Page 21 of Monsters in My Bed
“Do you think things happen in our lives so that we learn from them?”
My shoulders scrunch up as I ponder his words. “… maybe. I don't know. Why?”
“I just thought maybe—maybe—this is a lesson for us to learn how to relinquish our control, our overbearing nature. Maybe it's an opportunity to make Alexis our equal.”
I snort. “She'snotour equal. She’s so far above us, we’re lucky that she even graces us with her presence.”
“Exactly. Except, Alexis doesn't want to be up there. We placed her there, but she wants to be at her side. Not behind us, nor even before us, butwithus.”
My stomach jerks, recognizing the truth of what Xhoshad said. “Is that something you truly think we can give her? Do you think it's capable for Vasura to love?”
“Yes.”
“And you know this because…”
“I already love her. Is that not what you feel?”
I don't hesitate to answer. “I love her, too.” The conviction in my voice is enough to prove it.
“If we can love, there is no reason why we can't give our mate exactly what she really wants—a true partnership between all of us. And just like how good emotions go against our nature, so does giving up that control—ceding it over to her—but it doesn't mean that we'll be weaker or lesser. In fact, it'll make all of us stronger if we do.”
“Okay, but how is any of that helping us now? What lesson do we have to learn with Seriq?” My frustration spills over as I punch the wall of Alexis's room, regretting my childish move when a gaping hole yawns back at me.
“Nice. You better fucking fix that.”
I throw Xho a sour glare. “Do you really think Alexis would care at this point?”
“She might. And to answer your question, the lesson that we have to learn with Seriq is the same as the one with Alexis.”
“We already treat Seriq like an equal…”
“Sort of. Not really. We fear his volatile emotion more than anything, giving him space to do whatever he wants, but he’s the last one we confer with when making plans.”
“That’s because the crazy fucker never follows them anyway!”
Xhoshad shoots me an exasperated look, his red eyes glowing in the surrounding darkness. “Yes, but the point is does Seriq know that he has our respect, or even our love?”
My body tenses. It's strange to be talking about such things. I'm just learning them for myself, and to voice them out loud creates an uncomfortable knot inside of me. Still, I know for the sake of all of us, I have to push past my uneasiness. Seriq is banking on us to come after him with all of our anger and negativity.
But what if we approach him with the complete opposite?
I flash Xhoshad a grin, catching onto his plan. “We’re going to smother the bastard with so much love that either he gives in or pukes from it. Either way, it’ll buy us enough time to escape The Revenant Swarm and save our brother.”
“The humans call it ‘attracting more flies with honey’.”
I give Xhoshad a toothy grin. “Let's go catch us a green-eyed fly!”
We dissolve into shadows and descend out of Alexis' house into her yard across Seriq.
“Finally. Finished discussing your plan of attack?”
I solidify back into my Vasura, barking out a laugh because Xho and I did the complete opposite, which goes completely against my red-eye brother’s nature. He always wants a plan in place, but this time, we're winging it.
“Actually, we don't have a plan.”
“Bullshit,” Seriq snarls, a semblance of his old self bleeding through in the single word.
“Xhoshad, back me up. Do we have a plan?”
