Chapter 5 The Monster’s Bargain

The Monster’s Bargain

ELENA’S heart was pounding so violently she could hear it echoing in her ears, drowning out everything except the horrifying sight unfolding only a few feet ahead of her. One moment Marcus was yelling at her, gripping her, humiliating her in the parking lot, then the next, Eamon was suddenly there, moving with supernatural speed, grabbing Marcus by the throat and slamming him against the wall of the Lunaris Tech parking structure.

The impact shook the air.

Marcus’s feet lifted off the ground, dangling helplessly. His hands clawed at Eamon’s wrist, fingers trembling, body convulsing. His legs kicked wildly, shoes scraping as he struggled to make contact with anything that could save him.

But nothing could save him. Not from ‘this’.

Elena watched in frozen terror as Eamon held Marcus suspended, his arm steady, unshaking, as if Marcus weighed no more than a paper bag. Eamon’s expression was too calm, but his eyes were anything but that. They were sharp, unblinking, predatory. And as Elena stared harder, she saw it: the terrifying length of fangs protruding slightly when he exhaled.

She gasped, her breath catching painfully in her throat. She instinctively reached for her hair, trying to pull herself free from where Marcus had pinned her earlier. Her hair was caught in the car door, twisted painfully, strands ripping at her scalp as she tugged desperately.

Everything felt like a blur of panic.

Her fingers finally loosened the tangled pieces, and with a sharp pull she tore the last strand free. Pain raced across her scalp, but that was nothing compared to the sight before her when she turned around.

Eamon had shifted his gaze. He was no longer looking at Marcus. He was looking at “her”.

His eyes were sharp and piercing, glowing faintly with a color she couldn’t name, and those fangs, God, his fangs glistened in the morning light. Something primal, ancient, and deadly emanated from him, something a normal human being should never have to witness.

Her breath stuttered, her chest tightening.

“Eamon…” she whispered, voice trembling.

He didn’t respond. He simply tightened his grip on Marcus’s throat, causing Marcus to choke harder, gasping, making a guttural sound that didn’t even sound human anymore.

Elena’s heart twisted.

Marcus deserved many things— humility, consequences, maybe even fear. But death? Despite everything, despite all the cruelty, he was still her husband, or wasn't he? The man she had promised loyalty to. The man she once believed she loved.

That belief might have died, but he hadn’t. And she couldn’t watch him die.

“No,” she cried, stumbling forward. Her knees almost buckled. “No, please, please spare him. I will do whatever you want, just let him go. Please.”

Tears blurred her vision, her voice cracking painfully. She didn’t care how pathetic she sounded, she just needed Eamon to stop.

For one long, suffocating moment, Eamon didn’t speak. He just stared at her, surveying her expression, her posture, her trembling hands. His eyes darkened, turning red with a pulse of some strange energy she didn’t recognize.

Then he spoke.

“You sure?” His voice was low, almost too calm, as his fingers dug deeper into Marcus’s skin.

“Yes,” she breathed out instantly, without thinking. “Yes, please.”

Eamon sighed, not in frustration, but in a way that suggested this answer was exactly what he expected.

Slowly, almost disappointingly, he loosened his grip.

Marcus dropped like a stone, hitting the asphalt with a sickening thud. Elena’s entire body flinched.

She instantly rushed to him, her hands hovering over his shoulders, his chest, unsure where to touch.

“Oh my God! Marcus, are you okay?” she whispered, panic flooding her voice.

Behind her, Eamon’s voice cut through the air with unsettling satisfaction.

“Excellent.”

The word chilled her to the bone.

She turned just slightly, enough to see him standing there, hands on his hips, as though this entire display had been nothing more than a business transaction.

Then he spoke again, voice echoing across the parking lot.

“In exchange for his life,” he said, and Elena lifted her gaze to meet him, still crouched beside Marcus. “Your life… is now in my hands.”

She froze, her fingertips went cold.

Eamon continued, “You will be with me, day and night, until I figure out who you really are… and why I can't touch you.”

Elena blinked, her mind spinning. She barely caught the words, too focused on Marcus lying limp beside her. But when it clicked, when the meaning of the bargain she had just made settled in her bones, her breath snapped inside her chest.

A bargain with a monster, a bargain she didn’t fully understand, a bargain she couldn’t take back.

“Very well then,” Eamon said, straightening his posture. “Come to my office, now. Don’t keep me waiting.”

And before she could respond, before she could process his command, he simply turned and walked away. After a few steps, his body flickered, and in a heartbeat, he vanished into thin air.

Elena jerked violently at the sight, her heart thundering in renewed terror. She looked back down at Marcus.

He stirred. Then coughed hard and suddenly jerked upright, sucking in air like someone who had been submerged underwater too long. Elena reached out to steady him, but he recoiled.

“Are… are you okay?” she asked softly.

“Spare me that, you little devil!” he barked, clutching his throat and staggering toward the car.

She scrambled after him.

“Marcus, I just want to—”

“Get out! Just get out!” he snapped, forcing himself into the driver’s seat despite the limp in his step.

“Marcus… Can you drive?” Her voice cracked with genuine concern.

“Get back to work, Elena. Don’t you ever think of quitting,” he shot back harshly.

The engine roared to life, and before she could utter another word, he drove away without looking back.

Elena stood there, shaking. Alone again.

Her eyes drifted to the ground  to the scattered groceries, the crushed vegetables, the broken pieces of Marcus’s temper. Among them, glinting faintly, was her hairpin.

She bent down, picked it up, and used it to gather her hair back into place, something familiar, something grounding. Then she turned toward the building.

Her fate now led her straight back to the monster’s office.

She inhaled deeply, forcing strength into her trembling spine.

“Well… his office, right?” she whispered to herself. “I will be there.”

And with one last breath, Elena walked forward, toward the man who now owned her life.