Invisible Monsters

by H L Macfarlane

  “Come now, Dorian, you’ve seen her in action!” Nick said, incredulous. “Girl never stops, even when it might kill her, and then she’s out of action for a handful of days before she’s right back at it again. Damn near invincible. And at the height of her physical fitness, which we both know is a massive plus. Not to mention how she looks, and damn –”

  “Okay, I think I get the picture,” Dorian interrupted. He felt physically sick. “Look, let me think on it. The price for a good breeding partner has always been more than livestock. I’ll need to work out exactly how much she’s worth.”

  Nick waved a dismissive hand as he got to his feet and made for the door. “I’ll pay anything you want, just make sure she’s ready to leave by the end of next week. Thanks for doing business with me, Dorian.”

  And then he was gone, leaving Dorian shaking with anger and disbelief, his human form dangerously close to falling apart with every passing second.

  Just one thought was passing through his head, so insistently that he couldn’t help but utter it aloud.

  “Fuck.”

  INTERLUDE VIII

  Everyone knew something was wrong. Everyone. But nobody would talk about it, and Mateusz couldn’t take it any longer. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the entire club – or what remained of it, at least – was in danger. They were penned up in a building nobody could reach or escape from unless they chose to walk the long, dangerous, twisting path around the loch…or swim across the loch itself.

  Mateusz decided either option was better than staying another night in Dorian’s facility.

  When the sun set that night and everyone else had long since drifted off to sleep, he packed up his rucksack and walked straight out the front door. For a few moments he wondered whether he should have asked anyone else if they wanted to leave with him, but something told Mateusz that would stop him from being able to leave entirely. Someone would blab about his plan, and that would be it.

  He made it to the beginning of the path when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

  “Get off me!” Mateusz roared, turning around to identify who had touched him.

  Dorian.

  “Why won’t you all just stay put?” the man sighed, before punching Mateusz in the face with a strength no human should ever have possessed.

  ROBIN FRASER

  Andrew

  “Did we really have to do this outside, Poppy? It’s starting to get cold now. And the wind is really –”

  “I’m sorry, Andrew. But you know we couldn’t talk inside the facility where Dorian could hear us. We won’t be too long, I promise.”

  “But why is he here?”

  Andrew pointed at Fred without looking at him.

  Poppy sidled up a little closer to Andrew to make him feel better, which it did. “Because he has to be. Do you really want him to die, Andrew, when we could save him?”

  “Yes.”

  “That was brutal.”

  “Shut up, Sampson,” both Poppy and Andrew said in unison.

  Poppy wrinkled her nose in amusement. “You’ve never called him that before.”

  “It’s better than calling him by his first name.”

  “I am right here, Andrew.”

  Poppy raised a hand to stop Andrew from saying anything else. “Come on, guys. We have bigger things to think about right now, okay? Once everyone is well away from this hell hole then you never need to see Fred again, Andrew. And won’t that be great? Sounds fucking great to me.”

  Andrew smiled at the thought. It really did sound great, because despite saying that he thought Fred should die, in reality Andrew didn’t want anyone to die, but he also wanted to forget Fred existed. Never seeing him again was his best way to do that, so if working with his traitorous ex-friend was what he had to do to reach that goal then so be it.

  “Fine,” Andrew bit out. He held out a hand to Fred, who shook it with a slight smirk on his face that Andrew hated. “But this truce is only temporary.”

  “I can work with that,” Fred replied, wincing when Andrew crushed his hand beneath his own.

  “So where the hell is Casey?” Poppy asked nobody in particular, collapsing onto the grassy hilltop which was her and Andrew’s favourite place to jog to. Andrew followed suit, and then Fred.

  The other man glanced at Poppy. “Why’d you bring Casey in, anyway? Seems like an odd choice.”

  “She came to me knowing something was wrong.”

  “Yeah, but Nate and Rachelle and Rich and just about everyone with two brain cells knows that something’s wrong with you.”

  Poppy scowled. “She came to me because of something to do with her and Patrick.”

  The meaning of her words was lost on Andrew, but not on Fred, who snorted in laughter despite himself.

  “What, did he turn into some hulking monster by mistake when they were fucking? What is Patrick, anyway?”

  Poppy gave him the finger. “That’s disgusting. But you’re not wrong…I think. Something weird happened, anyway. And I don’t know what he is.”

  “How could you not ask Dorian what his best friend is –”

  “Fred, shut up.”

  “Come on!” he protested. “You’re telling me all these scouts and facility staff and shit are monsters and you’ve not once been curious about what they look like?”

  Poppy grew quiet, and Andrew hated Fred even more for his brashness. It also bothered him that, of the three of them, he was the only one who hadn’t actually seen a monster yet. It meant Fred had something he shared with Poppy that Andrew didn’t, and that made him feel even worse.

  “I’ve seen one other monster besides Dorian, and he was ripping Ross Bridges apart limb from limb. I didn’t much want to know what any of the others looked like after that.”

  What Poppy said was horrifying, but Andrew was glad she said it simply for the look on Fred’s face. He looked like he was about to choke on his tongue.

  “I’ve wondered about what Patrick really looks like, of course,” Poppy eventually added, as if to lighten the mood she herself had darkened, “but I’ve never had the guts to ask him.”

  “How about asking me now?”

  All three of them jumped to their feet, immediately on edge when they spied Patrick coming towards them with Casey in tow.

  She waved apologetically. “Okay, so I told someone, but you can’t be mad, Poppy!”

  “How can I not be mad that you told Dorian’s best monster friend that –”

  Patrick laughed. “Calm down, everyone. I’m here to help you, not rat you out.”

  Fred and Poppy glared at him suspiciously, but Andrew brightened up immediately. He liked the idea of Patrick being on their side far more than Fred. In reality he wanted Dorian to be on their side, too, but that was impossible because all of this was his fault to begin with.

  “Why would you help us instead of Dorian?” Fred asked, warily sitting back down when Patrick and Casey did so. Poppy was slower to follow suit, after which Andrew did, too.

  Patrick smiled fondly at Casey. “For her, of course. How could I expect her to ever forgive me if I could help you guys out and didn’t?”

  “Then you could have helped so much earlier!” Poppy cried, looking as if she might actually pull her hair out. Andrew hoped she wouldn’t.

  “I’m sorry, Poppy. But you must know how dangerous Dorian’s work is. It’s not something I would ever dare interfere with, and to be honest even now I’m pretty terrified. So much so that Cass and I fully intend to run off as soon as you guys are over the loch.”

  “I – what?”

  Casey nodded enthusiastically. “I never liked uni anyway. Patrick and I are going to go sailing around the world! How exciting is that?”

  Andrew wondered how she could remain so bright when her club mates were literally being eaten. But, then again, he always felt happy when he was around Poppy. He supposed it must be like that for Casey with Patrick, even if he was actually a monster.

  Poppy held a hand to
her head the way she always did when a migraine was creeping up on her. “Patrick, please don’t tell me in any way, shape or form that you have tentacles, because for the love of all that is good and holy I literally cannot –”

  “Jesus, he totally does,” Fred cut in, delighted. “That makes so much sense! No wonder you always help out with the water sports!”

  “Hey,” Patrick complained, though he was grinning, “I could be a shark for all you know.”

  “Except you’re not, and now all those Japanese nightmare cartoons Nate showed me are creeping back into my mind to suck my very soul out,” Poppy muttered.

  Fred laughed uproariously; Andrew had never, in his entire life, heard him genuinely laugh in response to something Poppy had said. He didn’t like it.

  “This coming from the woman who fucked a goat,” Patrick fired back, causing everyone to stare at Poppy.

  Casey gasped excitedly. “You totally did – I can see it on your face. Oh my God, Poppy, what was it like? You have to –”

  “I do not have to tell you anything,” she protested. “I deny it all.”

  “You really think Dorian didn’t tell me about it the second you guys got back from the forest?” Patrick said, chuckling good-naturedly. “We do enjoy gossiping, you know.”

  Poppy was horrified. Andrew was numb. He didn’t like thinking about Poppy with Dorian at all, but Poppy with a monster Dorian?

  It was even worse than Fred laughing at her jokes.

  “How did you even manage it, King?” Fred asked. “Like, how was it physically possible? Surely he must have been close to splitting you in –”

  “Shut up shut up shut up shut up,” Poppy cried, getting to her feet with her hands over her ears, which Andrew very much felt like doing, too. “This is so not what we came up here to discuss, or have you all forgotten that?”

  Andrew was ashamed to realise that he had. Though he didn’t like the specific topics of conversation, the easy banter of the group was the closest thing to normal he’d experienced in weeks.

  He knew nothing would ever be normal again, even if they all got away from the facility safely.

  “You’re right, Poppy,” Casey said, wiping a laughter-induced tear from her eye as she grew serious. “Sorry. We have a lot to cover.”

  Fred glanced at Poppy, a grim, determined smile on his face. Poppy held his gaze, reaching for Andrew’s hand at the same time in order to squeeze it. He only too eagerly reciprocated.

  It didn’t matter if she and Fred had reached a truce, or if Poppy had slept with a human or monster Dorian. Andrew was special to her, in a way nobody else could ever be. He was the one she’d trusted first. The one she revealed everything to and asked for help from. He was the one who saved her life.

  “So what’s the plan, Miss President of the Sports Society?”

  INTERLUDE IX

  Twelve people had been locked up in the room with him, Craig counted, though only ten were left. With Ross and Angelica gone he could only assume he’d be the next to die, so when Dorian entered with two assistants he steeled himself for a fight. Like hell was he going to accept his fate without at least smashing the man’s face in.

  But they didn’t take Craig.

  That was the last time he saw Grace Kang and Chloe Bettany.

  FREDERICK SAMPSON

  Poppy

  Poppy was terrified. There was so much that could go wrong today – too much. But she had no other options.

  It was now or never.

  When Mateusz was found to be missing, his belongings all packed and gone, everyone concluded that he had simply up and left. Even though the road around the loch was long and dangerous, especially in the dark, and swimming through the loch itself wasn’t any easier. Poppy knew better.

  Dorian wouldn’t even look her in the eye.

  It had been to her benefit that he’d been avoiding Poppy for a few days, though, given what she was planning. It also meant Dorian hadn’t drank her blood in two weeks, even when she gave him Robin Fraser’s name to be saved – someone that, for Rachelle’s sake, she should have saved weeks ago.

  Poppy needed all the strength she could get, so of course Dorian not drinking her blood was a good thing, but it left Poppy feeling odd. Like she was too full, or there was too much pressure inside of her. She needed to let some of it go.

  “I do not actually want him to drink my blood,” Poppy muttered under her breath as she made her way to the pool, a towel wrapped around her bikini-clad body. If this was to be her final day at the facility, she was going to damn well make use of the pool and the hot tub.

  “Is that so? Sounds like a lie to me.”

  Poppy jumped despite herself, scowling to hide her discomfort as she turned and said, “Dorian, don’t creep up on me like that.”

  He smirked. “I wasn’t creeping up on you. You simply didn’t notice me.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Oh?” He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

  “Shut up, Dorian.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “I can tell what you’re thinking.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “That you believe I’m always thinking about you, so I must always notice you,” Poppy said as she turned and continued walking towards the pool. Dorian curled a finger around her towel and dragged her to a stop.

  “You’re at least thinking of me eighty percent of the time,” he murmured, voice soft and low against her ear. When Poppy held up a hand to swat his face away he kissed it.

  “Where do you get all this confidence from?” Poppy asked, all too aware of the uneven beating of her heart. After days of Dorian being somewhat distant with her she found that having him in such close proximity seemed to dissolve her wits far quicker than it usually did.

  “It’s not really confidence if I know it to be true.”

  “Semantics.”

  “Why have you been so cold with me lately?”

  Poppy turned her head over her shoulder to look at him; her lips brushed past his in the process. She almost pulled away. Almost. Instead she reached up a hand, running it through Dorian’s hair as she deepened the kiss, satisfied by the noise of shock emitted from the back of his throat in the process.

  “Who’s being cold?” she remarked when she finally pulled away, biting Dorian’s bottom lip as she did so. His hands crawled around Poppy’s waist, urging her closer once more. She turned to face him properly, staring him hard in the face as she said, “You’re the one who’s been avoiding me, not the other way around. What’s going on?”

  Dorian answer was so obviously evasive Poppy almost laughed. “I’m handling it,” he said. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

  “Which means I do.”

  “Just sit tight for another two days. That’s when everyone is leaving, after all. Everything will be fine by then.”

  Because we’ll all be gone.

  Poppy’s stomach lurched at the thought. She knew what she had to do – knew that she had to betray and leave Dorian. After everything he’d put her club through it was the very least he deserved.

  And yet though she found it easy to betray him, leaving him was another matter entirely. It was the one part of their deal that Poppy truly didn’t want to break, whatever that meant for the way she felt about him.

  “Poppy?”

  She nodded. “Sorry, I’m just nervous. Understandable, given…everything.”

  Dorian chuckled darkly. “That’s an understatement. But in two days everything will be over and done with, and then we…”

  “We what?”

  “We figure out what’s next. Funny, I’ve never not had a plan before.”

  “And I’ve never had one. Guess this is us meeting in the middle.”

  The smile on Dorian’s face at her comment was achingly genuine. “I guess you’re right. Stay in my room tonight, Poppy.”

  Of course Poppy knew what that really meant. She’d always intended on spendin
g the night with Dorian, anyway, only with entirely unscrupulous, ulterior motives.

  She kissed him softly. “I guess I can indulge you this once.”

  “I can’t believe it’s taken me fifteen weeks to get you to actually accept an invitation to my room.”

  “And I still can’t quite believe you’re an eight food monster who traffics human beings, so there’s that to take into consideration.”

  Poppy flinched at the words she couldn’t help but say, and she hated that she said them now of all times. Dorian’s eyes hardened at the comment, but then he sighed and pulled away from her.

  “I know. But even still, you’re going to stay with me tonight, anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

  “I suppose it doesn’t,” Poppy echoed back, watching Dorian walk away whilst knowing that it always would matter. For how could it not?

  But even still…

  When she reached the social area Poppy made a beeline for the loch instead of the pool, where Patrick’s boat was docked and, she knew, Casey was holed up inside with the man. And although she was somewhat anxious about what she might see by barging into the bedroom on the lower deck, Poppy still did so, though she half closed her eyes in preparation.

  To her surprise, however, Casey and Patrick were merely watching television. They both eyed Poppy curiously.

  “What’s wrong, Poppy?” Casey asked, a frown of concern creasing her brow. “Has something happened –”

  “Before you two run off,” Poppy cut in, “after you’ve helped get everyone away from here. I need you to do one more thing. For Dorian’s sake…and for mine.”

  Patrick stared at her in interest. “I’m listening.”

  RUTH TOWNSEND

  Dorian

  He had two days to sort everything. Tomorrow Steven and Aisling would be responsible for taking away everyone who’d been up for bidding and transporting them to their respective clients. The next day Nick was coming to take Poppy.

  Dorian was going to make damn sure she was as far away as physically possible before then.

  He didn’t want to have to run away from the place he was born, even though he always knew he’d have to. People would investigate the sports facility where a group of thirty university students stayed and never returned.