Freebie - Corrupted Love

Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of the holiday, I thought it would be fun to share my short story, Corrupted Love. It's a bit of a departure from the standard Cupid trope. Enjoy!

Corrupted Love - Featured in the anthology, Love in the Dark by WPC Press and in my short story collection, SINS.

Jessie Amare’s alarm started blaring at her. Her hand fumbled across her cluttered nightstand, knocking several empty liquor bottles down in the process, before she found her phone and shut it off. Her head pounded inside her skull and her stomach churned nauseatingly. There was an uncertain moment when she thought she was going to throw up, but it passed and the floor beside her bed remained vomit-free.

“Damn, my head hurts,” a weird voice suddenly said.

There was a flash of fear when she didn’t recognize it. She tried to remember the night before, but only hazy images of some random guy came up. There was drinking, some laughing, and a lot of naked time. After some internal debate, she turned over and found herself face to face with someone not even remotely familiar. It was a man with an incredibly ugly moustache, greasy black hair, and caterpillar eyebrows.

“Uh...no offense but...get out,” she told him. Then she rolled away, got out of bed, and made her way to the bathroom.

“You sure you want me to leave?” the guy asked.

“Just go!” she yelled back, immediately regretting it when her head felt like it was about to split open. She got to the bathroom, went inside, and then slammed the door shut behind her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, bitch!” the guy yelled at her. A few moments later, she heard her front door open and then bang shut again.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jessie said, then abruptly threw up into the sink while she used the toilet.

After the bathroom visit, she vegged out on TV, trying not to think about anything. She knew what would happen if she let her mind wonder. Knew exactly what road it would go down and she didn’t think she could handle that. So instead, she focused on the stupid show. She was in the middle of watching an epic, reality show cat fight when her front door was kicked in and some guy she’d never seen before stumbled into her apartment.

“Ah!” she screamed. “What...who...wha?”

The guy was wearing an old western duster, a cowboy hat, and had two revolvers strapped around his waist. He staggered forward a few steps and then promptly collapsed to the ground, blood pooling underneath him. The left side of his torso was a shredded, bloody ruin.

“Oh my god!” Jessie yelled, going to him even though it was against her better judgement.  “Are you okay?”

She was about to get towels, but the man’s hand grabbed her forearm and yanked her back down again. A squeak of fear escaped her. His eyes were open and focused on her.

“J-jessie…” he spluttered. Flecks of blood flew out of his mouth and landed on the stubble of his chin. “I-i’m s-so sorry I…”

He took in a ragged breath.

“Don’t try to talk,” she told him.

“It’s al-all my fa-u…” A fit of coughing gripped him and more blood gushed out of his torn left side.

“Ew! This is really gross. I’m going to call 911.” Again, she tried to leave him, but he stopped her. “Dude! Quit. I’m trying to help you. You’re dying.”

“C-can’t help now. All my f-fault.” He seemed to know his time was running out. He locked eyes with her as his free hand went to the belt holding his revolvers. He undid the clasp and it fell to the floor. With a little more struggling, he was able to get them out from underneath him so he could push them at her. “I w-wish I coul…” He coughed harshly again. When he was done, he continued. “You. Take them. It’s up to you to st-stop the m-monster.”

She stared at the guns. Then she stared at the man on the floor. Her mind felt like it wanted to seize up again.

“What? Did you say monster?” she asked.

“Ch-choose l-love.”

Those were the last words he said and after he did, all hell broke loose. Everything around her suddenly dimmed. It wasn’t total darkness, but it still felt like all the light was being sucked out of the world. Then some instinct inside her screamed out a warning and her head jerked toward her door.

It was still open which gave her a great view of the most hideous and terrifying creature she’d ever seen. Its very nature was abhorrent and her mind almost broke just looking at it. Most of it was pitch black, but its body was broken up by cracks and fissures that oozed purple blood. It had an oblong head with a wide, crooked mouth full of fangs covered in clear slime. Two eyes glowing with eerie, purple light stared straight at her. Its long, spindly arms ended in ridiculously big hands with foot-long fingers topped with hooked claws. The creature let out a long, moaning yell and started running for the door. It came for her in these jerky, weirdly stutter-like movements.

Jessie screamed, ran to the door, and then slammed it shut. Her heart was jackhammering inside her chest as she slid down it and sat with her back to it. Her mind was going a hundred miles an hour. A few seconds later, there was a loud crash and her door actually pushed her forward a bit before settling back. Two other impacts followed the first, each one more powerful than the last. She thought for a horrible second that the monster was going to break it down with her sitting in front of it, but miraculously, it held. After the third hit, there was an odd moment of silence. For some reason, the monster abruptly stopped trying to bust her door down.

She looked at the dead man on her floor and wanted to cry. His pale skin had turned even paler and took on a grey tint. His eyes were open and staring up at nothing. It was bringing up painful memories. Memories she had spent the last three years trying to bury. Images of...her. Images of her dead body. Her open, staring eyes that looked right at her but didn’t see her. Jessie remembered those eyes and how she could see the life inside them wink out like it had never been there.

Three years. That’s how long it’s been since her girlfriend, Brit, died. And now, here was more death. It felt like it was following her.

She hated it.

There was another powerful wail from the monster but this time, it came from the back of her apartment. It was followed by a horrifying crash and then the sound of glass hitting the floor.

“Oh crap,” Jessie whispered.

Her eyes went to the dead man’s revolvers and without hesitation, she scrambled to them, inspecting each one. She cracked them open and checked their chambers. They were fully loaded but the bullets were strange. They were jacketed in a weird, pink metal she’d never seen before and a bizarre heart was stamped onto their butt ends. She ignored all that strangeness though, (mostly because she had no other choice), closed the guns, spun their cylinders, and held them up. Each barrel was pointed at the doorway to her kitchen/dining room. She got to her feet and readied herself, her heart still pounding in her chest.

“Let’s go!” Jessie shrieked. “I’m right here!”

The monster let out another wailing scream. Jessie heard it but this time, something else was lurking in its yell. Something that sounded like...pain. She was sure of it. The thing was hurting. But it was also trying to kill her, so she felt little sympathy for it. A few seconds later, she watched it stutter into view like the image on a bad VHS tape. Its over-large, saber-like fingers scratched at her walls, ceiling, and floors. The fissures on its black skin seemed wider and oozed more neon-purple blood. Its eyes blazed and started flickering like candle flames. Its huge, grotesque mouth hung open and clear saliva dripped to the ground.

Jessie fired the guns, taking careful aim. The bullets coming out did not act like ordinary bullets, however. Each time she pulled the trigger, there was a flash of red light and (swear to God) hints of sexy, romantic music that was so faint, she almost thought it was her imagination. But it happened every time she fired and after the first three or four shots, she realized the music was real.

As weird as the bullets were, they still seemed to do the job well enough. The bullets smacked into the creature and its body jerked and twitched. It wailed again and then a long, ropy tongue-thing whipped out. It slithered through the air and smacked Jessie’s wrist. Pain flared there and she yelped, dropping one of the guns. The tongue-thing whipped at her again, but she dodged it in a swift, fluid motion that carried her toward the middle of the room. She fired her remaining gun twice more, aiming it right at the thing’s gut. The flashes of light were even brighter, the music even louder, and the damage more severe. Large, gory wounds appeared in its torso and its blood and worse stuff dribbled out. There was a foul, rotten smell in the air that made Jessie’s eyes water.

“J-jess…ss....s,” the thing growled out.

The creature lashed out with one of its arms. Jessie crossed her own in front of her at the last minute, doing what she could to block the blow, but it was strong. It broke one of her forearms and sent her flying across her living room. She landed with a harsh thud on her coffee table, rolled off it, and fell to the floor, trying hard to get breath back into her battered body.

“J-je...sss...ss... i,” the creature moaned again.

Jessie coughed and blood came out. She crawled across the ground, each inch she gained taking way more effort than it should have. Eventually she got to the other gun, the one she dropped earlier. The creature’s tongue-thing whipped through the air again. It darted forward but she dodged it. The hand of her unbroken arm wrapped around the worn grip of the revolver and she lifted it. At the same time, the creature lunged at her.

She timed her shot, waiting for the right moment.

Not yet, she thought, focusing all her attention on the thing.

Its arms lashed around viciously, and the seconds ticked by insanely slowly. Then, with a breath of relief, she got her opening. She pulled the trigger and the bullet flew out, taking the creature directly under the chin. It howled in pain and rage.

Jessie thought that would be the end of it, but it wasn’t. Instead, the inky darkness of its skin peeled away from its head, leaving a roughly human-looking image underneath it. It was hazy at first. Ghost-like. Then its features clarified like a pixelated image being sharpened.

Her hammering heart abruptly stopped inside her chest.

“Brit?” she asked.

“J-je...sss...s..ie,” Brit moaned.

She remembered how in love with her she’d been. She also remembered how after she was gone, love felt...useless. That feeling of uselessness turned into anger which eventually turned to rage.

Rage at love in general.

Choose love.

Those words echoed inside her head. She had no idea what they meant but knew they were important. They were the dead man’s last words after all. She had to figure it out before Brit was consumed again. Already that inky blackness was starting to creep back over her head. Jessie could see her shouting, trying to hold it away, but it was clear the battle was a losing one.

“H-hurry!” Brit screamed. “Pl-please st-stop...m-me.”

Jessie’s panic flared up as the blackness crawled across her face even faster. Time was running out. In moments, Brit would be gone and only the monster, with its desire to murder her in a very gruesome and painful manner, would remain.

Choose love.

What does that mean?

Time was running out but when all hope seemed lost, she happened to look into Brit’s eyes. All the hatred inside her vanished as memories of their time together surfaced in her mind. She remembered their first date and how Brit’s nose would crinkle when she laughed. Their first kiss. Her passion for life. The nights they shared together. Above all else, she remembered the way Brit made her feel. She remembered the happiness, sadness, joy, anger, hope, depression, and so many other things. But what she realized was that love wasn’t a separate emotion from those other ones.

Love was a mix of all of them.

Jessie got to her feet, tears streaming down her face. She dropped the gun onto the floor and watched as the creature ran at her.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Then she launched herself at the monster, wrapping it up in a tight hug and kissed Brit on the lips with every bit of passion she had. After that, there was a huge, resounding explosion of light and sound. She was thrown through the air only to crash into a wall and fall to the floor in a limp heap. Her head felt dizzy and she wanted to puke again but blackness closed over her vision before she could. Screaming and wails of pain from the creature followed her down into unconsciousness.

*****

“Jessie?” a voice asked. It was full of concern and worry.

She groaned and tried to move but couldn’t without every bone and muscle screaming at her to stop. Eventually, she settled for just opening her eyes. She smiled at the person staring down at her.

“Brit?” she asked. “Are you..uh...okay now?”

Brit still looked ghost-like, but she was solid enough to be cradling Jessie’s head in her lap. The dark, monstrous form that had overtaken her was gone now and she was herself again.

“Yeah,” she replied with a sad smile. “All better.”

“What happened to you?”

“Um…I might be able to help there,” a man’s voice replied.

Jessie’s head rolled toward the sound of the voice and found another ghostly form there. It was the dude that had died on her living room floor.

“Hello,” he said, sheepishly. “I’m afraid this is going to be a bit hard to believe.”

Jessie stared at him like he was an idiot.

“I just fought a literal monster and am now talking to ghosts. I think my threshold for believing things just went up.” She struggled a bit but finally managed to get herself into a sitting position.

“Okay. Well then here goes.” He paused again, actually looking nervous. “I’m Eros. Or, if you prefer, Cupid. I’m your...uh...father.”

Jessie’s eyes went so wide they looked like they might drop out of her head.

“Come again.”

“It’s true,” Brit told her. “When I was that thing, he tried to help me. He told me who he was.”

Cupid nodded his agreement at that, then continued.

“You see, because you’re my daughter, all that hate that developed inside you after Brittany’s death had a negative side effect. It corrupted her soul and turned her into that creature. I was hoping to stop her before she got here but she was too strong and um…you know the rest.”

“I’m Cupid’s daughter?” she asked, still trying to wrap her mind around that.

“That’s right. I also have to say, you did a superb job stopping Brittany. I’m proud of you.”

Jessie felt anger boiling inside her again.

“Seriously? You don’t get to say that, jerk. You were gone my whole life!” she yelled.

“Ah, right. The thing is, when your mother found out who I really was, she didn’t handle the news very well.” He looked sad when he said that. “She told me to never see you or her again. I had no choice but to honor her wishes.”

“Thank you for trying to save me,” Brit chimed in, breaking the tension between father and daughter. “Sorry I..um...killed you.”

Cupid smiled, not angry in the slightest.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been looking to retire anyway. You just made it official.”

“Retire?” Jessie asked. “But you’re dead.”

“Same thing for those like myself,” he told her. He looked to Brit. “Speaking of which, are you ready? I can take you to what comes next, if you like.”

Jessie got up, all the pain and exhaustion inside her suddenly gone.

“The hell with that. I just got her back!”

“Jessie,” Brit said.

That anger quickly turned to fear. She looked down at Brit and didn’t like what she saw there.

Resignation.

“You can’t.” Jessie was starting to cry again. “Don’t leave me again.”

“I can’t stay here. If I do, I’ll turn into that...that...thing again. You have to let me go now.” Ghostly tears started glistening on her pale, translucent cheeks. The two of them stood there for a long time but eventually, Jessie knew she was in the wrong. Images of Brit as that monster came back to her and she realized that as dangerous as the creature was, the worst part was that it hurt her to be that thing. It caused her pain.

And Jessie never wanted Brit to hurt because of her.

“Okay,” she said, her voice quiet.

Brit laid her forehead against Jessie’s.

“Thank you,” she said, kissing her gently.

Then Jessie watched as the only person she ever truly loved left with her father. There was a bright, white light that suddenly flared up on the opposite end of the living room. The two started walking toward it. Brit gave one last, longing look over shoulder at Jessie, waved good-bye, and then disappeared inside it.

“I really am proud of you,” Cupid said. Then started to go into the light himself. He was almost gone when he turned toward her again, smiling broadly. “You’re going to make a great Cupid!”

Then he hurriedly rushed into the light. Once he did, it disappeared from sight.

“What!?” Jessie screamed. “I don’t want to be Cupid!”