Page 15 of My Monster’s Keeper

Frost

T here is something not right about this evening.

I can’t decide if it’s me or if it’s this place.

Seeing that ship leaving the docks with her calling our names with a fear I have not yet seen in her broke something in me.

It filled me with so much feeling, so much anger.

The ice around me melted, and I found a fury and a fear that stole the air from my lungs while it set wings to my heels.

Freezing the ocean was impulsive and something my sire would greatly disapprove of.

Yet, I can’t find it in me to regret it.

I can’t find it in me to leave her, either.

I’m crouched on the roof of the building, watching her.

We all are. Stix stays close to her side like the lap dog he’s become.

The demonic Grim prowls the shadows, thinking he can’t be seen but unable to hide that his weakness is her.

Whether he wants to eat her or otherwise, the way in which to destroy that vexing, filthy vermin is through the girl.

But the biggest surprise has been Wilder. The older Fae has always been known for his monstrous inability to feel anything. He’s merciless, compassionless, and the bogeyman of my people.

Not here. Not with her.

I inhale the stench of the docks and wish again that I could be home.

I miss the earth scents of my mountains and lakes, the unpolluted air.

Here, under the rich, messy scents of life are the scents of death, the fish, the crustaceans, the people rotting in the building below.

The smell of pollution burns like toxins in the air, seeping into my lungs and skin and tainting me.

The steel and iron buildings that are as numerous as trees are so alien.

I miss home, but I know that I shall never see it again.

That bitterness is not something I can shake, but, with her, the mystery that is her, I find myself yearning a little less. The scent that was so faint around her is growing, and I find myself looking forward to catching it. With her, this world is not so ugly.

Which is honestly the most baffling part .

When first I arrived, there was little here to be enjoyed, but I find myself finding small things delightful because she’s showing them to me.

I lift my fingers to my lips, still feeling her pressed against me.

I can taste her, too, like she’s left a physical lip print of herself, and it’s burned into my skin.

How slight she’d felt in my arms. I could taste her fear in the air, but, surprisingly, it had been her overwhelming relief to see me that had been the reason I’d obviously lost my head.

Kissing her was a mistake. She’s human. Helpless. Defenseless. A plague on her world.

And yet, her taste has me craving more. Humans, I sneer just thinking the word. So destructive.

I flick my gaze around, searching for movement.

I spot something far in the distance and send a cold breeze to the others.

Stix stands up, lifts his head in my direction and simply steps back into a shadow.

Puppy coils himself tighter on the side of the building, drawing his thick tail up until he’s invisible.

Wilder’s already gone. Has been for hours. But I can feel him here, though I’m not sure anyone else would be able to sense him. Perhaps it’s our proximity, or it could be my sire’s blood that runs through my veins.

She’s singing as she walks up the docks.

Her shoulder-length deep brown hair catches stray light.

It’s the colour of the winter trees at home.

She’s voluptuous, tall, and has that beauty that all Fae are blessed with.

What’s more beautiful, the exterior or the interior?

I can’t help but to compare Becky with this Fae.

Technically, Becky comes out wanting. Her imperfections are many.

The way she speaks is crude. Her world is so stunted and limited.

Her body bespeckled in scars and imperfections

And yet, I find myself thinking that Becky stands head and shoulders above this Fae. Does that make me a traitor to my kind? My father would say so. He would have my skin stripped from my back in long strips.

The Fae gets closer, and, with a deft pull of my magic, I pull the air towards me, inhaling her scent. Seelie, I can taste the heat of her magic inside her, something with a fire base. She’s strong but not enough.

I check on Becky. She’s stumbling around with a bottle of alcohol in her hands. She mutters to herself occasionally, but, other than that, just stares out at the ocean.

“Where are you?” She screams out. Her cry is so full of pain that I almost abandon my spot. As it is, my chest gets strangely tight .

Becky Dawson knows loss, and I know it because I have felt the same. Suddenly, I feel a connection with the human. I can taste her again. Stronger this time. My heart seems to stop and beat just for her.

What is this spell she has cast over me?

The Fae spots her in that second. She abandons her glamour, showing the angular feral truth of what she is. What we all are. High cheekbones, her ears are pointed, canines a little too long, she’s too tall, her limbs too long. She isn’t of this world, and it's obvious.

Becky pauses in her stumbling, freezing like prey, her whole body stiffening. Her hair lifts on the breeze and brings me her scent. She’s not afraid, but she’s cautious.

I don’t dare even shift my weight. She gets closer, her melodic voice calls out, but I can’t hear the words. Becky tilts her head to the side and says something back. She throws out the arm holding the bottle and half turns to the ocean.

The Fae smiles. I see the flash of her teeth. She moves, but, in that moment, she comes up against an even bigger threat. One that no one knows was right there. As her arm slashes down, Wilder rises from nowhere. He captures her arm and bends it so that she crumbles to her knees in front of him.

I throw myself off the roof, landing lightly on my feet and stalking towards the two Fae and our human.

“It’s one little human, you want it, sure. You can have it, My Lord,” she babbles.

“What were you doing with the humans?”

“Preparing the meat for sale,” The Fae shrieks as Puppy charges her. “What is that?”

Wilder peers at the Grim and shrugs his shoulders. “That is my friend.”

I do a double take. Say what now?

“You’re friends with it?” She’s almost apoplectic with shock and rage.

“Sine, Daughter of Olyn. Who are you selling people meat to?” She jerks and looks up at me with the appropriate level of terror. In fact, she fears me more than she fears Wilder or Puppy. It’s flattering.

Becky casts me a frown that is clearly a demand for information.

“We have to eat,” Sine spits.

“That’s not eating-” Wilder snarls.

“You eat them?” Becky asks. “Like roasts?”

“Dehydrate the skins to save through the winters,” Sine mocks. “Rehydrate and turn them into delicacies. Serve human to humans and watch the pigs eat themselves. ”

Becky reacts faster than I gave her credit. She pulls the knife I spelled out from under her jacket, spins it in her hand, and hits Sine in the face with the handle.

My mouth parts as ice fills Sine’s mouth. Her lips turn blue, and ice creeps up her cheeks. The desperate Fae looks as far as her eyes will allow her to see, searching for a saviour that isn’t coming. I almost feel sorry for her.

Gagging someone with ice is completely new. Something that never once crossed my mind, and, oh, the ideas that are exploding into my mind now. I lean forward to get a better look.

“Frost, undo it. We need answers,” Wilder grumbles.

I grunt with annoyance but pull the ice from the Fae. She vomits and doubles over, drops to her knees and then side, curling up on the floor. I glance at Becky in appreciation and find her looking right at me.

Something possesses me, I’m not sure what, but I smile and wink at her. Her answering grin is all I can ask for.

She edges closer to me. I take her hand in mine and then feel my mind trip over itself. Why does this feel so good? So right?

The Fae’s eyes bulge as she stares at our hands. “Impossible.”

Stix steps out of the shadows and puts a hand on Becky’s arm, drawing his fingers down until he is holding her other hand.

“Everything all right, poppet?” he purrs with obvious possession.

If she is horrified by my appearance, then seeing Stix has rendered her brain cells useless. She is mute with horror.

“You can’t be here.”

He smiles. “And yet, I am.”

“None of you should be here.” She shakes her head and then stops, her mind seizing on a realization.

She looks between all of us and stops on Becky.

Her smile grows, and it’s evil. “You don’t know who you're stealing from. You’re trying to get an omega, aren’t you?

But it’s going to be too late. He’ll have fed them all to the wolves before you can even find one. ”

“I’m not stealing,” I say coldly, glaring at her. “And we’re going to save those omegas.”

She throws her head back and laughs. “I’m going to die, but it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to be around for anything. When you watch the last one slaughtered, when all this suddenly makes sense…” She lifts her free hand and wipes her tears away.

“What is so funny?” Puppy hisses .

“Your whore is bought and paid for!” Sine hisses in his face.

Puppy growls and lunges, but Wilder drags the Fae out of his reach.

“What does that mean?” Wilder growls into her face.

She simply shrugs and pats his chest. “Kill me or let me go.”

Wilder’s temper flares. Her bones in her hand and arm snap, the limb suddenly bending all the wrong angles.

She screams until I reach out and gag her with the ice again.

“Let's not kill her or eat her,” Becky suggests into the silence.

Puppy gives her a flat, displeased look.

“Let’s give her to Diablos and put her in prison.”

The Grim’s eyes flare with light. “Torture now. Eat later.”

Becky hesitates and then nods. “Sure.” She pulls out her phone and walks away with Stix. Ten minutes later, Hartley, cradled in Diablos’ arms, arrives on the scene.

Diablos giggles at Hartley’s whisper. It is…disturbing.

Our giant demon leader blushes fire engine red when he looks over to find the six of us staring. It’s kind of like watching a train careen towards its inevitable crash. I cannot look away.

And yet, there is embarrassment and shame, too. And dare I say longing? I glance sideways at Becky. She smiles at the two of them.

“You guys are so cute together.”

Diablos glowers, but I can see he’s pleased.

“We have a prisoner for you.”

Diablos stops. “What am I supposed to do with a prisoner?”

“Hold them now, torture and eat later,” Puppy explains patiently.

Sarcasm from the Grim? Well, the world has surely frozen over.

Diablos glares at the Grim and then looks at Becky. “What have you been teaching them?”

“Me?”

“You know the most about this world.” Diablos growls. “I did not agree to a prison. Prisons require work, I’ll need to feed and hire people, and do,” he hisses with displeasure, looking absolutely disgusted, “paperwork.”

“You’re the boss. We are simply your guns for hire,” she explains, quoting a human who had been arguing with another on the street last week .

Hartley sniggers. “It works,” he says to me. He turns back to Diablos and smiles. “I did tell you the problem couldn’t be solved by killing everyone.”

“Why not?” Diablos growls.

“Don’t pout, baby,” Hartley says in a baby voice. “Let’s just get a prison set up and chuck these idiots in there. You do have the giant cavern system.”

“That’s our special place,” Diablos whines.

Whines. Like a toddler. Who’d have thought a demon of hell would whine? Disgraceful.

“Everywhere is our special place.”

“Fine. But I’m hiring those giants as guards.”

“Good idea, baby.”

Diablos looks at Sine, reaches out, and snaps a pair of metal cuffs on her, ignoring her scream when he twists her snapped arm.

“All right, let’s dump her off.” Diablos looks around the place and inhales. “Puppy, get rid of the evidence.”

“But, hold on, those people had families!” Becky protests.

“We can’t risk having eyes drawn to us right now,” Hartley explains. “There’s too much at stake.”

Becky stubbornly opens her mouth, but then snaps it shut and nods. “Fine.”

“Excellent. Uh,” Diablos looks back at Hartley, “Good job?” Hartley nods and Diablos beams. “Good job!” he booms.

The two disappear in a flash of red smoke.

“Fascinating,” Becky murmurs.

“What is?”

“Diablos and Hartley,” Becky says absently.

“Puppy, can you consume all the evidence?” Stix asks.

Puppy shakes his head. “I’ll send it back home, it will kill some, and others will feed.”

Stix inclines his head. “Good idea. Let’s do it.”

“What shall we do?” Wilder asks.

“Stay here and wait,” Puppy says with so much command that my eyebrows rise. “Four eyes are better than two.”

I blink at the Grim and his almost sensible use of human phrases.

I can’t argue with it, though. I turn to Becky and smile at her. She moves closer to me, standing until we’re almost touching. I think, yes, I like it.