Page 19 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

I sat up and looked around, the floor beneath me was solid, smooth, and plain white, like plastic. I crunched up my nose and rubbed my forehead, a damp sweat still present on my brow. I shook my head and rolled out my shoulders.

A crazy dream, I thought.

But as I let my fingertips feel the floor, I realized I didn’t recognize this place… I was somewhere strange. It was an empty room of all white and filled with light. An excited fear gripped me as I looked over my shoulder and my mouth slowly sagged open. Behind me was a gigantic window, overlooking what appeared to be the depths of space. I shook my head, slowly trembling to my feet.

I blinked and moved closer.

Am I really seeing this? I thought as I took a step towards it, my insides dropping as I peered out into the abyss of the universe.

“Yes,” a familiar voice spoke inside my head. “You are really seeing it.”

I turned with a gasp, my heart racing, to see the creature standing there, the twinkling stars within his skin shining and dimming as he stepped towards me.

My eyes grew wide with nerves, but I was glad to see him.

It hadn’t been a dream at all. Every part of it was real.

One moment I had been out running in the woods and looking up at the heavens, and the next I was laid out amongst the essence of this divine being, and he was coming back for more.

“It is beautiful, isn't it?” he said as he joined me by my side.

I looked up at him and craned my neck. He must have been at least eight feet tall, his angular edges handsome and welcoming as he looked out over the universe before us. The warmth I’d felt when he’d first come to me was still holding me tight, and I felt so calm and at peace, I knew there was no reason to be afraid.

We watched the heavens, the ebb and flow of stars, and the color of galaxies as they morphed into distant shapes. I found myself entranced by the view in front of me, but also with him. I could not look away, my eyes flitting from the great expanse of space to this incredible giant standing by my side.

“I know you will have questions,” he spoke softly. “And I will answer them.”

My head was a scramble of both questions and desires. I wanted to ask him so many things, but my body was asking for other things all of its own. I wanted to feel what I had done when I first woke in this strange place, when I felt him all around and inside me.

“Am I truly in space?” I asked as I took a step forward and looked out across the heavens.

“You are on the highest plane,” he said. “Far beyond the stars you see when you look up at your night sky.”

My skin began to tingle.

“How did I get here?” I asked. “I remember the light.”

“I brought you here,” he said as he put a large, warm, smooth hand on my shoulder. When I cast my eyes down on it I could see it was glistening and swirling with what looked like a universe of its own.

“Like an abduction?” I asked. “Are you… an alien?”

And then a strange thought that I already knew to be wrong burst from my mouth before he had a chance to answer…

“Are you going to harm me?”

He smiled.

“You know the answer to that is no,” he said. “And I suppose I am what your kind might describe as an alien being. But to my kind, and the rest of the universe and beyond, we are Celestials.”

A Celestial .

I’d never heard it before, but it fit him perfectly.

He was impossibly handsome, his skin a living thing that was luring me into a trance. He had wisps of long hair that looked like pure energy, flowing down his back and into the air. His torso was muscular and his arms were thick with strength. He was like a perfect creation. Something so pure and otherworldly that I was in awe. I had never seen or could have imagined anything like it, but something deep inside my being knew that it was all going to be okay.

“I can appear in many forms,” he continued. “But this way is the best for you to understand.”

His grip tightened softly on my shoulder and he turned me towards him, tilting my chin to look into his eyes. My neck strained and I was again aware of how large he was. He was so much taller and broader than any man or beast I had seen in my lifetime, and yet, I felt safe with him even after a matter of minutes.

“Abduction,” he continued, a wry smile spreading over his lips. “I abhor that word. It suggests captivity and force.”

I felt myself blush.

“Lower beings than myself abduct,” he said. “I merely take what is destined to be mine. My desire and need allow me to descend across dimensions, through vortexes of deeper space, to find what is meant for my heart. You will feel it too…”

His large fingers settled on my cheek, squeezing affectionately.

I felt weak at his touch and I found myself leaning in. My body was responding to him in such a wonderful way that I knew every word he said was true.

“I didn’t know when it would be my time,” he continued. “I’ve seen others like myself finding their mates from Earth. So when my heart heard the call, and it brought me to you, I couldn’t believe my luck.”

He lay his free hand across his chest, and beneath his shimmering skin I saw the deep red glow of his heart.

“This lets me know you are the one,” he said gently. “My heart has never burned brightly until I came into your orbit, pulled by a magnetism I could never explain or expect you to understand.”

I felt a burn in my own chest, a throb of want. The beat of my heart aligned with his and as I saw it glow and fade with each pulse, my heartbeat thumped in time. I swallowed, my head spinning with information and the rising urge to pull him closer.

Each time I looked into his incredible eyes I felt myself falling into them, as if I was meant to live inside his body and he in mine.

“My kind often takes human mates,” he said knowingly. “You are far more powerful than you realize, but you are subdued and weakened back on Earth.”

His hand moved from my cheek and into my hair, he found the bobble securing my ponytail and he quickly pulled it free.

I gasped.

My hair tumbled down my shoulders and he ran his fingers across my scalp and down the length of my hair, a full shiver working its way down my spine.

“If you only knew what you were capable of,” he smiled. “But now I have found you, your potential is endless.”

“In what way?” I murmured as I closed my eyes, leaning more into his touch.

Each time our skins met I felt a pulse of pleasure, a throb deep at my core as the heat inside me turned molten.

“You could rule the heavens,” he said. “The stars.”

His voice was against my mouth and even with my eyes closed I sensed his lips, felt a kiss of heat from his breath, and I had to suppress a moan of want.

“You are a queen,” he said. “My queen.”

He kissed me softly, his lips parting mine and his essence merging with my own.

My legs went weak, my spine electric.

“And as such, you shall be treated as one.”

I felt his soul enter my mouth as he kissed me, our infinite spirits colliding. His hands moved to my waist, the heat from his fingers gripping my clothes.

“These will not serve you here,” he said against my mouth. “You do not need for them any longer.”

He pulled my clothing and they tore to shreds and evaporated into the ether before I had the chance to realize what was happening.

“Oh my,” I exclaimed as I instinctively brought my arm across my chest, but I realized there was no need, my skin had begun to shimmer like his and my breasts and below my waist were covered and blurred with intense light.

“You are radiant,” he said. “And completely fascinating.”

I smiled and turned slightly on the spot, looking down at myself and enjoying the rising glow of my skin. I felt free and empowered, my body still humming with a warm bliss.

“Here,” he said as he held out his hand and urged me to take it. “Come and walk with me…”

I let my hand slip into his and the warmth radiated from his palm into mine, traveling slowly up my arm and across my chest before settling in my lower belly. I was so small compared to him, but I enjoyed the feeling of being close. He was protective and endearing, his grip becoming tighter as he led me forward.

He paused and the white wall in front of us slowly began to open, and an intense light burned into my eyes. I squinted but it faded fast, as the cosmos opened out ahead of us. I looked down to see the floor that had been below my feet was gone, and now a vast expanse of glistening stars and nebula had taken its place.

“My goodness,” I whispered.

I could still feel the steady ground beneath me, but it was as if I were now walking on glass or something similar. It was completely transparent, and it made my stomach lurch with vertigo. He urged me to continue, and it felt as if we were walking through the center of space.

“This is to show you how magical the beyond is,” he said. “You deserve to see it before what comes next.”

The words were heavy with possibility, but I didn’t feel any nerves.

“What comes next?” I asked.

He looked down at me and smiled, but he did not answer.

“When my kind finds their destined mate we have to possess and protect them for eternity,” he said. “Even if you choose to go back to earth, I will never leave you.”

I felt a small sag of disappointment. I couldn’t even begin to think about being anywhere but here now… it was too intense, too beautiful to leave behind.

“I would worship you, even from afar,” he said, his hand gently squeezing mine. “But I hope you will stay.”

He paused and turned me to face him before he bent his knee and came down to rest so we were eye to eye.

“You have never known true pleasure, dear heart…” he said. “So much had been withheld from you.”

I blushed, not sure of what he was implying.

“I have been inside your head,” he said as he traced a finger down my temple and the side of my face to my chin. “I have seen the human lovers who have failed you. Here, we do things differently.”

I bit my lip, embarrassment rising within me which he quickly squashed.

“Don’t shy away from me in your thoughts,” he said. “I already know what you need.”

He smiled and the stars within his eyes glittered just for me.

“I have so much more to show you,” he said before he rose again to his full height. “Here, come with me.”

His hands suddenly went to my waist and he lifted me above his head and settled me on his shoulders. I gasped as I took hold of his neck, wrapping my arms around him as my legs dangled down his chest. I felt so tiny and it was scarily high, but when he moved it was smooth, and I knew I was safe.

“In a moment, the higher plane of this universe will fade and I will bring you to my home,” he said. “A place that is safe and private… just for us.”

The wispy hair on his head flicked out softly and tickled my skin as if it had a mind of its own.

“You can return here any time,” he said. “Just tell me if you want to see it all again in such detail.”

I nodded but then realized he could probably hear my thoughts.

As soon as he had said it, the ground beneath his feet returned to a white opaque which spread up and created walls around us. We were once again in an all-white room with bright light, but he reached up and clicked his fingers and the harshness of it faded away to a low flicker, almost as if there could have been candles lit along the walls.

“We can make this place anything we desire,” he said. “Think of something that calms you, somewhere you would like to be…”

I frowned, not sure of anywhere that had ever felt as calming as this place.

“I don’t… I don’t know…” I stammered.

His grip on my shin tightened.

“What about where I took you from?” he asked softly. “A room full of what you call trees and an inky night sky?”

I wasn’t sure, but at least it was familiar.

“Okay,” I said, agreeing.