Page 27 of My Monster's Keeper
Dragons are real? No, focus.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s music,” I say with a twitch of my shoulders.
“Music?” Puppy asks. “Can I eat music?”
I consider his question. “You could try, I guess.”
Stix stands up and, in four of his giant strides, he reaches the shadows of the entrance and vanishes from sight.
Puppy lets out a half howl, half growl and charges after him.
“Wait! Don’t eat anyone!” I shout and race after them.
I don’t reach the door before a vine tears it off and hurls it fifty yards down the street. I skid to a stop and whirl around. “Stop that!”
“Stop what?” Wilder asks with a pout.
I huff and race inside. The polished floor is covered in dirt, to the point where I can barely see the original floor. I pass several rooms, ignoring them when I sense no movement. Where are they?
I can’t imagine people here, but I’ve stayed in worse.
I hear a shriek. It’s high and filled with terror. I can’t tell if it’s male or female, but I round the corner of the circular halfway and smash into Puppy’s back. He tumbles forward, losing his grip on the gigantic man he’s holding.
“Human, I will eat you,” he warns me and attacks his prey again.
“NO EATING!” I scream.
He punches his claws into the human, and its form dissolves. A mass of writhing tentacles and antennae stretch out towards me, seeking help, I think. I back up quickly and hit another wall of man flesh. Nope, that thing is not touching me. Nope, no way.
“Ah, long have I waited to see a Amshrilleeg,” Frost says in sheer delight. “How fascinating. Puppy, before you eat it, see if you can get it mad. They’re supposed to change colour.”
I need a gun or seven. I’m definitely getting a gun when I get home. Make it angry, the stupid Fae prince says. Jeez.
“Run along, human, Puppy and I will handle this uncivilised creature.”
I almost trip over my own feet while I crane my head around to watch it. “What the actual fuck?”
Wilder grips my arm and marches me deeper into the hall. “Breathe, the Amshrilleeg is a creature that is a merciless hunter. It likes to set up near the water source of its prey and eat them as they come close. It devours everything.”
I whip my head around. “Are you saying it ate all the people who came here for help?”
“Perhaps. Or maybe the prey’s instincts reminded it to run.”
I’d love to give humanity the benefit of the doubt, but it’s more likely that several people have been devoured.
“Stix?” I call out.
A shadow flickers, and then Stix lets out a truly spine-chilling laugh. All the hairs on my body lift as he stretches out of the shadow. A man shrieks again, and I realise this is the one who screamed first. Stix reaches out and grips him by the throat.
“He is human, but he stinks of deceit. He was working with the Amshrilleeg,” Stix says in disgust. “Bringing strangers to feed the starving beast.”
My eyes widen as I take in the duplicity of the moron in front of me. “That’s barbaric.”
“That’s survival,” the guy cries out. He swipes at the snot bubbling out of his nose.
I hope Puppy doesn’t want to eat this one, he’s foul. His pants are too tight, and he’s wearing a band t-shirt with holes through it. The smell coming off him could curdle milk.
“What were you getting out of it?” I ask coldly, circling around him.
