The Monster Under the Bed (Monsters in the Dark Book 1) Read online

  The Monster Under the Bed

  Monsters in the Dark, Volume One

  Rebekah Lewis

  Contents

  Author's Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  More Books by Rebekah Lewis

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Rebekah Lewis

  All rights reserved.

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  www.Rebekah-Lewis.com

  Author's Note

  Long before I turned to paranormal romance for supernatural stories with a happy ending, I read a lot of horror. By devouring the backlist of one of my favorite authors, I discovered an anthology of erotic horror, which introduced me to stories that, even at their weirdest, got you and drew you in wanting more.

  This short tale is modeled in the format of the erotic horror stories I used to read. While "The Monster Under the Bed" is not meant to be pure horror and doesn't quite shift to heavy erotica, the ending may be abrupt for some of my readers. However, Volume 2: "The Monster in the Closet," brings both stories to a solid close. I am, after all, a paranormal romance author, and while I had a blast playing in this sandbox, I couldn't leave anyone hanging, but didn't want to lose the style of the first story by adding an epilogue. For those leery of the "monster erotica" aspect, rest assured that these creatures are bipedal humanoid mythological beings. You just have to read the story to find out what they are since the discovery of the unknown is the theme of this first one.

  Thank you for trusting me to tell you a couple of naughty bedtime stories—this one in the form of erotic horror and the second as paranormal romance. If you enjoy this set of stories and want to read more in this series, please leave reviews to let me know if there is interest.

  Chapter 1

  What makes a monster? It’s a noun with many meanings; however, the connotation is always the same—negative. It's a word used to describe the most depraved among humanity. More than anything, though, literature and film would paint a monster as a creature that does not belong among the civilized. They may be ugly, violent, or unnatural—they can also be beautiful, though far too different to be accepted. Either way, monsters are proponents of fear and the purpose of the label is to provoke fear.

  Or is it? Monsters can be misunderstood or falsely labeled. If any unknown being can be named monster and the unknown becomes identified, can it still hold that label?

  Maddy saved her progress and closed her laptop, staring down at the smooth, silver surface of the device. She'd been asked to write a special piece for the Halloween edition of The Specter Town Gazette. Naturally, in a place named Specter Town, Halloween was a big event. However, as an advice columnist, Madison Wright wasn't one to celebrate spooks and monsters. Especially since there was one under her bed.

  She closed her eyes and cringed. Even thinking it made her feel ridiculous, but what other explanation was there? Since she was in college, she'd heard things moving under the bed at night. Before she moved out of her family's house she could write it off as the cat, and when she lived in an apartment she could blame the downstairs neighbors. Now she rented a small house in a quiet neighborhood in a New England town, and there was nothing she could blame it on.

  Exterminators had checked for rats and snakes and other pests. No go. Plumbers and electricians couldn't find reasons either. Which left two options: she was either imagining it, which she hoped, or there was a monster under her bed that had followed her for ten years. She had just celebrated her thirtieth birthday, and it continued to visit nearly every night. Stressing over keeping her hands and feet from drifting over the end of her queen-sized bed wasn't how she pictured her life at thirty. Not to mention, she could never have men stay the night at her place because how could she look a man in the eye and tell him she couldn't share the bed because the Boogey Man might grab her ankle if she didn't stay in the center of the bed, completely swaddled in covers? The monster had never touched her, that she was aware of, and she'd like to keep it that way.

  Doomed to a life of solitude, she tended to break things off with lovers when the topic of staying over came up. She could have a degree in scaring men off with excuses. Ironic, really, that she was giving people relationship advice when she was such a fruitcake.

  Maddy groaned when the wall clock struck midnight. If she stayed awake any longer, she'd never make it to work. She put off going to bed every night, avoided her bedroom altogether, but the thing, whatever it was, followed her from house to house. She couldn't get rid of it.

  She set her laptop on the counter, plugged in the charger, and made sure her front door was locked. Then she collected the remote control to the lighting in the house. It had cost a pretty penny to install, but so worth it to light the rooms she needed to enter before she went in, and the ones she exited after she left. Hastily, she made it into her bed and shut off all the lights except for the twinkling clear string of Christmas lights she'd hung around the dresser to illuminate the bedroom in a soft glow.

  "Thirty years old and in need of a nightlight," she muttered and settled under the covers. "This is ridiculous."

  Somehow, the strain of the day pushed her into slumber. Putting off sleep to the point of exhaustion helped ensure she slept through the night, but monsters didn't like going unnoticed…

  The crisp autumn air made the A.C. redundant, but for some reason it was colder than she'd like in the room, and she stirred, groping for the covers with her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn't find them. That realization sank in and awareness came flooding back. Maddy must have kicked them completely off the bed. The second was the lack of light.

  Dread filled her, and she nearly whimpered. Her room was swathed in darkness and her sheets were on the floor. She could either freeze for the rest of the night or face her fear.

  There's no such thing as monsters. They don't exist. Nothing is under your bed.

  With caution, she slipped a hand under her pillow, seeking out the lighting remote. Where was it?

  "Maddy." The sound split through the silence like a thunderclap.

  Her heart plummeted and her eyes shot open. She couldn't have imagined that. Someone said her name!

  There, at the foot of her bed, a figure in shadow, darker than the darkness around it, hovered. Somehow, she could make it out despite the total lack of light in the room.

  "Please don't hurt me." Her eyes welled with tears. Fear always did that to her—made her eyes water. The monster had never let her see it before. Why now? What did it want?

  It said nothing, but suddenly dropped to the floor, out of sight. She heard it moving beneath the bed, slithering, scuffing, and then the string of lights turned themselves back on as though nothing happened.

  Chapter 2

  After leaping off the bed, slamming the door, turning on every light in the house and trying to sleep on the couch—and failing—Maddy did something she avoided unless she was too sick to function. She called out of work. Dealing with deadlines and meetings sounded unbearable, but she couldn't stay in the house all day either. So, she grabbed her laptop and her purse and headed to the local
coffee shop to caffeinate and search for answers.

  After the first year of noticing the monster, she'd seen the college counselor and then a therapist when the counselor had, inevitably, ratted her out to her parents. The therapist tried to blame everything from bullying to family troubles to a need for attention. None of which were true. She'd had a good family life. Parents never divorced, no siblings, no substance abuse. Need for attention? Why? She liked being left alone. She'd pretended to stop noticing the monster so the therapist would deem her all better. But she didn't get better, so to speak. If it was a mental break, what had changed?

  Maddy parked the car, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. What if I really am crazy? There hadn't been anyone under the bed when she checked in the daylight this morning, but then again there never was, even if she turned on all the lights and looked right after hearing it move. No one had exited the room while she'd been on the couch near the door, the covers and the remote to the lights were on the floor when she dressed after dawn. The windows were still tightly latched.

  For the most part, the monster had been creeping her out for a decade. It had never attempted to communicate, and Maddy had heard her name whispered in the dark before seeing it—something else that was new. Out of the corner of her eye, she sometimes noticed a shape in the shadows, but it never let her view it dead-on like that. Something had changed, and she was determined to find out what before she returned home.

  Grabbing her things, she locked the car behind her then entered the coffee shop, relieved there wasn't a line. Once she had her latte with a double shot of espresso, she found a snug table in the far corner, away from everyone. No one would be able to read over her shoulder, and there was a convenient electrical outlet next to the chair.

  Five minutes later, Maddy opened the search engine and stared blankly at the blinking cursor in the text box. "This is stupid," she mumbled. What did she expect to find? These things happened in movies or books, not real life.

  I have to try.

  She groaned and typed in: Monster under the bed revealed itself.

  Thousands of potential hits popped up on her screen and she groaned. Scrolling through the first hits, she quickly wrote them off as movie listings and sales links for horror and children's books. About four pages in, however, she stopped scrolling and blinked dumbly at the page.

  Monsters in the Dark. What happens when they stay with you into adulthood with no sign of leaving. You might not like the reason.

  With a snort, she double-tapped the link and reached for her coffee to take a sip. There really wasn't a way it could get any wor—

  Maddy choked on her drink as she wrapped her mind around the words that popped up before her. She'd been too quick to click on that link. It was clearly a work of fiction.

  The Dökkálfar, Old Norse for dark elves, are believed to inhabit one of the nine mythical worlds connected by Yggdrasil, the tree of life. The world of the dark elves is called Svartalfheim, and the only light there is given by glowing crystals found within the caverns. Without a sun, the sky is so dark that the skin of the dark elves has lost all hue over the centuries, making them blend in with shadows when they leave their world to visit another. Because light outside of Svartalfheim burns their skin, they enter our world through places they know light will fail to reach. If you've ever thought you've had a monster in the closet, under the bed, or elsewhere in your house at night, chances are it was a dark elf creeping through your home to wander about Midgard (the world of man) after dark.

  Right…tiny elves were totally living under her bed. Did they make toys for Santa too? It didn't make any sense. Didn't things turn pasty white when they didn't have sunlight, not inky black? Maddy scrolled farther down the screen, past drawings of shadowy figures with pointed ears. Some had horns or antlers.

  Dark elves are tall, lithe creatures who, much like their cousins the light elves, or Ljósálfar of Alfheim, generally leave humans alone but enjoy watching or toying with them on occasion. Legend has it that dark elves have devolved into an entirely male species, and because they lack females to breed with, they often snatch human women and take them home to Svartalfheim to mate and reproduce.

  Maddy laughed. Several customers glanced her way and she cleared her throat, gazing down quickly at the screen. There wasn't any more information, only a contact form for questions or comments.

  It had to be a hoax, but she clicked on the form anyway. After filling out her contact information, she left a brief message: Is this a joke? I came to this site thinking it could solve a problem, but instead I'm getting a bunch of nonsense about elves. Besides, how would you know any of this anyway?

  Maddy shut down the laptop, having seen enough drivel for one day. Elves.

  Chapter 3

  After leaving the coffee shop, Maddy decided she needed control over something and stopped for a haircut. Without thinking, she opted to dye her hair hot pink. Why not? Everything else didn't make sense, and she'd always wanted pink hair, so she went ahead and did it. And, for a few hours, she didn't think about monsters or elves or shadows in the dark.

  Now she was home, watching the sun set through the window and staring at the unopened e-mail on her laptop. Re: Your Monsters in the Dark Comment.

  If Maddy knew what was best for her, she'd delete it, slam the laptop closed, and get to bed early to return to work in the morning. But she was a grown woman with every light on in the house because there was a monster under her bed, so she owed it to herself to know every possibility and hope there was a way to resolve her issue. Before she could talk herself out of it, she opened the message.

  Hi, Maddy. Thank you for contacting me. I can assure you it is not a hoax. I know because I encountered a dark elf of my own. I turned down his offer—I may have worded it badly in the article. Do you have an elf showing interest? I'll be available all day if you need to talk.

  It wasn't signed. Whoever this person was, they didn't want their identity known. Having nothing to lose, she replied with a brief rundown of her monster problem and the encounter from the previous night.

  She hit send and got up to make a turkey sandwich. Maddy then ate in the kitchen, standing and staring at the laptop where it remained on the coffee table across the room. Finally, it dinged to signal a new message, and she jogged to the computer, clicking on the response.

  He must really be into you. Usually they wait to make contact until the human seeks them out by asking them questions or baiting them… If you don't want anything to do with him, talk to him and tell him you aren't interested. He may not leave forever, but he will be less aggressive and cease trying to gain your attention as he did last night. They're very particular about the happiness of their mates. Apparently, it's difficult for the human women they take to carry a dark elf child to term. Discontentment is dangerous. If you are interested, you can bait him. Entice him into your bed. Don't worry though; you cannot conceive without being in Svartalfheim and undergoing sacred rites. Until you agree to leave Midgard, it's just recreational sex.

  Maddy's mouth dropped open. She had gone from worrying about a creepy monster under the bed to possibly harboring a sex monster that might have the hots for her. She laughed again, without anyone to hear her she let it out while she shut down the computer. There was no need for a response since the person running that site was insane and clearly lived in a fantasy world. Now that Maddy had gotten that craziness out of the way, she could stop thinking about it and move on.

  She couldn't stop thinking about it.

  The lights in the bedroom were all on, the remote gripped tightly in her hand and the sheet drawn all the way up to her chin. She'd tossed the covers and comforter on haphazardly since she hadn't wanted to stand too close to the bed to make it up after what happened last night. The comforter was on sideways, dragging on the floor. She didn't care. It was safe in the light, and the dark elf, if that was what it was, couldn't reach her. Staring at the ceiling, she was vastly aware of the fact that she hadn't h
ad sex in months, maybe even a year…

  Nope. She calculated in her head. More than a year.

  The idea of consensual sex with a stranger had always fascinated her though she wasn't the kind to be able to go through with it. Sexual fantasies were often like that—intriguing because it was something a person couldn't, or wouldn't, ever do. But if the person who ran that website spoke the truth, Maddy could act on this fantasy. She could send the dark elf away for good after they were done, and no one ever had to know.

  It can't possibly be that easy. There has to be a catch.

  Was she really considering it? Regardless, Maddy shifted around under the covers. Her skin was overly warm and she could feel the telling moisture between her legs. She never masturbated in bed, paranoid of the thing under the bed hearing her, but if she didn't stop thinking about it, she might give into the temptation. She flicked a glance at the clock on the nightstand. It was two in the morning. How was she still awake?

  Something moved under the bed. Slithering, slinking. Then silence. Her breath caught in her throat. It's there. The wetness between her legs became more apparent, and she was simultaneously mortified and excited at the same time. If she touched herself, the monster would listen. It would know. The lights were on, which meant it couldn't come out and get her.

  If what she'd read earlier was true, she could bring him into her bed by turning off the lights and asking him there. The problem was that it sounded ridiculous and considering it made her feel like an idiot, like she was gullible. Something was under her bed though, so why couldn't it be a dark elf?

  A grin tugged at her lips. If she touched herself and spoke to it, and it really couldn't leave the dark space under the bed, she'd know for sure if it was a dark elf or not. Spreading her legs, Maddy let go of her remote and slipped her hand under the waistbands of her pajama shorts and panties. She bit her lip at the first pleasurable flicker of friction and closed her eyes. Getting lost in the sensation, she nearly missed the shuffling beneath her and stilled. The monster seemed…restless.