Club Monstrosity

by Jesse Petersen

  Kai’s eyes narrowed until Alec wasn’t sure she could even see past them. Then she took a deep breath and growled, “No, I’m just all for taking my time before I jump to conclusions. I think we’ve all learned that lesson over the hundreds of years we’ve been roaming this earth. Well, everyone except for Hyde.”

  Hyde snorted out a laugh. “Looking before one leaps is highly overrated, my dear.”

  Natalie folded her arms. “Except, in this case, our conclusion that someone was hunting us has turned out to be right. The proof of it is there on video. Why do you refuse to see that?”

  Kai looked at the frozen screen and her lip twitched.

  Great, at least something was finally getting through to her. Trust Natalie to just go the direct route—one Alec continued by saying, “Someone was following Jekyll. Even you can’t deny that, no matter how much you want to.”

  Kai held up her hands. “Once again I have to bring up the fact that Ellis was an asshole who very well might have brought that attack upon himself. Whoever followed Jekyll could have been an admirer in a club, a business contact, or just a run-of-the-mill criminal looking to jump a rich person.”

  “Your explanation has one big missing piece, though,” Natalie said.

  She slowly got to her feet and moved to pour herself a drink. Alec was a little disappointed she chose filtered water, not booze. He would sort of like to see her buzzed. Was that even possible with her hodgepodge metabolism? He would have to find out.

  Kai turned her attention to Natalie. “What’s that?”

  “Blob,” Natalie said softly. “He wasn’t an asshole; in fact he was the exact opposite. Plus, I doubt he had business contacts or criminals after him, and no one could mistake him for a rich mark, not with the life he was living in that hellhole of an apartment. But someone still locked him in a freezer to die a slow and painful death. Just like in The Story.”

  Alec nodded. “And if someone was just going to kill him, unrelated to the fact that he was a monster, why would they do something so . . . weird as lock him in a freezer? Why not just shoot him or stab him or something? It doesn’t add up.”

  Natalie shook her head. “No. It does add up. It just adds up in one way. Someone knows we’re monsters.”

  Kai swallowed hard, hesitating as the wheels in her mind very obviously turned to find something she could call a logical explanation for Natalie’s very good point. Except finally she just shrugged.

  “Yes, there is that. Blob makes this more . . . complicated,” Kai whispered, and then sat down with a thud in one of the high-backed chairs outside the main sitting area.

  Linda nodded swiftly. “And that person in the video is probably the same guy who killed Blob and incited the riot against Ellis. And if he is, that means he knows who we are . . . what we are.”

  Alec couldn’t believe he was agreeing with Linda, but he nodded. “If Trench Coat is our killer, then I’d say it’s a safe bet he knows exactly who and what we are. As well as a great deal of other facts, like where we live, what our habits are, and how best to kill us. The one thing we don’t know is why.”

  Linda covered her eyes, but her voice was strangely calm as she said, “I don’t really care about motives. I think we should go to the police. We can show them the connection and let them go after this murderer. That’s their job anyway.”

  Hyde hadn’t bothered to watch the video of whoever had stalked him and his brother, only continued to stare out the window the whole time. But now he spun around and took a long, menacing step toward Linda.

  “Really, idiot? That’s what you think we should do? Reach out to the cops and tell them what, exactly?” His face was darkening to red and then purple. A vein in his forehead throbbed and slowly he began to get . . . bigger. “That we have evidence some guy in a coat is following us? Because we’re monsters? Oh, and by the way, our evidence for this was stolen from their own database and our building’s surveillance system?”

  Linda flinched at his ugly, threatening tone. Even Natalie pressed herself back against the couch, and Alec had never seen her fearful in all the time he’d known her.

  But then again, in that moment Hyde looked truly terrifying. His eyes flashed dark and angry in an out-of-control way and his breath came in harsh, heavy pants. His nails had grown longer into sharp talons, his muscles bulged beneath his expensive suit, and Alec could have sworn he had fangs now. He looked like he could kill and not even think twice about it.

  In short, like a monster.

  “You should be the next one who dies, you stupid bitch,” he snarled, moving toward Linda a second time. “Let’s not even wait for the stalker. I’d love to do his job for him.”

  At that, Linda curled up on the couch with a squeal of terror. Without thinking, without hesitating, Alec was on his feet. He heard the warning growl from deep in his throat—he was more than ready to fight, his fists raised and his mouth watering with the thought of taking a swing or twenty at Hyde.

  Except he didn’t have to. Jekyll reached out and clasped his brother’s arm.

  “Stop,” he said, low and calm.

  Alec stared. At Jekyll’s touch, Hyde seemed to struggle, his face twisting as he fought to maintain his anger. Then it faded and the shocking changes that had taken over his body during the emotion disappeared with it. He glared at Jekyll. “You never let me have fun,” he accused, all seriousness. “I hate you.”

  Jekyll flinched, almost as if he were absorbing the rage Hyde felt and it burned him, hurt him. With all the past proof of how deep the psychic bond went between the brothers, Alec had to assume that might not be too far from the truth.

  “If I let you have fun, we all suffer,” Jekyll whispered. Their eyes met and held, unblinking, unwavering. “I am trying to protect you.”

  Hyde muttered something unintelligible and Jekyll released him. He staggered slightly, and then both men sat on the couch together. After a second, Hyde reached over and took Jekyll’s hand and they sat still in that creepy horror-movie twin way.

  Natalie’s shoulders relaxed as the threat of violence seemed to fade. She sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, Hyde has a point.”

  When Linda flinched, Natalie raised her hands. “About the cops! Not the other stuff. I know cops. I deal with them a lot in my job at the morgue. There are only two outcomes if we involve the police in our . . . situation.”

  “Which are?” Drake asked. Through everything he had remained quiet, almost bored by the freaking out. This was the first time he’d spoken in so long, Alec had almost forgotten him.

  Natalie pursed her lips as she considered her answer. “One, they won’t believe us because our story makes us sound like a bunch of nut jobs. But they would take a very strong interest in the fact that two people from our group have died recently. We make that connection for them and I promise you, we won’t like the outcome.”

  “We’ll be suspects,” Drake offered.

  She nodded. “In all likelihood, yeah.”

  “And what’s the second possibility?” Alec asked. He was still standing, watching Hyde just in case the freak show decided to throw down against Linda or Natalie or anyone else in the room.

  Natalie shrugged. “It’s worse: they just might believe us.”

  Linda’s green eyes lit up. “Good! That’s what we want! How is that bad?”

  Natalie shut her eyes for a moment and then said, “If they believe us, we’ll be outed as monsters. Maybe we even get arrested just to ‘protect the public.’ Or maybe a mob forms. We’ve all seen that happen before, I don’t think I need to go into too much detail about the possibilities.”

  Kai nodded. “You’re right. Shit, I can’t believe I’m saying that.”

  “Yeah, I bet. It’s almost not even English when I hear it.” Natalie laughed. “It must taste sour coming from your mouth.”

  Kai shot her a look, but there wasn’t much darkness in it. Alec actually had the sneaking suspicion that Kai liked Natalie. Or at least respected her, which
was as good as one usually got with the Mummy Girl.

  Alec chuckled. “Well, I agree with Natalie, too.”

  To his surprise, Natalie looked in his direction and her thankful smile was as good a reward as any for his agreement.

  Linda covered her face with a long, wavering sigh. “I just don’t want to die.”

  “None of us want to die,” Alec pointed out with a shrug. “But we have to figure this out on our own. Or at least have a lot more information before we start going to the humans and asking them to help us.”

  Natalie nodded. “We have to be smart. Who might have a motive for wanting us dead?”

  “Someone who knows we’re monsters?” Linda offered, her tone dripping with sarcasm and anger that her earlier suggestion about cops had been dismissed.

  Natalie ignored the snottiness and shook her head. “No way. A regular human who found out there were real-life monsters in New York might call the cops . . . or the Enquirer. They’d try to get us on video. But they wouldn’t start murdering us in a series of movie-themed homicides. That just seems too personal, not to mention twisted. What’s happening to us now is part of a pretty deep-seated hatred that goes beyond movie-matinee fear.”

  Alec nodded. “True.”

  “But there isn’t a common element to the first two crimes. And it doesn’t seem like anyone the group has interacted with lately has a link. Did anyone find one?” Jekyll asked.

  “Well,” Alec said with a shrug. He hadn’t wanted to bring this up, but it seemed like there was little choice now. “I’ve thought of one person who is related to all of us and might want us dead.”

  Kai’s eyes went wide. “Who?”

  “You’re not going to like it,” Alec replied. “But what about Rehu?”

  The silence that fell over the room was heavier than ever as the rest of them pondered the name he had thrown out. One they hadn’t spoken in months. Natalie stared at Alec and the light in her eyes told him that she liked the idea. Had maybe even thought of it herself at some point.

  But Kai froze and was almost paper-pale now.

  Not that Alec blamed her. Rehu was Kai’s former lover. Former as in a couple millennia of history were shared between them. Their deaths and ultimate reincarnations had been the inspiration for dozens of mummy movies and books. But Rehu was way closer to the more modern retellings of the mummy tale than a Lon Chaney type. He was slick, good-looking, and bubbling with a rage under the surface that rivaled even Hyde’s mad fury.

  He had been part of their group up until about a year before, when his behavior had started to draw attention to them. They’d been forced to kick him out, and he’d been enraged.

  Kai backed up a long step and glared daggers at Alec. “Fuck you, Werewolf. Rehu didn’t do this. Of course you’d blame him, you always hated him.”

  Alec shrugged. He wouldn’t go so far as to say hate, but werewolves and mummies didn’t mix. Still, he wouldn’t have accused him without a real suspicion that he could be the culprit.

  Drake shook his head. “Whatever Alec’s motives, he has a point. Rehu does know what we are. He knows The Story for each of us. He knows where we meet and where many of us live.”

  Jekyll nodded wildly. “That’s true. And he hates us, not only for kicking him out of the therapy circle, but because Drake and I kept him from selling the artifacts from his own tomb for profit.”

  “I always thought we should have gone in with him on that scheme,” Hyde said with a sigh. “A pity.”

  “You would,” Drake muttered. “And damn the consequences all the attention would bring on us.”

  Hyde shrugged. “We could have made them go away and you know it.”

  Jekyll silenced his brother with a wave of his hand. “Rehu has every motive in the world and every opportunity.”

  Linda hugged herself and rocked slightly. “He was the biggest monster of us all. He liked to menace and scare.”

  Kai let out a low growl that shut the Swamp Dweller up entirely. But Natalie wasn’t so easily cowed.

  “Do you know where he is, Kai?” she asked softly.

  Kai, normally so composed, so calm, turned bright red. “No. I haven’t seen Rehu since he accused me of siding with all of you and left me.”

  Alec tilted his head. There was something about the waver in Kai’s voice, the way she bit her lip, that said she was lying. But would she really cover for an ex-lover? One with whom she had shared a volatile relationship? The guy had gotten her killed . . . albeit a couple thousand years before, but still . . . Alec had always pegged Kai for being smarter than that.

  “I doubt he’s still even in the city,” Kai continued, with that same lilt of desperation to her tone. “Even if he is, he would never hurt anyone.”

  Drake snorted his disagreement and Kai turned on him with the same level of anger she’d first shown Linda.

  “Shut up, Vampire.”

  “So eloquent,” Drake sneered.

  Kai took a long step toward him and that seemed to signal all hell breaking loose once again. Linda burst into tears as Hyde taunted her, Natalie grabbed Kai’s arm and they started arguing over the merits of vampire-slaying. Alec ran a hand over his face. How could they ever hope to defend themselves if they couldn’t even manage to stay on target for ten minutes put together?

  “Hey,” he began, raising his voice to go above the fray. No one listened. “Hey!”

  But it was to no avail. Alec was about ready to give up when Drake swirled his cape around himself. There was a small pop and then he vanished into a bat. He flew to the center of the room and reappeared, this time standing on Jekyll’s coffee table.

  “Silence!” he bellowed, and his tone, not to mention his Animal Kingdom act, shut down the fighting in an instant. “While you tussle, this enemy grows in power. And I have another suggestion of who it could be. Our oldest and most treacherous adversary.”

  He paused, Alec could only assume for dramatic effect, and then hissed, “Van Helsing.”

  11

  The name Van Helsing sucked the oxygen from the room and left all of them with the same blank, empty, terrified expression that Natalie felt on her own face.

  Van Helsing, a family of monster hunters who had stalked and killed their kind for dozens of generations.

  Van Helsing, the oldest and deepest enemy any monster had.

  Stoker had gotten it wrong, of course, when it came to that family. He described them as only hunting vampires, and in truth they had started out that way. But eventually they had expanded into so much more. They were at the front of every mob with pitchforks and often hired themselves out to make “monster problems” go away. Blood money had lined their pockets and made them powerful in politics both abroad and in the United States.

  “How could it be the Van Helsings?” Hyde hissed. “We’ve had a truce with them for decades.”

  “Five decades, to be precise,” Drake agreed. “When they realized no one was willing to pay them to chase ‘pretend’ creatures anymore and decided to start investing their blood money in technical stocks.”

  Natalie pursed her lips. It was so unfair that bad people got to be rich from murder, while the monsters they’d chased lived in shitty apartments and hid their true identities for fear of renewed persecution.

  “So why would they want to hunt us now?” Natalie asked.

  Drake arched a thin brow. “They still live, don’t they? At least one here in New York . . . that I know of. And if they live, they hate. It is in their nature.”

  Natalie rubbed her eyes as she tried to clear the bile from her throat and memories from her mind.

  “But why would they break our pact after all this time?” she whispered.

  That pact had been the biggest relief of her life. For years she had holed up in disgusting hovels to keep the Van Helsings away from her. When the truce was signed, she had been able to come out of hiding and live, even if she did have to wear turtlenecks.

  She didn’t want to go back underground.<
br />
  Alec shrugged. “There’s one way to find out.” When everyone stared at him, he said, “Ask.”

  “Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Kai said. “I’m used to dealing with total assholes. I’ll go visit the local one. Who else?”

  Drake pushed to his feet and glared at Kai. “No. I was their first enemy and I brokered the truce all those years ago. I should meet with him. Alone.”

  Natalie shook her head. “Come on, Drake, you know I like you, but you have to admit you can be forgetful.”

  He glared at her and she rushed to continue and soothe his hurt feelings. “And what if you’re right that they’re involved in these murders? Go alone, and that could be a death sentence. With more of us, at least we’d have a chance against some kind of sneak attack.”

  Drake considered that for a moment, but then nodded. “Very well, Natalie. You may come, but no one else.”

  Natalie shifted. She had said we, hadn’t she? Crap, there was no getting out of it. The way Kai was glaring at her, she was certain that if she bailed, the mummy would insist on being the one to stand at Drake’s side. And she’d seen Kai’s face when she talked about Rehu. The Mummy Girl was so stuck on protecting her old boyfriend from accusation that she might just do anything to keep him safe. Including sabotaging this meeting. Or lying about what happened during it.

  “Okay, I guess it’s you and me, Drake,” she finally said. “You set up the meeting and let me know the particulars. I’ll make sure I can be there any time, any place.”

  Anyway, Alec seemed pretty impressed by Natalie’s decision to ride shotgun for Drake. He was staring at her with a wide grin on his ridiculously handsome face, which was getting shaggier and wolfier every day. That was actually kind of nice.

  In a weird way. That she didn’t like. Nope. Not at all. Because she didn’t like Alec. She just had to keep reminding herself of that.

  “Great,” Hyde said as he got up and sneered at all of them. “Now can you all get out of our house?”

  Jekyll stared at him. “Hyde!”