Page 26 of The Monster of Darkspell Comics
My venomous spines threaten to burst through my skin, and my illusion-cloaked corethi shift out from beneath my wings. I’m still debating on whether the paperwork is worth it as eyes linger on my female a little longer, but the male wisely remembers himself long enough to hand me the money.
“Oh, hey, I totally forgot why I came in here.” He chuckles to himself, brushing his hair back out of his eyes. I’m tempted with the urge to gouge them out. “Do you have any Advanced Dungeons and Dragons manuals?”
“Dungeons and Dragons,” I repeat, mystified, but if the human wants to be eaten by dragons—
“You know what, I think they have those at Walbrook Books on the second floor,” Fanny interrupts.
I grind my teeth together as the male’s face lights up.
“Oh, do you play?”
She blinks, caught off-guard by his obvious enthusiasm. I eye the byplay between them. That paperwork for accidental and intentional slaughter of humans is looking more appealing by the minute, but then she gives him an apologetic grimace and it’s all I can do to keep from crowing at the disappointment crashing over the male.
“No, sorry. I just wander a lot during my lunch breaks. The books caught my attention because one had a pretty gnarly dragon on the cover. It does look kind of cool though,” she rushes to add, which makes him brighten a little once more, to my considerable disappointment.
“Oh! You are welcome to join my group. We are a small adventuring party right now, but I heard that there is a newer manual out. I want to get it so that I can add some more interesting components to our adventures. We are always looking for new players to join!”
Fanny slants me a questioning look, and I know what she wants without even hearing it. No, I say. No!
He also notes the direction of her gaze, and his smile is far less enthusiastic this time. “You can both come. It will be great. Here, let me just write down where we are meeting and when. We meet for a few hours once every other week to go on our quests.”
Quests? This guy has to be kidding me. Unfortunately, Fanny’s eyes gleam with interest as he begins going into detail about some of their latest adventures while he writes.
“If you’re free on Halloween—” he begins, but she shakes her head apologetically.
“We are going to be pretty busy, but maybe another time if I can talk Pashar into it.”
“Oh, well, if he doesn’t want to come, it would still be totally cool if you could make it. There is another chick in the group, so you won’t feel completely outnumbered.”
Over my rotting corpse.
Sitting back in my chair, I snort silently to myself, hating how he has clearly ensnared my female’s attention while I fume. Chewy clearly doesn’t like it either—or she is keying into my mood after all these months of sharing space with me in this shop—and several tendrils sneak toward the male with obvious intended avarice.
My lips curl in a wicked smile as I watch them slide over the floor, the struggle with my hatred for paperwork being overcome by my sheer loathing for the human flirting withmyhuman. Fanny’s eyes flick to me, and her brows furrow slightly. I tear my eyes away from the approaching vines and grin at her, but it seems that I wasn’t subtle enough because she quickly looks over and her mouth drops open for a full five seconds before she suddenly pushes the customer away from the counter, his comic book clutched to his chest.
“You know what, we will think about it. It sounds like a real blast. You should definitely grab that manual, though, because it does sound like it will add some pretty bitchin’ stuff to your game. You should probably head up to Walbrooks if you want a chance to really look around before they close,” she says rapidly as she steers him to the door.
He doesn’t even notice the plant’s vine trailing after him, his infuriatingly infatuated smile fastened on Fanny the entire time as he listens to her chatter at him.
Besotted twit is going to get himself eaten. I cackle to myself as I lean forward, eager to see the moment when they strike. With a quick glance behind her, Fanny picks up her pace, and manages to keep him ahead of them long enough that they come to a frustrated stop just short of the door. Her entire posturerelaxes, and she shoots a scolding look at both Chewy and me. Patting the human on the shoulder, she sends him off with a wave as he trots like an obedient little mutt toward the escalator that will take him to the second floor.
I give Chewy a sympathetic look. “Foiled.”
“Very funny,” Fanny grumbles. She steps back into the store, and Chewy’s vines immediately slide along her legs.
I watch with interest as they seem to curl in tiny little affectionate coils against her skin. I’ve never heard of a malcante plant bonding with anything other than its mate. Unlike non-sentient plants within the nightmare realm, malcante pair bond, despite having both female and male reproductive parts. In fact, they spend a significant portion of their early life cycle seeking a desirable mate—which usually ends up being a pain in the ass when they do because then they start breeding and there is often an infestation that has to be dealt with if the offspring don’t disperse quickly enough. If I didn’t know better, I would be convinced that Chewy had chosen a mate. The tentative curls of her vines are not unlike the testing pats that the malcante give each other in order to demonstrate their interest and affection.
Fanny doesn’t shrug them off, which makes me wonder how long this has been going on. Picking up the spray bottle once more, she returns to spraying Chewy’s massive fronds, and my eyes narrow suspiciously as more vines and fronds reach for her as if wanting to enjoy even the briefest contact.
Like hell! First thing upon closing I’m going to do what I should have done when I first realized that the malcante plant had followed me here but had been too lazy to do—I’m going to boot Chewy out of my shop and bury her someplace very, very far from my den. The thing has been a damned nuisance, but this is the last straw! I’m sure as hell not sharing my female with a plant either!
What if she has bonded to the human?
I palm my face, digging my claws in just enough to deliver a small amount of pain beneath my scales as I hiss in frustration. If Chewy has attached herself to Fanny, it will actually cause problems to separate them. I’m pretty sure I won’t be devastated if Chewy dies pining away, but if she has bonded, that means she has likely already injected Fanny with her venomous barbs. On one hand, this will extend Fanny’s life and youth way beyond that of a normal human. This is a plus since I’m in no hurry to let my human go, and I appreciate that it gives me adequate time. But, on the other hand, without regular venom from Chewy specifically, it will do the opposite and cause Fanny to waste away within a matter of weeks.
To the fiery pits with it!
“You know, it could be fun if we go after Halloween,” Fanny says conversationally as she opens a box tucked behind the counter and retrieves the mouse she bought from the pet store.
