Monster Girl Base 6 Chapter 2

“Can you count how many there are?” I asked Fela and Raz.

“At least twenty,” the sabertooth woman said.

Her tail swished back and forth lazily, but her black tufted ears were pressed back against her auburn curls, and a low growl rumbled through her chest. Her pupils had widened to become black saucers that covered her yellow-green irises, and every muscle in her body was taught and ready to pounce. She glanced over at me when I shifted, but then turned her attention right back to the threat outside.

“They don’t seem to be moving,” Raz said. “But I can’t tell while we’re in this room. I didn’t have enough of myself to leave a guard outside. Though, they moved so fast earlier that I’m not sure that I would even notice.”

“They are not moving,” Fela confirmed. “They are waiting just inside the tree line.”

“Can you see what they are?” I asked and I really wished I’d had night vision.

“No,” the warrior woman said with a shake of her head. “They are hidden in too many shadows and blend in with the night.”

“Great,” I sighed. “Well, as long as they’re not coming into the camp, then they’re not a threat. They might’ve been drawn to the fight, but since Raz consumed the body there’s nothing for them to eat. Hopefully, they’ll stay where they are and not come any closer. The last thing that we need is another fight before we’ve all recovered.”

“I’ll be right as rain by the time you wake up from your nap,” the alien woman said with a bright smile.

She had begun to have more facial expressions since her time with the other girls, and even had some that were unique to her. Her smile was almost as bright as Miri’s, though the dimples she added to her face gave her more of an innocent look than the regal one of the elven princess. Even her clothing style had become different from the others, and she seemed to favor the nineties grunge look from the TV shows that she’d binged.

“Make sure that you get some rest, too,” I said and turned to Fela. “Are you sure that you’ll be okay?”

“Of course,” the sabertooth woman said with a roll of her eyes. “The DEPO are very strong. The dinosaurs could not get through them, and they were much larger predators.”

“You have a point,” I said and then snagged a kiss. “But promise that you’ll wake me up if they try to come into the camp.”

“I will,” the sexy woman said. “Now, go and rest. I am beginning to get dizzy and would like to sit down.”

“No falling asleep, though,” I said. “You may have a concussion.”

“I’ll keep her awake,” Raz said and plopped down on the rug next to Floppy and Cassie. “We’re at a very exciting part of the show. There are men who steal their voices and are ripping people’s hearts out.”

“I remember that episode,” I said and strolled over to the bed. “Guys in suits with super creepy smiles, right?”

“Yes!” the alien woman exclaimed. “I love them. Though I wouldn’t want to be around them.”

“Neither would I,” I said with a smile. “I think that I’d rather be around the vampires.”

“Me, too,” Fela said. “But I wouldn’t waste time being afraid. It is better to just kill them and be done with them before they can attack again.”

“Yeah, but they’re not attacking warriors like you,” the alien woman argued. “They’re going after people who don’t know how to defend themselves.”

“A failing on their part,” the sabertooth woman countered. “One that will not be allowed in our offspring.”

“Naturally,” I yawned. “Alright, I’m going to sleep. Wake me up in a few hours when you’re ready to switch shifts.”

“I’m going to sleep, too,” Emma announced as she strolled in from the container. “The high priest has all the coffee that he’ll need, and I made some snacks. He’s already started to take apart the dimensional portal device.”

“I’ll check on him when we wake up,” I said and snuggled into the already sleeping elven princess.

“Is he like your father?” the Victorian era woman asked and slipped into the sheets beside me.

“A little,” I said. “I don’t know if my version of Sol would’ve ever worked for the Ilquenya. He was very anti-establishment. But if they’d killed my mother, then I can’t say that he wouldn’t do whatever it took to take them down.”

“I feel bad for them,” the raven haired woman said and laid her head on my chest. “They all lose the woman they loved. I hope that there’s a world where Doris gets to live.”

“That would be nice,” I said and stroked her hair. “But I think her dying might be one of those universal constants.”

Emma made a grunting sound, but sleep had dragged her under, and her chest rose up and down in a steady rhythm. Her dark hair was a stark contrast to the elven princess that laid on my other side, and I grinned at the night and day difference between the beautiful women that had come into my life. I closed my eyes, and soon dreams of laughter with my girls and our family filled my mind.

“Dave,” Raz whispered what felt like seconds later. “Dave, it’s time to wake up.”

“Hmm?” I asked and heard a giggle.

“Dave, you’ll miss lunch if you keep sleeping,” the alien woman said and then snuck a kiss.

“Mmmm, lunch,” I said and then forced my eyes open.

Miri and Emma had already woken up, and I could hear snippets of their conversation from the inside of the shipping container. The DEPO for our bedroom had been reprogrammed so that it no longer looked outside into the forest, and I wondered if the red eyed creatures were still there. If they were, then the girls clearly didn’t think of them as a threat since they didn’t feel the need to keep an eye on them.

“Emma is making us potatoes with canned meats,” Raz said and tugged me up into a sitting position.

“Did you and Fela manage to get some sleep?” I asked around a yawn and then smelled the cooking meat in the air. “Mmmm that food smells great.”

“A couple of hours,” the oil slick colored woman said. “Fela hasn’t shown any signs of permanent damage, and I cleaned her wound so there’s no chance of an infection.”

“You’re amazing,” I said.

“I know,” she said with a wink. “Oh! We finished another season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think that I’d like to be a mix of Buffy and Willow. But with some of Xander thrown in. He’s very funny.”

“I don’t think he means to be,” I smiled and threw on some fresh clothes. “Are the creatures still out there?”

“They are,” the alien woman nodded.

“They don’t seem very aggressive, but at the same time, we shouldn’t let our guard down because they might just be patient and waiting for us to show weakness,” I added.

“I agree,” Raz replied. “If they weren’t interested in us, then they would have left by now.”

She looked into the full length mirror for a few seconds and then began to create clothes for herself. Her amoeba-like skin bubbled up and took on different colors and textures until she’d completed the outfit. She wore a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts, a white crop top, and a black ribbon choker. Her hair and skin still remained the same oil slick color, and she finished the look off with a pair of knee-high combat boots.

“I like that look,” I said and wrapped my arms around her.

“I do, too,” she said and turned to plant a kiss on my lips.

My stomach growled and interrupted our conversation. My alien girlfriend just laughed, grabbed my hand, and then tugged me towards the shipping container. I followed after and tried to ignore the hunger pains that reminded me that it had been hours since I’d eaten.

Raz shut the DEPO behind us, reprogrammed it so that the bedroom looked out over the base, and then followed me over to the couch. Her body was smaller than it had been before, and I suspected that a smaller version of herself was on watch while we ate. She took the plate from Emma, pulled her feet underneath her, and dug into the delicious smelling food.

“Good afternoon,” Emma greeted.

“Afternoon?” I asked and looked at my watch. “Has the sun come out?”

“No,” Fela said and pointed to the window in the container doors. “It is still just as dark as when we arrived.”

“Great,” I said. “Well, it says that we have exactly fifty-two hours before the next jump. Unless the high priest can figure out a way to speed it along.”

“He hasn’t emerged from the room,” Miri said and emerged from the pantry. “But he did drink all of the coffee and ate the snacks that Emma made for him.”

“Did he say anything when you checked on him?” I asked as I accepted the plate from Emma.

“No,” the elven princess said. “I don’t even think he noticed me when I came in. He reminded me of my mother when she was focused on a project. It was almost impossible to get her attention.”

“Sounds about right,” I said with a laugh. “My Sol could go weeks with very little sleep or food. It would literally take him passing out for him to actually go to bed.”

“Maybe we can draw him out with a look around the new world that we are in,” Fela said and crouched down on the arm of the sofa. “I took a look earlier. There are many trees, but they are only husks like they have gone dead for winter. Floppy was able to find some flowers that are like mushrooms, but those do not have enough nutrients for him to live on.”

“We still have some ferns from the dinosaur world,” Emma said and flipped open her notebook. “The inventory records show that we should have enough to last him at least another few days, so as long as the next world has something that he can eat,  he should be okay.”

“I can also grow more plants,” Miri volunteered and stifled a yawn. “As long as there’s sunlight in the next world. This one does not seem to have a sun, so I’m afraid that my powers won’t be much help.”

“How are you feeling?” I asked and then stuffed a bite of lunch into my mouth.

“Weak,” the golden haired woman confessed. “It’s like I haven’t slept in days. But I can still help Emma with going through the inventory and working on the garden.”

“Why don’t you take it easy for this world?” I suggested. “You did a lot in the last world, and I’m sure we can handle this one.”

“As long as the red eyed creatures do not come for us,” Fela said. “They remained on one side of the base when Floppy and I went out earlier, but I don’t trust them. They smell wrong. Like they are made of death and blood. Or as if they are dead.”

“Dead?” I asked and went right back to the vampire theory.

It wasn’t completely unheard of since we’d been to a world with elves, but the idea of undead blood suckers made my skin crawl. I doubted that they’d be as easy to kill as the ones in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Raz had said that they moved so fast that she couldn’t track them. We did have some wood that we could fashion into stakes, but that would take time, and they might decide to drink us dry before we were done.

“Yes,” the sabertooth woman said with a nod. “Like a buffalo I came across once while I was hunting. It had been dead for days, and the scavengers had already picked what they could clean, but the stench of death still hung in the air.”

“Great,” I said. “Well, there’s only a few things that it could be, and I have to say, I’m not interested in meeting any of them. Emma, do we have enough supplies to stay in the container for the next few days?”

“We do,” the Victorian era woman said. “But our bathroom is still outside. So is the shower.”

“Right,” I said and looked towards the DEPO to our bedroom. “I think I’ll take another look at them from the safety of our room.”

“I have a miniature version of myself on watch right now,” Raz said and finished the last of her lunch. “They haven’t–”

“What is it?” I asked and stood when she didn’t continue.

“I think that something is happening,” she said.

I stood up and reprogrammed the door, walked into the bedroom with my girls right behind me, and then put in the code to have it look out over the base. The inky blackness still covered the tops of the trees and spread out into the forest like a permanent night, but a few of the clouds had dispersed, and a sliver of moonlight illuminated the dining room table and the wall of crates.

It didn’t look like there was anything within the circle of the base, but the eerie red eyes still stared from just inside the trees. There were more than there had been when I went to bed, but none of them were close enough to make out what they were. I rubbed the heel of my palm against my closed eyelids like that would help me see better in the dark, and then almost screamed when a man appeared on the dining room table.

“He moves fast,” Raz gasped.

I’d barely closed my eyes for a few seconds, and then the man just materialized out of thin air. He looked more human than Fela and Miri, though his pale skin and bright red eyes gave away the fact that he wasn’t. His dark brown suit was impeccable, and his black hair was swept back away from his sharp features.

“He looks like someone that I would’ve seen in my world,” Emma said with a frown. “I’m fairly certain that my father owned that exact suit.”

“Right,” I said. “Maybe this world stopped in the Victorian era, too?”

“I do not trust him,” Fela said, and her tail swished behind her. “He is clearly a predator. I have never met a hunter that moved so fast.”

“I don’t like it either,” Miri said. “It reminds me of the spirits in my world. They would lure you out into the darkness and then devour you bit by bit.”

“Great,” I said. “Well, he’s in the base, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be leaving anytime soon, so we should see if he can talk.”

“He could just tell you lies,” the elven princess said. “Things are not always what they seem. The Ilquenya always acted like they were on my father’s side, but you’ve seen how easily they turned on him.”

“We’ll keep our guard up,” I said with a reassuring smile. “You should stay back since your powers aren’t working right now. Fela, Raz, how are you feeling?”

“I am recovered, Dave Meyer,” Fela said with a swish of her tail. “The rest and food have been enough to heal me. And Raz has cleaned my wound.”

“I’m good to go,” Raz said and bounced on the balls of her feet like a fighter in a cage match. “And I’m still a little hungry. I could eat all of them in one go.”

“Maybe hold off on that,” I said and shook my head. “We don’t know what they are, and there’s no telling what consuming them will do to you. Emma, how are you doing?”

“Recharged and ready for the day,” the raven haired woman said, and a spark of blue lightning ran over her fingers. “Or night, as it seems.”

“Right,” I said and walked over to the bedside table.

I grabbed my gun, pulled out the drawer on the nightstand, and then reloaded. There was an extra magazine, so I shoved it into my back pocket for later. The laser gun still blinked red to show that it was out of ammo, but the regular gun was enough to at least stun the creature until we could retreat to the bedroom if it came to that.

“Are you going to stay in there all day?” a man’s voice said in a slightly British accent.

“He can see us,” I said and stared out of the DEPO.

The sliding glass doors should’ve worked like a two-way mirror so that we could see out, but no one could see in. The raptors in the dinosaur world hadn’t been able to see in, and the idea that the red eyed man could sent a chill down my spine.

I stuffed my gun into the back of my pants and walked over to the door to look out. The other pairs of red eyes were still in the forest, and the man hadn’t moved from the table, but his attention was glued to the DEPO like he really could see us. I took a deep breath in, looked over at my girls, and then pulled open the door.

“Hello,” the man said and strolled towards us.

His movements seemed exaggerated like it took all of his effort to move slowly so that he wouldn’t spook us. He looked like a painting of English nobility with his high cheekbones and weak chin. His thin lips pulled back into a small smile that I assumed was supposed to be kind, but only managed to look like a grimace.

“Hello,” I said and bobbed my head. “My name’s Dave. And you are?”

“William,” the red eyed man said. “Lord William, though I suppose formalities are no longer necessary.”

He held out a pale hand with long fingers and eerily sharp nails. His scarlet eyes shifted from me to each of my girls, and his grin softened to something a little more genuine. He didn’t blink or breathe as he studied each of us, and my theory about him being a vampire continued to nag at the back of my mind.

“This is Fela, Emma, Raz, and Miri,” I said and pointed to each woman.

“Lovely to meet all of you,” William said with a slight incline of his head. “It’s not often that we have visitors to our little world. In fact, I can’t remember the last time that we had someone come to see us.”

“Not even the Ilquenya?” Miri asked and arched a golden eyebrow.

“I’m afraid that is an unfamiliar name, my dear,” the regal man said and tilted his head. “Is it one that I should know?”

“The Cthulhu creatures,” I said.

“I’m afraid that I don’t understand that term either,” the British man said and put a hand over his heart. “It seems that we’re having trouble communicating. I do hope that we can move past this and become friends.”

“The guy that we were fighting when we arrived,” I tried again. “The one with the tentacles attached to his face.”

“Ah, yes,” William said and pursed his lips. “We don’t have a name for them here, but my men described them, and they sound like the visitors that came here long ago.”

“Not recently?” Emma asked from beside Miri.

“I’m afraid not,” the nobleman said with a shrug. “They seem to have abandoned us to our own devices.”

“And what are those?” Fela hissed. “And why do you smell of death?”

“Oh, that’s a hazard of what I am,” the red eyed man said with a wave of his hand. “I can assure you that I mean no harm to you.”

“What is this world?” I asked.

“And why are there so many of you here?” Raz asked, and her emerald eyes glimmered in the pale moonlight. “I can sense almost fifty of your kind now.”

“Fifty?” I asked and glanced over at the treeline.

There were only about thirty of them visible in the forests, and all of them were concentrated to the right of our base. The eerie red eyes moved to form an arch that stretched over to the wall of crates, but no one else steeped out of the shadows and into the baseline. It was like there was an army of them, and I looked behind me and wondered if we’d have time to make it back inside if they decided to attack.

Raz hadn’t been able to sense William’s movements earlier, so if they swarmed us, then we wouldn’t have time to react. I wasn’t sure if my gun would even be able to help us, or if my eyes would be able to track them. The alien woman could eat them, but she’d have to catch them, and any one of us could fall before that.

“They are just curious,” the nobleman said and spread his hands out. “As I said, we don’t get very many visitors. I’m afraid that they don’t know what to do with themselves. You see, ours is considered a dark world. Figuratively and literally.”

“So the sun really doesn’t rise?” Miri asked with a frown.

“It does not,” William said, and he took a step closer to her. “Of course, that’s preferable to my kind. We don’t do well in the daylight. I hope that won’t be problematic for you. You smell of sunlight.”

“I’d prefer you didn’t sniff her,” I said and stepped between them.

“Your catwoman has smelled me,” the red eyed man said.

“I cannot help it,” Fela grimaced. “Your stench fills up this entire area.”

“I apologize if it’s unappetizing,” William said. “There is not much that I can do about that. Just as I cannot help but smell the daylight on Miri. Perhaps you’d like to sit and talk? Would that be more comfortable for you?”

“Sure,” I said and motioned for him to lead the way.

He moved in the blink of an eye and sat at the head of the dining room table. His hands were folded in front of him, and his eyes were trained on us as he waited patiently. He still had the small smile like our shock was amusing, and everything in me wanted to punch him right in that weak jaw.

“I don’t like him,” Fela growled in my ear.

“Neither do I,” I said. “But we need to figure out what they are and what they want from us.”

“I’m ready to zap him if he even budges,” Emma whispered.

“Do you think you can move fast enough?” I asked and started towards the table.

“Lightning is quicker than our eyes,” the Victorian woman smirked.

“I assure you that my people have no intention of attacking you,” William said and gestured to the seats. “They’ll even stay exactly where they are unless instructed otherwise.”

A cold breeze ran through the trees, and the scent of decay lingered in the air. It reminded me of a compost pile, and my stomach did a flop as the stench of rot lingered. I thought of the mushroom-like flowers Fela had found and realized that the whole world was probably one giant composter.

“You say that,” I said and took a seat at the table. “But I don’t know you enough to trust you, and you don’t seem like a fairy that can’t tell lies.”

“That is a fair point,” the nobleman said. “But there is nothing for you to do but to trust me at this moment. At least, until I prove that you cannot.”

“And therein lies the rub,” I said. “How did you know that we were inside the DEPO?”

“The DEPO?” William repeated and glanced towards the storage container. “Ah… your glass wall. Yes. I could see your outlines behind the mirror.”

“But you couldn’t see us individually?” Raz asked with narrowed eyes.

“I’m afraid not,” the red eyed man said. “My vision is superior to humans, but not quite that fantastical. I could also feel the heat of your bodies. There are more of you, no?”

“There’s a miniature wooly mammoth named Floppy, a cassowary named Cassie, and another human named Sol,” I said.

“And why is he not out here?” the nobleman asked.

“He’s busy,” I said with a shrug. “And I don’t see why he’d need to be out here too.”

“Of course,” William said and sat back in his chair. “I’m just curious by nature. You said you have a miniature wooly mammoth. I thought those creatures had gone extinct. Are they alive in your world?”

“Floppy is from my world,” Fela growled. “How do you know about the different dimensions? Are you in league with the Cthulhu creatures?”

“No,” he snapped, and his eyes glowed brighter like they were lit with rage from inside. “My people and the tentacled creatures had a falling out some time ago. It’s likely why we do not receive that many visitors. Do you work with them?”

“Definitely not,” Emma huffed and straightened the sleeves of her high neck shirt. “They are despicable creatures, and we want nothing to do with them. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was their idea to have Nikola Tesla test his equipment without the faraday cage.”

“Nikola Tesla?” William said with a spark of recognition. “You’ve heard of him?”

“Yes,” the raven haired woman said. “He’s the reason that I am the way that I am.”

“Interesting,” the British nobleman said and then turned to look at me. “And do you know Nikola Tesla?”

“He was alive a long time before me,” I said.

I tried not to pay attention to the fact that he didn’t breath or blink, but it was more and more obvious with each passing minute. It had taken a while for Raz to get the hand of breathing and blinking, but he didn’t strike me as an amoeba-like alien that wasn’t used to a human form.

“Ah,” William said with a nod. “Such a shame. He was a brilliant man. Though a bit reckless, as Ms. Emma has discovered. But, all the great ones are. I was considered a genius in my own time. It’s likely how I ended up in this dark world in the first place.”

“You keep calling it a dark world,” I said. “But something tells me it’s not because there’s no sun.”

“A smart man,” the nobleman said and flashed the awkward smile again. “Yes, the reference to this as a dark world is because no one ever visits. From what I gather, it has been marked as dangerous by those who can travel between the dimensions. Of course, those of us who live here didn’t come here on purpose. Well, most of us did, but only because we’d been misled. I admit my curiosity got the better of me, and I agreed to come along.”

“None of you are originally from here?” I asked and glanced at the red eyes just outside the base.

“Not a one,” William said with a shrug. “I’d be glad to explain. But it will take time. Something like this is not easily rationalized by merely one short conversation. How long do you expect to be in this world? Or have you decided to stay permanently?”

“We’re just passing through,” I said. “And we don’t want any trouble.”

“Of course, of course,” the British man said and waved his hand dismissively. “I assure you, that is not my intention. Nor is it that of my people. I apologize if we make you uncomfortable, it seems to be a trait that every human shares when they meet our kind.”

“It is because you are predators,” Fela said and bared her fangs. “You are hunters, and there is no way for you to hide it.”

“Just as you are an apex predator in your world, I’m sure,” William said with an indulgent grin. “I can imagine that you’ve struck fear into the hearts of many when you’re on the prowl.”

“Not just her,” I said and brought his attention back to me. “But it’s easy to see what kind of predators we are. Do you mind explaining what you are?”

The air around us seemed to thicken with an unspoken threat as the Victorian noble stared at me. I was distinctly aware that he could reach over and swipe my head off with those long nails before anyone even knew he’d moved, but we needed to know what kind of monster sat at our table. His eyes gleamed a little brighter as he smiled, though his teeth had elongated to reveal sharp fangs where normal canine teeth had been.

“I thought that should be obvious,” he said. “We’re vampires.”