7 Let Me Help

(From Leandro's Perspective)

I was never like this before. I did not care if anyone died. But I could not understand why I was worried about this chaotic strange human girl's safety.

As I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, the girl's words kept coming back to me. I just could not get her off my mind.

If what she was saying was true, then the theory of the portal to another realm was correct. I was aware of it previously, but it was only a theory to me and everyone else.

I had a suspicion that Nicklaus had sent the girl. He would do anything to find out about my weakness and kill me. However, a part of me believed that the girl was telling the truth. It seemed as if I knew she was telling the truth, but I did not want to believe her.

This part of the forest was in my dominance. No one dared to come here because of me. But tonight, the Orgades got into my territory.

I had two personalities. I was a human, but there was another side to me that was a monster. The rulers of this world had two personas. They could transform into Orgades whenever they wished. But I could not. I was not an Orgade. I was someone else, someone more nefarious. That was the reason my brother Nicklaus raised the people against me telling them that I was dangerous for them. It was true that I was dangerous. I could not control myself. But then he tried to kill me as well. From that time I had been living in this part of the forest, making this place mine.

As I chased them away, I saw her. I knew I needed to finish her right away. She was just a human after all. In the world of shadows, humans were used as maids, servants, and slaves, and often they were killed just for pleasure.

But then she did the strangest thing. She touched my face. She was afraid, yet her eyes were filled with curiosity. I never completely remembered what I did in my beast form. But that time the moment she touched my face, I felt my real self coming back. I could regain control over myself.

No one had ever touched my beast in such a way before. Everyone feared me, both in my human and my beast form. But she did not flinch away. She did not even scream. Rather, she touched me, even when my face was covered in blood.

I could get back into my human form. But she had already fallen to the ground, her eyes shut tightly. It seemed as if she was afraid of something. She started behaving like that after seeing the blood.

I had brought her here with me to find out if she was working for Nicklaus. Even if she did not work for him, I did not want her to go out of here alive. But then, everything she did made me reconsider my thought.

I let her go. For the first time in my life, I had let someone go unharmed. And now I even wanted to go to her. I wanted to make sure she was safe.

I had never met anyone like her. She was... I did not know what, but she was definitely not someone you met every day. She was also the first person to get out alive after raising her voice at me.

"Fuck!" I swore under my breath and got out of bed. I wore my black coat and got out of the cave.

I could smell her. She went straight. I took long steps that way. I heard the growling of Orgades. What if she was in trouble?

I was thinking of running. But that's when I felt her scent getting closer. It was as if she was running this way. I could hear the sound of dry leaves under feet. I was sure that it was not just her, Orgades were after her as well.

From my front, her slim figure protruded out of the dark trees, running as fast as she could. From her behind, there were three Orgades chasing her.

"Monster owner! Save me!" she screamed noticing me. Her brown hair was messier than I had seen before. Her honey brown eyes were filled with fear, and her pale skin was flushed from running.

The Orgades came to a halt as soon as they saw me. They backed away. But she kept running. Perhaps she thought they were still after her.

She jumped onto me. I caught her just in time, and she gripped me tightly, her uneven heavy breath dropping on my neck, her arms tightly wrapped around my neck, her legs grasping around my waist, her breasts pressing against my chest. Before I knew what I was doing I found myself wrapping my arms around her. I felt compelled to save her and make her feel better.

I did not need to do anything. The Orgades left on their own. And I knew they were not going to put their feet in my territory ever again.

"Are they gone?" she asked.

"Get down," I said as calmly as I could. If it was someone else, I would probably yell at them and throw them on the ground. But I could not be angry at her. I was not sure if I wanted to be angry at her. She felt too precious.

"Please tell me. Are they gone? I'll get down, I swear," she said.

"Yes."

She got down clumsily, almost falling to the ground. "Thank you so much. By the way, they fear you a lot, right? Why? You look like a human. But they are monsters," she said.

"Come with me. Tomorrow morning, you will go wherever you want to and then never come back again," I said, turning around. I began walking. She started running beside me. My two steps were like her single step. She had to hurry to keep up with me. But she did not seem to mind it. She was kind of enthusiastic.

"Why do they fear you? You did not even utter a word at them. But they fled. Why?" she asked.

"That's none of your business. You need to be grateful that you are not in their guts," I said.

"I know. Did you see how they look? They are disgusting! Did you see their head? It's like a pea. They did not even have any ears. How can they hear? Perhaps they can't hear, right? They don't have any nose either. They can't smell too, right?" she breathed out the words as she always did. She never talked slowly. It was as if she exhaled words.

"They can't," I said.

"Their tongue is black. It's horrible! Oh, and yeah did you see their teeth? They are silver and they were kind of shining as well. Are they made of silver?"

"No."

"They have some kind of slimy thing all over their body? They smell bad too, right? Well, of course, you wouldn't go around and smell them."

She never stopped talking. But the surprising thing was that I was not irritated. I kind of could bear her talking. Even I did not mind answering her.

"You know, I know nothing about here. I need to find my way back to home. I mean, not home, but to my world. I don't belong here. I'm going to be inside a monster's gut any time now," she said. "Where is your pet monster?"

"He is not my pet," I said, without looking at her.

"You don't want to talk about him," she said. It was not a question. "Alright then. By the way, what's your name?"

"That's none of your business."

"You use this sentence a lot. Well, I want to make a deal with you," she said.

"But I don't want to make any deal with you," I said dismissively.

"But I want to. Listen, it will benefit us both. I will help you and you will help me."

"I don't need your help."

"Then give me a work. I'll do it for you. And in return, you will let me stay with you," she said expectantly.

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Come on. Stop being a duck! I need a place to stay. You know, I don't want to die in such a young age. I haven't experienced a lot of things," she said.

"You can't help me."

"I can. I mean, at least let me try. If I can't, then you can throw me out of your place or let your monster eat me. Easy!"