Chapter Three
P ushing the restaurant door open, Perry stepped inside, then slowed as his eyes bounced around the room. It was a mix of humans and monsters. Many monsters. Different monsters. Some Perry didn’t even know existed or wanted to know the existence of.
Perry somehow managed to hold in his whimper. Oh, he wasn’t on Earth now. He so wasn’t on Earth. Glancing around the room, he saw who he thought his date was, and when she stood and smiled, Perry gave a small wave in return, somehow managing to smile back.
Making his way around the tables, his eyes bounced around the room, seeing what looked like a devil sitting opposite a human woman. Horns rose from its forehead, long and black, and its black eyes twinkled as it laughed at something the woman said.
Another table had a monster that swished its tail over the floor before he curled it up along the chair of its date, the tip stroking the man’s cheek. The tail looked muscular, a deep blue color that appeared to shimmer under the light. The human smiled, rubbed his face on the tail, then stroked his hand along its length, causing the monster to shiver. Perry quickly averted his eyes.
Another monster was covered in dark fur, its eyes a bright golden color that seemed to shine like torch beams. Perry almost stumbled when they glowed brighter before diminishing. It opened its mouth, its fangs gleaming in the light, and Perry swallowed as he shuffled away.
Keeping his eyes on the floor, Perry moved around a monster with fangs that came out of its mouth and were so long they touched the bottom of its chin. They were black too, and Perry held his breath as he maneuvered around it. The damage those fangs could do had Perry holding his breath, so he didn’t attract its attention. He wasn’t far from the table now, and as soon as he reached it, he plastered a smile on his face. “Hi!”
Grailaine stood, towering over his six feet, and as Perry looked up, he hysterically thought she didn’t have three breasts. Why the hell he was thinking that he didn’t know but he kept smiling until his eyes met hers? Grailaine smiled at him, but to Perry it didn’t look friendly at all. That could just be his nerves getting the better of him, and when she sat, he did too.
“How are you?” He somehow managed to get that out and felt pleased with himself. Maybe he could do this after all.
“I was expecting someone… taller.” The soft, smooth voice washed over him, and Perry smiled.
“I’m average, I think? I’m six feet tall, so not too short where I’m from.”
“Oh.” Grailaine looked around, and Perry stared at her. She still looked quite androgynous to him, with a strong jaw and a straight nose. Her lilac eyes held his attention, such a pretty, unique color. Her long white hair hung down her back and when he looked closer, he noticed each strand moved on its own, like it was alive.
Swallowing, he blew out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and smiled when she looked back at him. “I suppose we should order.” Grailaine tapped her long black nails on the table, and Perry swallowed again. Were they nails or claws or talons? Barely holding his whimper in he picked up the menu. “They have human food.”
The way she said the word ‘human’ made Perry lift his head from the menu and furrow his brow. “That’s nice. I thought I could try something I knew and maybe try something new to me.”
Grailaine looked him up and down, sneered, muttering, “Good for you.”
“Anything to recommend?”
“Do you have muscles?” She tilted her head, licked her lips. “I like a human with muscles.” She gnashed her teeth together, chuckled softly. “Humans do have some uses.”
Why did Perry think she wanted to eat him and not in a good way? “Well, we do have that agreement in place, you know. The no eating the human one?”
“Rules made by humans. Anyway, I’ll have the octopus. It’s from your world. Very tasty. I prefer to eat it while it’s alive, but you humans frown about that. Something to do with animal cruelty. Not sure why it’s cruel when it will be dead in the end.”
“Octopus are intelligent animals.”
“Hmm. Maybe to you humans.” Grailaine looked him up and down again, sighed. “What about you?”
“I’ll have a cheeseburger. Go with what I know.” And then he could get out of there as fast as possible and never do anything like this again. Next time they had a bet that involved monsters and portals and off-world shit, he wasn’t getting involved. He’d rather streak naked in a park on one of the busiest days of the year than come here again.
As he waited for the server to come over, Perry glanced around the restaurant. He actually liked the decor, the bare brick walls and wooden beams across the ceiling with lights embedded in them. Pictures of other worlds hung on the wall and along one side of the restaurant, the bar area stood. That Perry knew, and he scanned the drinks, needing something strong.
The waiter came over to take their order and Perry gasped when he saw the four eyed… man? Four eyes and a forked tongue that flicked out, purple in color, and Perry had to stop from laughing. Not funny laughter. More hysterical, ‘I need to escape’ type laughter. He gave his order and watched the man monster walk away, its purple cat like tail trailing behind it. As Perry watched, the tail lifted, curling around the man’s waist.
Turning back to his date, he smiled. “How has your day been?”
Grailaine sighed, her eyes rolling. “How original. We’ll do it this way then. My day was fine. You?”
Okay, Grailaine was turning out to be a bitch. “I had to work, then I got ready and came here.”
“You…work?”
“Yeah. I’m a computer tech. I’m working with Dex Cyber Security where I test new security features and work with companies to help update their systems. I work with my friend’s father. It’s my first job since leaving college. What do you do?”
“You have brains?” her eyes widened. “I’m surprised. I’d been led to believe humans were stupid animals who’d only recently learned how to walk on legs.”
“Er, yeah? I love science so decided to go to college, and I had to walk between classes. Using my legs.”
“Hmm. Be careful with that attitude, human. Things do go bump in the night here.” Perry glanced at his phone. “That won’t help you.”
“I was just checking to see how long we’d been waiting for our food. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“Me too, but I think for different reasons.” She smiled again, her teeth looking sharper than before. “I’m looking forward to dessert.”
“Oh yeah. Me too.” Why did he have the feeling he was dessert and not the one where he’d leave a very happy man? They had rules in place. Laws that had been established to protect humans, but he had a feeling she might not be interested in following them. He had to find a way to leave without tipping her off, which he knew wouldn’t be easy. There was no way he would leave with her because he had a feeling he would be running back to the base with her chasing him. She’d probably catch him, too.
When their food came, he said very little. All he did was eat as fast as he could without looking like he was and smiling and nodding when she spoke. It became clearer as the meal progressed, she had little respect for humans, which made Perry wonder why she’d matched with him in the first place. If she didn’t like humans, why ask to go on a date with him?
The way she spoke about him, the demeaning terms she used, but with a smile on her face to take the sting out of what she said, had him glancing at his phone every few seconds. First, she commented on his boring blue eyes, then his straw-like blond hair. He couldn’t wait for the meal to be over, then he could leave. He could always tell her he had to work, so he needed to leave early. Any excuse would do if it got him away from her and back on his own world. He really missed his own world right then. The fresh air, the safe streets, the lack of monsters looking like they wanted to eat him alive.
Once he’d finished eating, he pushed his plate away and waited for Grailaine to finish. His phone beeped, and he picked it up, reading the message from Dennis asking him how the date was going. Putting it back down, he sighed heavily. “I’ll have to be leaving soon. I need to go to work tomorrow. One of my experiments has done something it shouldn’t.” He picked up the phone again, shook his head. “Shit.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yeah, it is. I’ve been working on this for over six months. I don’t want it to go wrong now, but if this is how the process is meant to go, then I need to record it and set up monitoring.”
“I see.” She glanced away, then looked back at him. “We can leave then. I can walk you back to the portal.” Tilting her head, she looked him up and down. “We can go the long way back. Spend more time together.”
“That sounds lovely.” Did he squeak then? Had he whimpered out loud? Fuck. He hoped not. He didn’t want to spend another second with her, but he also didn’t want to be rude while he was off world. He waved to the waiter, then finished his glass of water and waited for the bill to arrive. When he went to pay with his card, the waiter shook his head then indicated that Perry needed to use his fingerprint. Once that was done, Perry stood and waited for Grailaine, then followed her outside.
She towered over him. Her height, the breadth of her shoulders. Even her feet appeared larger than Perry’s as he walked along the sidewalk back to the portal building. They were still in the safe zone, so he knew nothing would happen. CCTV operated here, and he’d noticed the military around, so he felt safer, but not one hundred percent safe.
Grailaine slowed and pointed down an alley. “This is a shortcut.” She turned into the alley and Perry stopped, turning to watch Grailaine as she walked away. She glanced over her shoulder at him and waved to him. “Come on. It will knock ten minutes off your walk. You need to get back for your work thing.”
“Oh right.” Perry glanced up and down the sidewalk, saw no one, then nibbled his bottom of his lip. Grailaine called his name again, and he shrugged and followed her, ignoring his instincts screaming at him to run. He was leaving anyway, so this would only get him to his destination quicker and once he walked through the portal, he was never ever returning.
Following her down the alley, he slowed when he noticed the lights ahead flicker, then go out. “You know what? I think I’ll walk the normal route.”
He spun around and took two steps back towards the sidewalk when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going, little human?” The smooth, soft way she’d spoken had disappeared, replaced by a hard, grating voice. He attempted to shrug her off, but he found himself slammed face first into the wall, the bricks scratching his cheek.
He felt teeth graze his neck, and he screamed, but the sound was quickly shut off when a hand slapped over his mouth. He kicked back, hearing a grunt, and tried to pull free. When her grip tightened, Perry threw an elbow back and made contact. Her grip loosened, and Perry wrenched himself free. As soon as her hands fell away from his body, Perry ran. After a few steps, he realized he was running in the wrong direction, but there was no way he was going to try to run past her. Head down, he pumped his arms and legs, thanking his parents for making him do athletics in high school.
He ran out of the alley and had no idea where he was, but he shot across the road and straight into the alley opposite. Following that, he immediately turned left when he could, then right. Left at the next intersection, he slowed and listened for sounds of pursuit. Would there even be sounds, or could she just pop out right in front of him? He had no fucking idea what the hell she was and now he wished he’d taken the time to find out. “Fuck,” he whispered.
He slowly turned on the spot, trying to figure out where he was. He could feel a build up of electricity in the air and he was sure he was nearing the end of the safe zone. He ran a hand over his face when he heard laughter nearby and then his name called in a singsong manner.
Taking off, Perry headed for the trees he could see in the distance. If he made it to those, he would be able to hide, and she wouldn’t find him. He could disguise his scent. Could she even scent him? He wanted to scream at how fucking stupid he’d been by not knowing who the hell he’d matched with. Now he was running for his life on another fucking world.
He was done. He was so fucked. “Stupid,” he gasped as he ran. A wave of electricity shot through him. Perry gritted his teeth and shot into the trees, leaving the base and that fucked up monster bitch behind. He kept going, then slowed when he heard a howl in the air.
Spinning around, all he saw were trees, weird looking trees, and things that glowed. Leaves rustled overhead, and he looked up, seeing what appeared to be a thousand tiny beady little eyes watching him. Shit. What had he done?
“Fuck. I’ve left the safe zone.”
“Yes, my little human. You have, and now you're all mine.”