Here Be Monsters - By M T Murphy Page 0,41

about the size of a human hand, but a few of the things were as large as cats.

Mickey shuddered.

“Can I run away now?” asked Chad.

“In a minute. Where is Hines?”

“Through that open door on the other side of the room.”

“The one with all the webs and black widows?”

“That’s the one,” Chad replied.

“Figures.”

Mickey brushed past Chad and moved toward the open door. The spiders began to close in on both of them, their numbers covering every visible inch of the floor.

Mickey took off his leather jacket. “Turn around and face the exit. When they scatter, I suggest you run. No matter what happens, do not look at me. You look at me and you’ll wish I’d let the spiders get you.”

Chad did as he was instructed. “I believe you,” he said. The front door was only ten steps away—six if he ran.

A blast of heat hit him from behind. It felt like someone had poured gasoline on a barbecue, then dropped in a pack of lit matches. The spiders felt it too. They rushed for the shadows, clearing a path to the door. Despite Mickey’s warning, Chad looked back.

He immediately regretted it.

Where Mickey had been a moment earlier, there stood a great black thing. It was easily seven feet tall and covered in fur from its pointed ears to its clawed feet. Two glowing red eyes stared at Chad.

“Why must you humans always be reminded to run?” the thing snarled.

Chad turned back to the door and rushed forward like he was sprinting through the gates of hell. The spiders were staying away. Three more steps and he would break outside to freedom.

His foot bumped into something heavy and he tripped, slamming face first into the closed door. He tried to shake off the dizziness and pain in his head. Looking toward his foot, he saw what had tripped him. One of the cat-sized spiders was sitting on his foot. It began crawling up his leg. He kicked at the spider and tried to drag himself forward, but the other spiders returned out of the shadows and enveloped his hands.

Chad wanted to scream but he was afraid they would take the opportunity to crawl down his throat. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the horrible sensation of ten thousand tiny feet pouring over his body.

The monster that had introduced itself as Mickey watched the swarm take down the hapless human. He couldn’t count all the brown spiders that covered his body. At first the man struggled and tried to throw them off, but after a few seconds he grew still, from the sheer weight of their numbers or possibly a heart attack. The fancy silk shirt disappeared under the sea of spiders.

The monster shrugged. It didn’t really matter. Chad had been only human, after all.

He took a step toward the inner door. The spiders regrouped and blocked his path with a mass of shuffling bodies and scurrying legs.

He leaned down and growled. The sound was deep and grating, like a bear and a tiger arguing over a meal. The spiders recognized the presence of something far scarier than themselves and ran back to the shadows.

The beast ducked through the doorway and stepped into the room. With a very unmonsterlike gesture, he batted at his pointed ears to make sure he hadn’t picked up an unwanted hitchhiker or ten.

Hines was sitting on a brown leather couch in the center of the room. He was exactly as the two men had described him: tall and completely unremarkable.

“Are you the one who’s been bullying my little friends out there?” he asked.

Mickey glanced around the room. To his relief, there were no spiders to be seen. “Aye. You Hines?”

“I am Hines, the master vampire.”

“Liar, liar, panties on fire. You’re no more vampire than I am.”

“Fair enough,” Hines said. “I have killed many vampires, but I’ve never seen one that could transform into a beast such as yourself. What are you?”

“Werewolf,” Mickey replied. “Not many of us left, but we believe in quality not quantity when it comes to, you know, killing and general badness.”

“Interesting. You remind me of a type of demon I saw in my youth. We were warned to stay away from them. But you have so much human in you that I doubt the warning would apply to a half-demon such as yourself.”

Mickey shrugged. “Whatever. I have a message for you.”

“Do tell,” Hines said.

“Lucifera, master of Los Angeles, wanted me to cordially invite you to get the hell out of