Radley's Home for Horny Monsters by Annabelle Hawthorne (best novels for teenagers .TXT) 📗

Cecilia shook her head. “It’s strange. Whenever a new Caretaker is selected, everything from the house becomes a blur. I can remember before coming here, and after you arrived. The gaps get filled. I met the original owner long before coming here, and yet my memories of him have been erased in a similar manner.”

“So a powerful wizard then?”

“More than that. To accomplish such a spell would require Old Magic. The kind of magic that created me and Naia. Humans, to my knowledge, are incapable of such a feat. But in my heart, I know that he was a human, or at least used to be.”

“What do you remember?”

“My family in Ireland. I was the spirit responsible for taking them to the afterlife. Every family had one, a gift from the spirits of the land to the people. Back in the old days, humans and the sidhe lived in harmony. With the spread of the Catholic church, many of the old ways were lost to them, and the sidhe took back many of their gifts, but the banshees remained. We are tied to our family for all time, or until they cease to believe in us.”

“Is that what happened to your family?”

“No. The potato famine. There was a period of time where I came to their home every few days. The sole survivor of my family was a child who was taken in by the church. Knowing that my days were numbered, I roamed the countryside, trying to see as much of the changing world as I could before fading away into the Void.”

“The Void?”

“It’s just a name, a bedtime story for creatures like me. Where does a spirit go when they die? Nobody knows, not even the sidhe. We call it the Void, for nothing has ever come back from such a place.” Cecilia smiled. “Though I do not remember our meeting, I can remember the sudden warmth of him, a being who brought me such hope. In much the same way that a banshee can be passed on by marriage to an outsider, he brought me to the New World, and it was here I wandered until he built our home. I saw the railroads being built, watched brother fight brother in the Civil War. Always the observer, never taking part. Though I claim many years as my own, I believe that I have never truly lived. Not until you came.”

“Am I really that different from previous Caretakers?” Mike asked. He picked up his pants, which were sufficiently dry. He slid into them, savoring the sensation of warmth along his legs. It was like getting clothes out of the dryer. He pulled the blanket around him to trap in the heat. “I mean, they couldn’t have been bad or anything, right?”

“I feel that you are the only one who has lived among us that has not seen the clear lines between your kind and ours. Everyone fucks the nymph - that is her magic, and it binds Caretakers to the home. Though past Caretakers treated us as friends, or even family, there was always an unspoken rule between us. Some of us aren’t as human as others, and, in turn, were never truly part of the home. But you. You include everybody equally.”

Mike frowned. “Growing up, I never fit in. My mom lost her shit after my dad died, and we were always bouncing from home to home. The reason we kept moving was her friends didn’t like how she treated me. Instead of finding a way to fix the problem, they turned their backs on it. I was tired of seeing the pity in their eyes when they told us their spare room was no longer available, or that they wanted their couch back. No matter what anybody said, my mom blamed me for it.” He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. “I guess you could say that I became tired of humans. For all their good intent, I always felt like they were ready to look away when the going got tough. When I met all of you, this was your home as well as mine. Maybe I am the new Caretaker, but you all aren’t my pets.”

“Most people don’t have sex with their pets,” Cecilia teased.

Mike laughed. “Most being the operative word. Living with you feels like my first taste of true acceptance, of freedom. I would just like to survive long enough to see what comes next.”

“I must admit, no Caretaker has had this much trouble up front. However, the Society was not a problem until Garrett came along. Emily was in a position of power, she knew exactly how to keep them at bay. Your learning curve has been tremendous, runsearc. I am proud of what you have accomplished in so short a time.”

“You mean nearly burning down the house, destroying the garage, and feeding a witch to a plant?” That last one was still taking him some time to digest.

“That isn’t what I speak of.” Cecilia was suddenly close, a chill returning to the air. “I am proud that you have given your heart so freely.” Her hands slid beneath the blanket and touched his chest. “It isn’t just physical pleasure that you seek. It is something more, a connection.”

Mike shivered at her touch, the ice of her hands traveling through his stomach. “I think part of it is the Nymph’s Blessing. It makes me more willing, physically and mentally. After what happened with the Mandragora, there is no way I should be able to get aroused.”

Grinning, Cecilia let her hand slide across the front of his pants. “And yet you are.”

Mike opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t put what he wanted into words. “I like that it feels like it’s more than just sex. Yes, there is some lust, but I feel that there is so much more between us than that. Naia is an extension of my soul. Tink is my shadow, she