Page 3 of Monster Whisperer
“I can’t—”
“Okay, the hard way. Make it quiet.”
The gargantuan man came at me, and I swore the last thing I saw before my vision went black was his eyes glowing red.
Chapter 2
River
W
hen my eyes cracked open, I almost forgot those horrible men at my clinic. I thought I was back home. I was in a comfortable bed, and something smelled like cookies. But that wasn’t a dream. I remembered that enormous man coming at me right before I passed out. I bolted upright to find out where the fuck I was.
I appeared to be in some ornate room with silk sheets. And there was a platter of fresh cookies on the table? What the fuck was this? I was starving. Plouton had made me work through dinner, so I hadn’t eaten since lunch on Sunday. Still, these people threatened me and kidnapped me. They couldn’t bribe me with cookies, no matter how good they smelled.
They’d even changed my clothes. Iwould neverhave picked this silk nightie on my own. I slept pretty frumpily. I stomped over to the door and tried the doorknob. It was locked. I might not be a tall woman, but I had upper body strength from dealing with enormous dogs. I pounded on the door and started screaming.
I heard a voice on the other side.
“If you don’t calm down, I won’t come in there and explain.”
“I’ll kill you!” I screamed.
“You could certainly try, but it wouldn’t end well for you. I have no intention of harming you. We need you here. Now, step away from the door like a good little girl, and I’ll bring you something to eat. You missed dinner last night.”
“Because of you, you shit! You pulled a gun on me!”
“Step aside, and I’ll explain everything.”
“Then, you will bring me back home.”
“Sorry, River. This is your new home.”
Plouton flung the door open, and I nearly shit myself when Cerberus came bounding in and jumped on me. I mean, I was glad he was feeling better, but he now had two extra heads. I collapsed in the nearest chair, and I was pretty sure whatever had knocked me out had me seeing things.
“Do you see now why it was so important that you save this dog? Cerberus is one of a kind, and he’s always been with me. I told you my name was Plouton but that’s just a name humans have called me. I didn’t want to tell you I was Hades, and my dog wastheCerberus because I needed your help.”
“Cerberus doesn’t have his own vets?”
“Yes, and I had to kill them because he kept getting sicker. They knew he was dehydrated, and they would give him fluids, but then he would just get sick again. They were worthless.”
Sure, he could just as well kill me too, and he was crazy enough to think he was Hades, but his ego was totally out of control.
“You knowyouwere the one making your dog sick, right? You were the one putting salt and pepper in his food.”
“And I already apologized to Cerberus! But you knew to ask about his diet, and I suspect I know why. You asked him, didn’t you? You can hear your patients.”
I clammed up. No one needed to know that, especially this crazy guy, while I was in the middle of hallucinating a three-headed dog.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you’ll stay for a little while and keep a few of my beasts alive, I’ll tell you exactly why you can hear them.”
“Like you know.”
“My dear, I’m Hades, and I brought you to Tartarus. Cerberus is in your lap and quite grateful you saved his life. I’m a fucking God, River.”
“You’re fucking delusional.”
He held out his palm, and a blue flame started dancing in it.
