An Invocation of Monsters (The Void Book 2), page 10
I straightened up, examining the flakes on my nail. It was difficult to tell in this light, but they looked dark brown, and there was the slightest tinge of a rusty smell to the air in this spot.
Without a luminol test it was impossible to be sure, but I was convinced these marks were blood stains.
I wiped the flakes away, glancing back at the lake, and froze. I did recognize this vista from one of the Polaroids.
If I blurred it in my mind, then this was where my mother had stood and taken a picture. The gleam of the lake was there, a sliver of swirling sky… but in that picture, there had been a smoky, diffuse form covering half the photo.
So what—or who— had been standing there with her?
The rational, urban exploring part of my brain wanted to stay there for hours, touching every inch of the ruins and trying to piece together every place my mother had set foot here.
But the other part of my brain, the lizard always alert for danger, was chirping that something wasn’t quite right.
The little hairs on the back of my neck were standing straight up.
Within two seconds of focusing on my surroundings, I knew I was being watched, and that whatever was watching me was undoubtedly a malevolent presence.
I’d never gotten the slightest hint of true hostility from the monsters I’d met, even from Toth, who had been furious the night I’d come across him.
Which meant that whatever was hunting me right now was not one of them.
Predators chase prey, I reminded my shivering body. If I didn’t maintain complete control, I’d break and run.
Instead I forced myself to turn around, pretending to still be examining the ruins, but my eyes were sweeping the forest.
The weight of the unseen watcher’s regard was like a stone on my chest. Maybe it was my fear-heightened senses, or maybe the Void somehow amplified emotions, but I knew the watcher hated me.
The sensation of malice was palpable.
But I saw nothing else in the wilderness. As far as I could tell, I was the only living thing out here.
I pretended to be done in my exploration of the ruins, forcing myself to walk casually back towards the edge of the stone plate. The feeling of being watched didn’t abate; if anything, it became more intense.
As I cut through the path of black grass, I thought I saw something move at the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t look right at it. I didn’t want to set it off, whatever it was, especially with the malevolence it was radiating.
Not to mention, if I saw something terrible beyond my comprehension, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from running. My body was already quivering, and it was taking every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep my flight response in check.
But from what I could tell, the thing that had moved was pale, almost grub-white against the blackened, jewel-like palette of the Void.
With too many limbs. Far, far too many bone-thin limbs.
I swallowed back an acrid taste as I descended the steps. From here, I could run to the lake.
Would it follow me into the water, or leave me alone?
I pressed my lips together tightly, but not before a faint whimper escaped me. I had known going into the Void meant danger. I’d accepted the risks when I jumped in.
But then I heard a rustle of leaves from the forest. The snap of a twig, and a low, liquid sound that came from a living being’s throat, far too close for comfort.
My composure shattered like glass.
I sprinted down the last few steps towards the beach. A shrill, eerie sound rose behind me, driving me even faster towards the water.
I didn’t stop to take a breath or compose myself before jumping into the unknown depths of the lake. I just crashed through the waves like a bull, sending splatters of bioluminescent colors flying, my breaths sobbing in sheer panic.
I kept going even as the high-pitched sound grew in intensity, the liquid quality of it raising goosebumps all over me. As soon as the water deepened, I plunged in headfirst and swam like my life depended on it… because I was very sure that it did.
The ear-grating sound finally vanished when I was underwater, but I kept kicking, swimming desperately towards the center of the lake. If the thin-limbed thing could swim, I was fucked… unless I found the door first.
But even as I desperately breast-stroked away from shore, another bone-chilling thought occurred.
If the monsters could cross into our world… who was to say that this thing couldn’t do the same?
I was sure I was going to die here. No body to be found, my cousin left to mourn without answers, my left-behind belongings hidden by the Society. Nobody would ever know what had happened to me.
Oddly, I found myself wondering if the monsters would care that I’d died. I felt a pang of grief at the thought of never speaking to Kiraxis, Drazan, and Toth ever again, my own mourning for a beginning that would never have an end now.
My lungs were burning as I swam, rising for a breath and hearing that wailing shriek like a klaxon from hell—
And then tentacles curled from the darkness of the depths, wrapping around me and pulling me under.
14
Elle
My ears popped as I descended into the darkness, thrashing wildly, and then a low, masculine voice echoed through my head.
Stop fighting, Elle. I have you.
But I couldn’t stop. If he dragged me down, I’d drown—
A tentacle curled over my mouth, and I gasped in a bubble of air.
“There’s something in the woods!” I tried to shout, but all that came out was bubbles. Drazan patiently fed me another breath of air, then another, until my limbs relaxed in his grasp.
I was still shaking from the adrenaline rush of sheer terror. How strange that I would find the dark pressure of the lake’s depths a source of comfort.
I will not allow it to harm you, he promised, bringing me closer. Without thinking, I held out my arms until I could grasp him, gripping his shoulders and clinging beneath the nest of tentacles for dear life.
Never, in a million years, would I find this tentacle-faced monster anywhere near as terrifying as the thing on shore.
I was a little calmer now, sure that Drazan could and would absolutely annihilate that thing if it tried to enter the lake.
But I still wanted to be as far from it as humanly possible. There was something about it that was different from the monsters here.
I had the distinct impression that it wasn’t one of them, but an anomaly of sorts.
Something that should not be.
The Klee gripped me tightly, and I felt the water sliding over me as he moved. Tentacles delivered fresh bubbles of air to my mouth and nose as the monster carried me through the lake, striding through deep water.
For the time being, I was content to be protected. It was quite an unusual feeling for me.
I was used to looking after myself. When I’d developed the ability to heal with my hands, I’d dealt with the consequences alone.
I had chosen on my own to take the only route of survival—being alone forever. Never allowing myself the luxury of another person’s touch.
From the first incident, I’d known that to do otherwise would make me a target. If I’d ever been open about what I could do, it would’ve started off innocently enough.
I would be a miracle, a savior.
But that wouldn’t last forever. Nothing exceptional was allowed to live on its own and exist.
It would start with someone studying me, and progressing to me living the rest of my life in a room by myself, never able to leave, at someone else’s beck and call. Scientists, the military… they would all be clamoring to know more, more, more, until everything that was Elle was drained away.
I’d already brushed close to that fate once, and once was more than enough. I’d rather be on my own than let the secret out.
And maybe that was why I was drawn to these monsters.
They were, in a way, like me. Unusual, exceptional, living alone on the outskirts.
I just hoped that they wouldn’t see me as a commodity. I’d already risked my secret by healing Toth, but there hadn’t been a rush of monsters seeking me out since then.
He’d kept my secret so far.
But living that way, cut off from all others, had made me self-sufficient. I liked knowing that I was responsible for myself and no one else.
My hands were my problem. If I didn’t let anyone into my life, they couldn’t sell me out.
And most of all, I looked after myself. I prided myself on being able to stand my ground.
But the pale thing had terrified me so badly that not once did I consider making a fuss out of Drazan protecting me.
It was like a slap in the face, a wake-up call that maybe… just maybe… it was all right to let someone else intercede on my behalf every once in a while.
Even—especially—if that someone was a monster.
I leaned my head against his shoulder as he carried me, hiding my face, unsure if he could see my expression in the darkness.
It was so nice to just be held and let the fear dissipate.
The creature will not come out if we are here, Drazan told me, his bioluminescence flashing in shades of yellow, orange, and violet. It fears our kind. As long as you are with one of us, you will be safe.
The water was growing shallower, allowing the light of the stars to filter through it. I could just make out the ridged lines of Drazan’s skull, the twists of the tentacles wrapped around me.
When he broke the surface, and I took a gulp of air, there was no sign of the creature. The forest was silent once more, the sensation of malevolence no longer crowding my senses.
“What was that thing?”
A creature not of this world, nor yours, he said, sounding grim. It is an anomaly. An unwelcome intrusion into our territory. Whatever it is, it has no name.
Another shiver coursed through me. What could be so horrible that even the monsters of the Void would find it alarming?
And he had used the word I’d thought of—anomaly, a creature outside the natural order of things.
Do not worry, Drazan told me. We will not allow it to harm you.
“Can’t you… I don’t know… kill it?” I looked up at the monster’s face, trying to read the emotions in the color of his lights.
The yellow was still bright, but the edges were tinged with an angry, alarmed scarlet. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I was positive that particular shade of red did not signify horniness.
Moving slowly, not wanting to alarm my eldritch bodyguard, I reached up to run my fingers along one of the bony ridges of his skull, touching the row of lights.
They were embedded within his skin, and I wracked my memory for what they were called in octopi and other bioluminescent sea creatures.
It came to me a moment later: chromatophores.
They were arrayed in lines running down his skull, swirling over his shoulders, back, and arms. Thinner, glistening lines streamed down his tentacles, glowing a brighter shade of pink as I explored the designs of the lights.
Pink. Oh, my.
But realizing that I was turning on the Klee didn’t make me want to stop. After being terrified out of my mind, I was perfectly happy to be held and comforted by this being for as long as he wanted to.
And the heat that had risen in me before was flaring back to life.
It is fast, Drazan finally said, in answer to my question. His voice was a low growl in my mind, the same gruffness I’d heard the first time we’d met. And as it can’t harm us, we have not bothered to try and destroy it. But if it tries to harm you again… then the Zizhatl will rip its mind from its body and send it screaming through space and time, into an eternal abyss from which there is no return.
Wow, that was hardcore. But if it did try to kill me, I wasn’t sure Toth would be doing any mental dismembering in time to stop me from bleeding out.
You are still worrying, Elle. Let me take your worries away. It is gone, and only we remain.
I gazed up at the monster, wondering how he managed to make simple things like ‘we’re alone’ sound like a dire portent.
Was it just part of being a monster? Was high drama a typical aspect of Void creature guidelines and conduct?
But when I opened my mouth, what came out was not that question, but: “So, exactly how are you planning to take my worries away, hmm?”
Complete with a flirty tone of voice.
Looked like Horny Elle had managed to escape from the deepest chasms of my brain.
By protecting my future mate, he said, arms tightening around me. He could easily have squeezed my bones to dust, but he was so careful about how tightly he gripped me. By showing her what I offer.
He drifted into a cove, where the water was shallow and bright with luminescence from the lake and the glowing pebbles underfoot.
It was still deep enough to keep me suspended, his tentacles snaking around me to keep my head above water.
My heart was going too fast, the heat in my belly twisting like something alive.
It’s okay to be touched, I told myself. It’s not shameful to want it.
“I think… I do. I want what you offer.” My voice was uncharacteristically hoarse. My limbs were shaking from sheer nerves.
What if he didn’t find me to be any good? I didn’t know what monsters even liked for sex—
But he immediately took control, his lights glimmering scarlet now.
The tentacles peeled away my sodden T-shirt and easily tore away the clasp of my bra. I shivered, resisting the urge to clutch my arms around myself.
His lights were more than glimmering now; they were a full flare of crimson, the monster’s eyes hooded with lust.
So beautiful, Elle, he whispered in my mind, tentacles sliding over my back and around my sides to encircle my breasts. I whimpered at the sudden pressure, then the suckers clamped to my nipples.
A full-throated moan escaped me as he sucked at them, his claws sliding my panties down over my hips. My clothes drifted off into the lake, forgotten and unwanted.
Another round of shivering coursed through me as tentacles encircled my ankles, and crept over my inner knees and onto my thighs.
Without thinking, I arched my hips, sending water sloshing all around me.
My eager girl, the monster purred. I felt the tip of a tentacle caress my lower stomach, drifting downwards.
When its warm slickness parted my folds, I bit back a cry as a small sucker latched onto my clit and sucked hard.
Even though the water around me was warm, the monster seemed to be the one heating me from the inside out.
The tentacle rubbed against my clit with gentle but insistent pressure, suckers pulsating, and I couldn’t help moaning as the pleasure built, my body tightening—
“No,” I hissed. I struggled in his grasp.
It’d been too long since I’d had sex. I’d hardly even touched myself in that time, not wanting to crave something I believed I could never have.
“Don’t make me come so yet,” I begged. “I… It’s been too long.”
Of course not, my beautiful one, Drazan groaned, releasing my clit. The tentacles around my ankles, lower legs and knees tightened, and he began teasing at my core.
I was gasping, spluttering, when he pulled me in close, his arms settling around me to hold me against his chest.
He was so smooth, his flesh hot with desire, and I whimpered, clinging to his shoulders as his tentacles pinched and pulled at my nipples and his tentacles pulled my legs wider apart.
I felt it in a rush of heat when the first tentacle penetrated me. It pumped into me slowly, along with a gush of liquid that made me gasp from the sensation of warmth that spread through me.
Then he growled low in his throat as two, then three tentacles slid into me next to the first, stretching and filling me.
Receive my slick, Elle. It will allow your body to take more.
His tentacles pulsated, and I felt them expand inside me, forcing my inner walls apart.
I writhed in his grasp, the water churning around us as I desperately tried to get closer.
The monster laughed, his voice deep, low and rumbling.
But he didn’t stop. He pulled me closer, his arms around me and his tentacles moving in and out, in and out, in and out. The suckers pulsed against my walls, the pleasure building and building—
I closed my eyes, wanting to bury my face in his chest, but a tentacle had tangled my hair, forcing me to face him, the tip nudging at my mouth.
I’m so glad you want me, he trumpeted in my head, tentacles pressing deeper into me before retreating, only to slide back in. I have waited for you for so long, for a beautiful mate of my own, and I have received the most beautiful and brave woman.
His thoughts were an aphrodisiac, the mental caress arousing me just as much as the physical ones.
I could feel the longing and white-hot lust in my mind.
I want you to receive my slick, my beautiful one. It will make this easier on you, and we will give you a universe of pleasure.
God, I wanted it. I wanted to feel this way all the time—how had I gone so long in my life without feeling this? How had I missed out on such sensations without even realizing it?
I groaned, my throat tightening as I stared into his eyes. The tentacle nudged at my lips again, insistently.
I opened my mouth to him, sucking desperately, craving his slick, craving to feel his tentacles reaching further into my core.
The sweet-salty taste of him filled my mouth, and I moaned around the thickening tentacle in my mouth. His sucker popped against my tongue gently, and he sucked in a breath, a tentacle teasing my clit again.
I couldn’t have missed it because no human could have made me feel this way.
It was only here, in Deepwater Lodge, where I could feel such things.
Now I’m going to make you come, little mate, he whispered. I cannot wait to feel you tighten around me.
I was already on the verge, the pressure building to a crescendo. His tentacles pulsed again, and the suckers fluttered against my walls, the pleasure so great I couldn’t even contain my cries.
