Page 5 of Horns & Heart
“To what?”
“The beasts.My kind.We are not from here.Did you do anything to allow us access to Earth?”
“Uhm, no?Like, mass murder was quite enough for an afternoon, you know?”I sniffled and wiped my face with the back of my hand.“Now I can’t even get some goddamn cat socks, and I know I don’t deserve them in the first place, but I saw a guy torn to shreds outside of a pub, and do you know how wrong that is?Do you know how thatsounds?”
Inkiri made a noise that hung between growling and purring.“We should go and meet the others.If you have no mate waiting for you, there is no reason to delay, and we can talk about this more later.Perhaps we shall feed you first.”
Feed me first?I knew how the tale of Hänsel and Gretel went, and I shivered.First I’d be fed, then I’d be dinner.Nuh-uh.
Inkiri put an arm around my shoulders and led me back out to the store.I could smell the dead monster now.You’d think a big purple thing not from this world would smell different, but in death, all meat just stank.
Instead of heading straight for the exit, Inkiri walked me to the left corner of the store this time, then he stopped, grabbed a pair of the exact socks I’d come here for, and held them up to me.
“These are the ones you want?”
I wanted to lie.I wanted to say something that would make this horned blue dude go away and leave me alone.But what came out of my mouth was, “Yeah.Thanks.”
He grabbed all the remaining pairs and put them into my backpack, and it wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t smart, but I felt good about having gotten my socks out of this ordeal.If I was very, very lucky, maybe I’d be even able to wear them once before I died.
