Page 27 of Dark Stars
He would eat them for breakfast, lunch, anddinner. The collar he wore prevented him from bringing his fullself into the mortal plane, but he could have his fun here in thedark.
So he did. Every bite received was returnedthrice-fold. Every crushed and torn tentacle was one ripped off andfed to them, until they choked on them and drowned out their ownscreams. Every acid burn was met with a splash of his blood, hotand burning in a way that made acid a child's toy.
When they were properly broken andchastened, with no fight left in them, he set to ripping them topieces, tossing them away to be reabsorbed by the primordial dark.Stop mistaking me for the child I used to be, he hissed atthem as the last wailing pieces vanished.
Once he was confident the Dark Young had allbeen taken care of, Ctheldush folded himself down and in until hewas once more plain old Bobby.
He wiped sweat from his brow, looked aroundone last time to be certain the problem was resolved, then carriedon down the narrow ledge along the river to find his iratehuman…boyfriend? Lover? Partner. Human, at any rate.
Eventually, the ledge gave out entirely, andhe had no choice but to jump into the water and let the currentcarry him onward, down down down into the dark.
It didn't take long before he reached apoint where he could swim to shore, rocky and uncomfortable thoughthat shore was—and full of hostility, to judge by the glare Alejowas giving him. "I'm sorry."
"Good for you," Alejo bit out. "I thoughtyou weredifferent, especially now that—" He turned away,staring hard enough at the rocks that Bobby's mother would beimpressed with the ferocity.
Bobby drew closer, but not so close he'dviolate Alejo's personal space. "I didn't toss you in the waterbecause I thought you were too weak or anything like that."
"So you thought I was capable of fightingthem but threw me away all the same?"
"I didn'tthrow you away," Bobbysaid, raking his hands through his hair. "I was protecting you!Those creatures used to treat me like a toy. They'd rip off all mylimbs, poke out my eyes, dissolve my flesh with their acid, grindtheir hooves into my face…they're horrible and awful and no matchfor even the strongest, most powerful human. But that doesn't meanI think you're weak. It means the odds were stacked well againstyou. If it had been their maker who'd shown up, my ass would havebeen in the river too." For all the good it would have done him. "Icouldn't protect you and fight them, and you're important tome."
Alejo said nothing, but he wasn't completelyturned away anymore. Progress. Bobby moved a smidge closer, thoughstill not close enough to touch, as badly as he wanted to doprecisely that. "Just hours ago you admitted you didn't even thinkprimordial beings existed. There is no way you can fight themdirectly just yet. You're inexperienced, and it was a bad time toteach you, that's all. I promise. I'm sorry for hurting you, Ineverwantto do that."
Sighing, Alejo turned to face him full on,and grumbled, "Fine, but if you ever throw me in a river again, I'mgoing to do things that will make even your oh-so-specialprimordial ass afraid."
Bobby grinned. "You're saying you think myass is special?"
Alejo rolled his eyes. "Nevermind. I takeeverything back. Go throw yourself in the river."
Instead, Bobby sidled up close and loopedhis arms around Alejo's waist, relief rushing through him whenAlejo threw his own arms around Bobby's neck and pulled them flushtogether. "I really am sorry."
"It's fine, I get it, even if I don't likeit. But seriously, never do that again. Just tell me to run orsomething." His mouth turned down into what could only be describedas a pout, and it was more adorable than Bobby would ever admit."Seriously. I'm soaking wet and freezing cold now."
Bobby dropped a brief kiss on his mouth. "Ipromise no more river tossing, and I can take care of those littleproblems." He gave Alejo a softer, lingering kiss, spreading hishands across his back and letting his arcana trickle out. Itwrapped around them, and by the time he drew back from thedelightful kisses, they were both warm and dry. "There. The warmthshould linger for a while, so you don't get cold again while we'redown here. If you start to, let me know, and I'll redo it."
"Handy," Alejo said, licking his own lips."So tell me all about this big, bad battle between you and those…what did you call, Dark Young? What are they exactly?"
"The mind-spawn of Shub-Niggurath, who isalso known as The Black Goat with a Thousand Young, the All-Mother,the Mother Goddess, the Lord of the Woods, and still more names.She created the Dark Young from pure will and the despairing heartof a black hole that even time itself forgot. They are summoned towork in her name, to accept sacrifices and recite the prayers. Shefavors them, though not as much as she favors Cthulhu, mygrandfather, her grandson."
"I didn't think your type did things likefavorites."
"Even the Great Old Ones are not entirelyimmune to the power of emotions. They simply feel them differently.She would still kill and consume him if it was necessary to herwants or needs, but she would feel something more than the typicalindifference about doing so. So, favoritism."
"So is she going to be pissed you justkilled several of them?"
"She won't even notice a few are missing,and if she does, she'll create more. They get eaten by her and theothers all the time."
"You have thestrangestfamily, andbelieve me, I know strange families."
Bobby grinned. "Yet here you are stillputting up with me."
"We'll see if you still put up with me afteryou get interrogated by Mamá," Alejo muttered, before kissing himagain in that quick, shy way of his before stepping back. "So whatdo we do now?"
"The smart thing would be to leave, but Isay we press onward, see what we can learn. All this ridiculoussecret tunnels, secret river, creepy statues, annoying niblingsmust lead tosomethinginteresting."
"Interesting is one word for it," Alejosaid. "All right, then. Lead the way."
"Call me MacDuff." Bobby grinned when thatgot him an eyeroll.
