Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 040

The cacophony lasted for several minutes, the house showered in mud, fire and bits of trash that had been strewn around the yard. A Society member blew against one of the windows, cracking the glass. A blast of light from the house blew them across the yard, where they tumbled in a smoldering heap across what remained of the front walk.

"I can feel it winding down." Ratu closed her eyes, placing her head against the glass. "This might be your best chance. When the storm subsides, race for the dial and we will be right behind you."

"Okay." He swallowed the lump in his throat, his whole body tingling in anticipation. He hadn't expected to see this, and he couldn't take his eyes away from the scene before him. Moments earlier, the three-tailed figure had been desperately trying to crawl away, but had been caught up in the storm and tossed around, smashing into objects, people, and eventually, the ground. Yuki had gone completely limp, the wind ruffling the fur on her tails.

The house shuddered when a massive gust of wind blew against it, and then the world outside went quiet.

"Go! Now!" Ratu ran around the corner and opened the door for him.

Mike stepped through it, marveling at the chaos before him. Members of the Society were struggling to stand up, and he hopped over the broken railing of the house, landing in a crouch behind what was left of the bushes. Nobody made a move, so he sprinted across the yard, tightly clutching the emerald in one hand and the dagger in the other.

When the chill hit his gut, he ducked and slid underneath a black and gray mass that threw itself at his head, then twisted away from a feeble lightning blast. All around him, he could hear the angry mutters of witches and warlocks fighting to recover, to stand up and stop him. Wild magic swirled around the yard, picking up both people and debris and tossing them about. He hopped over a spiraling whirlwind that tried to take him off his feet and slapped his hand down on the sundial.

Feeling the magic of the house connect with him, he gave it a quick twist. The magic radiated outward, and the lions standing at the front of the house blazed to life, turning their heads to survey the intruders still on his lawn as they stepped down from their perches.

"Mr. Radley." It was Amir who spoke, standing up several feet away to brush the dust from his dark suit. Part of his face was gone, smeared behind him like a poorly painted shadow. His body was still reassembling itself, coagulating like oil. "I am so very tired of seeing your face. I'm tired of dealing with you, with your creatures, and..." he spat out a rock and coughed up a few blades of grass. His body had accidentally pulled bits of debris inside of him, and he was now gagging on what looked like a shingle that was too large to pull out of his mouth.

"You should run." Mike slid the emerald into his pocket and stepped around the dial, raising his dagger. "Because if the lions don't get you, I will."

Amir fixed MIke with a look of pure hatred, then bent over and vomited, frantically trying to break apart the chunk of housing lodged in his mouth. Screams of terror filled the yard as the lions turned into blazing balls of light and attacked, tearing their way through the intruders.

They scattered. Amir backed away from Mike, summoning a shield of light that a lion bounced off of, knocking him to the ground. A pair of Society members were reduced to ashes by the lions, and Amir was grabbed by Elizabeth, who pulled him by the shoulder. She fixed Mike with a fierce gaze and opened her mouth to say something.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll be back." Mike told her. He tucked the dagger into its sheath and crossed his arms. "And I'll be waiting."

A blast of lightning tore across the yard toward him, only to be deflected by a wall of stone summoned by Ratu. She summoned a massive flame of her own and casually tossed it toward those who were still escaping, many of whom were simply vaulting over the wall. In the distance, he heard car doors slam and tires squeal on the pavement as they left.

"Thanks for the assist," he told Ratu, trying not to let his voice shake. Now that they were gone, he could feel the adrenaline in his system depleting, leaving him a nervous wreck.

"Anytime." She smirked at him, then looked across the yard. "Though I won't take credit for this. This was all her."

"Yeah." Drops of water hit his face and he looked up at the misty cloud that had formed overhead. Drops of rain suffused with light now fell on his yard, the wild magic slowly fading away into the environment. Looking down, he saw what was left of a tarot card. He lifted it up, revealing that it was now blank.

Surveying the ruins of his yard, he thought It resembled a junkyard now, the sidewalk torn apart and a pair of mangled vehicles by the entrance. Where the grass hadn't been set aflame, it had been bogged down in mud or frost. Behind him, Tink was busy helping Abella free herself from the ruins of the front porch while Ratu used pillars of stone to lift the roof off of them.

He let out a sigh, water running down his face. It was cold and miserable out, and the rain wasn't helping. Yuki lay face down, her fingers curling and uncurling in the dirt and her breath coming in painful wheezes. He knelt down and tapped her on the top of her head.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

She turned her head and laughed, then coughed violently, expelling a concerning amount of blood.

"Looks like you get to be the Caretaker after all." Her voice was slurred. He shifted positions to see her face, and what little light remained in her eye was fading fast. "This is what she wanted. This is what the house wants. It's time that I... go."

"Well, it isn't what I want." He sat down next to her and stroked her hair without thinking about it. It was almost instinctual, like a long forgotten memory. "You seem to have me confused with somebody else."

"Yeah, right." Yuki muttered something in japanese that he couldn't hear. "I won't be your problem much longer."

"What about the others? The ones you turned to stone."

The silence was deafening, but eventually Yuki took a deep breath and held out her hand. In it was a broken stone the shape and size of an eyeball.

"Use... you can use..." she coughed again, her body trembling. Mike rolled her over onto her back and pulled her torso onto his lap. She gasped in pain, then coughed some more, but seemed to be breath much easier. She set the shattered gorgon's eye at her side. "You can reverse..."

"Ratu?" He looked over his shoulder to see the naga approaching. Ratu knelt down next to them and the look on her face told Mike what she thought the chances were of Yuki surviving. He handed her the gorgon's eye.

"She says we can use this to reverse the stone spell."

"Maybe." Ratu pushed the pieces together and a smile crossed her face. "Thank the gods, I can easily isolate this part of the enchantment. Childsplay for someone like me."

Yuki muttered something, and then coughed.

"What was that?" Mike asked. Daisy appeared over his shoulder, landing on Yuki's shoulder. She threw her arms around the kitsune's neck, tears appearing on her tiny face.

"Make sure... Beth..." she coughed again and trembled in his arms. "The demon took her. Turned her to... stone, but... she is still there..."

Ratu put her hand on Mike's shoulder and shook her head. It wouldn't be long now. He looked down at the woman in his arms and watched her skin peel away, revealing the thick fur beneath. Her human form was beginning to relax, her consciousness sliding away from her. Each breath was now a painful gift, and he looked in nervousness at the dark figure standing by the gate, wondering if he would saunter over to collect.

As much as he was a pawn in a game he was unaware of, so was Yuki. Even though she had tried to kill him, she had given her life for the house, fighting with all her strength to protect it. She really had caused him so much trouble, had nearly killed him and all of the others.

Still, this could very much be him some day. How many decisions had he made that felt wrong, decisions that affected others? The woman on the ground before him was heartbroken, devastated, yet he knew from her journals that she loved this home more than anything. In truth, the guilt lie primarily at Emily's feet, the past defining who Yuki had become.

The emerald was in his hand, suddenly ablaze with light. It wasn't even a conscious thought, but he held it above her now, contemplating its deep facets. The energy inside of it pulsed, sucking the sound out of the air and making the ground vibrate beneath him. It was essentially a wish, just waiting to be unleashed on the world.

"Are you sure?" Ratu asked. "With this, you could have almost anything."

A grim smile crossed his face. "I'm not sure of a lot of things, but this is what's right."

Ratu nodded, then looked down at the kitsune. "Then you'd better hurry."

"Emily," Yuki whispered, opening her eye. Her gaze fixed itself on the emerald. "Where... where did you..."

Magic. It was about passion. Intent. It wasn't something he could command, but it was something he could direct. The dying woman in his arms needed more than just her injuries fixed, she deserved peace, a second chance at a life that had been taken from her. His own magic whirled through his limbs in response to his will, creeping through his veins like ice.

Touching the emerald to Yuki's forehead, he leaned forward and closed his eyes, opening his mind and heart, looking past her actions and her mistakes. She wasn't just Emily's former lover, she was also a friend to the house, a writer of poetry, someone who had been hurt so badly on a spiritual level that she had been forced to lash out.

She was a lot like him. He had been given a chance by the house, an opportunity to improve and to heal. As badly as he might want something else in the world, he couldn't bear to know that someone else withstood the same kind of torment he had, a pain so deep that they would rip it free with their bare hands if they could. The world was often a cruel place, but now, in this moment, he would tolerate that cruelty no longer.

The air had gone still, the universe hungrily anticipating his words, ready to bend creation for him.

"I want you to be whole again," he whispered, willing it to be so. The emerald shimmered in his hands, growing bright enough that he could see its glow through his own eyelids. He squinted and watched in amazement as it started spinning in place, sending spirals of light over Yuki's body.

Ratu grabbed Mike by the shoulders and pulled him away as Yuki's body levitated into the air. She floated in place as the light filtered through her, and he could see inky black shadows being cast from her bloodied form into the ground. The darkness slid away from her, only to be caught in the direct light of the emerald and burned away into nothingness.

He and Ratu turned away from the light, and even Tink had turned to look away as well. It became a tiny star in his front yard, chasing away the remaining shadows. An eerie, high-pitched whine filled the air, and then... silence.

He turned back to see Yuki lying on her back, her eyes closed as if sleeping. Her wounds were gone, and her tails were fanned out as if she had simply sprawled out to take a nap. Her pale flesh was darker, as if blood had finally been allowed to flow throughout her body.

Kneeling down, he touched her shoulder. Daisy landed on Yuki's chest, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Yuki? Are you okay?"

She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly. The sinister red glow was gone, revealing pupils that were the same shade as the emerald.

The emerald. He looked around for it, but it had vanished. "Where did it go?" he asked Ratu.

"Back where it came from," Yuki answered, sitting up. She tentatively touched her right eye, a smile crossing her face and she let out a laugh which turned into a sob. Tears leaked from both eyes now as she ran her fingers across her face, feeling the regenerated flesh and she turned her gaze toward Mike. "You. You did this? Why?"

"Um, yeah." He shrugged. "I didn't want you to die, not after you worked so hard to save everyone."

"But I..." She looked over his shoulder at the house. "I tried to kill you. And the others..."

He waved his hand dismissively. "They can be fixed, but that's a discussion for later. How do you feel? You look better, but are you...okay?" He leaned back. "If you're feeling particularly murderous, I would at least like a heads-up this time."

"I'm..." Her face turned red. "I'm really sorry. About everything."

He nodded and held out his hand. "I am too. I'm sorry about what Emily did. We read some of your journals and sort of know what happened between you two. Nobody should ever have to go through that."

"I don't understand. How can you be so forgiving?"

"Honestly? I guess I'm not sure. I know a succubus you could talk it over with, if she'd ever stick around long enough. That's a discussion we can have later." He held out a hand. "We have a lot to talk about, but before we go any further, let's talk about my friend, Beth. What was this about a demon?"

Yuki nodded enthusiastically, taking his hand. "I'll tell you everything I know. I promise."

---

Whew, so much happening at once!

I had a lot of fun writing this one and planning Mike's return. Next chapter will have a Yuki/Mike team up in their attempt to save Beth from her dreadful fate, and will also set the stage for the explosive conclusion to Book Three! I'll see you there!

Note: I had several people ask this after the last chapter. Remember that I always edit my bio on the day I submit to Literotica, but there is always a delay of a few days before it goes live on the site (which is out of my control). Just FYI :)