Chapter 9: Turning on Their Own

Words : 1758 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Whoosh! Jason Yare shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, so fast he was a blur. When Janice Yale glanced up, all she caught was his face, twisted and ghoul-like. His boot slammed into her stomach. She flew straight back and smashed against a tree. "You bitch! You deserve to die!" Jason barked the words, planted his feet, and a razor-cold killing intent radiated off him. The air seemed to drop several degrees in an instant, and everyone around shivered despite themselves. The woman was Jason's birth mother, Renee, the only kin he had left in this world. Everyone has a bottom line-cross it and you die. For Jason, that bottom line was his mother. He would never let anyone hurt her. "Jason! Jason?" The familiar call rose behind him. The red mist cleared at once. "Mom!" Thud. Jason's eyes reddened. He turned and dropped to his knees before her, weeping like a child. "I've failed you, Mom. I let you suffer." He grabbed the rope binding Renee and yanked. It loosened at once. Renee forgot everything else. Her palm cupped his face, gently, hands trembling, as if afraid this would vanish if she pressed too hard. Only when his hot tears soaked her hand did her throat hitch. She crushed her son to her chest. "It's my Jason. This isn't a dream. This isn't a dream…" She clung to him, mouth wide as if to speak, but her joy was so fierce that words would not come. Jason wept without shame, his heart a storm-tossed sea. If he had not followed them here, what would have happened to his mother… The thought sharpened his urge to kill until it howled. He wanted to tear Janice apart with his bare hands. Just then, Renee shoved him hard out of her arms. As he hit the ground, he saw Spencer Jenkins had appeared behind them at some point. Spencer had raised an iron shovel and was aiming it at Renee's skull. "Die!" In the next heartbeat, a figure burst from the trees in a blur and crashed into Spencer just as the shovel came down. Thump. The two slammed together and tumbled in a knot, kicking up a cloud of dust. Marlee Juggins, forehead swollen and reddened, face smeared with dirt, locked her arms around Spencer and held on for dear life. Renee, caught between joy and terror, simply fainted. Jason's eyes went wide. His bloodlust boiled over. He ripped the shovel from Spencer's hand, dragged Marlee aside, and hauled it up for the killing blow. Marlee grabbed his arm. "Murder is a serious crime. Officers from the police station will be here any minute. I promise the law will take care of them." "They tried to bury my mom alive. They just tried to kill me. How can I let them walk?" Jason roared. "You take a life, you pay with your own! Think of your mom. If you get locked up, what happens to her?" Marlee yanked him back, panic rasping her voice raw. Jason looked at his mother lying unconscious on the ground. His heart lurched, and he let the shovel clatter to the ground, resentment burning like a live coal. At the same time, sirens started wailing beyond the trees. Curled on the ground with his arms over his head, Spencer heard the sirens and relaxed a little, a sulky grin spreading across his face. "Ha!" Spencer broke into wild laughter. "Jason, I slept with your woman behind your back, and I'm going to kill your mom. What are you gonna do about it?" "I'm in and out of the police station all the time-at worst I'll be out in a few days. Wait for me. When I get out, you and your mom are dead!" "Ha ha ha!" His brazen laughter rang through the woods like a fistful of knives digging into Jason's heart. Marlee panicked. She clamped both arms around Jason, afraid he would do something reckless. Spencer sat up and watched Jason's face twist by degrees, amusement gleaming in his eyes. "So what if you woke up?" Spencer pointed at Renee and licked his lips. "Your mom's not bad. When I get out, I'll have a good long taste of her first, then send her down." "Angry? Don't like it? Be a man and kill me right now-see if the police station lets you get away with it." Spencer staggered to his feet, shrugged, and shouted toward the edge of the woods, as if nothing could touch him. Footsteps pounded outside the treeline. Spencer's grin spread even wider. Marlee gritted her teeth and tried to calm Jason. "He's baiting you. With my grandpa there, we'll handle this the right way." Jason burned from the inside out. It was not that he doubted the strength of Marlee's grandfather, but letting Spencer off would be too cheap. The only way he'd find peace was to kill him himself. In that instant, the pattern of the Soul Capturing Spell snapped into place in his mind. "Spencer Jenkins, look at me!" Jason bellowed. Spencer looked up on instinct, mouth opening for another taunt. Then an eerie red gleam flickered in Jason's eyes, and Spencer went slack, frozen where he stood. "Heh…" Spencer gave a sudden thin chuckle, stooped to pick up the iron shovel, then turned toward Janice Yale, who lay under a tree, unable to move. A sneer crept over his face. "Now it's your turn, Jason," Spencer said in a voice gone strange. He stepped up to Janice and raised the shovel. Janice went cold with terror. "Spencer, what are you doing?" Jason had kicked her in the stomach in his fury earlier, and she had lost the strength to move. Pain stabbed her belly. Blood soaked between her thighs. The baby, she realized, was gone. She'd thought that once officers from the police station arrived, she'd be saved. She never imagined Spencer would lift the shovel and aim it at her. "What am I doing?" Spencer let out a harsh, braying laugh, then bared his teeth. "Killing you. What else?" He brought the shovel down hard. Crack! A gash split Janice's forehead. Blood poured over her features in a mask of red. "Yeah!" Spattered with hot blood, Spencer only grew more excited. He raised the shovel and swung again and again, putting his back into every blow. "You finally died by my hand, Jason!" "Why is it that we both get into trouble, but you get scholarship money every year?" "Why is it when we screw up together, the counselor always chews me out and never you?" "Why is it I'm filthy rich, but in every way I still come up short next to you, you penniless nobody?" "You were bound to have a day like this. You had it coming!" Thud, thud, thud. Janice's head turned to pulp beneath the blows. White brain matter splashed with blood across Spencer's clothes. He seemed tireless, almost exhilarated, until the iron shovel itself bent out of shape. Those steady, muffled thuds were like a macabre march, rising and falling in the lonely night. Marlee stood stunned, staring blankly as Spencer went mad and butchered Janice. Jason stayed calm, eyes flat, coldly watching. When officers from the police station burst through the trees and took in the scene, they did not hesitate. They drew, leveled, and fired. Bang! A tongue of flame tore the night. A red hole appeared in Spencer's skull. Jason released the hand sign and let out a quiet breath. Spencer did not fall right away. He turned, eyes full of disbelief. Bang! Another bullet met him head-on.

Chapter 9: Turning on Their Own

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