9. Janie
Chapter 9
Janie
H e clapped his hands as he spun around in my living room. “Looks like we are all done here, mon petite!” he exclaimed. He had finished changing my lightbulbs and looked around my apartment. He was loud, annoying, and nosy. After that, he organized everything that he felt was wrong—whatever that meant. Maybe he meant feng shui. He ignored the flowers that were still on my table. How could he not feel that those were off?
“Your nickname for me is very annoying,” I said deadpan.
Urien looked around and nodded. “Yes, I understand. You are not mine. You are clearly marked. I’m not stupid. Oh, humanity! You must be hungry. Let us go to dinner!” he exclaimed. The longer I spent time with him, the more drained I felt.
He grabbed my arm, and I pulled it back. “I have work tomorrow. I can’t stay out like that,” I said.
Urien paused and looked at me. “Oh, well, that is unfortunate. ”
“How else am I supposed to pay for this place?”
He blinked. “You pay for this? I thought you got it for free. It is so small!”
“I can’t afford a mansion! Do you know what it’s like in this economy?! I’m barely making do here. I think everyone is struggling nowadays. Money doesn’t go far now. Where have you been living that you are that dead to the world?”
Urien paused, and his eyes turned red again. “Yes. I’ve been dead for many years.” He grabbed my arm and spun me around the room. “You should move in with me,” he said. “I could take care of you! I have riches beyond imagination.”
Startled, I blinked in surprise. His intentions or motivations were a mystery to me, leaving me feeling perplexed. “I don’t even know you. I’m pretty sure Woman 101 actually told me I shouldn’t have brought you home, but here you are.”
He stilled the spinning of my body. “I am the best option! You are perfectly safe with me. Monster’s honor.”
That word again. I hummed as I stepped away from him. “What? You’re a monster?” I said. “You mentioned earlier that I am human. And you are not?”
“Honey, I am guessing you are about to be introduced to a whole new world,” he said. He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the door. “Dinner! My favorite place is down the road. It will be quick. Let’s go, worker bee!”
“You know, I have a name,” I said as he pulled me down the stairs.
“I am sure you do, mon petite,” he said. “But Janie is so plain. You need something like Veronica or Alexandria. Something with flair!” The trees and shops blurred as he tugged me along the sidewalk. We stopped in front of a pizza place I hadn’t been inside before .
“Oh, like Urien has flair!”
“Yes. Are you hungry?”
My brows furrowed. I had never seen this shop before. How did I miss it? It was open twenty-four hours. “Has this been here this whole time?” I whispered.
He tilted his head as a small smile crossed his face. “Ah ha. So you are new new as the kids like to say?” he said. “Tell me what you see when you see . . . the owner.”
Urien pushed me into the dark pizza place. A man stepped away from a table he was wiping down. He seemed giant. His chin was covered in a bushy beard. “Urien,” he said. “Is this a new . . .”
I blinked. The man shimmered for a second, and his size changed. He became larger, more muscled, and different. Fangs were exposed from his mouth as he smiled at me. His tan skin changed to green . I stepped back and closed my eyes. I stumbled backwards into Urien. Urien’s chuckle filled the room, and he pushed me forward to a table.
“Open your eyes,” he said. I sat in the chair. I looked back at the man and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked normal now.
His brown eyes narrowed at me. “Are you okay?” His eyes flicked back to Urien. Was Urien the monster he had hinted at earlier? “Are you safe?” he whispered.
I nodded and then shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Look, if Urien is . . . hurting you, then you just need to say the word. I can take out the riffraff,” he said. “Name’s Joel.”
I looked up. “Ur?—”
“I’m not hurting her! I am helping her. Call me a good samaritan. I just changed all the lightbulbs in her small little apartment! I pulled her away from a shade!” Urien protested. He smirked and winked. “I’m a superhero! ”
Joel laughed, but gave me a pointed look. In a fatherly tone, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“She’s marked, Joel. She’s fine. The poor human is not for me. Give me your finest pizza for my darling. And give me a smoothie,” he said.
Joel nodded and turned around. “You are just having a smoothie?”
Urien nodded. “Special diet. Ya know how it is,” he said.
“I don’t,” I said. I waved toward my body as if it wasn’t obvious already. “What diet has smoothies? How are all these places catering to your special dietary needs with no fuss?”
Urien laughed as he glanced at me. “What are your plans? Give me your phone. You must have my number. You’re my new best friend.”
I pushed my phone to him. “You never asked me if I wanted to be your friend,” I said.
His face twisted in confusion. “Why not? You have a hard road coming and I am a nice one to have around. Not that I knew that when I saw you. But you saw me. So here we are. Best friends forever. If you are given forever. I don’t know what marked you,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” I lowered my voice. “Are you trying to say that I am not having a mental breakdown?”
Pity filled his eyes as he grabbed the bottom of my chin. “Whatever poor being has chosen you is making a mess of things. Oh, well.” He let go of me and smiled. “I would never do that. I’m upfront and honest.”
My brows furrowed. “How are you honest? Why can’t you help me? If we are best friends, you know,” I said. Frustration filled my voice, because everything was feeling hopeless .
“Rules. Laws. Shit like that. Pizza!” he said as a server came over. The woman placed it in front of me, and they placed the bright red smoothie in front of Urien.
“Urien,” she said in a guarded tone. She flipped her hair as she stared at Urien.
“Nice to see you again, Angelica,” he said. He flashed her a handsome smile. Her mood shifted, and she returned a flirtatious smile.
Her fingers trailed down the side of her throat. “Is it? I heard you might be looking for a dinner date? Or is this your new one?” she purred.
“Oh no, she is spoken for!” he said. Urien leaned closer to Angelica and trailed a finger down her arm. “I may text you. I heard yours may be a delicious offer.”
She smiled and turned around. I grabbed my pizza and took a big bite. “Oh God, this is good! How have I not heard about all these places you have been taking me today?”
He chuckled. “You’ve never seen it. I mean, normies come here and there, but it’s like that secret around town,” he said with a wink. “Haha, what is that thing the hipsters say?”
I took a sip of my water. “That’s a bit dated.”
“I am dated, my love,” he said.
“Not your love.”
He nodded. “It’s kind of dark in here,” he said.
I looked around. “Yeah. Ambiance. You know what they scientifically say? You eat more in dim lighting,” I said.
Urien nodded absentmindedly and walked away from the table. Pulling my phone out to doom scroll, I kept eating my pizza. The server came over right as Urien returned. “Here’s your drink.” It was a beer.
I shook my head and waved my hand. With my mouth full, I covered it and said, “That’s not mine. ”
She thumbed near the direction of the bar where a man with a faint shimmer sat, watching the conversation. “He sent it over.”
“I don’t want it.”
Angelica made a face as she shook her head. She sat it on the table. “I am not telling him that. You can go and tell him that.”
I frowned and looked at Urien. Urien shrugged with a smirk on his face. I grabbed the beer and walked over to the man. The stranger was extremely handsome. Confidence and sexual energy radiated off him. He smirked as he bit the bottom of his lip. “Hello, little girl,” he said.
“I don’t want this,” I said. I slammed it in front of him. It swished onto the bar top and sprayed him. Maybe I should have said thank you and ignored him. But I didn’t want him to think he owned me. And I didn’t like how he called me little girl.
He leaned forward and brushed a stray hair out of my face. A bloom of anger spiked inside me, but I didn’t move yet. His smile widened as he shifted into my personal space. This was the time to move; I stepped back into the bar top, trying to get away from him. “You are so pretty for a normie,” he whispered. The ground shifted underneath my feet. I grabbed the back of a bar stool to prevent me from losing my balance fully. He stepped back in confusion.
The shadows covering the floor erupted in shadowy tentacles, grabbing him and pulling him down. Horror covered his face as he was being ripped down toward the shadowy pool at his feet. It shouldn’t be possible, but he was disappearing into the floor like it was a tar pit.
“Shade!” a woman screamed.
Joel jumped out from behind the bar, but by the time he arrived at the shadowy pool, the man was gone. Eaten by a puddle of shadow and tentacles and only the floor remained. I stumbled back into a bar stool. Urien grasped my biceps and pulled me back from the horror. Joel stormed over to us.
“What the fuck was that?” he screamed.
Urien stepped in front of me, guarding me from Joel’s brash screams. The glimmer was struggling. It was like a filter failing in a livestream. Urien shrugged. “I conducted a scientific experiment!”
“This is not a place for that!”
Urien flailed his arms wildly as he waved towards the bar. “How is it not? I knew there would be some sort of incubus thing! He saw a target, and he learned it was not a target!”
“A man is dead in my place! That’s not good! If the rumors of a shade go out, it can ruin my place!” Joel screamed.
“How do you know he is dead?” I asked.
Joel’s eyes caught mine. “I know.”
Urien turned to me. “Tell the green skin that is not what we saw,” he said under his breath.
I stepped back as I felt the blood drain from my face. “I’m pretty sure I cannot call him that. It feels a bit racist. And the guy is gone. How is he not dead?!”
Urien threw his head back and cackled. He spun me around and shoved me towards Joel. “Did you hear that, Joooooellllll? She saw you. She saw your skin. She’s been marked, Joel. And I think I know what did it now. What a fucking find.”
Urien laughed as he spun me around again. In a sing-song voice, he said, “She denied a fucking fae. This is a gift. I loooooooove her. What a fun little normie.”
I am not sure if anyone was fully hearing everything that Urien was saying. I could barely follow him. He stopped spinning, and the world was still moving as I grabbed a chair.
“Urien, did you set that guy up?” Joel asked. His massive hands went to his hips in disdain.
Urien shrugged. “It’s science! Come on dear, you need rest!”
The server shoved a pizza box in my hands. “I packed that up for you. Sorry about Urien.”
“Oh, thanks,” I said.
Angelica glanced at Urien. “I don’t know what your plan with this normie is, but please be careful,” she said.
He puffed out his chest. “I changed her lightbulbs. I have been careful! And I have fed her. I am a perfect normie handler.”
I made a face as I punched his arm. It felt like I hit a wall. As I shook my hand, Angelica laughed loudly.
“You changed her lightbulbs?” she asked.
“I took pictures, and I sent them to Rachelle. I don’t know if you know her,” I said meekly. “She’s from that cafe.”
Her eyes widened as she laughed. “You did! Oh my god, I need to text her. We need this on the group chat asap!” She turned around as her hands delved into her pockets.
Joel stepped in front of Urien. “Get out, Urien. You’ve disrupted the place long enough.”
Urien tugged me out of the restaurant. “I hope you won’t ban me from this place,” I murmured. “I would love to come back.”
Joel shook his head. “No, just get him out tonight.”
“Thank you. Your pizza is fantastic!” I shouted as Urien pulled me out the doors. Why was I being pulled in all these directions? I didn’t know if this was where I wanted to go.
“Come on, mon petite,” he said.
“Not yours.”
“Let’s get you to bed. Like I said earlier, you look haggard.”
“I haven’t slept well lately. And I’m human.”
He twisted around and looked at me with sadness. “Well, of course. Humans are delightful. That happens. Whatever is happening to you, he or she or they need to get their ass in gear and help you out,” he said. Instead of his normal happiness in his voice, sadness crept in. He shook his head quickly and his familiar chirpy attitude came back. “Although if they deny you, I will always take you on. I will be good, I promise.”
“I don’t want you,” I said. There was only one monster I wanted, and he invaded my dreams every night. I wasn’t sure if I was looking forward to it or not. Deep down, I think I was.
“Of course you don’t,” he said. He led me up the stairs and pulled me into my door. “You have my number, right?”
“I’m still confused about what is going on. Are you telling me everything is real?”
“I really can’t say anything. Rules, laws, shit like that.” He spun me around and hugged me. “I got to go. Text me, call me, pigeon carry me or whatever.”
“Pigeon carry you?”
“Whatever that is called. What about telegrams? I haven’t seen those in a while!”
“Telegram? Are . . . you not thirty?”
He laughed. At that moment, his teeth weren’t teeth; they were fangs. A chill descended down my spine. “Maybe at one point I was. ”
He walked to the door. “Toodles, my love. Stay out of the dark!” he said as the door slammed shut.
I walked around the apartment, trying to correct the items that Urien had moved. It made little sense, though. Urien was chaos walking, but the one thing he said sent chills down my spine. He said to stay out of the dark. When I put on my pajamas, I put on a hoodie and jumped into the bed. I used the hood to cover my eyes. Maybe I should stay out of the dark. All these weird things are happening in the dark.
Or maybe I needed to step into the dark.
Janie
I was stamping again today. After days of staring at a microscope, it was the easiest thing and today I was looking forward to it. Teresa, the manager, was in the sand room with Ms. Brindle talking about jars and ratios of slurry. Tana was across the room at her workstation. We could still chit chat on these days. The days without Teresa and Ms. Brindle over our shoulders were always the best.
“I met a guy this weekend,” I said.
“Oh, my god! Is it a new boyfriend?”
I shook my head really quick. “No, he’s . . . a friend? Kinda unusual. Just decided we would be friends or something.” Everything was weird, but I didn’t think she would believe me if I told her I saw a guy get eaten into the floor. Maybe I didn’t even see it. “He dragged me around all day, making sure I was fed. He reorganized my apartment and changed my lightbulbs.”
She dropped her tweezers and turned around. “What?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. ”
“That is weird. Did you need help to do that? And . . . he made sure you ate? That is strange.”
I shrugged again. “I meant to do it days before, but forgot.”
Tana shrugged. “Was he cute? Single?”
“So hot. Perfect almost. But not interested,” I said.
She pursed her lips and returned to her microscope. “Did you sleep better last night?”
“Yeah, I did. I feel a little better. Fresher and brighter,” I said. Although I didn’t turn my light off all night. I hate sleeping in the light. There was a sinking feeling that this wasn’t a permanent solution at all. I saw the shadows move during the day. Maybe . . . the monster was busy last night.
“That’s awesome. So what do you think about letting Rick take you out on a date?”
I bit my lip. “I think he has hinted that a few times. I’m not interested.”
“But Janie! You need to get laid! Hop on that dick!” she said as she laughed.
Getting up, I shook my head to shake off the grogginess and change the subject. I walked to the bathroom clipboard and signed my name. I hated how they tracked our breaks like this. From the corner of my eye, I saw Tana stand up and walk to the window that connected the factory men to our little bubble in the factory.
I walked down the hallway toward the bathrooms. The lights were out. I couldn’t tell if this was a way to penny pinch or save the planet. The shadows pulsed as I stepped into them. I pushed the bathroom door, and the lights went out as I stepped into the room.
A cold tentacle wrapped around my neck and pushed me against the wall. A thick, pulsing shadow covered the door. No one would save me.I sucked in a quick breath, but I couldn’t change how my body reacted. This wasn’t a dream. This was in real life. I couldn’t make out a figure. I could only feel the slithering of tentacles across my various limbs. One slipped over my mouth before I could scream.
A familiar gravely voice echoed in the room—the voice in my dreams. A tentacle slipped underneath my T-shirt. I panted as my pussy got wetter. “You hid from me last night,” he said.
The tentacle lifted off my mouth. “This isn’t real,” I whispered.
A chuckle filled the room. The cold tentacle rubbed the side of my cheek like a hand would do. Another tendril drifted toward my jeans. My eyes widened. The tendril drifted underneath my panties and slipped between my lower lips. My hips bucked at the amazing sensation.
“Are you sure, little one?” More tendrils drifted across my body. The one in my pants slipped inside my pussy. I let out a small moan. “I should be grateful. Your new friend fed me enough that soon we can be together in person. You can’t hide forever.”
“What are you?” I said between pants. The tentacle slid in and out of my pussy at a pounding pace. Another one slipped down my pants to touch my clit. My body climbed higher and higher to that peak. This wasn’t right. This shouldn’t be happening. I couldn’t control how my body reacted to this monster’s ministrations. The moment he touched me, fear and arousal filled my body. What if someone came in? My eyes followed the shadows at the door. Would they prevent anyone from coming inside??
“Come for me,” he growled. With his words, I couldn’t hold myself any longer. I fell over the cliff. This one was real, unlike all the ones in the dream. When the tension eased from my body, the tendrils slipped out of my pants and placed me back on the floor.
“Soon, little one,” he said. The lights blinked back on and I was standing in the light. My eyes widened as I realized what had happened. I tried to clean myself up as much as I could with my limited resources. I hope Teresa didn’t realize that I had been gone so long.
I blew out my frustration as I walked into the hallway. Someone grabbed my arm, and I yelped. Rick had his hands wrapped around my biceps. I couldn’t tell if my heart was racing because of what just happened or if it was him touching me. “Hey, you okay? You look a little flustered there,” he said.
“Oh, oh, I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“So what about going out with me tonight?”
I blinked and my face grew warm. “I don’t know,” I mumbled.
“It will be fun. I promise,” he said. I bit my lip.
Did I just hallucinate in there? Everything felt real when I tried to clean myself up. Is Tana right? Do I need to get laid by a real guy? I nodded. “Okay,” I said. Maybe this could fix me, bring me to reality.
A smile spread across his face. Why didn’t I feel excited about this? He seemed thrilled. Something was wrong with me. “Fantastic. Here is my number,” he said. He shoved a piece of paper into my hand with his number. “Text me and we’ll make plans.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can’t wait.”
I walked back to the lab and slid back to my stamping station. Tana walked back to her station with a fresh pad. “So, what happened?”
“Rick asked me out.”
She jumped up and down.“Annnnnd?” she said .
“I said yes.”
“Are you excited? You are so flushed!” she said. She slapped a piece of paper in front of me. “I wasn’t sure if you had my number. But text me with the deets later.”
I tucked my head down a little lower as I leaned my head into my hand. “I am fine. Absolutely fine.” My body was still responding to the memories of the cold tendrils caressing my body while I orgasmed in the bathroom. A year ago, this wouldn’t be me. Not me at all. I must be having a mental health break. But what would people do if I said I was taken advantage of by tentacles in a bathroom?