Page 61 of Monster's Obsession

"You’re doing it again. That ‘woe is me’ attitude where you give up on any chance of happiness in the world."

I stumbled back as if he'd put a knife in my chest. "My ‘woe is me’ attitude?" I whispered. "How can you say that?"

"Because you have the best chance of happiness that you’ve ever had right in front of you. What's the use in deciding to live if you're not actually going tolive. Brother, I've watched you die a little more every day until Blake came into our lives. I know how happy she makes you. I know you're in love with her. And I won’t let you ruin this for yourself," Ash said solemnly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I growled, but he was already stalking out of the room, slamming my bedroom door behind him.

His words sounded ominous. What the fuck was my brother planning? I stumbled towards my bar as if I was already drunk, grabbing some particularly strong stuff to try and drown the night away.

“This is childish," my older grandpa-type demon chided inside me. But he was easy to ignore; they all were, except forhim. None of the rest of them tried to take over, and three of them simply existed inside of me, letting me be aware of them, but never actually speaking to me.

I grabbed the bottle, not bothering to pour the liquid into the glass, and I threw it back, the burn as it passed down my throat exactly what I needed. I sat back in my chair and stared into the fire, and as I sat there and got more and more drunk, I couldn't help but think… What if Ash were right? What if there was a way for me to actually be happy?

* * *

Blake

Steele was gone, lost in the wind, so to speak. No one had seen him since that fight. I couldn't help but picture the look on his face, the one that spoke to the betrayal and pain he’d felt all these years when his so-called brothers had run him off and believed the worst of him. Every day he didn't show up, the panic inside me grew, wondering if he'd just decided to leave for good, deciding I wasn't worth the heartache and the pain of having to return to the home that had betrayed him.

Ash said I was crazy to think like that, that no one could ever leave me voluntarily, but for a girl whose own parents hadn’t even wanted her, the idea that another person that I loved would feel the same way was a burning hole in my heart and mind that I couldn't get rid of.

I had taken to wandering the castle, hoping he would just pop out somewhere. I knew he probably hadn't stuck around, but there were so many mysteries still in this place that I held out hope. I tried to get the others to take me out into the city to look for him, but all of them had wanted to give Steele his space. There were a lot of apologies to be had, but the stubborn, prideful fools didn't seem ready for it.

Today I found myself retracing my steps to the…unique monster café I'd found before. Unique was still the best way for me to put that. It had taken me a while to find the café again. The elevator had first taken me to some kind of fancy bathroom-type room where I'd been graced with the sight of what must've been a million-year-old monster judging by the kaleidoscope of wrinkles all over its gelatinous being. I was wondering if it was a relative of Freddy, judging by the slime she’d left behind… And I also wondered what the point of a shower was in the first place when you had slime like that for your skin.

The elevator had then taken me to a giant room that was literally soundless. I'd stepped out and it was as if I was caught in a vacuum of some sort. I'd begun to get lightheaded and almost fainted from whatever vibrations they had going in there that made it so silent you felt like you were going mad. I'd once read an article about a place like that on earth. The longest someone could stand in the room was four minutes before they began to go crazy. I imagined this place was like that on crack.

Somehow I made it back into the wretched elevator without fainting, and after two more tries, one in which it literally opened to a gray stone wall, I made it back to the freaky-looking hallway with no windows and a dilapidated air to it.

I quickly walked down the hallway this time, excited when I made it to the arched double doors without getting lost. I knocked again and immediately felt a flicker of relief when Bane’s voice called for me to come in.

He didn't seem surprised to see me when I walked in. I thought about how odd it was that the sight of the skeletal-looking monster actually had me feeling comfort and relief that I hadn't had in the days since Steele had disappeared.

"I wondered if you'd come back," he said in that casual way of his as he began to chop what unfortunately resembled a giant eyeball into slivers.

"Couldn't keep away,” I murmured, unable to take my eyes away from the sight of the eyeball being peeled away. I had the urge to cover my eyes for a minute and run, just in case the monsters at the café decided that human eyeballs were next.

"It's the special of the day," he exclaimed as he began to artfully arrange it on a stone-looking plate. He took a red sauce—that had the consistency of blood—and carefully spooned it over the slivers of eyeball. "This is from a rat-toothed horndog. It's a rarity, but one of the hunters found it lurking outside the city gates and I was able to serve it in the café today."

“A ‘rat toothed horndog’?" I repeated. He had walked over to some books arranged on a shelf above the cooktop and selected one of the blue bound ones. Flipping open the pages, he stopped and showed me a picture of a creature that literally resembled an eyeball at least five times the size of my head with a skinny tail. "They use their tails to move around. They're quite rare, but they have a very unique flavor. I can charge five times as much for the daily special on days when I get my hands on one of these. Would you like to try it?"

No, I definitely did not want to try it, but I attempted to hold back my grimace and act polite at his gesture. "Thank you, but I just ate," I murmured after a second.

He nodded, thankfully not looking bothered at all by my rejection, and then he walked out to the other side of the kitchen. I followed like a puppy, the shadows darkening again before we made it out into the oversized room where customers were sitting eating. I waited there while he walked over and served a table the plate, both of the monsters looking absolutely thrilled with his offering. I watched as another couple began to make out over their plates, or should I say they both outstretched their thick blue tongues and rubbed them against each other. The gesture, although very alien to watch, just had me thinking about Steele. Everything inside me was desperate to find him, like he had an integral part of me with him.

Bane returned from serving the couple, and we went back into the kitchen.

"Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but you seem a bit…down," Bane said in that quiet way of his, as he began to slice more of the eyeball for another plate.

I was just going to push his inquiry away and deny that anything was wrong, but then I wondered, if he'd been here for a while, would he have known Steele from before, perhaps?

“You’ve been in this place for quite a long time, right?” I was aiming for nonchalance, but when he lifted his face to me, it was like he could see right through me.

"For longer than I can remember."

I filed that tidbit away but pressed on.

"I assume you would have interacted with the king and his circle quite often, then."