Bite force, p.19
Bite Force,
p.19
And then he did something so beautiful, so giving and caring, that it burned my soul.
Flesh grabbed my head and brought me close.
Not to kiss him.
He brought my mouth to his neck.
Flesh, dear Flesh, lovely Flesh, wanted to feed me one last time before he died.
He was so sweet. And his blood was so sweet. And I drank and drank and it spurted hot and coppery down my throat and he was right, Flesh was right, I should have been feeding on open wounds for all of this time, and I had a mental flash of me and him doing just that, devouring some nameless, faceless, screaming victim, and it made me so joyful I continued to suck on his neck even after he stopped moving.
Then I sat up and looked around.
Phin, Jack, and Samantha were holding each other. Even that asshole, Harry McGlade, had wiggled his way into the group embrace.
They were all hugging, while I had no one.
I would go to prison. For a long time. For things no one would understand. For things that I didn’t even do.
And I’d be all alone.
All alone, forever.
Forever was a long, long time.
I peered down at my dead friend.
FABFROD.
Flesh and Blood forever. Ride or die.
I raised the knife to my own throat and cut as deeply as I could.
JACK
I hurt.
It meant I was alive.
We were all alive.
After Phin punched Flesh as hard as I’ve even seen anyone get hit, I ran to Sam, made sure she was okay, then ran to my husband, who wasn’t okay but would live, and then I ran to Elroy, and did some quick triage and bandaged his wounds.
I didn’t run to McGlade. I was still pissed at him for falling asleep on Sam. Again.
But Harry wouldn’t stay out of the family hug, and we let him in, and for a moment everything was good.
Sam, sobbing into my neck, said, “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, honey. You’re okay. We’re all okay.”
“I lost… I lost my silver necklace! It broke! I can’t have a gold necklace now!”
I had her necklace, but I didn’t tell her that. Instead I told her, “We’re getting you a gold necklace, pumpkin. The prettiest gold necklace a girl has ever had.”
Then Harry said, “Blood just made a large donation. To the floor.”
I turned and looked and saw her fall onto her dead partner, a big hole in her neck.
I almost told Sam not to look, but I knew she had to.
Then I broke away from the people I loved and went to Nurse Shelby, kicking the knife out of her hand, crouching down and clamping my palms over her gushing throat wound.
“Mom! Don’t do that!”
“I’m trying to save her, Sam.”
“But she’s bad! They’re both the bad guys!”
Sam needed to see what happened to the people who tried to hurt her. To kill her.
But she also needed to see the other side of it.
“I know they’re bad guys, honey. But we’re the good guys. And this is what good guys do.”
The cops arrived.
My best efforts didn’t save Nurse Shelby.
But I think we were all okay with that.
HARRY’S XMAS EPILOGUE
My son, Harry Junior, had passed out peacefully under the Christmas tree, next to my sleeping capybara and my sleeping chinstrap penguin.
It would have made for a really cute holiday card picture, but my son wasn’t an attractive kid.
I finished telling the story anyway, even though Sam had heard it before.
And, technically, she also lived it.
“So once again I saved the day with my heroic heroism,” I intoned, using my storytelling voice. “My quick thinking and selfless actions brought a multi-generational crime spree to an end. Soon to be a made-for-cable movie.”
“Am I in the movie, Uncle Harry?” Sam asked. She hadn’t gotten Covid, and was healthy as could be.
“Yes, Sam. You’re played by a nineteen-year-old TikTok star who has ten million followers because she can swallow the long end of a summer squash without gagging.”
“Do I get any money for the movie?”
“No, stinkybuttpants. But I decided I’m going to give you fifty thousand dollars out of the goodness of my heart.”
Sam clapped her hands together. “Really?”
“No. That’s a lie. The money would ruin you. Also, I don’t have a heart. But you already got the greatest reward any person could possibly get.”
“What’s that?”
“Me as an uncle.”
Frankly, I was shocked Jack and Phin trusted me enough to let Sam stay here for a few days. As far as I was concerned, that was real bad parenting on their part.
“So do you ever have nightmares about Flesh and Blood, Uncle Harry?”
“Nope. I can’t even remember what they looked like. I heard Blood had red sclera contact lenses. Glad we never saw that. Do you have nightmares, stupidscaredydumbopants?”
“No. Mom is worried that I’m too well-adjusted.”
“You want to video chat your mom and dad, say goodnight?”
“Okay.”
I lifted Sam onto the sofa next to me and set up my tablet and invited Jackie into a chat room. A few moments later she and Phin appeared on the screen. Happy and healthy and all healed. Just like me, after my second leg operation to put the pins back in.
“Hi, pumpkin!” Phin said. “You having fun with Uncle Harry?”
“Yeah!” Sam said. “He let me shoot an Uzi!”
“She’s kidding,” I said, giving her a hard pinch out of camera view for tattling.
“Where’s Harry Junior?” Jack asked.
“He passed out trying to fit his whole fist into his mouth,” Sam told them. “I think he was trying to imitate the woman on TikTok who is playing me in the movie.”
Jack made a stern Mom face. “Harry, you said she wouldn’t be a character in that stupid movie.”
“It’s not really supposed to be Sam. But the producer thought it needed more of a danger quotient, so we had to bring in someone to die onscreen.”
“Sam dies in your movie?” Phin said.
“Just for a little while. They bring her back.”
“I hate it when they kill a character then bring them back,” Jack said.
“I know,” I agreed. “It’s cheap emotional manipulation.”
“How do I die in the movie, Uncle Harry?”
“It’s not too bad. You just get your arms and legs torn off. But you get robot body parts.”
“Cool!” she squealed.
“Are you sure this is real, and not a lucid dream you’re having because we refuse to let you ever see our daughter again?” Jack asked.
I shrugged. “Who can tell? It’s Christmas, and Christmas miracles happen all the time.”
“It’s July,” Phin said.
“Then it’s definitely a dream. But I’m sure we’re all going to have a lot more adventures.” I nudged the guy sitting on my other side. “Right, Jesus?”
Jesus shrugged.
“I hope the next adventure isn’t so goofy,” Jack said.
“It’s a crapshoot. They can’t all be good. Right? We’ve been doing this for decades. A stinker has to sneak in every now and then. And speaking of stinkers.”
I farted, so powerfully that I actually levitated off the sofa.
Then the zombies came.
I may not be able to remember much, but my dreams are awesomepants.
JACK’S REAL EPILOGUE
I don’t know why I picked up the phone, but I did.
“What is it, McGlade? I’m busy.”
“Did I tell you I’m the Guest of Honor at SerialKillerCon in Syracuse next January? It’s a massive gathering of true crime fans, where people dress up as their favorite mass murderers.”
I sighed. “Why are you telling me about something I don’t care about that’s happening so far in the future?”
“Because I’m going to convince you to be the co-Guest of Honor.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Did you know that Syracuse has the most snowfall anywhere in the US? They get eleven feet of snow per year. That’s called foreshadowing.”
“Something else I don’t care about.”
“I still feel awful about your daughter, Sam, and those events that happened at the hospital with that bloodsucking freak.”
“As you should. I’m still not over it.”
“It was one of the worst things ever. But you know that drink I invented? The Bite Force? I sold the recipe. It’s a huge hit in LA bars.”
“I’m going to skip this phone call. Any scene with you in it can always be skipped.”
“That’s mean. Can I talk to Phin?”
I hung up on him.
“So I really can’t ever see Uncle Harry again?” Sam asked me.
“You can when your father forgives him.”
“Dad?”
“I forgave him,” Phin said. “But your mother holds grudges.”
“Not true,” I said. “But if I’m going to be brutally honest, I’m never going to do any favors for Harry McGlade ever again.”
NEXT JANUARY
JACK
Well, I gotta say that being stuck in a hotel during a blizzard with a serial killer running around is a lot less scary because you’re here, Jackie.” Harry patted my knee. “Thanks for doing me this favor, buddy.”
I rubbed my eyes. “I hate myself.”
“It’s probably because you make poor decisions,” Harry offered. “Also, you need to start hanging out with a better class of people.”
If only I knew how to do that…
THE END
Jack and Harry will return in JACK ROSE.
Harry’s adventure continues in SECOND COMING.
JOE KONRATH’S
COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY
JACK DANIELS THRILLERS
WHISKEY SOUR (Book 1)
BLOODY MARY (Book 2)
RUSTY NAIL (Book 3)
DIRTY MARTINI (Book 4)
SHOT OF TEQUILA (Book 5)
FUZZY NAVEL (Book 6)
CHERRY BOMB (Book 7)
DEAD ON MY FEET (Book 8)
SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT with Blake Crouch (Book 9)
SHAKEN (Book 10)
STIRRED with Blake Crouch (Book 11)
DYING BREATH (Book 12)
EVERYBODY DIES (Book 13)
RUM RUNNER (Book 14)
LAST CALL (Book 15)
WHITE RUSSIAN (Book 16)
SHOT GIRL (Book 17)
CHASER (Book 18)
OLD FASHIONED (Book 19)
BITE FORCE (Book 20)
JACK ROSE (Book 21)
WITCH BREW (Book 22)
LADY 52 with Jude Hardin (Book 2.5)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 1 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 2 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 3 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 4 (Novella Collection)
BANANA HAMMOCK (Novella Collection)
KONRATH DARK THRILLER COLLECTIVE
THE LIST (Book 1)
ORIGIN (Book 2)
AFRAID (Book 3)
TRAPPED (Book 4)
ENDURANCE (Book 5)
HAUNTED HOUSE (Book 6)
WEBCAM (Book 7)
DISTURB (Book 8)
WHAT HAPPENED TO LORI (Book 9)
THE NINE (Book 10)
SECOND COMING (Book 11)
CLOSE YOUR EYES (Book 12)
HOLES IN THE GROUND with Iain Rob Wright (Book 4.5)
DRACULAS with Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, F. Paul Wilson (Book 5.5)
GRANDMA? with Talon Konrath (Book 6.5)
STOP A MURDER PUZZLE BOOKS
STOP A MURDER – HOW: PUZZLES 1 – 12 (Book 1)
STOP A MURDER – WHERE: PUZZLES 13 – 24 (Book 2)
STOP A MURDER – WHY: PUZZLES 25 – 36 (Book 3)
STOP A MURDER – WHO: PUZZLES 37 – 48 (Book 4)
STOP A MURDER – WHEN: PUZZLES 49 – 60 (Book 5)
STOP A MURDER – ANSWERS (Book 6)
STOP A MURDER COMPLETE CASES (Books 1-5)
CODENAME: CHANDLER
(PETERSON & KONRATH)
FLEE (Book 1)
SPREE (Book 2)
THREE (Book 3)
HIT (Book 4)
EXPOSED (Book 5)
NAUGHTY (Book 6)
FIX with F. Paul Wilson (Book 7)
RESCUE (Book 8)
FREE (Book 9)
TIMECASTER SERIES
TIMECASTER (Book 1)
TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY (Book 2)
TIMECASTER STEAMPUNK (Book 3)
EROTICA
(WRITING AS MELINDA DUCHAMP)
Make Me Blush series
KINKY SECRETS OF MISTER KINK (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF WITCHES (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF SIX & CANDY (Book 3)
Alice series
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE AT THE HELLFIRE CLUB (Book 3)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS DRACULA (Book 4)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (Book 5)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS FRANKENSTEIN (Book 6)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (Book 7)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE'S NEW YEAR BALL (Book 8)
Jezebel series
KINKY SECRETS OF JEZEBEL AND THE BEANSTALK (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF PUSS IN BOOTS (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF GOLDILOCKS (Book 3)
Sexperts series
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY GRADES OF SHAY (Book 1)
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY SECRETS OF THE PEARL NECKLACE (Book 2)
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY SECRETS OF THE ALIEN (Book 3)
MISCELLANEOUS
65 PROOF – COLLECTED SHORT STORIES
THE GLOBS OF USE-A-LOT 3 (with Dan Maderak)
A NEWBIES GUIDE TO PUBLISHING
SECOND COMING
In 1906, a demon was unearthed in Panama, and confined to a secret government testing facility.
A hundred years later, Satan escaped.
As a rash of strange and horrible deaths plague the United States, only a few key people know what’s really happening. But do they know enough to prevent the coming apocalypse?
Join the surviving characters from the Konrath Dark Thriller series as they band together to stop hell on earth.
Literally.
SECOND COMING by J.A. Konrath
Shout at the devil…
CLOSE YOUR EYES
There are more than 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 insects on the planet, comprised of more than one hundred thousand species.
New species are being discovered every day.
Some of them are harmful to man.
Four friends are about to find out how harmful…
CLOSE YOUR EYES is a quick, fast-paced novel that will have you reaching for the bug spray. Just when you thought it was safe to go outside…
CLOSE YOUR EYES by J.A. Konrath
What's bugging you?…
JACK ROSE
Welcome to SerialKillerCon!
The convention where true crime fans get to dress up like their favorite criminals, attend forensics seminars, and meet law enforcement legends.
Former cop Harry McGlade loves being a Guest of Honor.
Former cop Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels… not so much.
Jack hates being the center of attention. True crime groupies freak her out. And some of her police officer peers have serious envy issues.
But the surreal event goes from irritating to frightening when a storm traps everyone inside the conference hotel.
Then fans start getting gruesomely murdered, mimicking Jack's past serial killer cases.
Can two old ex-cops use their decades of experience to end the horror?
Or are Jack and Harry about to finally face a psychopath they can’t stop?
JACK ROSE by J.A. Konrath
Murder has its conventions…
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BITE FORCE
Copyright © 2022 by J.A. Konrath.
Cover art copyright © 2021 by Lynne Hansen
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
July 2022
J.A. Konrath, Bite Force
