Page 39 of Monster Whisperer
“I’ll do it,”Pavlina said.
Of course, she would. Pavlina was always hungry.
“Okay, so this is what we will do. You’ll tell Demeter you’ve got someone down here treating the monsters. I said Demos wasn’t up to fighting today. She’ll probably come to see me, but she’ll see the glamour, and she’ll think I’m human. She won’t think I’m a threat. She’ll just think I’m some meddling human who is concerned about Demos. I can play it off.”
Pavlina let out a massive hiss, Kimon growled, and I squirted water across the room. Cerberus started howling. There was no fucking way she was playing anything off with Demeter. She knew we were about to argue too because she held up her hand.
“It’s probably the only way. You all know I’m right.”
“She is right because all of you were fucking stupid. You all know they could choose any one of you at any moment. The only way we will be able to explain Demos’s absence is a meddling human. I can play it off too. Now, who will fight in his place?”
“Me!”Pavlina and I said at the same time.
“Pavlina and Tryphon both want to,” River said.
“Let Pavlina do it. She’ll be up against the harpy that broke up with her.”
“Aello was a bitch about it too,”Pavlina growled.
“Well, that’s settled then. Pavlina fights tonight, and I’ll expect no more plotting behind my back. Call me when Demos gets back. I expect a full report.”
I had a feeling River had a lot more plots up her sleeve.
Chapter 29
Pavlina
S
omething must have changed if Hades knew who the fight would be against. I had a feeling Demeter planned on Aello because she wanted to pit a harpy against a phoenix. She wanted to see if Aello could kill Demos for good. Demeter didn’t know much about the goings-on in the Underworld to realize we had a past. She was probably running her mouth about how Aello would kill Demos, and Hades was listening like always. He tried to warn us when he could, so we knew if we were going against friend or foe.
I had plenty of friends, but I also had my fair share of foes. Aello was definitely a foe. She cheated on me with a water nymph then tried to play it like it was my fault. I had a healthy sexual appetite and had no complaints before. I took her out all the time and bought her flowers and all that romantic shit. She claimed I didn’t love her enough. Fucking attention whore.
Still, I may have volunteered, and I had no problem eating Aello, but I still didn’t like River coming to the attention of Demeter. This could play out two ways. Demeter could think she was a harmless human and never show up at the jail, or she could want to check her out for herself and see how she got Hades to back down.
I wondered what Goddess tasted like. If she tried to hurt River or any of my friends, I’d wrap that bitch up in a web so fast, her head would spin. Then, I’d bite her head off. Let’s see how she liked that.
I was a little surprised when River slipped into my cell. I mean, I had a half-eaten corpse in here with me. I liked to make my meals last.
“Are you okay with fighting in a few hours, Pavlina?”
“I’ve got a score to settle with Aello.”
“Still, I worry about all of you when you go into that ring.”
That was sweet. The big question that I was trying not to ask was if she was into girls. Because eventually, I would figure out how to get this collar off, and I’d have my sleek human body back, and I wouldn’t mind rubbing it up against her. She was so worried about me. I hoped I didn’t get stuck in the lesbian friend zone.
“I can handle a harpy. Are you going to be there watching like you did with Kimon?”
“I was planning on it. If I can see how you were hurt, it can help me treat you better. They don’t exactly teach giant spiders and Kraken in vet school.”
Speaking of Tryphon, his tentacle slithered into my cell and wrapped around her waist. Fucking Kraken and their possessive nature. I couldn’t even get a moment alone with her. Now, Kimon was infringing on my time with her, too, by leaning against the door of my cell.
“Out! All of you! This is my time!”
“I was just making sure you didn’t eat her,”Kimon said.
Oh, I wanted to eat her, all right, just not like this. Preferably tied to my bed with a blindfold on when I wasn’t stuck as my monster.
