It met her

One Word

'This is irreversible unless one of us dies.' Would it scare her more if he said that?

"I'll tell you." She said, dropping her hand back to her side. "I'll tell you about my family but only if you promise to just send us back home when it upsets you." 'rather than kill us all.' She was breaking the promise she'd made to her father by telling him this. Telling her first love about the murder was bad but spilling all their secrets to the enemy... made her feel like falling off the cliff was a way better alternative. She could see his brow muscle perk up with intrigue. She was leading her family to their death, promise or not, once he knew he would definitely kill them. That was the order of every creature connected to magic, an order given by Mother Nature herself.

She could see him hesitate before saying. "I promise."

There was no going back now.

Leviathan watched his brother pace back and forth, speaking so fast it almost sounded like tongues. He spoke about his thoughts and theories on the human family they'd brought here. Leviathan had known it was a bad idea from the start. Despite all the time that had passed he still remained obsessed with humans. He'd been like this even before Monika and her family came; studying their history, their relationship with Mother Nature and even bringing back corpses left in the woods to study their anatomy. Thankfully he'd stop the latter habit after he'd beaten Cerulean to near death. Leviathan was in a particularly bad mood that morning. Despite being passive by choice he was the larger and stronger of the two dragons. He knew his brother's obsession came from his attachment to their mother, Leviathan felt for him, but he was crossing a line by delaying a corpse's return to Mother Nature.

"Why not just let the family have their secrets, every being is entitled to that." He closed his eyes, ready to surrender to his fatigue. He'd spent most of the night carving the meat from the whale for the humans. The twins had grown on him; they reminded him of werewolf cubs.

"I would but..." 'Humans with secrets reminded you too much of your mother' leviathan finished his sentence in his head.

That was another downside to humans and dragons intermingling. Dragons just weren't meant to have feelings as strong as humans; it could potentially drive them mad. Leviathan sighed; he needed to sharpen his claws in case Cerulean did something stupid again. He could somewhat understand what he was dealing with. Cerulean was more human than dragon, that made him lack in not only their fighting and healing abilities but his ability to sense magic. Cerulean didn't yet realize that Asmodi mated Elizabeth; therefore any act against her was an act against him. He'd warn his brother but Cerulean learned better the hard way.

Leviathan sniffed the air, trying to get a mental scan of their home. "The twins are unattended, I'm going to go down and see if they're alright." 'Anything to get away from my brother's ramblings.' He loved him but... he could get real annoying real fast when it came to humans. He lazily got on his feet and spread his wings. He let himself fall off the edge and glide down to the closest entrance.

"I'll come with you." 'God dammit.' Leviathan thought as Cerulean followed.

When he entered he saw Monika was coming up the stairs at the same time. Her clothes looked fine but her skin was covered in scratches; new and old. "What happened to you?" He asked incredulously.

She gave him her award winning smile. "I fell down the stairs."

The injuries didn't match the cause but he didn't call her out on it. "Shouldn't you at least be resting, those look painful to walk-"

"I'm fine. Take us home." She interrupted him, she pulled up bags she had been dragging up the steps and looked him in the eyes. "Take us home now."

Her demanding tone caught him off guard, she wore a pleasant smile but her voice was deeper and emotionless. It took him a moment to process her command. "The water level is low enough for you to pass through but you'd be trudging through thigh high water. Are you sure?" He asked mostly concerned about the twins.

"I'm sure." Her voice was back to normal.

"Shouldn't you ask Elizabeth about this?" Cerulean asked, looking at Elizabeth's stuff still strewn around the twins. "She doesn't seem like she's ready to leave."

"Well, when she's ready she can come home. Take us home now, please." She said again.

Leviathan looked unsure and Cerulean more so. Even the twins were giving her a weird look. This was suspicious but he had no reason to say no. "Alright, I'll carry you and Cerulean can take the twins."

"No, we're not." Cerulean said pushing past him and looking her in the eyes. "Are you insane? You're going to risk Sylvia and Sonnet's healths by making them walk miles up to their shoulder in filthy water." His glare was deadly but she matched it perfectly. "What has you so determined to leave?"

"That is none of your concern, you said we weren't prisoners here yet you're stopping us from leaving!" She raised her voice, the act looked like it surprised even her, but she quickly changed tones and spoke again. "Just let us go."

Cerulean shook his head. "If you won't be reasonable then..." He trailed off, unsure of his own words. "You are now our prisoners; I'm forbidding you from leaving this mountain."

Leviathan didn't interrupt them, he agreed with his brother's decision. He kept his eyes on the twins who were inching closer to him; they didn't want to leave either. Her desperate need to retreat did not make any sense to him. Everything was fine up until now. What had happened? When he looked back at Monika she was making a face filled with so much hatred and disgust it looked otherworldly. She was shaking with anger, looking as though she wanted to beat the ever loving life out of his brother. Cerulean took a step back; even he was tempted to retreat. The twins were now completely behind him.

"Monika..." Leviathan finally spoke but that was all he could say. What he saw when he looked back at her was not human. Her body didn't change but her eyes were void of all color, just pitch black orbs set in her sockets.

That's when her scent finally hit him. It was no longer the doughy, salty scent of a human. It smelt completely of death and malice. She was a monster among monsters, Mother Nature's greatest mistake. "Get away from her, Cerulean." He yelled at his brother who probably wouldn't recognize the scent. Leviathan growled, it was a predatory sound that came from deep in his throat, fully fueled by the fires that welled within him. Cerulean looked back at him and was confused by the blood lust in his eyes. He wanted to explain but the anger within him would only let him say one word.

"Wendigo."