MonsterVille
Twenty Three

Danny patted River’s heaving back and continued to laugh at his expense.

“Easy there bro, I didn’t come all this way to have you choke on your own vomit.” Danny continued to pat River’s back with exuberant pounding motions that rocked his entire body until eventually he turned and collapsed against the cold marble floor. His back pressed up against the raised edge of the heated pool, the water sloshing against him as it still rippled from the impact of Danny’s ‘head’ splashing into it. He looked up into his friend’s face, his chest, his face, whatever the hell it was and he just tried to breathe without another round of vomit springing forth.

“It’s tough I know,” Danny said, “You’ve seen all these monsters but it’s a whole different story when someone you know, a friend, suddenly shows their true face. It’s a mind fuck.” His voice was exactly the same, a little mirthful, but calm, in control and his eyes… they may have been three times the size and in the middle of his chest, but Danny’s eyes were the exact same cold shade of brown.

“What are you?” River asked quietly, still helpless to look away.

“I am Blemmyes.” Danny announced proudly, rearing up to his full height, which was half a foot shorter than his human mask had been. At River’s blank look Danny just smiled and went on, “Yeah I didn’t think you’d have heard of me. My breed originally hailed from Africa, no? It’s cool, I’ll give you the low down on the way.”

“On the way?” River asked faintly.

“It’s all good man, I know you didn’t mean anything by it,” he gestured to the steel still sticking out of his chest, “You were scared and my being here completely freaked you out, pushed you over the edge. But no harm, no foul. All is good. I’m still going to get you out of here, take you some place safe.”

“No…” Aura gasped out weakly, River looked towards her, her throat was one massive contortion of black and purple bruises. He couldn’t imagine how hard Danny had squeezed to do that so fast. Danny turned in a blur of motion, his gnarly foot lashing out and catching her under the chin with such force her head snapped back and she collapsed. For an instant River thought she was dead and something inside of him broke, sure she was one of the monsters but she had been nice and… god he had actually liked her.

Danny was shaking him by the shoulders, trying to snap him back to reality.

“It’s ok man, she’ll be fine. Mer’s are tough bitches,” Danny dropped down beside her and for a second River thought he was coping a feel as he placed a hand on her chest, the second passed and he realised Danny’s hand was rising and falling as Aura continued to breathe. “See man? All good. But it’s time to go, it’s not safe for you here.”

“I’m not going with you.” River said. He didn’t mean to. The words escaped him before he could get a hold of himself.

“I get you’re scared, you’re freaked, but you’ve got to come with me.” Danny insisted.

“No.” River said firmly, staring into that chest face.

Danny scratched his head, “You don’t actually have a choice bro, I’m taking you with me, it’s for your own good.” Danny snagged River by the wrist and yanked him to his feet.

“Drop the act!” River shouted, “You’re not trying to be my friend! You’re not trying to help me! So what the hell do you want with me?”

“That hurts me,” Danny exclaimed, “I mean seriously after everything we’ve been through I can’t believe you think I’d hurt you.”

“You killed them!” River waved emphatically and Danny’s big brown eyes flicked between the dead girl and the dead mers.

“Monster politics, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Wouldn’t understand you want to eat the humans, especially the pregnant women? That you want to stick Aura in a tank for your crazy boss?” River ranted.

“So you heard all that,” Danny muttered before he sighed. “Guess we really will be doing this the hard way.” His grip on River tightened and River yelped at the sudden pain, it was a very unmanly yelp, more like a squeal that was followed by an ear shattering piercing wail. River winced and fell to his knees at the sound, glass shattered across the room as the wail went up another notch and Danny screamed, he screamed like he was being drawn and quartered.

He also fell to his knees, the difference being he was clutching ears that were freely leaking blood, or would that be gushing blood? From his place on the ground River looked up to see Aura, she stood tall, her chest thrust out and her mouth open as she leant forward, her scream was literally shattering glass and the marble tiles around her had deep cracks that grew deeper as she continued to scream.

If it had just been Danny Aura would have had him dead to rights, whatever her scream was it was so primal, so ferocious nothing could stand against it, but it appeared to be very unidirectional. The spillage had done impressive damage elsewhere but Danny was obviously her focus and she was oblivious to any other dangers, such as the tentacle reaching into the house from the lake outside, the slick green suckers that latched onto her bare leg. She glanced down in surprise and her scream was abruptly cut off as the tentacle yanked her feet out from under her and she cracked head first into the broken marble tiles. She sputtered and blood oozed from her mouth.

“Aura!” River cried out to no avail as Danny slowly rose to his feet, thick black blood gushed down the sides of his body and he looked truly monstrous as he flexed his razor like claws and stormed towards her. His fury was palpable enough to match Aura’s rage and as she lay there defenceless he towered over her. He fell across her body, his talons raking her back open, bloody white chunks of bone were visible to the naked eye and River wanted to hurl all over again, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Danny knelt over her naked back and dug a finger deep into that shredded flesh, Aura jerked but Danny’s free hand easily held her in place as he leant into her.

“You stupid little fish.” He rumbled, his voice dropping an octave, “You think you can challenge me? Can fight me? I was going to save you for Nic, but there are other Mers…” River watched helplessly as something stiffened between Danny’s legs and he used his foot to push Aura’s knees apart. “You’re going to wish I’d left you for Nic,” he whispered repulsively as bent over her, his talon raking through her hair and drawing thick globs of blood in the process.

Aura looked up, looked at River and she smiled faintly, it was a sad kind of smile. The kind of smile that said she knew her fate and she had accepted it. River smiled back.

Only his smile was the kind that said he knew something she didn’t, although River couldn’t imagine how anyone could miss that rotting putrid stench of fish…

Thick scaled claws impaled Danny from behind and the man stiffened in reaction, taken completely by surprise as those claws punched through his chest and raked across his eyes. Danny screamed, a blood curdling scream of despair as he was lifted bodily from the ground, hefted over the head of the pissed off silver haired merman before he was brought crashing into the broken marble with a sickening thump.

Danny squealed like a pig as Brannagh picked him up again, turned the meaty stump of his shoulders towards the marble and proceeded to smash him against it over and over again until the marble was thick with his greenish black blood and his body was discarded with wild abandon as Brannagh knelt over his wounded daughter. He ran his hands over her grim wounds and whined, a high pitched whale-esque despair that cut River deep.

“Is she…” River couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Brannagh silenced him with a look. “More come.” He said simply as jackal calls began to chorus around the house. His tumultuous ocean eyes raked over the room, over the dead mers and the brutalised human women and a tear trickled down his scaled cheek. “Too many more…” he said softly. “I thought we had more time.”

River didn’t think he was supposed to hear the last part.

“What about the other mermaids?” River asked as he pushed himself to his feet and half walked, half fell towards Aura.

“Dead or fled.” Brannagh said, “Many have already left town, many were in the lake…” River glanced towards the lake and while it looked like the same smoky black water to him it was obviously something very different to Brannagh. He looked at the water and his expression said it all, something terrible had happened there. He smacked his hands against an unbroken slab of marble and the entire thing exploded around his fists. Such unbelievable strength and the man didn’t even seem to realise he had done it.

“I thought we had more time!” he snarled again. One hand reaching to his daughter, reassuring himself she was still there as his fingers curled in her hair. The jackal calls of the hunting blemmyes grew closer and River swallowed hard.

“What’s going to happen?” he asked, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He could have sworn everyone had told him he was supposed to be safe in Brannagh’s house. It was probably a bad time to mention that. “I mean you put Danny down like he was nothing.”

“One is easy,” Brannagh said, “Which is why they hunt in packs.”

“Oh…”

Brannagh closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the jackal calls became vicious laughter echoing through the house. They were close. So close.

“My daughter is my world,” Brannagh said, meeting River’s eyes, “Save her.” It wasn’t a question exactly, Brannagh was begging and River didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t even save himself from whatever was about to happen, how could he hope to save Aura?

Brannagh lifted his daughter from the ground and thrust her into River’s arms, he had already learned she was lighter than she looked, but cradled in his arms with her eyes closed she just looked so small, so vulnerable.

“They came for you boy, this was just collateral.” River swallowed again, he wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be an accusation or not, “But they want my daughter just as much. That fiend Nicodemus…” And then the freakiest thing River had seen since he arrived in MonsterVille happened. Brannagh changed, he shrank from seven foot two to perfectly mirror River’s height, his complexion darkened, his eyes widened and his scales receded and in seconds River was staring at a mirror image of himself. Brannagh had made his flesh mask look just like River. He hadn’t even known the monsters could do that. Of course that wasn’t saying much since a week ago he hadn’t known monsters existed.

“They want you.” Brannagh/River said, “Perhaps I shall give them what they seek. Teach them to beware what they wish for,” he smiled sadly as he stroked his daughter’s hair again, “I thought we had more time,” he whispered as he kissed her forehead. “Leave through the backdoor, stay to the woods, these monsters are plains creatures, they don’t hunt well in the woodland.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” River asked dumbly.

Brannagh smiled, “I am going to buy you time to save my daughter’s life. This guise will not fool them for long so run swiftly human, I trust you with the greatest treasure of my life. Now go, find your Mistress. Time is short.”

With that Brannagh took Danny by the hair and hurled his limp body out the one remaining window before he followed it through. River watched him/himself for a brief moment before he gripped Aura tight and did the only thing he could, he turned tail and ran.

Brannagh was a monster, a monster who ate humans, who bred them to sell and devour and yet he loved his daughter so deeply he had raced head on to face a pack of monsters to give her the slimmest chance of survival. MonsterVille was a hell of a confusing town.

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