My UnTrue Love (A Kinda Fairytale #7)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The coyote raced to edge of wet,

So quickly had he come,

But there his heart broke with regret,

See what his greed had done.

Lyrics from the folk song “Crossroads Coyote”

Clementine jerked against his hold. “Let me go!”

Johnny disregarded that, dragging her closer. “Don’t pretend you haven’t had the hots for me since high school. It’s your lucky day. I’m finally going to give you what you want.”

“Stop it!” Her breasts flattened against his chest. Up close, the horrendous smell of him struck her again and this time she realized what it was.

Burnt leather.

Clem’s fear somehow climbed even higher.

“Johnny,” her horrified eyes met his, “did you take Hasten-2?”

“I had to! I can’t spend all day at the studio, slaving away on one lousy song. I needed magic to write faster.”

“That elixir isn’t helping your creativity. It’s poisoning it!”

“It’s an organic inspiration enhancer! It’s made from all-natural herbs and lizard parts. The prairie dog who sold it to me says it’s actually healthier than people think.”

“You don’t believe that. You want to believe that. You want to believe things, because it’s easier to believe them, and so you do.”

“The elixir is what gave me the idea to come get my True Love back from that coyote, so I’d say it’s working.” His fingers dug in, bruising her flesh. “It’s your fault I had to take Hasten-2, in the first place. Since you left me, it’s the only way I can feel inspired.”

“You’re not inspired. You’re just pissed off and grabbing on to the first dark idea in your head.”

Hasten-2 burned out the best parts of an artist. It didn’t change who they were. It accelerated it. Twisted it. The ideas came fast, but they were much shallower. The easy answers that the person craved. An artist could get by for a while, but the insidious magic soon stole those, too. Their creative spark was fried forever by the artificial brightness of Hasten-2.

Not a ka-pow! A ka-boom!

“Once you’re my muse again, I won’t need Hasten-2 anymore. Things will go back to normal.” He rubbed against her and she could tell he was getting aroused. “ Better than normal, because we’ll be together. You’ll like that. I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

Clem tried to jerk free, but Johnny had her in an iron grip. “Please, don’t do this.”

“You’re feeling scared. That’s natural for an innocent girl. But I’ll show you how good it can be. Remember how we kissed at prom?”

“I kissed John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt at prom. He was the only boy in the whole school who’d go out with a muse and expect nothing, except laughing together and talking about music. What in the hell have you done to him?”

“I was weak in high school. I’m strong now. You should be happy that I improved.”

“You didn’t improve. You’ve killed the only part of you that I ever cared about.”

“You’ll get over it.” He watched her chest in growing interest. “You know, I was kind of ambivalent about consummating our bond.” His eyes crept all over her body. “I don’t really go for fat girls. They remind me of what I was like before. But,” he gave a half-amused, half-amazed snort, “I gotta admit, this is working for me. The softness is nice.”

“If you touch me, I will report you to Hank.” She told him honestly, fighting against waves of panic. “You will be arrested.”

He smirked, not believing her. “You wouldn’t do that to me. We’re best friends.”

“ Bill’s my best friend. And I’ll tell him about this, too. And I’m pretty sure he’ll kill you for it. And I’m pretty sure I’ll let him.”

That threat pissed Johnny off. “You think I’m scared of Bill?” He gave her a hard shake. “You think I care that Dinah is letting him play at The Kitchen tonight? You think I’m worried that he’ll take me down, like he did Bowleg Bob, and Desert Pete, and Tenderfoot Tompkins?”

Clem had no clue who Tenderfoot Tompkins even was .

“Pecos Bill is nothing!” Johnny was all but frothing at the mouth. “I’m better than any coyote. I’m sick of seeing you look at him like he’s somebody special, when I’m the one you should be smiling at.”

“I will never smile at you again!” Clementine stopped trying to get through to him, giving into her rage and sense of betrayal. “Everything I ever felt for you is dead . You’re a rapist and a bigot and a bully.”

“I’m a man fighting for my happily ever after!” His lips crashed down onto hers, bruising her mouth with the force of his kiss.

The smell and taste of him almost made her gag. It was disgusting. He was disgusting. Clem didn’t want this. She wouldn’t go along with it. Johnny might be stronger than her, but she had some very big brothers and they made sure she could take care of herself.

The coffee she’d poured for him was still on the kitchen island. She saw the purple tarantula mug from the corner of her eye. She reached for it, gripping it in her hand and then swinging it towards his head.

The edge of the rim slammed into his temple. The handle broke off. Coffee and bits of ceramic rained down. Johnny shouted in pain and surprise.

Clementine took off running.

He was between her and the front door, so she couldn’t go that way. Instead, she raced towards the back of the apartment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Johnny yowled in astonishment. “Jesus, that hurt! I think I’m bleeding!”

She’d had the vague idea to reach the bedroom and somehow climb out the second-story window, but there wasn’t time. He was already chasing after her. He’d catch up with her within a few seconds. She broke left, darting into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

“Fuck!” Johnny bellowed again and began beating on the door. “Get out of there! I mean it. This isn’t funny, Clem.”

The puny lock was not going to hold.

Clem desperately looked around the small bathroom for something to save herself. The skylight in the shower was too high for her to reach and it was the only other exit. Maybe she could find a weapon and fight Johnny off? The back of the toilet tank was the most obvious choice, but it was too bulky to effectively swing at him.

Could she spray his eyes with cleanser and rush past him, while he was blinded?

It was worth a try.

She dropped to her knees in front of the sink, yanking open the vanity doors. Tissues, tampons, drain clog stuff, extra shampoo… A bottle of liquid bleach? That could burn people’s skin. Clementine held the bottle, trying to think. No, that wouldn’t work, because how could she spray bleach into Johnny’s face?

“You’re really starting to piss me off!” Johnny screamed, ramming the door with his shoulder. “Don’t pretend you’re better than me! You’re just a damn muse!”

Clem looked back towards the bathroom cabinet, desperate for a kapow!

Inspiration struck thanks to Woody’s crappy repair job. Bill had fixed the leak under the sink, because he was the kind of man who knew how to fix things. He hadn’t replaced the drywall yet, though. All that stood between the back of the vanity in her apartment and the back of the vanity in Luke’s apartment was a couple of sheets of damp cardboard.

That was her way out.

She swept the remaining junk out of her way. A pack of disposable razors, a scrub brush, and that fancy soap that made her skin itch, all hit the tile floor in a jumble. Then, she ripped down the cardboard that Woody had halfheartedly taped up.

“Is this because of the Homecoming celebration?” Johnny whined in his whiny voice. “Because that was really your fault. I would’ve taken you, if you’d lost weight and dressed better.”

Clementine tuned him out. Poking her head into the now empty vanity box, she looked around. There were pipes beneath the sink and Clem wasn’t a small woman, but she figured she could wriggle her body through that hole. When you didn’t have a choice, it was amazing what you could do.

“Clem!”

She squeezed into the cabinet. There were still some bits of drywall on Luke’s side, but it had been so saturated with water that she could push it down with her hands. The kid kept nothing but magazines and rolls of toilet paper in his cabinet. She shoved those out of the way, pushing open the vanity door from the inside.

With some heaving and effort, she quickly found herself sprawled on the bathroom rug of Luke’s apartment. She lay there, breathing hard.

Inside her own home, the sound of splintering wood echoed, as Johnny broke down the bathroom door.

Bill’s security deposit was lost, for sure.

“You bitch!” Johnny’s face appeared in the hole, as he saw where she had gone. He was too big to follow her. “You’re just like all the rest of those whores, thinking they can lead me on and then change their mind, like I was still some teenage nobody!”

She was gasping for oxygen, so words were beyond her capabilities. She settled for flipping him off.

Maybe the Hasten-2 helped give him the idea for this madness, but he was the one who decided to carry out the plan. He was the one who’d hurt all those girls. He wasn’t in a fog. Wasn’t out of his mind. Wasn’t changed into a monster.

He was revealed.

Johnny’s jaw clenched. “I figured you were better than the others. I really did. But you’re not.”

Clem slammed the cabinet closed, so she didn’t have to see him.

She wasn’t thinking exactly right. She knew that. Everything was still soaked in panic and adrenaline. Stress was making dots flash before her eyes, signaling that she was close to passing out. She needed her pills to regulate. She didn’t have her pills. She needed her pills. And a phone.

She needed to find a phone and call Bill. And Hank. And Bill. She wanted Bill.

He was going to be very upset, though. Maybe she shouldn’t call Bill. She didn’t want him to be upset. He had to go on stage tonight. But Clem didn’t want to keep secrets from her husband. She knew how much Bill valued honesty.

And he was bound to notice the bruises on her body.

And the hole in the bathroom wall.

And besides she needed him to hold her.

Somehow, Clem managed to get to her feet and staggered from the bathroom. Reaching the hall, she looked around. Or at least she tried to.

It was dark in the apartment. No lights were on and the window curtains were all tightly closed. Everything was so dark. It pressed down on her, reminding her of being trapped in that mine collapse, struggling to breathe. Her vision swam, as her stress levels redlined.

Oh God… She was going to faint.

No .

She took a deep breath. No fainting. She was going to get to Bill.

Forcing herself to keep going, she pushed off the doorway and into the oppressive darkness of the hallway. This apartment was most likely a mirror image of her and Bill’s. The light switch was almost certainly in the same place, just on the opposite wall. That made sense, right? She could reach it.

Keeping one hand on the wall, she slowly inched towards the living room, each step feeling like a mile. Beneath her fingers, pages rustled. Papers were taped to the walls in a blanket of notes. She couldn’t read any of them in the dark, but there were dozens and dozens. The apartment smelled musty and closed up. The papers seemed to be the only proof that anyone even lived there.

Trying to keep her terror at bay, she finally made it to the light switch. A sob of relief left her, as she flipped it on and light flooded the room. Leaning against the wall, trying to stay conscious, she looked around.

Reams and reams of practically illegible notes surrounded her.

The walls were covered in sheet music. It was as if her father’s notebook was made into wallpaper. Ideas were tacked up on top of each other, and side-by-side, and in any spare opening Luke could find. Scribbled over and rearranged in some order that only made sense to an artist. Like he was trying to capture the soaring orchestra he heard in his head, but it was just too big and free-flowing to contain on paper.

Luke was writing a symphony.

Clem’s gaze fell on the nearest page. Luke was writing a great symphony. He wasn’t quite there, yet. He didn’t have the musical training to complete the puzzle, but he had all the pieces. This concert being born, taped to the dusty walls around her, was going to be exceptional.

The silent music soothed her, slowing her heart rate. Her magic reacted to the unfinished song, filling her with the thrill of discovery. The dots that flickered in her vision faded some. She’d known that Luke had a true gift.

A noise came from the room on her left, causing her to jolt. A soft mournful sound that reminded her of Luke’s fiddle playing. Like something trapped inside was suffering and hopeless. Without stopping to think it through, she moved towards the door and tried to turn the knob. It didn’t open. Of course it didn’t.

Someone had installed a huge padlock on it. Enchanted with magic, it glowed with the kind of strength you only used when you really wanted to keep something trapped.

It took a second for Clem’s mind to catch up. The door had to lead to the spare bedroom, according to the apartment’s layout. Why would anybody padlock their spare bedroom from the outside? Was someone being held in there?

Was it Luke?

Fresh panic filled her at the thought. Her eyes scanned around, quickly spotting a key. It was dangling from a nail that somebody had driven into the wall as a hook, like maybe they planned to come back and open the door. Eventually.

She snatched the key up and unfastened the huge lock, feeling the magical restraints vanish. “Luke?” She eased open the door. The room was pitch-black. “Are you in here?”

A beastly snarl greeted her.

Only it wasn’t a beast. Luke had transformed into his coyote. He didn’t seem to know who she was, as he circled in the shadows. Feral and dangerous, warning her away.

“Luke…” Clementine took a step into the room, unsure how to help him.

Bill had cautioned her that young coyotes could lose themselves in the wildness of their initial transformation. Looking at Luke, she knew that was a hundred percent true. His eyes glinted, as he crouched like an animal. Wary and hurt. His human half had gone into hibernation. Instincts drove him, now. He could attack her without meaning to.

But she couldn’t leave him all alone.

“Sweetie-pie, it’s going to be okay.” The darkness pressed down on her, adding to her agitation. “You’re going to be fine.” All this time, the kid hadn’t been hiding out. He’d been a prisoner in his own apartment, his body transforming when he was trapped and scared. “Who locked you in…?”

Her words broke off in a panicked yelp, as Johnny grabbed her from behind.

“You think I’m going to let you get away with it?” He spun her around, wrath radiating from him. “You led me on for years .”

His fingertips were bloody. He must have torn at the ruined drywall to make the hole bigger and followed her through. The building had appalling construction standards.

Clem tried to strike out with a fist, but he was already grabbing her arms. “Why are you doing this?”

“You’re my True Love! Mine . And even if you’re not, I’m not going to let him have you. I’ll never let him win!”

Johnny couldn’t stand to lose. Not even at board games. That’s what this was really about. He’d always been hyper-competitive with Bill, because Bill was so obviously superior in every conceivable way. As his life spiraled out of control, Johnny blamed Bill and wanted to beat him at something. But he was too big of a coward to face Bill himself. Clementine realized that she was just a means to an end. He was going to rape her to get back at her husband, with no regard for her as a person.

Once upon a time, John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt had been her best friend. But she’d never known Johnny Jacobs, at all.

Clementine cried out in pain, as he dragged her towards the dirty sofa in the living room. Dried blood stained the cushions. Where had that come from? It coated the rug, too. Pieces of a violin were on the ground, like someone had stomped on it, and all the furniture was pushed out of place. There had been a vicious fight in the room, even before Johnny arrived.

“Stop caterwauling. Jesus! Whatever you did with that coyote, you’ll enjoy it more with me.” Johnny didn’t care that he hurt her. He was insulted that she was resisting him. “ Everyone wants me. Everyone loves me.”

“I’m in love with Bill!”

“Don’t be stupid.” His free hand fondled her body right through her blouse. “You’ll forget that nobody, once you’re the wife of a star.”

“I am the wife of a star! Bill is a star. And you’ve never been one.”

Even when she’d been blinded by loyalty and affection for Johnny, she’d known his limitations. Fate wasn’t fair when talent got doled out. Some people were just blessed with an extra sparkle of artistic genius. Bill had it. Johnny didn’t. Everyone who heard them play could sense it.

Maybe that’s why Johnny detested him so deeply.

“That’s a fucking lie!” His grip tightened on the soft globe of her breast, wanting to punish her. “I’m the biggest star this town has ever…”

Wham!

She didn’t see the impact, but she felt it. Something huge and powerful slammed into Johnny. His furious ranting turned to terrified shrieks.

Clem toppled to the carpet, as he released his hold on her. He had to let her go in order to protect himself from the savage coyote attack.

“Get him off! Get him off!” Johnny begged, his voice barely audible over the carnivorous snarls. He reached a hand towards Clem, as if she would help him, and nearly got it snapped off by jagged teeth.

Luke did not like men touching her.

The boy was fully transformed, coated in a thick, swirling mist, with only a hint of his human form within the animalistic shape. His strange eyes glowed with wrath and feral violence.

Johnny was large for a human, but he was no match for a sixteen-year-old coyote-shifter. She’d seen Bill toss Stew over the bar, like the other man weighed nothing. Send a bear to the hospital with one punch. Coyote’s strength was unbelievable.

But Bill had been aware of himself, even when he was transformed. Luke was lost somewhere inside his animal-half. And Luke’s coyote was even bigger than Bill’s. A gigantic mountain of pain and wrath, intent on inflicting destruction.

He tore into Johnny with relentless ferocity, fully intending to kill him. That kind of trauma might damage Luke forever. He was very sensitive.

“Luke.” She staggered to her feet, wanting to protect him. “Don’t hurt Johnny. He’s not worth you getting in trouble.”

No response. Luke’s massive paws were already around Johnny’s throat, planning to rip his head clean off. Johnny gurgled and pried at the mist-covered fists strangling him. The blue fog was the exact same shade as Bill’s. She supposed all coyote magic was that extraordinary color.

“Luke! It’s over, now. You’re safe. You kept me safe. We’re okay.”

Nothing. The coyote was beyond hearing words.

Clementine thought for a beat and then whistled those notes she’d read on Luke’s wall. The small piece of his elaborate symphony. It was beautiful and haunting and finally got his attention.

Eerie brown eyes flicked her way. Glowing with a supernatural intensity.

“We have too much work to do, getting you into the Westlands Academy. We can’t waste our time with judges and coroners.” She took a careful step towards him. “Just let him up and we’ll call the police. My brother’s the sheriff. He can handle it.”

Luke didn’t look appeased. He did ease his hold on Johnny’s neck, though. Slightly.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I peeked at your music.” She gestured towards the walls. “It’s beautiful, sweetie-pie. A masterpiece.”

His head tilted. Releasing Johnny, Luke moved towards her. Listening closer, now.

“That’s right.” She urged, hoarsely. The black dots were back. An angry swarm flew over her vision, signaling that her stress was just too high. She was going to pass out. It was inevitable. But she needed to save Luke first. “I want to hear your symphony. Come back so you can play your fiddle. I knew you were a star.”

“ He’s not a star! ” The word seemed to infuse Johnny with a second wind. Before she could react he was on his feet and at the front door. “I’m the only genuine star in this town. Only me! And I’ll prove it.”

Luke’s attention cut back to the man, his head moving in a predatory sweep. He was more in control of himself, but still eager to hunt. That somehow made it even scarier.

“Luke…” Clementine began, but that was as far as she got. Her knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor, her condition reaching the limits of what it could tolerate. She sprawled on Luke’s hideous, bloody rug, as her vision dimmed. Everything looked like it was moving underwater.

Luke started for Johnny, only to stop when he realized she’d fallen.

Johnny raced from the apartment, leaving the door swinging behind him.

Rather than follow him, Luke ran to Clem’s side, his misty paws reaching for her.

And then her world went dark.