Page 5 of My Monster’s Keeper

I rub my temples. “This is ridiculous. Fine, say I believe you. Why are you here looking for them?”

“Because we have discovered, too late, sadly, that this place, your Earth, has omegas hidden in its population. Where no other realm has found one in a thousand years, you have an untapped resource.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’ve come here to hunt omegas for your people? Like abduct them? Whore them out? I won’t do it!”

“It’s not like that. We’re protecting them-”

“Said every invading force ever.”

Diablo snorts, and clouds of smoke curl out of his nostrils. “They are already being hunted here, right now, in this city. Whether you like it or not, Becky Dawson. Are you not a cop? Are you not sworn to protect your citizens? Your omegas are dying…someone needs to step up and save them. ”

I stare at him, lost for words because if he’s right, then this is bigger, much bigger, than a drug bust or a DUI, and I am obligated to help. Further, I can already feel the need to protect them rising within me.

I should help.

They called me omega. I almost tell the big red demon, but, at the last second, I hold it back.

“What do I get out of it?”

“Other than saving people?” Diablo stands up and snaps his fingers at Hartley.

“Do that again, and I will make sure you eat dog food for a week,” Hartley growls.

“You said she’d want glory. Moral responsibility were your exact words. You said she had a code.”

“That was before my-” I cut myself off, “before Grant died. I want revenge. I want the creatures who set this up, who put him in this position, and I want them dead. And no one gets to take omegas against their will. That’s a deal breaker.”

Diablos whirls around. “Deal!”

A flash of lightning, a blaze of fire on my hand, and the smell of sulfur, and I’m suddenly sporting an inky black tattoo on the pad of my thumb.

“GET IT OFF!”

Diablos purrs.

Fine, breathe, you are dealing with crazy, just go gentle.

“What about my job?” I spit through gritted teeth.

“Eh, you were being transferred out.” Diablos waves his hand dismissively like he’s not just destroying my dreams.

I freeze. “What?”

“You saw too much. They’re getting you out, and then, when people forget who you are, they’ll make sure you never talk. You think this is a new situation? I’ve been trying to save as many of you youngsters as I can, but, sure, you fuckers are dumb shits. Arrogant.”

I scratch the side of my head. They’re transferring me? My career is over?

“But.”

I glance up at Hartley.

“If you stay, you can help these guys, and perhaps there’s an opportunity to take down a few cunts in blue?

Payback, and you’re not just saving the city but possibly the world or worlds.

Those omegas they need you, Dawson. They really, really do.

You can’t go back, Becky. Too many people knew you were the last person with them.

They will figure it out eventually, and then they’ll kill you. ”

I lift my hand and swipe at the moisture on my cheek. I take a couple minutes to grieve for my life, for my hard work and goals that are crumbling and disappearing like dust in the wind. “Fine.”

“You’ll have to move into the house I’ve rented,” Diablos says. “All five of you. Working together night and day. Weird hours. Now, Fae and Shadow kind are natural enemies, so it will fall to you as the human to mediate.”

“Sure.” I think of the home that is too empty without Grant and close my eyes.

Everything is wrong. Why the fuck would I want to go back there?

Living with monsters that want to eat me would be far better.

At least I won’t be lying awake watching the antiquated clock tick the seconds away.

“Wait! Mediate? Between them?” I blink out of my musing to find six pairs of eyes watching me. “What?”

Diablos seems to find my question mildly offensive and turns away from me to send a silent message to Hartley. He sends big ole heart eyes back at the demon leader.

And gag.

“I don’t want to even think of the logistics of how that would work without ripping people or certain holes apart. Ew, now I’m thinking about Hartley’s holes.”

Stix snorts and puts a hand over his mouth, his eyes glittering with amusement.

Diablos growls, and I blink. Oops, shouldn’t have said the inside thoughts outside.

I glance around the space, checking in on each of them, and do a double take. Puppy has managed to close half the distance between us and is now less than half a dozen feet from me.

I narrow my eyes and pull out my taser. I might not be able to shoot the psycho, but I will defend myself.

“All right. Let’s kill her,” Diablos says with a clap of his massive paws, I mean hands with claws.

I jerk my head towards him so fast my neck tweaks with pain.

“I think, um, yeah, right here, Hartley. What do you think?”

The two of them sound so romantic and sweet with each other. If not for the conversation about murdering me, I might actually find it endearing. I stumble back, right into Puppy’s waiting arms.

Where the fuck did he come from ?

I slam the taser prongs down on his thigh just as his tongue wraps around my head. He stiffens, and then, with a happy growl, the tongue retreats, leaving a slime trail across my face and suddenly allowing me to breathe.

He drops into a crouch, holding my wrist tight, and sniffs at the taser. I tug my wrist, but he ignores me. He opens his mouth; it stretches monstrously wide and swallows my wrist, the taser and my hand whole.

I panic.

But then his tongue, hot, muscular, and wet, wraps around my hand and pries open my fingers. I let out a whimper as the taser is taken from me. All I can see is his eyes. The yellow has a black pupil, and the black has a yellow. They really are beautiful eyes. Scary, terrifying but beautiful eyes.

He’s going to eat my fricken hand. I need that hand.

I feel the nick of a tooth and whimper. His eyes narrow slightly, and then he’s ripped off me and thrown out of the underground car park and onto the road. I stare at the space he disappeared and then look down at my hand. It’s dripping with thick strands of drool.

Anger replaces the shock. I flick the drool off, wipe my hand on my jeans, and then stalk out to the road. I find him sitting in the middle of the street playing with the taser.

Everything just builds up until there’s a wave of rage inside me that I direct at the bemused Grim.

“Listen here, Puppy.”

My use of his name captures his uncanny attention. He cocks his head to the side and then stands up. I walk towards him and stab a finger into his steel chest, ignoring the warning hisses from someone behind me.

“Listen to me, and hear what I say. I am not for eating. You will keep your fingers, your tongue, and your teeth to yourself. We are going to be working together, and you will respect that, or I will shoot you myself.” I try to sound firm, and I’m gratified when my voice doesn’t waver.

Puppy tilts his head to the side and moves in close. My heart hammers. “But you taste so good.”

Then he winks.

I have no words. No words. I just stare at him.

A moment later, a person-shaped piece of meat hits the road beside us. I gape at it and notice the strands of brown hair that are exactly my shade .

My heart starts racing again, and my head spins slightly, the urge to scream or vomit presses on me, but I ignore it, focusing instead on the eye that looks exactly like mine. And then it moves, focusing on me.

“Help,” it whispers in my dying voice.

OH, MY GOD.

Too much.

I let out a piercing shriek and stagger away from it.