Page 59 of My Monster’s Keeper

“I’m not hurting, I’m fine. All women go through this. I can get painkillers,” she says rapid fire.

“There was a section in that video about sexual health. Orgasms specifically. Wilder asked the ghost in the house why orgasms help during your…” I stop stumbling over the word, “menstruation.”

Her cheeks are so red right now that I want to reach out and feel them.

“The house said that orgasms and sex help with cramps,” Wilder explains with more confidence.

“What ghost?”

“Ghost, say hello,” I say to the house.

“Hey, how may I be of assistance.”

“Oh, the smart house, right.”

I smile at her attempted deflection.

She stands up abruptly. “Uh, listen, that’s not necessary.”

I trap her against the sink, leaning over her, crowding her. I ghost my fingers down her side and hook just inside her belt.

“I could make it feel better. I want to make you feel better. Not a single one of us likes seeing you in pain.”

She sucks in air and finally nods. I reach down and snap open the buttons of her shorts. Images of the video play in my mind. It was really very informative about human bodies. When they like to be touched. Like this spot just behind the ear. Or, I slip my hands up under her t-shirt and inch them upwards.

Screeeach!

I jerk away from Becky, putting my back to her, as I search the roof for the source of the noise. The sound is maddening, like a repetitive wail of a dying creature. It makes my ears want to curl into themselves.

It’s so loud it’s making my ears ache. I change into my other form and pull shadows to me, shifting through the house quickly.

“Wait!” Becky calls out. “It’s an alarm.”

I bare my teeth as Wilder charges into the kitchen with a bow drawn. He trains it around the kitchen and growls.

“Kill the alarm!” Frost roars from the back of the house.

Puppy lands heavily on the table, breaking the legs. He slides off it and straight into Becky. The two go under, but Puppy pops back up, hissing, his eyes wild.

“What is it?” he snarls.

“An alarm!” Becky says. “It’s the fire alarm.”

“There's a fire?” I ask urgently. What kind of beast is an alarm? We have a banshee type creature where I’m from, but this is extra dangerous. I didn’t even sense it in the house.

“I, no? I don’t know?” Becky says and drags herself up from the floor.

“Frost, there’s a fire!” Wilder roars. “The alarm monster set it!”

A moment later, a flash of cold air slams the four of us into the cupboards and races through the house.

Becky stares at the hallway and whimpers.

I rub the side of my nose and wince. Whatever the Fae just did, I’m guessing our resident human is going to hate it. But we killed and silenced our enemy. That’s good, right?

There’s silence, though, perfect, crystalline silence. Becky creeps towards the hallway door and pushes it open.

I bring my fingers up to cover my eyes and tilt my head back while I try to figure out how to fix this.