Bedside Monster (House Beasts #1)

Happiness

"He's... better," said Lola.

Oliver perked up. The couch wasn't free, obviously, and he usually had no other seat, but he had dragged over his bed's mattress so that he could sleep in the same room was Wovyn, even when they couldn't talk. He had boarded up the window as he waited for the glazier to drop by for proper repairs so that it wouldn't be too drafty.

She signalled him to come in the hallway, where their talking wouldn't disturb the sleeping imp.

"He's not shaking anymore," she said. "I think the worse part of the poison is out of his system. He's still very weak now but it's upwards from here."

Oliver nodded. "I owe you so much Thank you."

"Heh." She smiled and rubbed her chin. "No problem."

"Is he awake now?"

She glanced back at the couch. The imp, still invisible in Oliver's eyes, had blankets piled on top of him. It Oliver looked carefully, he could see them move with his breathing. Seeing a small movement was a relief each time.

"I think he's back under right now. He's not very responsive because of how tired he is, to be honest. Just make sure that he has some food and water at his disposal."

Oliver drifted to the dish and thermos on the low table in front of the couch. "But he hasn't touched anything yet."

"Give it time. If he hasn't even touched water by the end of this afternoon, you have my number. Although this soup sure smells nice. I'd be surprised if he didn't take a shot at it first."

Oliver laughed. She knew Wovyn well.

"Have you known him for a long time?" asked Oliver.

"Me? A couple of years at least. He's dropped by because he was curious about me being a witch. He's a friend of a friend of a friend. To be honest, I almost threw something at him when he first appeared. He snuck into my house without being invited."

Oliver laughed. "Sounds about right."

"The same thing happened to you?"

"He smelled my baking."

She snorted.

Oliver smiled at first, but something he had been worrying about broke into his train of thought. He had to ask her.

"What should I do if Tarmika comes back? She might want revenge, she didn't seem to happy about that arm..."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about her. She's trouble, but she's more of a bully than a tormentor. Ghouls are scavengers, not hunters, they dislike killing even if they can get quite scary. She won't be coming back. Not before her arm is healed at least, and that might take a while."

"A while, like..."

"A while like two weeks."

"Thank god..."

"I don't think that she will come back. It would be one thing if she was only risking her life but she got a kid."

"Oh, about that kid. What's... why does he look so different from her? For a second I wondered if it was her when I saw him."

She nodded. "Don't tell her that though, she'd get mad that you are doubting that it's her kid. But yeah, he looks different from her, and that's because he's half-human himself."

Oliver blinked a couple of times. "How..." He pictured Tarmika, her long limbs, her sharp teeth, and her creepy eyes.

"Oh, trust me. If there is something out there, there is a human that will want to fuck it. I'm half-convinced that aliens haven't shown up yet because they are scared we are going to try and court them."