Here Be Monsters - By M T Murphy Page 0,42

town.”

Hines rose slowly to his feet, still milking the master vampire angle. “Oh really? And why is that?”

“Because your underwear collectors are leaving bodies all over the damn place and causing us headaches.”

The man’s expression grew dark. “Filthy humans. They just can’t wait to share everyone’s business with the world.”

Mickey yawned, displaying his sharp, jagged canine teeth. “Sorry. Long day. I’m assuming we’re about to fight, which means you’re about to die. So, I have to ask, what’s up with the underwear thing?”

Instead of answering, Hines held his arms out wide. His face stretched as two banana-sized pink fangs unfolded from his mouth. His body grew longer. For a second, he looked the werewolf in the eye. Then his two eyes split into eight, scattering across his face. His own red silk shirt tore as four appendages shot out from his body. The new limbs turned light brown and quickly surpassed his arms and legs in length. His other limbs grew in proportion and he fell forward, landing on eight legs.

Mickey took a step back. Hines was now identical to the massive brown spider he had killed earlier and the crawling masses in the front room. The only difference was that Hines was the size of a compact car.

“Are you afraid?” the spider asked. Venom dripped from its massive fangs with each word.

“No,” the werewolf replied. It was a lie and they both knew it.

Hines nimbly leapt around the room, snapping his jaws. He lunged at the werewolf.

Mickey rushed out of the way of the playful strikes, doing his best to avoid the monster entirely. He was fairly certain he had little to fear from the spider, but he couldn’t get over the feeling that such a beast was just plain…icky.

The spider struck again and Mickey moved too slowly to get out of the way. The thing’s fangs dug into his thigh. He roared in pain.

“How is your fear now, little werewolf?” Hines asked. “I suspect you are ready to run away and hide before I bite you again.”

The pain in Mickey’s leg was excruciating. He wondered how his leg could both go numb and be in such agony at the same time.

“You know,” Mickey said, “that actually wasn’t as bad as I imagined it.” Another lie.

The spider laughed. “On second thought, you are rather large. I may have to bite you a few times to make sure you don’t wiggle. Then I will fill you full of venom and make a nice soup of your insides.”

Mickey was quite fond of soup—but being made into soup, not so much.

Hines leapt to the wall, then propelled his massive body toward Mickey’s head.

The werewolf tried to dodge, but his right leg was dead. He fell backward. Hines’s fangs just missed his snout as his jaws snapped shut.

Mickey landed with a thud and the arachnid scrambled on top of him, using its weight to hold him down before again striking at his face.

Mickey grabbed the fangs, stopping them just short of his eyes. Venom dripped, burning the skin of his cheek where it landed.

Hines bucked and shuffled with his legs, but could not break free from the werewolf’s grasp.

Mickey tugged on the fangs and Hines moved to the left. He pulled them to the right and the spider followed that way as well.

“Stop that,” it said.

The werewolf saw something new in two of the eight beady eyes in front of him: fear.

He pulled outward on the fangs with all his might, like he was trying to break a giant wishbone. The fang in his left hand ripped free from the spider’s head.

Hines screamed.

“Wait, stop! Time out!” he cried.

“Time out?” Mickey’s own fear of the arachnid was diminishing by the second. He kept his grip on the remaining fang and tossed the other away. He grasped the edge of the spider’s head with his other hand. “Tell you what: I’m still curious about the underwear thing. Humor me.”

“Fine. I’ll tell you. Let go.”

“No way, snaggletooth.”

The spider sighed. “Very well. I come from another dimension where spiders rule. Humans do not even exist. I was a prince of that realm. Years ago, I stumbled through a door at the time you call All Hallows Eve and found myself here. I learned to take on the appearance of a human to more easily live among them.”

Mickey waited for the end of the story, but the spider said nothing else.

“Does that explain about the underwear thing?” Mickey asked. He shook the spider’s head violently from side to