Page 3

Two

Jules

Iwatchedthehumanwanderingthrough my forest for the better part of an hour. The human had golden hair peeking out from under his yellow and blue cap, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist. Such an elegant thing he was. He kept himself upright, graceful despite his cursing, and he was dignified even as he held his phone in the air and turned on the spot, trying to get a signal.

Not in these parts of the woods, little human.

I supposed he wasn’t exactly small. He was burly and handsome. But what did I know about their kind? Like my fellow monsters, humans steered clear of me. I had given up trying to make them see sense about two hundred years ago. They wanted to vilify me? Fine. Nothing I could do or say would ever change their minds.

My life was more peaceful when I kept to myself. Compared to me, they were like children, anyway. Yet, I couldn’t ignore the creature straying so far off the beaten path. The skies spoke of an oncoming storm, and my land was not designed to lead him back to the exit. He might get hurt out there, or worse. He wouldn’t be the first one.

The land here was rough. Deep ravines cut through my forest, invisible until the last moment. At their bottoms, heavy rocks lay scattered on the forest floor.

The Höimann got another one.

That was what they said when one of them lay broken down there, on the rocks. Humans looked so tiny in death.

I can’t let this one walk to his doom.

I chose a form that I hoped wouldn’t intimidate him too much and ventured out of the trees.

“Good afternoon. Are you lost?”

“Holy fucking shit, man!” The human spun on the spot and wheezed as if his heart was about to give out. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You fucking scared me half to death.” He clutched at his muscular chest, the breath still rasping in and out.

It sounded like he had just climaxed, and my weak flesh stirred with interest. I despised my body for reacting to it. Deciding to ignore my cock pressing against the long buckskin trousers, I made a show of leaning heavily on my walking stick. Hopefully, I would appear less imposing then.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.” I was. Despite the fear these creatures had for me, I didn’t like being constantly met with terror. After three centuries, it got a little old.

Back when I had left my mother’s castle people had begun to attribute lost children to me. The old hermit who wandered the woods seemed like the only sensible option, of course. It got to a point where they ran away in terror whenever they spotted me.

It was a unique opportunity for me to have a conversation with one of them. This human, at least, didn’t seem scared of me at all.

He calmed down and inspected me thoroughly, his cheeks reddening under the dark blond stubble. He seemed flustered at having cursed so much in front of me. Did humans have different ways of communicating with each other? Depending on what? Age? Gender? Familiarity?

Colour me intrigued.

Perhaps I should have chosen a younger face, someone closer to his age. But over all those years this disguise had become my favourite; I felt safe wearing it.

You are too vain, Jules.

“Are you lost?”

You know perfectly well that he is. You’ve been watching him for an hour.

“Yeah, I am.” The human glanced up at the sky. “I don’t know what happened, but I was in that dumb granite maze and then, all of a sudden, I found myself stuck in the middle of this forest. And there are no fuck—no signs, I mean.”

“No, there aren’t,” I agreed.

“I’m Nikolai.”

My eyes dropped to the hand he extended. It was broad and strong, with smooth skin and short, clean nails.

Mine perpetually bore the appearance of digging in the earth, a consequence of my frequent forays in search of roots and mushrooms. I took it, a little self conscious and uncertain of how to proceed.

“Jules.”

I reciprocated the intensity of his squeeze, feeling the strength in his grip. Warmth and comfort radiated from his touch. The intense fluttering in my chest left me breathless, and I rubbed my fingers over my breastbone to steady myself.