Page 25 of Fated to Monsters

How can I hate him for doing exactly what I had been doing?

I didn’t just steal their source of power, I killed them in order to take it.

If anything, what I did was fucking worse.

I swallow down a lump that forms in my throat and grow ill from the damage that I had caused.

I knew I was taking their essence, and I had no reservations about ending their lives. I thought I was doing my realm a service to free us from the creatures that plagued our lands. But all they were trying to do was survive. Sure, they fought back and caused their fair share of mayhem, but they were doing what they had to do to stay alive—and with me out there, fueled by nothing but vengeance, they stood no chance. None of them did. The only thing stopping me from making sure Wes had met that same fate, was fate itself. If the curse hadn’t been lifted, would I have even known who Wes was when I locked eyes with him? Would I have killed him without knowing he was my fated mate? When would it have ever registered in my mind, in my soul, that I was responsible for his death?

Suddenly, I find myself grateful for whoever, or whatever freed the Oliver bloodline of their curse.

“How? How were we set free?” I hold Wes’s hand tighter and silently thank the Angels that he’s here with me today.

“It wasn’t easy,” Sydney tells me. “There was a series of obstacles, but ultimately, it came down to Willow, my wife. She went through hell and back, quite literally, multiple times even. There were a few times I didn’t think she’d make it, that any of us would, but somehow, she overcame the impossible.” Sydney smiles softly. “I’m not sure there isn’t anything she can’t do once she sets her mind to it.”

The love he has for her radiates through each word he speaks of her. He’s protective, proud, supportive. It’s a beautiful thing to see despite all the ugly I’m familiar with.

“I’d love to meet her.” I would settle for anything to help me wrap my head around the information that’s been thrown at me.

Nothing about my life is what I thought it was. And every day, something else seems to change. What else do I not know about who I am, who I was, or who I could be?

“I need to process things before bringing her into this.” He lets out a breath. “I hope you understand. This is rather unexpected, and my primary concern is her well-being. I don’t know how she’ll react to any of this. I want to tread lightly, be cautious.”

And given I’m the worst monster of them all, I don’t blame him for wanting to shield her from me.

8

Wren

Tremont stays tucked away inside his room.

I don’t bother knocking, or paying much attention to him aside from imagining him bursting into flames and experiencing a painful demise.

I shower again, doing what I can to rid myself of the lingering remains of his touch. He didn’t hurt me, but I can’t help being repulsed by the idea of him having access to my power.

Let me in, he had said.

I gave him entry to my magic without realizing the severity of the situation. But if he was going to abuse that gateway, wouldn’t he have taken more? Taken so much that it rendered me completely powerless.

Nothing of this makes sense, and the more I try to rationalize what has happened, the more confused I become.

So instead, I sit in the large expanse of the shower and let the water wash over me, the heat reddening my pale flesh.

How much longer will we remain in this house? What will happen to us once Sydney makes up his mind? We're at a standstill on how to move forward, especially considering Tremont was going to be the go-between for teaching us the ways of this world.

Without that, we pose too many risks to be set loose on Earth. One hour of Bo being free and he'd probably eat an entire town for lunch and out the supernatural world by the end of the day.

These beings have spent their entire lives maintaining the secret of their existence, what kind of people would we be if we fucked that up our first week?

They have peace here, or at least, some form of it. They get to exist and live without fear of someone like me or Parla coming after them to take what is theirs. Granted, that’s my understanding of how it is here with the minimal information I’ve gathered from talking with Sydney.

There’s always the possibility of him lying and feeding us a line of bullshit to keep us from leaving this house but what would he gain from that? I’m sure he wants us out of here just as much as we do.

“Hey.” Dash pokes his head into the steamy shower. “You okay in there?”

I blink through the water covering my face and wipe at my eyes. “I’m good.”

"Those clothes Sydney brought for you are clean. You wouldn't believe the machines they use. It makes doing laundry so simple once you figure out which buttons to push. Although, I do warn you to use caution when filling the cup with soap. There's a line on there for a reason."

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