Jack Frost wandered through the little town he had just finished frosting. His swirling designs covered most windows and small icicles had started to form on the eves of houses and bottoms of cars.

He was waiting for evening to fall before he brought snow into the town. The kids were about to get out of school, and he wanted them to be safe getting home. No, he thought to himself, I'll start the snow tonight, and we'll have a nice snow day tomorrow.

Shortly, he heard a bell ring, and knew the schools had let out for the day. He flew over to the elementary school to watch the kids leave. As he watched them exit the building, he noticed most of them were carrying shoe boxes or milk cartons, all decorated in red, pink, and white designs. They were all chock full of little paper cards and pieces of candy.

Jack didn't keep a calendar, so he could rarely be relied upon to tell you what the date was. But he knew what those boxes meant.

"Heh. Valentine's Day already. Time does fly when you're having fun!" he said to himself.

Just then he saw a fellow spirit, Cupid, the spirit of love, flitting among the kids. Jack called over to him.

"Hey, Cupid! Hey!" he yelled, waving manically. Given that Cupid's big day was right in the middle of winter, he and Jack had met plenty of times before. Cupid worked year round, mostly with older kids and grown-ups, but Jack knew he most enjoyed Valentine's Day when even little kids joined in the fun.

Cupid flew over and sat next to Jack on the roof of the school. "Hi, Jack," he smiled. "Are we about to have a snowy V-day?"

"A little birdy told me you just might," Jack said.

"Good! A little snow can be very romantic," Cupid sighed. "Well, I gotta go. The high school also just let out and there are a few first loves that need a little kickstart," he said, patting his quiver full of bows.

"Good luck," Jack said, giving him a quick salute. After Cupid left, Jack watched as the last of the kids boarded their buses before taking off himself.

He decided to fly over to the park and give the pond a quick freeze. He was just about to tap his staff on the pond's surface, when he heard a curious sound. Jack stopped what he was doing and stood still, listening.

He heard it again. It sounded like a moan, and it was definitely nearby. He walked slowly towards the sound, still listening. He heard another moan, and a few gasps.

Jack frowned. He hoped no one was hurt. The sounds seemed to be coming from a ring of high bushes off to his left. He walked closer, and there was another moan, but this one was followed by a "shh shh" sound and giggling.

Now Jack was really confused. Was this person hurt or not? Why were they giggling? Having reached the hedges, Jack peered over into the center of the ring, rising off the ground a few inches to see better.

There in the narrow center, unaware of his gaze, two teenagers appeared to be wrestling on the ground. Jack narrowed his eyes. They were squirming around, but it didn't look like the kind of wrestling he was used to seeing kids do.

The boy was on top of the girl, who had her legs wrapped around his mid section. They were both fully clothed, but Jack noticed the girl's skirt had been pushed up and the boy's jeans were falling down his leg. The boy was repeatedly pushing against girl, and with each push the girl gasped.

It wasn't until they kissed that Jack finally realized what he was seeing. His cheeks blushed bright pink and he felt his ears get warm as he crashed back down to the ground in surprise. This wasn't for his eyes. He turned to run or fly away, but slammed into someone before he could go anywhere.

He fell backwards onto his rear and looked down, embarrassed that whoever he had run into had seen him peeping.

"Are you ok?" he heard a female voice ask, giggling.

He looked up and saw a young woman, about his own age. She had pale skin and long, dark brown hair that looked like she had just gotten out of bed. Her clothing, considering it was mid-February, was odd. She wore a short, silky dress that was a deep red, almost purple color. There were no sleeves – only thin straps. Like Jack, she was barefoot.

Jack stood up slowly. "Hold on," he said cautiously. "You can see me?" He peered into her face. There was something off about this girl.

"Off course I can see you," she said, smiling. "Jack Frost, am I right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you? Folks your age never believe in me."

"Well, I'm not most folks. I'm a spirit. Like you ... Guardian," she said the last word teasingly as she poked him in the chest.

"Oh, cool!" Jack said. That explained why she didn't appear to be cold while standing barely dressed in a park in the winter. Then he remembered.

He gestured over to the hedges, embarrassed to say what he had seen. "Hey, we shouldn't be here. There's two people over there...um..."

"Having sex?" the girl filled in for him as she moved closer.

"Yeah," he said, blushing again.

"It's ok, they'll be finished in a minute. Besides, they can't hear us."

Jack looked at her with his eyes narrowed. How could she be so comfortable with this? "Um, what did you say your name was?" he asked.

"Jezebel. I'm the spirit of that," she said, nodding her head over at the hedges and smiling as if she found it highly amusing.

Jack was shocked. "You're the spirit of ...!?" he still couldn't bring himself to say it.

Jezebel laughed. "No! Not that." She put her lips up to Jack's ear and then whispered, "I'm the spirit of lust." She drew out the last word and Jack shivered, though it had nothing to do with cold.

"But I thought that Cupid was in charge of love and all that stuff," Jack said, moving away from her. She had an odd quality about her that made him feel a little uncomfortable, like he couldn't trust himself around her. He didn't like it.

But even as he walked away, part of him yearned to draw her nearer.

"He is." Jezebel stated, following Jack as he stepped backwards. "But love and lust are two different things, sweetie."

Jack, unknowingly, had backed himself up against a tree. He gulped as Jezebel continued to invade his space. "They are?" he asked, his voice slightly higher than usual.

"Oh yes. I work with Cupid sometimes, but I work alone a lot too." Jezebel said, stopping a foot away from Jack's face. "I'm working alone right now, in fact." She gestured towards the hedges and Jack saw the guy and girl had gotten up and were adjusting their clothing.

"What happened in those bushes wasn't love," Jezebel continued. "That was just lust. Pure, unbridled, lust."

"I don't understand," Jack said, furrowing his brow.

"Well, Jack, it's really very simple. Lust is that feeling you get when you see someone and you want them and your body just reacts," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"For some people, that means they blush," she paused and stared pointedly at Jack's now rosy cheeks. "Some people get little butterflies in their stomachs. Some people – even the coldest people – feel warm all of a sudden." She was now very close.

"Is that," Jack gulped. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Jezebel nodded. She put her hand on his stomach and leaned closer. Their noses were almost touching. "You feel pretty warm to me, Jack," she whispered.

Jack found himself bending downward to bridge the gap between them. But suddenly, somewhere in his mind he realized what he was about to do. And he was not comfortable with it.

Having nowhere to run, instead he shot upwards, into the tree and then flew out through the branches.

He could hear Jezebel laughing below. It wasn't an unkind laugh, though. As he flew away, cheeks burning, he heard her call, "Bye Jack. If you ever want to talk again, Cupid knows where to find me."