Page 31 of Monsters in My Bed
Careful not to squash the baby, I hug my green-eyed monster, pouring all my love into the act. His hand reaches to caress my cheek, his expression a mixture of emotions ranging from guilt to tenderness. Not wanting the rest of my trium to feel left out, I tug Xho and Nerazi over, savoring the warmth of everyone’s arms around me.
The baby gurgles in delight, and I laugh. Unlike my twins, this little guy is wide awake, drinking in everything around him. I cringe a little at this thought, praying he wasn’t fully formed untilafterthe orgy I participated in. While I didn’t mind the king watching, because I apparently have some deep-seated voyeur fantasies that my mates enjoy indulging, I sure as heck don’t want any kid to see that.
“Are you ready?”
I nod at Xhoshad, tamping down the butterflies in my stomach. Out of curiosity, I pass the baby to Nerazi before getting on my knees and peeking under my bed. Nothing looks amiss, but when I turn back to my guys, they’re all in shadow form, their large, glowing eyes the only source of light in the room.
“The portal’s there,” Seriq confirms, knowing what I was searching for.
Before I can ask where the damned thing is, my green-eyed mate swoops down, pulling me into his arms and under the bed frame. Blackness surrounds me, swallowing my scream as I cling in desperation to Seriq. My body stretches thin until I’m like a rubber band ready to snap, the tension of the portal holding me taut.
The first time I went through one, I needed time to recover. This last time, though, when I fell at Seriq’s feet, I was fine, thanks to my time in the sinqol pools. And while I’m thankful for whatever healing strength the glowing liquid gives me, it does nothing to ease my way through the wormhole back to Vasuriad. The only thing that soothes my mind is the fact that I know Seriq is nearby, although I can no longer feel him touching me.
After an eternity of hell inside the portal, it finally spits me out right into Seriq’s awaiting arms. Xhoshad, Nerazi, and Roxy’s baby soon follow. My trium solidifies back into their monstrous forms, seeming perfectly fine from their trip from one realm to another, while my stomach still rolls in rebellion. Like my mates, the newborn transitions well, and I wonder if this is a Vasura trait.
The scent of smoke tickles my nostrils, pulling me from my musings. I sit up against Seriq’s chest as he dissolves back into the wispy tendrils of his other form and rockets into the dark sky. Nerazi and Xhoshad copy their brother until we’re all staring down at the world below us. Over in the distance, I spy the hazy silhouette of The Palasseum surrounded by billowing clouds of smoke.
“Is it on fire?” I gasp. Xhoshad nods. “Why don’t I see any flames?”
“Our fire is not the same. This is a world born of darkness. You and the sinqol are its only light.”
“Oh god, the volcano!”
“What’s wrong?” Seriq demands.
My words jumble together in a rush as I explain about the sinqol pools inside the Tavoli mountains, the portal hidden within its depths, and how my other mates and Rastorj flew Roxy there to give birth to save her but were cut off by the volcano—which clearly erupted. That was the catalyst that drained the sinqol and sucked me into the portal.
“Now I know why you glow.” Xhoshad murmurs this more to himself than to me.
I check my hand, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary about it at the moment. Willing it to glow, I wait for it to light up, to no avail. The sinqol might have infused me with its essence, but I clearly have no control of whatever power it bestowed upon me. Which sucks because if I’m supposed to be the person that saves this realm, knowing how to use the only thing given to you to defeat the bad guy would be super helpful.
“We need to go back to the mountains. I’m not connected to Viz, Mark, or Osz anymore. The sinqol erased my marks.”
Nerazi shakes his head. “We can’t, Alexis. The volcano erupted, and its magma has already reached The Palasseum.”
“But what if everyone’s in trouble? What about my babies?!”
I realize I’m screeching in my fright, and Roxy’s little one instantly picks up on the mood. He cries, flailing in Nerazi’s arms before shifting into shadow. Compared to my mates, he’s a tiny wisp, but hovers in the air like them without a problem. Instinctively, I reach out to hold him—afraid he’s going to turn back into human form and plummet to his death—but he shies away before streaking off.
“Ah, get him!” I lunge forward, spurring Seriq into motion.
We jet off after the baby, who is surprisingly fast. Nerazi and Xho keep pace with him as we streak across the darkness, but neither try to stop the little guy. My agitation grows the further we go until eventually, we enter The Malevolands where the thorny branches of the odollam tree mark our location. Meaning we’re close to…
“He’s taking us to The Bowels!”
Seriq nods. “He must sense his mom.”
With the hidden passageways likely destroyed by the fire, Rastorj probably thought this was the second-best place to go. Except, The Fallacious knows where he lived with Roxy. If he found them once, he could again. Worry gnaws at me as I play one sick scenario after another of my loved ones either not escaping the volcano’s fiery hand of death or The False King catching them unaware and killing them.
Either way, they die, and my heart constricts to the point where I have to rub my chest to relieve the pain blooming there. Seriq nuzzles the top of my head, sensing my stress. He doesn’t say anything, but just holds me closer, an anchor to tether myself amid the raging storms of my mind.
The familiar heat of The Bowels slaps me in the face, reminding me of the Tavoli mountains, and I remember one of my mates saying that although they’re separated, one feeds into the other.Does this mean magma also floods The Bowels?While I understand there’s no denying the presence of the molten liquid, it’s also not like human lava. In my world, the bright yellows, reds, and oranges are a warning for all to stay back.
Vasuriad embodies darkness to the point where even its fire is black, and that shit’s a deadly accident waiting to happen, if you ask me. While I hope Roxy’s baby is taking me to my best friend and my family, I also don’t want us running head-long into a situation where he—or my mates—gets hurt.
I whisper this to Seriq, who promises he’ll know if there’s any danger below, as will the rest of our trium. He doesn’t say it, but I know he won’t let any harm come to the baby. I place a kiss into his shadowy chest, and he creates another tendril arm to stroke my face. The action soothes me as well as reminds me of what my monsters can do in this form. It’s been awhile since they’ve played with me like this. Seriq growls, my body shaking with the sound of the rumble.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I need to focus, and I can’t with the sweet scent of your arousal coating me in offering.”
