Page 63 of Aberrant Monsters
“He’s never done that before.” My words were a whisper, more a reflection than thoughts to be shared.
“Done what?” Quentin asked.
“Gotten into my body at night. I didn’t know he could.” I was speaking not just to Quentin but to Telarion too.
“They can,” Quentin replied. “But they seem to prefer not to. The Order believes it’s because they’re wholly corporeal at night and need to be incorporeal to be inside a host, which is something they can only do for long periods during the day.” He chewed on his cheeks. “It must have taken great control for him to hold onto the incorporeal form and actively heal you at the same time.”
“I thought healing could only happen just before sunset.”
“It usually does,” Quentin said. “At least that’s what the Order’s experimentations have observed.”
Experimentations? “Did they deliberately hurt the infected rift walkers?”
He exhaled through his nose. “I assume so.”
“And you’re okay with that?” I scanned his profile, looking for a sign of disgust, disapproval, something to tell me he wasn’t.
He shot me a quick frown. “Of course I’m notokaywith it. But I can understand why they felt they had to do it. The desperate need for answers, to figure out how the aberration-rift walker union works.”
They could have simply asked.Telarion’s voice was a whisper, telling me he was cocooned in the place he was forced to hide during the day. Aware, but distant and unavailable.
I spoke his words. “You could have asked the aberrations.”
“That’s just it,” Quentin said. “The other aberrations don’t communicate like Telarion. Telarion’s different.”
“Special.”
Quentin pursed his lips, eyes on the road, and my cheeks heated. I shouldn’t have said that. It sounded as ifIthought he was special.
“Telarion is certainly…more,” Quentin said. “He’s a monster that can be reasoned with.”
“He’s not a monster.” The words burst from my lips without a thought.
Silence followed my declaration, and it felt as if the world was holding its breath.
Quentin sighed. “August, as your handler, it’s my job to remind you of the very real danger you’re in. Telarion is different, yes. He’s intelligent and able to communicate with us, with you. And yes, he was once a person, but he isn’t any longer. He’s a creature driven by hunger and you’re his host. His anchor to this world and his path to freedom. Don’t forget that. Don’t attribute human emotion to him.”
My pulse quickened in confusion and conflict because although the logical side of me understood and agreed with this, my emotional side wasn’t so convinced.
“He saved my life, Quentin. Maybe his actions were self-serving, but my gratitude is real.” My tone dropped to a whisper. “He may be a monster to everyone else, but he isn’t a monster to me.”
An explosion of breath echoed in my mind and a cacophony of emotions swirled in my chest followed by the sharp jab of rage. I tried to latch on to it, to understand it, but Telarion retreated, taking his anger with him and leaving me more confused than ever.
* * *
Healingfrom the damage done by stab wounds in the space of thirty minutes was no picnic, but once the agony subsided, I was a new woman able to take a full breath without fire racing through my torso.
Telarion tore from my body and hurtled from my bedroom without giving me a second look.
I sat up in bed, staring at the wall he’d just slipped through, momentarily stunned by his abrupt departure.
What was he doing?
We had a job to do. He wouldn’t seriously just leave, would he?
“Telarion?” I shoved the covers off and stood. “You there?”
Nothing.
