Chapter 10
Mei
Diablos and Hartley get through a surprising amount of information. My head is spinning with it all by the time we stop for the day. Most of this planet is fairly straightforward and understandable. There is a hierarchy of predators who exist by eating, drinking, sleeping, and procreating.
The thing that is stumbling our whole group is the technology. Human music made my ears hurt, and Diablos whimpered when I hurled the small box into the creek.
When Diablos brought out what he called a phone and explained that it contained pictures of anything you could imagine, and it could talk to people from anywhere in the world, I just didn’t get it.
It didn’t even feel like an effective weapon.
How could I knock someone out with something so small?
When he asked how I would talk to someone far from me, I just blinked at him.
“There’s no one I want to speak to.”
He tried so hard throughout the day. Cars, buildings, kitchen appliances. None of it made sense to me, but the Sirens were worse. They didn’t even pretend to be interested. In desperation, Diablos had made something blare loudly with noise.
Leaf had attacked it like it was a fully trained Nightmare about to kill us, and destroyed every piece of technology in minutes. He’d then come back to me, purring proudly that he’d done a good job protecting us. I had stroked his hair and murmured my approval before I could think it through.
It was at that point Diablos gave up on trying to teach us human things.
He paces in front of us, muttering with each heavy footfall.
“Right, so as far as we can tell, there are six worlds and this one. Nightmare. Faerie and Hell are the first ones that opened. There are three more, but we don’t know much about them.
We presume that one is where the angels reside, but they aren’t terribly interested in coming here, and we can all be thankful their war-mongering ways stay wherever the hell they are hiding.
The Black Death Oceans and the Labyrinth seem to exist on different planes and are spaces in between, which we do not count as worlds, even though they are.
However,” Diablos says, pausing in his wanderings to turn to us.
“We think the Minotaur had to have come from another place, something even older than our worlds. It’s very exciting. ”
“Off topic, a bit love.”
“Oh, oh, yeah, right. Sorry.” He lets out a short, amused laugh. “The point is, there are lots of bad things, and you need to recognise human from Nightmare from Demon from Fae.”
“Yeah, I think we got it,” Canto says in a voice dripping with boredom.
“Because you know everything, right?” I say sweetly.
“Shut up, Strega.”
I chuckle under my breath, then launch up into the tree, narrowly avoiding the missile that came pelting for my head.
Leaf lets out a roar and charges in, attacking the Sirens viciously. For a long time, all I can hear is the thuds, grunts, and growls of the six of them going to battle.
“This is ridiculous. I have never, ever met any more useless creatures,” Diablos snaps. “Even Puppy and Stix were easier to deal with. Wilder wasn’t this hard. Hell, Frost was easy compared to-”
Someone crashes into Diablos, and suddenly, the world is awash in heat.
“ENOUGH!”
Everything goes silent, and then there’s this roaring sound. I sit up, listening. Water rushes in, putting out all the flames.
“What the fuck?” Diablos mutters.
The Sirens and Leaf go back to fighting.
“What do you want to do, Di?”
“Let them fight. Here, do you want a cheeseburger?”
I drop down in front of them. Hartley shrieks and stumbles back, gasping.
“I do!”
“What?” Hartley wheezes.
“I want a cheeseburger.”
Diablos hands me one. I sniff it, then lick it, but it tastes weird. He takes it from me, when Leaf cuts in, grabbing it.
“Mine!”
He turns to me and grips my hand, placing the cheeseburger in my hands where I can find the food. Then he returns to the fight.
“How can you eat so much? You are so tiny.”
I chew and shrug. “Food is scarce, eat where you can, it might be moons before I eat again.”
“Oh, Di, go get some more for her.”
“Don’t let them hurt, Hartley,” Diablos says.
If he’s getting me more food, I will protect his mate with my life. He disappears, and I feel the lack of his presence in the air. It’s an absence of sulfur, of heat, and a dangerous aura. He might seem jolly, but Diablos is really powerful.
I take my guarding very seriously, but when they come towards us and don’t stop, I throw up a rune. Which blasts them all with a noxious-smelling liquid that is common in my world.
“What is wrong with you?” Reed hisses.
I crouch in front of Hartley and wait.
Diablos appears and looks around. “I don’t approve of the method, but I can’t fault the results.”
I sit down and wait while Diablos hands me a burger. Again, Leaf intervenes, and the burger is handed to me via the dragon. Strange behaviour.
“Peel off the top layer.”
I do as he instructs and let out a happy sound and start eating with single-minded intensity.
When Leaf comes close, I pause in my eating and growl in warning. No one comes between me and my food. No one.
And especially not these luxurious and juicy cheeseburgers.
Only when he moves away again do I resume eating, murmuring in pure pleasure.
They are all silent. But I ignore them, focusing only on the offerings Diablos and Leaf give me.
At last, I hand half a cheeseburger back.
Leaf snatches it and gulps it down. I walk to the nearest tree and climb up into it. Within five minutes, I’m asleep.
***
Something slams into my tree; I wake up with my heart pounding, sure he’s found me at last. My head throbs, and my heart beats hard enough that I’m sure anyone can hear it. I throw my hands up with my talons in front of me, ready to defend myself.
“You stupid fish, why did you do that?” Canto snarls.
I slump back in the tree, trying to get my body under control. It’s just them, fighting again.
I jump down, and when a Siren reaches for me, I dive in and bring my knee up sharply, dropping Lirin to the ground. He wheezes.
When Canto comes at me, I stab two stiffened fingers into his throat, and he falls away, choking.
Ronit and Reed come at me at the same time, but I flip Ronit on his back and kick Reed’s legs out from under him.
Brio doesn’t move, but he also doesn’t try to attack me. He just hums as I approach.
“Enough!” I snarl. “We are supposed to be learning how to survive here. All you are doing is telling every predator on this side of the planet where we are. I’m tired of it.”
“You are just a monster. What are you going to do about it?”
My rage ignites as I turn on Brio.
“I can mute you. Hide your voice. Make you silent and still. You will have no music, no song.”
Brio’s whole calm aura turns spiky and sharp.
“If you do that to me ever, I will slice your throat open and bathe in your blood.”
“You think you can?” I rasp out, my temper snapping.
“I know I can.”
“Yeah, you’ve done a bang-up job so far. How many attempts does it take a Siren to kill me?”
“Just one more,” he growls and inches forward.
Suddenly, we are chest to chest, his temper and mine.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Oh, you won’t even know what’s happening. It will be over so quick. I won’t even waste time playing with you.”
He tastes of the acacia forests of home. It’s distracting. I want to lean into him and the safety he smells like, but he feels like thorns and danger.
There’s a moment where we both pause. No words are said, but there are so many puzzling thoughts in my brain, confusing, mind-melting thoughts. Heat that simmers and zings along my nerve endings. I see colours in my dark mind, and I think I hear a song that is sad and lost.
Brio sways closer; he’s taller than me, and I feel small and delicate. I want to purr and cuddle up to him.
What is wrong with me?
I take a half step back, breaking whatever spell was over us.
Diablos grabs my wrist. I know because of his scent, but I still almost stab him in the throat for daring to touch me. He drags me away from the others, growling viciously at Leaf when he protests and tries to come to my rescue.
“I’m fine, Leaf. Stay there.”
“Are you an omega?” Diablos hisses lowly.
My blood turns ice cold. I grit my teeth and refuse to answer him.
“The Sirens have been growing more and more unpredictable here. If you are an omega, I need to know. It’s not safe around them.”
I laugh.
“I have never had a heat. I’m not an omega, I’m…something. And don’t worry, Sirens have always been dangerous for me to be around, but trust me, I can handle them.”
“Mei, if you are an omega, I can help you find a pack that you will match with, and you can mate-”
I growl a low and deep warning. “I have a pack.”
He jolts. “What?”
“I have one. They do not deserve me.”
“Ah, well, okay. If you change your mind, let me know. But also, if your symptoms start getting worse, just hypothetically, don’t bite my head off,” he says before I can interrupt. “If you get worse, they will as well, more aggression, more territorial, they will start-”
“I can handle those squids.”
Diablos hesitates. “I like you. I feel like you are a bit like a little sibling or litter mate. Ha, you have grown on me, Mei. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. So, I’m extending this offer. If you ever need help, come find me.”
I hum, but before I can say anything, he’s gone, leaving me alone.
Omega.
Yes, I know that I am an omega.
How long until it fully presents itself? Judging by the flashes and increasing occurrences, it won’t be long at all.
I creep back to the camp and crouch in the shadows, listening to the Sirens moving around. When Diablos starts talking again, I listening intently.
He’s explaining communication and how to deal with human emotions, but my mind won’t settle. All I keep remembering is how it felt to be so close to Brio. The heat that radiated off his body, the rage. They made me feel alive and not just like I’m surviving but that I’m actually enjoying myself.
Fighting with them is the most fun I’ve had in my whole life.
Leaf approaches, a strong wall of muscle and strength that is trying to be small. In a short amount of time, he’s become a constant, and I find myself searching for his mammoth presence. Uneasily relying on him like he’s the only thing safe in this world.
No, I don’t want this.
It’s safer to be alone.
Safer to be a Nightmare who lives only to survive.
No, there is nothing there. Not between me and the Sirens, nothing with Leaf, and especially nothing with Brio.
They want me dead.
They will kill me.
I am just their monster.