Page 10 of Fate & Monsters
“She does not know of you. She is not from here.”
“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes and strolled away, tail-tip flicking behind me.
“At first I wondered if she was some sort of featherless harpy.” Domovoy’s grin provoked a snarl from me. “You enjoy harpies, and this creature is… luscious. Perhaps more so than those squawking hens.”
Another discontent grumble escaped me. The puffed-up hairball didn’t take it as the threat it was.
“You could always devour her, my lord.”
My jaw clenched. “No, that won’t help anything.”
“But you’ve thought of it.”
Not in the way he assumed. But… if I thought back on the expanse of her glowing creamy skin and the swell of her curves, a certain unavoidable hunger roused in my core. I shook those thoughts away as I settled into my seat.
“And you’re familiar with such strange events, aren’t you?” His glowing eyes cut to the book cradled in my claws. “Familiar with… humans.”
“Don’t speak of it.” My thumb twitched on the cover as I hesitated. “Portals are supposed to be rare.”
“Though there have been multiple instances lately—”
“I’m aware.”
“Still, this pale thing would not be the first incident.” Domovoy plopped himself down on the table beside my wingback chair. His long, fluffy tail curled over his paws. I returned to ignoring him even though he blinked a fire to life in the hearth. A warm glow cascaded over the sitting area, shadows and light warring for space on the thin rug, the pair of chairs, and the table between them. Domovoy remained still beside me, his only useful contribution being the candles atop his head illuminating the pages I opened.
At first, my chest squeezed, and my exhale stuttered as I took in the handwritten pages. A script so familiar yet purposefully avoided for years. Part of me resented the stray in the tower forforcing a reason to open them onto me. But there was no resource more accurate, or more recently, in all the castle’s archives. Granted, the pages were faded, worn at the edges, slightly yellowed with age.
It had sat untouched on the shelves for a hundred years. I couldn’t bring myself to keep reading the words of a ghost.
“This is no place for her. No place for a human.” Beasts of Infernus targeted mortals. It was surprising she’d made it as far as the castle. Demons would have smelled her and hunted her the moment she crossed over.
“She brings back memories, doesn’t she?” the cat whispered.
“You are forbidden from speaking another word,” I snarled.
Domovoy hissed back.
A log in the fire cracked and split. Embers rose in the smoky air, fluttering like ashen stars.
My hand trembled as I flipped through the personal journal, seeking insight into my current dilemma. Most of the information I knew from memory, having read the book hundreds of times decades ago. Nothing new stood out as I immersed myself for hours. Several times I removed myself from the handwritten notes to cross reference ancient texts and sources on otherworldly magic.
I had to admit it had all the tells of dark magic.
There were creatures from Infernus and other realms with the power to manipulate the veilbetween worlds. Witches, wizards, and other nefarious fiends with a hunger for more, more, always more. I had a stack of reports in my office from subjects reporting sightings of portals this past week, including that morning’s incident at the ravine.
As an Inferni-hybrid, I’d always known of the existence of humans. It was intrinsic to who I was, to my very being. But over the past hundred years, I’d become disillusioned to my origins as that part of my life faded further from memory.
And then she stumbled into my realm.
I flushed as I thought of her. The first human in a century, as far as I was aware. A creature so unlike anything else in my world. A soft thing, with lush curves, every inch delectable from head to toe. My mouth watered just remembering the vibrant floral scent clinging to her. She was a stunning cut of fuckable meat that inspired depraved and carnal thoughts.
Nothing in the texts held any information on sending a creature back to their realm or summoning a portal. I would need more ancient books on spells and magic to find such knowledge, and the lack of insight frustrated me beyond lingering in the library. I set my books down, leaving Domovoy sleeping curled up on the table, and exited the cavernous room.
Shadows greeted me like old friends as I ambled along the corridors. The halls of my home, my entire life echoing through the walls. Thiscastle was my past and future and I knew it as well as the back of my hand. And I found myself standing outside her tower door, pacing like an agitated animal in a cage. That wasn’t normal, her presence wasn’t normal, and something about her… neither was she.
I shouldn’t have come this far, but I also couldn’t stay away.
She might have died in her sleep. I was only ensuring myguestwas alive.
