“Come.Sit with me.You have questions,” he states in a low and commanding voice.
He’s right.I have so many questions that my brain can barely form them into coherent thoughts.
He gestures toward a corner booth tucked into shadow at the back of this place.It looks private.Intimate even.
My brain screams at me to run.To get out of this impossible place and go back to my safe, boring apartment where monsters don’t exist and the world makes sense and where I can hear Dale from 2B snore through the walls.Yeah, I should run, but once again, I don’t.
I follow him through the bar, hyper-aware of every creature we pass.The blue-skinned woman glances at me with curiosity.The horned man raises his glass in a silent toast.The massive, furred creature in the corner watches with glowing golden eyes but doesn’t move.My shoulders relax as I walk past them.None of them seem threatening, just interested.
Theron slides into the booth with fluid grace, and after a short hesitation, I sit across from him.The leather is worn and comfortable, and the table between us is small enough that our knees almost touch.Almost.
The bartender appears at our table as if summoned.
“What can I get you?”he asks with a mysterious smile.
My mouth is dry.My hands are shaking.How can I possibly be thinking about a drink right now?But the bartender keeps looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“Just water.Please,” I mumble.
“I’ll have the same,” Theron says.
The bartender nods and disappears, leaving us alone in our shadowed corner.
I don’t know where to look.At him?At the table?At the rest of the bar, where seemingly impossible things are happening?
“You’re scared,” Theron states matter-of-factly.
“Wouldn’t you be?”My voice comes out sharper than I intended.“I just found out monsters are real.That this—” I gesture around the bar, “—all of this exists.Thatyouexist.”
“Fair enough.”He leans back against the booth.“Ask me anything, Lilith.I’ll answer truthfully.”
The bartender returns with two glasses of water, sets them down silently, and vanishes again.I take a sip, buying myself time before answering.
“How is this possible?”I finally ask.“Monsters.Magic.This bar that shouldn’t exist on a street I’ve never seen before.How?”
“The world is larger than humans know.We’ve always existed alongside you, hidden in the spaces between.Most humans never see us because they don’t want to.They’ve convinced themselves we’re fantasy, fiction, nothing but imagination.”
“But I see you.I see all of this.”
“Because you wanted to.”His gaze intensifies.“Because your desire, your longing, has opened a door.You’ve spent years aching for proof that we’re real, Lilith.Tonight, that ache was strong enough to pull you through the veil.”
I swallow hard.“The veil?”
“The barrier between your world and ours.It’s always there, and some humans can cross it when they’re called.When they’re ready.I’ve been here a long time, Lilith.Long enough to learn how to hold a glass.How to sit in a chair.How to speak in sentences a human woman wouldn’t run from.You were called long before tonight.I just had to wait until you were ready to hear it.”
“Called by what?”
His smile is slow and predatory.“By a creature on the other side who has been waiting for you.”
Heat floods my face and the soft spot between my legs.
I take another sip of water.“So you’re a monster.What kind?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.If I’m sitting here having a conversation with you, I want to know what you are.”
I wring my hands together.This is both exhilarating and terrifying.
