Page 4 of Aberrant Monsters
Nandi’s jaw tensed. “That bastard hurt you? I can’t believe he fucking—”
“It’s fine. It was close to sundown. I didn’t feel it. Telarion cleaned me up after he…after he dealt with Jamie.”
Nandi’s nostrils flared. “He ate him, didn’t he?”
I sighed. “Yeah…”
“Good!” my uncle said. “That nasty piece of work deserved it.”
We both stared at him in shock. He was the most vocal protestor against Telarion and his feeding habits, but I guess when Telarion was acting to defend me, it wasn’t so hard to stomach.
“I should have been with you,” Nandi said. “He wouldn’t have attacked us both.”
“We can’t be together all the time. We know the risks of the business. We make enemies, they just don’t usually go all nutso.”
“Norms are fucking insane.” Her lip curled.
Real Deal, our supernatural investigation business, carried out a few detective jobs for humans who had no extrasensory abilities. We called these humans norms.
“Where is Telarion now?” Uncle Fred asked.
“Hunting.” I flopped into the nearest chair. “He’ll be careful. He knows he has to be.”
“He’d better be, because if the Order finds out—”
“It’s not like we have a choice,” Nandi said. “We can’t lock him up.”
My uncle sighed. “I know, I know…”
We allknew. We understood the consequences of Telarion’s existence coming out and what it would mean for me.
He didn’t belong in our world, but I’d brought him here. I’d pulled him out of the eldritch realm, and in return, he’d saved me from being torn to shreds. I’d allowed him to invade my body in order to save my skin, and now we were stuck like this.
If the Order of Yaga found out, it wouldn’t end well for me. They monitored the eldritch rifts. Made sure that the monsters who lived there stayed on their side, and if, God forbid, something did come through, they had rift walkers to catch and take it back.
Rift walkers like me.
Individuals who could see the residue an eldritch monster left behind and track it. My kind were the only ones with this ability. The monsters were invisible to the human eye, and supernaturals couldn’t see them for what they truly were. Their brains distorted the monsters into something else.
Rift walkers were a rare commodity.Iwas a rare commodity, yet I’d remained hidden, unregistered, because having my autonomy and my rights stripped away really didn’t appeal to me, and that was exactly what would happen if the Order of Yaga found out what I was. I’d belong to them just like all the other rift walkers.
Sod that.
Still, I’d made sure to follow the three cardinal rules that all walkers did: never go into the eldritch realm after sundown, never stay longer than an hour, and never bring anything back. In fact, I’d pretty much steered clear of rift walking until two months ago when circumstances led to me needing a quick escape. In that moment I’d broken the rules and opened a rift after sundown, basically leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I’d be dead if not for Telarion.
The memory of pain, of maws clamped onto my limbs, of the hungry snorts and snarls of the predators beyond the rift desperate to tear me into pieces filled my mind. I’d been bleeding out, praying for death to come quick, because the alternative was to be eaten alive. I’d lost hope when I felt his awesome presence. The power. The threat. And his eyes…Those beautiful emerald eyes set in a face so horrific my heart had almost stopped and one word had filled my head.
Monster.
Thatmonsterhad saved my life.
And now he was here, bound to me.
I’d broken every rule, and if the Order of Yaga found out what I’d done, if they found out that my uncle had hidden me from them…Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.
What I needed was a distraction, and thankfully I had one planned. “I need to get changed. I have a date with Jacob.”
