Page 3 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

K at wasn’t usually anxious about visiting Cactus Flower Estates, otherwise known as the Saguaro Rift monstertown. The riftpeople here were friendly and welcoming, and it wasn’t like he was the only human visiting today.

Everything about being here was fine—as long as no one outside the monstertown knew where he was.

“You’re sure I’m not going to be anywhere on this video, right?

” Kat directed the words toward the strikingly handsome man standing in front of him.

Tall and slender, with black hair and a fashionable five o’clock shadow at ten am on a sunny Arizona day, Remi Gatti had the bad-guy charm Kat always fell for.

Thank goodness Remi was dating Kat’s best friend and mentor, Kaveh Salehi, and was strictly off limits. That is, if being trapped by an alien entity in an arranged romantic pairing could be described as dating.

Remi flashed him a dazzling smile.

“The only thing wrong with this livestream is how early it’s starting.” Remi rolled his eyes at Kaveh.

Kaveh Salehi, or Dr. K as most people at Moon Star Ranch called him, stood guard at a nearby wood grill, ready to do his part for both the live video and the preparations for the celebratory barbecue afterwards.

He was as tall as Remi, but with a more rugged build, and exuded a calm confidence Kat had always envied.

Kaveh had mentored Kat for years in veterinary medicine and was a world expert in the treatment of Riftworld people, which is how Kat preferred to describe the various intelligent species that had poured out of interdimensional portals over twenty years ago during the Monster Apocalypse.

Everyone else called them mons. That was short for monsters.

Kaveh shook his head at Remi’s eye roll and gave Kat a reassuring smile.

He went back to adjusting the mesquite coals of the grill, as more people from the town streamed into the park in the center of the monstertown.

Everyone was carrying picnic baskets or coolers full of food—well, except for species like the barista from the town’s saloon, who was part plant and mostly got by with photosynthesis.

“I’m nervous about my family learning that I’m here.” Kat had said a variation of that sentence to Remi over a dozen times. “Some of my younger cousins are big fans of yours, and if they let my parents know I’m in the monstertown—well, my mother and father might get a little anxious.”

That was an understatement. Kat knew his parents would lose their minds if they knew he was hanging out with a hundred or so Riftworld people, their human spouses, and mixed children, plus a collection of alien companion animals.

A little less than six months ago, nearby Moon Star Ranch and Tucson itself had come under attack by phantoms—very hostile Riftworld people who looked like giant jellyfish.

Remi dismissed Kat’s concerns with a wave. “You’re behind the camera—or at least you’re behind Bug, which is the same thing. Creating art by not participating in it.”

Perched on Kat’s shoulder, Bug gave a trill of agreement.

About the size of Kat’s palm, the alien insect resembled an oversized beetle with a carapace of brass and cobalt blue metal.

It could shrink its size and hide inside Remi’s Rolex watch, interface with human technology, and was a living spy camera.

Currently, Bug was ready and eager to film Remi’s first broadcast in months with its biologic visual apparatus. The cyberbug would then upload the data to the internet when they returned to Moon Star Ranch. Less lively, but far safer than an actual livestream.

The Saguaro Rift monstertown existed in the interzone outside of the rift and was ruled sometimes by the natural laws of Earth and on other occasions by the laws of the Riftworld.

Electricity, internet access, and other human technology could shut off with little warning, so Remi had agreed to a not-so-live stream that couldn’t be messed up by rift effects.

He also had promised he would edit out any reference to or image of Kat before sending the video to his many fans.

Kat was fairly certain Remi wasn’t using his psychic powers to reassure him.

A well-known live streamer known for posting videos about riftpeople, Remi was only half human and until recently had been a spy for a Boston-based mafia clan compromised of giant humanoid rat aliens.

He had shown up to Moon Star Ranch with Lyall, a hellhound bodyguard disguised as a Scottish terrier.

Remi had then used his psychic powers to dazzle Kat into an instant crush that had made him want to do anything he asked.

And Kat hadn’t even noticed.

It was the sad truth that there hadn’t been much difference between alien psychic manipulation of his mind and his usual tendency to fall in love with the most inappropriate man in a ten-kilometer radius.

After all, he had fallen in love with Lyall without any mental compulsion.

Kat took a deep breath and tried to push thoughts of Lyall out of his head. The hellhound had saved his life, then wished him the best and left, and he’d probably never see him again.

That was the past, and now was now. Remi had asked for his help, and Kat had a hard time saying no.

But if Kat’s family heard about the livestream they would go back to harassing him to quit his job as a wrangler at Moon Star Ranch.

They were worried he would be at risk from alien mons coming across the nearby Saguaro Rift.

He had told them he was helping a friend move, and instead he was in the rift’s monstertown surrounded by Riftworld people.

“It’s all good,” Remi assured him. He focused his gaze on Bug and assumed his online persona of Wandering Monster, a vid streamer with minor celebrity status for his shows about visiting monster portals.

Now he was famous for being fought over by dueling dragons.

“Hey, what’s up, guys?” Remi’s voice boomed out, and even though he wasn’t directing his psychic ability at him, Kat could all but see the charisma rolling off him as Remi started his spiel. “Wandering Monster here, in the famous Saguaro Rift monstertown, and guess what? I’m not dead.”

That got laughs from the crowd around them, although Kat caught Kaveh’s wince at the words.

Remi began to move, forcing Kat to shift his position so Bug could get the best view of the streamer.

“You may remember my last episode filmed here, which came close to being my last livestream ever.” Remi was great at using humor to make horrible and emotionally damaging events easier to deal with.

Kat wished he could do that.

“I’m now a proud resident of Cactus Flower Estates.” Remi swung his arm to indicate the park and the people in it, and Bug gave another happy trill as it filmed the scene. “Let’s go meet my neighbors.”

The not-so-livestream rolled on after that, with Remi chatting with a variety of town residents, including a human woman who raised goats and her partner, a riftperson with a goat-like body from the waist down.

A mothcat popped out of a portal to tell the audience how beautiful she was, and the town’s only lawyer discussed interspecies harmony and how she would sue the pants off anyone who went after Riftworld people.

Her husband, a riftperson who could turn into a canine monster Kat would have thought terrifying before seeing Lyall’s hellhound manifestation, was more interested in talking about the homemade microbrew beer he had brought to the picnic.

“Now for the main event.” Remi deftly pivoted from mini-interviews to addressing his audience directly. “My viewers have been deluging me with questions about my not-entirely-human parentage, but I’m not ready to show the world my terrifying Riftworld shape.”

Kat didn’t think Remi was fooling anyone here in the monstertown, since they had all seen the adorable fluffiness that was Remi’s chinchilla Riftworld form, but maybe a few of the stream’s viewers would buy it.

“Would the world-famous Dr. Salehi like to demonstrate his transformation instead?” Remi stepped back so Kat could bring Bug into a better position to capture Kaveh’s firm headshake no .

Kaveh was part drakone and had shared with Kat that he never wanted to shift into a giant serpent with fangs that dripped poisonous fire again if he could help it. But he smiled at Remi, and Kat guessed this was a private joke between them.

“José the terrifying cadejo, you’re up.” Remi pointed at the lawyer’s husband, who nodded and handed Kat his beer.

Within seconds, the cheerful young man had fallen to the ground, his limbs and body rearranging themselves with startling speed. A wolf-sized dog with black fur and glowing eyes rose up on its haunches and growled into Bug’s visual apparatus—which happened to be right in Kat’s face.

Kat had expected it, since Remi had planned out the move to add to the stream’s fright factor, but he did his best to look alarmed.

“Come on.” Remi gave a sigh. “This is supposed to be you playing bad doggie monster, and even my human cameraman isn’t impressed.”

“If you want to give your audience a good scare, you should get Lyall back.” His wife gave José a fond pat on the head. “Not that you aren’t magnificent, sweetie, but you’re no hellhound.”

Kat didn’t want to admit how happy he would be if Lyall did show up to growl in his face.

Now he was thinking about him again. He had to stop doing that.

Eager to compete with Lyall, José turned and loped around the open field, picking up speed as he ran.

“Hold still,” Remi told Kat. “It’ll look better in the final video if he charges in at a full run and then jumps at you.”

Kat wanted to tell Remi that wasn’t a great idea, but a huge monster dog was bearing down at him at full speed, and he focused on bracing himself.

The earth behind the cadejo exploded into a roiling cloud of steam and fire, the clouds swallowing up the dark-furred canine.