Sweet Ruin(5)

When the lights flickered, Knuckle and the two others glanced up. Saw Jo. Their mouths moved wordlessly—

They lunged for the guns.

With a shriek, she flew at Knuckle. “You gonna shoot me?” She slashed out with her claws. She half-expected her fingers to pass through his torso—yet four deep gashes appeared on his belly.

She gasped. Her claws dripped with his blood. She could become solid when she wanted to?

He clutched his bloody stomach, but guts slithered out between his fingers like eels. His knees met the blood-wetted carpet, and then he collapsed.

I just dropped a dude! Superheroes didn’t kill people. Not even bad people.

She should be screaming, yet all this felt natural. This is me. I ghost. I hurt bad guys.

No, I hunt them.

Realization struck her. She’d always been hunting.

Been waiting for this. All. My. Life.

JT and Nobody scrambled toward the door, barely got it open. She flew after them, catching them on the porch. She easily dragged both men back inside. She winked at the kids gathering across the street, then kicked the door shut.

The pair screamed as she attacked. Red covered her vision, some kind of animal instinct taking over. As she slashed, blood splattered; her head spun.

Then she realized neither of them was moving. I’ve dropped three dudes.

Her ears twitched, and she heard a low moan from a back room. Wally. Let’s make it an even four. He must’ve peeked out and seen Jo offing his posse.

She ghosted through the door into another room. “Oh, Wall-ee . . .” Muffled breaths sounded from under the bed.

She floated downward until she was directly in line with him. “Psst!”

He jerked his head around and yelled with horror. Like a rat, he scurried out on the other side of the bed.

She floated upright, taking her time. He pointed another huge gun at her and fired away, unloading bullets. When they passed through her into the wall, he pissed himself.

She wanted to meet his eyes, to make him understand what he’d done. She felt herself moving, disappearing and reappearing right in front of him. Handy. She floated higher to catch his gaze. “You shouldn’t have shot me.”

“N-never do it again,” he said, blubbering.

“Wrong answer, dick. I’ll see you in hell.” She would. No one could enjoy hunting as much as she did and not wind up there—

He swung a bat he’d concealed behind his back; her hand shot out in reflex, striking.

Blood spurted from his throat. The bat fell as he clamped his neck. Gushes of crimson escaped to spray over her.

Her feet touched the ground, her body solidifying, as if to catch the shower. Her appetite leapt. Her teeth ached. She could swear they were sharper. As he watched in glassy-eyed shock, she raised her face with curiosity and parted her lips.

The first drop hit her tongue. Delicious! Her eyes rolled as blood filled her mouth.

She swallowed with a gulp. I’m drinking Wally’s blood. Part of her was grossed out, but as warmth slid down her throat, power flooded her.

Her senses came to life, her eyes picking up new colors, as if she had comic-book infrared vision. The hum of distant streetlights buzzed in her ears. She could smell baitfish down by the bay.

As Wally collapsed, she heard his last heartbeat.

She gave a cry when her hoodie began stretching across her chest, her zipper ripping open. The waist of her jeans cut into her sides. What’s happening to me? She rushed into the bathroom, clawing away her strangling clothes. She was burning up. From the blood?

She reached into the shower and twisted the tap on, as cold as she could get it. When she scrubbed away the gang’s remains, her palms glided over her skin. It’d grown soft as silk, the jaundiced color fading.

She gaped down at her body. She’d filled out, no longer sickly thin! No bones jutted. Even better, she had tons of energy! She exited the shower and crossed to the basin with a spring in her step.

She stared at her reflection. An eerily pretty girl with gleaming black eyes and a blacker heart stared back.

Dark smudges highlighted her gaze like heavy eyeliner and hollowed her cheeks. Her full lips were blood red.

For kicks, she tried to return to her “ghost” form. She went completely invisible, then dialed it back a notch to faint-ish. Worked! The circles around her eyes deepened and her lips turned pale, yet even that appearance was pretty.

To look and feel like this, all she had to do was steal others’ lifeblood?

She’d awakened a ghost; now she was a blood-drinker too. A vampire.

No, she wasn’t a superhero.

Jo flashed a fang at the mirror. I’m a fucking villain.

Her heart soared. This was her origin story. She was going to be a legend (Secretly she’d known that too)!

Then her heart sank. Thaddie. Gotta get to him. Shit, she needed clothes. She scrounged through those bags until she found JT’s smaller threads. She slipped on a pair of sweats, rolling them up and tying them tight, then snagged a jersey.