Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  They just needed to show their heart, no matter how hard it was for them.

  *****

  “Oh dear,” Doku worried while peeking over her wings.

  “That was bad,” Luna whined as she was hiding behind Daniel’s back.

  “Wow,” Cindy said from beside Daniel, holding Snapper close to her bosom while the young swarm was also looking around with eyes of wonder just as she was.

  “My boobies,” Pip mourned looking down with a sniffle, the tiny fairy fluttering close to Daniel’s head.

  Daniel however was looking down with a hand held tiredly over his eyes, a simple sigh coming from his mouth as he stood at the edge of their campsite with five girls next to him who were unharmed. The rest of his girls, not so much.

  Peeking through his fingers Daniel glanced around at the sight. Star was sitting on her legs in the middle of the campsite, her tails gently waving behind her while she merely turned her head side to side with a simple meow as she remained perfectly unharmed, despite there being gashes of torn dirt, burnt rubble, fallen branches and leaves, and wisps of smoke lingering all around her. That and the girls who had foolishly attacked the jinx out of jealousy after seeing her kissing Daniel.

  Lying face first off to her side Specca showed signs of life by a twitch of her leg now and again, the nixie being covered in dirt with smoke drifting up from her singed skirt. Nearby Squeak’s legs were sticking up from where she was struck down into the dirt like a spike, her foot moving a bit along with a hand that was above the ground showing she too was still alive. Clover was hanging upside down from a tree with a dazed expression, her hair and cloak dangling below her while her black panties were seen with her skirt dropping down to her stomach. Falla was lying on her wings at the end of a long crevice she had apparently torn up from being launched away at high speed, the girl groaning with a bloody lip and tattered clothing that was nearly falling off her body. Alyssa’s hat was seen atop a bush while the witch’s leg was sticking out of it to the side, the girl’s staff being struck into a neighboring tree while leaves were gently falling around her from above. Kroanette was feebly hanging onto a branch for a moment longer before it finally snapped and dropped the centaur down onto the ground with a thump, the girl lying there motionless with a weak groan of pain and her shirt finally bursting open in the front after it had been ripped up. And Kitten was barely standing while having her sword drawn before her, the cambion’s wings arched back while her clothing was scorched and her body was smoking still. She was wearily glaring at Star while standing amidst a large crevice that was dug out further behind her, showing a powerful blast had recently erupted past and burned the demon with a heavy onslaught. After a moment longer the cambion dropped down face first with her sword clanging onto the burnt rubble, with Star meowing curiously at her before turning to Daniel with an innocent expression on her face.

  “Girls?” Doku nervously called out. “Are you all okay?”

  “Sister?” Luna asked peeking out from behind Daniel’s shoulder. “Are you still alive?”

  “They really got hurt,” Cindy said, with Snapper still looking around at the fallen girls with a curious gurgle.

  “My poor, poor boobies,” Pip whimpered. “And Alyssa and Clover too.”

  “Fuck… you…” Clover weakly said before the branch she was caught on broke, with the girl promptly dropping down into a bush with a thump.

  Daniel sighed and shook his head while seeing his mates incapacitated from having charged the jinx with the intent to harm her, all of them also having apparently forgotten that attacking a jinx never ends well for anyone.

  “This sort of behavior seems all too familiar.”

  *****

  “That… damned… cat…” Falla muttered while resting in their bath, eyes wearily gazing up at the ceiling while steam gently lingered about in the air. Beside her Squeak was leaning against the edge with a bandage wrapped around her head, the ant girl squeaking softly while looking up at the ceiling with the same distant expression.

  “What were we thinking?” Alyssa groaned rubbing her head while sitting beside her co-mates in the water. “Bad things happen to those who attack a jinx. And we just rushed her at the same time without any care for what would happen to us.”

  “She just sat there,” Specca softly spoke while looking down at the water. “Sat there… smiling at us. She knew we couldn’t hurt her, we were only amusing her with our attempts. She just smiled at us.”

  “How the fuck did all that happen anyway?” Clover growled while fuming with rage beside the nixie. “One second we’re all on top of her and the next we’re all over the place. Fuck, I don’t even remember how Kroanette and I got stuck in that tree, what the fuck happened to us?”

  “Shut up,” Kitten grunted holding her hands over her ears while sitting in the bath. “Shut up, shut up, shut up, Triska! I heard you the first time!”

  “I don’t care!” Triska yelled in her head. “What were you thinking attacking Star with the Hellfire’s Edge like that? If that attack wasn’t repelled by her magic it would have incinerated Daniel!”

  ‘I wasn’t going to hit him, I swear! I know how to control this thing better than you do! Who was the one who taught you how to wield it anyway?’

  “Not to mention you nearly killed us! When that fiery spell came hurtling back towards us I thought we were dead meat!”

  “Oh my god, shut up, Triska!” Kitten yelled shaking her head. “I’m in enough pain right now, I don’t need you adding to that in giving me a splitting headache with your relentless badgering!”

  “Triska’s here?” Cindy asked looking around, the sand wraith sitting on a stool near the bath while still holding Snapper in her arms. The swarm was snapping her teeth while snarling and thrashing about in the wraith’s grasp, her eyes going around at all the girls who were bathing and recovering from their failed attack on the jinx as she apparently had her energy rekindled again.

  “Where is she?” Cindy wondered. “I don’t see or hear her. She’s always so loud, if she were here we would hear her. I know we would.”

  “Falla, are you okay now?” Luna worried from beside her sister.

  “No, I’m not,” Falla grumbled holding her head. “Star’s in love with Daniel and won’t go away, and we can’t make her go away.”

  Squeak closed her eyes and squeaked something with a troubled frown, appearing to agree with the common concern about Star being extremely difficult to ward away, what with her near-immortality, reflective aura, and ability to instantly teleport to Daniel no matter who may stand in her way.

  “I should have punished Star like I did before,” Alyssa growled. “But no, Daniel told her to wait by her clock while he tried to wake Kroanette up and for the rest of us to recover in here, and she obeyed him without a single moment’s pause. She’s going to do anything he says from now on, she’s going to kiss his ass if it means he’ll take her as his mate.”

  “She just kept smiling at us,” Specca murmured in a trance, envisioning Star’s eerily friendly smile and twinkling eyes peering into her soul. “She didn’t even blink. She didn’t even flinch. Just kept staring at us… and smiling.”

  “I mean, fuck,” Clover grunted in frustration. “What the fuck happened to us? Kroanette and I were in the fucking tree. How the fuck did Kroanette end up in the tree with me? That doesn’t even seem possible. How does a centaur wind up in a fucking tree?”

  “Would you shut up already, Triska?” Kitten barked out. “You’re not making this any easier for anyone!”

  “Where is she?” Cindy fretted looking around quickly. “I don’t hear her. I don’t see her either. Snapper, do you hear her?”

  Snapper just looked back to Cindy, blinked while remaining silent, and then resumed snapping her teeth at the girls in the bath with a wide smile.

  “So, what is it we’re to do now?” Doku asked while wiping some dirt off of Clover’s face from in front of the elf, the harpy also wiping some grime off of Kitten
’s wing while she sat in the bath with the girls. “Daniel said he wasn’t going to take Star as a mate, but he did extend the invite for her to remain with us as just a friend and example of his belief.”

  “It always starts with just being friends and examples of his belief,” Falla snapped. “That’s how we joined the harem. That’s how you and Clover joined the harem. That’s how anyone joins his harem!”

  “Clover wasn’t his friend before,” Luna recalled. “She was always mean to him.”

  “Yeah, but he was nice to me anyway,” Clover pointed out while Doku brushed her hair aside. “Even when I was such a jerk to him he still cared about me and treated me like a friend.”

  “It’s the same cycle all over again,” Alyssa complained with a splash of the water. “Star’s going to keep being nice to Daniel until he finally falls for her. It’s how all you girls got to be his after I found him, with persistence and persistence and more damned persistence.”

  “We love you too,” Falla muttered closing her eyes.

  “She’s right though,” Specca sighed. “Daniel did reject her affections, but if he and Star are able to get closer with one another during the time she’s traveling with us he may fall for her too. He chose us as his mates because he wanted to protect and take care of us. How long until he wants to do the same for her?”

  “She needs to go,” Kitten scoffed. “My master doesn’t want her as his property, so that means she can’t stay with us. It’s that simple.”

  “We’re not his- oh never mind,” Specca huffed with annoyance. “The problem is she’s proof of his belief, something we would want to show his queen. It would benefit our cause to have her with us. That and Daniel doesn’t want to cast her away, he doesn’t want to be cruel by abandoning her after she’s placed all her faith in him.”

  “He’s too nice!” Clover cried out shaking her head. “Dammit, why is Dan so nice to us anyway? We’re not human, how the fuck did he get to be so kind and caring towards monsters like us?”

  “He’s always seen the good in monsters,” Alyssa softly replied. “He’s always believed we could control ourselves and our nature, that we could be allies of mankind. And he’s always wanted better lives for our races, he doesn’t want us to be alone or hated in the world. He genuinely cares about us just as we are.”

  “He’s too good to be true,” Falla moped with worried eyes up at the ceiling. “He’s willing to fight with his very life to protect us, all because we’re normal girls to him and not freaks. He really wants to be with us and have families with us.”

  “Yeah,” Luna said looking down to her waist. “He already knocked all of us up earlier; he really wanted to impregnate us.”

  “He WHAT?” Clover and Doku cried out at them in shock.

  “Oh, yes,” Specca remembered before smiling timidly at them. “Well, Daniel decided earlier that he wanted to have children with us. Right now.”

  “He mated with all of us,” Alyssa added. “And gave us more than enough of his seed. We’re all going to be mothers soon.”

  Squeak nodded and held a hand below her stomach with a gentle smile forming on her face from the thought.

  “Oh my,” Doku gasped with a deep blush. “He… he really did that? With all of you?”

  “He knocked you all up?” Clover asked in surprise. “He got you all pregnant?”

  “I’d say we are,” Falla agreed with a small smile. “Though I have a feeling Daniel’s going to give it to us a lot more soon. If we’re not pregnant yet we’re going to be.”

  “You’re all going to have babies?” Cindy squealed in excitement. “That’s amazing! I love babies! When can I have a baby with him? I want to have one too!”

  “You have Snapper, you’re good,” Alyssa said waving her off.

  “But I wanna have a baby with Daniel!” Cindy whined hopping up and down.

  “For you to have a child you would have to devour other people,” Specca reminded her. “You would need to kill others, and that’s bad, remember?”

  “But… but… how else can I have a baby? I want to have one too, it’s not fair you all can have babies but I can’t!”

  “Hold it!” Clover yelled out. All the girls turned to her as she struggled to keep her composure with both hands held to her head. “Wait a minute here, are you saying that… that… Dan’s going to knock us up too? I’m really going to have a daughter with him? He’s going to give it all to me? I can really have a family with him?”

  “Right now?” Doku squeaked while ducking low into the water. “Oh dear, I’m… I’m a bit nervous about this. I wasn’t prepared to receive my husband’s seed so soon. I actually get to have sex with Daniel and have a daughter with him? Is that really happening tonight?”

  “You two aren’t doing that with him yet,” Alyssa snapped. “You just joined his harem today! You’re not ready to receive his seed!”

  “Only we’re getting his seed now,” Falla explained. “If you girls really become lovers like we are then I guess you would get it, but for now that’s out of the question.”

  “If you want to be knocked up then you need to be good girls like us,” Luna added with a smile. “That’s how Daniel chose us as his lovers, he liked us for who we were on the inside. That and we all loved each other too, so you have to like having sex with girls also.”

  “Oh my,” Doku breathed out while trembling. “This is all so much to hear at once. I need… to have sex with all of you before I can have his seed? That’s so… dirty. Mmm…”

  “But what if Dan wants to do me now?” Clover quickly asked. “What if he chooses me tonight? What if he wants to make a baby elf with me right now? Then I can do it with him, right?”

  “You’re not having sex with our man without our permission!” Specca yelled out. All the girls fell quiet and turned to her as she was glaring at Clover. “You don’t get it, do you? The only reason we’re okay with sharing Daniel is because we don’t want to lose each other, that’s why this works! We want to be with each other, we love each other. We’re a family. If you were to have sex with Daniel then that means we’ve accepted you as one of us, that we too never want to be without you, that we love you for who you are. He may have chosen you as his mate, that’s his choice if he wants to keep you with him, but you’re not touching his penis without our approval! We were his mates first!”

  Clover and Doku fell silent along with Cindy, the three girls seeing the others giving them firm expressions and nods of agreement.

  “So we’re not going to have sex with Daniel yet?” Doku worried.

  “Not yet,” Specca replied with a sympathetic smile at her. “We do like you, Doku. Most of us are okay with the idea of you joining, so you’re well on your way to having a family with Daniel. Clover however is very far away from that point.”

  “Fuck me,” Clover groaned lowering her head in remorse.

  “What about me?” Cindy wondered.

  “You’re not part of our family at all,” Alyssa told her. “You’re not part of his harem, and you’re certainly not joining us in bed with him. You have nothing to do with any of this.”

  “But I want to be with him,” Cindy whined hopping up and down. “I really like him!”

  “So does every monster we come across!” Alyssa yelled at her. “That doesn’t mean you can be his just because you like him!”

  “I adore him like no other,” Kitten muttered. “I worship him, and yet I too am denied being his sex slave. He’ll take any other girl he likes to bed with him, but not the one who loves him the most. What must I do in order to become his pet like all of you?”

  “For starters, stop treating us like things!” Specca yelled at her. “We’re not his property, we’re not his sex slaves; we’re his mates! The ones he loves and who love him very much!”

  “I love him!” Kitten yelled back.

  “I love him!” Cindy whined hopping about with Snapper in her arms.

  “I love him!” Clover pleaded loudly with a blush.<
br />
  “I love him,” Doku shyly said holding up her wing.

  “We all love him,” Falla droned sitting back against the bath’s edge. “We love him, Clover loves him, Doku loves him, Star loves him, Cindy loves him, and of course Kitten loves him. Now that we have that all cleared up how about a tougher mystery. What the heck are we supposed to do now with all these girls wanting to join us?”

  “They can’t join us with Daniel until we say it’s okay,” Luna reasoned with a shrug. “We have to get along with each other first, that’s how it works.”

  “Daniel must prove he can take care of those he has already promised to,” Specca asserted. “After that if he has the strength to take another mate, and if we approve of her joining us, then another may join his harem.”

  “And just how are you going to approve of us?” Kitten scoffed. “What do we have to do to get your blessing to have sex with my master?”

  “We need a bond,” Doku softly said. All the girls turned to her as she stood up with water running down her wings and body. “That’s what made it work for you girls before us, you all loved each other and didn’t want to lose one another. We need to love one another just as we do with Daniel.”

  “So I have to eat out all these girls to be his?” Kitten sighed. “Dammit, fine. I’ll do it. The things I do for my master…”

  “It’s not that simple, Kitten,” Doku reasoned. “It’s not physical love we need to share, it’s emotional. That needs to come first. They need to truly care about you in order for you to mate with their man. That’s why they’re sharing him, because they all love each other equally.”

  “Well said, Doku,” Specca complimented. “That’s exactly right.”

  “With that mentality you’ll be joining us very soon,” Alyssa mused with a slight smile.

  “And how can the rest of us form that bond?” Clover asked. “Everyone’s always loved Doku, never had a doubt she wouldn’t be joining you girls with Dan. But what about us? How are we supposed to form that bond when you all hate our guts?”