Page 156 of My Monster's Keeper
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Stix grimaces and peels the human off him. “Let us in.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.”
We enter, but I can smell the absence of Diablos. I can smell the interesting beast hiding in the middle of the room. The poor human is none the wiser. Or maybe he is, and that’s why he has such a hunted look about him.
I spring past Hartley and rip the creature apart. He’s fine right up until I drop the corpse at his feet.
Hartley’s eyes widen, he staggers, gasps, making a strange wheezing sound, and then screams.
Chapter 43
Becky
Hartley screams like a little bitch and promptly passes out. None of us tries to catch him. He hits the floor hard and just lays there.
I crouch over and look him over.
“We probably should have tried to save him,” I say belatedly.
Puppy snorts and kicks the corpse of the creature he killed. “I did.”
“He did,” Stix says happily. “He saved him.”
“From the cracked skull,” I reiterate.
“Oh, that. He’ll be fine.”
“Song, don’t sit on his head.” I palm my face and decide eye aversion is the only way to go. “Why does he look like he hasn’t eaten or slept? He looks awful. What do you think happened to him?”
Puppy climbs the wall and ruffles his scales. “Fear demon.”
I jerk my head. “What?”
“Fear demon. I can smell his fear, his terror. His exhaustion. The demon gives psychic images of his worst fears and feeds off the feelings.”
Hartley sits up and splutters before he gags and rolls himself free of the dog. He sees the dead creature in the middle of the room and gets woozy. Visibly woozy.
“That was here the whole time?” His voice is shrill.
“Yes,” Puppy says. “I killed it.”
“Oh, god, where is Diablos?” Hartley moans. He bursts into tears and weakly gets to his knees.
“That’s what I’d like to know. What’s been happening?” I ask, but part of me feels deeply sorry for the cop. He’s not doing well at all. And there’s a little bit of accusation there, too.
Hartley looks up. Tears roll down his cheeks. “He tried to get you out like five times. The first time, he barely made it back,” he spits. “The second time, we had to run, thethird and fourth, he came back so injured he could barely walk, and the last time he went to rescue you, he didn’t come back. That was three weeks ago. So don’t you dare sit there and think no one but you has done anything!” Hartley thunders, his face red and tendon’s straining.
I glance back at Wilder and Frost. No one needs to say that this is a bad thing. We all know it. Diablos fought for us.
I really need to curb my suspicions sometimes. Regret is a heavy coat to wear.
I close my eyes. “Hartley, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed. Diablos and Hartley are family.”
The guys stiffen, hearing what I’m saying and not saying. If he tried that hard, we will move the Earth to get him back and murder everyone who hurt him.
“We should go and find him then, poppet.”
