Page 32 of Tenebrous

His body hits the stone floor with a sickening sound, one arm folding awkwardly beneath him. Blood darkens the front of his flannel and disappears into the fabric of his vest.

A strangled sound claws up my throat. “Oh, god.”

The monster's attention bounces between me and the body, brows furrowed.

My vision blurs, this time from grief and horror instead of pain. Despite everything that happened in those woods, despite the betrayal and the lies and the way he'd stood beside Earl while they practically dug my grave, he was still my family—still blood. The only part I had left of my mother, and… and now he's…

The monster takes a step forward, but I recoil immediately. "Stay away from me!" When it freezes, I point a shaking finger toward Gale's corpse. "What did you do?"

Its gaze drifts toward the body, then back to me, and it looks almost… concerned.

"He's dead." Tears burn down my cheeks. "Do you understand that!?"

A blank look is the only response it gives.

I drag myself backward until my spine hits the stone wall behind me. There's nowhere left to go. No escape. I'm alone with this monster and more blood on my hands. First my mother, then my father. Now Manny… and Gale.

The creature huffs almost in annoyance, before it turns and crouches over my uncle's body. Baring its teeth, it looks me straight in the eye as it takes a giant fucking bite out of Gale's bicep.

The sound that leaves my throat doesn't even sound human.

Scrambling sideways on pure instinct, my legs drag uselessly behind as panic surges through every inch of my body. "Jesus Christ!"

Blood spills across stone. The monster tears away a mouthful of flesh and immediately turns back to me, fur-covered ears standing straight. It crosses the space between us in three strides, and when it holds the dripping mass of skin to my mouth, I raise my hands to smack it away.

“No! Get off me!”

The creature pauses, rumbling low as it looks between me and the meat in its fingers expectantly, head tilted.

I press harder against the rough rock at my back. “I am not fucking eating that, you piece of shit.”

Its golden eyes narrow slightly, studying the tears and snot covering my chin. A deep growl vibrates through its chest. Then, to my horror, determination flashes across its eerily humanlike features. One enormous hand wraps around the back of my neck before I can react, not hard enough to injure but enough to hold me in place.

"Let go!" I shove weakly at its forearm, turning my head away.

Fresh nausea roils in my stomach with the flesh so near to my mouth. I clamp my jaw shut tightly, but the monster's thumb pries my lips apart before shoving the handful of meat in between my teeth. Salt, iron and blood flood my tongue, triggering a violent gag.

The monster rumbles in approval, letting go of its grip on my nape, and my first instinct is to spit it out, get it out, now. So I do. Directly onto its face.

The chunk bounces off its cheek and lands on the ground between us. Silence fills the cavern as I dry heave over the stone floor. It blinks at me briefly before looking down at the glob of flesh on the floor, and I swear something like offense crosses its expression.

Meeting my gaze once more, the thing points at the remains of Gale’s corpse. “Eat.”

Holy shit, it can speak. The gruff, baritone voice sends a shiver of horror down my spine.

“Fuck you,” I grit through my teeth, still sitting with the taste of my dead uncle’s flesh on my tongue.

“Eat.”

“No.”

“Eat.”

“Humans don't eat other humans!” My shrill shout causes the monster to flinch. Its ears flatten as another low, frustrated snarl echoes around the cave like what I just did has angered it or something. Good. I hope I'm the biggest fucking problem the thing has ever had.

"That is a person,” I snap, gesturing toward Gale's body. “My uncle. Family.” The word catches in my throat. “He was… family.”

All I get in response is a look of confusion, as though I've spoken complete nonsense. Like this massive creature cannot possibly understand why I wouldn't want to eat my uncle or care what happens to him after he's dead. The realization only fuels my anger.