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#Romantasy #RomantasyforMen #Satire Content Warning – Fictional Description of Murder Scene
Chapter 7: The Crime Scene
Chad stood in the town square next to Xadan, Rhysand, and Clairmont with an unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation in his lower abdomen. Every man from West Harkness had been summoned shortly after sunrise to look at the remains if Michelle and discuss what was to be done about it.
The scene at the Butcher's storage room was more horrifying than anything Chad had ever imagined. Weaker men from town have heaved and slimed their breakfasts all over the snow upon witnessing the carnage. Even our mighty Chad could not help but grunt, “that's disgusting” when it was his turn to view the sickening scene of Michelle's mutilated corpse hanging from the point of the meat hook, blood and guts scattered around the barn.
Before Chad and his brothers arrived the prevailing consensus amongst the men of West Harkness was a demon, monster, or other horror from the Bellows was to blame. Such a monster had not plagued West Harkness for over a generation but folktales of the dangers from the haunted forest were a part of all of their childhoods.
The monster had left no tracks in the snow, this did not surprise Chad because he knew Des could fly. What Chad did not understand was how Stelmaria was taken by her without him noticing. When he awoke and saw she was missing he had assumed she was out hunting or exploring the town while invisible. When he walked into the Butcher's storage room he convinced himself of a different conclusion of what had happened with peerless masculine ignorance.
The only remaining debate amongst the gathered men was if they should pool town resources to pay the Baron's Master Mage to cast a protective ward over the town or if a town patrol would be strong enough to kill the creature if it returned. Chad had reason to believe neither plan would succeed. Despoina's illusion would allow her to remain undetected from any sort of patrol and if Stelmaria was unable to stand up to her power then a human mage's wards would not stop her. They needed him, and he needed the Seelie. It was time to be the hero.
“Here me friends, brothers, and neighbors for I have braved the Bellows my whole life,” Chad increased the volume of his voice with each word so until his voice drowned out the person who had been speaking. “It is true there are monsters from the Bellows but there are also friendly creatures with equal power, power greater than the Baron's master mage. I know because I have meant both in my most recent hunt.”
The assembly had variable expressions about what Chad was saying but he was too caught up in how badass he thought he was sounding to notice. He continued, “I will travel into the Bellows and find the friendly folk known as seelie fae and get them to aid me in tracking and slaying the monster.”
As Chad spoke the anxiety and heartache he had been feeling was rapidly replaced by impudent determination and vanity. The blood in his veins pulsed with adrenaline and visions of the statues to be erected in his honor filled his head. Soon he would be a legend, the human man that led a band of Seelie to hunt down an evil fae and revenge the death of his beloved. He would mourn Stelmaria later, plus there were probably other sexy Seelie for him to meet in the ethereal side of reality and being called 'cute-bean' was starting to get on his nerves anyway.
“I will return in no less than a week. In the meantime nobody should venture outside after dark. Keep all doors locked and do not trust any strangers. Many of the demons from the Bellows have the same weaknesses as vampires from our folklore,” Chad figured this was probably true since Stelmaria had called Des a vampire and said she was allergic to sun/star light. He tried to remember what else he had heard about vampires in stories when he was younger. “They are afraid of silver and hate the smell of onions.”
Without bothering to provide any additional context to his three brothers, Chad started back towards his home to gather his supplies for his honorable mission. As he strolled away from the group it occurred to him that it was garlic, not onions, that vampires had been afraid of in his childhood stories. He shrugged and figured it would be fine. They are more or less the same thing.
Whether or not the other men of West Harkness believed anything Chad had just said would never cross Chad's mind. It was not in his nature to wonder what they were doing once he had made up his mind. Since Chad is the hero of this story we will also not concern ourselves with these details.
***
Stelmaria had not felt the sense of satisfaction and freedom she felt as she trotted away from West Harkness that morning in eons. When she first slipped out to kill Michelle she had been planning on taking Chad with her. The thrill of the hunt and reminder of just how tasty human fear was changed her mind. Sure the love, lust, and admiration she had been feeding on from Chad was nice but they were third rate compared to the fear and suffering that Michelle had given her. She owed her escape to Chad and a part of her had really liked him, or at least the ease of manipulating him. So she had decided to leave after her feast without him, lest she be tempted to do the same to him some day. West Harkness was small and she could smell bigger towns and cities of humans to the southeast. Her new life was about to begin.
(To be Continued)