MonsterVille
Twenty Six

Mellie was exhausted. She had devoured a pound of raw meat and her hands were still trembling. Her other side, her monster nature, was emerging more frequently and in some dark part of her soul she knew it was killing her. If she didn’t give in, didn’t cave, to her bodies growing needs the toll exacted by her other nature would end her life. But she wasn’t a killer—not of humans at any rate.

She slashed her brush over the canvas and decorated the rats with a harsh slash of red. It bisected the painting, cutting it from one of monsters-in-harmony to monsters-in-discord and murder. The large berserker was at the forefront of the image, his eyes glowing with ferocious amusement as he broke a rat over his knee. The rest of his comrades were arrayed behind him, drinking, feasting, on skewered meat that looked suspiciously like bipedal rat. The berserkers weren’t terribly picky about their meat.

Mellie added a dash of gold to the large berserker, it could have been a trick of the light or it could have been a halo anointing him. It was all in the eye of the beholder.

Her phone went off. Mellie was surprised to replace herself already holding it.

“Hello?”

“Melanie,” his voice was strained. Broken.

“Brannagh!” she cried out, “What’s wrong? Are you ok? Is River ok?”

His breathing was laboured, and she heard the distinct sound of a bloody cough. “I’m sorry Melanie, the house… we were attacked.”

“River?”

“My children, my humans, they are slaughtered.”

“River!” Mellie demanded, “What happened to him?”

“Not much time…” he murmured, she could hear him fading, drifting. “Thought the water would be safer. Thought I could… doesn’t matter now… your human—”

“Yes! River! Is he ok? Where is he?!”

“—woods. He took Aura, they fled into the woods.”

The woods. Mellie was already moving.

“Tell—tell my daughter… I love her.”

“Brannagh? Brannagh!” He was gone. Through the phone she heard him draw his last breath.

Mellie was down the stairs and out the shattered remains of her door. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she needed to get to Brannagh’s manor. Sure she was in no condition to put up a fight, let alone the fact whoever had attacked him had taken down a plethora of mermaids and Brannagh himself. Never mind the fact that she didn’t really owe River anything. She was compelled to action and damn it but she was going to try and just hope that other half of hers was able to step up.

The wind was nice on her face, a little damp, the sun was warming the day, a group of berserker’s were camping out in her back yard and oh yes, emerging from the woods was a pleased looking River with berserkers flanking him—they could have been captors or an honour guard the way they fell to either side and matched his stride. Mellie froze at the sight of them, he looked beat. He was bruised, bleeding, he looked exhausted, but he strode towards her with purpose.

“Mellie,” he greeted.

He hesitated, standing a few feet from her, before he lunged forward. The berserker’s surged after him but he made it first. His arms wrapped around Mellie and he held her tight. She could feel his relief pouring out, relief mingled with all of the terror, the dread and fear he must have experienced. It wasn’t what Mellie had expected. She didn’t know what she had expected, part of her, a large part, had thought she would replace a body in the woods. He was after all only human. What she really hadn’t expected was how relieved she would feel to see him safe and sound, she was responsible for his life, but she also liked him—just a little bit.

“Blemmyes.” Mellie repeated.

River nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he called himself.” He had spent the last hour rehashing the night’s events for Mellie, and her new companions. He didn’t know what to make of them, although he was pretty sure he had met a couple of them last night. It was hard to tell given how dark it had been and the fact he had been fighting for his life; not to forget that the ones he saw had been wearing inhuman faces. But the animal hide clothes were the same.

“I’m sorry,” Mellie said.

“What for?” River replied, “You didn’t do anything.”

“That’s why I’m sorry.”

“No, I mean you really didn’t do anything. Danny, I mean the blemmyes, I mean, hell I don’t know what I mean but he came for me. Maybe his boss or whatever was going after those mermaids eventually, but last night he was coming for me. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was here or there, and damn it, but it was Danny! He is or was my friend! He brought us to this town, he brought me here!”

“You can’t blame yourself,” Mellie touched his leg gently.

“Oh I don’t.” River agreed, “I blame Danny. This is all on Danny.”

“And Aura…?”

“Hm?” River was getting lost in his thoughts.

“Her father said you two left together.”

“You’ve seen him?” River gasped in surprise, “he made it out of there?”

“No,” Mellie said softly, “he called, but he didn’t make it out.”

“Oh.”

“Aura?” Mellie prodded him gently.

“She was hurt,” River replied distractedly, “I wasn’t sure she was going to make it.”

“You left her?” Mellie asked. There was no condemnation in her voice, just a question, to which River shook his head.

“I carried her till we found a stream, she fell into the water and just poof”—he waved his hands for emphasis—“she swam off.”

“And left you?”

“I guess, I’m not sure exactly what happened, just that she was gone as soon as she hit the water. It’s not like she owed me anything,” River said defensively. “She didn’t need to stick around and with those blemmyes things all over the woods she probably had a better chance in the water.” Without a human slowing her day. Those words went unsaid, but everyone heard them. The big berserker had been listening to the conversation and he clasped a hand on River’s shoulder; hard enough to make him wince.

“Argh, mers, who needs them. You better off without her.” He gave River a sly grin, “Found the remains of that rat we did, you did good.” River felt sick at the mention of what he had done, but he tried to smile anyway and nod graciously. He obviously wasn’t sure what was going on with the berserker-monsters, but the big guy was making an effort and he must have appreciated that.

“Question little man,” the berserker went on, “you kill Rat. Then you run wrong way, deeper into woods. How did you replace way back?”

“Hm, oh um, well,” River blushed and the berserker patted him harder and gave a good laugh that was picked up by the rest of the motley crew. The berserker leant in and took a good whiff. One of the berserker women gave River a thorough once over before she nodded and he blushed harder.

“I’m missing something,” Mellie remarked. River kept flushing a furious crimson.

“Huldra aren’t easily pleased.” The big berserker said with a laugh. Mellie’s eyes widened slightly.

“Oh.”

“It’s, I mean—”

“A Wendigo and a Huldra, you’re certainly making the rounds,” Mellie wasn’t sure whether she was mocking him or chastising him, he was her human after all, even if thinking in such terms was archaic.

“And?” the big berserker prompted.

“There’s more?” Mellie asked, her brow rising inquisitively.

“Shouldn’t we be discussing the homicidal monsters coming to kill me? Or the fact they just killed a bunch of other monsters?”

“Mermaid.” The big berserker confided. “Can still smell her.”

Mellie pointedly ignored the comment. She levelled her bright blue eyes on River and let the seriousness of the situation settle in, the berserkers quietened down. “What happened to Brannagh and his people is… a tragedy—”

“Tragedy?” River mouthed.

“—however it’s not our problem. Their fates and their feud with Nicodemus, don’t concern us, and there is no reason we need to become involved.”

“Doesn’t concern us?” River practically shouted, “They murdered women, and for all I know they killed the pregnant women too!”

“Hardly.” Mellie said, she was definitely chastising him then, “I doubt there were many human casualties at all. Too valuable, more likely they were rounded up once you ran.”

River looked shell shocked; she felt bad for him but she wasn’t lying. Brannagh’s problems were over, he was dead, his family fled, killed or taken. Nothing to be done. She needed to focus on her own problems; like the fact the Blemmyes wanted River. It was unlikely a simple human man had any interest for Nicodemus—he was a lover of women and mers, for both flesh and sex—which meant it was ‘Danny’ who wanted River.

Maybe it was a twisted remnant of their friendship, or maybe it was something more insidious. In either case her property was in jeopardy. She had to think of him in those terms because if she didn’t, if she let herself get caught up thinking of him like a person then she was screwed. She couldn’t let her property be taken or killed without her permission, it would make her look weak, and if she handed him over now then she would look like she was incapable of protecting her own—again she would look weak. Weakness was blood in the water, and in a town full of Monsters that was a death sentence.

Mellie couldn’t rely on the berserkers. Their reasons for helping her so far might had made sense to them, but she couldn’t be one of them, not really. So she couldn’t trust them when they could leave or turn on her at any moment. It was a bit of a pickle to use a human turn of phrase.

“You should get some rest now River,” Mellie instructed, “Go to your room.”

“But, I—”

“That wasn’t a request.” Mellie stated firmly, “Go.” He gave her one last forlorn glance, but he went. She waited until he was up the stairs and his door was shut before she went on.

“The Blemmyes.”

“In the woods. Two, maybe three watching the house.” The big berserker said.

“Can you bring me one?” she asked, before amending with, “Alive?”

The big guy just laughed.