Page 2 of Monsters of Midnight

“Why? What are you going to do, throw me in the pit of lava?” I swallowed hard. There’s a damn good chance he might.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Right now, my heart was so broken, I wasn’t sure I would even mind it. How could she be gone?

“Don’t be like that, Firefly,” Cade said. “There are much greater things to be in life than some banshee’s best friend. It’s time you stepped into your own and became the woman you were always meant to be.”

“What the fuck do you know about me?” I asked. “You don’t know shit about shit. Caroline was half of my identity. Being her best friend meant more to me than almost anything else in the world. We were BFFs. We were everything. I know it may sound stupid at my age, but best friends just get better as years go by. We just get closer and tighter and have more shared experiences. You just ripped all that away from me.”

Cade suddenly burst into molten lava again, heat pouring off his fiery skin. This is how he had been around Ryder. Monstrous. He reached toward me and I pulled back suddenly, terrified he would sear my skin and leave me with burnt flesh.

“You will go down the hallway.” His voice was gravelly. “Or so help me, I will strangle you right here.”

I retreated from him, knowing he was not bluffing. I had just watched him kill Caroline and he would do the same to me. Although I did not feel like living for my sake, I knew there was something more I had to do. He came towards me again and this time I cupped my hands like a small bowl, letting energy flow through me as I glowed a bright blue light. My stomach tightened, drawing energy to me and electricity started to roll across my skin. It flowed down my arms and pooled into my hands.

I was going to destroy him with a ball of electricity.

Throwing my hands up, I tossed the electric ball at him, but it did nothing. He just laughed as I watched it absorb into his body, his molten lava skin glowing more brightly.

“You have some powers, little firefly.” He conceded with a shrug.

“My name,” I seethed at him, “is Laney.”

He raised his hands, sending fire bursting out of them that struck me in the chest, knocking me to the ground and scorching my clothes. I gasped as I rose. My clothes hung in shreds over bare, burnt skin. My breath strangled in my throat as my flesh seared in pain.

“Don’t cross me,” Cade said. “I could destroy you, but I want to keep you for my brother. Now get down the hall.”

I glanced up at the roof where Magnus was caged in the shadows, and then I looked at the writhing pool of molten lava where Caroline had disappeared.

My heart fractured.

There was no way out of this. I glared at Cade. If he killed me, who would avenge Caroline? Who would help Ryder?

I took a deep breath, staggering unsteadily to my feet.

More importantly, who would destroy this monster that was being brought to life through the death of my friend? Caroline would not want me to give up or lay down and die.

She would want me to fight.

Because that’s what we were. That’s what we had always been. Fighters. People struggling against bad childhoods and crazy relationships to try to find a peace and calm and steadiness in the world. We had found that together and now, I would have to find it alone, but I would avenge Caroline’s death.

“Fine.” My breath caught in my throat and my chest tightened with anxiety. I was going to comply, but it went against every single fiber of my being. I had to get through this situation and find the opportunity to get free. “Let’s see your brother, then. I hope he’s not as ugly as you are.”

Cade flared, but turned his grotesque hand toward the hallway. “You will wait in the bridal chamber until he attends you. The sacrifice of the rings has been made. Now it’s just a matter of time before he rises from the rift. He will need a woman.”

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t prepared for this. A monster was telling me I would need to be taken by a resurrected monster. I was going to have to find a way to combat him. There was no way I was going to agree to this.

None whatsoever.

Still, I needed time to think and test my powers. I walked towards the shadowy hallway where Cade pointed. My steps shuffled slowly along the dirt floor. There was a dull light at the end of the hallway. I fantasized it was my escape route, but as I rounded the corner, I found myself in a small stone chamber with no windows or doors other than the one we came in through.

In the center of the glowing white cave was a large bed.

Cade held a large hourglass in his hand, where sand was quickly running from the top chamber to the bottom.

“When the moon is full and this hourglass runs out, he will be arisen,” Cade said, placing the hourglass on the side table. “Then he will feed on you and be reborn as a monster among men. We will overturn the Demigod Corporation and there will be new rulers of New Attica. The monsters shall dwell everywhere on the earth.”

---