Page 22 of Ravaging Red (Monsters of the Hollow Realm #1)

The Creature

RED

I t had been days since we’d gone to the Market, days since I'd seen the human world. And although I could still feel the ache of Rael's knot, the echo of him inside me, another feeling had taken root. Something quieter, something I hadn’t let myself feel.

I was missing my family, and I wasn’t sure how Rael would take that information. I decided to mention it one evening, while curled against his chest. The firelight crackled in the hearth, and his claws lazily dragged patterns down my spine, I was growing more and more comfortable around my monster.

“Rael, I miss my home.” He tensed beneath me, not in rejection, but in thought.

“I’m sure my mom has been worried. I can almost feel her calling to me. They’re not used to me disappearing like this, and I usually go visit them once a week. I know you said there are dangers to being apart, but I need to at least call them. Do cell phones even work on this side of the Veil?

He shook his head. “We do not communicate the way you do.”

“Please, Rael. I have to see them.”

“I will take you to the Veil,” he said finally, his voice quiet, rough with uncertainty. “You may go see them, but you must return to me.” He stated urgently.

I looked up at him, his golden eyes shadowed by worry. “You don’t trust me?”

“I trust the bond,” he said. “What I don't trust is the Blood Moon and its effect on us when parted. I warn you, Red, if you are not back by the moon’s rise… I will come for you.”

The threat was gentle. Loving in its possessiveness.

And I nodded, knowing that I could not run from him, not really.

Not unless he wanted me to. Besides, I didn’t want to run.

Not anymore. My heart had changed since I’d been with him.

My body responded to his in a way that although it was unfathomable, it felt right.

There was a freedom here that I did not have in the human world.

“I’ll return,” I said, my fingers tracing the bridge of his snout. “I don’t want to leave your side. I just… need them to know I’m safe.”

“Be careful, my pet.” He whispered gently, kissing me softly.

That morning, I kissed him slowly, tasting him one last time before I slipped through the trees, the bag he’d given me was now full of human-world essentials, my scarf, the bracelet, the red cloak.

He stayed behind at the cabin, watching with those burning eyes as I stepped through the Veil and left the Hollow behind.

The shift was instant. The sound of birds returned, the colors shifted. The air smelled different, it was less wild and contained almost no magic. It just felt more human.

My boots crunched down on the familiar path as I made my way toward town, the trees parting as if they remembered me.

Every step was surreal. I walked down my old street, passing my neighbors’ homes.

Dulce’s bakery sat eerily quiet this early in the morning.

It all felt smaller now. Dimmer. Like a dream I’d woken up from and couldn’t quite reenter.

I went home first, showered, changed and gathered a few items that I needed to take with me. After getting settled, I took my car and headed toward my mother’s house. I saw my grandmother before I even reached the front porch. She was outside, watering her garden, humming.

She looked up and smiled.

“Red,” she said, setting the can down. Her eyes looked bright, I was glad it was a good day.

I ran into her arms, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I felt the warmth of home again.

Inside, my mother cried out when she saw me, pulling me into a hug so tight it knocked the breath from my lungs.

"Where have you been?" her voice cracked, and my heart sank. I shouldn’t have left them this long.

"I'm okay," I said softly, eyes wet. I didn’t know what to say to her, so I lied to save her from the truth. "I got a job. It's out if town.”

My mother’s brow furrowed. “Out of town where?”

"It's nearing the city, Mom, but I promise it's safe. There’s no need to worry.”

“Safe? Do you have any idea what happens to single women who are alone, Red? Especially pretty ones,” she brushed her hand through my unruly red curls.

“I’m okay, Mom. I promise you I have never felt safer. I just can’t stay long; I have to return before nightfall.”

“Why?” She asked, concern etched in her eyes.

“I have a huge project I'm working on. They need me tomorrow but I wanted to see you both and make sure you were alright.”

My grandmother wandered inside. “She seems well,” I whispered.

“She’s been in good spirits although sometimes she forgets where she is and gets scared.”

I looked at my mom. “I love you. You know that.”

She smiled, cradling my cheek. “Of course we know that Red. We love you too.”

I smiled as my grandmother approached. “You're glowing," she said quietly, touching my cheek.

I didn’t respond, simply leaned into her touch. “Just got a good night’s sleep is all, Nana.”

She stared at me, and I had this feeling she knew where I had been. “Be careful,” she warned. “Evil things always want to take beauty’s light.” I stared at her, a small tendril of fear curling in my gut.

“When will we see you again?” My mother interrupted.

“The job is pretty intense, Mom, but I promise I will be back as soon as I can.”

“Oh dear,” she pressed a hand to her chest, and I hugged her tight. “I’ll be alright, Mom. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”

She hugged me tighter. “You better.”

When I hugged my grandmother goodbye, she leaned in close and whispered, “Good for you, my girl. I know what you've found. Don’t you dare let it go.”

“It’s all because of you, Nana.” I squeezed her tight before leaving.

I stopped at Dulce’s once again, but everything was eerily silent at the bakery.

When I knocked on her apartment door, no one answered.

I sighed, and figured I’d sneak across the Veil again in a few days and call her.

I ten stopped by house once more, made sure to grab my cell phone which I’d lft charging, hopefully it would last a while.

Grabbing the bag I’d left by the door, I took one last look at what was my home, and headed back toward the edge of the woods, every step echoing louder in my chest.

As soon as I crossed back through the Veil, the world quickly changed. The trees weren’t welcoming this time. They loomed in the thinning light. The air was colder, and it felt heavy, making it difficult to breathe.

The path back to the cabin just felt darker and I wondered if I’d made a wrong turn somewhere. Suddenly the wind picked up taking dried autumn leaves with it, swirling around me. The breeze carried something sharp and bitter, and it smelled rotten.

I felt it before I saw anything. Just a chill down my spine, like dead fingers tracing my bare skin.

I stood there, frozen, clutching my bag to my chest as the silence thickened.

It wasn’t quiet, it was still . The kind of stillness that indicated somethig in the woods had forced it to stop breathing.

No sounds of leaves rustling, no animals in the distance, just silence.

Something was watching me, and not in the way Rael had. No. This was different, morbid. And then the smell hit me, a metallic, bitter, putrid smell, that made me gag. Then there came the whisper.

“So pretty, yet so stupid.”

I swirled around quickly, searching between the trees as my breath got trapped in my throat.

Something stepped forward from between the trees.

No, it slid from within their shadows. It was a thing made from nightmares.

Its ribs were made of brittle, exposed bone that jutted from a body wreathed in twisting dark gray smoke, its limbs seemed too long, its spine bowed, straightening into a pose that may have once been human.

The blackness clung to it like a second skin, oily and thick, writhing with every breath it took. Its eyes were penetrating, they didn’t glow with hunger, but with something colder.

Jealousy. Cruelty. Loss…

The feeling suddenly struck me. It was that of hate. A hatred so ancient it had hollowed out everything soft inside it and left behind only the urge to destroy.

“I felt your bond with the Wolf,” the creature hissed, its voice like rusted nails that dragged across glass. “You woke me from my slumber, human. Your Wolf seeks his mark, I wonder what he would do when he notices I’ve taken it.”

I backed away, stumbling over roots and rocks. My heart was pounding, limbs shaking. This was what monsters were made of. Not my Wolf, but this. It was pure evil.

“What are you?” My voice shook as I bought time, searching the woods for a weapon, for anything I could use to protect myself.

The creature smiled. Teeth sharpened with jagged edges. “Once, I was like him, your Wolf. A beast with a heart. I had a mate. A bond. But she chose power over me, leaving me to rot.” Its hands became claws.

“Now I find them . The ones who think they’ve escaped the ache, the fools who dare to love like the world won’t burn them for it. And when I do, I tear them apart limb by limb, heart from heart, before they can forget what it means to lose something so deeply it hollows you out forever.”

I shivered. “What do you want from me?”

It sniffed the air and then managed to give a cruel, evil smile. “I want your power, human. Your Wolf has left you claimed but unprotected. Shame. You would have been ideal for him.”

“He will find me.”

The creature laughed, a scraping obnoxious sound. “Only if I allow him to.”

It lunged its claws at me, and I screamed bloody murder. It hit me at full force, dragging me across the mossy ground, my back scraping stone and jagged roots. I kicked, thrashed, fought as much as I could, but it was strong . It pinned me down, its breath hot and foul against my cheek.

“You shouldn’t have bonded,” it spat. “You should have stayed in your world.”

And then it touched my chest, right over my heart. A deathly cold exploded through me and I screamed.