Page 2 of Aberrant Monsters
Inky-black viscous matter shot out of my body and slammed into Jamie, throwing him into the opposite wall and holding him there while it coalesced into a humanoid form.
Telarion, my curse, my personal monster, manifested in his monolithic glory. His long, dark coat flapped in a phantom breeze as he held Jamie to the wall with a single gloved hand. His face was obscured by shadow and partially masked, but I caught the sharp edge of his jaw and the curve of his lips when he turned his head to offer me his profile.
Was he asking permission?
Did Telarioneverask for anything? No. He took what he wanted when he wanted it.
Still, I responded. “Take him.”
He chuckled low and wicked, then ate Jamie’s face.
I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears to block out the wet crunching sounds of his feeding.
The first few times this happened, I’d vomited. But we had a deal now. Feeding around me was off limits. Something he seemed to have forgotten, or maybe he wanted to make me sick. Urgh, why did he have to eat the guy right here?
Long seconds passed before I felt Telarion’s shadow fall over me and sensed the heat of his presence.
I opened my eyes to look up into his piercing green ones. They were undoubtedly beautiful eyes, slightly slanted and fringed in thick, dark lashes set in a face that was deceptively human right now. High cheekbones cut down to a wide, generous mouth set above a pointed chin framed by a sharp jawline. His nose was straight with flared nostrils that gave him a look of regal disdain. Even the mask that covered his forehead, sliding diagonally across the bridge of his nose to cover his right cheek and part of his jaw, looked like something an aristocrat would wear to a masquerade ball. But Telarion was far from human, as evidenced by the overly long and thick tongue that swept out from between his perfect lips to lap up errant drops of blood from his chin. The action reminded me of his true face. The face beneath this beautiful mask.
The face of the monster.
He gripped my neck with an infinite gentleness that belied his horrific nature and drew me close.
My pulse quickened with panic and something else, something that I would never acknowledge. “Don’t…”
He gave a raspy laugh and licked my cheek. I closed my eyes, submitting to his attentions as his wet, warm tongue washed away the evidence of my attack in leisurely sweeps.
He released me when done and stood towering over me. “How is it you get yourself into these scrapes?”
I wiped at my face with my sleeve. “You promised you wouldn’t feed in front of me again.” God, was that the hint of a whine? I cleared my throat. “We had a deal, dammit.”
“I was hungry, and he deserved to die immediately.”
I had no illusions about Telarion’s motives. He protected what was his, and as far as he was concerned, I fell into that bracket. I was his host, and if I died, he’d be sent back to the hell I’d unwittingly liberated him from.
We were stuck together in an uneasy, unlikely alliance that we were still adjusting to after two months.
I glanced at Jamie’s remains and felt no remorse. There were some evil monsters in this world, and he’d been one of them.
Telarion swept toward the mouth of the alley.
I started after him. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Hunting.”
“Youjustfed.”
He paused and turned to me. “I’m still hungry, and unless you’re prepared to feed me…” His eyes gleamed in the gloom, expectant as he waited.
I took a step back, heat traveling up my body to settle around my neck as the last time I’d had to “feed” him came to mind. “No. Go. Just…Only the bad people. Thereallybad people, okay?”
He drifted closer, forcing me back against the wall and caging me in with his body. “Oh, don’t worry, tiny human, I can smell the evil on someone from a comfortable distance, a skill you should cultivate.” He canted his head. “Maybe I’ll teach you.”
“Hopefully we won’t have time for that.” I gritted my teeth and met his startling green eyes, noting how the pupils had dilated so they’d almost eaten away the irises. “Hopefully we’ll have found a cure by then.”
He was silent for a long beat. “Hopefully.”
He whirled away, moving so fast that my human eyes were unable to track him. I caught the edge of a dark blur at the mouth of the alley, and he was gone.
