Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 107

Still, it wasn't like she was helpless. If anyone tried to come after her, precognition would give her at least a couple of seconds to react. Being near to so much water, she would actually have more of an edge here than anywhere else.

Looking out at the tidepools, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She could feel them, the water swirling across the soil, then permeating down through microscopic tunnels left in the sand. Tiny creatures affected the flow of the water as they shifted around looking for their next meal or to avoid becoming one. When the water surged onto the beach, it almost felt like the blood in Beth's body was moving with it.

Nearby, Beth heard someone sniff. She opened her eyes, and looked at her phone, using the reflection of the screen to see who was standing behind her. Up on the patio, a trio of massive columns formed a partial wall that separated the deck from the glass walled dining rooms. A figure in a white button-down was partially visible, mopping at her eyes with a small rag.

It was Aurora. Beth hesitated for a moment, then stood and walked toward the columns. The hostess immediately tried to duck out of sight, but Beth circled around the back and stood between the woman and the dining room door.

"Excuse me," said Aurora as she clutched her clipboard to her chest. The dark rings under her eyes were visible through her concealer. "Did you need something?"

"I did, actually." Beth stepped forward and held her hands up to the woman's face. "May I?"

Aurora looked up at her with eyes that were irritated from crying. "May you what?"

Beth allowed her magic to manifest and then wrapped it around the woman. She used it to exude trust and safety, but nothing more. "I can tell you're having a tough time with something," she said. "While I probably can't fix the issue, I can at least make you a little more comfortable."

"I don't know--"

"Your nose is raw from the sniffles and the skin under your eyes is starting to crack from wiping tears. I can fix that."

Aurora sniffed, doubt in her eyes. "Why would you do that?"

So you'll shut the fuck up. The intrusive thought came in Lily's voice. Beth assumed this was just her brain's attempt to lighten the moment.

"Because I can." Her fingertips glowed. It had nothing to do with the magic she was about to perform, but Beth figured it was a nice touch.

Aurora closed her eyes and nodded. Beth placed her fingertips on Aurora's temples and her thumbs on the woman's cheekbones. Closing her eyes, she forced the woman's sinuses to clear out and used her magic to accelerate Aurora's healing. This trick wasn't good for anything worse than a paper cut, but blood was essentially just water with some extra stuff in it.

When Aurora opened her eyes again, most of the redness was gone. Beth took a step back and examined her handiwork. "I got most of the dark circles," she said. "Another layer of makeup will probably cover it up."

The woman sniffed experimentally and then bowed her head. "Thank you. You really didn't have to do that."

"Are you upset about what happened on the mountain?" Unless Aurora was going through a nasty breakup, this was the most logical assumption.

"It's...I don't know that we should--"

Beth waved dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm already aware that the prevailing theory is that Mike is the culprit and that we're the bad guys. So don't worry about beating around the bush with me."

The hostess frowned. "That's, uh..."

"It's fine. I could tell you were hurting is all. For the record, he's not responsible for it. The attack on your people." Beth turned to head back to her chair.

"Who was?" Aurora's voice was strained, but had an edge to it.

Beth contemplated how to answer. She had been inclined to help the woman, and now had the same urge to continue speaking with her. Normally she would say nothing, but right now, her gut said that they should talk.

"They were attacked by night marchers. Your people set camp and had the spirits locked out. Later in the night, Captain Francois broke the barrier in order to cover up an attempt on Leilani's life as well as Mike's." Beth noticed that Aurora was holding her breath. "Francois is some type of necromancer. He has a literal skeleton army that travels with him. They helped take the Order down and all hell broke loose."

"How do you know all this?" she asked. "We haven't been able to get hold of anyone."

Or so you've been told. Beth thought back to breakfast with the Director. "I heard it from Mike himself," she replied. "And when he comes back with Ingrid and Leilani, they'll vouch for him."

"Ingrid survived?" Aurora's eyes flicked back and forth along the deck, verifying that it was empty. "Did...did anyone else?"

"I'm sorry, I honestly don't know." Beth shook her head. "From what I know, it was chaos. My own people barely survived, and they got separated. Still, it's a pretty big jungle, so maybe someone got lucky."

"Maybe." Aurora looked down at her clipboard. "My older sister was one of the guides for that mission, and I...she's all that I have."

"Then I hope she made it." Beth put a reassuring arm on the woman's shoulder. "This sounds silly, but would you like a hug?"

"Um, I..." Aurora lowered the clipboard and stepped into Beth's embrace. She let out a few sharp cries of agony, and Beth held her tight as she swaddled Aurora in her magic.

Warmth. Safety. Hope. These were things she could give her, even if the reprieve was only temporary. Beth said nothing, content to let the hostess break protocol and just cry for a few seconds. When the woman was done, she wiped her eyes and took a step back.

"Thank you," she said, then cleared her throat. "I, um, should get to my duties."

"You probably should." Beth smiled. "But definitely stay out of our room. Lily is going for shock value now."

Aurora actually snorted. "She's the most difficult person I've ever dealt with," she said. "All of you are. Well, not all of you, I mean--"

Beth laughed. "It's fine. We all live together, trust me, I know." She moved back toward her chair and stared out at the water. "Think I might go for a swim, see what the merfolk are up to." She hadn't made any efforts to speak with them since the incident with Ano. The incident had been slightly mortifying, and her focus had been on sticking around the resort in case her own people needed her. Now, however, she wanted to get away from that creepy vibe that followed her like a storm cloud.

She wandered the edge of the beach for a few minutes, then started walking along the dock. Beth was nearly halfway down when she spotted movement beneath the water. At least three merfolk disappeared from sight as she continued out to the edge where she sat and stuck her feet in the water.

"Ano?" Staring down at the water, she was a little surprised when he didn't appear right away. Then again, she had bailed on him and not made any further efforts to come out here since yesterday. It wasn't like she expected him to sit here all day, waiting to see if she would come back.

Leaning back, she let out a heavy sigh and stared out into the water. There were a few distant clouds that vanished over the horizon, but the skies were otherwise clear. If Ano didn't show up soon, maybe she would just jump in and go for a swim of her own.

Ano surfaced rather rapidly, his waist and upper body popping up like a cork. "Lady Beth!" he declared, his body tilting back and splashing into the water. He stuck his arms behind his head and floated in place. "I apologize. I was out at the reef visiting with friends when I heard that you were coming."

"That's quite a swim," she said, wondering just how fast merfolk could swim. It had to be similar to what a dolphin could accomplish, right? Probably faster because they could manipulate the water using their magic. "But thank you for coming."

"Of course." Ano smiled up at her. "Is there somewhere you wanted to go today?"

"Nowhere specific. I didn't wear that sunblock today, so it won't--" She had already been slipping into the water when she felt a chill run up her spine. For just a moment, her eyes locked on the horizon at the distant clouds, then she turned to look back down the dock.

"Is everything okay?" Ano asked.

"No. It really isn't. I need to go back to my room." Beth pushed her hands against the edge of the dock when she felt something grab her by the ankles and pull. She took a deep breath as she was yanked beneath the water, then sent a pulse of magic to her eyes so that she could at least see and hear what was about to happen. Ano sank beneath the waves with her, but they were joined by a pair of merfolk who were currently holding her by the ankles.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way." Ano gave her a weak grin and looked at the others. "He said it would be easier if we could get you into deeper water, but we were already nervous that you may have seen him out in the bay."

Who? Beth mouthed, though she pretty much knew the answer.

"The Captain." Ano sighed as the four of them sank to the bottom. "When the Queen learned that your Caretaker forced his will on the princess and abducted her, it was decided that the best decision would be to turn you over to him so that he could arrange a trade to get her back. I apologize that you've been caught up in--"

Beth glared hard enough at him that he shut up.

Ano shrugged and turned away from her. "I'm sorry, Lady Beth."

The merfolk holding her feet moved up to her arms and pulled. She tried to fight them, but doing so meant that she used up what limited air she had. Learning to breathe underwater wasn't something she was going to magically master right now, which meant she needed to figure out a different solution. She couldn't even kick or scream properly, not down here beneath the waves.

Scowling, she fixed the merfolk with a wicked glare, her magic churning deep within her belly. She would only get one chance at escape, and she needed to make it count. All merfolk had a relationship with the ocean that went beyond anything she had ever accomplished, so water magic wasn't the answer. Fighting was out as well because they overpowered her.

They continued to pull. The ground dropped away beneath them, revealing smooth sand and the start of small coral colonies. Schools of fish watched their passage with curiosity before returning to all the things that fish did.

Beth looked at her captors. One was a man, the other a woman. Frowning, she decided to play all her cards at once and pulled her body forward until her hands were next to her face. The merfolk looked back briefly, but paid her no attention.

Opening her mouth wide, she bit the merwoman's hand as hard as she could. The merwoman cried out in surprise and yanked her hand away, leaving a red cloud of blood in the water. Beth used her free hand to grab the merman by the crotch and forced her magic into his body, causing his whole body to jerk erratically as he blew his load immediately in the water.

Ano was just turning around to see what had happened when Beth begged the water to carry her to shore on its waves. The merfolk were expert swimmers, but even they couldn't compete with the swirling mass that sucked Beth toward the surface and then carried her toward the beach. She made an attempt to body surf, but quickly lost control as the massive wave turned her upside down and slammed her into the beach with a thud.

Groaning, Beth tried to stand, but got caught in the face by another wave. She had been deposited ass first, and the sting of salt swished through her sinuses. Frantically backpedaling, her body was suddenly very heavy.

"Beth!" Ano called from maybe fifteen feet behind her. The sand trembled beneath her body, and she felt it shift and sink as the water pulled it apart. The water still ahead of her turned into a swirling mass that threatened to suck her out to sea, but she rolled sideways and avoided the artificial rip tide that Ano had created. Grunting, she closed her eyes and sent her will into the ocean, seeking out Ano.

If she wanted, she could spin the water in an attempt to pull him under. Or maybe she could ask the waves to dunk him and buy her a couple of seconds to pull herself onto the beach. But either of these choices weren't likely to work, so she relied on something else entirely.

Using her magic, she formed a massive fist out of water and punched Ano right in his mermaid's purse.

"Gah." The merman groaned as blue veins formed all along his forehead and temples. Beth felt his grasp of the magic release, and she scrambled to her feet and sprinted up the sand toward the chairs. A male member of the serving staff had stopped at the top of the hill, staring down at Beth in alarm. His eyes rapidly danced back and forth between Beth and the injured merman, then looked further out. Beth turned back to see dark shapes surface out in the bay, their piscine features twisted in anger.

"It's a bit too rough out there," she said, stopping by her chair to pick up her towel. She wrapped it around her waist, wincing inwardly at the scrapes all up and down her legs as they vanished into darkness. "Definitely a red flag day."

Beth turned back one last time, her eyes searching the horizon. She didn't know where Captain Francois was hiding his ship, but the man had just ruined the ocean for her. If he was lucky, Mike would get to him before she did.

"So where do you think we are, exactly?" Mike stopped to gaze back out at the ocean. The water was nearly black in places, and he had already seen a couple of those weird Dreamscape entities surface briefly to watch them.

"If I had to guess, maybe Mediterranean waters. This place seems like a proper bastardization of it." Lily tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. "Something is coming."

"Ingrid?"

"Nope. We're getting close to where she's hiding, though. It's some manifestation of her subcon--there it is." Lily pointed up toward a winged beast in the sky that was already diving at them. Mike leapt backward, buoyed onto the wind like a kite as the creature crashed into the sand where they had been standing. The impact crater was nearly twenty feet across, and their attacker was busy scrambling to its feet. It looked like it was cobbled together from bits of leather and string with teeth made of jagged metal.

"Is that thing supposed to be a pterodactyl?" he asked. The pterodactyl-thing opened its mouth to reveal a ball of fire that it launched upward at the two of them. He shifted to the side, allowing the projectile to sail past him. "That would be a no."

"It's supposed to be a drake." Lily let the next fireball wash over her. "This thing is tied directly to some of her deepest fears and phobias. Do you want to take it out or should I?"

"Stuff in her head can't hurt me, right?" Mike floated to the side again as a fireball whizzed past him.

"This thing won't. It's just your basic nightmare material. Those things out there absolutely could, though." Lily pointed toward the water. Mike watched a shadowy figure dip beneath the waves. "You're technically more vulnerable here than your own skull."

"So I could just--" Mike fell out of the sky as the drake launched itself toward him. He landed harmlessly in the sand as the creature shrieked with fury. It flapped its wings above him and then spat a jet of flames in his direction. Summoning up a wall of sand, he crouched behind it and let the fire wash over the top.

"You're really overthinking this," said Lily. "You're in someone else's dream. Everything in here is pretty much made of paper. It's only as strong as you believe it to be."

"That fire still feels hot," he yelled back, wincing from the heat.

"Ugh, do I need to give you the speech from the Matrix?" Lily stood next to him now, tapping her foot impatiently.

"No," he muttered. "But if you want to wear a certain leather outfit for me later..."

Lily's outfit blurred and she was now in tight leather pants with a matching tank top that looked painted on. "If you impress me, I'll let you nut in my ass while pretending to be the actress from the movie." She lifted her mirrored sunglasses and licked her lips. "In the real world."

"I am the One!" Mike loudly declared as he threw himself into the sky. The drake squawked in alarm as his fist slammed into its skull, crumpling the creature into a literal ball of paper that fell down onto the beach. The wind caught it, causing it to tumble out into the water where the dark things lay waiting.

Mike landed in the sand, laughing as he brushed himself off. "How was that?" he asked. Lily smirked at him and put her shades back on.

"I guess it was okay," she said as she turned away.

"You're a tease."

"And you like it." Lily swayed her ass as she continued along the beach. "Guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Mike groaned, but it was playful. This was simply the game they played. He was fairly certain Lily kept a mental list of all the things she had promised or threatened to do to him, so it wouldn't surprise him if she waited thirty years to make good on her promise.

"Dear future me," he whispered. "You're welcome."

The beach stretched dramatically, as if someone had grabbed the edge of the world and pulled it tight. A column of smoke appeared up ahead. Circling above were more of the macabre, patchwork drakes that they had already faced off against.

"So out of curiosity, what makes this different from a regular dream," he asked. "You said Ingrid's mind is broken, but other than looking spooky, this seems like an ordinary nightmare."

"It's stuff you can't see." Lily pointed at the sky. "Each of those cracks goes somewhere. Some to her childhood, others to adulthood. But they aren't regular memories. They're deep seated in very primal emotions. The core of who Ingrid is lies up ahead. If that sky were to crack anymore, she could end up trapped in an endless cycle of personal torment and might go catatonic. When I came in here earlier, she freaked out when she saw me and things got worse."

"And you think I can do better?"

"She likes you." Lily chuckled. "And I mean that in every way possible. We're talking latent sexual awakenings, the whole nine yards."

Mike ignored the comment. "Out of curiosity, why not just make yourself look like me?"

"Don't mistake her mental fragility for weakness." Lily turned to walk backward. "She would absolutely suspect something is up. In fact, she's probably one of the stronger people I've met in this manner. The only reason this happened is because you've already made her question so many facets of her life. That, combined with the trauma of losing her partner and being forced to relive losing her family as a child, had her in a weakened state. Meeting Di tipped her over." The succubus paused. "Seriously, though. How big is this dragon? In her memories, it's practically the size of a skyscraper."

"Not skyscraper sized," Mike replied. "But she would struggle to fit in our front yard."

Lily whistled appreciatively. "I've got to meet her."

"If you do, play nice."

"I always play nice."

"She could swallow you by accident."

"Kinky." Lily paused for a moment and turned around. "Okay, she's up ahead. Time for me to be the devil on your shoulder."

"What does that even--" He watched as Lily shrank down to the size of Daisy and then flew to land on his shoulder. "I know for a fact that you could just turn invisible."

Lily stuck out her tongue and licked his neck. "Get moving, Romeo," she said in a high-pitched voice. "And try not to swallow me by accident."

"Is this some new kink you have?"

The tiny succubus shrugged. "Unless you're going to swallow me and find out, we'll never know. Now get moving before this egg cracks for good."