Monsters: (A Dark Gods Romance) (Gods and Monsters Book 6) Read online

  Monsters

  Book 6 of Gods and Monsters.

  Copyright © 2019 by Klarissa King

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission—this includes scanning and/or unauthorised distribution—except in case of brief quotations used in reviews and/or academic articles, in which case quotations are permitted.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, whether alive or dead, is purely coincidental. Names, characters, incidents, and places are all products of the author’s imagination.

  Imprint: Independently published.

  GLOSSARY

  SUMMARY

  CONTENT WARNINGS

  MONSTERS

  Gods and Monsters

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  epilogue

  GLOSSARY

  Malis—A malevolent God.

  Beniyn—A benevolent God.

  Aniel—A hand-crafted ‘offspring’ of one God.

  Avksy—An abomination.

  Vilas—A mortal

  Balneum—Brothel and gambling den.

  Chevki—A cheap alcoholic spirit

  Scocie—Land of the Gods.

  Capital—Scocie’s City

  Zwayk—A Farther Isle

  Commos—Isles of the Common Vilas.

  SUMMARY

  “I’m afraid,” she confessed, looking down at my hands loose on the rails. “If you do this to yourself, take your father’s power and essence—I’m afraid of what you’ll become. A mon…”

  She couldn’t bring herself to say it again.

  Monster.

  My smile was dark, so dark that she hesitated then took a small step back.

  “Ava,” I said with a buried laugh. “I’ve already become it.”

  Valissa's power burns like a murderous fire within her, consuming her. Now a God, she must choose whether she will be cruel or fair. But what remains of her humanity is destroyed by a betrayal so cutting that Valissa kills a God close to her.

  What is worse than killing a God?

  Perhaps killing the wrong one...

  CONTENT WARNINGS

  Gods and Monsters is a 6-book series, with each book ranging from 20k to 50k words.

  The series itself is inspired by a range of gods from various ancient cultures.

  Prominent themes throughout the series include violence, kidnapping, imprisonment, toxic relationships and abuse. There will be some erotic scenes throughout the series and torture scenes also.

  This is a dark ‘romance’ with all the bells and whistles that come with the genre.

  Please bear these themes and the episodic nature of the series in mind.

  MONSTERS

  †

  GODS AND MONSTERS

  BOOK 6

  Gods and Monsters

  Our creators make no secret of why they created us: For entertainment. Fun.

  What fun is to them, torture is to us. But we worship them, because the alternative is far worse. They are our Gods, our monsters, our masters. We will never be equals in their cold, distant hearts.

  All we can do with our pitiful lives is to choose a God to worship from afar, and pray we never meet our makers, for there is no worse fate than to catch the eye of a God.

  It’s never a story with a happy ending. So in this world, we hide from the ones we worship. Because our worship is fear.

  In the world of Gods and Monsters, we are mortals just trying to survive.

  1

  All around me, the lighthouse shuddered.

  Lada used herself like a human shield and protected me from the rainfall of debris coming down on us. Adrik threw a worried glance up at the uneasy ceiling before a second rumble shattered the lighthouse.

  He cursed then threw himself into the kitchen.

  He landed on the floor with a loud thump.

  Keeping low, Adrik crawled his way over to us and grabbed my wrist. The pair of them knew the stakes—they didn’t protect me out of loyalty or love, they knew that I was needed to end this war. I was their only hope.

  So they shielded me as we clamoured out of the kitchen and into the rattling corridor.

  The walls were dusting all over us, buckling under the strength of whatever was attacking.

  Prince Poison either had some greater powers I didn’t know about, or he had another God with him.

  So did I.

  “Phantom!” I shouted over the explosions hitting us. “Where’s Phantom!”

  Adrik threw me through the door and I staggered into the staircase.

  “Holding them off!” he hollered back at me.

  I noticed Lada raced right past the door, headed to the other corridor.

  “Where’s she going?” Dust strangled my voice.

  I clutched onto the rusty barrier circling the staircase as the most violent rattle yet struck us.

  “Worry about yourself.” He gruffed his words under the noise blasting all around us, but I caught what he said and shot him a dark look.

  Adrik paid no mind and grabbed me by the waist.

  I cried out as he flipped me up and caught me with his meaty shoulder. Dangling over him, I saw the stairs speed by as he rushed down to the exit.

  We almost made it.

  Almost.

  Another blast collided with the lighthouse.

  The hit was so strong that Adrik was thrown off balance and we crashed into the wall just before it crumbled.

  I landed on him, our limbs tangled, and my face angled up at the ceiling falling down on us.

  With a blood-curling scream, I threw up my arms as if to shield my head from tonnes of stone.

  But the stone never came.

  After a few moments of quiet—broken up only by stones rolling down bigger ones and a faraway scream—I peered out one eye.

  Above my face, my arms were crossed and, on my hands, my bracelets pulsed and gleamed sharp light through the dust. Massive chunks of stone hovered above me. Just … hanging there, suspended in the air, right above my crossed arms.

  “Adrik?” My voice was small, dusty. “Adrik, can you hear me?”

  I couldn’t bring myself to unlock my arms and look for him. Whatever magic was coming from me was all that was keeping the stones from crushing us.

  I had no intention of becoming pulp that day.

  Some rubble scattered at my feet. Adrik, stirring.

  He pushed himself up onto his knees, then forced himself to shift towards me.

  Looking down my body, I could see the pain straining his face, even through the dust enveloping us.

  “I can’t move,” I told him. “I think I’m keeping the stones from caving in on us.”

  He turned his attention to my crossed arms. His face slackened, bringing me back to the terrified awe he wore when I tore out Felicks’s eyeballs. A fear of my power and savagery, but nonetheless impressed.

  “How are you—”

  “I don’t know and right now, I don’t care. Get us the fuck out of here,” I hissed. “It could fall any second.”

  Kicked into gear, he pushed himself through our tight space to a gap in the rubble. He wasted no time and took too many risks.

  I winced as he started to tear at the rubble, piling rocks and stone at his back. Our space grew more and more cramped. Once the hole
was big enough to squeeze through, he shoved himself out of our rubble-nook, then reached in for me.

  “Keep your arms up!” he shouted over the blasts still bursting all around us. They just weren’t aimed at the lighthouse anymore—because it was no more. Reduced to rubble.

  Adrik’s meaty hands clamped around my ankles and, with a heavy grunt, he heaved me out through the hole.

  I lay as limp as I could. I couldn’t break the cross of my arms, I couldn’t take the risk of losing focus on the stone shivering above me.

  Adrik yanked me to the other side, and I fell flat on my back.

  The levitating stones suddenly crashed down on the nook and up-came a cloud of dust.

  I scrambled to my feet, heaving on the debris-rain that was coating my insides. Adrik crouched over and, with one loud heave, threw up a gunk of dust.

  Catching my breath, I took in the battle raging all around me. From the shore, aniels and worshippers fought the few supporters we had.

  There was a foreign ship on the horizon, flagged crimson. The Prince’s ship.

  And I spotted him, fast.

  Just off-shore, he stood with a God I didn’t recognise. The new God had his hands in an odd, angled twist, and from his palms flew great gusts of wind that swept the isle. He’d been the one to bring down the lighthouse.

  Aelos, Watcher of the Winds.

  But the Prince fought his own battle. He threw powerful attacks at the only one facing him. Damianos.

  Adrik grabbed me by the arm and made to run me down the edge of the shore. Likely taking me to the vessel that had re-emerged from the waters. But I twisted my way out of his hold and sprinted for Damianos.

  Prince Poison had both his palms aimed at Damianos, and I could see the strain on his face. Two great powers, matched.

  But Damianos needed help if he was going to escape the premature battle with the rest of us. And already, blackened spots were dotting along the curve of his neck, bruises—the Prince’s poison, staining him, without ever really touching him.

  It was a power I didn’t realise the Prince had. But Gods had many, and I should have known better than to be surprised.

  Adrik shouted after me, his heavy footfalls bounding at my heels. I pushed forward, against the wild winds whipping us, and caught the eye of the Prince.

  The moment he saw me, he faltered.

  Shock slackened his face for a mere heartbeat. But that was all I needed. I skidded down the sloped shore to stagger at Damianos’s side. I grabbed Damianos’s hand and, wearing the pulsing bracelets, snared all the poison from his bones.

  Bitter, hollow honey swept through me. With my free hand, I aimed at the two Gods on the shore and sucked in the power of the wind.

  I felt around for honey in the air, for power tying around the winds, and harnessed it. It worked, and the winds beating us suddenly tensed.

  The air was still.

  “Valissa!” Prince Poison looked as murderous as I felt. But his eyes were as hollow as grey never-ending pits, disarming me.

  I staggered, hooked in by his haunted gaze. My heart jumped into my throat.

  I was almost, almost convinced he missed me.

  “Surrender,” Prince Poison declared, “and I will forgive your slight!”

  My heart stopped, and my entire body froze. It was the only challenge stopping me from running to him.

  And how I want to run to him.

  Maybe his eyes were mirrors to me, in that moment. It wasn’t that he missed me, yearned for me, it was that I longed for him.

  I’m a fool.

  The Zealot’s fool.

  Twisting my hand, I threw the wind at them. “Surrender this!”

  The force took their entire army off their feet. They flew through the air and landed in the sea’s icy water.

  “Everyone to the ship!” Damianos shouted for his followers. “Get to the ship, now!”

  Awed eyes swiftly pulled from me as everyone made a run for the vessel. In the mass of runners, I couldn’t see Ava anywhere. I only saw Jasper, who’d been fighting against Aelos’s wind. He took over us on the shore and dove into the water first.

  In the sea is when Damianos finally let my hand go. We swam for the ship. I made it halfway before poison suddenly flooded me and I couldn’t breathe.

  I’d recognise that bitter, honeyed texture in a bucket of power.

  The Prince is fighting me.

  But I can’t die—he’s just disarming me.

  Whatever power he was using on me had me losing the ability to swim. I sank. Water snared me like vines and dragged me down to the wet seabed.

  “Valissa, come to me!” His shouts carried through the water, muffled.

  I sank further down.

  Ice-cold water forced its way down my throat.

  I felt like a bucket, filling too quickly, sinking.

  My bracelets were stacked to the brim. I tried to push the poison into them, but all that happened was a frosty feeling sprouting at my hands.

  I couldn’t fight against its pull, like chains. My heart jumped into my throat.

  The woman in chains…

  The thought only had me thrashing against the pull of the water as it dragged me over the seabed, away from the ship.

  Suddenly, hands were gripping my arms. I was hoisted up to the surface, faced with wild, stormy eyes.

  The prince looked unhinged, gripping me as though scared I would slip away. Wild, like mountain winds, he pulled me flush against him and he kissed me.

  Hard, firm were his lips on mine for a tense beat, then he was kissing me like a long, lost love brought back to him.

  I’m a monster and a fool.

  My body melted against his and, fuelled by the fire in my belly, I parted my mouth, inviting him.

  How I’ve missed this fire.

  How I’ve missed the monster I left behind.

  The shouts of the battle and Damianos’s hollers fall into a thick silence. I heard only the rapid hum of my heart, a song of vexed love.

  Against my mouth, the Prince growled out, “Last chance to surrender, or the dungeons will become your home.”

  My mouth parted from his and I looked up at him, feeling dazed and cruel. “Are you so afraid of me you would take me back into your arms than face me?”

  “Not to face you.” His smouldering cloud-eyes pierces through me. “But of you slipping into the wrong arms, yes.”

  A crooked smile took my mouth, and all bloodshed spattering around me, the frantic cries from the ship, slipped away to an unimportant background song.

  “Careful,” I chide. “I might think you are simply afraid of losing me.”

  “Eternally.” His husky confession sent tingles down my spine.

  Ribbons of excitement unravelled in my hot belly.

  “I could have killed you,” he confessed. “I should have tried more than once, but I cannot bring myself to do it. I crave you like you crave my poison. Surrender to me.”

  Stealing the moment that near brought me to my knees, a murder of crows descended upon us. Black smoke swallowed us whole before a tanned hand snatched me back through the water and the thin taste of ink filled me.

  Phantom.

  He dragged me to the ship.

  Damianos grabbed me by the heavy skirts of my dress and pulled me up. I sucked in a sharp, cutting breath of chilly air. Damianos wrapped his hand around my waist, swimming me to the vessel.

  By the time we reached the ship, my insides felt carved out. I was hollow, a part of myself lost in the blackness swallowing the shore, with the Prince.

  At the vessel’s side, Adrik pulled us out of the water. He deposited me on the deck like dead fish, and I stared up at the winds trying to pull us back to the shore.

  With little scraps of energy left, I forced myself onto my knees. My hands raised, facing the sky above, and I lured the power in the winds into me. Then, with gritted teeth and a hoarse sound of agony, I released—

  All that harnessed wind lashed out at the s
hore, pushing our ship out to see in one swift breeze powerful enough to blast over the entire isle.

  I collapsed onto my side.

  Ava’s face was all I saw through the blur. She must have gotten to the ship before I escaped the lighthouse. She’d left me behind, just like I’d done at the palace.

  I narrowed my weary eyes on her.

  Then, as darkness clutched me, I gritted out venomously, “Guess we’re even now.”

  2

  “I’m trying.”

  Words regurgitated for the hundredth time in two short days. Damianos kept pushing me to wield the winds again, to keep our pace.

  “It’s hard without the bracelet,” I added, and let my useless hands fall to my side.

  Damianos’s jaw clenched as he studied me. “The same bracelets that he used to track you?”

  So he still hasn’t let that go.

  Get over it already.

  It wasn’t like I’d known he could track the bracelets. Besides, once Damianos figured it out, we’d thrown them overboard and now, my naked hands felt ordinary.

  Without storage, a place to hold the powers I tried to steal from the air all around us, I had to use Damianos—and he was a lot more distracting than some jewelled bracelets. Not to mention demanding.

  I shot him a look charged with disdain. “Could you shut up for a minute? I’m trying to concentrate.”

  His look was sour.

  He took a determined step away from me and, with an arched eyebrow that said go on then, kept his slight distance on the deck of the ship.

  I turned back to face the waters surrounding us. The barrier dug into my belly as I leaned forward and reached out my naked hands, feeling the vulnerable nips of cold air on my skin.

  “I swear there’s no power in these winds,” I sighed. “We’re too far ahead. They’re not following us.”

  If they were on our tails, I would have felt the God’s power in the winds grazing over us. But the winds weren’t working in our favour and without the power in the winds to harness, I couldn’t influence the breeze to carry us to the North of Scocie faster.