Free Monsters Within by Victoria Knight Page B

didn’t seem to be  the least bit afraid of him even after knowing what he really was.
    Nikki Galimore was the last thing on his mind as sleep took him.
     
    ***
    Saul usually awoke by a sort of mental alarm he had within his head half an hour or so before dusk. But something else stirred him awake that afternoon. As the last vestiges of sleep began to taper off, Saul’s senses began to pick up on the fact that there was a presence in the room with him. It had apparently come out of nowhere because if it had have been a human, Saul would have stirred awake as they had come within fifty yards of the cabin.
    Saul opened his eyes and sat up as if on hinges. There was a dark figure standing at the end of the bed. The figure was waifish, its arms elongated and its head somehow oddly stretched. It wore no clothes but had a body that seemed to be made of swirling shadows rather than skin. Certainly, such a figure at the end of a human’s bed would cause madness. But Saul had seen this entity before and was vaguely familiar with it.
    “Did you have a good rest?” the figure asked.
    “I did. What brings you here, Benali?”
    Benali stayed where he was (or maybe it wa s it — Saul was not sure of Benali’s gender) and said nothing for a moment. He carried a sense of power that filled the room. As a member of The Guard, it was a power that Benali knew how and when to flex.
    “I think you know the answer to that,” Benali said. “In the course of the last thirty-six hours, you have assaulted a human and had two female humans enter your home. Even if those events had been spread out over the course of a year, that would be cause for concern.”
    “I understand,” Saul said. He slid to the edge of the bed but kept himself covered. He slept in the nude and did not want to risky any sort of offense in the eyes of The Guard. “But these were circumstances that could not be helped. Granted, I should have had more will power when it came to shoving Lester Dobbs. That is what caused most of it.”
    “How did a mortal get under your skin in such a way?” It was not a taunting sort of question; Benali was genuinely doing his/its best to get to the bottom of this. Saul knew that Benali would report back to the other members of The Guard and that many of them were far less forgiving that Benali.
    “This whole town was an audience for the death of my father,” Saul said. “Lester Dobbs used it to provoke me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because he was drunk. He is the type that must feel like he reigns over everyone.”
    “And the women?”
    “The first one is the deputy of Red Creek. Her name is Kara Humphrey. She came to question me about the assault. The other was named Nikki Galimore. She is…well…if I’m being honest, she has the potential to cause some trouble.”
    He hated to admit such a thing, but he knew that Benali would be able to sense it if he, Saul, lied about her.
    “Trouble of what kind?” Benali asked.
    “She saw the assault on the street and it made her curious. She then did some research and found an article about my father’s murder. She saw me in the picture and realized I looked exactly the same.”
    “Anything else?” Benali asked. He asked in a way that let Saul knew that h e kne w that there was more to it.
    “Not regarding me, but ther e i s something that concerns me.”
    “What is that?” Benali asked.
    “There is footage o f somethin g feeding on cattle. One of Nikki’s friends caught it on some sort of hunter’s camera.”
    “What manner o f something?”
    “The way Nikki described the figure, it looked very close to a vampire.”
    “But you are the only vampire in this area,” Benali said.
    “Exactly. That’s why it concerns me. Might there be another family trying to encroach on my territory?”
    The shadowy composure of Benali’s skin seemed to flicker at this. His eyeless face seemed to contort a bit.
    “That is very doubtful,” he answered. “Who else has seen this