Page 22 of Echo (A Monster’s Prey #2)
I woke up cuddled into Echo’s side. His warmth made me want to go back to sleep, but the room was brighter than it should have been. Echo’s heavy arm was locked over me, making it impossible to move.
With a little squirming, I wriggled free. It surprised me that he hadn’t awakened, but I figured he’d had a rougher night than me. I checked his bandages and was pleasantly surprised to find him mostly healed.
I got dressed and ready for the day, fed the animals. and went out to the salt circle, walking along it with Ranger, refreshing the salt lines. Patches of sage were burned, and it made me wonder what creature did that. One thing at a time.
I had no clue how long I’d been following the damn salt line when I felt eyes burning into me. I didn’t say anything and ruin his fun, but I couldn’t help the smile that grew on my face.
Surely, he knew he’d have to do better than that.
Heat moved closer to me. Long fingers and claws wrapped over my throat. “I wish I could carry that for you.” How he managed to say something so sweet in that menacing tone was beyond me.
“You’re going to have to up your game,” I told him. He gave a slow chuckle that promised he was up to the challenge. “I’m glad you are feeling better this morning.”
“I heal fast, but your assistance helped move things along.”
“I expected to find bodies this morning.” He made it sound like the place was crawling, but the evidence of the carnage was mostly gone. A spatter of blood here. A burn spot there. Some claw marks that I didn’t think came from him.
“I ate well last night,” he answered. “I can give you their bones if you want them.”
“No. Thank you.” If what he said was true, then I doubted he ate all of them. Were there some still alive hanging from a tree somewhere letting their fear marinate? Don’t think about that, Madison.
“You are like a flower in this sunlight; glowing and in bloom.”
Heat filled my face. I was a mess. With sweat plastering the hair that fell out of my bun to my face. I was sure I had swamp titties and pit stains the size of Texas, based on how my spaghetti straps clung to my skin.
“Thank you,” I said, instead of saying that the glow was probably a greasy sunburn. He’d already expressed that he didn’t appreciate my self-deprecating thoughts.
“I will make it up to you for having to do the heavy lifting.”
“I can do my own heavy lifting.”
“Sure you can.” He shrugged. “That’s not the point.”
He followed me in companionable silence as I finished the salt line. My legs burned and my back screamed. It was suddenly clear how big this place really was. The sun had already begun dipping into the treeline when I made it to my start point.
I panted as we passed the chicken coop, and I couldn’t ignore all the eggs scattered about that I hadn’t gathered. I tossed the remaining bag of salt on the ground and mentally prepared myself.
“The salt alone will hold the vast majority of them back,” he informed me. “I can handle any stragglers that are immune.”
I opened the coop door. “Alright, Devil Cock, don’t fuck with me and I don’t fuck with you.”
I’d fed them earlier, and he let me in without any complaints.
Making peace with beasts was my specialty.
I collected the eggs without any incident, stuffing them into the apron I wore that I’d held bags of salt in, except where one hen was hoarding eggs and refused to move.
Whenever I reached in to grab one from under her, she pecked at my hand.
I hummed and pulled out my cellphone. Echo said, “She’s brooding.”
“I can be a broody bitch myself.” That said, I had no clue what that meant for a chicken.
He chuckled and Devil Cock ran at the fence, letting out a fierce crow, flapping his wings to make himself as big as possible. The hens fled, hiding in the building that gave them shelter.
“Quit upsetting my chickens. Especially Devil Cock. He makes my life hard enough as it is.”
Echo put his huge hands up and backed away from the coop, and Devil Cock slowly relaxed. “She’s trying to hatch those eggs.”
“I see. Mama mode activated, huh?” I clicked my tongue. “Well then, don’t let me bother you.”
Her feathers flattened as I walked away from her, confirming that was the best thing for me to do. Maybe. I wasn’t sure.
I left the coop and clasped the door before going up to the house to deposit my findings on the counter.
I sat on the back porch going through internet articles on what to do with a broody hen. Echo appeared behind me, leaning over my shoulder. “What is that?”
“A cell phone.”
“So it calls people?”
“Yeah, but it has a lot of uses. Like researching broody hens.” I clicked my tongue. “Seems to be some disagreement on how to deal with them.”
“If you leave the mama bird be, you should get some new chickens out of it. As long as you make sure she eats and drinks.”
“Then why is it recommended against?” I asked to no one in particular.
“I don’t understand why your people do a lot of the things you do.”
“Considering we managed to royally fuck the economy, ozone, and everything in between, I’ll have to concede to that fact.”
That made him chuckle, but I was certain he didn’t understand the extent of it, considering he hadn’t left the property in hundreds of years. He was still in one of the few places humans hadn’t completely fucked everything up.
“What did the world look like back then?” My eyes scanned the beauty of this property. It was so different from home. It was a different world. And yet, I knew back then it would have been even more majestic.
“Not too much. Not here at least. The women in your family kept things a certain way.” Yet he stared at the treeline, as if he remembered a world I couldn’t fathom.
“It’s hotter. The trees are smaller. The house has changed.
There are electrical lines. But this trap your ancestors put me in doesn’t change much. ”
“Why did they trap you here?”
“They didn’t tell you.” He lifted his eyebrow.
“I read the information pamphlets, but I’m interested in the monster’s perspective.” What I really wanted was for him to say or do something that would make the comforting feeling of having him beside me go away.
“Your ancestor, Levicy Rinah was a brilliant witch born to a breed of men who were ignorant and needlessly violent,” he began.
“She bartered for peace with me. Her reasoning was that more people were coming. The world was changing. I could chase her family off the land all I wanted, but more would be in her place sooner rather than later. If I let them live here in peace, she would offer sacrifices to keep us fed, but stressed that we stay out of her soon-to-be husband’s line of sight.
I agreed, because she was right. The hills were filling up with people and they were hostile.
It was easier to deal with if we had a safe place to hide in.
But my little brother was a boy, and he let Carl Falin catch him. ”
The small skull in the witchy room.
I grabbed his hand, interlacing my fingers with his. My heart hurt at the thought of how much pain that must have caused him.
“We quit aging when we were turned into these creatures. We’d been this way already a hundred years, but he still had the understanding of a child.
He didn’t know better. And Carl Falin killed him.
” A growl laced his words and crescendoed as he spoke.
“Levicy called her sisters and trapped me on this property, still offering a peaceful place to live. Even after I murdered that worthless husband of hers. But I told her, now she owed me a companion too.”
“You must have been lonely. I’m so sorry.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and wished I could suck the centuries of pain away from him.
His growling stopped abruptly and I had that feeling that his eyes were on me again. Calm and warm. I lifted my head to meet his gaze to find his face blank, but those eyes locked onto me.
“What?”
After a long moment, he stood up and went to stand on the ground. As if he suddenly needed to have space between us. That grin settled on his snout, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Now I get to feast on your fear whenever I want. You’ve given me a lot of power. You’re lucky I like you.”
His words were a giant slap to the mouth. It stung and burned deep down in my throat as if I swallowed acid.
That was the wake up call I needed. I wasn’t some desired goddess he wanted to possess. No, I was a debt for him to collect on. With that splash of truth, it was easy to remember that he viciously murdered people. He was a real monster that came from nightmares.
He was no better than Mark. In fact, he was worse. Because he’d been coddled to believe he owned me. I’d already known that, but I lost my perspective under his attentiveness.
He must have sensed the change in my demeanor, because he stared at me with wide eyes. Ranger barked and growled from where he’d been laying on the porch.
“Right.” I rolled my eyes, and a short laugh busted from my chest. “I’m gonna go inside now.”
“Of course, allow me–”
“Alone.” I slammed the door in his face.
I needed to think without his influence.