Page 36 of An Invocation of Monsters

But was I really? Her picture was in my mother’s album, after all.

Was it a complete coincidence that my mother shared her name… or had Gillian chosen this place because of her?

Because we shared her blood?

I stared into the girl’s eyes across the years, reaching for my wine glass without looking, and instead I managed to knock my phone onto the floor.

It hid hard, skidding under the couch. I groaned. With my luck, that thing was going to end up shattered within days.

I put the camera aside and leaned over, about to swipe under the couch, when the entire thing shuddered beneath me. It felt like an earthquake… and yet the couch was the only thing moving.

And something dark shifted beneath it.

11

Elle

I held my breath, frozen on the couch with my hand poised over the gap.

The thing beneath the couch rustled again, and then the entire right end of the couch lifted up off the floor for a moment.

A deep voice rumbled from beneath it. “You dropped this.”

I watched as a massive, clawed hand—easily large enough to encircle my entire head in its grasp—pushed my phone from beneath the couch.

Trying to stop my fingers from trembling, I reached down and picked it up. “Thank you very much.”

“And this.”

The claw pushed out a chapstick that’d been missing from my pocket earlier.

“And also this.”

The chapstick was followed by one of my sneakers, which I had definitely left next to my bed.

I was starting to get the feeling that I knew where my jacket had disappeared to.

“Have you seen a jacket, by any chance?” I picked up the chapstick and set the shoe next to the end table. Then I laid on my stomach, leaning over the side of the couch until the top of my head nearly touched the floor.

Three pairs of bright green, glowing eyes stared back at me, each stacked on top of the other.

“Hello, there,” I said softly, and all six pairs of eyes winked out. I was staring into darkness.

They came back a moment later, and I caught a glimpse of sharp teeth from the fireplace light. “Jacket is mine now. Smells good.”

Despite the fact that I was staring at a mouth full of fangs, a smile twitched the corner of my lip. “But what if I get cold?”

The monster grumbled, his eyes narrowing. “A Mlul’dra will keep you warm better than clothes.”

“Is that what you are?”

He growled an assent. “I will keep you warm. I am large and strong. My nest is clean and rich with blankets.”

Ahhh. I touched my hair, wondering if he also thought the color was a mating signal. “Well, like I told Drazan, before I let monsters in my bed, I like to get to know them first. Why don’t you tell me your name, and come out so I can see the rest of you?”

I’d managed to become desensitized to the concept of actual monsters incredibly fast. Here I was, holding a conversation with a beast under my couch, and my voice didn’t so much as shake.

“I am Kiraxis, the Ender of Man,” he announced proudly. Then he cast a dirty look at the fireplace. “But no light. It hurts my eyes.”

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