3 Chapter 3: Monster Beneath

The tinkling of the bell jarred Keeli from her monotonous daze. It had been a long week, hell who was she kidding, this whole year had been crap. She was barely passing and if she didn’t get her grades up soon, she wouldn’t be graduating next month and that meant she’d be working at this depressing diner for the rest of her life.

She shook off her doldrums as a beautiful young woman entered Fish n Chips and started towards Keeli with an unrelenting look in her eyes. Keeli steeled herself in anticipation, she knew an independent woman when she saw one. She lifted a smile to her face and called over the clatter coming from the kitchen and customers alike.

“Hello! My name’s Keeli, welcome to-”

Keeli realized in that moment the woman’s smile was disarming, and her eyes….they were purple. Keeli was unable to stop her jaw from dropping open. The woman seemed to expect this, as if people reacted to her unique beauty often in this way. Keeli was sure they did.

“Nice to meet you Keeli. My name is Sera Hastings. I saw your sign about the food drive. I would love to help. I work with-”

“I know who you are!” Keeli burst out with excitement before covering her mouth in embarrassment. “What I meant to say is you’re practically famous. My uncle sometimes picks up meals at the shelter. He talks about you like you’re a goddess, which, I mean you are.” Keeli cut herself off from her rambling, turning red as a cherry.

Sera let out an embarrassed laugh as she reached out to clasp Keeli's hand in greeting, “What is your uncle’s name?” she inquired politely.

“Hector.”

Sera’s face lit up. “Oh you must get your sense of humor from him!”

Keeli relaxed as she felt the embrace of this woman’s warmth. “We get along well. He wasn’t always…you know, unfortunate.”

Sera’s smile faded a bit. “Misfortune isn't picky. It’s part of life and nothing to be ashamed of.”

Keeli stared at her with admiration. “The food drive was my idea. We would be honored to have your help but-”

A sudden clattering from the kitchen made Keeli wince with worry as Sera lifted her vivid eyes towards the commotion.

Just then, the most striking man Sera had ever seen came striding through the double doors, purposely knocking into them so they slammed with force into the adjoining walls. He had a nasty scowl on his face, his muscular form prevalent through his tight white tee-shirt covered with grease stains. In his hand he carried a dish of decadently plated food. Sera thought it odd to see such a quality meal in a rather shabby establishment.

Keeping her eyes on the man, Sera spoke to Keeli,

“This must be your first food drive. It’s so nice to see other’s taking an interest in helping our community-” Sera’s melodic voice floated through the air, snagging on the man’s senses.

He stopped dead in his tracks, his deep grey eyes snapped quickly to meet her own. Sera felt the air knocked from her chest as a wave of intense energy slammed though her. It was as if she were stripped bare, right there in the diner, for all to see.

The way he looked at her was confusing as hell. Emotions flitted across his face too quickly for her to pin-point his mood. Sera was usually quite good at reading others, but this man was a complete mystery.They stared at each other for only a few moments, for Sera it felt like a lifetime. Some strange force was telling her brain to pick up her feet and get closer to him, to inspect him and figure out who he was. She’d never experienced such an intense altercation.

His defined jaw ticked with irritation as he quickly masked his features into ice. He gave her a haughty once over before stalking to the end of the counter and placing the food down in front of a customer.

“Who’s that?” Sera asked under her breath.

Keeli, her eyes also trained on the man, but with apprehension, answered her, “That’s Zane. He’s…” she trailed off as the customer poked at the food with a disgusted expression.

“How many times do I have to send this back before you get it right?” the customer raged, his face twisting with an angry scowl. “Just how incompetent are you people?” he directed at Zane.

“Oh noooo,” Keeli moaned under her breath.

Sera watched this “Zane.” A fake smile was plastered across his tight lips and she could see the whites of his knuckles standing out against the counter. He was pissed.

“I’ve cooked the same steak three times now. I promise you, it’s dead.”

Zane's face clearly displayed his disgust at the thought of over-cooked meat. Sera didn't blame him.

“I don’t care!” hollered the customer. “I told you I want it with absolutely no pink, you waste of space!”

Sera and Keeli both jumped as Zane slammed his fist down onto the counter with absolute menace. Sera could feel his raw power and wrath ricocheting around the small space.

“Well that’s how we serve it,” Zane’s growl was dangerous, his voice low and taunting.

It sent a chill down Sera’s spine. His words were tempting like a promise, full of wicked intent. His voice remained calm but his body language was screaming at her to run for the nearest exit. Sera remained rooted to the floor, unable to pull her stare away from the unfolding conflict.

Then he added, with a cocky little smirk, “And if you don’t like it, get out.”

It was only a split second before the customer upturned his entire plate onto Zane, flinging the food at him with spite.

That was the moment. The act that would define the rest of Sera’s complicated life.

In one instant, Zane was standing there, covered in gravy and steak. She blinked and in the next second, the man who she’d mistaken for a human was no more.

Two inch claws protruded from his finger nails, his sharp teeth bared as he stared down at the sticky food covering his flat stomach. Sera audibly gasped as she stumbled back and clutched onto the counter in surprise.

Zane’s eyes once again locked onto her with unrelenting fury. She took him in. Unable to believe what she was seeing and not willing to look away.

He was still ridiculously attractive for someone who looked ready to commit murder, even with the strange anomalies that Sera automatically recognized as not being human. He was animalistic, possibly dangerous. Sera took a deep shuddering breath.

As a kid, she’d spent hours and hours poring over old tomes in her mother’s library and had therefore memorized the different magical creatures she might encounter. And she knew in this moment, that was exactly what she was looking at. Some kind of monster.

Sera’s eyes moved around to gauge the reaction of the others.

The enraged customer had already gotten to his feet and cursed at Zane before storming past her towards the door. Some of the other diners were avoiding eye contact and Keeli was frowning with growing annoyance.

Sera could still feel Zane’s wicked grey eyes on her, like hot coals burrowing into her skin. She felt as if she might die from the tension and forced herself to once again meet his stare.

She blinked.

There was no sign of the fangs and claws she’d only seen moments before. Sera shook her head in confusion as he came stalking towards the two of them. Sera felt a spark of heat rise quickly through her stomach and into her throat. She took another step back.

“Did you see-?“ she began to say to Keeli just as Zane turned a hard right and slammed back through the kitchen doors with one more heated look in her direction.

Keeli waved her words away with a defeated sigh. “Happens all the time. That man cannot control his temper.”

Sera frowned. “Man? Surely not.”

“Zane’s not all that bad. Just miserable like the rest of us trying to scrap a living. It doesn’t help when our customers are absolute monsters.”

Sera nodded absent-mindedly as she watched Zane’s well-muscled back disappear behind the swinging doors. She swept another look around the diner. Everyone had returned to their business as if nothing extraordinary occurred. Surely at least one person would have screamed at the sight of those sharp teeth and vicious looking claws….but no.

What did this mean? Was she the only one who saw it? That brief glimpse of the monster underneath the man? Who was he?

“Anyway,” Keeli continued on, looking much more at ease now that Zane had retreated back into the kitchen, “what I was trying to tell you before is that the food drive was last week.”

She looked dejectedly at Sera. Sera forced a smile onto her face as she bushed her long dark hair back off her face.

"Well then I will just come back for the next one,” she promised, her eyes still darting toward the kitchen where she heard the distinct sound of someone slamming their fist into a wall.

Keeli followed her eye line and sighed, “I better check on him. Can I get you anything?” she added as Sera slunk onto the stool at the end of the counter.

“Go,” Sera gently encouraged, “I’ll take a coffee when you’re done soothing the beast.”

Keeli snorted with humor as she poured Sera a steaming mug of fresh coffee, “The customer always comes first.”

Sera nodded in thanks as Keeli made her way into the back and disappeared.

Had she imagined it? Had she spent too many hours pouring over monster stories? Had the lack of sleep or the anticipation of seeing Lonny finally gotten to her? Sera brooded over these questions as she glanced around the diner, sipping her hot coffee.

Her curiosity was raging unchecked. There was only one way to know for sure. And that meant that Sera had to wait.

She vowed not to leave Fish n Chips until she had answers.