Chapter 28
Mei
The place Diablos sent us to is a small town near the beach. It’s full of tourists and happy people rushing around, laughing, eating, exploring. At first, nothing seems out of place.
“I’ve got it,” Brio says after an hour of us wandering around.
“Well, spit it out.”
Brio grabs my arm and moves me closer to him. A couple of people go walking past, laughing about something they saw on the TV.
“There are no old people.”
I snap to attention because that is strange.
“This is a retirement town. People come here to retire. Sure, it gets tourists, but the locals should be a generation that are older, and there are none here,” Brio says under his breath.
“You’re right. Oh, that’s so obvious now that you’ve pointed it out.” I inhale, drawing the mix of scents into me. “They were here. I can smell them.”
“Is this where we go and talk to the humans and see if we can convince them to give us information?” Lirin whines.
“Yes!” Canto says and slaps the back of his head.
“Leaf and I will go down to the beach,” I say. “I’m not good with people, and he will intimidate them.”
Ronit hesitates, I can feel his sudden concern in the air.
“I am a Nightmare; I have survived so much. We will be on the beach in broad daylight. Don’t fret for me, Siren.”
He grunts, and the Sirens disappear. I turn to Leaf and see the teal flash in my mind.
“You don’t like this place?” I ask as he moves closer, almost hovering over me.
“There are too many people, and it feels wrong.”
He takes my hand and leads us down to the beach. I kick off the flip-flops Reed forced me to wear and walk barefoot on the cool sand. Leaf goes to the water and growls.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” he says in frustration. “There is something about this place that feels wrong.”
I crouch and dig my hands into the sand, pausing at the strange texture. It’s more like…ash than sand.
“Leaf?”
“Yes?”
“Is there anyone besides us on the beach?”
“No. It’s just us.”
“But it’s a beach town, and it’s a beautiful day, isn’t that what humans do? All the TV shows I listened to talked about it.”
Leaf rushes towards me just as something explodes up from the sand. I’m thrown high into the air. I tuck myself into a ball and twist until I land lightly a dozen feet away.
Leaf roars and slams into something. They scrabble, but my dragon is far too angry to stop now. He drives it to the ground and snarls.
“Feed me,” the creature calls piteously.
I sigh. I know what this creature is.
“Wait, Leaf. Don’t kill it. It needs to go back to Nightmare.”
“Hungry,” it says hopefully. “Feed me!”
“Why should I let it go? It hurt you!”
“Because I’m asking, and because it guards the dangerous parts of the world, stopping the young from going into territories that belong to creatures like Deux.”
The Sirens come, called by our commotion.
“What is that?”
“What does it look like? Can you tell me?”
Reed snorts. “Nothing you want to see. It’s sand coloured, with huge white eyes and wrinkled skin. It’s got no nose and four sharp teeth.”
“It’s a protector of children. I’m sorry, but it has to go back. It probably came here by accident and didn’t mean it.”
Ronit runs a hand down my back. “Fine, I’ll call Diablos.”
A moment later, the demon shows up. Hartley makes a terrified squeaking sound and wisely takes several steps back behind his demon lover.
“What do you want?” Diablos grumbles. “Why do you all keep calling me like I’m your very own personal assistant. Do you see me in a sexy maid uniform, happily flouncing around, waiting for your call?”
“Um, baby. Keep the outfit at home, please.”
Lirin gets the giggles.
“It has to go back to Nightmare,” I interrupt.
“No,” he pauses. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” I say with annoyance lacing my voice.
“Fine. But if Puppy yells at me, I’m pointing the finger straight at you.”
I shrug.
A moment later, Becky and her pack show up.
“Oh, that is interesting,” Becky says with no inflection in her voice. I must admit, I am impressed.
“That needs to go back,” Stix says.
“Told you,” I growl.
“No one likes someone who says I told you so all the time,” Diablos grumbles.
“No one likes grumpy demons who share their sexcapades either,” Reed points out.
I laugh, and Becky edges closer to me, enough so that I stop paying attention to Diablos and focus on her.
“You look well,” she says gently.
I feel my cheeks heat. This is weird, how do I escape? “Things are going well.”
The creature shrieks and buries itself in the sand, sending plumes flying. “Feed me,” it cries from beneath the sand.
Stix grabs its ankle and yanks it back out.
“Home,” the king commands.
The creatures shivers. “Feed me?”
“Open the door, Puppy.”
The door opens, and Stix throws it through. Even from here, we can all see it happily leap and yelp. It rolls in the sand barrier it keeps and lets out another happy sound.
“So, it was just lost?” Lirin murmurs. “That’s so sad. Poor little guy.”
“Not all creatures are going to be bad and here to intentionally hurt people. Some will be lost, some scared. Thank you for not killing it,” Stix says and moves to Becky.
I don’t like being this close to him, so I edge further away.
“Mei saved him,” Leaf says with a growl and pulls me into his hard chest, providing a nice shield of protection from the Nightmare King and his omega.
The Sirens move around us, and I realise their movements are intentionally keeping me at the center of a very protected circle.
“Do you want to come for dinner?” Becky suddenly says.
Everyone except her and Hartley freeze.
“No, that would not be a good idea,” Ronit says with a forbidding voice.
“Oh, why?” Becky challenges. “Don’t tell me you are trying to cage her.”
“Because we are unmated alphas, and your pack loves you. It makes it very dangerous to be around you,” he explains. “And she is going to have her heat.”
“Plus, we are courting Mei,” Reed says seriously, “and if any of you even look at her, I’ll break your faces.”
I still, my ears ringing as I hear those words over and over.
“You are courting me?” I squeak.
“Yes,” Reed grumbles and grips my chin, tilting my head up to his. “We are courting you, silly Nightmare.”
I exhale, but he catches my air, drawing it into his lungs, and I’m lost. I have been dying for him to kiss me since the moment he last stopped kissing me.
“We are all glad to hear that,” Diablos says, clapping his hands. “When you are bonded, we can have the barbecue.”
Becky is disappointed, I can feel it in the air.
“Its important to you?” I ask out loud.
Becky sniffs. “I just thought, there aren’t many of us, and it’s a lonely life. It would be nice to have friends.”
I can feel every single one of the males around me stiffen, but I ignore them all and focus instead on her. This isn’t about them. It’s about us.
“Do you want to be friends?”
She sniffs. “Yes.”
“Okay, let’s be friends,” I concede.
Becky jumps towards me, but her alphas grab her mid-jump and drag her back.
“Let’s move in small steps,” Frost says to her.
She grumbles. “Bye, friend.”
“Uh, bye,” I say back, feeling the tension of the three groups of us ease as everyone slowly backs away.
“Good work. Two down, three to go.”
Diablos and Hartley leave with a cloud of sulfuric smoke.
I rub my nose, trying to ignore the burn.
“We can go get the next one in a few hours.”
“Already?” I squeak.
“Yes.”
We walk along the beach, wandering slowly until we get to a place where the sand is sand, not ground-up bones, and sit down.
I hesitate.
“Why do the Fae hate you so much?”
“Lirin, you can field this one,” Ronit says. “I’m going to find drinks and something for us to eat.”
My ears perk up at the mention of food.
Lirin sits beside me. I catch that dragon fruit scent that is so distinctive, and then he sighs.
“The Fae aren’t like Nightmare. In Nightmare, hierarchy is based on who is stronger and more dangerous, right?”
“Yes, with the strongest being at the top of the food chain.”
“Exactly. In Faerie, you are born into a class, and you can go up and down the ranks just by helping out others or doing something to get people to like you. But if you weren’t born lucky, you ended up being considered less than.
People who work and farm, who die in wars, who entertain in bed and courts. ”
My shoulders tense. “So, you never really had a chance, then?”
“No, we never had a chance,” he says pensively.
“So, why do you want to go back?”
Lirin splutters; he starts saying something several times, but in the end, he just falls silent.
“I don’t want to go back. I love the ocean. I want to be free, but I want to go home, and my home is the Black Death Ocean.”
Reed's admission must be huge because Lirin sucks in air, and Canto swears in a language I don’t recognise.
“You’re just saying this now?” Canto shouts.
“You all want to go back to how things were. I like the ocean; I love the freedom. Fighting with Leaf, exploring. I don’t remember much about living in Faerie, but what I do remember was miserable. Let’s stay here or go home.”
“Those oceans are not our homes; they are our prison,” Canto growls.
Reed stiffens. “I’ll be back.”
I want to call out to him, to stop him, but when I move, Lirin puts a hand on my leg and stops me from going anywhere.
“Just give him a few minutes to calm down,” Lirin whispers.
I ease myself back onto the sand and listen as they all grumble to each other.
To be honest, I don’t understand it. Finding somewhere that is safe, that is beautiful, and isn’t full of creatures that want to kill you sounds amazing. Why go back to where people treat you so terribly?
Why do I want to go back to Nightmare?
Better the devil you know, isn’t that the human expression? Nightmare wants to kill me, but this world hates me, too. Even here, the people wandering past, making comments, do not go unnoticed. The parents hush their young, the middle-aged humans didn’t bother.
I don’t belong anywhere.
“Eat this.”
Ronit passes me something long and warm. I think it’s wrapped in paper, but I recognise cheese, meat, sauce, and mustard from the smell, and something else.
“What is it?”
“A hot dog.”
“They eat dogs?” I yip.
“Not real dogs, it’s just called a hot dog, and, no, I don’t know why.”
“What is this flavoring? I can smell everything else but-”
“Garlic butter.”
I pop the soaked bread into my mouth and let out a groan of delight. “This is good. This is really good.”
“Yeah,” Ronit chokes out. “Glad to oblige.”
I consume the dog and then lick my fingers clean.
There’s a silence while I’m doing it, and I know I’ve got all eyes on me.
Amusement thrums through me, and I slow down, taking my time to make sure I’m completely clean before I turn to them and cock my head to the side, looking as innocent as I can.
“Is anything wrong?”
“Yes, we should be going back to the house so we can take care of you, not traipsing all over the world hunting monsters,” Lirin sulks.
He rolls on me, flattening me to the sand before he rolls us again and again until we end up in the water.
“Lirin-” Ronit snarls.
Leaf crashes past us and dives into the heavy surf, disappearing under the surface.
“Would you like to go for a swim with me?”
“You won’t drown me?” I ask nervously.
“No, of course not.”
I hesitate because I’m still not sure, but Leaf is there, and I’m trying to be part of something, so I nod.
“Okay.”
Lirin moves quickly, and suddenly, we’re shooting through icy waters like a bullet. He dives in and out of the water, playfully spinning us around and flipping us in mid-air.
Leaf throws us high into the air, and for a moment, we are flying. Lirin whoops as we fall and tucks me to his chest. We arrow down into the depths, and then he’s there in my mind, and I can see his outline.
I strain and strive to see his features, but there is nothing else. It’s enough. It’s more than enough for me. What was that? How did I see him?
Lirin wraps his arms around me in the cold depths of the ocean and touches his lips to mine.
Every moment we’ve shared together plays out in my mind, from finding him dying on the beach through to today and his warm touch.
I feel a rune burn and reach down and touch it. I draw the rune in the air, and I can breathe underwater.
I open my mouth and kiss him with all the heat that’s burning inside me.