My Boyfriend is a Monster (40 page)

With a mouthful of heart he continued. “We can feed off animal hearts but it takes much more to get the amount we need,” he said taking another bite as if he were eating an apple.

“It tastes good?” Amber asked getting more frightened.

“Oh no my dear, it is actually quite vile. Other parts on the human body are quite tasty but the heart, how to put it.” He thought for a moment. “Like eating over boiled peas, unless you like peas of course,” he said considering some might actually like them, even over boiled.

“Fuck me,” Amber cried through her hand over her mouth.

“Don’t worry my dear. Most my kind, eat out of necessity,” he said looking over the body on the floor.

“You just said there were other parts that were tasty.”

“Waste not, want not
,” he said raising his eyebrows. “Besides, there are Monsters out there far worse than my kind when it comes to human consumption, believe you me.” Taking another bite out of the heart he grabbed the body with his free hand and placed it on the table. Wrapping the table cloth over it he was grateful for how big they were. “Wonderful these diner table clothes, almost plastic,” he said placing the heart in his mouth, freeing both hands he grabbed the newly wrapped body and exited the diner.

They could hear a trunk opening and the sound of the body being placed in it. Walking through the door and setting off the chime he tossed the last bit of heart in his mouth. Grabbing the larger body he placed it on a table and began wrapping it. Ex
amining the larger girth of Andy’s body he decided to take another table cloth and disappeared outside again.

“What the fuck do we do?” Frank asked.

“I don’t know, run for it?”

“Fuck that.”

“You think he’ll catch us?”

“He’ll catch me; you’re a faster runner than I am.”

Hearing the trunk slam shut they both jumped. “You asshole,” Amber said wanting to run but from what she just witnessed she knew he would have no problem catching both of them.

He walked back into the diner wiping his mouth. “You see, there are many kinds of Monsters. I’m Chakan, and there are Elementals and Astros,” he said then shook his head. “Nasty little buggers they are, Solibus et Lunis, get an infestation of them, and there goes the
neighborhood.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Amber interrupted.

Walking over to the briefcase he took the bundle he placed on the counter. Letting his talon like claw slide from underneath his nail he cut the paper wrapping holding it together. “I am telling you this so when you close your eyes every night for the rest of your lives, you will remember the nightmare,” he said smiling. Splitting the bundle in two he slid the larger half to Amber and the smaller one to Frank. Taking a deep breath he tapped the top of the bundles and looked at both of them. “This if for you,” he said then singled out Frank. “It’s not for drugs,” he said looking at him.

“How,” Frank stuttered staring at the bundle. “What makes you think I do drugs,” he finally said.

Grabbing Frank by the arm with lightning speed the Preacher yanked his arm forward over the counter. He twisted his arm palm side up and raised his own hand. The talon like claw erected its way out of his finger. Placing it at the bend in Frank’s arm he slid it all the way down to his wrist. The fabric split apart cleanly revealing track marks on his arm. “I could smell the poison running through your veins the moment you came back from your more than elongated break,” he said gripping his arm tighter causing Frank to cry out. “This money is not for that.” Letting his fangs slowly slide out of his gums and his eyes get brighter Frank started to tear up. “There are Demons more frightening than me my son,” he said looking down at the track marks.

Frank violently shook his head and closed his eyes. “I understand, not for drugs I swear.”

“Good,” the Preacher said letting him go. His eyes and teeth back to normal.

Grabbing the money Frank fell to the ground hugging it while he rocked back and forth.

“Please don’t eat us,” Amber said tearing fully.

“What?” Frank mumbled disappointedly from the floor.

“My dear,” the Preacher said offering her a sympathetic smile. “I would not have gone through that whole speech and give you a bundle of money it I were going to eat you now would I.”

Amber thought about it for a moment then shook her head.

Reaching out slowly the Preacher took her hand. “You and Frank are going to clean this mess up and speak of nothing. As far as you were concerned it was an uneventful night,” he said as she began to settle down. “Two men in suits came in and ate and left and another man in a black suite - not a Preacher,” he made clear. “Ordered, ate and left an hour after them.” he said sticking his thumb behind him pointing towards the exit.

Nodding
, Amber confirmed she understood. “Two men in suits came in ordered, ate and left while a third man in a black suite came in and left an hour or so after the first two.”

“Excellent, excellent my dear,” he said looking down at Frank. “Frank like always was in the back and didn’t even notice them, just cooked the food.”

“I didn’t notice shit,” Frank stated as honest as he could.

“What about the cars?”

“I will take care of that my dear, you just clean the blood.”

“How?” she asked honestly, never having cleaned a crime scene before.

“Some warm sudsy water, then bleach the pail and sink. And burn the cloths.”

She nodded again as he gathered his things. “You were actually here,” she said finally working up the courage. “In
1884, and then in 1904 during the fire,” she said referring to the story.

“I was.”

“So was it?” she asked

“The Witch, Tandy Warren?” He paused for a moment then nodded. “I believe it was.”

“So she’s kind of still here,” Amber said.

He looked around as if sensing her then answered. “I believe she is.”

“Probably not a good idea to go into the swamp at night then,” she said thinking about it.

“Probably not,” the Preacher said then smiled. “Probably not a good idea to go into any swamp at night for that matter,” he said tapping his nose.

“Good point,” she said smiling back.

The Preacher closed the briefcase and looked at the time on his phone. “Well, I should be getting on my way my dear,” he said looking around the diner
, then back to the two of them. “I never forget a name or a face. But I strongly suggest the both of you do,” he said and walked out of the diner, never to be seen again.

Amber did clean the diner and when police came and questioned her she said exactly what they went over and it was never mentioned again. She used her money to go to the University of Mississippi where she got a degree in writing. She met her husband there and later after they were married. They had two wonderful children. She wrote her first book called
The Witch of Yazoo: Dear Tandy Warren
, which became a best seller. She wrote many books that were modest sellers, none quite as successful as the story of Tandy Warren. She loved telling her children the story of the witch and she enjoyed it even more when she told her grandchildren. By then the vocal edition had become much tamer than her book.

She thought about the Preacher many times over the next seventy three years. But even
when he visited her in nightmares, she never spoke a word of him. Even when asked how she came about the story she always left out the part of the Preacher, until she was on her death bed. When she was surrounded by her loved ones, she blessed them and confessed her love for them all. Then she said, “And God Bless the Preacher at the diner, and even after death, I pray I never see him.”

Her last words were a mystery that would be the source of many a conversations
. With fans, friends and family, for generations.

CHAPTER 17

ONE: One Way or Another

N
athan walked Lily to her building. As Lily started to walk up the steps he tugged her back. Letting out a yelp Lily fell into his arms and then laughed. He held her and laughed while her left shoe started to slide down her foot, dangling above the ground. Leaning in he kissed her, thinking he will never get tired of her lips or her embrace.

Kissing him back as softly as he was she had begun to nibble on his lip. She was losing herself again, trying to talk she pushed him back slightly. “I do want you to come up,” she said almost clearly.

“I understand,” Nathan said trying not to sigh.

“I know you do,” she said a little less clearly since she was not holding him back anymore and
had continued on kissing him again. “It’s just that it’s our first date and I’m a little old fashioned,” she said, and just as she did she could see Martin in her head giving her his stern approval.

Nathan stopped kissing her and gazed into her eyes. “I do understand,” he said sincerely. “I waited a life time for you Lily,” he declared in his whisper. Then Nathan started to chuc
kle. “What’s another day or two?” Nathan tried to kiss her again.

Pulling her head back Lily laughed but her face portrayed a painting of being flabbergasted. “A day or two!” she exclaimed. “I’ll have yo
u know I’m an old fashion tramp . . . a week, at least”

“Did you see the bill for dinner?” Nathan questioned.

Laughing she grabbed him by his collar and drew him into her lips once again. She was turned on by the fact that he was still holding on to her and her feet just dangled above the ground minus one left shoe. But she was even more turned on feeling his other hand firmly grasped onto her buttocks pulling her into him.

Now she could see Todd in her head and he was pushing Martin out of the picture and cheering
, then he started a routine, “Give me a –T-A-K-E-H-I-M-U-P-S-T-A-I-R-S. What does that spell?”

Nathan smiled as he let
her down slowly. Stopping just an inch from the concrete and allowing her to slip her left foot back into her shoe. She would say good night and watch him walk away. She was almost as disappointed as the Todd in her head.

Walking into the apartment she noticed how silent it was. Not even the TV was on, which meant Martin was still at the hospital with Todd. She wished they were both here because she had so much to tell them. Hell, she’d settle for Martin right now since she was bursting with girl talk. Wondering if she ran down to the coffee shop and opened
it, would anybody come in, and then just sit and listen to her gush.
Probably want to talk about their problems or some other uninteresting thing, selfish bastards
, she thought with a smile.

Finally getting her left shoe off Lily wondered how
the hell it fell off in the first place. Walking down the hall and past the kitchen she went right into the living room. She grabbed the tablet on the coffee table and turned it on. The voice on the tablet said hello in its sexy man voice. Noticing it wasn’t as sexy as usual and nowhere as sexy as Nathan’s she was almost appalled. “Oh my God, I’m becoming one of those girls,” Lily said shaking her head. She sat up straight and said in a high pitch condescending voice, “No one is as sexy as my man.” She turned off the voice assist and tapped the phone icon. It read 17 new messages and she sighed pressing the button to start the onslaught. She took the tablet and walked to the kitchen straight to the fridge. Not because she was hungry but because she would need something to munch on for the next hour while these messages played. Grabbing some carrots she closed the door and found the peeler from the drawer.

They were all messages wishing Todd well and hopes of him getting better
, but some would then go into TMZ mode and spent minutes gossiping to an answering machine. She wished she didn’t turn off Tom so she could just yell for him to skip them while she peeled. Lily finished peeling her carrots and was able to just skip them herself, until she came to Martin’s call and turned it up.

“Hello Lily, just checking in on you.”

“Hello Lily”
Todd yelled in the background, his voice was muffled but clearer than a few days ago. He was learning to talk quite well for someone who had his jaw wired. But that did not surprise anyone who knew him.

Martin continued.
“We just wanted to check in on you and we hope your date went well,”
he said and then paused. Todd was talking in the background but Lily couldn’t make out what he was saying. Only that Martin was getting mad.
“No she is not. Stop it Todd, she is probably still out,”
he said then she heard Todd mumble something fairly loud but she could not make that out either.
“That is not why she isn’t answering the phone. Why does everything have to be sex with you, maybe their taking a nice evening stroll, or watching that movie she wanted to see?”
Martin continued, now ignoring the phone message all together. Todd continued to mumble making Martin even more upset.
“Well she couldn’t watch the movie if she was doing that could she. No Todd, No she did not. Lily, que no tenían relaciones sexuales. Not there Lily,”
Martin said and then suddenly he was calmly talking into the receiver.
“You may not use our bed Novio, whether it is bigger or not bigger,”
he said getting stern.
“Bigger is not better.”