Page 6 of My Monster’s Keeper

Puppy

I like the way she smells. But her shrieks are so painfully pleasing.

I lick my lips, flicking my long tongue around as I stalk her.

Brown fur and pale skins. She is a strange-looking creature.

Those blue eyes, like the skies here, are so glassy and wide.

I could suck the eyeballs right out of her head. Pop them like candies. Mmm.

Diablos grunts and crouches beside her on the side of the road.

She isn’t hurt. I smell no blood, more like terrorized prey.

I inch a little bit closer until Stix catches my attention.

He scowls and makes a motion with his fingers.

I instantly remember the recent episode where the nightmare put a leash on me, and my scales ripple, standing on end, making a silent rattle that causes the two meals to tuck their arms close to their chests.

Loathing floods me. Bitter, cold, and thick like syrup. That spineless piece of nightmare dung got one up on me. Amid my rage and promises of retribution, there is another feeling I hate.

Fear.

I bare my teeth at him, but he simply raises an eyebrow back in silent challenge. The other two of my challengers are strangely quiet this morning, but I suspect they have something planned. The two hate each other, but they hate us more. Because we are, of course, the superior forms.

I shift my weight and flip back into my human form. Without anyone noticing, I’ve crossed closer to the girl again. I inhale, tasting the air around her, and close my eyes in rapture. Her fear is like hot blood. Warm, sweet, and filling.

“Becky,” she says. I like the way she speaks, her voice undulating with interesting notes.

Nothing too shrill except those shrieks, commanding, bossy.

She’s like a tiny dragon queen issuing orders that she has no way of enforcing.

“My name is Becky. I’m a person. I like to jog in the mornings and graffiti walls, even though I’m a police officer and I shouldn’t. ”

I hear a noise and shoot off across the road.

I jump the fence and find a cat sitting on a garbage bin.

It arches its back and hisses. I bare my teeth and growl.

The cat, like everything today, decides to be an asshole and swipes at me.

I lash out, hitting the can it’s sitting on.

It leaps up, landing on the windowsill and looks down at me with laughing eyes.

I should know better than to tangle with our feline brethren.

Cats belong in our world. They were the first to cross over and have lived here so long they don’t remember how things work.

Here on Earth, they are the queens of trash and masters of their human puppets.

They are clearly working some long game of domination of this planet by assimilating themselves into every human household.

It is impressive, and I feel a kind of pride for them. But mostly disdain.

They need to back off because I’m here now.

I give the cat a low hiss, promising retribution, but it simply starts licking its paw in a display that threatens to send me wild.

I stalk away because I don’t need another lecture from Diablos. And I have much more interesting prey back on the road.

My future meal stares at me when I get back. I curl a lip, showing my teeth. She frowns, her whole body radiating her displeasure.

Diablos snaps his fingers, trying to get my attention, but I don’t listen to him. He thinks I do, but it just isn’t in my best interests to inform him yet. Slowly, I drag my attention to him.

“Do not eat Becky. We need her to teach you how to live here without scaring the humans.”

He waits, but I just stand stock still, staring at him. I see the shudder on his shoulders. Just a faint movement. It’s not a huge one but enough. He fears me. As he should.

Wilder moves towards her and lifts her up by her hair. To my surprise, she swings at him, hitting the Fae in his face. Gold blood drips from his lip, and he curses in his language before hurling her away.

She goes flying, only to be caught by the cold one. I press my lips together, disliking this form. The lost Fae princeling has much magic and lots of secrets. His cruelty is legendary, and my respect is tempered with caution.

I recognise a formidable predator. Wilder is as well, but he’s temperamental and easier to read.

“Okay, there will be no more of that!” Diablos thunders. “She is delicate, breakable. One hard whack, and her bones will impale her insides.”

I jerk my eyes to my prey and stare at her with raised eyebrows.

Her bones will splinter and kill her? I consider the ramifications of trying to eat a meal with shattered bones.

Is this some suicidal safe guard against predators?

Interesting, I might have to take my time and learn more about my meal.

My path finds me working my way until I’m beside Hartley, and I study him intently.

His smells are musky, stale, and flavoured with that tube he set on fire and breathed.

Ugh, I wrinkle my nose and step upwind. His fingers are larger than hers, hands broader.

He has short hair that’s receding at the hairline.

Hair grows out of his face. I can’t see any weaponry on his anatomy, no tail, no scales, no claws. How do these things live?

The girl in comparison is softer still, smaller, more compact. She has two soft, jiggly lumps of flesh on her chest. They look…biteable. Her ass is also plump and nibble worthy.

No wings.

No outer layer of skin or shells.

No antennae.

Just softness.

Ridiculous species. They are just walking around begging to be eaten.

Diablos looks at Hartley, and I can see that pathetic burn of emotion in his eyes. His weakness is this human. I snort and look away.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” The male meal asks.

I stalk past him again, getting a lungful of his scent. Nothing about him appeals except for the fact that it might get under Diablos’ skin. But she draws my eyes again as she circles with me, her eyes narrowed and body set like she’s ready to react to whatever move I might make.

“Yes. She needs to be dead and with them. It’s the only way I can hone them into something I can use.

” Diablo huffs. “They’re hostile, hate each other almost as much as everyone else.

They see humans as expendable or meals. These idiots do not understand technology or the way this world works. They need her.”

“And she needs them. The cops will come after her.”

My nostrils flare as I focus on the male meal’s face. What is a cop? Why does it want her? It’s not going to have her. If anyone is eating her, it’s me.

“Why is that thing’s eyes moving? It’s not an actual person, is it?

” Her loud, angry tones are like candy. I creep closer but find my way blocked by the stick bug himself.

He flattens his lips and crouches in front of me.

For a moment, I eye him, consider throwing caution to the wind and having it out, but then I turn away.

Patience .

“No, it’s not a human. It’s a parasitic demon. It will stay like this, and when it’s found and leeches the emotions from the air around it, the body will reform into its natural state, and it will go away to wherever it wants to go play.”

She backs away. Interesting. I dart in quickly and nip at her hand. I get the sharpest hint of blood on my tongue, and then I’m gone.

I don’t press my luck but vanish into the darkness, perching high on a support beam and stare down at them.

She cradles her hand to her chest and shouts, but I tune out her words. I lick my lips, trying to get any taste of her and bring it inside me.

More. I want more.

“Puppy. If you do that again, I’ll freeze your tongue.” The princeling calls out.

I look down and find him staring up at me. Interesting that he can find me when most can’t. Am I getting lax? No, my abilities are beyond compare. He must be good. But I’m better.

“All right. Let’s move her,” Diablos says with a clap of his hands. “Hartley, I’ll go with you and her. You four can’t follow us.”

I watch them walk away and get in the steel contraption. They drive away in a cloud of noxious fumes. I sneeze and grunt in reluctant admiration. The metal beast is a worthy adversary, the fumes it spills out are a toxic combination that makes my head ache.

The other three don’t wait, and neither do I. Chasing is what I love to do. I follow it by racing along the sides of buildings. My claws catching and holding deep into the concrete as I fling myself from building to building.

The car pulls up, but I follow the faint scent of her and enter through an open window.

I go through dens and up and down vertical tunnels until I find the den that reeks of her.

Her nest draws my attention, and I go to it, compelled despite myself.

I snap my teeth and let my tongue out to taste the material. Hmm.

I hear footsteps and growl, lunging forward and rolling in her furs. I roll until my scent is so strong that no one will question my claim.

Then I lay down on my back, shift to human, and close my eyes.

Her scent hits me like a wave. I force myself not to react, even though I desperately want to smile. My meal's scent is spicy with temper.

To her credit, though, she ignores me, pretending like I don’t exist. I must say, I disapprove of this tactic. It takes my enjoyment out of it .

I follow after her, staying right on her heels as she packs a few things. As she puts each thing in the bag, I pull it out, sniffing it over before dropping it on the floor.

Wilder growls.

I pull out a scrap of shiny black fabric that feels like water and toss it over my shoulder. Wilder growls louder. I suppress my amusement and do it twice more, my entire focus on the pissed off Faeling.

It takes four more items before he launches across the room and slams into me. I tilt my head back and let out a barking laugh and roll with the Fae into the cupboard. It collapses on us.

I throw us the other way, and the bed splinters apart. Around and around we go, throwing punches, kicking, growling. He’s frustrated, but he’s holding back.

Interesting.

“Well, there you go. We don’t need to stage a break in,” Diablos says with his usual happy charm.

Idiotic moron.

We’re rolling towards her. I don’t even hesitate. I want to know what she’s going to do. We get close.

“Stop!” she snaps.

We keep going. She holds up something and presses a button. Liquid sprays out and burns. Oh, my dark fuckery, what is this hell? Argh!

I hiss and scramble for the roof, but I no sooner get up there than I fall, landing heavily back in the cloud of vapor that’s still hovering in the air.

I go to swipe at her, but she holds up the bottle again, and I hesitate, I, Grim the Devourer, hesitate before this pink sack of splintering bones. I turn away, hating myself and hating her more.

My meal has secrets and tricks. I’m impressed and offended, but at least devouring this one isn’t going to be boring.

Wilder throws himself towards the bathroom, spitting and cursing. He ends up getting inside and gets into the shower. I follow, sticking my head in the water and trying to get my eyes to run clear and stop burning.

“What the fuck is in that can?” Wilder snarls.

“Poison. Our new pet is very tricky,” I mutter darkly.

Wilder growls .

“Well, that was fun. Are you going to stop now?” Stix asks from where he’s leaning against the door frame.

“Go away or I shall eat you,” I snarl.

He laughs. “Hurry up, we’re leaving in a minute.”

I whip my tail, putting a hole in the roof and destroying the plumbing. Wilder curses and wipes white dust off him, but, otherwise, he follows the obedient and well behaving Faeling.

I, on the other hand, consider the spray and give myself a moment to really fantasize about our inevitable future. I lick my lips and then scurry onto the roof and vanish into the dens of these strange, pink, exploding humans.