Page 95 of Aberrant Monsters
“No, but—”
“Then you have to go. Now before it—”
He looked down at my feet and let out a groan.
Red tentacles had projected from the crimson floor and were sliding over my boots.
“Get off!” I tried to lift my feet, but they held fast.
It had me.
“No. You will not.” He strained against the bonds holding him to the wall, his body expanding and growing larger.
The wall pulsed faster, fighting back, and that was when I felt the creature’s life force. Not amber like Lothos and Telarion, but crimson and viscous. My stomach tightened.
I wanted it.
I fell to my knees and pressed my palms to the floor, wanting, needing the contact. There it was. Glorious power. Enough to sate me ten times over if only I could grab hold and…Yes, oh yes. The energy poured into me, filling me, making my head swim. I felt it, not in my blood or in my soul but in my muscles, a vibrant, living thing. There was nothing more needed to cement it; all I needed to do was accept it. Claim it and it would be mine.
Somewhere far away something roared.
“August! Stop. Don’t.”
The red haze cleared in time for me to see Telarion tear his body free from the wall and dive toward me. His face was a mask of horror, and his eyes…Wait, what was that in his eyes? A face made of angles and planes, with eyes as black as midnight.
A reflection.
Me.
“No!” He grabbed me, forcing me to relinquish my hold on the eldritch monster’s power, and swept me out of the room.
I felt the energy retreat like a tsunami in reverse. It tore a cry of protest from my lips and brought a surge of rage that I directed at Telarion.
“Get off me. Get off! I want it. It’s mine.” My voice sounded deep and gravelly. Not my voice.
Not me.
“This isnotwho you are,” Telarion said.
He gripped the back of my head and forced me to look at him. “August Vera, you are not a monster and you do not need what that creature has to offer. Let it go. All of it. Please, let it go.”
What was that in his tone beneath the demand, beneath the anger? Desperation and…fear. Fear of what? Of losing me?
Me,not a host.Me.
I was still holding on to some of the crimson energy. It hummed against my skin like a promise.
“Now!” Telarion demanded.
I exhaled and released it, watching the alien reflection in his eyes morph into the face I saw in the mirror every day.
He let out a ragged breath and cradled me to him, crossing the foyer and slamming out the door into the starlit night.
“August!” Nandi and Archie came running toward us at the same time as a car careened down the drive.
As doors slammed and boots crunched on gravel, I looked up into Telarion’s face, looked deep into his eyes, past the bravado, the cutting, curt remarks and the possessive aggression designed to make me believe I was nothing but a thing to him, and there I saw my emotions reflected at me. It was so fleeting that I’d be forgiven for thinking I imagined it. That moment both twisted me into knots and gave me comfort.
My hand came up, wanting to touch his cheek. He reared back with a sneer and lowered me to the ground where Archie and Nandi moved in to support me.
