Page 58 of Stone Seduction
An extra branch of power wondered if there were some motes around to destroy.
God. I scared myself.
Just the monster for now,Dark Me spoke.
The beams dropped and the monster shuffled forward, those hands outstretched, the fly to my Venus fly trap.
I took a few steps toward it, my body alive with a magical tingle—pins and needles but seriously pleasant.
“Come to me, Luke Garland,” the fucker whispered. “We can work together.”
“And do what?”
“Save your brother, of course. I have the answers you seek.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. “What did you say?” My powers went on mute, a film of confusion smothering me.
“I can save him. We can broker a deal.”
Tempting. So, so tempting. I dipped my head, the monster stirring my hope, making me consider it for a few fleeting moments.
Emphasis on fleeting.
I looked up, gullible fool mode crumbling. “Cruel.”
“As is Finn’s torment.”
With a grunt, I thrust my right hand forward, fingers curled like a dead spider. Immediately, I locked onto its sticky magic. Glue, liquid, glistening. Interesting.
A soft moan wafted from the hood, the monster falling to one knee. The buttoned-up cloak parted, revealing more darkness beneath it.
“I…I…”
I closed my hand into a fist, not interested in hearing more crap spill from its maw. The monster’s power shot into me. My heart jackhammered, settling down within seconds as the new addition made itself at home.
Welcome…
This sticky power certainly did feel like glue, but with an acidic twist. And it provided me insight, revealing a glimpse of its former master’s life.
Before the pesky gargoyles ruined everything, the cloaked creature enjoyed hunting humans in the dark. Outside, inside,whenever they slept in their beds or in the streets, it stalked the dark, its appetite rampant.
The chosen victims were smothered in the sticky stuff, its acidic properties liquefying their bodies, keeping the dead soup sealed for later.
Melt the humans. Drink the humans.
“You’re disgusting,” I said.
“My power…” the monster rasped. “What have you done?”
Streams of translucent goo shot from my fingertips, spraying the monster from head to toe. The barnacles on its cloak melted, smoke curling from its body as the substance formed a cocoon.
“There’s my answer,” I responded with too much glee.
Bubbling screams filled the room, the monster melting as monsters did when they died. The acrid stink of burning rubber and rotten fish hit my nostrils, reaching the back of my throat with a nasty kiss.
Gross.
Rather than become a sealed liquid snack for later, the cocoon transformed into a black ooze, hardened, and collapsed into gravel. Little rocks bounced off the metal floor, no trace of the monster left. Not even its death stink.
