Where Dark Things Wait: Night Creatures Book One

Chapter Eight - A Meal For Monsters

People crowded around the rows of tables that filled the cafeteria, like a school hall at lunch time. The smell of too many beings, with their various scents, both tempting and off-putting, almost overwhelmed Kalyna, and she hoped again that her senses would return to normal once Dunstan Eorl was out of her system. For now, she just had to endure it, while feeling relieved that no vampire had ever decided to turn her; she couldn't imagine the sensory overload which came from that transition.

Still, even the overwhelming odour that came from cramming too many people into a space couldn't distract her from their interest, or from the discomfort that came with it. Employees of the OTF - enlisted, commissioned, and civilian - sat in clusters around the tables, or queued with trays by the servery. Whenever someone noticed Kalyna, they elbowed the person next to them, and more and more people turned towards her, bestowing more curiosity on her than she wanted to face.

What had they heard?

What rumours had already spread.

When a large, red, leathery hand landed on her shoulder, guiding her towards the queue for food, the others' eyes widened, and the troops blenched at Zhak's familiarity before quickly looking away. How odd...

Once they'd joined the queue, she turned to the demon, asking, "Is there a reason they look at you with such wariness?"

He cast a scorn-filled glance at the congregated men and women, admitting, "Being as large and strong as I am makes people nervous... But my kind have a reputation for burning things down. Not everyone likes that I'm housed here. They see me as a risk. Especially as my kind also have a reputation for indiscriminate violence. I've worked with them for two years now, and they still don't trust me. Well, most of them don't trust me."

Kalyna wrinkled her nose, then frowned too, muttering, "I'm so going to be ostracised here. It's a good job I'm an anti-social moth. I'm here because I committed arson with an intent to threaten life, so if they don't trust you, they're going hate me."

"Anti-social moth?" Zhak repeated, chuckling. His eyes flared brighter, fiery, and Kalyna guess that showed either mirth or amusement. "Surely 'firebug' or 'firefly' would be more suitable?"

"Anti-social moth is what Dunstan Eorl called me, right before I called him a mosquito and he called me a small and irritating midge," she confessed, shrugging slightly. "What we both agreed on is that I'm not a social butterfly."

Another loud laugh burst out of Zhak, and Kalyna decided he probably laughed often and easily, which seemed odd as he also looked like the most devilish creature she'd ever met. Devilish in the sense that he had the appearance of an actual red devil, rather than devilish in the sense she would consider Dunstan to be devilish; sinful, seductive, but not actually demonic.

She scowled at the thought. She had to stop thinking about Dunstan Eorl.

"That's quite a frown. I've seen harpies with less fierce expressions," the demon noted, watching her.

She shrugged and picked up a tray, not wanting to go into her messy interactions with the Staff Sergeant, but she admitted, "My emotions are on a bit of a roller coaster at the moment. I think it's a vampire or dhampir thing triggered by biting Eorl. I don't know of any vampire family, but the current theory is that I must have some somewhere, along with something wolf, and something as of yet unidentified. Just call me Heinz 57. My heritage is a variety pack, it seems."

"They do say variety is the spice of life," Zhak noted as they moved up the line.

"I'd like my life to be a little less spicy," she mumbled, and her mind wandered back to Eorl.

"According to Private Simon Wyndham, you spiced things up to quite an inferno when they brought you in," an enthusiastic man interrupted as he bounced up next to them, looking far too chipper to be serving in the military. "He was on duty when Eorl and Maloney got back, and was in the carpark when they lifted you out of the Beemer. He described what went down between you and Eorl in exquisite detail, to a large portion of the enlisted troops."