Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
So instead of taking classes, Terra had been changing diapers. She still had a sharp mind for numbers though and now that so many college courses had moved on-line, she was able to pick up at least one or two courses a semester.
Her mom still thought she was a waitress, thank goodness. It would break her Southern Baptist heart if she knew that Terra was stripping. She also didn’t want her kids to know. But since Cody was ten and Lisa was seven, they didn’t ask a lot of questions. Her mom watched them on the nights that Terra worked, and the money was slowly adding up in her bank account.
But every time she got some saved, it seemed like something happened. The washing machine quit, or her ancient Honda broke down and needed a new alternator. She just couldn’t seem to get ahead, Terra thought as she swung around the pole again. And at the slow rate she was able to take classes, it was going to be some time before she could qualify as a CPA.
Might need to do more than one lap dance tonight, she told herself. Might need to go to the VIP room too.
She hated the idea of some sweaty stranger pawing her mostly naked body, but she knew there was no way around it. She wasn’t young like a lot of her fellow strippers—she had to make bank while she could. Eventually no one would want to see her take off her clothes and then what would she do? She had to have enough for her little family to live on until she got her accounting degree and got a job. She—
Her thoughts were interrupted by a new group entering the club. They looked like a regular, rowdy bunch of guys except for one in the back who clearly wasn’t human. He was huge and muscular and…dear God—did he have horns?
Terra didn’t have time to get a good look. She finished her set and got her tips. Scooping her discarded bra off the stage, she made her way down into the dressing area where the other girls were already gossiping about the strange guy she’d glimpsed from the stage.
“He’s some kind of Kindred,” Candy was saying as Terra changed her outfit and freshened her make up. “Not the regular kind though—I think he’s one of those Monstrum! You know—the kind that look like animals?”
Terra knew what she was talking about—everyone had seen the Monstrum Kindred all over the news when they had first saved the Earth from the Darkling Invasion. The huge alien warriors were from another universe and, by some strange twist of fate, many of them looked kind of like Earth animals.
“He’s got horns and those eyes—did you see them? So freaky!” Crystal agreed. She and Candy were both fresh out of high school. Terra had a motherly feeling for the two of them—they were sweet, just not very bright.
Not that she’d been very smart at that age, she reminded herself. Otherwise she wouldn’t be stripping—she would have ignored Jackson’s invitation to go to the movies that night and gone to college instead of having babies. She loved her kids, of course, but she couldn’t help thinking how different her life might have been if she’d only turned her ex-husband down on the night in question.
“I saw him out there in the crowd,” she said to Candy. “So what if he’s a Monstrum?”
“So what? He’s huge!” Candy’s blue eyes got huge.
“And you know all those Monstrum have those freaky dicks!” Crystal put in with a giggle. “Like, how could they even fit that in you? You know?”
“I know!” Candy giggled too. “Plus, at least the regular Kindred look mostly human—they just look like animals.”
“Yeah—you know what that guy looks like? Like a bull,” Crystal said. “But with a man’s body. You know that one from all the Greek stories? What do you call it?”
“A Minotaur,” Terra said. She had always loved Greek Mythology—she used to read it for fun when she was younger.
“A mino-what?” Candy asked, frowning.
“A Minotaur,” Terra repeated. “You know—a bull’s head on a man’s body? That’s what it’s called.”
“Oh, right…but his face isn’t completely like a bull’s. I mean, his nose and ears are kind of like a bull’s, but his eyes are almost human.” Crystal shivered. “That’s what makes him so creepy—the almost part.”
“I know—if he was all bull or all man, it would be one thing but he’s like…half and half, you know?” Candy made a face. “Ugh!”
Terra was just about to ask when they’d had time to get a good look at the big Monstrum’s face when a new voice cut through the girlish chatter and the thumping music from the stage.
“All right, girls—I need a volunteer.” It was Marty, the Club Manager—the same one who had hired Terra six months ago when she had come in looking for a waitressing job. He was a big guy—which was good, since he sometimes doubled as a bouncer—with a shiny bald head and a diamond earring in one ear. Tonight he was wearing his usual uniform of tight jeans and a black muscle shirt that showed off his bulging biceps.