“Finish the fuckers, aye sir,” Pike responded as she smirked, ready to kill. “Consider it done, sir.”
Jakoff couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m beginning to like you,” he said. “You’re going to go far.”
“I will,” Pike replied. “I’m not as easy to kill as my former partner. Count on it.”
Jakoff stopped yammering. “Just get it done,” he ordered.
Pike swiped her finger over the earpiece for radio silence. She then increased her pace to catch up with her monster kill-squad.
Back inside Sheol, Jer led Dakota to dimly-lit and hollowed-out cave.
He ordered two glasses of monster moonshine from the bartender, who looked like a cheetah, spots included.
“Neat, no rocks,” Jer said. “And make them doubles, please.”
The cheetah-bartender poured the drinks from a bottle that was marked with skulls and crossed out eyes not that different from a poison warning label. He then slid the glasses across a carved-out counter made of granite.
Jer and Dakota clinked their glasses together and sipped while making eye contact.
Dakota spilled a little out of the sides of her mouth and had to wipe the drops away.
Jer reached out and used the back of his left hand to brush off a drop she’d missed.
Dakota’s eyes glinted, and she reached her own left hand out and brushed it across Jer’s mouth. Slowly, she let her fingers linger. Then, she licked the remainder of the monster moonshine off.
They stared at each other for several seconds before Jer broke the silence. “You aren’t slumming, are you?” he asked.
“Slumming?” she asked. “I don’t get the slang.”
“Getting with someone below your economic and societal ladder, aiming low on purpose,” Jer explained. “You’re obviously well-funded, or you wouldn’t be offering to foot the bill on Max’s cooperation. I’m guessing trust fund. Tell me I’m wrong. I don’t think I’m wrong.”
Dakota squinted and touched an index finger to her chin. “Yes, that works,” she said. “Trust fund. I have a trust fund of sorts.”
“But are you slumming?” Jer asked, not afraid to repeat himself until he got the answer he wanted.
“I’ve always had a thing for incredibly handsome and intelligent nerdy doctor types,” Dakota said. “You fit the bill.”
“Handsome,” Jer said back. “Never thought of myself that way.”
Dakota leaned in close. “You’re incredibly handsome and clever to boot,” she said with a sly smile. “My guess is you’re hot and don’t know it because your body was catching up to your facial features, mismatched, and now that you’ve become a fully-grown sexy man, I wanna bone you.”
Jer grinned. “I think you mean to say that you want me to bone you.”
“Either way,” Dakota said with a wink. “Whatever you’re into, bulldog.”
The flattery was nice. The invitation to do whatever he wanted was even better. The sincerity in her voice was what sealed the deal. He pressed his lips to hers, and the two of them interlocked. They groped at one another like college students in heat, ready to get things started right there in the open if need be.
Jer, however, began to have a doubt. What if his inkling of a suspicion that she was a plant turned out to be true? What if she wasn’t prepared to handle the dynamic of one guy and three-plus women that monster girls were accustomed to because so few human men were unafraid of the false myth that Transhumana Monstrare was viral? What if she were to disrupt his relationship with Damiana, Evangeline, and Mira? There were too many unknowns. “Not sure this is a good idea,” Jer said as he pulled back. “I mean, you’re my intern.”
“If you’re worried about whether you’re taking advantage of me or not, you should know that I’m actually older than you, believe it or not, and this is my second PhD. I’m working on,” Dakota said. “Plus, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, and I want to fucking do you.”
“Well put,” Jer said. “I want to fucking do you too. Wait. What? You’re older than me, and you have more degrees?”
“It sounds better coming from me,” Dakota said as she flinched. “And yes, I’m twenty-nine, according to my profile, and you’re twenty-seven. That makes me older. My first doctorate was in human studies and psychiatry. Now I’m doing monster studies and psychiatry.”
“What about the other women in my life?” Jer asked.
Dakota shrugged, and her lips curled up on the left side. “If you’ve got the balls to not be afraid of a virus, real or fake, then you’ve got a wolf inside you that I want inside of me.”
“Fair enough,” Jer said. “I adore your precision and complete inability to be subtle. Are we going to do each other or not?”
“You really know how to ruin a moment, don’t you,” Dakota said and laughed.
“Just want to make sure all our cards are on the table,” Jer said.
“Speaking of cards,” Dakota said. “I’ve heard that your…other women are all badass, Damiana included. Just want to make sure they’re not going to rip my throat out for inserting myself despite not being a monster.”
“They only get involved with ‘alpha’ males, meaning they’re not interested in men who aren’t seeing others,” Jer replied. “I’m pretty much obligated to get around.”
Dakota spat as she burst into a laugh. “How convenient.”
“Yes, how,” Jer said as he wiped her spittle from his chin.
“Sorry,” she said.
Jer shook his head. “It’s fine. It’s kind of hot actually. We are about to exchange bodily fluids anyway,” he said with certainty and confidence.
“Perfect,” Dakota said and started kissing Jer again.
Murmurs from close by interrupted them, though. Onlookers gathered just outside the bar for a peek at what looked like humans being intimate, a rare sight for monsters.
“We should go somewhere more private,” Jer suggested.
“Up to you,” Dakota said and grinned. “I don’t mind the attention.”
“You’re voyeuristic, huh?” Jer asked without waiting for a response. “I like the attention too, but the last thing we need is to end up famous from being the main attraction in a black-market human voyeur video for monsters.”
“Lead the way,” Dakota said.
In a tunnel that was on the cusp of Sheol, a monster-guard who looked like Frankenstein’s monster with his horns sticking out of the sides of his head instead of the top, emerged from behind a giant, wooden door. The monster-guard hoisted his rifle and held his left palm out in the universal symbol for ‘stop.’
Out of the darkness emerged a dragon-monster and his crew of three harpies snarling as their claws dug into the ground, beckoning for a fight. Their eyes gleamed with menace as they stared down the monster-guard, whose eyes met the dragon-monster.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Benedict Arnol—”
Two silenced bullets streamed over the top of the dragon-monster’s right shoulder and thudded into the monster-guard, silencing him.
Pike lowered her pistol, marched forward, stepped over the steaming corpse, and swiped her earpiece, cueing the door to open. She and her monster kill-squad then scrambled down a ladder that led to Sheol.
Jer and Dakota slipped out of the bar and away from the crowds, sneaking into a cave alcove that was out of sight from the market. Next, they found their way into a hostel that rented by the minute.
“An hour,” Jer said to a monster-clerk.
“An hour?” Dakota asked. “Aren’t you optimistic…”
Jer grinned and placed a hand on her elbow.
“Fifty for half-an-hour. Two-hundred for an hour,” the monster-clerk said.
“Seems like price gouging,” Jer said. “Shouldn’t it be less for more? Like a discount for spending more?”
The monster-clerk furrowed his bushy and overgrown eyebrows. “Less for more? That doesn’t make any sense. You need more, you pay more.”
“Geezus,” Jer
spat.
“I’ve got it,” Dakota said and slipped the cash across the counter that was carved out of rock. “My grant is actually pretty solid.”
“Good for you,” Jer said as he led her into a backroom, relieved that she had mentioned a grant. It could have been a lie, but still.
Cushy pillows were piled up on a naturally-hollowed out stone bed in the corner. Jer picked up Dakota and carried her to the nook. The second they hit the pillows, they started ripping at each other’s clothes, actually ripping them off, and groping one another, running their lips along skin, biting, teasing.
As Dakota ran her right hand up and down Jer’s firm chest and abdomen, she clutched his buttocks and pulled him in close. Between her legs, Jer pressed against her, his bulge showing through his pants.
Dakota smiled, ripped the button off his trousers, and wrapped her lips around his cock.
At first, Jer let himself go as his body filled with overwhelming lust and arousal. He felt himself getting too lost in the moment, though, and pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” Dakota asked.
“Nothing,” Jer said. “I just don’t want it to end before it begins is all.”
“I don’t mind,” Dakota said and giggled flirtatiously.
“I do,” Jer said and pulled her on top of him.
It took some easing in, but Dakota slid down and got all of him inside. Her hips gyrated back and forth and up and down as Jer’s hips pushed up off the firm concrete bed, gaining leverage as he thrusted with everything he had.
Dakota arched in ecstasy and wrapped her body around Jer’s. The two of them rocked forward and back, knocking the pillows loose and onto the ground. Dakota’s moans shifted between that of pleasure and hunger, as if it was her first time, which felt evident to Jer despite Dakota gyrating her body as if she’d done this a thousand times before.
Lost in the moment, Dakota devoured Jer. The unusual combination of uncontrolled and wild throes mixed with the hungry hands and lips of a woman who was partaking and indulging in their intimate foray like she’d never tasted sensuality before caused Jer to be overtaken with excitement.
He couldn’t hold back anymore. He couldn’t stop himself from climaxing. His hips thrust upward and deeper into her.
Their bodies held up off the concrete, firm and pressed hard together as they orgasmed together. After a few seconds, their heavy breathing started to slow down.
Dakota collapsed on top of Jer and ran her fingers through his chest hair.
“Was that your first time?” Jer asked. “Not that it’s any of my business. And it’s fine. Just curious.”
“Yes, how’d you know?” Dakota asked as she blushed.
“You were so uncontrolled and not at all inhibited,” Jer replied. “It was incredible.”
“For me too,” she said.
“Wanna go again?” Jer asked with a grin.
Dakota chuckled.
“Hell yeah!” she said. “Let’s go!”
Their flesh rubbed together once more as they began grasping at each other. This time, though, their embraces and touches were more intimate and passionate.
Jer took his time exploring her body, kissing every inch of her. He flipped her body over and ran his body along hers, massaging all of her with all of his body.
13
Behind These Eyes
Inside a dark tunnel, Pike and her monster kill-squad stopped shy of the last sealed door that stood between them and Sheol. Pike pressed on the ear-device, and a projection of the underground monster city’s layout displayed before her. Sheol was there for the taking, and she was going to make it happen.
On a dusty boulevard that passed for a street, Jer and Dakota rejoined Max and Damiana forty-five minutes after having separated, fifteen or so minutes shy of what Jer had paid for. Monsters of all shapes and sizes glared daggers at the group from every direction.
“Now you know how it feels for me to walk down the streets in your shiny little city, alderman,” Damiana snapped.
An older zombie monster opened his mouth and pointed to Max with a slurping sound as if he was licking his chops and readying for dinner.
“Yeah. Well, at least there isn’t the threat of being eaten,” Max replied.
Flickers of light flashed from plasma screens hanging on the side of a clay building. A corporate news broadcast began playing.
On screen, multiple images of GenAdvance soldiers swarmed around containment areas, preparing for riot control and battle. In turn, monsters were building up barricades and readying for defense. The angles, however, made it look like monsters were preparing to assault.
A broadcaster with an excessive amount of makeup appeared at an anchor desk and spewed his corporate-fed propaganda. “Corporate Head of Security and Pharma Chief of Police Jake Jakoff has stated that the company will do whatever it takes to settle the current monster-caused dispute without having to resort to violence,” the newscaster said. “Let’s go to Jakoff live now as he gives us an update.”
The footage switched to a press-conference. Jake Jakoff stood on a dais, surrounded by aides, and in front of a herd of microphones and reporters.
“We will endeavor to protect against the loss of life and destruction to property and infrastructure,” Jakoff began. “However, we will not stop before we bring to justice those responsible for the inhumane murder of Arnold Jasper—”
The footage unexpectedly flickered and died, cutting off the broadcast.
Jer shook his head and plodded down the street.
Dakota caught up with him. “Why’d that monster, Carswell, say that GenAdvance wasn’t the only one who hates you?” she asked.
“Some people don’t like change, Dakota,” Jer answered.
“Some people also don’t like circuitous answers to pointed questions,” Dakota replied.
“How’d you do in Sarcasm 101 at Yale?” he asked and smiled.
“Same as Enthusiasm 101,” Dakota said. “Aced it.”
“You’re nothing if not consistent. Do you really wanna know?” he asked.
Dakota smiled and nodded with curiosity in her eyes.
“I’ve been trying to help monsters adapt to a human-run world and to take control over the internal drive that causes both monsters and humans to be aggressive and violent, sometimes with the aid of therapy and on occasion, medicinally,” Jer said. “Humans have shown for centuries that we can be as aggressive and violent than monsters. Yet, humans get the benefit of the doubt. I don’t see that as fair, but if it’s the world we live in, a human-run world, then my goal is to help monsters find ways to navigate it while finding a bit of peace and maybe even happiness along the way. The pushback comes from a large contingent of monsters who don’t want change, and they resent that I would even suggest it. Truth be told, I agree with them, but until something changes the social dynamic the best I can offer are coping mechanisms that make life less challenging.”
“Then maybe the humans should change,” Dakota countered.
“Good luck with that,” Jer replied.
“It’s my belief that we can be more than we’re created to be,” Dakota said. “Call me foolish, but I have hope.”
Jer and Dakota smiled together. “Lovely sentiment,” Jer said. “I hope it’s true.”
Dakota’s smile wilted, though, and Jer followed her look to a group of heavily-armed monster-guards that were a cross between iguanas and gorillas. A hirsute Bigfoot-looking monster roughly frisked Max as Damiana stood to the side.
“Still wanna see Ambrose, doc?” Damiana asked.
“Take me to your leader,” Jer joked and nodded.
“Working on it,” Damiana said, not acknowledging the joke.
A moment later, inside a decrepit bar that passed as an opium den and a speakeasy,
Jer and the others passed by sacked-out monsters who guzzled booze and took hits from asthma inhalers.
At a staircase the hirsute Bigfoot monster stopped the group and waived a massive clawed ha
nd at Jer.
“Just the doc,” the hirsute monster said.
Jer followed the hirsute monster through a cavernous corridor.
At the end, a metal door creaked open, leading to a narrow space, which was full of office furnishings that befitted a mad scientist with a hint of disgruntled yet tenured college professor. Books lined the walls, stacked in piles.
Papers full of odd city layout drawings and formulas covered the ground. Weird formulae were scrawled on blackboards above.
Doctor Ambrose Thornton, half-monster, half-human, rose from a frayed chair. He stood at no less than six-foot-eight-inches.
As he stepped toward Jer, he blotted his furry and clawed hands on a soiled lab coat and adjusted his crooked spectacles.
“Jesus,” Ambrose said.
“Never been mistaken for him before,” Jer said, tongue in cheek.
Ambrose smiled as the two of them shook hands.
“I assume your visit means that the little man is gone,” Ambrose said.
“Parachuted into a parking lot without a parachute,” Jer said and nodded.
Ambrose grimaced.
“Too bad,” Ambrose said with sincerity in his tone. “Liked him. He had good intentions.”
“He gave me this, posthumously,” Jer said as he pulled the vial and piece of paper out of his inner pocket and slid them across a battered wooden desk.
“Unbelievable,” Ambrose said and gasped when he looked at the paper and vial. “When he told me, I didn’t really believe that—”
“—he actually found it,” Jer said, finishing Ambrose’s thought. “Or at least part of it. And he left a clue that you could help me find the other part.”
“No, no, and no,” Ambrose said. “Not a chance. There’s only one person who can help you, and I have no way of making that happen.”
“Matthias?” Jer asked.
Ambrose nodded and lowered his eyes.
“Then I need you take me to him,” Jer demanded.
“Nobody sees him,” Ambrose says.
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 12