Page 23 of Aberrant Monsters
Please, please make it stop, I pleaded silently through the tears that blurred my vision.
The pain released me, and the sobs trapped in my throat broke free.
“I will rip out your jugular,” Telarion promised the man. “I will tear you to pieces.”
“You will answer my question. We knowwhatyou are, we need to knowwhoyou are. The creature, the person you were before?”
“Before?” I pulled myself off the ground. “What do you mean?”
Telarion went very still.
“Aberrations aren’t like other eldritch horrors, Miss Vera,” the man said. “Aberrations were once people, creatures from other realms. At least that is what we have come to know, and now we wish to knowwhoyour aberration is.” He looked to Telarion. “Who were you before you became…this.”
Telarion shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
The man held up the remote and a sound of distress bubbled up my throat.
“Don’t!” Telarion moved to stand over me. “Don’t hurt her. I am telling you the truth. I don’t recall how I came to be. I recall only my name.”
“And what is that?” the man asked.
“My name is Telarion.”
Someone hidden in the darkness let out a gasp. I sensed motion and picked up the murmur of voices.
The man with the remote tipped his head to the side, then nodded and backed away from the glass.
The woman stepped forward now. “Come closer.” She beckoned Telarion.
He looked down at me and I sensed his uncertainty, his doubt and concern…concern for me?
“I’m okay.” I nodded.
“Comply and she remains unhurt,” the man said.
Telarion moved to the glass and Genevieve peered at his face, scanning it for details. Her mouth parted but she snapped it closed and smiled. “Thank you. You may move away from the glass.”
She clasped her hands behind her back. “Do you know what happens to people like you, August? People who find themselves bound to an aberration?”
I hated this. Hated being held hostage and being helpless to fight back. Abhorred the uncertainty of when the next attack would come.
“Before I answer your question, I have one of my own. Are we done with the torture? If not, I’ll stay low to the ground.”
“For now.”
I pulled myself to my feet. “From what I’ve learned, we turn into monsters.”
“Correct. Would you like to see?”
“What?”
The area to my left lit up to reveal another cell occupied by a creature on his knees. Humanoid, as large as Telarion, with dark hair that needed a trim.
“Stefan, wakey wakey,” Genevieve crooned.
The thing in the cell next to mine raised his head and fixed his red-rimmed orange eyes on me.
“Say hello to August.”
