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"Dammit!" Creep curses as his antlers smash into the ceiling. "Coulda warned me we were portalling into a space the size of a matchbox."
"Sorry," I mutter, reaching out to my side to find something to brace against.
My stomach sloshes around uneasily after the jolting sensation of traveling through space and time. It takes a few secondsbefore my eyes adjust to the darkness, and I can take in the stone pillars and low ceiling.
"A cave?" Creep questions, glancing around as he posts his hands on his knees.
Guess I didn't think about how my monsters would fit into this space, only that no one else really knows about it.
"Sybil's Cave. Old human place. My parents took me here once." I shrug.
Creep grunts as he walks toward the entrance with his back hunched over and scanning for threats. "Can see why monsters don't come. It's not much to look at."
It isn't. But the stone cavern is clean and empty, and though it's just a few hollowed-out rooms, it's better than being in the open. At the front of the cave, there's a Gothic arch with a broken wrought-iron gate from the before times. Creep glances around and spots the Hudson River, startling a bit as he stares at the murky brown expanse of water and the city on the other side of it.
"You brought us to Jersey?"
I shrug. "I guess."
He grins. "Good work. I don't think any monsters come this far out unless they've got wings."
"That was kind of the point. Wanna go get the others?"
"Not really." He turns toward me, desire and a little glint of naughtiness lighting up his eyes.
"Creep." I try to sound firm and not at all intrigued by the prospect of an uninterrupted hour of fun.
But that tracker found the other Terrors and the pitter-patter of fear inside my heart won't abate until they're here in front of me safe and sound.
"What will you give me if I bring them to you?" he bargains.
"How about I won't try to rip your dick off?" I counter.
He chuckles and reaches out to ruffle my hair. "Try again. I know you love this dick.”
I narrow my eyes, and he just swoops down to nip at my mouth, peppering me with kisses as he says, "Promise me something for being your good little monster, Aliana. Please."
Fuck. It's the please that does it.
"Fine."
"Okay, good. You promise to fuck me when I get back. And I get you all to myself. Okay, bye!" Creep deliberately rolls each word into the next, speaking as quickly as possible as he backs away from me toward the cave, a grin that can only be described as diabolical on his face.
I don't even have a chance to respond because the second that darkness sweeps over his shoulders like a cloak, he's gone.
Standing amongst the scrubby trees growing around the mouth of the cave, I turn and glance over at the ripples running across the river like silver ribbons.
"Guess I have some sex to look forward to," I say aloud to no one.
A few birds twitter in the trees like they're mocking me, but I just flip them off and walk under the canopy, soaking in the fact that for the first time in months, I'm back beneath the leaves.
I inhale the scent of mud and roots and rot and life, all the scents of a forest. All the scents that should fill my heart with a sense of homecoming. But though the air is clean and refreshing, I don't get any such sense.
Not until Tesq emerges from the cave, so hunched that he's practically bent in half. When he straightens, the wind catches hold of his scent—clean rock, heat, a tiny hint of ash. And my heart fills up.
The forest may be the place I used to live. But it's not my home anymore.
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