Page 21 of Dark Stars
Bobby waved them off. "I appreciate all yourhelp, as always. Thank you. I'll let you know if this turns biggerthan I can handle."
Jones snorted. "As if."
Then they were gone, leaving Bobby alonewith Alejo, still unconscious, though sleeping far more peacefullynow. Bobby ran his fingers along the back of his own neck, wherethe binding mark now lay, slightly itchy as it settled fully intoplace.
He'd wanted Leviathan to destroy the damnthing, but at least this way he could destroy it himself and beabsolutely certain the problem was gone forever.
Reaching out, Bobby brushed a strand of hairfrom Alejo's eyes. He sighed softly in his sleep and turned towardthe touch, making Bobby's chest twist again. What was it about thislittle human that fascinated him so much?
He rested a hand on Alejo's chest, hispendant thrumming, connecting to the one Alejo wore, both pulsingin time with the beats of their hearts. Well, Alejo's heart.Bobby's biology was something else entirely, and his 'heart'matched to Alejo's as well. "Worry not, child of dark stars. You'reunder the protection of Ctheldush. No demon will ever againlookat you without my permission."
Alejo's eyes fluttered open, and he staredunseeing into Bobby's eyes. The haze slowly cleared, and he pushedhimself slowly upright, gaze never leaving him. "What…" He touchedthe back of his neck, eyes going wide. "What happened?"
Before Bobby could reply, a loud series ofknocks came at the door, and an entirely too chipper voice said,"Housekeeping!"
Chapter Eight
Housekeeping? That was…strange, to say theleast. Bobby glared at the door, then scooped Alejo into his armsand hurried through the connecting door. Setting Alejo on the bed,he then quietly closed the door and locked it. Lifting a finger tohis mouth before Alejo could speak, he then turned back to the doorand peered through the peephole.
Just moments later, a woman came into view,wearing unremarkable khakis and the world's most generic greenpolo. She looked like she should be taking tickets at a mini-golfplace, and nothing at all like housekeeping.
The woman stood in the middle of the roomfor a moment, as if weighing decisions. Eventually, she startedmoving around the room, poking through the desk and dresser, thenthe closet, bathroom, and finally she thoroughly explored hisbed.
What was she hoping to find? He didn'trecognize her, but a faint hint of a familiar miasma clung to her,the very same he'd sensed at the church. Still not enough to pickout which relative, though in the end it probably didn't matter;they were all bad.
The more immediate problem was that clearlythe cult was on to them, somehow. At the very least, they'd notedthere were strangers in town and wanted to investigate them, thoughnothing should have stood out about them. Hmmm. She hesitatedagain, then strode from the room.
Slowly and carefully opening the door again,Bobby beckoned to Alejo ,and they switched rooms again, likesomething out of a TV comedy, just barely getting into place as thewoman gave up on knocking and entered the room.
Alejo huffed as Bobby claimed the peepholeagain. "Jerk."
"Shh," Bobby chided. As before, all thewoman did was poke and prod through Alejo's things, which wouldn'ttell her much of anything because neither of them were stupidenough to leave telling arcana items just lying around for anyoneto find.
When she'd gone, he waited a few beatsbefore withdrawing. "Think it's safe to say they don't trustus."
Alejo prodded him in the chest. "Whathappened? Why do I feel different? How did I get here? The lastthing I remember, we were searching the school."
"You should have told me you were engaged toa demon and your protection was failing."
Alejo recoiled as though struck, faceflushing scarlet. "It wasn't any of your business."
Bobby folded his arms across his chest. "Youcollapsed in the middle of our search, and I barely got us hiddenaway in time to avoid getting caught. Ialsohad to forkover some of my blood to Leviathan in order to transfer the bond tome, and I'll have to do plenty more work later to break it once andfor all. So yeah, it's my business."
"You did WHAT!" Alejo slapped both of hishands over his mouth, though it was too late now to make himself bequiet. Dropping his hands, he curled one over the back of his neck,breath hitching. "You really did it. I'm bound toyou." Hisface went even redder.
"Don't worry, I'm hardly going to keep thebond in place, unlike the rest of my family, who wouldloveto have a human like you enslaved so." He made a face. "Not thatthey ever have to try very hard to get humans to do what they wantanyway."
"Are you going to tell me what you are,finally? Speaking of things I should know while I'm bound toyou."
Bobby made a face. "I suppose that's fair,but you probably won't like me much after."
"You're not a demon, and they're pretty muchthe only creatures I one hundred percent hate with extremeprejudice."
That made Bobby laugh, even though hisstomach twisted, because he was much, much worse than any demon.Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he went and dropped onto theedge of the bed, resting his elbows on his knees before finallydragging his gaze back to Alejo, who watched him intently. "Haveyou ever heard of the Great Old Ones?"
"The Gods of the Primordial Dark. The mostwell-known of them is Cthulhu, the High Priest of the Old Ones.They're said to be older than everything else in the universe, andto look upon one in their true form brings instant madness." Alejowaved a hand in the air. "Anything is possible, including monstersolder than stars, but they're largely considered myth, if notoutright fabrication."
Bobby laughed again and pushed to his feet,walking right up to Alejo, forcing him back, until his back hit thedoor and he was caged by Bobby's arms. "No myth, no fabrication,child of the dark stars. I am the grandson of Cthulhu, born fromhis daughter Cythlla, the Secret One, who against all instinct,fell in love with a human man." He loosed his power by the barestbit, allowing his eyes to fully glow, the same vibrant green as theglow of a firefly, of distant stars that no mortal would eversee.
