Page 4 of Beauty's Monstrous Demons

“Hello?” I ask, peeking my head in. It hasn’t escaped me that there were a lot of males in this dorm. Are they co-ed?

“Who are you?” A man asks, sitting up on the couch.

While humans go to school at a normal age, monsters can be anywhere from eighteen to over a hundred years old when they choose to attend. There’s no hurry for them, unlike someone like me.

“I’m your new roommate, I think?” I’m unsure of a lot. “This is room twelve-oh-seven, right?”

“Yeah, it is. I heard we were getting someone new, but I didn’t think she’d be quite so…blonde,” he says wryly. “I’m Adares.”

As he stands, I see that he’s eight feet tall to my five feet, and that he has spiky red hair. As he walks toward me, I inanely notice how tall the ceilings are, made to accommodate the different heights of species. He’s wearing dark jeans, a black t-shirt, and his skin is a teal hue.

“Did you think I’d be a girl?” I ask him, amused as I take his offered hand. His nails are well trimmed, buffed, and his hands are soft.

“These dorms are often mixed between the two, so we don’t really pay attention to it much,” he says with a shrug. “And you are?”

“Lorelei,” I introduce myself.

“Interesting name,” he mutters. I don’t mention that I could say the same for him, simply because I’m more polite. “Your room is over here. It’s a bit of a mess.”

Walking over to my room, he opens the unlocked door with a small wince. As I follow him slowly, I wrinkle my nose at the musty scent.

“A reptile shifter lived here,” he says apologetically. “It’s impossible to rid ourselves of the scent, so we left it. There are boxes here you’ll need to move out before you can bring your stuff up. Good luck, new girl.”

Adares waltzes out without any fanfare, leaving the door wide open. Asshole. Ugh, this smell has got to go. Walking around, I throw open the windows before closing and locking the front door of the apartment style dorm room. Beginning to hunt for cleaning supplies, I decide to start by making this space inhabitable.

I also manage to make some of my own, because my love of chemistry didn’t end with just making my own body lotion. I can MacGyver my way out of almost anything. If I’d learned how to work on cars, I would have been able to save a shit ton of money.

Music on my phone accompanies me as I break down the boxes in the room, and then clean it until the tile floors gleam. I wish there was carpet, but I doubt the stench would have ever left if there was. Afterward, I’m on a roll, which leads to my cleaning the rest of the shared areas in the dorm.

My heart is beating hard from exertion once I’m done, and I lock my room before taking the cardboard boxes to the recycling bin. Continuing downstairs, I begin to bring my belongings upstairs, ignoring everyone around me as I fix things the way I like.

My closet is small, but I’m able to hang up my clothing on one side and lay down blankets and pillows on the other. Ever since I turned eighteen, I’ve been having trouble with wide open spaces to sleep in. Instead, I make the bed as if it’s a couch so I can study on it, and then hang curtains on the windows to block out a lot of the light.

The overhead bulb is harsh, already giving me a headache, so I shut it off immediately in lieu of the lamp next to the bed. Breathing a sigh of relief, I hang up my pretty fairy lights around the room as well. It doesn’t matter how long I’m going to be here, this is a ritual I have to complete.

My body relaxes as I look around, happy with the way things look. The only thing I’m missing is the bathroom. I really hope that there isn’t a communal one, because I’ll have to shower at odd hours if there is.

Sniffing at my skin suspiciously, I grab my lotion and rub myself down. I’ve unfortunately found that if I sweat, the composition breaks down. The same is true of being rained on. It makes living really nerve wracking. I’m so glad I don’t have to be involved in any kind of sports while in college.

Biting my lip, I step out of my bedroom, ensuring I have my keys with me as I lock it behind me. While I closed my closet door, I’m aware that my oddities could be called into question.On the other hand, if I’m living with all male monsters, they may ignore me completely.

“Did you clean?” a large man asks, crossing his arms over his chest. His skin is gray, his eyes a slate blue as he glares at me. Calling them all monsters feels awkward when I know there are so many different kinds. “Adares told me we had a roommate.”

“I had some excess energy to work off,” I explain, not sure if he’ll understand. “Once I finished my room, I had to keep going.”

“Huh,” he mutters. “I get like that when I hit a groove in my workouts. I’m Thorley. Do you need anything before I head out?”

Surprised he asked, I nod slowly because I really need to know where the bathroom is. My bladder is screaming at me.

“Do we have a bathroom in our dorm, or are they outside of the room?” I ask. “I haven’t had a chance to become familiar with everything.”

“Adares is also an arrogant fucker,” he mutters. “There’s a bathroom in the hallway here. We all have odd schedules, so you’ll have to pop in while you can. Are you a girly girl who takes forever?”

“No?” I ask, wrinkling my nose in confusion. My only real issue is my toiletries and how long that takes, but I don’t mind showering really early or late at night. “If I need to do any ‘girly’ things, I can take care of them in my room. I don’t need to hog the bathroom for that. I won’t be in the way.”

“That was rude of me to assume,” he grumbles. “You have all of that hair.”

And he has none.My lips twitch at the realization that he’s making assumptions because he probably takes two seconds to shower and get ready.

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