Page 48 of A Very Monstrous Desire

“It is not the life I would have chosen either, Theo,” the monster replied. “I do not crave the danger. I do not seek out the thrill of the fight. But I handle the danger well. I fight better than most. Just like you. And this is the life that we have been given, the life that contributes to our people in the best way we can.”

“Do you know what I do in the real world?” Theo asked even as Baku’s words spoke to something deep inside of him. “I crunch data, Baku. Lines of data for whoever pays me to. It’s dull and it’s repetitive and it was always enough.” He paused and snapped his eyes open. “Why isn’t it enough now?”

“Because you are a natural soldier, Theo,” Baku said, and his voice was heavy with approval. “A natural adventurer. This is what you are supposed to be doing. What I felt when I first saw you, it was surely that. And that part of your nature calls to the very same part of mine.”

Theo thought of the infestation down in Cornwall that they could never completely eradicate. How many people had died trying? How many people had lost their homes and their livelihoods to the nightmares there? Then there was the infestation in Tenby, the one in Normandy, the one blocking the channel…

Theo’s fellow humans were out there fighting them over and over. Humans like Gill who might lose an ear. Or like Dimitri who might break a bone. It was constant, relentless, and they were there doing it day after day.

Those infestations could all be stopped by the death of the queen only no one could ever get close enough. Bombing the infestations was not possible given all governments had agreed never to bomb an active rip for fear of making it worse. Shooting them all up worked to some degree, but the queen simply slipped back through to her own dimension when threatened in that way, well, no, not her own, but Baku’s, returning again as soon as she was able. They could shoot the nightmares over and over but when there were tens of thousands they couldn’t shoot them fast enough. Only, if what Baku was saying was right, if they really could get to her this way…

“How many times can I take the serum before it alters me forever?” he asked.

“You only need a single dose to stop her,” Baku said. “That will alter you slightly but not forever.”

“Yes, but how many?” Theo asked again.

“Our research suggests that if there is enough time between doses that we could dose over and over, but there must be some weeks in between,” Baku said. “It becomes cumulative over a shorter time period.”

Theo took a deep breath, part of him not quite believing what he was about to say. How quickly things had changed and not in the six weeks since he had been conscripted, but in the time he had spent here with Baku. “If I do this then it isn’t going to be the only one,” he said slowly. “We’re going to take care of Cornwall and Tenby as well.”

Baku frowned. “Those queens do not eat the dimensions.”

“No, not yet, and they eat my people regardless,” Theo said. “And that needs to stop. You have a map of all the rips, don’t you?” he added. “All the ones that have fractured out from the originals?”

Baku nodded.

“So we’ll close any others we find as well,” Theo continued. “Kill the munchers, close the rips, save my people.”

A pause and then, “Agreed.”

“And if the serum turns me into one of the nightmares?—"

“It will not,” Baku said.

“But if it does?—”

“I will take care of you.” He tilted his head. “And you will do the same for me, will you not?”

“I will.”

“Then we are in agreement, my human,” the monster asked. “That we will stop this queen and then we will stop the others consuming your lands.”

“I guess we are.”

Baku looked relieved. Theo was both annoyed and pleased about that. He found himself wondering whether the bond that the monster had forced between them would fade as well or whether that was cumulative.

“I want to kiss you now,” the monster said.

“I’m not sure now is the time, Baku,” Theo replied though he wanted that as well.

“Then when?”

“When the queen is dead, and we are not.”

Baku nodded. “Then we have a plan.”

“Yes,” Theo said, and his body thrummed with nerves, with horror, but also with a strange kind of anticipation. “We have a plan.”

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