Page 9 of Captured By the Monsters
My blood boiled, heating rushing to my face as I yelled, “You claim to want to find a woman to love and then shove us around? Learn some fucking manners.”
Maybe I shouldn’t be insulting monsters that we knew nothing about, other than the fact that the women sent to them never returned and they wanted to use us as monster breeding machines, but I couldn’t keep the lid on my mouth at this point. I had been quiet my entire life, accepting the mannerisms I was forced to adopt, but no more. If I was going to survive down here, I needed my fire. No more hiding it.
“Begin,” the same shrill voice commanded, ignoring my insults, making my cheeks redden with fury.
In complete silence, each trifecta of shadows began to move down the line, starting with Madison and ending with me. As they got close, each crystal lit up with that same peach color that the runes of the cave had, but it was a dull light.
Thankfully, the creatures didn’t attempt to touch any of us, so I remained still as I watched, trying to understand their actions.
It wasn’t until the last set began to move down the line that I had a reaction and understood what the hell they were looking for. My breath caught in my throat as they reached me, and their crystal shone so brightly that my hand moved to shield my eyes on instinct. It was damn near blinding, and I felt my head searing with pain from just the second I was exposed to it.
“I knew she would be ours,” the soft voice said as I felt a phantom brush of lips pressed to my shoulder.
“Such a beauty,” the second voice said, a reverent tone to his words like he was worshiping me.
“All ours,” the deep voice agreed. I mustered the courage to drop my hand and look at what was happening to me, sensing the dimming of the light from behind my closed lids.
But all I could see was darkness now, like I was wrapped up in a cocoon of shadows. That wasn’t what scared me, though—what I felt inside was what truly scared me.
I felt euphoric at having this set of shadows to myself. They were mine. Their voices called to me, mentally and physically, with just the few words they had uttered.
A piece of me felt content being within their darkness, and that was the most dangerous thing that could happen to me down here. I needed to remember my mission and the danger of this unknown land.
I had a feeling they were going to make that damn near impossible, but I had to hold onto my light within their darkness. I’d be my own nightlight down here as I held onto my reasons to fight.
My parents.
Gizmo.
My freedom.
No one and no monster would take that from me, no matter how their powers controlled my body’s reaction to them.
