Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

“Furies aren’t immune to the fae, it seems.” He chuckled wickedly, watching my reaction to him.

“Get the fuck away from the creepy shit. You’re acting like one of those characters in the movies that go into the dark house, asking themselves, ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ plot twist; everything goes wrong. There, I saved you the curiosity of getting closer. Why aren’t these shadow tendrils going back to the host?” I asked, holding up my fingers where he’d touched me.

“Because it likes us,” he snorted, peering at the creepy substance. “And that’s a fucking problem. Where are the other areas like this one?” Zahruk looked pointedly at Alden.

“One is a block over. We should walk, though. I have a feeling that I am susceptible to whatever that shit is. So if you don’t mind, I’d rather not touch you. Either of you,” Alden grunted while eyeing us like we had the plague or something worse.

It took us moments to reach the next area, which had violet flowers growing around the shadows. The portal wasn’t moving like the other, but it seemed to spread further into our world than the previous one. I picked up a rock, tossing it into the darkness, and it spat it back out. It was no longer a tiny pebble. It came back out as a dark boulder that hummed and turned translucent while we studied it.

Narrowing my gaze, I frowned, noting the bolder had been transformed into clear quartz, with thousands of rainbows reflecting from the streetlamp. It blinked in and out, humming with the power grid that was fucked. We’d managed to gain enough electricity back that Spokane had a sliver of light. Without removing the demons, though, it was hopeless to get it back to the people here.

“Maybe not throw shit into the unknown vortex? Remember the plot twist? It goes bad.” Zahruk snorted, eyeing the huge crystal. “You said these areas showed up after we returned to tell you that Faery had been saved?”

“Around that time, yeah,” Alden confirmed. “We waited about seventy-two hours before leaving the safety of the shelter. At first, the areas were small and barely noticeable. That was when the people were starting to report that others had gone missing. The larger they got, the more civilians vanished.”

“They’re not disappearing,” I pointed out. “But they’re not coming back the same. Alden, you said one returned to you insane, and the other is changing, right? What if these shadows are altering them into something else? Maybe they touched it and had whatever the hell is climbing up Zahruk’s arm, on them too.” I pointed at his arm, where inky black shit was slithering up it now. Above the shadow was a thin layer of rainbow prisms that had been all over the ground at the first location we’d visited.

Zahruk held his hand up, wiggling his fingers before dropping it to stare at the rock. His brands pulsed, pushing the dark wisps back down to his fingertips. The moment it vanished, he held out his hand for mine. Placing my fingers against his palm, I gasped, yanking away from his grip as if he’d burned me.

“You’re ice cold, Zahruk,” I muttered, peering down at where we touched, seeing that ice had formed over the surface of my palm. “That is a trip.” Wiggling my fingers, I watched the ice shatter from the movement. Narrowing my eyes on Zahruk, I swallowed down the unease rushing through me.

“I need to get to a healer,” he grumbled irritably, tightening his hand into a fist at his side. “Alden, I’d give your enforcers a warning to steer clear of this shit for now. I’ll get some of the Elite Guard over here to examine it closer and take samples back to Faery to determine what we’re dealing with. It damn near looks like the shit that was all over on the walls of the Seelie Prison, and if that is what it is, Spokane is in more trouble than we assumed. It might be connected to whoever has Kahleena. The Unseelie that were locked in the prison escaped near the same time the Seelie did, freed by Synthia during her escape with Malachi. Asher might be able to tell us more, too. He’s around here somewhere, causing hell, I’m sure. We’re still missing a few Seelie princes, and they’re not friendly, from what Asher says. He’s also mentioned that the Unseelie that survived may have slithered out of that side of the prison as well. It’s a mess, and we’re scrambling to figure out what is going on and what sort of monsters fled that black hole.”

“So it’s not related to Lucifer unleashing Hell literally into this world?” I confirmed, watching as both men turned to look at me. “Hey, a lot is happening, and a few months ago, I was just a girl who hadn’t even had an orgasm. Now, I’m a freaking fury. I am so in over my head on what the fuck’s that I don’t even know how many I’m up to today.” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest, glaring at both men.

“Never had an orgasm? No wonder Lucian got you so damn easy,” Zahruk chuckled, smirking as I frowned, my forehead wrinkling at the way he made it sound.

“You should go back to being the broody guy who looks like he wants to murder everything around him. I think I liked you better like that.”

“I liked you better, bleeding out,” he stated with a sinister laugh, shrugging his broad shoulders.

“Children,” Alden chuckled, running his hand over his mouth to stifle the silent laughter that shook his body. “Play nice. I’ll send out word to the enforcers and hunters in the area and make it known at the guild that these areas are unstable. Lena, I’ll pull those items we discussed, and you can drop by once you’ve found what you’re looking for at Nightshade and have addressed your problem.”