Bedside Monster (House Beasts #1)

Five Years Later

"Oliver!"

His cookie raised his head. He was making dinner, and it was promising to be delicious already, but there was an emergency. Wovyn didn't even tell him what it was, knowing that Oliver would want explanations he didn't have the time to give; he just picked up his human, eliciting a grunt of protests from him.

"It's an emergency!"

"Wovyn! I can walk!"

But not fast enough. Wovny leapt across the kitchen and through the living room. In one final hop, he landed on the couch, making it creak under their combined weight.

"Wovyn, what is the meaning of this?" asked his human, indignant.

Instead of answering, Wovyn pointed to the television.

It was a show. The host was smiling at the camera and the man she was interviewing was laid back in the guest's couch, visibly enjoying himself. He had a billion-dollar smile but calculating eyes, as if he was constantly trying to take in everything at the same time. Wovyn didn't know if he wanted to trust him or not.

"That's the show that Lola wanted you to watch?"

"Wanted us to watch, but you forgot! She said it's super important."

"She didn't say that."

"She did!"

"She just said that it was a surprise."

They would have continued to banter when the host turned back to her guest, ready to ask him a question.

"So, Eric, can you describe this revolutionary product your company is making?"

"Well absolutely." The man called Eric signalled to some staff off-screen to bring him a box, from which he delicately pulled out a circle of glass. "It doesn't look like much, but this glass had the amazing property of correcting dimensional distortions, allowing us to see things that are there but were previously invisible to us. Dimors, my company, has previously been serving some specialized sectors in those fields but we are currently about to mass commercialize our patented product. We are sure that many people's life will find itself drastically changed by this."

"Could you describe the impact it will have on our life?"

"Oh, I can do better than that. I can show you."

Eric stood up. Wovyn wasn't sure he understood everything that was being implied but Oliver was leaning towards the screen, absolutely fascinated by what he was seeing.

"Before tonight, I have made sure to come equipped with a camera sold by our of our company. What the camera films..." He made a hand signal to someone in the back. The screen behind them, that had been showing the logo of the show up to then, switched to a view of the television set. "Is now being shown behind me. It is time that I present to you the one that inspired the foundation of the company as a whole."

He walked over to the side of the set confidently and lent a hand for someone out of the camera's filed to come on stage. A red hand gripped his and one of the most elegant looking men Oliver had ever seen appeared.

Only it wasn't a man, Oliver realized when the crowd exploded in screams and applause.

"Do with no tricks whatsoever, live, for your viewing pleasure, ladies in gentlemen," said Eric, visibly pleased.

The creature that was gracefully strolling next on the stage was dressed in an elegant black suit, that complimented both his golden skin and the red scales on the side of his face. He was tall and lean, and behind each of his steps swayed a reptilian tail. There was a small smile on his face as he surveyed the crowd and looked into the camera, as if it was natural to him that all attention was directed to him.