Page 41 of Becoming Monsterous

She holds out her hand.

I take it, my pulse racing.

"Make your promise now. Word it carefully—magic's laws will hold you to it."

I feel my triumvirate watching me closely.

"I will free all the First Children of the Gods from their unfair contracts with the mortal summoners, no matter what."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel their weight.

Lise drags her middle finger across my palm, drawing an invisible symbol.

"So be it," she declares.

Tingles run up my skin.

A sigh leaves my mouth.

It's better now, to have decided. I don't have to think anymore. Everything is out of my hands.

I'm jumping in feet first with eyes wide open. What happens next is up to the giants and the spirits, the brutes and the undead.

All I can count on, all I can believe in, are the people in this room.

Our alliance is now complete.

Time to knock some summoners out and steal into their dreams.

Chapter29

Aleron

Fear is what I crave.

It's something I try to hide from others—especially from Ellie. She may have a goddess within her now, but she wasn't born one of us. She doesn't understand.

Angus certainly doesn't. The adulation of strength that he lives off of is easy for him to get. All he has to do is tower about a human and he's fed for years.

Even Morpheus, who shares such similarities to me, doesn't fully understand my hunger. He has easy access to dreams. All around the world, at any given moment, millions of humans are dreaming. All he has to do to get inside them is touch his finger to a mirror or summon the memory of a kiss he's stolen, and suddenly he's there in dreamland, feasting endlessly.

I have to make them afraid of men.

It isn't that Ienjoyfear. Mortals are quite often stupid and careless when they're afraid. They do things like drop their dog's leash, watch him get hit by a car, then accuse you of consuming his flesh, instead of taking responsibility for their own stupid actions.

No, I've never liked fear. But I do consume it. And the longer I go without it, the snappier I get.

I've tried to eat little bits of it here and there. Even in Occult House, there are summoners who live among us and still startle at my glowers. Those snacks have kept me going since being summoned here.

But the little bits and pieces just aren't cutting it anymore.

I need something more.

Which is why I'm more than willing to go along with Morpheus's little plan. I doubt we'll get the information we need from the heads of the summoners—humans rarely seem to dream of things that matter.

But occasionally, dreams turn into nightmares.

And nightmares are an excellent place for fear.

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