AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not what he means.” Azarius steps closer and touches a hand to my shoulder. His claws have retracted, but his skin is still milky white. Up close, the black designs on his skin look more like tribal tattoos—they dance up his arms and across his chest, and there’s one that stretches across his forehead like a crown. “Humans can’t survive the portal between realms.”
The portal between realms.So I was right. This isn’t Earth. Or at least not Earth as I know it. We’re in a different realm.
A monster realm.
“Well, one did.” I cross my arms over my chest, irritated by their persistence. My head is starting to swim again, and I cling by a thread to consciousness as my eyes bounce back and forth between them. “I’m a human, plain and simple. I don’t have any powers. I can’t turn into anything else, and I’ve been the exact same for my entire boring-ass existence—sorry to disappoint you both.”
Azarius and Elio exchange a glance.
“What if she’s telling the truth?” Azarius asks, his voice low. “Maybe something’s changed with the portal. It could explain what a Malev was doing this far west.”
“I don’t think so,” Elio says, narrowing his eyes in my direction. He cocks his head to the side as he considers me, and I can almost see the wheels turning in his head. “But we won’t know for sure unless we try again.”
I nod in agreement, the thought of going home filling me with relief. I never thought it’d be possible for me to miss the hectic streets of Atlanta, but I’d choose them over this monster land any day.
“Yes, let’s do that,” I say. “It’s been fun—well, not really. It’s actually been pretty fucking terrible—but I have to get home. Elio, if you’ll open the portal thing again, I can find my way, and the next time you two are in town, you can check and make sure I survived the trip.”
Neither of the monsters move.
There’s a tense moment of silence in which I bounce eagerly on the balls of my feet. Elio cocks his head and stares absentmindedly at something in the distance, thinking.
“I can’t do that.”
My stomach plummets to the ground, and I glare at him. “Wh—why not?”
“Because you’ve seen too much.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Azarius steps in. “Come on, Elio. I’m sure she won’t go back to the human world screaming from the rooftops about monsters. Besides, we saved her life. She owes us.”
He’s not wrong. I’m indebted to these men—monsters. If that means harboring a huge secret—like the existence of a monster world—it’s the least I can do. Besides, I’m liable to get committed to a psych ward if I go home babbling about an invisible world with monster men.
Not something I’m eager to add to my to-do list.
“I promise,” I say, taking a step toward Elio and staring into his dark eyes. “I won’t breathe a word to anyone. Just send me home, and we can all pretend this didn’t happen.”
For a second, I think he might believe me and send me home, and hope flickers to life in my chest. But it quickly diminishes when he shakes his head again.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” he says, looking away as his jaw tenses. “Do you remember what we said? If we tell you, they’ll kill us. I’m not willing to die for you.”
“Then what am I going to do?” I look frantically between the two of them. “I can’t stay here, and I can’t go home.”
Elio opens his mouth, but Azarius cuts him off. “You’ll come with us. We’ll take you to Rafe—he’ll know what to do.”
“Az.” Elio groans and rubs his temple. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Azarius shrugs and his tail whips around to point in my direction. “If the plan was to leave her here, why did we come back and save her? We have to do something fast. She smells like blood, and I wouldn’t be surprised if another Malev monster has already picked up the scent.”
“Malev monster?” I ask.
Elio impatiently points to the red carcass several feet away from us. “A Malevolent—the result of monsters breeding with demons. They have no empathy and kill without remorse. One, we can handle, but if there’s more, we’ll be in trouble.”
Azarius crosses his arms over the pale, sculpted chest as he waits for an answer, and I feel myself swaying again. I escaped death once by the skin of my teeth, but if they leave me here, I’m a sitting duck.
“Fine,” Elio finally says, and the tightness in my chest lessens. “But I can’t promise Rafe won’t kill her himself.”
“Excuse me.” Planting my hands on my hips, I furrow my brow in their direction. “Who says I’m going to go with you?”
“We do,” Azarius says.
