Page 11 of Their Blood Queen

Not that Helia is modest, but she doesn’t want to provoke my hungry beast.

Despite her flirtations and her teasing, she knows better than I do what kind of destruction we would cause together. She maintains full lucidity when in her monster form because she hasn’t “divided” herself like I have, as she puts it.

Meaning she has to live with the horrors in all their brutal vibrancy. At least my memories of my monster’s form are hazy and dreamlike.

If I try to grab on to them, they seem to slip away.

But there’s a lilt of hope in her voice again, because she must have sensed the new energies and that excites her. “A powerful one full of possibilities,” she marvels.

Well, that certainly is interesting.

A new realm with new monsters might join us this year.

And new monsters bring new energies. I’ve already noticed the stir in the magical currents that run through the Elite’s strategically placed villages. I should have attributed that to whatever it is Helia has sensed.

But I don’t have her power. My magic rests in the realm of dreams.

She runs Monster City, which strategically sits at the hub of the largest influx of exchanging energies from the other realms we have built alliances with, and the train tracks link that energy to the villages.

It’s a system that has successfully created biologically and magically compatible humans over the course of many generations.

And careful selections as well. That’s where human discernment and ambition come into play.

Pitting the Elites against one another to create perfectly compatible specimens was a brilliant idea—Helia’s, in fact.

The Elites thought their proposal had been a human invention, but Helia had been the one to cultivate this world.

In hopes of helping monsters like herself, like me.

Oh, she has helped so many monsters.

But not us.

And time seems to be running out.

“There’s a hide-and-peek portal that keeps popping up,” she continues. “Every time it does…”

My eyes widen. “You feel a new realm?”

“New dimension, I think,” she corrects me.

We’ve run into new worlds quite often, but a new dimension is something we’ve rarely encountered.

Her tail flicks. “I’ve come to a decision. If they join us for Monsters Night, I won’t intervene. I might even send them an offer, should things go well. Let’s watch them and see if any of the selections take. Then we can build an alliance with this powerful dimension.”

I nod, interested in the idea of new monsters coming to play.

Sometimes the transition can be tricky, but it gives my beast something different to focus on.

And then there’s?—

“Watch over me, Cain.”

A feminine voice I’ve definitely never heard before slips into the Dream Realm and shoots through me like an arrow, making my entire body shift as my beast reacts with violent hunger.

He eats up those four words immediately, not even stopping to appreciate how sweet they taste.

My tongue swells in my mouth, and the decadent flavor of a new prayer makes me shudder when I take a breath.

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