumphant force. Jack turned his home into a battlefield, gutting each and every hunter who dared separate him from the love of his life.

“I love you,” Dimitri mouthed as Jack worked.

He sat on his knees, observing the destruction without an ounce of remorse for the hunters who screeched and wailed and begged to no avail.

Jack slaughtered through the hunters, smiling at Dimitri as he worked, and bringing peace to their home as he soaked the ground in the blood of their enemies.

“I love you, too,” Jack mouthed back, hacking away at everyone foolish enough to threaten his happiness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO