Page 111 of Our Little Monster
And in that moment, amidst the chaos of my new existence, I felt it—the bittersweet tang of a bond that had defied everything.
We were a tangle of souls, bruised but unbroken, and in their eyes, I saw the reflection of my own resolve. In the end, we had all been after the same thing, but we had found something greater along the way.
“I love you,” I whispered, letting the weight of those words carry all the love and pain that filled the cavernous spaces of my undead heart. They wrapped me in their embraces in one big group hug, and I never wanted to leave, but I knew we still had work to do.
Sam sat on the bed. “I hate to break up the love fest… but what’s next?”
“Right now, we need to focus on you learning to control your… impulses,” Nox said, looking at me as we all let go of each other, but his hand reached out, brushing against mine.
“And learning how to use your new abilities to your advantage. Victor has plenty of Vampires backing him, not because they necessarily want to. They’re being forced to,” Thorne added.
“Is that why you guys haven’t killed him yourselves?” Sam asked from where she sat, biting her lip.
“Yeah, the changelings don’t have a choice. The moment they’re brought to Victor, they’re put under his spell. They’re innocent; they didn’t get to choose if they wanted to be good or bad,” Bastian answered, eyeing me knowingly.
My father had always believed in choices, and if they had been watching for as long as they had said, they knew that. I had veered so far off the path of what was right, but I would fix it.
I’d be better for those who didn’t get the choice.
The hunger clawed at me then, insistent and savage, a drumbeat pounding against my skull.
My brow furrowed, the fight to remain myself against the newborn Vampire instincts becoming extremely hard. Sam’s heartbeat was drumming in my mind, along with all the other creatures in the woods nearby.
They noticed; of course they did. They always noticed.
Nox's hand reached out. But it wasn't time yet.
I wouldn't let this hunger dictate who I was. Not when I was surrounded by those who had risked everything just to stand by me.
“Serina?” Thorne's voice was a whisper, tentative, as if he feared one wrong word might shatter me.
I met his soft gaze, found the steely resolve there, and nodded.
Sorrow and strength, love and vengeance, human and monster—I was all of it now, and somehow, with them, I'd find a way to weave these threads into something new.
Something fierce. Something undeniably me.
Nox's fingers closed around mine. “Come on, we need to get her out of here. She needs to feed,” he murmured, his voice rough like gravel after a storm.
I glanced back at Sam behind me now still on the bed, her figure shrinking as I walked down the hall, her face etched with worry and love. She was staying back, knowing all too well about changelings.
Nox nodded to the front door, his usual smirk absent as he scanned the windows. Shit, I forgot, I wouldn’t be able to go out in the sun anymore. The thought made me frown.
Bastian's hand rested around my waist as he walked behind me, grounding me. Did he feel my unease? It was as if his touch could tether my soul from spiraling into the abyss that gaped within me in this newfound existence.
“We’ll find you a daylight ring, love,” he murmured in my ear.
We moved through the house, my father’s cabin, one I hadn’t been to since he died. What would he think of me now?
My footfalls were silent. The floorboards didn't creak under my steps like before, my senses sharpened to the point where I could hear the softest sighs of the night outside.
“This first hunt, it's not just about feeding. It's a test, to hold onto yourself. To not get lost in the bloodlust. You’ll want human blood, but we need you to eat a few animals first to take the edge off before we move to a human,” Bastian explained, his hand resting on the small of my back.
The cool breeze greeted us as we stepped out, the sun almost completely gone behind the trees, and the smells of the world hit me all at once.
Earth and decay, life and growth, musty and rich, all twisted together in a scent that assaulted my nostrils. But then my body tensed, every muscle coiled, ready to leap at the prey I couldn't yet see but felt lurking in the woods.
“Stay close,” Thorne instructed, his arm brushing against mine. “It's easy to lose yourself the first time.”
