Monstrum

2

10 years later

"Hey guys! Wait up!" Louis panted, his sprint slowing down.

Colette stopped running and turned around with a scowl. "Why would we wait for you? You're too weird to play with us." With a flip of her platinum blonde hair, Colette and her twin brother, Sebastian, continued to run away from their cousin.

Louis' berry stained lips fell into a frown as he turned away from the view of his escaping cousins, and walked over to the oak tree in the middle of his family's garden. Once he was sitting down with his back against the rough bark, he looked down at his scuffed leather uppers and gasped at their state.

"Oh no, Mummy isn't going to be happy," Louis mumbled to himself, taking a shoe off and trying to rub away at the scratches. After finding his attempts to be futile, he slid his shoe back on with teary blue eyes. Louis looked around the garden, sighing at the solitude and whispering, "I wish I wasn't alone."

What Louis didn't realize was that he wasn't alone, if he had just looked up into the tree he would have been able to see that. Standing on a sturdy branch was a demon, and one with normally malicious intent at that. He had seen the whole transaction, in fact he had been there to see every single aspect of Louis' life, so when he saw how poorly Louis' cousins treated him, the demon couldn't help but feel pity for the child. So with a simple flick of his wrist he summoned just what the boy needed.

Louis was looking down at his ruined shoes with sadness, far too upset to realize the dark figure approaching him. At the reminder of his Mother's impending fury a single tear slid down Louis' cheek. Before it could hit the floor though, it was licked off by a rough tongue. Louis' head snapped up at the presence next to him in fear, before his eyes softened at the giant dog next to him. The boy sniffled and turned to kneel next to the enormous animal.

"Hey buddy, how'd you get past the castle guards?" Louis rubbed behind the dog's ears with curiosity. He was smaller than the dog while he was kneeling, and directly in front of the animal's unusually large mandible, staring into the dog's somehow glowing red eyes; yet he wasn't afraid. Despite everything about the hound being rough and made for demolition, the animal was showing no signs of doing such to Louis.

The dog sat down in front of Louis, nudging the Prince's hand towards its neck. Louis' plump lips flickered into a smile at the gesture. "I-I think I'll keep you." Louis found a thin leather collar around the hound's neck and frowned at the thought of having to return the dog to its owner.

"Hm... Eversio," Louis read aloud. After flipping the tag around he realized that the collar was without an address. "Well... I don't know if Mummy will be happy if I take you away from your home. It seems you have one if you have a collar."

The hound fell to the ground at that and laid on his back, giving Louis his belly to pet.

Louis rubbed the rest of his tears away and grinned at that, rubbing at the dog's underside. "Or maybe I'll just keep you anyway."

---

"Louis William Tomlinson, absolutely not!"

Louis looked over at Eversio and frowned. "But Mummy, Eversio is nice!"

"Eversio means destruction in Latin," Catherine gasped. She couldn't believe that her son would bring the dirt tracking demon dog into the tea room while she was planning his birthday party. "Louis I want you to get rid of this... this... monster at once!"

"But Mummy-"

"No, Louis. Now take the dog outside."

Louis pouted and wrapped his arms around the dog's neck, giving his Mother the saddest face he could conjure. "Please, Mummy. He's not mean, he just wants a home."

Catherine sighed and glanced at the dog, cringing slightly at the ruggedness of it. "Can't you choose another animal, Louis? I can arrange for dog breeders to bring their best puppies?"

Louis shook his head and squeezed his little arms around Eversio's neck tighter. "I want him. See how nice we hug?"

Every single bone in Catherine's body told her that the dog was a danger, but she couldn't help but doubt her conscious when she saw how patient the hound was with her son. "Louis let go of the dog and come over here."

Louis released Eversio's neck immediately and rushed over to his mother's place. "I-I'll take good care of him, a-and I'll feed him, and pet him, and give him baths-"

"Louis," Catherine sighed, "please, settle down... Do you really want that thing?"

Louis nodded quickly and looked back at the hound, smiling proudly at the dog. "He's so nice and soft. I like him."

Catherine looked between her son and the dog, it definitely looked more like a wolf... or a monster. She didn't understand why her ten-year-old was so interested in the scary creature, but she couldn't deny her only son of what he wished; she had a massive soft spot when it came to Louis. With heaps of hesitation, Catherine nodded her head. "Alright, Louis. You can keep him, but only if you train him, and take care of him."

"Yay! Thank you, Mummy!" Louis rushed over to Eversio and hugged his face. "You hear that, Eversio? You get to stay with me." Then Louis let go of his new dog and rushed out of the room before his mother could protest again.