Page 56 of Monsters of Mayhem

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Book 3:MONSTERS OF MIDNIGHT

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Chapter One

Laney

She was dead. I had seen her body disappear into the lava flow and burnt to a crisp. My best friend, my comrade, my sister in arms. We had lived most of our lives together since we’d met in high school. I knew every boyfriend she’d ever dated. I knew every issue she’d ever had with her parents. She was my rock.

“How dare you!” I ran screaming towards the demigod who had destroyed one of the few loves of my life. I ran toward him with my nails out, but he laughed mercilessly and held me at arms-length with a single raised hand.

“A little firefly, you are divine,” he murmured.

“Stay away from her,” Magnus growled from his cage. His finger dripped blood onto the stone surface. Or the stump where his finger used to be.

“You need to shut up,” I glared at him, completely pissed right now and the only power I seemed to have was to emit a pale blue glow.

“She’s a feisty thing,” Cade said to Magnus as if they were having a drink and talking about some woman at a bar.

“You killed my best friend.” My legs buckled beneath me and my padded bottom squished to the floor with a thud. I stared at the molten lava that had swallowed the largest part of my heart.

“Do not be disheartened, little firefly,” Cade purred toward me. “You have a whole new world to discover. One that does not require the likes of a banshee.”

“She was all I had,” I insisted. “You don’t understand.”

“You had me,” Magnus said.

“I don’t want you! Traitor!” I screamed up at him.

“Now you can see the true monster. The one, who as the elder, should be the God of Monsters can rise,” Cade said. “The child of Vulcan. He will need a bride for when he comes to life. I will take you to him. You shall be his bride, Firefly.”

“Fuck you,” I said. “I’ll be no one’s bride. Not any of your stinking selves. Not his.” I pointed at Magnus, who looked forlorn and full of chagrin. “Not yours. Certainly not some fucker who’s going to be brought back to life through the death of my best friend. She was everything to me. Everything.”

“What the fuck was I?” Magnus asked.

“Shut the fuck up or I will climb up there and throttle you,” I said, spewing hatred at Magnus.

“No-no, little bug,” Cade said.

“What did you just call me?” I asked.

“Relax,” Cade said. “You’re a firefly. It’s not much more to call you a little bug. It’s a compliment.”

“Leave her alone,” Magnus said.

“The only reason you’re still alive,” Cade said, pointing at Magnus, “is because I need to keep you in order to manage your brother. Demigods are hard to kill, otherwise I would’ve done it. For now, I don’t need you.” He waved a hand and Magnus’s cage began to rise into the dark chambers above the hall. When he disappeared into the shadows, Cade turned to me.

“Come. We shall prepare you for your groom.”

The wall receded, showing a door that wasn’t previously there.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, you fucking asshole,” I said.

“Oh, I think you will,” Cade said.