MonsterVille
Thirty Seven

“Why?” River asked quietly.

“Why what?” her hand, her claw, curled inwards, the elongated razor edged nails slicing into her own palm.

“Why do you want me?”

“Yours is not to reason why, but to simply do and die.”

“Yeah,” River scratched his head and glanced around at the skulking monsters, “I get that. But you’re not exactly filling me with confidence here.” At her blank look he elaborated, “You’re not exactly making me want to go with you.”

“Do you think you’re safe here?” she queried. “Do you hesitate believing I could not remove you by force if I so chose to? You are quite mistaken. I offer you dignity, the chance to leave on your own two feet but if you would prefer kicking and mewling like a child, I can oblige you.”

River smiled ever so slightly, “Look, sorry. You’ve made a very compelling argument with the whole beating my friends around, but I’m going to have to say no. My Master wouldn’t like it.”

She sighed. “This is what results from indulgence in these human facades.” She rolled her head and coarse blackened fur erupted down the side of her face and neck, her teeth shattered in broken flakes and she reached for him. Her monstrously deformed hand grazing his arm before she drew to an abrupt halt.

Or rather, was drawn to an abrupt halt.

“I like to consider myself a reasonable monster.” Mellie cooed, the decidedly dark gleam in her eyes suggested otherwise, “So maybe it’s my own fault.” Blood trickled beneath her hand—clamped around the rat’s wrist. “Maybe I come off as a little too reasonable, maybe it’s my open care free attitude, or the fact I’m more than happy to share with my friends. But you god damned rats just keep pushing.”

“Ah Mellie,” River said, “she’s—”

“I know what she is.” Mellie leant in to the Rat-Queen, “What makes you think you can touch what is mine?” her voice dropped an octave, “Invade my territory, defile my possessions?”

The Rat-Queen’s eyes glimmered coal black, “Remove your hand child, or I shall remove your arm.”

“Give a finger, take a hand. The monster way right? We kill what we want, keep what we kill. But can you?” Mellie pressed, “Can you kill me? Because unless you can you will stay the fuck away from my human, and my home. Do I make myself clear?”

Mellie’s head jerked to the side, blood splashing across River’s face, as the Rat-Queen freed herself. Silence washed across the crowd, the night itself stilled, and Mellie slowly turned back to face the Rat-Queen. She licked the blood from her broken lip and smiled. Of all the reactions River might have expected a smile wasn’t it. She had to be bluffing, which meant they were both going to die.

“Your human is responsible for the death of my rats.” Rat-Queen announced for the crowd’s benefit.

Mellie dabbed the blood at her lip and looked at it for a moment, “Your rats were killed by a Wendigo and Berserker’s, feel free to take it up with them.”

Rat-Queen smiled darkly, “By his own admission he personally killed one of mine.” Her eyes flicked back to River and his stomach sank. “Do you deny this?”

“I—”

“River. Be Silent.” Mellie demanded.

“He has already admitted to this,” Rat-Queen stated, “and many heard his bold declaration.” There was a furtive rustle amongst the watching monsters. “A human who boasts of killing one of my monsters. A human that lives and breathes when one of my own lies dead. Do you deny our Law? Do you deny that his life is forfeit, that it is mine?”

“Mel—” she silenced him with a look.

“He was attacked in my home, in my territory.” Mellie justified. Nobody was buying it.

“The rat in question was killed in the woodlands, not in your territory.”

“He was and is my property.”

“Irrelevant. He roamed the woods unaccompanied and unmarked. A human does not kill a monster without our fierce retribution, without torment to quake the souls and boil the blood of any human that might dare to do likewise. His life is mine to do with as I please. Hand him over Melanie and this dispute between us is ended. I ask you one final time, do you deny me?”

“Yes Melanie, do you deny an Apex what she desires?” the voice was distinguished, and it sent chills raking down River’s spine. Half the crowd vanished. The other half made themselves smaller, retreating into their human visages and giving the old man a wide berth. “What our law entitles her to?”

“Law?” Mellie echoed, “And what Law is that Nicodemus? You certainly don’t live by any governing laws.”

“No?” Nicodemus queried, he sounded amused. “I live by the simplest law.”

Mellie closed her eyes and breathed out hard, “Survival of the fittest.”

Nicodemus snapped his fingers and the monsters flinched, “The only law that counts. So Melanie, can you keep what is yours? Are you monster enough to stop her from taking him?”

The sound of bells chiming rung through the sunken field. River staggered at the sound resounding through his bones, he felt like he was going to come apart from the inside out. He fell to his knees, heaving to catch his breath.

“Shall we put a pin in this?” Nicodemus announced, it sounded vaguely like a question but River had the distinct impression he wasn’t giving anyone the choice, “I do believe it’s time for the Feast.”

The encircling monsters licked their lips salaciously, a very Pavlovian response to the tolling of the bells.

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