The answering growls didn’t sound feline at all, but the monsters had a big cat’s grace as they padded out of the rooms and fell into a synchronized prowl. Demetrius raised his club and roared, barreling down the hall at them. He smashed two against the wall as a third bit into his forearm. A fourth, going for his head, jumped high into the air over the others.
Abby threw her blade with her right hand. It twirled in the air, leaving a pale blue contrail and hit its mark.
The monster fell motionless to the ground, but there were still four. Demetrius snarled and slammed the beast attached to his arm onto the floor. The position allowed him to headbutt another as it charged him. Abby moved forward to join him.
Abby! Tawa screamed.
Turning around, but not quick enough, Abby faced another green-eyed beast that had come from a linen closet. It had snatched Tawa from her backpack, and with a technique like an alligator, it swallowed the stuffed hippo with two hungry gulps.
“No.” The word came out as barely a whimper.
There was an answering roar of pain from down the hall. The monsters had taken Demetrius to the ground. He was sitting on one, pounding another, and a third had just leapt onto his back.
There was no time for Abby to let loose her tears. She swiped at the monster that had swallowed Tawa with her sword, scratching it across the eyes, and then ran down the hall as her other blade emerged from her right hand. She used her momentum to skewer the creature on Demetrius’ back. She hopped over him and tossed the dead thing into one of the rooms. She spun and chopped down another beast. Black blood splashed over the walls and dripped on her from the ceiling.
Demetrius killed the other two. Ignoring his wounds, he picked up his club and met the newly blinded monster as it tore down the hall at them. His swing sent it flying against the wall. Abby was there to stake it to the ground and disembowel it. There was nothing inside but shadows and ooze.
“No!” This time, her cry rattled her throat. Abby would have fallen to the floor if Demetrius didn’t put an arm around her. A few shuddering sobs escaped her before she could speak again. “Tawa. It ate Tawa.”
Demetrius held her closer, stroking her arm. “Tawa went down honorably. But there’s no time for mourning. Now is the time for vengeance.”
Since the night when Abby had killed her first monster, Tawa had been the only one who ever truly knew her. Her parents had no sympathy for a child’s wild imagination. Her friends at school could never know. Then as an adult, no one knew her secret calling. Tawa wasn’t only her teacher and guide; she was her confidante and best friend. Her life was a little less lonely with the stuffed hippo.
Now Tawa was gone.
“Vengeance.” Abby numbly repeated. Her face hardened as she walked to the attic door and opened it.
Chapter 12
Abby was ready for anything as she walked up the stairs. An ambush, a giant monster, a hundred monsters, a guillotine whooshing through the air to lop her head off. Everything in her was itching for a battle. She wasn’t prepared for nothing when she reached the top.
The attic wasn’t a big room. Its ceiling was V’ed and the rafters were bare. A filing cabinet loomed in one corner and a bookcase in the other. There was one diamond-shaped window at the far end. The only thing in the room was a large old desk. Burrows sat behind it with the light from her computer screen illuminating her unhappy expression.
“I had hoped it would be you alone, Abby.” Burrows sighed and tented her fingers.
“We can arrange that,” Abby said through clenched teeth.
Demetrius stepped in front of her. “No, we won’t.”
Abby wanted to push him aside and charge, but she still expected something. She moved to stand next to him, attempting to focus through her sorrow and rage.
“Handsome and chivalrous. No wonder Myrtle went all silly over him. It didn’t deter her when I told her he had fae cooties.” Burrows shuddered and made a blech sound.
“You know what I am.” Demetrius grunted and then frowned. “Myrtle?”
“Not Myrtle.” Abby shook her head. Her still glowing hands told her that whoever was sitting there wasn’t human. Whatever it was wasn’t hiding itself now.
“She’s still in here, but I’ve had control for many years now.” Burrows grinned, slow and maniacal.
“Demon.” Demetrius bared his teeth, but Abby shook her head again. She knew what it was. She just didn’t know how it could be what it was.
“Ah, Abby. You know, don’t you?” Burrows chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “Most children conceive of their monsters in the closet, under the bed, somewhere it’s dark and scary at night. Yet there are a few who have the darkness in them for one reason or another. And Myrtle had such a powerful imagination. When she created me, she gave me voice and intelligence. No regular monster for this little girl.” Smirking, her gaze bore into Abby. “When one of the Fearless came to kill me, she found she couldn’t take the life of a child to do so. So I killed her instead. My first kill. My most momentous kill.”
Demetrius’ battle cry shook the little room. He rushed at Burrows and was hit by an inky black tendril that sent him toppling down the stairs.
“Children are easy to kill.” Burrows stood up. The shadows around her so thick the glow from the screen couldn’t penetrate them and the window was blacked out behind her. “I’m so glad you’re here now, Abby.”
Abby started to move to check on Demetrius, but had to stop as Burrows rounded the desk. She couldn’t turn her back on the thing no matter her desperation to know if Demetrius was dead or not. It had killed one of the Fearless when Burrows was a girl, and she wasn’t a young woman. That meant it had several years to get stronger.
“I have no qualms about killing Burrows to kill you.” Abby had several, but she wasn’t going to let the monster know that. Perhaps if Tawa was with her, she might be able to tell her a way to kill the thing without killing Burrows too, but she was on her own.
She heard Demetrius then, stomping up the stairs and growling curses. Warmth spread through her. No, she wasn’t alone. She had Demetrius.
“I didn’t think you would. That’s what makes this even more thrilling.” Burrows stopped in front of her desk and pushed her glasses up her nose. It was a silly human gesture, but somehow chilling in this moment. “I’ve always wanted to be the villain, the big bad wolf of the world. It’s hard to do stuck in a pathetic little body.”
“So you want Abby’s? Not going to happen.” Demetrius limped, but his pride seemed hurt more than anything else. He readied himself for another charge, but Abby put a hand on his arm.
“It doesn’t want my body. It can’t leave Burrows.” It seemed easy enough to just kill the host to kill the beast, but Abby doubted it was going to be that easy. Something else was going on. Something she hadn’t figured out yet.
“Then let’s get on with the fight.” Patience wasn’t one of Demetrius’ virtues. He ran head-on again, but wary of the dark tendrils this time. He dodged two and then Burrows smacked him into the bookshelf with a third.
There was no point standing around playing Twenty Questions. Abby used the fae’s distraction and dove in, targeting Burrows’ mid-section. She was swept back, stopping herself just before she fell down the stairs.
Demetrius and Abby made a second attack together, and then a third and fourth. Each time, Burrows knocked them back. Neither was able to get close enough to land a hit on Burrows. The attic was small. There was only so much room to maneuver, and the monster was aware of every tiny movement.
Abby threw one blade as Demetrius bellowed and swung from the opposite side. Burrows threw him to the side and caught the glowing sword. She held it in one hand, examining it with a childlike fascination.
“Interesting. It burns my essence, but human flesh can hold it. Perhaps it isn’t so bad being trapped in this form.” Burrows gave Abby a sly look. “Or maybe it’s a sign that you can’t kill me after all.”
Abby recalled her
sword and it re-emerged from her palm. “I don’t know. Let me run you through with it and see what happens.”
“I’m not going to make it that easy for you.” Burrows laughed and motioned with her hand for them to come at her again.
Demetrius roared and tried to zigzag his way closer to the writer, but with such little space, there was no way his strategy could work. Abby held her ground as a slap hit him back again.
“It’s just toying with us.” Why? What was it up to? Abby knew it was waiting for something. Her usual way to go about it was to think like a child, but Burrows was no child. The monster had grown as the woman had. Yet it was still was a monster. It wanted to kill.
“Toy with this then.” Demetrius rammed his club into the desk and sent it into Burrows.
The writer let out a girlish shriek as the desk pinned her against the wall. Her face contorted into something ugly and unnatural as the beast howled. A dozen tendrils smashed Demetrius into the ceiling and wall. The wood cracked and split as it repeatedly slammed against him.
Abby cried out and leapt at Burrows. Thrown against the filing cabinet, she landed hard on one shoulder. She didn’t drop her swords as she sped to Demetrius and sliced through the tendrils to free him. He slumped to the floor, his breaths coming in shuddering gasps.
“Demetrius, no. Stay with me.” Abby laid her swords down to put his head on her lap and brushed his hair back from his handsome face. Her chest was so tight it hurt to breathe. She used her sleeve to wipe the blood from his eyes. “Please.”
“Abby.” A bubble of blood accompanied his whisper. His hands curled into fists.
“That’s right. Don’t you dare die on me. Fight. Fight, you stubborn freakin’ fae.” She couldn’t contain her tears or the trembling of her body.
Suddenly, Demetrius was yanked away and dragged across the floor. Burrows grinned as he came to rest before her. She put a foot on the side of his face and pressed into it with her heel. He barely had the strength to groan.
“So that’s it. Your weakness. I didn’t think you were that much into him.” The monster’s gleeful laugh echoed in the room.
Abby swiped at her cheeks and picked up her swords. Her legs were shaky as she stood up. She wanted to beg, to promise to give the thing whatever it wanted if it let Demetrius go. Her heart couldn’t take losing him. She choked back a sob.
“This is what I waited to see. The Fearless isn’t so fearless in the end.” Burrows stomped on Demetrius’ head and there was a crack.
This time, the beast’s insane laughter made Abby scream.
Chapter 13
The world seemed to shatter around her, but it was only Abby’s heart. She fell to her knees, shaking her head as the tears streamed down her cheeks. It was her fault Demetrius was dead. Honor meant much to him, but she knew the real reason he stayed. He protected her because he fell in love with her. And she had let him stay because she loved him too.
“Now I have the mighty warrior on her knees before me.” Burrows chortled and walked over the fae’s body toward Abby. “Brought down not by my fighting prowess, but by her own fear of loss. This is better than when I killed my first Fearless. She was pathetic compared to you.”
Abby didn’t move. She couldn’t take her eyes off Demetrius. She’d never feel his lips on hers again nor hear his sexy, gravelly laugh.
“Soon the rest of the Fearless will fall just as you did. Warriors you might be, but you’re all so pitifully human.” Burrows spat onto the floor. “Then I will rule. The big bad wolf wins in this story.”
“What?” Abby wasn’t sure she had heard the beast’s mad ramblings, but it was slowly sinking into her head. “All the Fearless?”
“Oh, yes.” Burrows clapped her hands with an excited little hop and stopped five feet in front of Abby. “Why do you think I wrote all those books? Do you honestly think I have aspirations to be an author?” She snorted. “No, no. I want to rid the world of you Fearless and then the monsters can roam free. I’m seeding the minds of children. Not every one of them will be special enough, but there are more and more out there with imaginations fertile enough to create magnificent creatures like me. Children are not as xenophobic as adults. They will live with us, and we will live off them.”
The children.
No one in this town had protected the children. And if this beast had its way, there would be no one left in the world to protect them.
Abby’s hands grew brighter, and the glow slowly worked its way up her arms.
“Powering up for one last desperate attack?” Burrows smirked, rolling her eyes. “Ah, how you amuse me.”
The light picked up speed. It went past Abby’s shoulders across her chest and back. The empty ache within her dulled and determination replaced it. Her whole body glowed as she raised her head.
“This your imitation of a nightlight?” Burrows’ snark wasn’t as confident as it had been a few seconds ago.
“The big bad wolf never wins.” Abby rose to her feet. Her purpose had never been clearer. “You will never harm another child.”
“I’ve rewritten the ending.” Burrows hissed and struck out at Abby. The first tendril that hit her sizzled and melted with no effect. The monster screeched and lashed out with several tendrils. Each one withered if it didn’t retract.
“You’re not one of the Fearless. I broke you.” Burrows shuddered with rage. “I took from you what you feared most to lose. I will take your pathetic life!”
“I’ve never feared death. And now you’ve taken away those I care about.” Abby stepped forward, feeling lighter than she ever had. “There’s nothing left I fear. You didn’t break me. You made me truly one of the Fearless.”
Burrows howled and tackled Abby. The two fell to the floor, but Abby felt none of the dreadful strength of the monster. The shadows melted or fled from her touch.
Abby rolled them until she was on top and put her hands on either side of Burrows’ head. She held her in place with surprising ease.
“I’m sorry, Myrtle, that no one could save you from your monster. I’m sorry you lived so long with such darkness within you, but you don’t have to be afraid anymore.” Abby’s voice was tender. The tips of her glowing fingers dipped into Burrows’ head as if it were made of pudding.
The beast screamed, cursed, and then pleaded. The big bad wolf would not win this time. Abby would make sure it never won. That was no world for children.
There was silence.
The monster had been obliterated. Abby was certain not a trace was left as she removed her hands from the writer’s head. The luminance faded from her body.
Burrows was breathing. She was unconscious, but she was alive.
Abby didn’t pause to wonder about it. She crawled across the room until she could take Demetrius’ hand in her own. She tried to will her full body glow back, to demand it bring him back to her, but it didn’t come. The ache in her chest came back, and she could do nothing for it.
For several minutes, Abby sat there hugging his hand to her chest. When a soft snore came from Burrows, she snapped out of her sorrowful trance.
“Your debt is paid. Thank you.” Abby kissed the back of his hand. It twitched, and with her surprise, she dropped it.
“Don’t let go of me yet, darling. I’ve got several other bits that need kissing too.” Demetrius’ voice was weak, but he was talking. He was alive.
Abby laughed and scooped up his hand again to kiss it. Then she bent forward and kissed his swollen lips. Her body tingled with sudden elation. “I’ll kiss whatever you want. I thought you were dead. That thing had stepped on your head—”
“Yes, my head.” Demetrius chuckled and winced as he did so. “It’d take more than a woman stepping on my head to kill me.”
“You are pretty damn hard headed,” Abby said and kissed his forehead. He was alive. There was still a great mess to clean up and wounds to heal, but Demetrius was alive. She wanted to laugh, cry, and kiss him all over at once.
What kept he
r from giving fully over to her emotions before was gone. The next time he tempted her into bed, she would say yes. Only if she didn’t take him there first.
Epilogue
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Demetrius kept his arms firmly locked around her. Abby didn’t protest. She’d stay in his arms for the rest of her days if she could.
“I’m fine. I need to work. I have to pay the bills somehow.” She kissed him and ran her fingers along the side of his face. He needed to shave, but she wasn’t complaining. She never thought stubble could be such a turn-on.
“I’m going to ask my cousin if I can work with him. He’s a park warden not far from here. Then you can stay home—”
“And do what?” Abby kissed him again and smiled. “I want to work. I like tutoring kids. And the monsters aren’t all going to disappear because I killed the one inside of Burrows’ head. There’re still children out there that need me to protect them.” She wouldn’t abandon her duty because she fell in love. She didn’t have to hear him say it to know he admired that about her even if he wanted to fight every fight for her. It was going to be difficult to do without Tawa to guide her, but she wouldn’t let the monsters take one more child on her watch.
Dang right they need you. Tawa’s voice was sudden and loud. How long have I been gone? You better have been out there doing your duty rather than lazing around in bed with that troublesome fae.
“Tawa!” Abby cried, freeing herself from Demetrius and turning around in a circle as if she could spot the stuffed hippo. “Where are you?”
“I’ve been trying to get her to laze around in bed.” Demetrius smirked.
I’m in your backpack. Where else would I be? Get me out of here. Tawa demanded.
“I can’t believe you’re alive! When you were eaten by that monster, I thought you were gone forever.” Abby snatched her backpack off the hook near her front door and bounced around with happiness. She unzipped it, but there was no hippo inside. She checked all the pouches. There was a pad of paper, pencils, and a calculator. She frowned. “Where are you?”