#continue?

Jack Nichols shivered as he caressed the hollow sockets where his eyes should’ve been. They were dripping with the same black tar that was mercilessly poured into the sockets by Jenny and her cult. 

‘That absolute fucking bitch.’ He thought, and an animal-like snarl tore through his throat. He could feel the stretching and popping of his jaw as he ground his teeth together. Killing her and her stupid friends was therapeutic to him, remembering the taste of their blood as it filled his mouth when he tore out their throats made him feel euphoric. Pausing his steps only for a brief moment, he let those memories of eating their flesh and organs consume him; it only served to make his mouth water. 

What was wrong with him? Why did that memory, that happened only hours ago, make him so god damn hungry? What exactly had they done to him, as much as he tried not to dwell on that thought, the hunger that ate away at him even after the slaughter was almost too much to handle. All Jack wanted when he woke up this morning was to go on a date with a cute girl, get a little drunk, and maybe get lucky (thought realistically that was just wishful thinking)—the actual college experience, even for a med student. Especially with a schedule as busy as his...that was as busy as his. He knew he should have just stuck to focusing on school and studying hard. God, why did he've to listen to his friends as they urged him on the date? 

‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ 

This. This was clearly the worst possible outcome. 

What he really couldn’t believe, however, was that he allowed one of the cultists to get a hit on him, and a bad one at that. Turning his head to glance down at the tear in his thigh, it was a deep gash that desperately needed medical attention and fast. The only problem the former medical student faced was that whatever was pouring out of his leg wasn’t blood. It was a deep black ooze that stained the white snow that littered the forest floor. In fact, Jack wasn’t even sure if everyday medical supplies would even heal his wound. Jack gritted his teeth, trudging onwards into the forest, a faint buzzing reverberated around in his skull like flies buzzing around a corpse that he couldn’t seem to shake. 

He placed his hand against a tree, the world spinning around him. Whatever the blood-like substance that was pouring out of his leg was, he was losing it fast. Jack heard the crunching of snow in front of him and a small gasp. It took most of his strength, but he picked his head up and snarled. Jack bared his teeth and tried to make himself look as dangerous as possible. He felt like a wild animal that the hunter had cornered. There was a girl in front of him, her hair was stuffed under a furry winter hat. She took a few steps back, her brown snow boots making giant footprints in her wake. He could hear the blood flowing through this girl’s veins, as her anxiety levels seemed to spike. The anxiety caused her heartbeat to quicken drastically, and hearing the sound only served to increase Jack’s seemingly ceaseless hunger. Jack tried to take another step towards her, flexing the sharp nails on his hands, but collapsed under his own weight, his fucking leg. He really couldn’t catch a break, could he? 

“What are you?” The girl’s voice held a slight quiver to it, and Jack could feel her sharp eyes burning holes into his body. He watched as she hesitantly took a step closer, her parka standing out against the muted colors of the forest.

“I don’t know.” He responded with a raspy breath. She smelled divine, but he had no strength to attack. Something in his bones told him that he was beyond human, something so much more, a god perhaps? What a silly thought that he couldn’t shake away. Through his quickly blurring vision, he swore he could make out a pair of fancy dress shoes a little bit behind the girl. He saw the girl drop to her knees and cover her ears, his vision went black, and the sound of static accompanied the darkness.

---

Jack was expecting to be dead. He expected to be accompanied by a beautiful white light, maybe an angel or something. However, it caught him very off guard when he suddenly awoke in a rather plush bed. He threw the plaid covers off himself unceremoniously and moved to swing his legs over the side of the bed. The baby god never got far because he let out a howl of pain as a sharp sensation traveled up his thigh. Shit, right, his entire upper thigh was practically ripped open. He forgot all about that. Glancing down at his wound, he noticed it was wrapped tightly in medical bandages, and he assumed it was stitched up underneath the dressings. Whoever fixed the wound seemed to have done at least a semi-decent job, at least he wasn’t dead.. Sniffing the air with his newly acquired sense of smell, he could make out the distinct smell of humans and...was that lavender?

Jack felt his stomach growl, and he doubled over, clutching it. They smelled delicious. He could practically hear their organs singing out to him, rip open the human, steal us, devour us. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the door opening. In the middle of the doorway stood the exact girl he’d seen in the forest. Immediately going on the defense, he bared his teeth, opening his jaw as wide as he could; he heard the popping sound of his jaw as it extended, and he felt something swirl around in his mouth. He felt a chill run down his spine at the unwelcome sensation. 

Did he have more than one tongue?

Shaking the thought away, Jack didn’t move to attack; he was never the type. He would always rather listen to rationality before getting his hands dirty; the only issue was that he was starving, and the girl would absolutely make a fine meal.

“Don’t try, demon.” The girl scoffed, eyeing Jack up and down. If he were still his old college self, he would’ve gotten flustered at the gesture. A girl showing him attention? Unheard of back then. However, after Jenny, he was almost positive he’d never let that happen again. His sockets looked down at what the girl held in her hands; it was a plate, a plate with kidneys on top of it. He was only mildly aware of the fact that he was drooling all over himself. “Oh gross.” She scrunched up her nose, placing the organs on the bottom of the bed. 

Without hesitation, Jack attacked the cold meat, shoving it in his mouth with vigor. He knew blood was all over his face and hands, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Jack knew the girl’s calculated eyes were watching his every move; even so, he couldn’t help but let out a groan of pleasure as the food slid down his throat. Once the meal was finished and Jack was satisfied, he finally felt he had enough strength to start asking questions. 

“Who are you?” He rasped, whipping his mouth with the back of what was left of his sleeve.

“Really? You’re asking ME that question.” 

“I’m not a fan of your attitude.”

“I’m not a fan of you bleeding out on my property.” 

Jack growled low and guttural. “Don’t make me hurt you.” The girl dared to laugh in his face, was she not aware of what he was capable of now? 

“Nice try, but I’m not scared of you. You’re not allowed to hurt me as long as you’re under my care.” She pointed to herself with her thumb, puffing out her chest a little. However, he could hear her pulse increase slightly.  

Jack only scowled. 

“What, pray tell, is exactly stopping me?” He raised an eyebrow, observing as the girl lifted her sleeve to her sweater. He watched her heat signature shoot close to him, and he made a move to snap his jaws, but instead, he found his claws rubbing over a scar. Scared into her wrist was a symbol that Jack had never seen before in his life, but for some unknown reason, he felt dread wash over him. Carved into her wrist was an O with an X slashed through it. “What’s that supposed to prove exactly? That you’re into weird tattoos?”

The woman let out a loud sigh, as if this conversation was boring her. Oh, he’s sorry, it’s not his fault he was turned into a fuckingorgan-eatingg monster by a cult at his local college! If he still had his eyes, they would be rolling so far back into his skull, yet he still waited for the girl to explain. 

“I’m a medical proxy under The Operator. Currently, one of the only ones he has left because we keep getting killed off by rogue killers.” The girl, who had just given her name, clicked her tongue in apparent distaste at the mention of said killers. “Since I’m under The Operator, it means if you kill me, he’ll kill you, that’s the deal, Jacky boy.” That put him on high alert.

“How the fuck do you know my name?”

“You’re certainly full of questions for someone just waking up out of a coma. If you must know, the Operator gave me a brief rundown of your file after we found you in the woods.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s your lucky day because you just got hired to work for him.” She gave him a round of applause, but it sounded more mocking than serious, and he only grew more confused. 

“This doesn't make any sense to me. I hope you’re aware.” 

“I’m sure it doesn’t. It’ll all be explained in due time. For now, your focus should be on improving so you can start your training. Lucky for you, I’m your registered nurse and caregiver, so enjoy your stay at Castle de la Me. Trust me when I say you should value your time here while you still have it.” A thousand more questions ran through Jack’s mind, and his little question-and-answer session with his self-proclaimed nurse didn’t really help. 

“So you’re a med student then?” She made a noise of affirmation, picking at the strings of her sweater. 

“Was a med student, Jack, that pretty much came to a screeching halt after the boss man scouted me. That, however,” he watched as she put a hand to her lips, signaling him to stop asking questions, “is a story for another day. The first order of business now that you’ve eaten is a shower. Cause no offense, but you smell like dried blood, and coming from me, that’s saying something, cause I smell blood all the time.” 

Jack still didn’t trust this stranger fully, and it bothered him that she seemed to know everything about him, while he knew next to nothing about her. Yet, a shower did seem nice in this moment, he glanced down at his hands and noticed his nails were caked with dry blood. He could only imagine what every other part of his body looked like; clearly, she didn’t bother cleaning him up aside from dressing his wounds. 

“A shower sounds good.” Jack nodded in confirmation, and the girl gave a relieved smile.

“Oh, thank God you agreed, it took me a week of convincing to get Jeff to go take his first shower.” Jack decided it was best not to ask who Jeff was; that was a can of worms he shouldn’t open just yet. She reached out to touch him, and he immediately recoiled back, almost biting her hand off. The smile that appeared disappeared into a frown. 

“Don’t touch me.” Memories of Jenny’s friends holding him down while he pleaded for his life flashed across his mind. The blade came closer and closer to Jack’s crystal blue eyes before making contact and-

“Alright, cannibal boy, snap out of it. Can’t you succumb to blood lust just yet? You don’t wanna injure yourself more.” He heard snapping and assumed she had snapped her fingers next to his ears, and he couldn’t help but feel a little grateful that she snapped him out of his stupor. “I was going to help you to the bathroom because you really shouldn’t put pressure on your leg. Is that okay?”

Jack felt himself nodding reluctantly. She was right, he really shouldn’t put stress on his leg, or it could cause more harm than good. Especially since he didn’t know the extent of the injury yet, for all he knew, he was lucky they didn’t hit the femoral artery. Her arms went around his waist as the god and the human girl hobbled to the bathroom together. The sight would’ve been funny to an outsider looking in, this almost eight-foot-tall monster being helped by a girl who didn’t even reach close to his height. On the short walk there, Jack was trying to get a feel of the house, in case he needed to make a grand escape in the future. 

“I’ll put some fresh clothes outside the door for you, call for me when you’re done so I can help you back to the bedroom.” She explained that as Jack hobbled into the bathroom, he didn’t feel the need to respond to her as he shut the door in her face. He heard a faint click of a tongue from the otherside of the door and listened to the girls' retreating footsteps.

Jack leaned against the sink, putting most of his weight on his hands. The sink creaked under the newfound pressure, and Jack wasn’t sure if it was because the house was old or because he had gained newfound strength. He glanced up at the mirror, it was weird, somewhat seeing when you had absolutely no eyes. It was the first time since the incident that he got a good look at himself; he looked about as good as he felt. 

Terrible.

His auburn hair curled around his now pointed ears and was caked in mud and dirt. He was almost grateful that she didn’t touch him aside from the wound while he was unconscious. Jack couldn’t imagine what he might’ve done if he felt anyone go near his face. Speaking of his face, he opened his mouth and saw that his teeth were shaved into razor-sharp fangs. His stomach turned as he remembered the exact reason why they were like that, organs. They were like that so he could eat organs. The thought wasn’t nearly as nauseating as it should’ve been. Three tongues seemed to dance around in his mouth, but how they rested normally in there was beyond him.

His skin was unnatural and a sickly grey color. As he lifted his shirt, the color seemed to spread all the way down his body. He glanced down at his hands and saw his nails were long and black, almost like those girls who wore acrylics, except he was sure their nails couldn’t rip into people's chests with a single swipe. Continuing down his body, he lifted one of his padded feet; he was correct in his earlier assumption. They were much more animal-like. He wondered if they made him faster; what purpose could they possibly serve other than that? 

Gently letting his foot fall back onto the floor, he shuffled to the shower and turned it on; the water sprayed out in a burst, and he patiently waited for it to warm up. Eventually, he was able to step inside, not before knocking his head against not only the curtain rod but also the shower head. 

“Fuck!” He snarled, glaring down at the showerhead. Jack did a little double-take, okay, he was also super tall, at least he got one blessing out of whatever the fuck was happening. Jack had to kneel on the ground in order to let the water roll down his body, and with a deep breath, he enjoyed the warm water pelting his skin. He fumbled around with the shampoo, trying to figure out how to open it without popping a hole in the container. As the lid popped open, he was hit with the calming scent of lavender. 

~~~

“We’ll send someone to come back and check on him in about a month, give or take, see how he’s adjusting and healing.” A figure spoke from the kitchen, shaking a cigarette into an ashtray, as you stood across from him. The man ran a hand through his messy brown hair. “Then we’ll reassess him, give him a test, and see if he’s fit to come to the mansion.” Meanwhile, the girl heaved a sigh of her own and leaned against the cool tiles of her kitchen wall.

“So it’s gonna be my responsibility to explain everything that’s happening to him? Isn’t that supposed to be your job, Tim?” You felt yourself raise an eyebrow. “You realize he’s, like, almost eight feet tall, has no eyes, and eats organs, right? I’m not even sure WHAT he is.” You muttered, “The rundown I got really only gave me his background and his clear trauma.”

Tim clicked his tongue like the girl in front of him was wasting his time, which made you ball up your fists subconsciously. 

God, the main proxies really got on your fucking nerves sometimes. 

“You won’t have to worry about that; The Operator will handle all of that throughout the coming weeks—no need to worry. You also don’t need to worry about harvesting organs for him, and hopefully, once he’s healed, he’ll work on doing that himself. But for now, someone on a kill close by will be dropping off organs.” Tim’s nose scrunched up a little, and yours did the same. You usually prided yourself on your strong stomach, but this was a lot even for you. “The only thing you have to do is monitor his eating, see how much he will need on a weekly basis, help him with his first few assignments, and obviously keep him alive.”

“Obviously.” They both seemed to have a mutual understanding about that, at least, if you fuck up and he dies, they’re both in deep shit with The Operator. Tim reached to the side where his porcelain mask sat against the countertop.