Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 057

"Oh for fuck's sake." She stepped toward him and crossed her arms. "Is this about a stupid crush? We worked together for years, why the sudden interest now?"

"Yes. No, I..." He looked confused for a moment, his attention wandering across the face of the home. "I haven't been able to get you out of my head, not since the night I dropped off those boxes. I keep thinking about how I didn't appreciate you when you were there, and how you make me feel. Now I have to protect you from yourself, surely you understand?"

"Are you on something? Is that what this is about?" She took another step toward him. "You're broadcasting some major creep vibes right now."

"It's not about me, though. It's about you. This place is dangerous, Mike is dangerous. Don't you see? All this money he inherited was just part of it, and now you're under his thrall. He's controlling you!" His eyes were pleading now, and she wondered if he was going to cry.

"I've had enough of this. Get off my property before I come down there and kick your ass."

"Please, Beth." Marco took a step back. "This place does things to you. You haven't been the same since you left, don't you see that? He even has you dressing up for him, now. I get that you don't see it, you're on the inside looking out, you're caught up in all of this, but please, if you'll just come with me, I can explain everything."

She shook her head, hoping that Sulyvahn would reappear soon. Marco's posture made her nervous, and he stepped aside to let some kids past. She greeted them and gave them candy, her eyes never leaving his. Once the children were gone, she pointed at the street.

"Seriously, Marco. Get off my property before I have you removed."

"My property," he snarled. "He already has you thinking like him, doesn't he? You really are lost."

"Marco." She narrowed her eyes at him. Between the wild eyes and the weird statements, her best guess was that he had taken drugs earlier. "I will have your ass fired. This is not okay."

"It doesn't matter anymore," he told her. "None of it does."

With that, he turned and walked down the sidewalk until he vanished around the corner. Sulyvahn reappeared from the garden and shook his head.

"Yer never gonna believe at what I caught them doing...are ye okay, lass?"

"Yeah. I guess so." She frowned at the street. "C'mon, let's go inside and turn off the lights. I think I'm done giving out candy." She set the bucket by the door and flipped off the porch light. "Hey, Abella? Let me know if someone starts trouble in the yard."

Up above, she heard what she assumed was an affirmative thump. Satisfied that at least someone was willing to hang back and help out, she went back inside and sat on the couch to await Tink and Yuki's return.

Mike jolted awake and shook his head. He had dozed off momentarily, so he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at his phone.

Another hour had passed. Cerberus was setting a good pace, and the swirling lights now occasionally blinded him with their intensity. The air had become cold, and he shivered, grateful for the warm arms around him.

The landscape had faded into an obscure mist, and distant cries like screams sent chills up and down his spine. He clutched Cerberus' fur tightly in his fists and closed his eyes.

"It's so awful here," he said. "I can feel it sucking the joy from my bones."

"Sorry, Romeo." She slid around him so that she sat in front, and he leaned into her, his head between her breasts. "This isn't meant to be a pleasant place."

He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. It wasn't just the heat leaving his body, but the absolute misery that rushed in to replace it. Thoughts that weren't his own flitted in and out, depressing things that whispered to him to step into the void. Large cracks had appeared in the ground all around Cerberus, and they stepped around them carefully.

"Remember why you're here," she whispered to him, like a mother to a child. "You have important things to do."

"You came along to protect me, didn't you?" His own voice was a whisper, and he heard it as if from far away.

"I was always planning to come. This is a bad place, waiting to swallow you whole like a snake. If not for Cerberus, I would have brought some of the others as well, your very own harem honor guard." She stroked his head, her long fingernails dragging through his hair like a comb. "I'm bad at being up front with you. I'm bad at a lot of things, actually, but I want to be better. If I'm being honest, Naia knew, too. That's the only reason she let you go without sending everyone in with you."

He smiled. It had seemed rather strange that everyone hadn't demanded to come, but he had attributed it to Cerberus.

"Was the handjob her idea, too? To keep my spirits high?"

Lily chuckled. "Let's just say I wanted some gas in the tank of my own. Just in case. While you're gone, I think the shadow is going to try and do something."

Mike sat up and looked at her. "I do, too. It's why I left the house to both of them, in case he came for me. Even if he took me out, he would have to get both of them afterward."

Lily opened her mouth to say something, then tilted her head to the side. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

He nodded his head. It was music that rang through his body, filling him with both joy and sorrow. He pictured golden musical notes that hovered in the air and wrapped around him, daring him to seek them out. Tears were running down his cheeks, and he wiped them away, his whole being flooded with emotions.

"Focus, Mike." Lily pinched his ass and he jumped.

"Right." He took the backpack from her and found the pair of earplugs inside, then stuffed them in his ears. The music dimmed and he was able to hold his thoughts together. "I assume we are almost there?"

He felt Lily tense up as Cerberus stepped over a hill and revealed a clearing surrounded by large stones in a pattern that reminded him of Stonehenge. In the middle was a brilliantly polished golden door that had opened just a crack, allowing a stream of light to illuminate the shadows of the Underworld. Faerie creatures slipped through the crack and immediately turned into motes of light before shooting off in every direction.

"Is that really it?" he asked. "Are we really here?"

"It would seem so." Lily was clearly shouting, but he barely heard her. Cerberus got close to the door and sniffed around before letting them down. Once on the ground, he turned to look at Lily, who handed him his backpack.

"I guess this is my stop," he told her.

A sly grin broke out on her face. "I guess so," she shouted. "When you see the queen, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything. Well, almost." He could think of a number of things he probably shouldn't do to the faerie queen.

Lily took his face in her hands and held him tightly, her eyes reflecting the supernatural light of the faerie realm. For just a moment, she looked like someone else, as if her demonic visage had been stripped away, leaving behind someone far more mortal than monster.

"Give her Hell for me!" she shouted, then planted a kiss on his lips. "She's not going to be happy to see you!"

"I'm fully aware." He looked at the door and took a deep breath. This was it, the moment of truth. But first, he took a moment to caress each of Cerberus' heads. The demon dog closed their eyes and rubbed up against him, then panted openly when he planted a kiss on their noses.

"Go home, Cerberus. Protect it until I get back."

Cerberus whimpered, but then bounded off into the mist, leaving Lily and Mike behind. When he looked at her, she gave him a mock salute, her wings flaring open behind her.

"I'm taking a different route," she informed him. "I have some business to attend to."

Curious what it was, now wasn't the time to chat about it. "Be safe," he cautioned.

"See you in your dreams." She blew him a kiss, then threw herself into the sky and vanished.

Not wanting to dawdle any longer, Mike grabbed the door by the edge and pulled it open. The stream of fae that came out passed around him, and he fought the tide of creatures to walk into the golden light. Once properly inside the door, he had to close his eyes and was unable to see. The resistance of the fae vanished and he opened his eyes to find himself stumbling down a cobblestone path that looked very familiar.

It was the outside of the Queen's Court. Though it looked the same as before, it was empty now, and he was shocked at how his footfalls echoed throughout the abandoned city. Was everyone gone on account of Samhain, or was it something far more sinister? Not wanting to take any chances, he paused long enough to drink a little bit of water and then broke into a jog, heading straight toward where he had last seen Cecilia.

There was nobody to stop him when he reached the bridge onto the faerie island, but he stopped when he saw that it was empty. Chagrined, he wondered if the queen had somehow reneged on their bargain and moved her entire court. He strode across the bridge with determination and felt the air ripple around him like water.

Though the court stayed empty, Cecilia's cage appeared, and she sat on the swing with her back to him. He took another step forward and cast his eyes about. Seeing no signs of resistance, he walked up to the cage until he was next to the bars.

"Cecilia?" he asked.

When she turned to face him, her hair hung in the air as if it was floating in water. The gossamer strands of hair fell in slow motion to reveal her face, and he noticed that the red streak in her hair was more pronounced than ever. There was a look of disbelief on her face, and she pressed herself into the bars. Her bare skin sizzled on contact, but she seemed oblivious to it.

"A mhuirnín, 'tis really you!" She reached through the bars and touched his face, and he took her hand in his. A spark passed between them, and for a moment, her white eyes flashed a brilliant green. He slid his arms through the bars and held her tight, then pushed her away when she let out a gasp of pain.

"Stand back," he told her, then looked at the door of the cage. It didn't seem to have a lock, but if he needed to rip the world apart to get it open, that's what he intended to do.

"You shouldn'a come," Cecilia groaned. "It's all been a trap. I tried to warn you through your dreams."

"Yeah, well I've always been bad at following directions."

"A contagious inclination, based on your presence." The voice behind him froze him on the spot, and he turned to see that the faerie queen stood on the bridge behind him in her full glory, wings extended out, and a swirling, glittery aura around her entire body. She scrutinized the golden chalice she held in her hands and then poured out the wine with a scowl. "I didn't expect to see you, Caretaker, and now I've been put off my drink. You were never supposed to survive the trip through the Underworld."

"So you're surprised to see me, then?" He grinned smugly.

"Indeed." There was a fire in her eyes as the magical aura around her intensified. "It looks like I'm going to have to deal with you myself."

Kisa stayed out of sight as she followed the man in the hoodie.

She had been up on the roof watching the trick-or-treaters and hoping to maybe scare Tink when she came home when the man in the hoodie had shown up to talk to Beth. The conversation had struck her as odd, not so much because the guy was clearly a creep, but mostly because Beth hadn't seemed to notice the shadow figure that practically hung off his shoulders.

You can see it, can't you? He's made her into one of his whores, he's turned her brilliant mind into little more than a sexual pawn. She even dresses like a whore for him, like a witch, or even a priestess for his cult. You must get her out of there if you wish to save her. When the shadow spoke, it sent a chill down Kisa's spine, but Beth never reacted.

"Please, Beth." Marco took a step back when the shadow pulled too hard on his shoulder. "This place does things to you. You haven't been the same since you left, don't you see that? He even has you dressing up for him, now. I get that you don't see it, you're on the inside looking out, you're caught up in all of this, but please, if you'll just come with me, I can explain everything."

Kisa never even heard Beth's reply, because the shadow was now shouting over her.

She is lost! the shadow cried. This is not something you can do on your own. I warned you this would happen! She pulls away from her own kind, from your attempts to save her! What more proof do you need?

When the conversation ended, Marco stormed off, and Kisa followed. There was something familiar about the shadow, and she watched it flit in and out of existence as Marco walked beneath the bright street lamps of the neighborhood. Occasionally he would stop and look back, but Kisa could feel the darkness as it wrapped around her, could easily walk between people or in front of them without being noticed at all. She was little more than a touch of the breeze, or a whisper on the wind as far as anyone else was concerned, and she followed Marco for over a mile before he got into a car and slammed the door shut.

From outside, she heard him arguing with the shadow. She crouched and slid beneath the car, hoping he wouldn't start it up and peel rubber to leave. Nearly an hour passed as she listened to Marco yell, and the shadow's voice went back and forth between cajoling, pleading, and outright anger.

The conversation had dimmed, and she tilted her head, eager to hear anything of use. Alarms were blaring in her head now, and she fought the urge to run, pinned in place only by her own curiosity and fear of being spotted.

The car went silent except for a litany of whispers from the shadow, which was finally punctuated by two words that Kisa heard with no problem at all.

"I accept," said Marco.

She didn't know what to expect, but silence wasn't it. A minute later, Marco stepped out of his vehicle and opened the trunk. He slammed the lid and started walking back toward the house at a clipped pace.

Kisa crawled out of her hiding spot and tailed him. The hour was late, and only a few people roamed the darkness, but when Marco stopped beneath a streetlight, he pulled out his cellphone and called someone. He had a baseball bat casually slung over his shoulder. When he turned in her direction, she felt an intense urge to hide, so slid behind a parked car and made herself small.

From where she sat, she could see that his eyes had gone completely black. He was too far away for her to hear the conversation, but a large grin broke across his face as he hung up the phone and stuck it in his pocket. He whistled as he walked back to the house, then stopped a block away.

Almost nobody was out now, and Kisa stayed hidden away, watching and waiting. Nearly forty minutes later, a car pulled up and a woman got out. She wore a black trenchcoat and had a very long braid that hung from the back of her head down to her waist.

After a couple of minutes, the newcomer's face turned to one of surprise, and Marco nodded. They seemed to be coming to some sort of agreement, so Kisa tried to move closer, hoping to catch the tail end of it.

"—and all I want in return is the house itself," Marco said, his voice slightly distorted as if speaking at two discordant pitches. "This body won't last more than a couple of days at most, so I will need a new vessel. This man simply has no magic to sustain me, so I consume his life force instead."

"You shall have that, and more, if you can actually deliver." The woman looked tired and angry, and she leaned toward Marco with a sneer on her face. "Though I wonder how you will manage with those accursed lions protecting the place."

Marco grinned. "Oh, don't worry about those. I've been invited, after all, they won't touch me. Once inside, it will take some time to get you what you want, but you have my guarantee, as your goals align with my own. With any luck, I will leave before he comes home, and then we can come up with a plan to strike while he's devastated by his losses."

The woman nodded, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a wand and handed it to him. "If you should fail, I want you to know that Amir is not a forgiving man, and he is in a terribly foul mood. For your sake, you had better not be wasting our time." She opened up the door of her car and put one foot inside before looking back. "You have until dawn to signal me for extraction. Otherwise, you are on your own."

With that, she slammed the door and left. Marco was practically skipping down the sidewalk toward the Radley house. He even stopped to pet the lions on the way in while Kisa hid behind the neighbor's car.

"I've missed you so much," he told them. "And I cannot wait to make you mine again." He pulled himself up the wall and trailed his fingers along the cold stone muzzle of the beast and pulled his phone out again. He seemed enchanted by something on the display, and then let out a burst of laughter that raised the fur on Kisa's neck.

"It may be Samhain, but you know what happens at midnight?" he asked the lion while stroking its paw. "Dia de Muertos. The day when the dead shall walk again." He hopped off the lion and hid the bat behind himself.

Sulyvahn stepped onto the walkway to block his approach. The dullahan wore a friendly grin that definitely didn't extend to the rest of his features, and he made a shoo-ing gesture with his hands.

"There'll nay be trouble here tonight, lad, so jes' you—"

Marco was now close enough that he spun around and used the bat to knock Sulyvahn's head clean off and across the yard. Sulyvahn's body stumbled about and made a grab for Marco, but he deftly sidestepped around the spirit and ran to the front door, the wand in his hand radiating energy.

"Knock knock," he said, then pointed the wand. The front door exploded inward and he ran inside. Panicking, Kisa ran into the yard, following the angry cries from Sulyvahn until she found his head. It had landed next to the Jabberwock, who hadn't moved a muscle.

"Find Yuki!" he said as she tossed his head toward his body. "Tink, too. Tell them the house is under attack!"

"How do I find them?" she asked.

He picked up his head and stuck it on his neck with a macabre grin. "Wasn't talkin' to ye." He pointed to the sky and she looked up in time to see Abella, wings spread wide, shoot out into the neighborhood.

There was a flash of light from inside the house, followed by a scream. Sulyvahn broke into a run, and Kisa was right behind him. They made it into the living room together and saw that Beth was busy picking herself off the ground, one hand clutching her face.

"Lass, be ye okay?" Sulyvahn asked.

"He went out back," she told them, then lowered her hand. There was blood on her palms and a wicked cut along her brow that bled heavily. "I was asleep on the couch. I wanted to make sure Tink and Yuki made it home okay. He took the key to the gate from me. How did he even get in?"

"It was the shadow man," Kisa said. "I saw them talking, and I think he's riding around inside of this Marco guy."

Naia shouted in alarm, and all three of them ran for the backyard. Once outside, they heard a loud roar from the gate below and saw that Marco was fumbling around with the lock. Some rats had come out to see what the commotion was, but quickly hid once more when Cerberus howled. On the other side of the gate, the forest lit up at the sound of hellfire being blasted in every direction, revealing that a giant castle of black stone now stood menacingly beyond the treeline.

Marco yanked the lock free and pulled the gate open, a look of triumph on his face.

"Is he going in there?" Beth asked.