Page 96 of My Roommate from Hell
Wait, really? If Tyrell is suspicious of us, he hasn’t mentioned it to me. A new fear creeps in: What if he’s slowly building his story, ready to drop a bombshell and expose us at any moment?
“What’s your problem, man?” asks Zarmenus. “Why are you giving Owen so much shit?”
“Because,” he says. “I know how to smell a rat.”
The ruby pendant on Zarmenus’s necklace flashes, and all the lights in the room go off, plunging us into darkness. The party comes to a screeching halt.
My eyes start to adjust as people turn on the flashlights on their phones.
“Zar,” says Adam, clicking his fingers at Zarmenus. “Was this you? Zar? This is my house. Turn the lights back on right now, that’s an order!”
Before me, Zarmenus starts to change. He grows taller and more muscular, and his shirt burns away. A pair of black horns appears on his forehead, their ends pointed and sharp, as a set of enormous pair of bat-like wings emerges from his back. His skin turns a fiery shade of red, and his eyes become the true color of fire, so bright they’re impossible to look at.
When the transformation is complete, the being standing before me is so tall he nearly reaches the ceiling.
It’s his true form.
He’s more than slightly terrifying. But the thing that surprisesme the most is how he still looks like himself. His facial features are the same, and his hair has barely changed. The Zarmenus I know is still easily identifiable.
And this might be weird to think, but he’s kind of hot.
“Adam,” says Zarmenus. His voice is different, deeper and with an echo. He steps forward, and Adam begins to cower. “If you say one more word to Owen, I will end you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” says Adam, his voice shaking. He drops to his knees and starts to beg. “I promise. Please don’t hurt me.”
“That goes for the rest of you, too,” says Zarmenus, locking eyes with Tyrell for a moment. “Owen is my boyfriend. Either accept that, or have me as your enemy.”
Somewhere at the back of the party, a man screams. Then the party goes deathly silent.
Zarmenus looks down at me. “Let’s get out of here.”
He offers me a hand, which has transformed into a claw, the blackened skin reminding me of the surface of hardened lava. I take hold, and he pulls me to my feet with such force I stagger and crash into his bare chest. His skin is burning hot, and if I’m being honest I’m going to have to do some serious thinking about how strangely turned on I am right now.
“Sorry,” he says, taking a step away from me. “Do you want to leave?”
“I really do.”
He has to bend over and tuck his wings in to get through the front door. We go out onto the front lawn.
“Well,” he says, “you finally get to see what I really look like. What do you think?”
He stretches his wings out, and turns from side to side, showing me every angle of his true form. Now that I’ve adjusted, I can’t get over how incredible he looks. His skin isn’t an even shade of red; up close you can see veins of brilliant orange running over his entire body.
“You’re the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” I say.
He smiles. It’s so funny, but even looking like this, he’s still just Zarmenus. Maybe I should be afraid, but I’m not.
“I don’t scare you?” he asks.
“Nope,” I say. “Do you want to scare me?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Ugh, fine, you are kind of scary.”
“You’re just saying that,” he says, still smiling. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a hard man to impress?”
“Just you.”
