MonsterVille
Twenty Two

“You look troubled my love,” Aura murmured as she nuzzled against River. Her lithe naked body was soft and warm as she pressed against him, her legs entwined with his, her fingers drawing little circles on his chest as he lay there in stunned silence. At some point over the course of the morning they had moved from the parlour to a cave. Although cave did it justice in only the simplest terms. It was underground, there were rock walls and a dark pool of water at the base… but the rest of the cave was decorated in a decadent fashion. The bed was an immense mattress that curved around half the room. Purple drapes hung off the walls, the sheets were the softest cotton he had ever experienced and oh yeah there was the gold. River wasn’t talking about a few scraps either there were entire chests filled with soft golden metal, silver sceptres, doubloons and jewels. Tens of millions of dollars if not more and it was just strewn about like confetti. Hanging from a wooden chest, littering the floor, he could even see the glimmer of coins shimmering along the rock pool at the bottom of the cave.

“My love?” River repeated. Sure it had been a wild morning of hedonistic indulgence, it may have been Aura’s first time with a human but she had known what to do better than any woman he had ever met. Her body bent like her bones were flexible and supernatural strength made for some very interesting positions.

“Indulge me,” Aura purred, “I am either not long for this world or I shall soon part this town in a hurry.” River swallowed hard at the thought, butterflies in his stomach and he wasn’t sure why. Sure it had been amazing, a fantasy of epic proportions but still… he had just had sex with a freaking mermaid! Add that to the fact he had had the most violent sex of his life with another monster just a few days earlier and it was the most bizarre week of his life.

“I’m not sure whether you want to stud me or kill me,” River said quietly. Aura gave him a look, one of those looks women got when a man was being particularly stupid. Apparently it was universal whether a woman was human or a monster.

“Now you’re stalling me, what thought past your mind that troubles you so?” Aura prompted.

Ah to hell with it, River thought. He blurted out, “We didn’t use protection.” Come to think of it he hadn’t with Katie either.

“Protection?” Aura cooed, “Are you worried you’ll catch a monster malady?”

“Ah no,” River hedged slightly, because after all his high minded morals and rejections there was one thing that was a very definite possibility whenever two people had sex and it was kind of the reason he had been brought to the mermaids abode in the first place.

Aura slapped him lightly across the chest and chuckled, “I see, you’re worried I’ll catch a little something from you. A little something small, innocent and that monsters enjoy eating.”

“Not the way I would have put it,” he said with a frown.

“But you were taking ever so long to put it your way.” She pointed out, amusement twinkling in those ocean green eyes of hers. “Relax my kind are… suffice it to say it is very difficult for us to conceive and it is unlikely a human’s swimmers would have the tenacity to impregnate me.”

“Ah ok then,” River said, a rush of relief passing through him when the thought struck him that she sounded a little disappointed. That it was so hard for her to become pregnant or that he had been relieved that it was so unlikely? He wasn’t sure and maybe he was misreading her. She was still cosied up alongside him, seeming very happy with their arrangement but he couldn’t help but feel she was upset.

“Out of curiosity,” River began slowly, “I mean I’m just wondering but if a mer and a human did hook up and the mer did get pregnant… what would the kid be?”

“You mean would it be a mer or a human?” Aura elaborated.

“Yeah.”

She shrugged, “Either. It might be entirely human, entirely mer, somewhere in between. It could become a crossbreed although that is more likely to happen when two monsters procreate rather than a human and a monster,” at his quizzical look she went on. “A human’s biology is weak; you are genetically inferior to every monster in existence.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She gave him a chaste kiss to soothe his wounded ego, “Would you like me to go on?”

“Yes,” he said immediately.

“And that is another difference between a human and a monster. Humans are filled with an overabundance of curiosity, an insatiable appetite for new experiences and to push the boundaries, to explore and understand whereas monsters are more territorial. We don’t explore, we hunt, we kill, we play, but we aren’t all that curious beyond what tasty morsel we might eat next. I am of course speaking in a broad sense,” she added quickly, “I assure you I have boundless curiosity for new experiences.” River suspected she was referring to him in regards to new experiences, but after the things she had just done to him? It was hard to complain.

“But I’m getting side tracked aren’t I? Monster biology is superior to human, when we breed with humans your bodies are essentially blank slates, a few basic characteristics appear in the offspring but in every way that matters they normally take after the monster parent.”

“But not always?”

“No, not always, usually to the detriment of the child. You don’t survive in a monster world by being weak.”

“And crossbreeds? I feel like someone mentioned them to me…”

“It’s likely,” Aura responded, “Your master is a crossbreed.”

“Mellie?” he asked, surprised.

“The product of two monsters becoming entangled, I don’t know what her father is but her mother is an Aswang. And unfortunately for her the product of two different breeds of monster procreating is troublesome. The offspring can be pure, they can inherit traits from both or they could become an entirely new breed of monster. In Mellie’s case she was one of the unfortunate crossbreeds, her body is conflicted, not enough of either parent to balance her out. It makes her weak, all too human.”

River had a thousand and one more questions but they were interrupted by a young woman. She burst into the room breathing hard, her face red. Her hair was in disarray and she looked like she had narrowly avoided being someone’s victim. Her appearance did not instil confidence with what she said next.

“Aura!” she cried out as she fell into the room and smacked into the mattress, her eyes were blood shot like she had been weeping, “Help.” It was all she managed to get out before she promptly collapsed. Aura moved with lightning speed, enveloping the young woman and laying her across the bedding. The soft expression, the joy that had been radiating off her, vanished in a heartbeat and she became hard as the pounding surf and as merciless as a rip tide.

“Stay here.” She commanded as she rose to her feet. Her voice brooked no room for argument. There was something in the way she stood, in the way she moved, as if the humanity was bleeding out leaving the predator, the monster, and nothing else. As if she was donning armour for a battle.

She disappeared up the stairs in a surreal motion that his human eyes couldn’t follow, it was like watching a movie but it was skipping half the frames. She was by the girl’s side, she was by the doorway, then she was gone. Nothing in between.

Now River was well aware he was out of his league, out of his depth, and whatever had sent the human woman scurrying for help there was absolutely nothing he could do about it but make her comfortable. Which he did, he quickly and methodically used some wet wipes to clean the blood from a series of scratches on her arms, scratches over bruises that looked like she had been roughly grabbed. After which he tucked her into the bed and stood up. Standing up was a bad idea, it gave him thoughts about running upstairs and seeing what was going on. A very bad idea. He was only human in a monster world, best just to do what he was told—until the screaming started.

A woman screaming. River was an idiot. Always had been when women were involved, always would be. He ran upstairs. But not before he grabbed one of those shiny treasures off the wall. A slim rapier that looked ancient and would probably snap in his hands but it felt good to be armed as he ran towards the sound of the screams. Funny how Madelina would choose that moment to pop into his mind, he could safely say he hadn’t thought of her since the car wreck but now he was so very glad that his ex, the woman who had kick started his whole woe is me abduction by his frat buddies, had been in the fencing club.

Like all stupid boys he had joined to try and get closer to her.

The stairs up from the cave were carved into rock for about ten feet before they spiralled into cement, the walls went from bedrock to marble and he burst through a very solid steel door to appear in a corridor adjacent to the main hall and the great swimming pool at the front of the house. River would give himself props for not just charging in, he hesitated at the archway and what he saw made him want to be sick.

The blonde in the red swim suit lay beside the pool, her empty eyes staring right at River while a thick pool of blood gathered around her broken skull. River swallowed back the bile trying to force its way up his throat. She was dead… he had never seen a dead body before, not a human one anyway, and somehow knowing she was human made it all the worse. It left him stunned, frozen, he couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe which is the only reason he didn’t pass out at what came next.

Aura was standing in the main hall with her back to River, obscuring whoever she was talking to, and she sounded pissed, the anger poured off her like a palpable blanket of rage that smothered the room. The two silver haired mermaids flanked to either side of her and a half dozen of the harem women were spread across the room. Some were bruised, bleeding, but they were still very much alive.

“Come now Aura, no need to play games.” That voice, River thought, that voice was so familiar, he knew that voice. “Your father is holding his position by the skin of his teeth and the dominoes have been cast, it’s only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down. However his end needn’t be yours, make the right choice.”

“I believe there is a phrase popular in the human world for situations such as this,” Aura began.

“Don’t do it Aura,” the man with the familiar voice chastised, “your death would be such a waste.”

“And what of the girls I protect?” she gestured to the blonde woman whose brain matter was leaking all over the floor.

“I was bored,” he replied, “you kept me waiting.” He added as if it was her fault. It was driving River nuts, he knew that voice! If Aura just moved to the side, just a little bit he would be able to see who it was.

“And the mers in the lake?” Aura asked very quietly, “they would not have let you pass unchallenged.”

“No,” he agreed, “they wouldn’t.” He sighed melodramatically, and that sigh was what did it, it was the kicker. Aura moved, shifted her stance and revealed the young man. The black hair, the charming smile, the strong jaw line and the cold brown eyes. Danny. River’s stomach dropped and he wanted to vomit. Danny was alive! But it wasn’t right… he was standing there calmly, confidently, talking to a mermaid and he seemed to be the one in control.

“We can still avoid a mess Aura,” Danny cautioned, “I like you.” He reached out to touch her cheek and she slapped his hand away, which caused him to sigh in a melodramatic fashion once again. “So be it. I was just going to take your new stud, but now me and my boys are going to eat your girls alive.” His eyes glistened and the girls in question shirked away, “I hear you’ve got some pregnant ones around here somewhere,” he licked his lips, “I hear the unborn taste the sweetest.”

“Remember that human phrase?” Aura pressed, “I believe it was Fuck. Off.”

“Last chance. Give me the boy and I’ll leave most of you breathing.”

Aura laughed in his face, “Was I born yesterday? You planned to kill us all the moment you walked in here.”

Danny leant in close, “Not all.” He whispered. A whisper that carried to everyone in the room, “You know Nic is partial to the mers. He has a nice tank all set up for you.” One moment Aura was standing there defiantly laughing, the next Danny’s hand was wrapped around her throat and she was gasping for air as he hefted till her toes scraped the ground. The silver haired mers reacted instantaneously flowing forward in a motion that belied physics and yet amounted to nothing, the first received a brutal backhand that sent blood splattering from her cheek as her head twisted at an unnatural angle and she fell to the ground. The second mer took a front kick to her stomach that bent her over and dropped her to her knees. Danny brought a fist crashing down into her and ripped the jaw clean off her face.

Aura looked like she was trying to scream but couldn’t get enough air out to make so much as a squeak. Danny brought her in close and ran his tongue up her cheek, a slick salivary trail was left in his wake and he smiled like he had snorted a line of cocaine.

“God you mers are fucking delicious!” he yelled as he went in for a second lick. The harem of human women were cowering where they stood and before he knew what he was doing River tumbled out into the main hall.

“Danny!” he shouted.

Danny’s eyes flicked to him and there was a savage gleam of satisfaction, of anticipation as he smiled at River and callously discarded Aura like she was damaged goods. She hit the ground hard, struggling to breathe.

“River, it is damn good to see you. I thought you were dead!” He clapped River firmly on either arm.

“You-you’re alive.” River stammered out.

“And so are you!” Danny said, almost gleefully.

“And you’re a monster.” River summed up with dismay.

“Ah yeah,” Danny scratched his head, “That. I would have told you man but it’s not something you slip into conversation. Nice day, boring class, that girl is cute, oh and by the way I can discard my skin like a shirt and I’m a monster.” Danny shrugged, “See, not all that easy.”

“You brought us to this town…” River realised dismally, “I thought you were my friend but you brought us here to die?”

Danny looked genuinely hurt by the accusation, “No way. I promise I had no idea we were heading towards a monster town, cross my heart man, if I had known I would have turned us around. You might be human but you’re still my friend, no way would I have wanted to see you get eaten.”

“And now?” River asked, “What are you doing now?”

Danny looked between the dead mers, the dead girl and Aura struggling to breathe.

“It’s complicated, monster politics. But I’ve been looking for you since we split up. I’ve been trying to help all of our brothers but this town,” he scratched his head again; “this town is a mess man. Me and Kieran and Eric got ambushed after you and Derrick ran off and I was too slow, by the time I monstered out Eric was dead and Kieran had been carried off by some hicks. No clue what happened to him.”

“Derrick?” River asked hopefully, “Is he alive?”

“I think so? Monsters don’t really share information and he got raffled off to some high roller in the lottery so there’s that. But yeah I think he’s still in one piece. But you’ve got to think about yourself now man, come with me, I can protect you from all of this.”

Aura was shaking her head furiously on the ground, but given she was barely breathing she wasn’t in a position to be talking. Danny extended his hand invitingly.

“Please man, I don’t want to lose another friend to these monsters. I know it must seem like a good deal, all the girls you could want, sex on demand, but they’ll use you and then carve you up for lunch or sell you to the rats and jackals.”

River took a step forward, he didn’t mean to but Danny was his friend. Had been for years and in the face of everything he had seen, everything he had been told he was struggling to cope. The idea of believing Danny, trusting him, and maybe getting a snippet of his life back? It was nearly irresistible. Danny was a good guy after all, he had dropped everything to help River get his life back on track after Madelina kicked him to the curb.

But there was the dead woman on the floor… the dead mers… but Danny was a monster… killing to him probably didn’t mean the same thing… but it was still wrong? River was so confused. His friend was a monster, but still his friend right? And he had been looking for River, trying to help him. Aura was still furiously shaking her head and River was only a few feet from Danny, close enough to reach out and touch him. In the end it came down to one simple thing, Danny’s earnest sincere expression—which was complete utter bullshit.

What was a lowly human to do but take the sword dangling from his hand and stick it in his friend’s chest right where his heart should have been? Silence descended and River looked down at the sword in pure disbelief. What had he done? Danny looked down and his expression was beyond disbelief. He looked into River’s eyes and then calmly reached up, grabbed the blade with his bare hand and snapped it in twain leaving a small section of steel sticking out of his chest.

Danny sighed and ran his tongue over his teeth. “You couldn’t have just come with me.” He said, “You god damned idiot. Now we have to do it the hard way.”

Danny spat a wad of salivary teeth in River’s face and smiled a bloody toothless grin as he reached up and ripped off his own head, discarding the masticated chunk of flesh and bone in the pool where ripples of blood spilled out from it. There was a sickening rip as flesh and cloth tore and Danny raised himself up, pulling chunks of gory steaming skin from his body and dropping it in piles at his feet. His body was twisted sinew and muscle straining through his dirty yellowed flesh but the really surprising thing was the large eyes sticking out of his friend’s chest, the mouth full of razor sharp teeth where his stomach should have been. River turned and hurled on the marble as Danny shook with laughter, laughter that boomed through the marble hall, his body heaving with his amusement.