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Excerpt from God of the Grim by Kate Hill
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Matthew’s gaze fixed on the doorway of his house as Geneva, dressed in a hobo costume, approached the well-lit front porch. Two large, carved pumpkins sat on the steps. Matthew squinted to see the detailed faces, knowing Dulcie had carved them. She usually had one in every window, but this year there were only two. He hoped she was well. His stomach clenched at the thought of seeing her. As Geneva walked up the wooden steps and rang the doorbell, he willed his breathing to regulate.
He hid behind a weeping willow tree in a yard halfway down the street, against the wind so she couldn’t catch his scent. Making the bus trip from New York to Boston was dangerous, but on this night of all nights, he had to see her. Halloween was their special holiday. Memories of past years filled his mind. Dulcie always looked so beautiful in a black satin nightgown. How he loved tearing it from her exquisite body and devouring her. He could almost feel her hands and teeth on his skin. His cock pulsed as he imagined thrusting deep inside her warmth. Repressing a shiver, he longed to hold her again and tell her how much he loved her. But he would have to be satisfied with seeing her. It had been such a painfully long time…
The door opened and she stood, wearing a black turtleneck that clung to her full, firm breasts. Black jeans molded to her shapely hips and thighs. High-heeled black boots adorned her feet. Her thick hair hung loose down her back. How soft it felt against his palms!
“God, she’s so beautiful,” he whispered.
“Trick or treat!” Geneva quipped, holding up a pillow case.
“Hello.” Dulcie smiled at her, dropping treats inside.
“Can I have the other kind?”
Matthew’s jaw tightened. Stop being a brat, Geneva.
“Sure you can,” Dulcie said. Suddenly her head lifted, and she stared directly at Matthew’s tree. He hid behind the trunk, his heart pounding and his mouth dry. He hoped she hadn’t seen him and prayed she had.
“That’s a cool wig,” Geneva said to Dulcie.
Matthew shot the tiny hybrid a scathing look. Jealous little bitch!
The door closed, and she was gone. Closing his eyes, he swallowed past the tightness in his throat. Perhaps seeing her had been worse after all.
“You bastard!” Geneva roused him from his self-pity with a kick in the shin.
He hissed. “Why did you have to make those stupid comments to her?”
“Why didn’t you tell me she was so beautiful?” Geneva snarled, drawing back her foot to kick him again.
He picked her up, pinning her arms to her sides, and held her against the tree, her feet dangling. “You little bitch! Can’t you ever be nice?”
Geneva smiled snidely and shouted. “Help! Help! Daddy, don’t hit me anymore!”
Matthew dropped her hard on her rump. “Shut up, Geneva! Are you trying to get me caught?”
“No one can catch you, Matthew Winter. I should know that by now.”
He walked away, Geneva at his side. “Did you put it in the candy tray?”
“Yes, I tossed it in the tray before I left. You know, I don’t like her. I’m going back to egg her house.” Geneva turned on her heel, but Matthew caught her shoulder.
“Hey, that’s my house, too.”
“Oh, yes. I forgot.” Geneva thought for a moment. “Why should I care? I should egg your face for not telling me what she looked like.”
“Why does it matter to you what she looks like?”
“When I had the illusion that she was ugly, the thought of you married was easier to deal with.”
He raised his eyes to heaven. “Let’s go. We have to catch a bus back to New York.”
“I’m going to trick or treat a little more while I’m here. This is a rich neighborhood. I bet everyone gives full-size chocolate bars.” Geneva looked in the bag at Dulcie’s treats. “Nice. Candy. A package of chocolate chip cookies and…what the hell is this? Dental floss?”
Matthew smiled and gazed back at his house. “She remembered.”
“Don’t tell me the damn dental floss is your idea?” Geneva scoffed. “Figures.”
“All that candy is bad for the teeth, not to mention what it does to a person’s cholesterol—”
Matthew gently shoved the back of her head as they continued down the winding street.
* * * * * The doorbell rang and Dulcie reached for the tray of candy, then paused. A small black box with a miniature red bow sat amidst the chocolate, cookies and sample-sized dental floss.
Where did it come from? Was it a bomb from Jay’s men? If so, how did they get inside?
The little girl! It must have been. When she’d opened the door, she thought she caught Matthew’s scent from the little hobo but had passed it off as a psychological reaction to her missing him so much. She knew the girl was a hybrid. It wasn’t all that unusual to see a young child who’d been changed into one of their kind, so she hadn’t thought anything of it.
Suddenly Dulcie knew the box wasn’t from Jay. With trembling hands she opened the lid. Inside rested a single, perfect black pearl attached to a delicate gold chain.
“Matthew,” she whispered, removing the pearl. Beneath the cotton at the bottom of the box was a folded note, the handwriting painfully familiar. It read:
I love you.
Happy Halloween.
She threw open the door, tossed the candy tray at a startled group of children and jumped in her car.
The little hobo couldn’t have gone far, and she guessed Matthew was with her.
For hours, she combed her neighborhood and the surrounding ones, but as dawn neared, she realized that Matthew, if he had been close by, had disappeared.
Sadly, she returned home and lay in bed, her fingers caressing the black pearl at her throat as the sun rose outside.
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