Page 1 of Nightmare For Hire
Prologue
Nox—Several Years Ago
I sit in a squeaky chair in front of a desk in a stuffy government office. There’s not much on the faux wooden panel walls except a pair of mallard duck paintings. Why is it always duck paintings?
Beyond the cracked door are the sounds of a typical office. The clicking of keyboards, the shuffling of papers, phones ringing, people talking. Boring humdrum human things.
I’m here as a courtesy, nothing more. Portals to a monster world opened a few years ago and anyone or anything deemed from that world is either brought in by force, or, like me, asked respectfully to come in.
“Mister Nightmare.”
I turn to find myself staring at a human wearing a polo shirt tucked into black slacks. As they look at a clipboard, they push up wire-framed glasses. With their thick head of dark hair, I’dguess they were no more than mid-thirties, but humans are so hard to age without outright asking, and apparently that’s rude.
“Nox.”
The human finally looks at me and his mouth drops open.
“You’rea Nightmare?”
“Yep. Nightmare. No last name. Just Nox.” I bounce to my feet and hold out my hand. “He/him please and thank you.”
“Abel.” They shuffle their clipboard to hold out their hand. “He/him as well.” He just stares at me before shaking his head. “I was—”
“Expecting something more like…”
Abel stumbles back when my eyes turn black. Tendrils of shadow snake around me, sucking my human form into a void of nothing until all I am is shadow. Abel runs into the doorjamb when I ping around the room.
But I’m not here to scare the guy. I sink back into my chair and let my human form take shape again, pulling my pink heart-shaped purse to my front so I can dig around for snacks.
“Yeah. I was expecting something like that.”
“You must be new if you’re still scared of monsters.” I shudder at the word.
“I’m not scared.”
I cock a brow and pop a hard candy into my mouth. Wild cherry.Mmmmm.
Abel goes behind the desk and settles down. “I’m sure you’re aware that we’re issuing visas for monsters.”
I hold up a hand. “I’d rather you not use that word. Not all of us come from that realm, and I’m just here to see what you can do for me.” I reach for the glass candy bowl on the desk and bring it to my lap. After digging through the offerings, I drop a few pieces into my bag for later. “You need better candy.” I set the dish back on the desk and wait for him to continue.
“Whatwecan do foryou?”
I kick my feet onto the desk. My cute baby pink platforms are my favorite. “I’m as old as the universe. There is nothing you can do to hold me. Why would I comply with this visa nonsense unless you give me something in return?”
Abel’s mouth drops open. He flips through his notes and wipes at the sweat on his brow. “I’m not prepared to negotiate.”
I purse my lips. “You asked to talk to an ancient Nightmare and didn’t come prepared to negotiate? You expect me to comply with your ridiculous human rules, of which I’veneverconformed to in my existence, and all of a sudden—”
“What’s the problem here, Abel?”
We both snap our heads towards the newcomer.
“Captain Savy.” Abel shoots to his feet.
I tip my head and take the captain in. Tall, balding dark hair, stubbled jaw, scuffed dress shoes. There’s wear at the bottom of their over long slacks. They’ll be easy to manipulate.
“Hopefully, you can clear up this little misunderstanding,” I start. “What are you offering?”
