“Your name is Mei? You have an actual name? I thought that was just an attempt to get close to us,” I ask in disbelief.
Puppy growls down from the wall, his spines rattling. “We have names. We choose them.”
“My mother gave it to me,” Mei interrupts with an anger that surprises me.
I hate her name, I hate her face. I want her gone.
She had a mother. Why does that humanize her?
She lifts her chin as if she can hear all my hate-spewed thoughts.
“You had a mother?” I say in a venom soaked voice.
Puppy, Stix, and Becky snarl at me, but I ignore them, focused instead on the monster tied up in front of me. Someone gave birth to this creature. I try to force the mean thoughts, try to drown out the image of a tiny Mei clinging to a woman, desperately trying to stay alive.
Mei just smiles wider.
Ronit stalks in, his long red hair is soaking, as are his clothes, and he looks like he’s ready to tear someone’s head off. Lirin and Canto look just as frustrated.
“Ah, the twins are here. I’ve been meaning to ask you-”
“We aren’t twins,” Canto says evenly, cutting Diablos off.
Whereas Lirin keeps his hair longer at his nape, his eyes are more exotic shaped and are more green than blue. His lips are full, and of all of us, he is the prettiest. Canto is a more boyish version, but his eyes carry death. Canto and Lirin look similar, but they aren’t twins.
“None of us are related,” Ronit growls out. “The curse turned our hair red when it gave us fins. People see red and assumewe’re blood relations. I never knew them before the curse, we came from five different walks of life. We just don’t correct people because it’s none of your fucking business.”
“Uh-huh,” Diablos says, and I can see him doing the math.
Ronit pulls on a rope, straining. He’s massive, packed with muscle that's unusual for a Fae. His light gold eyes freak people out, as does the scar through his eyebrow and his deadly aura.
Mei turns her head, her smile slips away. “What is that?”
Ronit snarls. “Brio, help me!”
Brio rushes to Ronit’s side and grabs the rope, pulling and dragging. They heave and fight, their muscles popping, and gradually gain ground. Brio and Ronit look similar in colouring and hair, but where Ronit is hard, Brio is softer. His body, his life was made to create art, not kill; even his dark gold eyes draw people in. We’re all a bit more protective of him than we probably should be.
“You are not bringing it into the house, are you?” I snarl.
A moment later, a human shape crashes onto the floor in front of Diablos. He looks up through a curtain of teal, black, and white hair, his face barely resembling human. The sharp angles and those maelstrom eyes are ancient, and no one looking at him could pretend he is anything but what he is: a monster.
“Who is that?” Diablos asks, sitting up and leaning forward to get a better look.
“This is our pet,” Ronit says.
“Pet?” Becky asks with a hint of rage. She moves towards Ronit, but is cut off by Puppy, who hisses at us.
Our pet lifts his head and focuses unnaturally teal eyes on Becky. But she doesn’t interest him. He turns his head, searching and searching, until he stops, staring at the witch.
Oh, fuck no.
There’s this moment of irrational panic, like my instincts sense something, but it’s gone before I can grab it. He wants her. To kill or eat, I’m not sure.
“This is Leviathan,” Lirin says with a soft chuckle, introducing them.
She is fixated on our beastie as well, and for some reason, that irritates me.
“Leviath-an?” Hartley says with a gulp. “As inthe?”
