Page 73 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Eryxxus

I had been a god once. A deity of pure power, a being beyond comprehension. The stars had once bowed before me, and planets had trembled in my wake. Once buried and now resurrected, I traveled through space to find the one that had awoken me.

The voice had come from the ship—the one that had dared to capture her. Her .

She was the light to my darkness, the beacon that pulled me, twisted me. Here she was, at the edge of my reach.

She pulled at my essence, even through the cold metal of that wretched ship, even through the endless void of space that separated us. She sang. Her music echoed through the hull, vibrating through my very being like a siren’s call, coaxing, urging. I felt her power drawing me closer, sharpening my focus. I had not killed in so long. It had been a long time since I had tasted blood.

I was reborn of hatred, of rage, of darkness. And I would have her.

I smiled as the ship came into view. There would be blood .

Moving through the shadows of the station like a whisper, I was barely a flicker of motion in the dark. My form twisted and rippled as I passed between the station’s walls, bending the light around me until I was a mere thought, a lingering presence in the corner of the mind. The soldiers had no idea. None of them ever did. They would never know what had hit them.

Over the years, I had mastered the art of wearing faces, of becoming whoever and whatever I needed to be. My true form, the one of darkness and shifting horror, could tear through the fabric of reality itself. But flesh—flesh was a necessary disguise among the other races.

I became a crew member, my form twisted and molded to match theirs, my appearance crafted to blend seamlessly with the ship's inhabitants. It was a simple matter, a fleeting act of will. But the process… was far from clean.

I found him in the shadows, a lone crew member whose name I barely bothered to remember. His presence was nothing more than a means to an end. I was upon him before he could scream, my hands and shadowed tendrils wrapped around his throat and face. His desperate flailing was nothing more than a brief morbid distraction. Tightening my grip, his life drained away in seconds.

I stood over him, feeling the warmth still lingering in his flesh. The smell of his fear lingered in the air, thick and intoxicating. Slowly, with deliberate cruelty, I began to peel away his skin. The sharp scent of blood made me hunger for more, but I had a bigger purpose here. Each tug of muscle and sinew felt like a deliciously cruel mockery of life as I momentarily took the time to lick the blood off my fingers.

The flesh was pliable and soft as it slipped over my form like a well-worn suit. It conformed to every curve, every inch of me, hiding the monstrous being beneath as I contorted my being down. As his body grew colder, I wore him, wearing his face, his identity as if it were my own.

No one would suspect me. They would think I was one of them. And by the time they realized their mistake, it would be too late.

I moved quickly, quietly, navigating the labyrinth of hallways with ease. The ship was alive with the hum of activity, unaware of the monster that had slipped within its hull. With a fanged smile, my senses heightened. The voices, the whispers in my mind, were deafening now. They all called to me. The ship's crew—merely pawns, tools for my purpose. She was my only focus.

I could feel her presence now, a shimmer in the air, the faintest of echoes. The prison cells were on the lower decks, and the closer I got, the stronger the pull became.

Her voice drifted into my mind once more. "Why are you here?"

I froze for a moment, surprised by her awareness, her insight. She knew. But it didn’t matter. She would never escape me.

Reaching the door to her glass cell. I could smell the faint scent of her—her power, her purity. My body trembled with anticipation. I pressed my hand against the panel, seeping tendrils of my essence into the wiring, and the door slid open with a hiss.

She was there, her figure half visible in the dim light of the cell, sitting motionless, her eyes locked on the door. She didn’t even flinch when I entered. She knew who I was. She had always known.

"You've come," she said, her voice cold, distant. "But I won't give you what you want."

I took a step closer, my form shifting in the darkness. "You don’t have a choice," I whispered. "You will be mine. And nothing will stop me, not even you."

Her gaze flickered, but she didn’t move. I could see the fading light inside her, like the last embers of a dying fire. She was weak. But I would fix that.

I took another step, and the lights in the hall flickered as if the ship itself recoiled at my presence.

In the distance, a scream echoed down the corridor. I paused, my eyes narrowing. A crew member. Another sacrifice.

It didn’t matter. The sound only fueled me. I was no longer the prisoner. I was the hunter.

With one final step, I wrapped my hands around her delicate shoulders. They engulfed her, my senses focused on the softness of her flesh. Fury began to grow within me as the air between us pulsed and thrummed with energy. She tilted her head back with apathy and reached out to cup the face I masked with. It was as if she was siphoning the rage. For what purpose? I did not know.

“Your face…”

I jerked away from her and took a step back. What was she? Residue from her essence lingered on my skin, seeping into the pores to entangle itself with my own. It was a taste I recognized yet didn’t. Did she have a god’s blood in her?

I felt her power surge as I stood there—a force like nothing I had ever experienced.

I laughed, low and guttural.

"Oh, how things have changed. Fate continues to amuse me indeed…” A hot flash of emotion returned as I flared my nostrils, taking tentative steps toward her. My mind was full of images of bloodshed, of massacres, and lifeless bodies on this ship. The imagery flitted by at lightning speed to the point where it was as if I could taste the tangy copper on my tongue.

Every being here needed to die for leaving her in this state.

The entire ship seemed to shudder. Something was wrong.A change had occurred. I cocked my head to the side as I watched the female before me stand there without a care in the world, her face devoid of emotion.

She wasn’t just a prisoner. She was more.

As the lights in the corridor flickered and then died completely, the darkness swallowed everything around me. For a brief moment, I stood frozen, my mind struggling to process what had just happened. But then it hit me—the full weight of my mistake. I had underestimated her. The realization came like a blow to the chest, knocking the air from my lungs. The power she wielded, her ability to distract me so thoroughly, would cost me more than I had anticipated.

I came in assuming I had control over the situation, but now, as the darkness pressed in and the quiet was almost suffocating, I knew I had miscalculated. The plans I had formulated—of swift execution and claiming—were no longer my focus. I could feel the tension shift in my mind as new strategies began to take shape.

She was a challenge I didn’t anticipate and it lit a new fire within me. My thoughts were consumed with how I could capture her, how I could regain control over this situation and escape this ship undetected.

Every step, every decision, would need to be calculated with precision. The stakes had changed, and now the consequences of failure felt infinitely more dangerous. The game had changed, and I needed to be ready for whatever came next.

It was too late to turn back now. I had already awakened something far darker than I had ever intended.