8. Janie
Chapter 8
Janie
O pening my eyes, I felt the softness of the pillow beneath my head. I didn’t feel good. Every part of my body wanted to curl up again and sleep. Except there would never be sleep while the monster haunted my dreams. Can I go crazy without restful sleep? Are the dreams connected to my apartment? Maybe I should look into a hotel room. I need one night of rest. I don’t want these dreams anymore. With a swift motion, I took out my phone and began scouring for hotels near my location. As the price ranges appeared on my phone, I knew my bank account would disagree with a stay in a hotel room. I threw my phone down and sighed.
Today, I spent more time wandering the city than being in my home. I’ve avoided eating at home and drinking my coffee at home. It’s not stopping the weird things from happening. It’s happening everywhere. Am I seeing monsters everywhere because I feel so sleep deprived? I was walking today. The crisp, early fall air wafting through my hair. I tried to fluff up my hair to at least make my hair seem like it was supposed to look messy .
As I passed a townhome, a woman screeched through an open door, “Get out, Urien!”
A well-dressed man stumbled out of the door. He rushed to put on a suit coat. His hair was messy and there was a red mark on his cheek. His skin was pale and his brown eyes glittered with excitement. The muscles underneath his white shirt flexed as he moved like a graceful predator. He was beautiful. I think if Tana was here, she would throw herself at him. He glanced at me as he righted himself. He smiled and winked at me.
I pointed to my cheek. “You got something there,” I said.
He made a face as a sly smile crossed his face as he wiped his cheek. “You are . . . rather normal there,” he said.
My eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you?”
He guffawed. “Normal. It’s been eons since I was normal! Maybe I was never normal.” He grabbed my arm and walked away from me. “So long dear, Naomi! It’s been a blast. Good luck with Ivan!”
I tried to pull away from him, but his grip locked on me. “Where are you taking me?”
“Oh, mon petite, I’m taking you somewhere to eat. It’s obvious you need a good meal and probably some coffee like you Americans like. You look terrible. Maybe you need a makeover, too.”
“I don’t know you,” I said as he dragged me through the streets.
“You look like you need a friend and I am bored. Let us go!” he said. His laugh filled the air. No one seemed to notice him practically dragging me through the street. We stopped at a corner with a tree hanging toward the pole. He pressed the pedestrian button. The light hadn’t changed. I wrenched free from his grip into the small shadow of the tree .
He turned toward me. “What was that about?” I asked as I put my hands on my hips.
“Oh, Naomi decided to part ways with me. I will find another,” he said. He sighed and made a flourish with his hand.
“Was she your girlfriend?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “No, we were . . . dining buddies,” he said. “What is your name?”
“Janie.”
I nodded. The pedestrian light still showed a flashing red hand. A cold slither slipped up my pant legs and my heart plummeted to my stomach. As I tried to maintain a fake smile, it slipped away, betraying my true feelings: fear. My heart raced. Do I look down? Why didn’t I wear boots? Why was I worrying about boots when it didn’t change the fact that there was a shadowy tentacle on my ankle? The man’s posture changed. His brown eyes flashed blood red as he turned toward me. He blinked as they changed back to brown. His pupils blew as he sucked in a deep breath and his eyes drifted to the hammering pulse in my neck.
“Why are you so scared, mon petite?” he hissed. “It’s making it hard to control myself.”
My eyes darted downward. I couldn’t see the tentacle. I didn’t think he could either. No one else had seen them moving. If it was even real. I wore pants today. It was curling around my ankle and squeezing. His eyes drifted downward.
“That is weird,” he said. The shadow I stood in pulsed around my body. The tentacle slipped away from me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me across the street. A car honked at us as we walked through the crosswalk. He yelled at the car as he tugged me along. When we made it to the other curb, he glanced back at the other side of the road .
“Sorry about that. I had to get your innocent little self away from that,” he said. His eyes were normal again. I could feel my heart rate returning to normal. “Why were you so scared?”
I blinked. “Nothing.”
“But you are not scared now?”
“No.” A shadow behind him pulsed a little. Maybe I said that too quickly.
Urien grabbed my arm again. “Well, good. Now let’s get you fed and caffeinated like a good little human.”
“Okay.”
“I like you and all, but you are too trusting of me, mon petite,” he said. We paused at another intersection. There was a skinny shadow from the pole by the curb. I stepped away from it.
“I am not yours. I am not your little anything,” I said.
Urien patted the top of my head. “But you’re so tiny and fragile,” he said with a laugh. No one ever called me tiny. A growl erupted in the air and my whole body reacted to the noise. I sucked in a deep breath as my lips parted. My panties instantly got wet, and I stumbled forward. Urien grabbed me by my stomach. He righted me on the edge of the curb. His pupils were blown again. “Well, that is intriguing.”
The pedestrian sign blinked WALK and he pulled me through another road. He dragged me toward a coffee shop that I hadn’t been to yet. It had cottage core vibes for sure. There was glittery paint all over the windows. The sign Broomsticks and Tea was painted on the window.
Urien let go of me and spun around. “Here we are, mon petite .”
“Still not yours. ”
“I realize that, but you are weird. And I think you need some help. Do you even have a friend?” he said.
“Uh,” I said. No. Tana could kinda be considered a friend. Not a total lie. “Yes, definitely.”
He tilted his head. “You know, I can hear you lying to me, right?” He pulled me toward the doors and pushed me inside. “Oh, my dear Rachelle! Rachelle, get my lovely, normal friend something to eat and get her the best caffeine beverage you have!”
The woman with a head of bouncing brown curls glanced toward me. “You have a new friend? Or dinner partner?”
“Just a friend! She’s pretty! Don’t you think? She needs to eat, though. Has there been a shade problem on this street? Either one is following me or you have a problem,” he said. She turned as she whipped up a frothy drink.
“No, we don’t have a shade problem. Have seen little around here for years. Maybe my grandpa mentioned one a few blocks away.”
I looked between the two of them. “Do you mean lack of shade in a concrete jungle? Like heat and global warming or something like that? Green spaces that help with the city warming?”
The woman, Rachelle, glanced at me and turned back to Urien. “She really is normal, ain’t she?”
Urien beamed. “Innocent as the snow! I love her!”
I made a face. “Snow can kill.”
Urien stilled as a joyous look crossed his face. “My normal bff has bite! I love her, Rachelle. If she comes in, please put her order on my tab!”
I pursed my lips. What did he mean by normal ?
The woman swanned back to the counter and passed the drinks. “Whatever you say, Urien. I made this for you. Here’s your stuff, girly,” she said. “What’s your name?”
“Janie.”
Urien beamed. “Awww, how sweet!” he gushed as he led me to the couch on the other side of the cafe. “Now sit here and tell me all about the illustrious Janie!”
Urien pushed me onto the couch and sat beside me. I sipped my coffee. I widened my eyes. “Wow, this is great!”
“This shop really has the best coffee in town. They make a special drink for me,” he said as he swished his pink milkshake.
I pointed to it. “What do you get? Is it some sort of strawberry refresher? Do you recommend it?”
He chuckled as he tapped the lid. “You can’t have it, girly girl,” he said. “Special special for me.”
“Why are you trying to be friends with me?”
He looked at me for a moment. “I can feel your loneliness. It’s a predator mindset. I can feel it. Plus, you did me a solid by pointing out that bit of breakfast on my cheek. What are your plans today?”
I stopped drinking and covered my mouth. “What was it? Strawberry compote?”
Urien laughed. “You’re so silly. What are your plans? You avoided that question.”
“I don’t know. I need to change my lightbulbs. The light is blinking. I forgot the other day,” I said. I took a bite of the sandwich.
“What a mundane task! Can I do that?”
“You want to change my lightbulbs? Don’t you have your own to change?”
“No, I hire help for that.”
I blinked a few times as I tried to figure out what I would say next. “Why do you want to come to my house and change my lightbulbs?” I said. “This is weird.”
He guffawed so loudly that the barista hushed him from across the room. “I am absolutely weird, as the young folks say!” he said.
“What do you mean ‘young folks?’ You look just a few years older than me,” I said.
He patted my knee like I was a child. “Shush and drink your coffee. We will go to your place and master the lightbulbs,” he said. Another man walked in and he stood up. “Be right back. Gotta talk to that guy about that shade.”
He animatedly talked to the man and pointed at me a few times. The guy shook his head a few times. The barista, Rachelle, walked toward me. “Hey, I know you are a normie and all, but keep wary of Urien. He’s not bad, per se, but I don’t want you to think you are fully safe.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Can’t really tell ya. It’s against the rules. But try not to get hurt around him. I don’t know his level of control. I made sure his drink was very well done to ensure your safety,” she said.
My brows furrowed. “But I don’t understand. Am I safe?”
She shrugged, and her eyes darted away from mine. A sinking feeling settled into my stomach. “Yeah and no.”
“That answers nothing.”
Her lips pursed as she glanced back at him. “The world is more complicated than you can imagine. He sometimes does this. My granddaddy used to say, he finds one little halo in the dark and just clings to them. You may be his new halo.”
Urien walked back toward me. He clapped Rachelle on the back. “Rachelle, my dear, you always outdo yourself. ”
She cocked her hip. “Of course I did,” she said with a smile.
“Well, are you done eating, mon petite ? We have some lightbulbs to change!”
Rachelle started laughing. “You’re changing a normie’s lightbulbs? Oh my gods. Take a picture of that and send it to this number!” she said as she scribbled a number on a napkin. She shoved it in my hands as Urien pulled me up. She grabbed my plate as it clattered to the ground. Except that it looked like it floated for a moment before her fingers clasped it. Urien tugged me before I could mention it. Luckily, I still had a firm grip on the cardboard cup.
“Where is your house?” he said as he pulled me out of the shop. We turned back the way we came. “Let’s avoid the shadows.” He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. His hands touched that bite. I yelped as pain seared through my body, spreading from the bite mark. I pulled out of his arms.
His eyes furrowed. “What’s wrong, mon petite ?”
“You hurt me,” I said.
A confused expression covered his face. “How?”
“You touched this,” I said as I pulled my shirt over to show him the bite mark. I don’t know what came over me. Why was I showing him this?
His face twisted in sadness. “Oh, my dear puppet, you have been marked. I am so sorry.”
“Marked? What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Unfortunately, I don’t know what monster did that. I do not have a working memory of each bite with every monster. I can tell you what mine looks like,” he said with a wink.
“What?” I said .
His head titled as his eyes narrowed. “I hear my bites are orgasmic. Are you tempted?”
“No.”
“What about that guy over there?” He grabbed me by the torso and pushed me closer to him as he pointed to a guy smoking in the corner. The man was tall and looked like a god. There was a faint shimmer around him, like the woman from yesterday.
I turned back to Urien as my brows knitted in confusion. “No.”
Urien cackled. “God, let’s tell him! We’ve got to talk to Ryo!” he said with glee. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward this man. The man, Ryo, looked at me and Urien in confusion.
“Urien, why is your blood bag here?” he hissed.
Urien threw his head back and laughed. “Not my blood bag! I am between them at the moment. But this normie doesn’t want you!” he said.
The man looked at me like I was a tiny bug in his way. “Is that true, normie?”
“Look, I’m sure most girls throw themselves at you. I’m not interested and I’m not comfortable with this at all. I’m not sure why he’s embarrassing me about this.”
Urien punched his arm. He seemed like an excited child and I wasn’t sure what I did that thrilled him. Urien was weird, and it felt like I was the joke. “She said that to me, too! I think I found the best one!”
He stepped closer to me. The man reached out and petted my cheek. “Urien, your little pets exacerbate me.” His eyes narrowed, and the glimmer seemed to vibrate stronger between us as he touched me. My eyes darted away from him—it almost felt painful to hold it this long. A shadow between his head grew bigger. “You feel the same about Urien?”
“I don’t want him,” I said. And something slithered in my core with the shadows on the wall that there was only one monster in the world that I wanted.
He threw his head back and howled in laughter. “Now, that is something. Do you know why?”
Urien’s glee became more sedate as a wicked smile crossed his face. “She’s been marked.”
Ryo stepped away from me, and the shadows stopped moving toward him. Why couldn’t anyone else see the shadows? A spark of curiosity slid across his face. The stranger whispered, “Oh, by what? What sort of luck do you have to find a new human friend that is marked?”
I rolled my eyes. “Why did you call me human?”
Urien replied, “That’s what you are.”
The odd man smiled. It was supposed to be a kind smile. That was what it should’ve been, but it felt morphed and wrong. It was like Ryo was pretending to be human, but it was only a facsimile. Ryo was something different; he wasn’t human at all.
“I don’t know, to be honest. It doesn’t matter. Tell this old man we have to go. Good day!” Urien exclaimed as he pulled me down the road as he laughed.
“Bye, stranger!” I said.
“Fucking v—” Ryo muttered before sticking the cigarette back into his mouth. The glimmer faded and for a second, I thought I saw something inhuman. Disbelieving what I was seeing, I turned away before I ruined all my belief on what was sane and normal.