Page 33 of Love & Monsters
“Awesome. I’ve lost my world, my home, my friends, and my family. Now I’m losing my damn dignity too.” My fist curled in the grass. “Do you want to put a collar and a leash on me, too?”
“What do you want me to say, Mina?” Vadric bellowed. “I’m sorry that you’ve lost everything, but I’m doing what I must in order to keep you alive. You won’t need a damn collar, as you won’t really be my pet. I am asking you to pretend for some time to ensure your safety.”
Now I shot to my feet. Even while he was sitting, and I was standing, Vadric was impressive. He barely needed to tilt his chin back to look me in the eye, returning my hard glare with a carefully blank expression.
“Why do you even want to keep me safe? All the rest of your kind just see me as a toy or a snack. You’ve even admitted that you want to taste and devour me.” My hands flew wildly as I talked, my inner turmoil coming alive.
“Can I not simply desire to protect you, little one? I have an immense need to have you and to keep you safe. From the moment I first laid my eyes on you, your presence has had a profound reaction within me. I should have left you behind in the dungeon, but I couldn’t allow myself to that. Because, yes, I want to taste and devour you, but I want to save you at the same time.” Vadric shifted to rise, and I took a step back. Once on his feet, towering over me, I strained by neck back to look up at him. He was so staggeringly massive. It was easy to believe that he could protect me, and he could do it very well.
Why was I getting so worked up? Was it because all of this was terrifyingly traumatic, and I missed home? There was too much happening, and I didn’t feel as if I’d had any time to reflect properly on anything yet.
My world shattered, and it overwhelmed me, but that was no excuse to lash out at Vadric. He was the one constant for me this far, and the one person who I believed I could rely on to help me. Besides our intense chemistry, I believed his intentions to protect me were genuine.
I could feel myself pouting as all the anger evaporated from my body, replaced by my regret and heartache. Vadric picked up on the change in an instant. He stepped forward to wrap his hands around me, pulling me against his abdomen as my head came up just under his chest.
“I’m sorry. You probably should have left me in the dungeon,” I mumbled against his stomach, wrapping my arms around his hips. His hand settled on my head, carefully running his clawed fingers through my short hair.
“There’s no way I could have,” he rumbled back in his husky baritone voice.
“I’ll—I’ll pretend. To be your pet.” I swallowed my pride to say that, but I needed to play the game to stay alive.
“It won’t be forever, Mina. Just in the beginning. They won’t touch what’s mine.” His hand cradled the back of my head and the other squeezed my shoulder. “We can get through this, but only if we work together.”
“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” Although more questions arose in my mind now. More than there were before, and that was a lot.
Something suddenly rustled the nearby bushes, disrupting whatever thoughts tangled my mind. I froze and Vadric tensed. One of his long, pointed ears twitched. Then, moving swiftly but silently, he pushed me behind his back.
Two massive beasts materialized from the trees. My blood ran cold under my skin, and I felt stiff looking at what I could only equate to gigantic skeletal horses with elephant skin. I shivered, frozen in place behind Vadric as another terrifying monster guided the leashed beasts.
Her skin was ash grey, hair dark green and falling around her shoulders like a swamp creature. What terrified me the most about her features were the four white glowing eyes assessing us, and the exposed razor-sharp fangs running across her face from ear to ear with no lips to hide them.
My fingers curled, bunching into the back of Vadric’s clothing. However, when he saw the new creatures, he visibly relaxed. After a beat of silence, he stepped forward and embraced the four eyed monster with a triumphant laugh.
“Anakis! Fantastic to see you again!” He slapped her skinny frame on the shoulder before turning back to me. “Mina, this is an old friend of mine. She’ll be going with us through the rest of the mountain.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t get anything else past my lips as Anakis’s intense pure-white eyes stared through me as if she could see my soul.
“Anakis, this is Mina. She is my human. No one touches her.” Vadric hastened past Anakis to examine the saddled beasts she brought. “Mina will ride with me.”
I knew he held his hand out for me, wanting me to come closer so we could leave. But I froze as the new monsters sent an icy dread across my skin.
“Didn’t know you got a pet in your time away.” Her voice was like a hiss without normal lips. A viper trying to talk past its fangs.
“Yes, yes. A human. Very interesting.” Vadric waved her statement off. Finally, he noticed me standing still like a rooted tree trunk. “Mina, we need to get moving.”
It took a lot of internal strength to pull my eyes from Anakis and meet Vadric standing across from me with the reigns to one of those massive beasts in his grasp. He held his hand out for me and my feet moved on their own toward him, and the safety he could provide.
His hands curled around my waist, and with ease, he tossed me up into the saddle. My mind dipped into a void, as if it didn’t want to be present during this ordeal. I saw Vadric grab the bag and felt him get in the saddle behind me. I heard him talking to Anakis, but my mind went blank from the storm that now wrenched apart my thoughts from the inside out.
Nineteen
Growing up, I really enjoyed going on road trips with my parents. Hours in the back of the van listening to my dad’s old rock songs while mom and I read the books we’d been saving for the drive. Visiting old towns and sightseeing across the country every summer or visiting distant relatives during the holidays. Those were pleasant trips.
This wasn’t that. At all.
While we traveled under the red sky, Anakis and Vadric conversed, but they gave nothing away. No plans, no information about where we were going or what was going to happen when we got there. All simple little side comments about the weather, about traveling, and the supplies we had.
My mind wasn’t present for most of it. I disassociated into the back of my mind, where memories of my family and friends played on repeat. Moments from childhood, prom night, holidays with my family, and work parties after getting my job at the accounting firm.
