Dancing With Monsters

by M. M. Gavillet

  “It’s hard to say, could be, but we never had any description of him. And with no evidence here other than a demon attack, I can only guess. I think there was some connection, because why would a demon come to a bed and breakfast and demolish it for no reason?” She asked rhetorically.

  “Disliked the service,” Malachi said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “They don’t risk their wellbeing to just crash a party.” Ayil glanced at all of us dismissing Malachi’s reply.

  “Yeah, but this one did,” I said, gazing down at the girl. “They must’ve had some connection to the serum.”

  “That’s what I think too. They could have been striking a deal, or drumming up potential customers, and obviously whatever happened here, didn’t go well.” Ayil glanced down at the dead couple.

  Suddenly, the girl lifted her bloodied hand smeared with red-black blood. Her eyes opened trying to focus on her surroundings. “Ben,” she said in a whispered, raspy voice.

  “She’s still alive,” Ezra said, stepping towards her.

  Ayil knelt beside her and pushed away more debris. The girl gazed at Ayil. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Ayil’s voice was soft. “Malachi, Seth, help me with her.”

  Malachi and I lifted the girl up by the shoulders, gently cradling her arms around our necks. Her head flopped to my shoulder.

  “She has a hexmark—possibly a royal one.” Malachi held her arm with his free hand and turned the girl’s arm to reveal a mark. She was one of us, a monster, and a rare one to have such a mark.

  Ayil looked at it and turned off her light. She glanced at us with her dark eyes and silver-grey hair that seemed to catch what remaining light there was. “Let’s get out of here just in case there might be a round two.”

  5

  April

  Flashes of unfamiliar faces surrounded me. I tried to call for Ben, but couldn’t sense him anymore. What had happened to me? I couldn’t remember. Pain filled my whole body as I tried to call out for Ben. Voices I didn’t recognize encircled me as I clung to my senses that were fading into the blackness that beckoned.

  Ben had just proposed marriage, and I was going to have a future with him in a safe place where the darkness and the demons that lurked there would never penetrate. But that had been shattered by an explosion of light.

  “She has been bound by a spell,” a voice cut through my thoughts. “And above all, it was a love spell. The odds of coming out of it are slim.” They were talking about me.

  “Let’s hope she does so we can find out what happened in that house.”

  I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Who were they, and what about the love spell? Did Ben have something to do with it, or was it put on me by demons as a joke? There was a demon, a female one that was at the Ivy Inn. Ben had protected me and paid the price. His face drained of color…arms wrapped tightly around me…his eyes focused solely with mine…light…fire…explosion…

  On the edge of remembering everything, I pushed it away. I didn’t want to remember, at least not now.

  I didn’t want to open my eyes, but they did like two released springs. I sat up in the amber glow of a sunset, or was it a sunrise? What was this place?

  “Ben?” My voice croaked. “Ben!”

  I was in a bed in a room with a dresser, nightstand, and closet doors that were ajar beside me. The surroundings I didn’t recognize, and wondered who or what had brought me here. The voices talked about a love spell. Where they monsters, demons, or angels?

  I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and pushed the dizziness away. Walking quietly towards the door, I listened for anyone who might be in the house. There was no noise except for the whooshing sound of cars going by outside and the occasional gust of wind pressing against the window on the other side of the room. Pending, eerie silence circled around me.

  As I stood waiting for something to make the first move, I noticed something glimmering beside me. It was my dress draped over a wooden rocker—bloodstained. Gingerly, I picked it up as the light overhead flicked on. Wide-eyed, I gazed at the boy standing in the doorway. He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms with a curious expression on his face. He didn’t come towards me, but stayed put like a watchful, curious cat evaluating the situation before he should pounce on me or not. I pressed the gown Ben had given as a present protectively to my chest, and took a step away from him.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, looking at me with his brown-gold eyes. “My name is Seth.”

  Frozen, I didn’t reply.

  “Please don’t be scared, we want to help you.”

  We—there was more than one, but how many.

  “I’m a monster like you.” Seth took a step towards me, and I took one away. “You are involved in dangerous things, and we are trying to protect you from them.”

  He knew I was a monster, and he was one too. His unblinking eyes focused on me. Seth was gentle looking with his gold eyes, wavy, pale, brown hair, and rounded face with a square jawline—the kind of person you’d see on a cover of a magazine that girls would swoon over.

  Summing up his teddy bear qualities, I noticed he too had a hexmark on the inside of his right forearm. Thick, black lines didn’t curl gracefully on his skin like mine, but instead were jagged and sharp.

  Seth stepped forward rolling up his sleeve to reveal more of his mark. “It’s called a tribal hexmark, and are rare for most monsters to get. The majority of monsters have clan hexmarks, and are a combination of tribal, and royal, like yours,” he said, nodding towards my arm. “Yours is called a royal hexmark, and is far rarer than mine making you special.”

  I held out my arm and looked at the swirling lines.

  “You see, mine I was born with, but yours had to be uncovered by a wizard or someone who knew what and how to work with hexmarks.” Seth’s voice was as gentle as his appearance.

  “The gypsy woman gave it to me when I was just a little girl. My mother said it would protect me.”

  Seth stepped closer and brushed his fingers across my mark. “Protect from who?” His eyes lifted to mine.

  I drew in a deep breath and covered up my mark with the sleeve of the oversized shirt I was wearing, and wrapped my arms around my stomach. “Demons,” I replied studying his response.

  He nodded his head and turned from me. “Yes, they are terrible creatures, and there was one or maybe more at the Ivy Inn where there was a reported occurrence of their energies being used.”

  My insides quivered. “Ben,” I whispered looking away as tears welled in my eyes.

  “Ben—who’s Ben?” Seth asked.

  “He’s gone…he died…protecting me,” I said, sitting on the bed.

  The flood of the memories I tried to repress, broke and crashed through my head and heart as I could no longer hold my pain in.

  Seth

  The girl cried as though she was trying to commit suicide by doing so. I had never seen someone in so much pain. She finally let me sit next to her on the bed and wrap my arms around her as she wept on my shoulder. I didn’t talk to her or try to get any information as to what happened at the Ivy Inn, where she was from, or anything about her. She was hurt not only emotionally, but also coming off of a very powerful spell.

  “I think she fell asleep,” Ezra said, flipping the light off.

  I looked at the girl who had stopped crying, and was silent. I laid her gently back on the bed and covered her up.

  “Did you find anything out?”

  “Very little,” I replied standing up. “She’s too upset and with the spell—she may not even have any memory of exactly what happened.”

  Ezra stepped closer to the girl and knelt next to her gently pushing back her hair in a motherly way. “She’s young and old at the same time. And her hexmark is a special one.”

  “She said a gypsy woman gave it to her. Her mother wanted her protected.” I stood behind Ezra as she continued to stroke the girl’s hair. “She referred to someone named Ben.”<
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  “Was that the other monster at the inn?” Ezra asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not sure, she didn’t tell me anymore, but I’m going to guess that it was. The pain was too much for her to continue questioning.” I empathized with her; I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved.

  “I can help her,” Ezra said, looking up at me with her nearly black eyes that I knew were not that dark, but a deep blue. “I can speak to her right now and get a lot more information than when she’s awake.”

  “You mean enter her dreams?” I asked knowing it took a lot of energy to do that, and Ezra was still weak. “Ezra, you have to think of your well-being.”

  She smiled as she stood up and curled her delicate fingers through mine. “I’m not made of the thinnest glass as you think I am. It does take a lot of energy, but it will help us immensely. I will be talking to her on her own terms and space. The spell that had been placed on her is stronger in waking hours, but ceases in her dreams where it’s her own grounds and nothing can penetrate them.”

  I drew in a deep breath and tightened my hold on Ezra’s hands. “Yes, it would be helpful, but it isn’t wise and we can talk to her more when she wakes.”

  Ezra looked at the girl. “It’s a love spell, Seth. It will take too long to get anything out of her. Entering her dreams will be so much more productive.”

  I shook my head. “No, Ezra, I won’t allow it.”

  She snickered like a child laughing at a push-over parent who was raising a defiant child. “You can come with me and be my protector.”

  I looked at the girl knowing we’d find out a lot more than trying to talk to her while she was awake, then I looked at Ezra. She was strong, resilient, and could charm the coldest of hearts. I knew she had a determination and strength that always amazed me—she was in the Shadowlands longer than she should have been and survived me bringing her out of them. I held her by the arms and examined her as she smiled at me. Besides, when she made up her mind, there was no stopping her.

  “Malachi, Nessa, and Ayil went shopping to get more supplies—I think Malachi was eating Ayil out of house and home. Ayil said she is waiting for her consort to contact her for our next move.” I shifted my weight and glanced down at the girl. “We have an hour, and that’s it.”

  Ezra smiled and tightened her grip on my hands. “Then let’s be quick.”

  April

  Blackness was ripped away like giant claws were tearing it away. I didn’t want to be in the light anymore. The darkness made me feel nothing, made me numb, and forget that my heart ached to the point I thought it could quit beating. I had allowed myself to love, and that love was taken away from me—fate had made it that way. I was a monster caught in the human world trying to find my home, but I never would.

  I knew I was lying on a grassy hill from the texture of it under my hands and by the earthy, mellow scent. I felt warm sunshine on my back, but refused to look at it. Why was this dream so vivid? And was it a dream or had I died?

  I pushed myself up and could see distant mountains wrapped in a purple mist, lush trees dotted the hilly landscape, and the sound of a trickling stream filled the warm air. It was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Avalon.

  “Ben!” I yelled out as I stood up. “Ben!” I called his name again as I turned around to see a girl and a guy standing next to each other in front of me.

  The girl with her dark hair and dark eyes approached me first with a warm smile. “Don’t be afraid, we are here to help you.”

  “Who are you?” I asked. “And where is Ben? Have you seen him?”

  The girl stopped in front of me. “My name is Ezra, and this is Seth. What is your name?”

  The boy stood in the background with his eyes fixed on me. He looked familiar, but through my foggy head, I couldn’t place him. “April,” I finally said. “But Ben…where is he?”

  Ezra smiled. “Is Ben your companion?”

  “Yes, he proposed to me and…now I can’t find him.” I felt tears sting my eyes.

  Ezra kept her gentle eyes on me and ran her fingers across my cheeks as she made a shushing sound that you’d make to calm an upset child.

  “You’re getting weak, Ezra,” Seth said, walking up to her and protectively placing a hand on her shoulder.

  “I’m fine, but April here isn’t. We need to help her.” She smiled. “Tell us where you’re from and what you were doing at the Ivy Inn so we can help you find Ben.”

  “He took me to Avalon and asked me to marry him, and when we got back…” I looked away and towards the distant landscape that resembled Avalon. “Where are we?” I asked in a low voice as Ezra turned me around and gazed into my eyes.

  “What happened when you got back?” Her body began to tremble as she tried to maintain her composure. “April, we are trying to help you.” Ezra closed her eyes tightly as Seth wrapped his arms around her. “Tell us what happened.”

  “We have to go, Ezra!” His voice was filled with concern.

  Suddenly the blue skies shifted to black, boiling clouds. Lightning flashed overhead and the wind shifted as I looked over my shoulder at the approaching storm that was no storm, but something much darker.

  “The darkness,” I turned back to face them. “That’s what was waiting for us—the stupid, stupid darkness!” I twirled back around and faced it. “You can’t have me!” I yelled as black clouds swooped downward and headed towards me.

  I raised my arm, the one bearing my hexmark, and with all my might I pushed it away. Tendrils of light flowed from my open hands and curled through the clouds like ribbons that pierced it like sharp, unforgiving needles. The clouds boiled, but were losing strength and beginning to break up from my relentless light-ribbons that continued to twirl around it until it was all but gone. Only when I saw patches of blue sky did I lower my hands.

  “It’s gone…I won,” I whispered to myself as I turned around to see Ezra lying on the ground, and Seth cradling her head.

  Her skin was drained of color, eyes closed, and blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.

  Seth lifted his eyes to me. “April, we have to get out of here, and you’re the only one who can do it. Your hexmark is strong enough to work the portal.”

  I shook my head and looked at my mark. “I don’t know how.”

  “Yes, you do,” Ezra said, barely opening her eyes. “You have strength…take my hand.” She lifted her hand like a mother extending her hand to a child before crossing the road. “You’ll be fine.”

  The black clouds I thought I had killed were gaining strength again as thunder rumbled behind me. I turned to look at them churning and this time, they formed a face—a woman’s face that was clearly molded from the grey clouds. She smiled as the bodiless face charged towards us.

  I couldn’t fight her, and grabbed Ezra’s hand. Light exploded between our hands as the mass of grey clouds skidded over us. Everything was a blend of golden, piercing light, and grey-black clouds that slowly dissolved.

  I woke to a multitude of footsteps and voices all speaking at once. Pushing myself up, I realized I was back in the bedroom and lying on the hardwood floor next to the bed. Seth hovered over Ezra. There was a woman with grey-silver hair and a girl about my age with white hair. They were concerned about Ezra.

  “Seth, the stone,” the silver-haired woman said.

  He pulled a yellow stone, about the size of his palm, out from his pocket and looked at her.

  “Place it in your palm and hold it over Ezra,” she instructed.

  “I don’t know its powers. What if I hurt her?”

  “You won’t, and if you don’t, she’ll die.”

  I sat still and watched as Seth held in his palm the stone now glowing in an amber shade. Dew-like beads of sweat formed on his forehead as his unblinking eyes focused on Ezra’s pale face. With his other hand, he pushed away her dark strands of hair from her face. His eyes were distant and solely focused on her as if lost in a memory that was immune to the silver haired
woman’s non-stop commands. Ezra was so pale, it looked like she had already died and Seth wanted to follow her.

  “Listen!” The white-haired girl yelled and smacked Seth across the face. He hardly flinched. “You can’t bring her back if you don’t listen to Ayil!”

  Ayil cupped her hand over the stone as Seth cradled it in his palm. Their eyes locked.

  “Concentrate on the stone, summon its light,” Ayil said, in the now quiet room.

  Gold, orange, blue and purple flecks of light curled like fog around their hands containing the stone. It brushed across Ezra in the multitude of colors until it nearly concealed her. Suddenly, she gulped in air like someone that had been underwater for too long.

  “It’s alright, I got you,” Seth let the stone drop to the floor, and wrapped his arms around Ezra who gasped for air. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting you go again.”

  “The Shadowlands….I can’t…”

  “Don’t talk,” Seth said, looking Ezra in the eyes. “You’re here and that’s all that matters.”

  Ayil picked up the stone, and handed it to Seth. “Here, you better keep this close.” Seth took it and placed it back into his pocket.

  I stood up, unnoticed, and crept towards the door. I didn’t know these monsters, or what their intentions were. I had to get out of here.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” A boy with black hair and ice-blue eyes asked blocking the doorway.

  I stopped and gazed up at him speechless.

  “You can’t leave our little party yet, the fun has just begun. And besides, we’d love to hear all about the party at the Ivy Inn.”

  Seth

  April stood frozen like a tiny rabbit that had been caught by a hunter. She was frightened, and I knew we’d get nowhere with her in that state.

  “Malachi, let her go,” I said, with a shocked look and an arch of Malachi’s left eyebrow.