AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop fighting and I’ll make it quick and painless,” he says, lowering his face until its inches away from mine. A sweet stink like rotting fruit pours off him, and my stomach turns. “Although, I do enjoy a bit of fun.”
His two tongues dance across my injured cheek, leaving a slimy trail down my face, and I fight the bile creeping up my throat.
“GET OFF, YOU NASTY FUCK!” I squirm in vain, trying to get away, but it’s useless.
I’m trapped.
This is how I’m going to die, at the hands—or claws—of a monster.
All because I couldn’t mind my business and followed Azarius and Elio into a mystery hole in a dark alley. Not one of my brightest moments.
A growl rumbles in the monster’s chest, and he opens his mouth wide, exposing his sharp teeth. His claws are digging into my wrists, which he has pinned to the ground, and I flinch away as much as I can, praying he keeps his word and makes my death swift and painless.
Maybe it won’t be so bad.
I’m sure there are worse things that could happen to me in this place than dying.
Just as I accept my fate and begin to wonder where spirits go once they’ve been severed from their bodies, a pale blur swoops in from the left and crashes into the monster pinning me to the ground, sending it flying. I gasp, shocked by my sudden unobstructed view of the green sky overhead, and struggle to hoist myself onto my elbows. My right forearm screams in protest, but I ignore the pain as my gaze falls on a brawl unfolding nearby between the red leather-skinned monster and a newcomer—another monster.
The second monster is tall and lean, but only half the size of his opponent. If it weren’t for his chalk-white skin decorated with fine black markings, or the six-inch blades extending from the ends of his fingers, he could almost pass as human. Almost. Sharp black horns protrude from the blond hair on his head, and a long, slender tail whips along behind him.
What he lacks in size, he makes up for in speed—my eyes can hardly keep up with him as he rushes and tackles the first monster to the ground. He slashes the thing’s chest open, creating deep gashes that pour black liquid, and the red figure howls in pain.
I pry my eyes away from the fight just as the red monster rakes his claws across the challenger’s face, and I struggle to get to my feet. Pain throbs through my limbs, but I have to get away—if these things are fighting over dinner, I don’t want to wait around to see who wins.
Knees shaking, I finally stand. I turn to run, but a third monster blocks my way, his black eyes locked on me. He’s broad, with copper-colored skin and dark, shoulder-length hair that hangs loosely around his face. His angled eyes and pointed ears make him look like some kind of reptilian elf, and the dark wings folded behind him give him a striking presence.
His muscles tense as my eyes fall down his form. When I realize he’s completely naked, heat burns my cheeks, and before I can attempt to run, he grabs me by the shoulders, claws digging into my skin as he holds me in place.
“Let me go.” I half-heartedly fight his grip, but I have no energy left. My eyelids flutter, and I’m overcome with light-headedness. “Please.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks, the vowels in his words hinted with an accent. The familiarity of it tickles at my memory.
His gaze flicks to the commotion behind us, and I study the line of his jaw. His mouth is hardened into a line, and the seriousness in his eyes flips a switch of recognition in my mind.
“Elio?”
The world goes silent.
He loosens his grip on me, and I slowly turn around to see the guy with a tail walking toward us. The monster that attacked me lies in a heap on the ground.Dead.
“Azarius?” I say before I can stop myself. The edges of my vision are darkening, but I fight to stay conscious.
Two red slashes stretch the length of his cheek, but even as I watch, they shrink, closing themselves up until his face is unmarred. His mouth slides into a lopsided grin, which brightens his otherwise intimidating features, and he nods. “The one and only.”
My gaze drifts from Azarius to Elio and back again as my brain struggles to catch up with everything that’s happened in the last ten minutes. My vision sways, and I stagger before catching my balance.
“You’re monsters,” I say, mostly to myself. Even though my scrapes and scratches are more than proof, hearing the words out loud make everything in front of me more real.
“Well spotted.” It’s Elio that speaks, and when he takes a step toward me, my heart jumps nervously in my chest. Azarius made easy work of the leathery-skinned monster, and I know he could snap me in half if his heart desired. His eyes narrow as he looks me over. “And what are you?”
I chuckle. Is this a joke?
“Human, obviously. And here I thought you were the smart one.”
Instead of laughing like I expect him to do, he shakes his head. “You don’t understand. If you were a human, you’d be dead right now.”
“I mean, I almost was.” I jerk my thumb in the direction of the dead monster. “Fifteen more seconds and I would have been.”
