Monsterstruck

CHAPTER X: Conspiracy

 (A Flashback)

              It was already past twelve midnight, but Verona couldn’t sleep. She made a promise to herself that she would abstain from preying, just for the man she loves. But the inner monster in her was relentlessly summoning her, enticing her to prey some.

     “No, I made a promise to myself that I would abstain. f**k off!” Verona mumbled with a tight grin.

     Amidst her wavelength of contemplation, something caught her eye, a tall dark shadow lurking outside the window.

     Tensed, Verona instantly recognized who it was. The air suddenly smelled like rust and salt as the hooded figure bolted inside her room.

   “You, filthy slag!” said a midnight voice. Suddenly, the entity unveiled her hood, revealing a pixie haired woman, wearing a nightshade grin. She has these pair of fiery eyes like those furnaces of hell.

   “Barbara? What are you doing here?”  Verona asked.

     She sounded suspicious more than surprised.

     Barbara snickered at her question.

    “Seriously Verona, what the hell had you become huh? “

       “I’m a yoma.” Verona replied firmly, bouncing her steel gaze into Barbara’s fiery eyes.

              Letting out a vindictive laugh, Barbara arched her brows and folded her arms.

    “Really?  Then, you’re doing a good job for abstaining.” Barbara countered sarcastically.

    “I’m abstaining, and that’s all. But that doesn’t mean I’m not being responsible for my yomanity.” Verona yelped.

     “Is it because of your fiction lover huh?” Barbara taunted, glaring at her.

    In an infinitesimal moment, a foreboding silence sizzled in the air.

     “Barbara, I think it’s none of your business to know who I’m dating. Paddle your own canoe!” She shot back and rolled her eyes.

       “That’s not the point of contention here Verona. I don’t give a s**t who are you dating or sleeping with. Don’t be a hypocrite, you know what I meant. You never work anymore as a prostitute since you met that guy. To make things worse, you are now abstaining? Tell me how do you fight your cravings for human brain? Hah, don’t tell me that you’re trading all of this for just a flimsy fiction affair with your human lover!” Barbara interjected through clenched teeth.

     “Don’t question my responsibility as a yoma. I know what I’m doing!” Verona asserted quickly.

     “You do not know what you’re doing!!! You do know that it’s against the law to fall in love with a human, don’t you?!” She purred huskily.

    “Well maybe I could be human sometimes.” Verona replied mindlessly.

      As expected, Barbara blanched and balled her fists.

    “This is absurd.  Listen, leave your lover alone and get back to reality Verona. Don’t be fooled by your fantasy. What if he found out that you’re a monster huh? Do you think he’ll still want you?” Barbara snickered in a low husky voice.

     Those questions sliced through Verona. But she’d like to cling on the modicum of hope that Tim would still want her the same way. She’d like to believe that love works that way.

     “What will you do if I don’t want to leave him?” Verona asked defiantly.

     Barbara threw a look of contempt; the contours of her face hardened as her lips drew a hard line.

   “Then you gotta pay the price!” Barbara replied acidly through clenched teeth.

   “I don’t want to be like this anymore,” Verona said icily.

    “f**k that Verona! You can change who you are. But you can’t change what you are!” Barbara bristled throatily.

      “I wanted to experience what it feels like to have a life, a life where I can be free. I can do whatever the hell I want. I can tell the world what I really am. I’m so fed up killing and preying those innocent souls for the sake of my sanity.” Verona interjected with a labored sigh.

    “You got a life Verona. It may be not exactly what you want. But it’s up to you what you make out of it, whether you’re human or not!” Barbara retorted.

     “I’d rather die if this is what you call a life!” Verona mouthed.

       Hearing that, Barbara slapped her on both cheeks.

“Had you not been a yoma, I swear I’ll kill you right at this moment!” Barbara seethed.

“You said that it’s up to me what I make out of my life. Then be it, Barbara. If I were you, go get a life,” she countered, irked.

     A sudden blackness came all over Barbara.  She felt her insides radiate with fury. The inner monster in her was poised to unleash as her face twisted into an ugly sneer.

     “Leave me alone Barbara… for good.” Verona pleaded as she syllabicate the word “for good”

       Barbara’s eyes flickered ominously at her; her imminent fiery eyes glowed ferociously like a hungry beast. She raked her gaze into Verona’s belly.

     “Don’t you dare to harm my child!” Verona threatened belligerently, sinking into her teeth.

     Barbara just grinned sinisterly and ghosted out of the inky darkness. Verona, saturated with relief, cocooned herself around the blanket and held Tim’s picture. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew his framed photo away from her like someone snagged it from her causing it to shatter into tiny shards.

     Intuitively, Verona deciphered this premonition—something untoward was about to happen.  Before it could flash before her eyes, she launched herself into her monstrous countenance and followed Barbara’s trail.

***

      With an amused grin, Tim stared at his compilations about monsters and occults as he lit his cigarette.  In no time, his feet dragged him to the secret passage —the cradle of his works.  It was an area made of quaint smelling plank of woods that was connected to his bedroom. The space was occupied with books —mostly his novels and some books about occults, paranormal and monsters, arrayed in a wooden shelf. Nobody knows this passage except for him, not even Verona.

      Smarting himself, he played the video he got from the hidden camera he had built inside her house without her knowledge.  As the video rolled, showing Verona transformed into a monster, Tim flashed a sinister smile.

     “At last, I can prove to the whole world that I’m not just a run-off-the-mills author.  I’m more than what the world could bear.” Tim marveled out, brushing his chin.

     Yes, he orchestrated this all long. At the very first time he met Verona; he had sensed that she was no human. Thanks to his clairvoyance that he had inherited from his ancestors and genius craft in acting that he could bag an award in Oscars. By string of luck, his show rolled more than what he could ever imagine. —Verona fell in love with him.

     ‘Who would have thought, even monsters fell in love too’

    How does he protect himself from the likes of her? Well, he had to perennially thank his grandfather for the crescent shaped amulet that he always kept in his pocket.  Had he been careless and sure as hell he had been captured by those ugly wrenches of hell.

              Suddenly, his phone buzzed. It was Mr. Jeric Watt, the president of the publication that he was working at.

    “I’ll fly back to Canada by Friday Sir. I have something to show you.” Tim countered with a wide grin stretched across his face.

    “Okay. I’m waiting for it, Mr. Marshalls. See you then.” He hung up.

 Suddenly, he heard a loud bang outside the passage. Quickly, Tim bolted out to see what or who it was.  ‘s**t, who could that be? Maybe it’s just a cat, he thought. 

 As he made his way towards the exit, he felt a chill ran down his spine. Intuitively, he tilted his head to his right. Sure enough, there was a vile presence. But what made him grew perplexed was its familiarity—her gleaming reddish eyes, her long talons, and fangs ready to wring out his life in any minute soon.

“Vero…na…” he mouthed tremulously.

Next thing he saw was the ravenous monster was about to saunter towards him.

 *****************************************************************************

     Vylet was blasting some alternative music she had purchased a while ago in the record bar. Wistfully, she kept on hitting the repeat button in Lifehouse’s First Time.”

     She smiled idiotically as she settled herself in the sofa, nibbling a melon fruit. She was absorbing the lyrics. She almost memorized it for she had been playing the song for the fourth time. Then, she listened to the crooning “You and Me” and found herself falling in love with the song. Suddenly, her thoughts flickered again on him—the moment he saved her life, the bickering game, the dance, and the complicated case of his father. Then, she felt her lips curve into a bitter line.

     If only monsters didn’t exist. There could have been any hole ripping in her chest. If only the likes of her didn’t dare to cross the line that divided the two unlikely worlds. She dislodged the ifs as it dawned on her that maybe if they didn’t exist, she wouldn’t meet him.  Heaving a resigned sigh, Vylet turned off the music and dumped her plate in the sink and quickly washed it. 

     “You can’t fall in love with a human, this will screw things up!” An ominous voice whispered.

     The voice grew furious as it spat her repeatedly those words that made her head stung. Listlessly, Vylet didn’t know the reason that made her head cause a throbbing spasm —whether the sinister voice that was resonating relentlessly in her head or the words that she couldn’t bear enough to hear. Gradually, her thoughts unraveled to the night that she became a monster and the mysterious man that welcomed her for being one of them. The wrenched word “YOMANITY” — her mind tried to syllabicate and decipher the meaning of it. Was that an ancient term? She tried to make sense the word by getting the root word of it. The word “humanity” sank in her thoughts because it rhymed to the mystery word YOMANITY. Could it be the root word of it is… yoma?

     She racked her brain for a moment. Yoma…Ah! It is a monster that preys on human brain and sometimes... blood. They can shape shift into human — no wonder they look like every inch a human.

    Mortified, she stared at herself in the mirror as hot tears started to jerk down in her cheeks.

    “I’m a yoma. I’m a monster. I can’t be with him. Nobody wants me and nobody will!” Vylet said plaintively.

     How can she shun away her yomanity?  She is a prison in her own cell. She is a killer doomed in a desolation row.   Does her mom know what she is?  How will her friends accept her? Pain twisted in different patterns of her heart as these onslaughts of thoughts swirled around her head. 

    Grim faced, Vylet dashed out of their house and launched herself into another horrid killing spree that will satisfy her needs as a yoma.

************************************************************************************

(A flashback)

    Tim woke up blinded by the light that emanated in a small white room. He squeezed his eyes shut and flew it open again.

    “Tim!”  Verona deadpanned, saturated with relief.

  V…verona.. Where am I?” He asked feebly.

     Verona half-smiled and affectionately stroked his face. She looked into his penetrating emerald eyes which were bathed with tenderness that she always loved about him.

          “You’re in the hospital honey. I found you unconscious in your house.”

         Hearing that, Tim brows creased as he strained his damnedest to remember the last time that he was conscious. He felt disoriented as he stared at the white overalls of the room. Slowly, the memories resurfaced. He swore that he had recently seen a monster, and who was it that he couldn’t be sure of. As his mind cleared up, it was a woman. He had a second thought that it was Verona but dislodged that thought because she couldn’t do that to him for, she loves him.

     “By the way, I have to tell you something honey.” Verona countered as she peeled some oranges for him.

    “Go ahead hon,” he coaxed.

    “You’ll be a father soon!” Verona beamed. She seemed so overwrought when she delivered the news to him.

    Tim was lost in space after he heard that news.  He didn’t see it coming.

    “Aren’t you happy?” asked Verona, sounding expectant.

     He gulped as he tried to speak; his Adam’s apple loped up and down.

      “I… just didn’t know what the right words to say…” he said nonchalantly and managed to smile. ‘I’ll be a father of a monster? Fear choked on him as that thought reverberated in his muddled mind.

     “We’ll be a family soon.” Verona beamed, cupping his cheeks.

     Tim didn’t know what to feel whether he will burst into tears or anger.

      “What’s wrong?” asked Verona in bewilderment.

    “Nothing, I guess I am just… feeling…mixed up.” Tim retorted as he wrinkled his nose.

    As Tim c****d his head sideward, he caught a glimpse of a familiar morbid creature by the window. Sure enough, it looked like the one who had attacked him in his house. It smiled at him and licked its lower lip.

   “Damn it, Tim. You’re just hallucinating,” he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut.

   “Hey, hon? You okay?”

              “Can you get me out of here?” he admonished feebly, still with his eyes closed.

“But you need to rest,” Verona crooned.

“I could relax at home. And besides, I’ve rested already,”

“Your home isn’t a safe place anymore,” she countered firmly.

“Why?” Tim asked suspiciously.

              “Never mind. I think you should move into our house, since I’m pregnant and …Yeah, we’ll look after each other. Don’t worry about Adela because she likes you.”

   “But all of my works are there at my house!” Tim cried indignantly.

    “You could just break into your place whenever you want! Or you could move all of them in our house.” Verona shot back sharply.

    “You don’t understand Verona!! They are like precious gems to me that I can’t trust only myself to take care of those.  And it’ll consume so much space in your house and I   don’t like that!” He interjected.

     “You… don’t trust me?” she drawled in a hoarse voice; her face was twisting into a disgruntled expression.

    “Verona, it’s not like that… It has so much complication…” 

    “So, what are you trying to say Tim? That you’ll choose your works over me? Over our baby?  Damn! I didn’t know you’re that selfish!” Verona huffed.

     There was a long pause. Tension enveloped in the four white walled corners of the room.    Then, a soft knock broke off.

   “Ate? Mr. Tim? Is everything alright?” asked Adela from the outside

   “Yeah, come in Adela.” Tim admonished.

 “Oh Mr. Tim! How are you?  I quickly dropped by here after our Communication Arts class. By the way, I brought you a mushroom soup.” Adela said as she smiled, hovering beside him.

     “Gotta grab some iced coffee outside. I’ll be right back Adela.” Verona said icily.

      “Sure Ate.” Adela mouthed.

      Tim heard Verona growled as she bolted out the room.  The vision of her turning into a ravenous soul hungry monster, preying some innocent souls abruptly flickered into his mind. Suddenly, he found himself shambling in the pitch darkness. It felt like someone was trying to choke him to death. He wheezed. Then, he saw a pair of ferocious reddish eyes, and a hand that was connected to a rotten skin.

      “Truth is the curse of liars Mr. Tim, as you once quoted in one of your fiction books. So, if I were you, I’ll tell Verona the truth—that you are no lover of him… that you had conspired all the bullshit fantasies you have cultivated in her mind. Tell the truth or all of your works will be damned in hell.”

“Who the hell are you? I’m not afraid of you! I fear neither monster nor death. You can’t damn all my works you little piece of hell. For it’ll be the end of all of you!” Tim said boldly.

    “Kill him!” ordered the raucous voice to the one whose choking him to death.

    “Mr. Tim, wake up! You’re having a nightmare!!!” Adela coaxed hysterically as she shook him awake.

       Tim woke up, eyes wide open.