Master of the Monsterverse 3 - Ch 1-2

Here you go! First 2 chapters of book 3. Enjoy! NOT edited, btw. 

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Strange, distant chanting. My hand groping as I struggled to open my eyes, then landing on something soft, round… a breast. Not a bad way to wake, but what was the noise? I managed to open my eyes a crack and see the light streaming in from the wooden shutters. A low purr of cars and people moving about and talking managed to work its way in between the chants.

Of course! We were in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, so this had to be the call to prayer. If that gave me any indication of time, I had no idea what it would be. Not that time mattered much anymore. At some point I figured I’d need to get back to my real life, at least to work on my visual novel and get something out to the world. We were doing fine without money so far, but that couldn’t last forever. The three monster girls I’d summoned from their world certainly wouldn’t have any, but I wondered about Ahlaksiz. Seeing as she was part of the group now—officially linked the night before after a late arrival in Tunis—if she had money, would it be ours?

Her situation was tricky, considering the fact that she had been on Earth, by my understanding, something like a thousand years. Was she linked as a show of good faith, or was this more than that? I didn’t want to ask and get a clear answer, because I wasn’t sure I’d be ready for whatever that answer might be.

“Why’re you pinching my nipple?”

I looked over to see Milrae—who I’d known as Milkshake until the night before—eyeing me.

“Sorry.”

She grinned. “No need to apologize, so long as you know what you’re getting into.”

I grinned, hand moving to her back as I leaned over to kiss her. She was into it, leg going between mine and pressing gently against my exposed balls. Because of her strange wings, which were basically the skeletal remains of demon-like wings, she had to sleep in her side, and while kissing this way, she didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands. That was okay by me for now, because I wasn’t exactly sure what to think of being caressed by furry, clawed paws. She was, after all, some sort of red-panda-meets-demon monster.

“Put your pants on,” Ahlaksiz said, and I turned to see her standing in the doorway, already fully dressed and looking proper. She had her hair up in a bun, wearing tan slacks and a leather jacket over what seemed to be a tank top. The look worked for me in a sort of Lara Croft or female Indiana Jones way. She eyed me with a hint of a smile, but shook her head. “We’ll have time for all that again later. Right now, we have work to do.”

“Work?” Kinara yawned from my other side, wrapping an arm around me, hand going for my balls. Her bat wing, connected to her arm, draped over me nicely. “Playing is more fun.”

“Of course it is, but if want to have any chance at this, we need to move. I’m sure Jalee would agree that the longer we take, the worse it’ll get.”

A bump sounded from beneath us as Jalee seemed to have hit her head on the bottom of the bed. I had no idea why she insisted on sleeping under the bed, but apparently it was a thing some monsters, such as this one, preferred. Part of me wondered if others liked sleeping in closets, but at least Kinara was in bed with me.

Milrae gave me one more kiss and then pushed herself up and out of bed. She stretched, wings spreading, and a shimmer of something passed between those wings.

“What…?” I started, and took Kinara’s hand as I set up to have a look.

“What what?” Milrae turned to me, confused.

“Your wings, there’s…”

“Let me have a look.” Ahalksiz strode over, and Milrae spread them wide so that we could all see, including herself. Sure enough, there was a light layer of nearly transparent wing there! “It would appear you got an upgrade or two yesterday?”

I was, of course, referring to the way we could upgrade, or at least get enhanced power, from life energy called prana and ichor. Personally, I was upgrading as well, but had a long way to go in terms of really understanding it.

Milrae was all smile, but her brow furrowed in confusion. “With all the fighting, I don’t know. It’s possible?”

“Well, let’s keep it up. Can’t hurt to have three fliers in the group.” Ahlaksiz eyed me. “Apparently, you have a thing for women with wings.”

“Do I?”

“You summoned three monsters, and all three happened to have wings. Maybe you don’t know it, but that wouldn’t have happened without a reason.”

I shrugged. Sure, I’d always dreamed of flying, of being able to soar high above the world, but who hadn’t? Finding wings sexy? I wasn’t sure about that. Then again, on these three, they worked. As Jalee climbed out from under the bed, I was reminded that she didn’t always have wings, though, only when she wanted them. Now that would be a power I’d enjoy.

“Today we begin our search.” Ahlaksiz went to the window and drew the shutters, earning moans from the ladies as light streamed in. “Today, we form ourselves an army.”

Chapter 2

After a quick shower and change of clothes, which Ahlaksiz had picked up from a shop down the street, we made our way to the market for coffee and a bite to eat. I couldn’t help thinking how sexy these monster girls looked in their new outfits. Kinara wore a fashionable hat to hide her ears, while Milrae required something a bit more extreme, going with almost a full hijab to hide her panda ears, and a heavy dress with which to tuck her wings in. Considering how hot the weather was, I was certain that couldn’t be very comfortable. Still, it had a certain sex appeal—the idea that there was the sexy, beautiful creature I knew her to be tucked in there. Jalee required the least amount of hiding, since her wings only came out if she activated her electricity. Then there was Ahlaksiz, who could hide her monster features.

I patted the little side-satchel she’d picked up for me, feeling like Indiana Jones. We had the half of the sun disk in there, which meant we couldn’t dawdle or risk getting found out. Bonding and all that was necessary, but we weren’t exactly in Tunisia on a sight-seeing trip, unfortunately. Especially considering what the sun disk could do, if reunited with the other half that the lamia woman back in California had. A portal to the monster world could be very bad in the wrong hands. Ahlaksiz was watching me with curiosity, so I returned her gaze, holding it to see who would break first. Neither of us caved.

“How do you hide your form?” I asked, deciding it was silly to play games—especially with someone who had been around much, much longer than myself.

Alhaksiz took a sip of tea, then smiled pleasantly. “That’s something everyone here can learn in time. Similar to how you are going to have to learn how to cultivate your powers.”

I nodded, then frowned. “I still don’t fully understand that concept.” I’d been able to increase my strength and speed, but my understanding of it was that I would be able to learn to do so much more. To the extent that I could even sort of level up, get in touch with specific skills, even, eventually, without the use of madra and ichor.

“I’d like to reach that point,” Milrae admitted.

“And hide who you truly are?” Kinara scoffed, eyeing a burnt sausage with disgust. “Not for me.”

“You’re hiding yourself right now,” I pointed out.

“But I’m still me under the hat,” she countered. “Though you might have a point. I guess it could have its uses, like… public bathing.”

“What?”

She grinned. “I assume that if I could change my appearance to make my ears and tail hidden,” she frowned at a confused glance from an old man smoking nearby, then continued, “why not make my boobs look humongous when I go to a public bath? Give the ladies something to gawk at out of jealous, right?”

“First, we don’t do much public bathing,” I countered, “well, not in the U.S., anyway. Second, your breasts are perfect. Trust me.”

She shrugged. “I don’t want back problems or anything like that, but since they’d only be visually there, could be fun. That’s all I’m saying.”

Ahlaksiz cleared her throat, shaking her head. “You don’t practice the ancient arts to make body parts bigger—keep that in mind,” she eyed me at that.

I frowned, biting into a chocolate croissant to hide my annoyance at that. Overall I’d done a great job of not feeling insecure, especially considering all the monster shlongs we’d seen at the party in the mansion. There was no question mine wasn’t the biggest in town, but they’d all seemed to enjoy it. For her to now come at me like that wasn’t nice.

Jalee must’ve sensed my annoyance, because she scooted close, put an arm around me, and said, “Fuck her. It’s not huge, but it’s the most beautiful cock I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing, and most tasty I’ve had the pleasure of putting in my mouth.”

“Oh, for screams’ sake,” Ahlaksiz put down her tea, looking flustered. “I didn’t mean it as an insult. Human men are always focused on that, is what I meant. Any chance they get, they’re thinking about ways to make themselves bigger, or wondering if they’re not big enough. Trust me, you almost always are.”

“Almost?” Kinara asked.

Ahlaksiz arched an eyebrow. “Story for another time, maybe. Suffice it to say, Jalee’s right. You shouldn’t need my compliments, but if you want it, we can go back upstairs right now and I’ll worship your manhood.”

This time the old man next to us grunted, shaking his head as he glared at us.

“Oh, mind your own business,” Milrae said.

Before anyone else could jump in, I held up a hand and apologized to the man, then returned my attention to the ladies. “No need for worshipping, at least, not when we have our search to get to. You can save your prayer for our next down time. And, thank you everyone, point taken. You all,” I lowered my voice, “have beautiful pussies, too.”

They all burst into laughter, while Kinara said, “That’s not something that you ever need to voice again, but thank you.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with appreciating what’s in front of me, from time to time.”

“Nothing wrong with it at all,” Jalee said, and gave my kiss a cheek. “If everyone’s done, shall we?”

Kinara set down the burnt sausage, so I took it and scarfed it down while Ahlaksiz took care of the bill.

“You going to be okay?” I asked Kinara.

“I’ll find something along the way,” she said, rubbing her cute little tummy. The idea of her catching a squirrel again made me a bit squeamish, but I nodded and stood, ready to go. With a quick pat on the hat on my head to check on it—it being my little shifter friend, Basty—I was ready to go. He sent me an image of being content, so that was good enough for me.

“Actually,” Ahlaksiz said, “I think we’re going to be able to kill two birds with one stone.”

“Oooh, I love bird,” Kinara said. “Two is better than one!”

“Ah, it’s a human saying, actually. No birds. But what I mean is, I asked inside, and there’s a market nearby. I think we might be able to look for totems there, in addition to finding you,” she nodded to Kinara instead of saying her name, in case others were nearby, “some food.”

“Any idea what kind?”

“Sheep, maybe camel. From what I understood of the man inside. My Arabic isn’t great, my French even worse.”

“I’d love both, I’m sure,” Kinara said excitedly. “Though I’m not sure what either are. Let’s go.”

I found myself wondering if they had variations of monster girls in their world that resembled sheep or camels, though cringed at the thought of either. Then I stifled a laugh at the thought of all the camel-toe jokes that would pop up in the case of the latter, and had to explain what that meant when they saw me looking silly.

“That’s a weird term for it,” Kinara noted. “Why not just call it ‘pussy bulge,’ or—”

“Camel toe works, visually,” Ahlaksiz admitted, “but it’s crude.”

“What do you call a penis bulge?” Milrae asked.

“Pitching a tent, when it’s hard and pushing up the pants,” I answered. Eyeing Ahlaksiz, I added, “You probably know some terms.”

She sighed, as if she couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. “Let’s see, I’m not sure it’s the same, but I’ve heard talk of the puma tail, hiding the snake, budgie smuggler, moose knuckle… Oh, and mamal toe. Like camel, just sounding more like ‘man’ at the beginning, sort of. They’re all stupid.”

The ladies were holding back laughs, and Kinara was grinning wide, clearly loving the discussion.

“Do guys like camel toe?” Milrae asked, as we kept walking.

Considering the question, I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s also confusing, because some women have flatter pussies, right, and others do kind of bulge. I mean, based on pictures and whatnot. Not that I look.”

They all stared at me, except I realized Kinara wasn’t there.

“Kinara,” Ahlaksiz said scoldingly, and we turned to see Kinara had stopped and was pulling her new dress between her legs to see if her pussy made the shape we were discussing.

“I see it,” she said, “but think it’s a stretch.”

“Maybe in conservative countries like this, we don’t go around showing off camel toe?” I said, as much as the image of her doing so was hilarious.

Seeing it on her, I had to think that, yeah, I did like it. And why not? I could see how on some women it might not be flattering. But on a woman whose pussy I loved to nuzzle up into and practically make out with, why not?

“Fun discussion, and thanks for the show,” Ahlaksiz said, “but let’s not forget what’s in that satchel, and that our mission here is not an anatomy class on either sex’s genitals.”

Too bad. I was having fun with it. Partly I wouldn’t have minded a guy around to brag to, or compare notes with, but that had never been I think I’d had, anyway, so how could I miss it? Arturo and Alex had always shared their stories, but that had always come off to me more as bragging and douchy, especially since I wasn’t getting any at the time.

Now I needed to suppress my rising sexual obsession, at least until this next phase of our adventure granted us some down time. We passed a group of middle-schoolers then, running by in a mix of western and middle-eastern looking clothes, and so I had to commend Ahlaksiz on the timing of changing the subject. Two women stood talking at the next corner, one wearing a similar headscarf as Milrae, and the scent of flavored tobacco carried out from a corner restaurant. Men played some sort of game that might have been chess inside, and the entrance to the market was opposite. At least, that’s what I assumed it was by the curved, light brown stone archway that many men and women were moving in and out of. Past it, I could already make out the colorful plates and tapestries on display, and a man played some sort of strange, almost bagpipe sounding instrument in front. Cars drove along a street that curved around the building that supported the archway to our left, kicking up exhaust that added to the already growing heat of the morning.

“Ready for this?” Ahlaksiz asked as we approached.

“Yes and yes,” I said, feeling almost giddy at the thought of actually getting to explore a part of the world so different from what I was used to. “How exactly do we know we’re on the right track?”

“The scent of blood helps,” Kinara replied.

I turned, baffled, then realized she was referring to her meal. “Sorry,” I replied with a laugh, “I meant in terms of the totem.”

“In the past, it’s been somewhat instinct based,” Ahlaksiz said. “But I have to admit, there was more to it that drew me here. Like a sensing that there’s a special connection to one we might find here.”

“Might,” Jalee said, skeptically.

Entering the market area was like cultural overload for me. The scents of the spices, the patterns, and just how everything felt so different from back home. I’d spent most of my life in one place, curious about the world but mostly in terms of Japan and Korea. I had a strong desire to go watch the rain fall on the water near Kinkakuji temple in Kyoto, but had never even begun to dream about coming to a country like Tunisia. An old woman eyed me with skepticism, while nearby a couple of young men—likely American—laughed loud and joked about a colorful dress and each saying they’d buy it for the other. Lame, and clearly a reason I could see for this woman glaring my way.

“Let’s keep moving,” I said quietly, moving past the Americans and noting the table of meat pies nearby. I wasn’t sure what they called them here, but had to grab one. Biting into the flaky crust, greasy ground beef within, I had to stop and close my eyes, savoring the flavor.

“How’re you not full from breakfast?” Kinara asked, glaring me.

“Shit, sorry,” I replied, having forgotten that she was looking for food. I glanced around then asked the old man, “Is there a butcher nearby?”

“Butcher?” he asked, repeating the word with a heavy accent, but then shrugging. “What’s this?”

“Ah…” I motioned holding something down, then pretended to lift a knife and chop off the neck. Maybe a chicken or something, but he got the idea.

“You go there,” he said, and pointed over his shoulder to a tan building a few down. “Has everything you need.”

I thanked him and we made our way back to it. The street was much less crowded than that of the market, and we had to weave our way between traffic. But as soon as we entered, I knew we’d found what we were looking for. While it sickened me, there was indeed a camel head hanging from a back wall behind one of the butchers. Plenty of other options existed as well, along with booths selling other foods, including fruits and vegetables.

“How about you two take care of her,” I said to Ahlaksiz and Kinara, while I went for the fruit and other areas.

“You still squeamish?” Kinara asked with a laugh. “I’ve seen you eat some weird stuff.”

“I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.” Not wanting to risk being persuaded, I started off for a man with a what looked like some chocolate wafer for sale. I grabbed a few, glanced back to see them bent over at the case, Kinara looking like she was a kid at the candy shop.

“Sisters?” the man asked when I paid for the wavers.

“What?” I glanced back at the ladies, then laughed. “No, no. Um, friends?”

“Friends…” The old pervert winked. “I want friends like that.”

Beaming with pride, I nodded and thanked him for the snacks, then continued exploring. They found me at a row of flowers for sale, me pondering if I should buy them some to show my affection.

“Which color tastes the best?” Milrae asked, stepping up next to me and wrapping her arm through mine.

“Oh, they’re not for eating.”

“Not for eating?” She scoffed. “Borrring.”

“Agreed,” Ahlaksiz said. “We have our food, so let’s get back to the search.”

“Wait, I’ll just have a bite,” Kinara said.

“Not here!” I protested, looking around to notice a small boy eyeing them with curiosity.

“I’m starving!”

“We’ll find somewhere on the street outside,” Ahlaksiz promised her, so she agreed and followed us out, clutching her paper back to her chest. It was white, with slight areas of pink and even some red already starting to seep through. We found a small alley, where I kept watch on one side, Jalee on the other, and I did my best to ignore the sounds of Kinara chomping down on raw meat. God, I hoped it wasn’t the camel head.

Finally, she ran over and wrapped her arms around me, planting a kiss on my cheek, and said, “Let’s go find us a totem!”

I cringed at the thought of her bloody lips, but plastered on a smile and said, “Let’s do it.”

“Leftovers?” Milirae asked me, holding up the stained bag.

I shook my head, stomach churning. She laughed, then shrugged, and said, “Only joking. Not even a drop of blood left, let alone any of the meat.”

“What can I say?” Kinara replied. “I was hungry, and I’m a growing girl.” She pressed up on each of her breasts playfully. “I hope, anyway.”

“Shut up, you’re perfect,” Jalee said at her side as she passed with Ahlaksiz to lead the way.

I couldn’t agree more, so told her so and earned another kiss on the cheek. Then we were on our way, back to the market. More than once I thought I saw someone watching us as we moved between those carts and alleys, but each time I’d turn to check, nothing.

Ahlaksiz took us down one street, then paused. She said she could sense something, like the totem was calling her. However, every time she thought she was close, we would wait for her to look at a nearby stall, then suddenly she’d turn and proclaim that it was no another direction.

“Someone’s moving it?” I asked.

“Maybe,” she replied. “But it’s also possible something else is at work here. Like some sort of interception magic.”

I frowned, not liking the sound of that. Even more so, when I noticed the blur of motion that served as warning of an attack—not from anyone nearby, but an object coming right for her head.

“Down!” I grunted, throwing myself at Ahlaksiz, and a split-second later we were crashing into the table nearby, sending trinkets crashing to the ground. A shout came from the man who had been working the stall. At first I thought it had to be a shout of anger at what we had done, but as I pushed myself up to apologize, I froze at the sight of blood coming down his right arm, a knife stuck into his shoulder. It had missed Ahlaksiz when I pulled her out of the way, but instead had managed to hit this guy.

When another blur came, I knew without a doubt that we were under attack.