Page 28 of Aberrant Monsters
He puffed out his chest. “Well, well, I’mfuckingangry, okay?”
“Whoa, two times in a row.” Archie chuckled. “Dude, you really are going for it, aren’t you.”
“Well, it explains the buzz in my head and the hollow feeling I’d gotten when we visited Elina. She was feeding off me.”
“This is why we can’t have a handler in our midst,” Uncle Fred reiterated.
It wasn’t ideal for sure. “I don’t get a choice. They’re sending one and he’ll be here sometime today.”
“He’s staying here?” Uncle Fred’s eyebrows shot up toward his hairline.
“Yes.”
“I say we put him in the north wing.” Nandi grinned wickedly.
The north wing had a spotty electricity supply and little to no hot water. It was super drafty and possibly haunted. It would be mean to put anyone in that part of the house.
Telarion stirred inside me. I agree with the necromystic.
I nodded. “North wing it is.”
* * *
How wasit that I was still tired after being unconscious for several hours? I shut myself in my cozy, slightly cluttered bedroom and drew the thick drapes against the daylight. This room had gone through several changes over the last decade as I’d evolved from preteen to teen to adult.
The walls were now bare of posters and the dresser sparse when it came to makeup or jewelry, and the wardrobe was split between functional, comfortable clothes and going-out-to-impress outfits, although I couldn’t recall the last time I’d gone out on the town.
Work had chewed up my life, and now…Well, it didn’t look like I’d be having much “me” time, that was for sure.
The floor was hardwood and cold, so I rarely took my socks off in here, but I peeled them off as soon as I was on the double bed, then quickly snuggled under the duvet, closing my eyes.
I could sense Telarion’s presence, stronger now that the drug had worn off. He hadn’t spoken since agreeing that my handler should be placed in the north wing of our little castle and the etiquette between us was to keep the silence, but everything was different now. The revelations the Order had slapped us with changed our dynamic because Telarion was more than a monster. There was a person beneath the hunger and the cool, detached façade.
No,he said softly in my head.It’s not a façade. Do not be fooled, tiny human. This is me. I don’t recall the person I may have been before. This is who I am now. I feel no guilt or remorse when I kill. I’m driven by primal needs and desires.
But you protect me.
Survival instinct only. Nothing more.
His words left me hollow.Right, of course. But…would you hurt me once you’re free?
He was silent for so long I thought he wasn’t going to respond, then,I don’t know.
Any delusions I’d been developing about the aberrations vanished. He was still the monster he’d been before the revelations.But things might change when you find out who you used to be? You probably had a family. People who loved you.
Maybe the person I was before had those things, but people don’t love monsters.His tone was matter-of-fact, no trace of regret. He was merely explaining how it was.
Then why did you agree to the Order’s terms? I mean, if nothing will change for you, why agree to help them?
You assume I wish to be loved. You attribute human sensibilities to me. That, tiny human, is a mistake. I wish to be free and that is my goal. My only goal. Now sleep. Once the night falls, I will need to feed.
And so would I.
* * *
I slept till late afternoon,and when I finally made my way down to the toasty warm kitchen it was to the rumble of voices.
Archie sat at the table forking noodles into his mouth. His crimson hair was mussed as if he’d just crawled out of bed, and were those Uncle Fred’s PJs?
