Super Shorties

Monsters

"Mommy can we get a nightlight?" At her daughter's plea the young mother turned from the doorway and walked back into her child's room.

"Why do you want a nightlight Claire?" She sat on the edge of the small bed and smoothed her daughter's ebony curls.

"I'm afraid of the monsters." The girl whispered peeping out from under her quilt. "They're hiding in my closet and under my bed. Sometimes the shadows move." She had lowered her voice to a conspiratorial murmur.

The mother only smiled at her child a soft loving smile. Instead of disregarding the fears of the young as an over reactive imagination, she gently untucked Claire and pulled her out of bed. "Its okay. They're here to keep you safe." She said picking the little girl up. "They only hide because you're afraid. They don't want you to be scared of them." As she spoke the mother carried her child over to the door and flicked off the hall light. The room was now dark. "Its okay, they would never hurt you." She soothes at her daughter's frightened whimper. "I'm going to introduce you to your protectors. If you ever need them, call their names." Claire's mother opened the closet revealing two sets of glowing eyes, one orange the other yellow. "The one with the orange eyes is Vlandermiken the Vengeful. Or just V. Go on pet him, his fur is really soft."

The little girl timidly stuck one hand out into the inky blackness and giggled when her fingers encountered soft fluff. The orange eyes closed and a low thrumming sound filled the air. "Is he... purring?" The child asked with wonder.

"Yes he is." Her mother smiled in approval at the beast lurking in her daughter's closet. "The yellow eyed one is Adira Hookfang, she's in charge of this lot when I'm not here."

"Greetings." A low voice rasped .

"Hi?" Claire replied questioningly.

"You need not fear us child. We are here to keep you safe from all harm." The voice was gentle and soothed the girl's fears.

"Thank you." She managed.

Her mother shut the closet all but a crack and walked back over to her daughter's bed. "This is Fritz the Destroyer." She said kneeling to show the child the small fluff ball with bright green eyes under her bed. "He will be your constant companion." The fluffy monster grinned showing rows of sharp teeth then rolled out from under the bed. He was the size of a soccer ball and fluffy beyond measure. The fluffy monster snuffled the child's knee then licked it with a slobery pink tongue.

"Eeeew..." She laughed and Fritz bounced in place then rolled back under the bed.

"See? There's nothing to be afraid of." Her mother said tucking Claire back into bed.

"What about the shadows?" Red eyes stared back from the darkest corners and the girl automatically shrank under her quilt.

"They will hide you. The dark is made up of living entities but don't be afraid sweetie. Think of the dark as a cloak of invisibility." Hesitantly the girl nodded and settled into her bed. "They would give their life for their princess."

The words came floating back with the memory of that night so long ago as Claire checked over her shoulder. The streets were dark lit only in patches by the occasional street lamp. Seeing nothing Claire kept walking, sticking to the shadows as she always had. Still she couldn't shake the feeling of being followed. She kept her pace steady then scuffed one shoe across the pavement. There it was, the extra step, someone was following her. Up ahead on the sidewalk one street lamp was out and the blackness was thicker.

See with a child's eyes.

Claire scrunched her eyes shut and opened them again and gasped. In the dark were unblinking red eyes that swiveled to watch her. Her shadow was made up of several oily black reptilian forms that flowed off her shoulders in a cape. How long had it been since she had acknowledged her guardians? "Hide me." She whispered.

Claire dashed into an ally in the dark section of the sidewalk and found the highest concentration of red eyed shadows. She crouched in the shadows and let them cover her. Presently a man walked to the entrance of the ally and stopped, looking about. "I know you're in here little girl." He said to the shadows. He began to walk into the ally peering carefully into the dark ahead of him. "Come out come out wherever you are..." He called in a sing-song voice. Claire shivered, never had she ever been so afraid. The man was barely five feet from her when a name escaped her mouth unbidden. "Adira Hookfang, come to me." The quiet words drew the man to where she crouched and he smiled. "There you are sweetheart." He reached out to grab Claire but screeched and scampered back when a thin woman appeared between him and Claire slashing his arm with a slim curved blade. "You humans disgust me." She hissed. "Always so greedy to defile that which does not belong to you." The man held one ham hand over the cut to staunch the bleeding. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded angrily. "You are not worthy to know my name." Adira punched the man in the gut sending him to his knees.

As if a switch flipped inside her Claire stood up and faced the man who had been intent on raping her only moments ago with the intent to kill him. The shadows whispered to her and from them she drew a sword. "Step down Adira, I shall dole out his punishment." Adira bowed to Claire and stepped aside. Claire held the onyx sword loosely in her left hand and approached the man. "The punishment for your crime is death." She declared. Grasping the hilt with both hands, she swung the blade and lopped the man's head clean off. "So it shall be." Adira whispered. The demon tipped her head back and roared, the shadows joined in the call and a vortex opened in the stingy alley. "Come." At the gesture Claire turned from the corpse and stepped into the portal.

"Welcome home... princess."