Lights, Camera…Monsters

by Lila Dubois

Runako jerked, hating that order more than anything else, but, in the ways of their people, he was forced to obey both because of his defeat and to acknowledge the insult done.

  Multicolored lights flashed as Runako shrank from the massive monster to a muscle-bound human man with skin the color of mahogany.

  Luke saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Lena’s friends had slowly crept out into the backyard, watching this small drama unfold. Now all four of them stared at Runako’s human form with lowered jaws.

  “He’s the bad guy, so it’s wrong that I find him totally hot, isn’t it?” Jane asked her friends, the night wind carrying her voice just enough so that Luke could hear.

  “Love the villains,” Cali replied. “Akta, you need some light back here, there are too many shadows.”

  “I’ll get them first thing tomorrow. Look at those arms.”

  “Ladies, you all need to step back, this one’s mine,” Margo said, moaning a little in pleasure as Runako turned to talk to Henry, giving the women a view of his back side.

  Luke turned his head to stare at the women. Perhaps feeling his stare they looked at him.

  He raised his eyebrows. “He just tried to kill Lena.”

  “He didn’t mean to,” Jane muttered, though she had the grace to blush.

  Margo bumped Jane with her hip, then glared at Luke. “We didn’t say we wanted to bear his children, just fuck him into oblivion.”

  “Well if that’s all…” Shaking his head at the amorous nature of human women, which was clearly under-represented in movies, Luke made his way over to Henry and Runako, who were speaking in the old language.

  “Runako,” Luke said, drawing the other monster’s attention. When Runako turned Luke drew back his fist and punched Runako full in the face.

  “Nicely done,” Michael said, coming over to toe Runako’s unconscious body. Henry was shaking his head. Lena came up beside Luke, resting a hand on the small of his back.

  “Feel better?” she asked, a lips twitching.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m glad.”

  Margo and the others popped up on Luke’s other side. Margo dropped to her knees and pried open Runako’s eyelids. “He’s out cold.”

  “So ripping each other to shreds wasn’t enough? You had to land him like a trout?”

  “He tried to kill Lena.”

  Margo got Henry and Michael to haul Runako inside, where they set him up on the couch. Margo sat next to him and held a bag of frozen peas to his jaw. Luke dropped into a plush armchair. Lena had gone with Akta to find dry clothes. When she emerged wearing a white tank top and pink pants that let her hipbones peek out, Luke pulled her down onto his lap.

  It would be a long time before Luke stopped wanting to hold her every moment of every day. He could have lost her, and that would have ripped out his heart, no matter what form he took.

  Runako woke to find Margo peering down at him and froze.

  “The human is touching me,” he said in the old language.

  “She’s tending to you,” Henry told him.

  “Make her stop.” Runako’s voice had risen, ending in a sharp yelp.

  Luke, Michael and Henry looked at one another. Michael grinned and draped his arm around Jane, drawing Runako’s attention. The new addition’s eyes were wide as he saw Michael touch Jane.

  “Are you afraid of the human, warrior Runako?” Michael taunted.

  A snarl twisted Runako’s lips, but just as he was about to make what would have undoubtedly been a blistering retort, Margo pinched his nose.

  “No fair talking in a different language.”

  Luke, Michael and Henry all howled with laughter at the look on Runako’s face as he laid there, Margo’s fingers pinching his nose.

  “Now that I have your attention,” Margo said, releasing him. “I want to know why exactly you tried to kill my friend.”

  “I did not want to hurt her, I would not kill her.” Runako twisted to look back over the arm of the couch at Lena. There was a moment of silence before Lena nodded.

  “I did not mean to kill her, I truly did not know a little water could do such damage to frail human bodies.” He looked down at himself in disgust. “I only wanted to discourage Chevo from this awful plan.”

  “The council gave us leave to attempt this,” Michael reminded him.

  “You are fools to believe the humans will ever accept us. They will hunt and kill us, mount us on their walls, dissect us in their white rooms, torture us to madness before allowing us death.”

  “Humans are reasonable, we would not do that,” Jane protested.

  Runako turned his face away, the muscles in his jaw clenching and unclenching.

  Any residual anger Luke felt towards the other monster melted away as Luke remembered what Runako’s family had suffered.

  “Humans would, and Runako knows that better than any other. He had a twin, a female, who was taken by the humans. They had a psychic bond, and he had to live through her torture and death as the humans who captured her ripped off her wings before turning her over to scientists.”

  Luke remembered that day. They’d been called together to restrain Runako who’d been mad with his twin’s pain and his own need to save her. They’d known there was nothing to be done, and so Runako had been forced to endure his sibling’s pain as she was dissected while still alive.

  “My God,” Margo whispered, her hard exterior melting away to reveal the woman of deep caring who hid beneath the iron defenses. “I’m so sorry,” she said, resting her hand on Runako’s cheek and turning his face to her.

  “T—thank you,” Runako whispered, clearly stunned by her words.

  “You say that the humans would never accept us, but these five have.” Luke told him, gesturing around the room.

  “You asked me to agree to expose myself and what is left of my family to these people who hate and fear us.”

  “That is what we want to change,” Lena said, drawing Runako’s attention. “Luke, um, Chevo, brought us an idea, and we’re going to expand on it. We know it may take a long time, but we will change the way everyone thinks about monsters.”

  “What could be powerful enough to change thousands of years of human opinion?”

  “You’ve never seen a movie?” Cali asked in the same tone you would use to accuse someone of killing cats in their basement.

  “A movie?”

  The room erupted in noise, everyone voicing their opinion on what Runako’s first movie should be. Luke looked over at the other monster, who appeared distinctly overwhelmed.

  “Runako,” Luke said in the old language, “We could use your help, your opinion. At the very least see what we have planned, then if you still believe our plan is hopeless, and cannot support us, leave. But you must promise not to harm any of us again.”

  Runako looked around, taking in Henry’s laughter as Akta sang the music from a 2001: A Space Odyssey, Michael’s arm draped over Jane’s shoulders, Cali’s waxing poetic about what it would be like to be a virgin movie watcher. Finally he turned his attention to Margo, whose hand rested casually on his arm.

  “I will stay,” Runako said in English, “I will help.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “How do you feel?”

  “My throat and chest are a bit sore, but nothing major. You’re the one who needs some TLC.”

  “TLC?”

  “Tender,” Lena kissed his cheek, “love” his lips, “and care,” and the skin just below a long gash over his collarbone.

  “If you plan on taking your lips any further down, I won’t stop you.”

  “As much as I would love to do that, we need to look after your injuries.”

  Lena rose from the couch where she’d been reclining next to Luke. They’d returned to her apartment half an hour ago, leaving the others to sort out sleeping arrangements and deal with Runako. The blessed quiet of Lena’s dimly lit home had lulled them into half waking stupor. Lena would have been content to lie there all night, do
zing as she lay curled up on the couch beside them, but Luke’s wounds worried her. Though they were healing fast, most already partially knitted together, there were spots of blood on the T-shirt he’d borrowed.

  “I will heal on my own.”

  “I know you will,” Lena bent and stroked his cheek, “but I don’t want you to hurt for even one second beyond what you must.”

  Luke nodded, but the movement was stiff, he was trying to hide the extent of his exhaustion and pain.

  “Luke, stop it, don’t pretend that you aren’t hurt. You said I shouldn’t play games with you, well I don’t want you to play games with me either.”

  He nodded and his shoulders slumped, chin tilting down as he stopped hiding his hurt from her. Lena’s stomach clenched to see it. She’d been unconscious for much of the battle, but Jane had described it, the fierce battle that vacillated between earth and sky.

  “I would heal faster if…” Luke paused and turned his head from her.

  “Don’t hide from me, what is it, my love?”

  He looked up at the endearment, a smile blossoming across his face. “I like it when you call me that.”

  “It’s true, you’re my love.”

  Luke pulled her down for a kiss, but Lena pressed her fingers over his lips and eyed him. “No fair distracting me, what do you need?”

  “I would heal faster if I slept…in my monster form,” he mumbled from behind her fingers.

  “Why would you be afraid to tell me that?” she asked as she moved her fingers to cup his cheek.

  “I know you are still not entirely comfortable with it.”

  “I’m trying,” Lena’s stroked his cheek, “I hope you know that.”

  “I do and that’s why I don’t want to upset you any more than is necessary.”

  “What will upset me is you not doing everything you can to heal yourself.”

  Lena pushed herself into standing mode, grabbed Luke’s hand, and pulled him up. She moved him into the kitchen and started pushed the furniture up against the walls. Once she was done she kissed Luke.

  “You’re a bit too big for the bed, so I’ll make you one on the floor out here. How does that sound?”

  “It will be much easier to sleep that way, thank you.” He stroked her back and pressed his cheek to hers. “But I will miss holding you as you sleep.”

  Lena kissed his chin and moved into the hall to get blankets. When she came back into the living room Luke was in his monster form. His red-brown skin was striped with long wounds, some of which were seeping black blood. After creating a bed on the floor out of old blankets and pillows, Lena wet a washcloth and cleaned his chest and arms. She had to stand on the coffee table to reach those on his shoulders. As she worked his wings shifted, a slight up and down movement that at first unnerved Lena. Soon she realized it was a reflex action, like a person humming or jiggling their foot.

  Wanting to show Luke that she cared, that even if she was still scared, it was only fear of this body, not of the soul that resided within it, Lena jumped off the table and pulled on the edge of Luke’s wing.

  “Jeez, this thing is big,” Lena whispered as she examined his wing for tears. Backlit by the light in the hall Lena could see the ribs that supported the thin membrane. There were a few minor tears in each wing, but nothing approaching the damage he’d done to Runako.

  Once she was satisfied that she’d done everything she could to help, Lena stepped back. Luke folded his wings tight to his body, the pointed apexes curling forward over his shoulders so he appeared to be wearing a black cloak. From there he lay down on his back, pulling a baby blue blanket over himself.

  Lena went to the bedroom to change and grab her pillow. She flipped off all the lights as she made her way back. The drapes to the balcony were still open, allowing moonlight and the light of the approaching dawn to spill over Luke.

  “What are you doing?” Luke asked as Lena dropped her pillow next to him. Stepping over his legs, Lena pulled the drapes.

  “I’m sleeping with the guy I love.”

  “But I’m…”

  “You’re the guy I love, in whatever body, and I want to sleep next to you, every night.”

  His claws scraped her as he helped Lena under the covers. His torso was too thick for Lena to use his shoulders as a pillow so she turned her back to him and pressed herself against his side.

  “I love you,” he whispered in the dark, the bass rumble of his voice stirring many things inside her. There was fear, arousal and love, all combined together, in a syrup of emotion that made Lena feel more alive than she ever had before.

  “I love you too.”

  “I never thought I could feel this way about any creature, as if my spirit had found a mate.”

  “I know, I never thought I would find someone I would be so comfortable with that I could simply be myself.”

  “Goodnight, my love.”

  “Goodnight,” Lena said, voice breaking on a yawn, “my monster.”

  Luke’s rumbling chuckle lulled her to sleep.

  About the Author

  To learn more about Lila, please visit www.liladubois.com. Send an email to lila.dubois@gmail.com or join her Yahoo! newsletter for contests, deleted scene, articles, and release notifications at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ForbiddenTouch

  Lila moved to Southern California where she obtained her degree in anthropology and currently resides in Hollywood, which provides an endless supply of exciting evenings and writing ideas. Having spent extensive time in France, Egypt and Turkey Lila speaks five languages, none of them (including English) fluently.

  She has neither husband nor cats but there are some piranhas living in a fish tank behind her couch.

  Look for these titles by Lila Dubois

  Now Available

  Sealed with a Kiss

  When a man who isn’t human is accidentally enslaved by a woman who has no idea what he is, the result is magical.

  Sealed with a Kiss

  © 2007 Lila Dubois

  Available now at Samhain Publishing

  Signing up for a one-week adventure vacation, Helena expects to be kayaking in the Pacific, not having every sexual fantasy fulfilled in her guide’s bed.

  Ocean is more than he seems, his kayaking business a cover for his deepest secret.

  When Helena accidentally enacts old magic, enslaving Ocean, he doesn’t know if she is the luckiest girl on earth, or an enemy of his kind, bent on imprisoning him forever. Ocean’s strange behavior worries Helena but she’s distracted by the mind-blowing sex.

  After the truth is revealed, will their budding love be Sealed with a Kiss?

  Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, voyeurism, and fantasy fulfillment.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Sealed with a Kiss:

  On deck, Ocean spread out a beach towel for her. The strange sexual confidence of a few hours ago returned and Helena shot Ocean a seductive smile as she made her way to the blanket. There she stretched out on her back, arms above her head, one knee bent, coyly hiding her sex.

  Ocean lay face down beside her, and for several moments they simply basked in the sun like the sated beasts they were.

  “Oh no, I forgot sunscreen.” Helena sat up, peering at Ocean through the dark glasses he provided. “Do you have any?”

  He opened one eye and gave her a slow once-over. “I’ll get some.”

  Helena lay back and waited. When Ocean returned, there was a thickness to the air around him, and the tense set to his shoulders told her their play was about to begin again.

  Ocean straddled her hips, forcing her bent knee flat. “Give me your right arm.”

  Helena lifted and extended her arm as Ocean poured sunscreen into his palm. Helena shivered as he placed hands coated in cool sunscreen on her wrist. From wrist to shoulder, he worked the lotion into her skin, the scent of coconut strong in the heated air.

  When he finished, Ocean carefully replaced her arm in its position a
bove her head and started in on the other, giving it the same treatment.

  He left no part of her body unattended, swiping fingers over her cheeks, nose and forehead, kneading her upper chest, causing her to squirm as he massaged her ticklish belly.

  When every inch of skin above her waist was covered, save her breasts, Ocean leaned down and blew on her nipples. His breath, like the air around them, was hot and so had no effect. With a disapproving noise, Ocean grabbed the bottle of sunscreen. Holding it upside down, he squeezed and a large dollop of the still-cold cream landed right on her nipple.

  Helena yelped. The sound cut off as he gave the other peak the same treatment.

  One large palm covered each breast, pressing the cold into her skin. Her nipples beaded up hard and Ocean rumbled with pleasure. His fingers slid through the creamy pools melting down her breasts and plucked on the hard buds.

  “Oh yes, yes, yes. Do that again.”

  Ocean obeyed, pinching the flesh between his fingers and lifting. Coated as they were, the pebbled tips slid through his fingers, forced between the viselike pressure of his fingertips. When first the right and then the left peak finally slid from his grip with a pinch, Helena moaned in pleasure, her fingers wrapped around his forearms, nails digging into him.

  Slowly he worked the sunscreen into her breasts, kneading the soft mounds, molding and shaping them with hands rough from his work. When the lotion was gone, he repeated the nipple pinch, the hold now lasting longer as her body had absorbed much of the sunscreen. As he squeezed hard and lifted her breasts away from her body by their tender peaks, Helena’s hips moved helplessly beneath Ocean.

  “Ah, ah, ah, gorgeous, stay still, I’ll be down there soon.”

  Beyond words, Helena nodded, her hips stilling as her nipples slipped free of his pinching grip.

  Ocean flipped around, still straddling her belly, presenting her with a view of his wide golden back. Hands once more filled with sunscreen lifted each leg, working the lotion into her skin, not missing one inch, from the soles of her feet to the outside of her hips. As he lowered her legs he bent them at the knee, so when he was done they fell open, mercilessly exposing her sex.

  Please, touch me, she thought, touch me and please me and make me whole. Make it dirty and sweet and lovely.