Varia woke from slumber suddenly, but calmly, just in time to hear her stomach grumble with a hunger for something sweet. All her life she had been told she was an overly imaginative child, but she knew everything she had seen was real.

That is, until two years ago, when she turned 12 on Halloween. They all vanished; fairies, sprites, nymphs, everything was gone. She was disappointed for a while, but then she really began to question if it was real. Until she reached up and felt the long scar tracing her jawline from the left ear to the middle of her chin. Her parents told her she had slipped and fell outside. She remembered everything clearly, however, and that was by no means what had happened. She shook herself free of the dark memory with a last thought.

To anger the Fae folk was to risk life and death.

As she sat up and pushed the covers away, she froze, seeing at once, the small, childlike figure in her bedroom doorway. She couldn’t see its features, it was shrouded in a shadow deeper than a dark room could explain, but she could see the smile full of jagged teeth that looked like puzzle pieces in how they fit together. Ice made its way into her heart threatening to stop it cold.

A voice like crumbling rock spoke to her even as the mouth full of teeth remained still, "Sweet Child, you need not fear, you need not worry, we are here to ferry and carry you away to a nice place where you will be met with belief of what you see, take my hand and we will away to the see." In a blink, it was beside her, with her hand in his.

Without warning she felt something click around her neck. Terror flooded her mind, everything was happening too fast, she couldn’t even control her body as he guided her down the hallway to a dead-end wall. He gripped her hand tightly in a command to stop.

She was so scared, she wanted to cry, but something wouldn’t let her make any sound. Every time she tried a burning pain grabbed her throat. The creature drew with his finger a strange symbol and the wall became split in two like a giant door. As it stood open the creature laughed, like the rumble of a mountain, and lead her through into utter darkness.

Neither of them noticed the being hiding in the closet. It was a predator by nature and knew the value of stillness and the instinct to know when the time to strike came. That time had come and gone but its curiosity was piqued. This was the beginning of its hunt. After all, it liked the girl, she was sweet.

Time became agony and that agony became its own twisted eternity, broken by rare moments of clarity that seemed more like fevered insanity than reality. Varia locked herself away from the pain and torment. The Fae were doing something to her. It felt like defilement, not just of her flesh, of her mind and soul as well. She had lost track of how long she had screamed, her voice had died and returned several times.

It was a cycle she was beginning again as she screamed anew with fire in her blood. All the whispers would come and go. She whispered to the Fae, pleas to stop, threats, random moments from her brief life. She whispered to herself, hopes, dreams, fears, but now she stops. Varia stops her words, weak and frail as they are. She wouldn’t give them more words.

The Fae Folk whispered back “Good girl, pretty girl, good pretty girl. Change girl change, change is good, good girl, good change girl, change good girl, our good girl, has a girl’s name girl is ours, special girl, girl special, give words, words give, you us, us you, words live, living words, hungering words, we hunger, hunger for you, Darkness want, Want Darkness.” They repeated this endlessly to Varia. they couldn’t know she was locking herself away. Couldn’t know what, the mere fact she could, represented. The Fae Folk only knew they were to change and infect her as they were.

They hungered as their masters hungered, all life must be devoured. They knew they had sharper minds once, individualism, that no longer mattered. They are a part of Darkness, they are of one mind and one will, many eyes perceiving the same goal.

Davacor stared at where the door had been, tilting her head even more than is already was. Why are humans so short? Couldn’t they have the decency to be at least seven feet tall? Davacor huffed silently, she had already checked on the girl’s parents, they were heavily mutilated in their sleep. Not even allowed to wake. They wore collars just as Varia did. Obviously they were some form of control mechanism, even if she didn’t understand the technology behind it.

Davacor began pacing up and down the hallway, the very picture of a frustrated predator. It had only been a few hours since she was stolen but Davacor worried all the same. This had the scent of something foul, she recognized Darkness at work. She emptied her mind of that, and any other thoughts.

She succeeded with the thoughts but her rage grew into the empty space, filling her completely. The air distorted with the color black swirling around her, it would be visible even to a human, it was a defense and communication mechanism of her people. Thoughts intruded into the stillness of her rage.

I miss my world, red sands and mountains, vast caverns where lakes formed. I just had to go and crash. Good to know I fit a human stereotype, a female who cannot operate a method of transport. I need to get Varia back, those kikresh could be doing awful things to my Varia. I know she screamed at my face and cried about me being a monster, but she is a sweet girl. It’s not her fault she is short and deformed, that she doesn’t have proper fangs or claws, let alone height. It’s a miracle these humans survived to evolve at all, they can’t even warp space around themselves to hide. Hopeless. Goes to show why the parents died without a fight. Varia at least had the instinct to wake when there was danger.

Davacor didn’t realize that wasn’t the case at all, the kid just wanted sweets.

Calm down Dava, the humans may be weak but they have the only one you care about on this whole wretched green and blue world. You saw what they did, it has to be similar to what The People can do, we bend space and so do these Fae Folk as Varia calls them. Kikresh should know better than to mess with a bonded one of The People.

Davacor brought her mind to utter silence and closed the emotions off as well, the black distortions ceased as she did so. Her skin, pale as moonlight, began to ripple and bunch as specialized muscular tissue pulsed an energetic frequency that allowed any one of the People to slip into the folds in reality, allowing one to literally vanish from the viewpoint of anything living in just the standard dimensional spaces. To just about any human being, she vanished. Davacor could just barely see the door, the outline of it pressing against the fold of reality in which she had tucked herself.

I was right, they do do as The People. How they do it doesn’t matter. I will break down their door and feast on blood and bone. Wait didn’t Varia say leprechauns had gold? does that mean they have gold in them? The last thing I need is to digest heavy metals, they do horrible things to my figure. Varia is worth it though, after all how many humans or one of The People can say they had a leprechaun for lunch? What if its one of the other types? Will I get indigestion? Aren’t some of them made of plants? That just makes me feel sick already, The People don’t eat flora.

All the while as Davacor thought, she moved through the folds and ripples of reality, looking to kick in a door.

Varia drifted within the pain, she could feel her body changing. Her mind had grown numb to the pain and all the ways the Folk tried no longer worked. She still shed tears, but that was for the loss of feeling. She knew it could become a terrible thing if she never recovered feeling. Varia knew whatever the point of the torture was, it was almost in reach. Pain was given to her in unimaginable waves, she knew her body was beginning to changing . Varia’s mouth hung agape with the pantomime of a tortured soul, when in reality her body was essentially catatonic.

She felt something being forced into her mouth, gaging and choking her as it oozed down her throat in thick waves like sludge, her body weakly protested the intrusion with a feeble cough and twitch of head. Her mind screamed with agony’s cat of nine tails caress, something was horrifically wrong. She could feel Darkness, it touched her, caressed her, invaded her, it was rape on an unparalleled level. Violating even the base building blocks of her body and soul. Tears flowed down a vacant face from blank eyes. Varia had no control, this was happening and nothing she could do would stop it. In her mind she cried a silent prayer, not to a god or deity but to a monster who had been living from her closet for the past few years.

You claim you love me, help me, you are the only thing I know scarier than the Fae. Save me Dava.

...Save me Dava.

Black unconsciousness swallowed Varia once more.

Davacor Heard her bonded one’s plea, an aura of rippling black surrounded Davacor once more as she placed her long fingered hand against the Fae Door.

Found you at last, you fucking vermin, you will now taste the wrath of a mother, the wrath of a warrior, the wrath of a female just pissed beyond belief. Why am I monologuing? Fuck Dava, talk to yourself much? Dava felt exhausted with the effort to shift her body into the appropriate dimensional fold. What good hunt didn’t lead to exhaustion and reward?

Davacor bared a mouthful of thick viciously curved fangs, a clear threat display from her species, and pushed herself a little harder to shift into a space where the door was permeable and walked through into darkness. Unlucky for the Fae, Martians adapted to be both day and night time predators, the dark space was no hinderance to Davacor’s eyes. What she saw produced an animalistic shriek a banshee would be envious of, Davacor went into motion and exemplified Robert Oppenheimer’s words, I am become Death.

Davacor didn’t notice the fat man with empty eye sockets staring as he idly popped popcorn into his mouth, nor did she hear his words “I love watching Martians work, such a thrill, better than any movie.” Death chuckled softly to himself and sat on the floor cross-legged, reclining against a wall to watch the show.

Claws emerged from the sheathes at the ends of Davacor’s fingers. The Fae Folk had frozen with her battle cry. Davacor had counted eleven Fae, even as she moved. Her movement made water seem as stone, and under her flowing lethal caress, pain, anguish, and death followed. The two administering something to her Varia died with exceptional ease as clawed hands whipped through bare necks with the force of a hurricane, with one more motion she severed the collar and bonds with precision a marksman of any era would envy. Davacor never stopped in her movement, her entire existence was now the flow and ebb of conflict. On an instinctual level she knew her little one could care for herself, a rare thing in a human, once free. Davacor didn’t even look back, she knew Varia would be in motion as soon as her head cleared, after all she had her favorite activity to do, kill.

Varia was astounded by the shriek and sudden removal of captors and bonds. She knew this was her moment and kicked herself into motion, falling off a table. She stuffed fingers in her mouth to induce vomiting, knowing she must expel whatever was forced into her. Her mind jabbered that it was too late, that nothing more could really be done. She shoved that voice aside as she began puking in earnest. Varia knew she would be fucked if she couldn’t see, they would just put another collar on her and then she would die as a person. She tried to clear her muddied mind, and thought of something to light her way. The image of her father’s lantern that he used for family camping came to mind first. She remembered playing with it just before bed.

She heard something get hit by her vomit where there should have been only floor, stunned she reached out a hand and found something there, her hands recognized it even if her mind didn’t. Her hands found the on switch and light flooded the area. Varia was so stunned she didn’t realize there was noise until there was utter silence. A tall figure glided out of a ring of darkness. Purple-blue blood spattered her figure and covered her hands, it was her monster, easily tall enough to fill a door frame when crouched, pale skin and generally human looking except for the bright violet eyes and a mouth full of pointed razor teeth only a shark would envy. No wonder I wet myself when she said hi, that is scary as hell. though now I see her in an even more frightening setting and I am calm instead. I should thank her, mom would insist.

Varia tottered to her feet like a newborn learning to walk. Unbelievably her monster looked shy as if afraid of rejection. Varia closed the distance slowly and her confidence blossomed with every step. she could feel no ill intent from her monster. The steps became a rushed embrace and she buried her face in her monster’s midriff, smelling her sent mingled with the blood of Fae Folk, it was intoxicating. A wave of giddiness flooded her mind, part of her knew it wasn’t her just own but she was still very happy. “Thank you, Miss Monster Lady. Sorry I screamed and threw things at you when you only said hi. You are a nice monster person.” she squeezed and hugged as only a young kid knows how, with unrelenting force. “You feel nice, and smell nice and even though you are scary you are beautiful too.”

Davacor flushed with exuberance, such acceptance and intimacy were rare among The People, except by mates, and never this unconditional. “Sweet little one, you are my blood, you are mine and I am yours.” Her mind was glowing with giddy joy and distraction. So much so she failed to notice the Fae creeping in behind her with a collar in hand.

It clicked in place with subtle ease and Davacor lost control of herself. she raged and managed small motions and twitches but the control was effective. She tried to shout for Varia to run, if these things could make her attack her little one, Varia wouldn’t stand a chance. Davacor now knew the horror and suffering that Varia must have gone through and rage filled her. A nimbus of dark color swirled around her and became even darker as her rage grew.

Varia looked up with first curiosity then horror and Davacor felt her hearts fall from her chest. The nimbus surrounding Davacor shifted from black to blue on seeing the look of horror on her little one’s face. An unexpected blow hit her side and brought her to her knees, she was still taller than Varia who had a look of grim determination to her features.

Davacor could see her potential death in those eyes but instead saw salvation, another blow hit the same exact spot and Davacor fell the rest of the way, limp upon the ground. This child had hit with an amount of force a Martian would be proud of.

A Fae leapt over Davacor and was trying to collar Varia once more. Varia was entirely too quick, and too prepared by now to be ensnared so easily. Desire for violence and the raw strength she felt in her body was a siren’s song of annihilation in her soul. Varia rolled to the side keeping her eyes on the Fae the whole time. It appeared as if it was moving in slow motion to her eyes. She had every moment to truly see what it was and hear heart sank. It looked as if a horror movie had twisted something that was once pure to an evil, oozing, twisted thing, in which a faint resemblance of the creature it once was remained.

The Fae landed softly like a leaf upon the ground and spun to face Varia fast as a striking serpent, collar once again outstretched and ready for her neck. Varia was faster still, swatting away the collar with contemptuous ease from the hand of the Fae. For a moment the Fae simply stood unable to comprehend the radical shift in its situation as its survival odds rapidly plummeted while Varia considered what to do.

Steel bound determination frosted her features as a decision of execution made itself. Varia had heard the phrase, torn limb from limb, but she decided to actually try, she succeeded. The Fae’s anguished shrieking didn’t end even as she stepped on its limbless torso and forcibly removed its head from its neck. She tossed aside the screaming head and felt no remorse or nausea in the act itself but a portion of her mind was horrified by the action she had just committed herself to.

Varia moved over to a freakishly still monster that had just gave her the opportunity to survive this nightmare. There was a lean predatory grace in the monster’s form, almost like the leopards she saw at the zoo with her father but with far more raw power. She couldn’t imagine a more fierce creature in the world. “Only fair, you save me, I save you. I Really hope you didn’t do this just because I’m your meal ticket or anything, and relax I know you can’t talk right now.” She walked over to the monster and stroked its raven hair with one hand, while the other sought the release for the collar.

It was like trying to calm a vicious wildcat with petting while removing the thing that keeps it from eating you.

Varia quickly found the release and took a subtle breath before triggering it. The collar sprang free but the monster continued to lay there with a content soft smile, its violet eyes slightly lidded with relaxed comfort. “How can you be so scary and so cute at the same time?” Varia mused. She never stopped in her stroking of the monster’s short ebony hair. A color began to emanate from the monster, it was a buttercup yellow, like a flower. “Monster lady, you’re literally glowing, is that normal or should I begin fleeing with all due haste? It’s hard to believe that such a cheerful color could mean my doom but the prettiest things are often the most deadly.” The color suddenly shifted to a dark green not unlike a deep forest.

Davacor felt such embarrassment she wished she would die. Here she was feeling such contentment being treated as a most cherished lover, letting her emotions run wild. This was not the time or place. she sat up slowly, not wanting the petting to stop but wanting the little one’s full attention and seriousness. Davacor looked over the place they were in and saw only the door they had come in. Nervousness fluttered in her hearts shifting her aura to a violet hue before she could bring it under control. The look of curiosity on her Bonded One’s face was almost too cute to bear.

Varia watched with curious eyes, the monster gave off colors like a light show. First one, then another, then stillness. “They are your emotions, aren’t they, the colors?” Varia felt more relaxed knowing the monster had feelings and obviously wasn’t threatening, if anything it seemed shocked that she had figured out that the aura meant emotions. The monster couldn’t have known she had seen auras her whole life. It gave her an insight as to who people were and sometimes their feelings. This was different though. Varia wasn’t “seeing” the aura, it was physically there in a different way.

Davacor covered her surprise with a very human act of coughing into her hand. Still slick with blood from the Fae. She took a deep breath to calm herself and focused on the words she wanted to say.

This was very important after all and she wanted no misunderstandings and no mistakes. “I am Davacor, I am not a monster though I don’t blame you thinking so, I do live in your closet after all. I am what you call a Martian. We call ourselves The People. I…. took a liking to you, and decided to stay near you even when you screamed and rejected me. We form Bonds for life. They can represent many things, but I will always know where you are and will occasionally hear your thoughts. I know you called out to me to save you. The way you fought was impressive, I thought humans couldn’t move or fight like that. Well other than one. Even one of the People would be Wise not to fight him. He is the only human I fear. Anyways. I know you already know my name; I’m just trying to do right this time what I had tried to do last time. Yes, they are my emotions, the colors, in fact those were contentment, embarrassment and nervousness. I can control my emotions to some extent, but basically when I’m in the moment I can’t hide them.”

Varia felt a little shock but she had felt so intensely this whole time that the shock merely blended into the background. She felt sympathy for the woman before her. No matter, alien, monster, human, they were both females who clearly have had a lot to deal with lately. “So, this Bonding is why I had that rash on the head for about a week?” Davacor nodded looking a little sheepish as the green aura flicked about her briefly. “I was teased at school about that. My parents thought I had somehow found something I was dangerously allergic to. No one believed it was monster blood. Well I guess even I was wrong about that. I got that a lot anyways though, the dismissal or being made fun of. I’ve gotten that my whole life because of the Fae Folk. No one believes that fairies, gnomes and the such are all very real. Frankly they are usually cheerful, but do one thing wrong and they are vicious little bastards each and every one. They gave me this scar, to remind me, to teach me, not to anger the Fae. That was the last time I saw them until they took me.”

Davacor watched Varia speak of herself and her trials and her heart wanted to reach out and comfort this little one of hers. So she did, gently and slowly, drawing Varia into a comforting and loving embrace. Varia began to cry and eventually sob, as the reality of all she had endured sank home. It was all Davacor could do to stroke Varia’s hair and murmur soft words of gentle kindness and comfort. There they sat for a time, Varia letting go of the pent-up emotions and fear as Davacor embraced her. “My Little One, no matter where you or I are, I will always be here for you. I will be your star. I will be a protector and lover. Your guidance and your comfort. You are mine and I am yours. Rest now your wearied head and know the comfort my arms will provide you. My fierce warrior.”

Varia couldn’t help but drift to sleep with all that she had faced weighting her down like a thousand stones. Sleep claimed her quickly, but her mind heard a smug chuckle and she knew things were far from done and over.