Page 21 of Monstrous

I feel like a woman who’s finally found her groove. Maybe for the first time in my life, and a part of me balks that the key to finally open the door was sex. And not normal sex.

Sex with three of them. At once.

Jeez.

I continue to hum as I draw without thinking about where I want to go with the piece. A few lines followed by a smudge here and there and suddenly I’ve got a face. An unfinished face in the midst of flowing lines of shadow.

Working, the drawing practically completes itself until a hand slams down on the page.

Mari! What have you done? Zane demands.

I blink up at him. “It’s nothing. It’s just a little something—”

It’s not nothing! Do you know who that is?

His voice makes me flinch and I immediately shake my head in dismissal until I take a closer look at the sketch and my blood turns to Arctic ice.

He’s right; what have I done? It’s my worst nightmare but clearer than I’ve ever seen the demon. I didn’t…I couldn’t have…

Now he’s on his way. But Arc’s voice sounds distant and far off. I barely hear him past the ringing in my ears.

How could I have done this?

The picture is the same nightmare shape I saw devour Walker the night he died, only I drew him wearing Mark Smith’s face. Darkness…he really was here yesterday. He’s back.

You’ve got to go! Vexx grabs me up from the bed, hauling me to my feet with an urgency I’ve never felt before.

Everything inside of me freezes like I’ve been showered in liquid ice. “Where can I go? I don’t want to run,” I say frantically.

Even as I speak, I know it’s too late. We can’t flee.

An unnatural breeze shifts the curtains near the closed window and my hair stands on end. The air fills with an electric charge. A second later, the gust increases in strength until I can’t see anything through my hair and I start to scream on instinct. My breath explodes from my chest in a puff of white as the temperature takes a drastic dive.

Vexx tightens his hold on my arm before pushing me behind him like he’s some kind of shield.

So much for the afterglow.

I’ve demolished it completely with my one stupid act.

Then Darkness arrives.

The real Darkness, not Vexx. This one is made of nightmares. A dark terror given life and standing in the doorway to the bedroom blocking out even the small glow from the bathroom candle. Tendrils of shadows explode from him and lash around my wrists and ankles to try and drag me forward.

I don’t hear his voice out loud, either. No, he’s a whisper in my head. He’s the niggling sensation on the back of my neck and I realize in a flash all the times I thought I felt eyes on me, I had. I’d felt his.

And now they peer directly through my soul.

Marianna.

I hate the way my name sounds coming from him. Vexx pushes me farther behind him as Arc and Zane move into position on either side. Standing together and forming an impenetrable wall. A flick of his nails and Arc has cut through the shadows holding me captive. Keeping them at bay for a brief moment.

You’re not welcome here, Zane states.

I watch their own forms waver until they are no longer the solid men I’d gotten used to. They are their own monstrous creatures. I catch a flash of tattoos, a hint of black hair, a glimpse of a smile and green eyes…

I also see claws, fangs, and at once the glow of three sets of red eyes as they ditch their human facades entirely and embrace the nightmares beneath their skin.

This is them, I attempt to rationalize. This is real.

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