Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  “So it was just a storybook? That’s all?”

  “No, that wasn’t all,” Lelu insisted shaking her head. “The way centaurs were eaten alive in the book, I learned that part was true. My friends told me they heard similar tales about centaurs that were captured in the world, how we’re considered ‘delicacies’ to the unsavory monsters that wander the land. We are food to those demons! We really are food! The way that book portrayed my kind being brutally devoured in the most horrific ways… it was all true!”

  Max watched her in stunned silence as the centaur broke down crying, however a small smile formed on her face despite her saddened demeanor.

  “We’re food,” she lightly laughed while holding her head. “Centaurs really are ravaged for our delicious meat. We’re like cattle. We’re strung up and hanged to dry of our blood, we’re ripped apart and devoured by hungry devils, we’re slaughtered like livestock, our bodies are picked clean and digested in the bellies of our enemies, we’re all going to be eaten alive and there’s nothing we can do about it!”

  “Good lord,” Max softly spoke while taking a step back, seeing the centaur breaking down with her inner conflict.

  “I couldn’t stop reading that book! I couldn’t stop seeing myself being stripped of all my flesh, being shoved into a boiling cauldron, being roasted in an oven while I screamed at the top of my lungs! I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t stop! I didn’t want to stop!”

  “Lelu, calm down,” Max urged with concern.

  “I couldn’t stop seeing it!” Lelu cried while covering her eyes. “My friends and family couldn’t help me, our shamans couldn’t help me, nobody could help me! I couldn’t stop seeing it, reading about it, thinking about it, obsessing about it! The fact that we’re food, that we’re eaten, that I’m going to be eaten someday, I couldn’t stop thinking about it! I… I… I wanted to be eaten alive!”

  Max stared at her in shock as the centaur dropped to the ground crying, her legs tucking in close while she sobbed uncontrollably on the grass.

  “You want that? You really want to be eaten?” he carefully questioned.

  “No! I mean yes! I mean… I don’t know what I mean anymore!” Lelu screamed shaking her head. “I can’t help how I feel anymore! I know it’s wrong, I know nobody who is sane would wish for such a thing, I know I was a freak to my kin with my desires, but I don’t know how to stop!”

  “Lelu, you need to calm yourself,” Max insisted. He dropped the axe and knelt down next to the centaur, holding her shoulder as she loudly wept into her hands. “Hey, pull yourself together. C’mon, you’re freaking me out here.”

  “I don’t know how!” Lelu wailed at him with teary eyes. “I can’t stop thinking like this. Even after everyone tried to help me get past it these thoughts still force their way into my mind. I scared off my friends, I embarrassed my mother, and I’m making even a monster hunter like you feel uncomfortable around me! I’m just a mistake in this world!”

  “Stop it!” Max yelled out, catching the girl by surprise as she suddenly fell silent. “For crying out loud, you need to get a grip! So you’re a little messed up in the head, at least you realize it and can still fix it. If you know those thoughts are wrong then don’t encourage them, don’t even think about them. And I doubt you scared your friends away, you just said they tried to help you along with your family and even your doctors. Your people knew something was wrong and they wanted to help you, that means they cared about you, you idiot.”

  Lelu tried to speak but nothing came out, her unblinking eyes remaining locked onto Max as he grunted with frustration and rubbed his face to make sure he knew what he was doing speaking to a monster like this.

  “You’re messed up in the head,” he reasoned. “I get that. But it doesn’t mean you’re going to be for your whole life. You can still change how you think, you can get over this unhealthy… obsession of yours and live your life still. There’s still hope for that, so you can’t just give up and resign yourself to becoming something’s next meal.”

  Slowly Lelu sat up and wiped her tears away, watching as Max avoided eye contact with her while ruffling his hair.

  “Why are you being nice to me?” she faintly spoke. “Why have you spared my life so far? Why are you even talking to me like this?”

  “I don’t know,” Max answered shaking his head. “I don’t know if I feel sorry for you, or angry at you, or what. I just want you to leave me alone, I just want things to go back to normal for me.”

  “But you’re a monster hunter,” Lelu remarked. “How is it you could find it in your heart to spare something that you’ve trained to kill?”

  With a heavy sigh Max stood up and lifted the axe over his shoulder, looking down at the centaur who was watching him with eyes of wonder and a slowly wagging tail.

  “I’m not a monster hunter,” he admitted. “My sisters are, I just tend the shop while they’re out and do chores around here. I’ve never killed a monster in my entire life.”

  “You haven’t?”

  “You couldn’t guess that with how I tried to threaten you with a spoon earlier?” Max questioned with a small smirk. “How could anyone kill a monster with a spoon?”

  “I did think it was a rather odd choice for a weapon to slay me with,” Lelu agreed with a small smile forming. “That was kind of foolish of you now that I think about it.”

  “Hey, you were scared of me with that spoon,” Max sneered. “Who was the bigger fool here?”

  The two shared a few moments of laughter before an awkward silence came over them. Max looked around in an attempt to avoid eye contact with her while she turned her gaze to the axe he was holding.

  “So you don’t wish to kill me?” she timidly asked. “Even though I’m a monster?”

  “No.”

  “Do you… not hate monsters?”

  “I hate monsters,” Max stated decisively. “Monsters killed my parents and tried to rape me when I was younger, they cause so much suffering and pain the world over, and they treat humans like nothing but cattle for breeding with.”

  Lelu lowered her head in shame while keeping her eyes on him, watching as he sighed in aggravation before waving her off.

  “But I don’t want to kill you right now. Maybe I pity you, you’ve been through hell after all. Or maybe I find the idea of killing a young girl like you too repulsive. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t matter. Just go already, alright?”

  “Girl?” Lelu repeated while slowly brushing the hair around her ear.

  “Just run away already,” Max snapped, turning his back to her and holding the axe in both hands now. “There’s no reason for you to stay here anyway. Go and find more of your kind or something, I don’t care.”

  “You called me a girl,” Lelu said, with Max glancing back to her questionably.

  “Yeah, you are a girl.”

  “I know, it’s just… you didn’t call me a monster. It didn’t sound… mean.”

  “Whatever, just-” Max started to say before Lelu quickly leapt forward and hugged him from behind. Her arms held onto his chest while his head rested against hers, pressing against her bosom which felt softer than pillows to him.

  “You’re too kind to me!” Lelu cried out in blissful appreciation, holding the flailing boy close to her while her tail wagged about quickly. “First you spare my life, and then console me when I’m depressed, and now you treat me like a normal girl! Oh please, I hope you do eat me now!”

  She gasped then shut her eyes tightly and shook her head, screaming in embarrassment while clutching Max close to her chest. The boy dropped the axe and struggled to pry free from her arms as she scampered about in a panic.

  “I didn’t mean that! I don’t want you to eat me, I really don’t! Okay, I mean maybe I kind of do, but I know it’s wrong and I’m so thankful you’re not actually going to do it! But if you wanted to I wouldn’t be mad, honest! Ah! I mean please don’t, don’t eat me! Please, Max!”

  “Lelu, l
et me go!” Max yelled thrashing about in her grip. He managed to slip out from under her arms and stumble to the side a step before he was quickly grabbed and yanked back over, his face now being forced into the girl’s chest from the front where he quickly realized they were indeed the softest things he had ever felt in his entire life and also that air was no longer available to breathe.

  “Oh, Max! Thank you for being so nice to me! You’re all I have now, I’m so glad you care about a monster like myself! Thank you! Thank you!”

  The centaur hopped about while Max struggled to free himself from her bosom before she tripped against the stump and toppled over. The two tumbled around before Lelu stopped on the ground with Max landing on top of her. Leaning back with a deep gasp for air Max felt his world no longer fading to black and came to his senses.

  “Geez, what is your problem? Why-” he barked out before seeing Lelu lying on the ground beneath him. Aside from the noticeable bust size resting against his chest that his eyes were tempted to glance down at he found himself staring in awe at seeing the girl lying on the grass watching him with a gentle gaze. Her hair lay spread out behind her while a few strands dropped down across her face, a small breeze rolling by and moving them aside as she gazed at him with longing eyes.

  “You’re all I have now,” Lelu said again. “The only one who cares about me. Thank you.”

  “Why won’t you run away?” Max asked. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  “If you stay here you’ll be killed.”

  “If I leave I’m dead anyway,” Lelu reasoned with a saddened smile. “Should it be my fate to die then I’d rather it be here than out there. At least you’ll be here with me.”

  Max held a hand over his face to mask his heavy sigh. Peeking between his fingers he saw the centaur watching him with eyes that seemed to be holding back tears. Looking over to the nearby axe he hesitated for a while, contemplating why he couldn’t just pick up the tool then chop off her head and be done with this whole mess, before shaking his head in defeat as he realized he just couldn’t do it.

  “Fine. Do what you want. If you want to stay around here then go ahead. I guess it would be nice to have someone to talk to for a change.” He then looked down to the girl as her tail started wagging again. “But when my sisters come home from their hunt they’re going to kill you, they won’t show a monster like you any mercy. I’d recommend running away before then if you want to keep living.”

  “I trust you,” she softly replied.

  “Trust me? With what?”

  “Protecting me from them,” Lelu answered before pulling him down into a hug, this time with his head resting next to hers as she started to break down into tears again. “Thank you, Max. Thank you for helping me. Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Max remained silent as the centaur cried and held onto him, all her emotions and heartache about what she had lost once again hitting her like a wave. She held her only source of comfort close, the only one she could rely on now in the harsh world. As she wept Max slowly held the girl and closed his eyes, feeling even more confused about his choices of not killing the monster and instead feeling sorry for her.

  While Lelu cried her heart out over her tragedy Max wondered how badly this was going to end for him. And while thoughts of how his sisters would react knowing he was harboring a lost centaur in their home caused a great deal of discomfort for him he found himself also lamenting another fact that became poignant.

  ‘The first time I hold a girl and comfort her when she’s scared, and she’s a monster. What is wrong with me?’

  *****

  Standing outside their ride Daniel and his girls were saying their farewells to the visiting witch sisters, except for Clover and Doku as they had not returned while the harpy was being ‘punished’ for inappropriately touching Daniel and causing quite a commotion during her little daydreaming incident.

  “Thank you again for the lovely time,” Apoch and Astreal said together while waving at the group in the exact same way. “We simply must do this again soon.”

  “Yes, of course,” Daniel agreed with a wave to them. “Hopefully without having to draw our swords however.”

  “I don’t know,” Astreal mused coyly with a finger held to her chin. “It was rather fun to play with you today. If you would like I wouldn’t mind doing so again in the future. Perhaps I could teach you a thing or two.”

  “I think we could both teach him a thing or two,” Apoch giggled with a wink at him.

  “We’re fine,” Triska quickly assured with a forced smile. “I’ll handle teaching him how to use his sword. He doesn’t need any more tutors.”

  “You can relax, Ms. Triska,” Astreal laughed shaking her head. “We’re only having fun with him. By no means are we planning on joining his little ‘harem’.”

  “He already has a witch to make love to, right?” Apoch reasoned with a sly grin at Alyssa. “No need for any more.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Alyssa agreed with a weak laugh. “I’m the only witch he needs.”

  “Wait,” Specca called out quickly trotting over to the witches with a bottle. “Here, please take this with you. It’s the wine you two are so fond of, please take the rest as a gift. Perhaps Charlotte would enjoy some as well.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Specca,” Astreal said taking careful hold of the wine. “I believe she would love to try it.”

  “I like this one,” Apoch mentioned eyeing over the nixie. Specca smiled amusedly at her then bowed politely to the witches. They returned the gesture before walking off together, with Apoch then pausing and snapping her fingers.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” she mused glancing back to Daniel. “Our master wanted us to let you know that there are three methods you can use to strengthen the power of your Synergy magic. In case you wished to speed up your training.”

  “There are?” Daniel asked with all the girls growing more curious as well.

  “Yes. The first is absence, the second is love, and the third is-”

  “Wait, slow down,” Daniel said stepping forward. “What do you mean by absence?”

  “Simple,” Astreal spoke up with a smirk. “The longer you are separated from your mates the stronger their nature will burn for you. Although try not to ignore them for too long or else that could very easily change, hee hee.”

  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, wouldn’t you agree?” Apoch reasoned with a shrug. “In a way it’s just a matter of letting their desire for you build up within themselves for a more powerful offering.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” Daniel pondered. “Though I don’t believe I want to be separated from my family for any reason, even if it is to grow stronger. So I think I’ll pass on that method.”

  “Like we would let you try that option,” Triska chuckled crossing her arms.

  “We’re not letting you go-o,” Luna playfully sang hopping about, with Daniel laughing a bit and the other girls nodding in agreement.

  “And the second option of love sounds like what we already knew of,” Specca said with an expecting look at Daniel. “We do need to spend much more time with one another, both to help his magical prowess increase and also because he did promise to take care of us.”

  “He’s got quite a few mates to tend to,” Triska mentioned. “If he doesn’t live up to his promise of taking care of them then he’s going to need magic to protect himself.”

  “And I will own up to my promise,” Daniel assured holding his hands up defensively. “No need for the dramatic threats or reminders. You all mean the world to me and I meant what I said about taking responsibility for my choices.”

  “Yay!” Cindy cheered hopping up and down. “I mean the world to him! He likes me! He really likes me!”

  “For the love of…” Specca sighed, lowering her head and covering her eyes.

  “She’s going to be hard to talk to about this, isn’t she?”
Kroanette worried.

  “What was your first clue?” Falla flatly remarked.

  Daniel watched the sand wraith jumping about in glee with a blank expression then rolled his eyes and turned back to the witch sisters.

  “Anyway, that sounds like the better way of strengthening my magic.”

  “There is a faster way of increasing your power with this sort of spell, Mr. Daniel,” the twins mentioned with a twinkle in their eyes. “The third option would double the amount of energy you could obtain from your mates at the very least.”

  “Double?” Triska wondered. “How could Daniel get that much energy from us so quickly? Isn’t us loving Daniel what gives him his power to begin with? How can we do more than that?”

  “We already love him like crazy,” Falla added with a shrug.

  “HE’S SO HOT AND SEXY!” Luna screamed with a deranged smile before laughing out of control, with everyone staring at her in silence while Cindy quickly scrambled over behind Daniel and hid from the loud girl.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Cindy nervously asked peeking over his shoulder.

  “She’s just a little special,” he answered calmly.

  “A little?” Apoch and Astreal repeated with raised eyebrows.

  “She certainly is nuts for him,” Falla agreed, with the group watching as Luna laughed wildly for a while longer before suddenly returning to her peaceful demeanor.

  “What is it?” she asked from seeing everyone just staring at her. Triska shook her head slightly at her special co-mate then turned to the twins in question again.

  “Don’t worry about her. But back to the point here, what can Daniel do to draw that much more energy from us?”

  “It’s quite easy,” Astreal assured with a sly smile at Daniel. “All he has to do is knock you up.”

  Everyone blinked then looked to the sisters in surprise as they giggled in unison.

  “Knock them up?” Daniel slowly repeated.

  “Yes,” Apoch agreed. “Impregnate them with your seed. That’s not too hard for you, is it?”

  “It will vastly increase your power, Mr. Daniel,” Astreal explained. “It’s not too surprising if you stop to think about it. If they were to become mothers to your children they would of course develop a stronger bond with you.”