It had been a month since the vampire fiasco and Leon was getting back into the groove of things. James was bringing him food and everything seemed right with the world, except that he now knew that vampires and monsters were a thing in the world. The concept terrified him, were there monsters behind him? What forms did they take? Could they take the form of a human?
"Leon!" came a shout from James.
"Coming," he replied.
He jumped down off of the pier and went to their usual meeting spot. It was a dark day and he hated to leave the comfort of his home to brave the weather of the rain. He hated the rain, it always got his clothes wet and unlike normal people, he did not have a tumble drier.
He grappled onto one of the support beams to smell the smell of fish. Must be James. He always smelled a little funny, smelled like the ocean. But Leon was used to the ocean. He lived underneath a pier.
"How are you on this fine day?" Leon asked.
"I've heard you've seen a... different individual, last month? If I'm not mistaken?
"No, I do not know what you mean," Leon said defensively.
He had been trying to forget about that horrifying room with the body parts used for bunting and the cabinets full of blood and guts. The memory of the smell still haunted him, the odor of rotting flesh and death.
"So you didn't see a vampire named Annabeth?" He asked rather bluntly.
"Of course not! What is this about? Asked Leon a little confused.
"You're lying Leon, and here I thought we were friends," said James, stepping away.
James' body began contorting as if shedding a layer of skin for a new one to emerge. Leon backed away horrified as the mass of limbs and writhing tentacles erupted all over what Leon had thought was a man's body. A second pair of hands burst from under the normal pair as it grew in size and the odor of fish turned rotten. As James got bigger and bigger his legs changed as the joints cracked loudly into place going to where his buttocks would have been, from the front a new pair of legs began to grow as if he were a four-legged spider with four arms as well. Hair grew all over his body and his eyes bulged turning red as blood.
"You have seen her." Said the creature that was James.
"That creature took my family from me. Killed them, and kept them in her little menagerie." It continued.
"I'm sorry I didn't know!" screamed Leon with fear in his voice.
He was trembling as this four-legged and armed creature slowly advanced towards him. It had murder in its eyes and a stench so rotten it made Leon's eyes water and made him want to live covering his nose.
He couldn't help it. He let out a scream of terror as the writhing mass of body parts lumbered towards him. From his left, he heard a female voice.
"Get down!" the voice said.
It sounded awfully familiar as if he had heard it just yesterday. No, it couldn't be, could it?
Suddenly as if from the rain itself Annabeth jumped into the picture. Her fist was clenched and she sent a Jaw-shattering punch to the creature's face, it caved in on itself like a deflated balloon. The creature roared in anger as it tried to regenerate, the parts of its face slowly recovering. James sent a blow of his own. A flurry of attacks with both pairs of arms. The agility and flexibility of Annabeth were nothing less than breathtaking as she swerved and dodged in different directions.
It seemed forever that they were trading blows and dodging attacks from each other. It dawned on Leon, who was at this point hiding in his pier that she was more playing and toying with the monster rather than actually training to kill it. Maybe she was going to capture it and place it in her collection with all the other monsters. He didn't know for certain, but it looked like she was enjoying herself. Enjoying the thrill of the fight as they traded blow after blow.
By the end, James lay there with one broken leg, which slowly began to mend itself, and a dozen other serious-looking injuries. The form began to shrink back into James as the smell of rotten fish subsided Leon felt like he could breathe again. It acquired to him that he had been holding his breath the whole fight. He was shaking with fear and adrenaline. Annabeth strolled his way.
"Come, I have a perfect place for you to stay at my... humble abode. If you would be so kind as to follow me," said Annabeth
"Why, what makes you so different from that thing? You're a monster too, aren't you?" He said scared and wary.
"I'm going to ignore the fact you just compared me to a monster that disgusting, my love," said Annabeth
"I am not your love!" screamed Leon.
"Oh you will be, I won't stop trying, your blood is special." she replied "Now come, this pier is no longer safe for you. You will come with me and we will live happily together. For a time at least." She continued.
He knew she was right. How many more creatures and monsters wanted him dead due to his knowledge of monsters and creatures? He looked back at where the fight had taken place and saw a limping figure that was James, slowly making his way off the beach.
"Is he going to be a problem?" he asked a little guilty that James was someone he had known all his time being homeless.
"Maybe, but if he is, he won't be for long. She replied.
"You have nothing to fear when you're with me my love."
"I'm not your love."
"You will be."
"No, I won't."
"Yes, you will."
"No, I won't."
"Yes, you will."
"Why can't you just accept that we were meant for each other? The weavers of fate brought us together for a reason." She said a little frustrated.
"Don't be ridiculous, the weavers? Are they some sort of godly beings? There's no such thing."
"Oh, Leon! Your eyes are going to open up to a whole new world where everything will change and you will no longer know what is real and what is not real, but with me, with me, I can teach you everything. About the gods, creatures, protectors such as myself and so much more!"
"I'll pass, thanks. I just want to be normal again." He replied
"I'm sorry Leon. That's not possible anymore." She said sadly.
They made their way down the beach. Leon was uncomfortable, all his life he was a shadow, something in the background nobody cared about, A voice in the back of people's minds that you could forget in an instant. Now he had this drop-dead gorgeous monster loathing after him like he was a king. It was weird, he had never been in this position before and he was not ready for it. The way she said how she loved him made his face turn red and his heart flutter with the attention but he had to remember that she was a monster, a vampire, and he couldn't trust anything she said. For all he knew she was just taking him back to her lair where she would kill him and shove his body parts in filing cabinets. He had to stay on his guard to know and make sure she could be trusted. Having said that, she had just defended him from a crazy monster attack which was the only reason he was going with her to her lair, not because of some primal urge he never had before.
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YOU ARE READING
This thing wont leave me alone
Short StoryAs Annebeth stumbles upon her next meal she finds a new love and a new thing to protect as she slays monster for him and protects him in any way she can.