New Monster Book - Ch 2

Staring at Chirop, as I had taken to calling her, I couldn’t help but imagine her running around in the woods trying to catch birds or squirrels. The thought made whatever lingering bulge that had been going on in my pants subside, helped by her having the jacket to cover all that flesh. 

“Can’t you just try to eat something I have here?” I asked. 

She shook her head. “No. Your food is disgusting.”

I opened my cupboards, pulled out a box of pop-tarts, some Ritz crackers, and a bag of almonds. “There. Something has to appeal to you.”

“Not at all, actually,” she said. Staring at the pop-tart bag, she licked it, then cringed and eyed me like I was an idiot. 

“Here.” I opened it, put the pop-tart in the toaster, and held up a hand to show her she needed to wait. She turned, looking out the window at the neighbor’s house, trees, and hills in the distance. “What a strange world, in here. But the trees and hill there, they don’t look so different from what I’m used to.”

“Tell me about it.”

“My world?”

I nodded. 

“Monsters like me mostly, living in houses of wood or stone, not… this.” She knocked on the drywall, frowning. “Whatever it is. Some people live in the hills, others the sky—”

“The sky?”

She grinned, turning back my way. “Only the fancy ones.”

A click sounded as the pop-tart came up, and I tossed it on a plate. It burned my fingers slightly, but I ran them under water, then nodded to the pop-tart. “Give it a few seconds and it’ll be cooled down enough for you to try.”

“You made this, for me?” She looked confused and giddy. 

“Toasted it, yes.”

“Oh, and you hurt your hand?” She stepped over, taking it and staring at my reddened fingertips. “Let me.” Pulling my fingers close, she licked them, then grinned. “You taste like iggert. Yummy.”

“I’ll take it.” To my surprise, the slight burns—as little as they had been—were completely gone. No pain at all. “I imagine that comes in useful.”

She shrugged. 

“Ah, the pop-tart,” I said, handing her the plate. “Should be ready.”

“It looks like a cake, but… flat.” She took the plate, eyeing the pop-tart.

“So you know what cake is?”

“Nasty, disgusting stuff.” She eyed it again. “Do I really have to try this?”

“Since I don’t seem to have anything you would like, and you’re hungry.”

“Right.” She sighed, picked it up, and nibbled at it. As soon as she started to chew, her face contorted and she closed her eyes and then spat right on my floor. “Disgusting!” 

“How can a pop-tart be disgusting?” I countered, flabbergasted. 

“Just… take me to get some animal, will you?”

I ran a hand through my hair, joining her at the window. “See, problem is there’s a bit of a pandemic out there. That and, well…” I turned back to her and eyed her long, furry ears. “You don’t exactly blend in.”

“Well since I can’t eat this garbage, and since you’re not giving me real food and I can’t find my way home, what do you propose?”

For the longest time I stood there, simply staring into her red eyes with lines of black. Lost in the realization that not only was I at ease with her, but I was making eye contact. For her part, she stared back, eyes focused, unmoving. 

“Is this some sort of dominance thing?” she asked. “As if… I’m supposed to be intimidated by your eye contact, turn over, and stick out my ass to let you take me?”

“Huh?” I blinked, then laughed. “Wha-what? I was just… no.” 

She frowned, then shrugged and turned to the window, leaning against it and looking out. I couldn’t help but notice then, but only because she had just been talking about it, how her ass was sticking out. Covered by my jacket, but nothing else. 

“I need food, and I want to see your world. Can’t we just… dress me up? Make me fit in.”

“A disguise?” I glanced at the bat obsidian in my hand, then pocketed it. All of this was so much, I almost laughed at the thought of trying to make her fit in. Too bad it wasn’t Halloween. On the other hand, with so few people out there on the streets, disguising her wouldn’t be too tough, and I had some leftover costumes from previous Halloweens that could work. 

“Come here,” I said, going back to the closet. 

“We already tried.”

“I know.” Reaching up to the box on the top shelf, I retrieved my previous Halloween costumes and handed her a red, yellow, and blue clown wig that I had used to be an evil clown two years previous. “Think you could fit your ears in there?”

“And how would I find my way around?” 

“Sight.”

She frowned. “It’s hard to remember that you have no idea how I work. When something’s more than a couple feet away, I use sonar.”

“Oh, damn.” Turning back to the box, I pulled out a Batman mask and chuckled. It had been Alex’s, but he and Arturo both kept their costumes with mine. Still, the ears weren’t near long enough to work. 

“Ah!” I pulled out a cloak that I had used to dress as a wizard. Technically I was supposed to be Gandalf, but it wasn’t perfect. For our purposes though, and since she didn’t know what people in my world wore, I figured this should work. “Wear it over your head.” I showed her how, then tossed it over. “That way, your ears can at least still work forward, but people shouldn’t see them.”

She eyed it, then dropped the jacket—yes, exposing it all again—in order to put on the robe. 

“One second,” I said, and ignored the humored glance she gave me at having said that while she was nude. Trying not to be a perv, I recached and found her some boxers, a shirt, and sweatpants. “Wear this underneath, in case.”

“You prefer me covered up like this?”

“I…” Not able to answer that, I bit my lip and turned away so she could dress. What I had seen on my trip to New Orleans and on the internet had nothing on her. She was petite and her breasts weren’t overly large, but her skin was smooth, proportions perfect. 

“Ready,” she said, and I stifled a laugh to see her in my clothes with that wizard robe hanging extremely loose around her. 

“You have a cute laugh,” she said, then grinned. “If I wasn’t so hungry right now, and well, if you were one of my kind…” She scrunched her nose as if me being human instead of a monster was disgusting. That made me laugh harder, because for some reason, while human women made me incredibly uncomfortable, I was almost at ease around her. 

I led the way to the door, opening it for her, and then grabbed my mask. 

“What’s that for?” she asked. 

“Oh, right, you’ll need one, too.” I glanced around, realizing I had only the one. In my Halloween box, though, I had a ninja cloth mask, so that would have to do. She actually looked kind of badass in it—like a ninja sorceress. The fact that she had those bat wings underneath, and the ears holding the hood up higher, made her even more intimidating. 

“I’ll fit in?” she asked, voice muffled. 

“Well enough, anyway.” Leading the way out of there, I glanced around, glad Alex and Arturo weren’t home to see me leaving with her. They would have too many questions, the likes of which I wasn’t ready to answer. 

With my new monster girl friend at my side, I headed out to get her some food.