Monster Girl Defense Force

by Simon Archer

“You better.” She sniffed and wiped her nose. “Or I am personally going to kick your royal ass.”

  That evening, as we went over the last of our plans at the council meeting, a nervous tension seemed to linger in the air in anticipation of my and Christoff’s departure. The council was nervous about trying to run the kingdom while Christoff and I were away, especially during such dire times when word from other kingdoms could come at any moment, but I had faith. They had proven to be more than capable of keeping everything running smoothly without me, as they had done it on my many trips before, especially when we were just building the New World. Not only that, but we took precautions, as well.

  We lessened the troops training to half the time while I was gone in order to double security at the wall in case of a breach. We had maps prepared in case they had to send the troops outside the borders before we got back, and Rachel was a more than capable second-in-command. If anything were to happen to me, I knew that Constanta would be in good hands.

  But I didn’t entertain that thought for too long. I had every intention of fulfilling my promise to Rachel. I would get what I needed from the BloodDrake, keep Christoff safe, and return to Constanta. Preferably before all hell broke loose, but some things were simply out of our control, which was why we planned for everything. It was difficult for me to focus, especially when Christoff showed up to the council meeting in pale blue silk shorts that he used as a nightclothes and a sheer, lengthy nightshirt.

  After the meeting, once everyone had wished us safe travels and we’d shared a few lingering embraces, Christoff stayed behind until the last of them had left. Once the door closed behind Anix, the last to leave, Chris turned to face me, his mouth open to say something, but I was on him before he could get a single word out.

  A surprised giggle burst from my lips as his own lips found my neck, licking, biting, and suckling. My giggle faded into a needy moan as he worked his way up my neck, to that sensitive spot behind my ear, to the soft skin of my jaw.

  “You, your highness, have been driving me completely up the wall in this wicked little dress of yours,” he said against my skin while he played with the seam at the bottom of my own nightgown where the silky material hit me mid-thigh. I could feel the strain of hardened dick pressing up against my abdomen.

  My breath hitched when his hand began to move higher and higher until his fingertips grazed the material at my hip. His grip on the material tightened when he realized that it was the only thing, besides his own clothing, that was physically blocking him from burying himself deep inside me. I clung to Christoff’s shoulders, my nails biting into the material of his nightshirt, as I rubbed my chest against his, desperate for any sort of friction, of relief I could get.

  “Tell me what you want,” he said, switching to the other side to give the right side of my jaw the same attention.

  “Hmmm…?” I hummed absently, and he chuckled into my neck.

  “Tell. Me. What. You. Want.” He punctuated each of his words with a lingering kiss, except for the last one.

  That one, he punctuated with a nip.

  I gasped, and then Christoff was pushing me up against the wall, my wings shimmering into existence, a heavy weight between my shoulder blades. When he pulled away to look at my face, I expected to see surprise or hesitation, but all that simmered in his golden-green eyes was heat. He lightly traced the leathery ridge of the tip of my wing with his fingers, drawing a pleased moan from deep in my chest.

  “I want you,” I said, and a light pink blush spread across my cheeks at the admission.

  Slowly, each corner of his mouth curled up into a sinful smile. “You want me to…?” His voice trailed off, waiting for me to elaborate.

  I swatted at Christoff’s arm, and he chuckled. “I’ll take that as a ‘we’ll see where this leads to.’”

  He bent down to hook his hands behind my thighs and hoisted them onto his waist. His mouth found mine again, and he sucked my lower lip between his teeth, careful not to nip himself on my pointed fangs. A soft whimper escaped my lips, my hips bucking against Christoff’s. The desperate sound spurred him into action, and he fell to his knees, simultaneously placing one of my feet firmly on the floor and the other over his shoulder.

  He looked up at my face to ask for permission, and I nodded, biting my lip. My face flushed with anticipation, and I could already smell the musky scent of my own arousal. The need to dominate warred with the need to please as he ripped my panties from my hips with a loud tearing noise. I gasped, my mouth dropping open in a little ‘o,’ but the heat in Christoff’s eyes only grew hotter.

  He leaned forward, toward my core, and inhaled deeply through his nose.

  “Chris, please.”

  My desperate plea was enough to have his head surging forward and placing a kiss on that sweet spot of mine. Again and again, until his tongue flicked out, and I cried out. When Christoff flattened his tongue, increasing the pressure on my clit, he stuck one finger in my pussy and then another until I was riding his fingers and his face. When I fell apart, I let out a little scream as my orgasm racked my body.

  When the last of the aftershocks finally died down, he carefully placed the leg that was on his shoulder firmly on the floor. I reached for his rock-hard cock, but he grabbed my wrists, pinning them and me to the wall once more. He lowered his lips to my ear, his voice unrecognizably harsh with lust.

  “When I come, it will be on a proper bed, and I will be buried so far deep in you that the entire kingdom will hear your screams of pleasure.”

  29

  Rozmarin

  Christoff carried me to my own quarters that night, my limbs soft and languid, my eyelids drooping in satisfaction. When I awoke before dawn, the reality of the dangers that this trip could pose to Christoff swirled in my head like fruit flies. No matter how much I tried to ignore them, they were always there, buzzing in the back of my mind.

  The need to protect him from anything mildly threatening or uncomfortable warred with the desire to see him blossom and thrive as the strong, capable man I knew he was. In the past months since I’d met him, it felt like my undead heart had grown three sizes, adding a whole new set of priorities along with the others.

  Adriana escorted Christoff to meet me in my quarters before sunrise for one last meal before we flew to the Constantan mountain range. When I opened the door for him, he had already sported a light blush and a sly grin.

  “Good morning,” I greeted him, my voice still rough from sleep.

  “Good morning,” he returned, and I opened the door wider for him to enter.

  “How did you sleep?” I asked as he made his way to the middle of my room, taking it in.

  Christoff shot me a sly smile. “Quite well. I was… tired.”

  My own wicked grin stretched across my face at that. “You were nothing if not thorough, my lord.”

  He smirked and looked away, bringing his attention back to the surrounding space. He walked over to the far end of the room, opposite the entrance, where the floor-to-ceiling windows made up most of the wall that looked out over the east courtyard. My giant, king-sized bed rested against the wall to the right of the entrance, the silver sheets and midnight blue comforter already neatly laid out across the mattress and tucked in beneath the pillows. My bathroom was located behind the bed, much like his room, except my bathroom was far larger and more extravagant, though I rarely ever used it.

  As he made his way through the bathroom door, his eyes grew wide as he took in the marble bathtub in the center of the room, supported by stone beams that reached the ceiling. Above the bathtub hung a silver chandelier that held dozens of candles. When I joined him in the bathroom, I wrapped my arms around him from behind and brought my mouth up to his ear, nipping lightly.

  “When we return from our mission, I believe a bubble bath will be in order.”

  He craned his neck around to face me, excitement widening his eyes. “Really?”

  “I meant for myself, but you are certainly welcom
e to join,” I teased with a mischievous wink.

  Christoff laughed out loud, swatting at my arms until I let him go. “A Vampire Queen with a thing for bubble baths,” he said, running his hands across the cool, marble surface of the tub. “Who would have thought?”

  I brought a hand to my chest, schooling my features into mock offense. “You mustn't speak of such things publicly, my lord. You’ll risk wounding my pride.”

  The sound of his laughter echoed throughout the bathroom as we made our way back into the main room and fed ourselves before our trip.

  When Christoff and I reached the top floor, a figure that appeared to be wearing a dress stood in the shadows. I pulled Christoff to my side, slightly behind me, but relaxed once again when Sahar stepped into the light of my lantern. I would not normally have needed it, but I knew Christoff’s vision was not as equipped to see in the dark as mine.

  Christoff stepped out from behind me, smiling brightly at the dark-skinned sorceress. The two surged forward, meeting in the middle for a tight embrace. When Sahar pulled back, her gaze lifted to meet mine.

  “I could not let you leave without giving you these.” She held up two small red velvet pouches and tossed them to me. I caught them both with one hand, mid-air.

  “What is in them?” I asked curiously as I opened the pouch to find a shimmery golden powder inside of each one.

  “Winnow powder,” Sahar replied simply. “There should be just enough there to get you where you need to go and back. I trust you know how to use it.”

  “Truly?” Both of my brows crept toward my hairline, impressed. “I do know how to use it, but how in Constanta did you manage to get your hands on that?” I asked, astonished. The golden dust was nearly impossible to come by, especially these days. Truthfully, I had only seen the dust a handful of times since the Great Purge.

  The beautiful sorceress stretched her lips across her teeth in a mystifying smile. “An alchemist never tells her secrets.”

  I shrugged. “Fair enough.”

  “Will you be alright while I’m gone? Have you taken enough blood samples?” Christoff asked, holding one of Sahar’s hands in both of his own.

  “You have provided us with more than enough.” Sahar smiled gently at the human boy she’d grown close to over the month, just as she’d predicted. “I hope you have been eating well, especially with all that activity last night.”

  I blushed at the jab, but Christoff just snorted, unbothered by the knowledge that word would likely be getting around that the human boy and I were on a mission together. That gossip of our mysterious relationship would likely spread. I found myself unbothered by it. In fact, I might have just enjoyed it. Enjoyed the idea of showing off my brilliant, incredible mate--

  Mate. The word gave me pause.

  Would I make Christoff my mate? With vampires, mating was not one of those things like imprinting where some mysterious force picks a single being to be your soul mate. The individual chooses their own mate, but once that bond is cemented, it is rarely broken.

  When I shook myself out of that train of thought, Sahar and Christoff were sharing one last goodbye hug. When Sahar pulled away, she had tears in her eyes, and she offered the taller man a watery smile.

  “Safe travels.” She leaned up on her toes to touch her forehead to Christoff’s and whispered, “You will do amazing things. Remember who you are, Light-Bearer. Remember why you are here.”

  Christoff gave Sahar an odd look but didn’t push for her to clarify. He had become used to the sorceress’s cryptic words, taking them as she delivered them without questioning it.

  “We will be back as soon as we can,” Christoff said, finally pulling out of Sahar’s arms and returning to my side.

  I nodded to the sorceress, and Christoff waved one last time before she retreated into the shadows of the stairwell. When she left, I inspected the pouches in my hand once more.

  “I suppose this will speed things up,” I said. The flight to the Constantan mountains would have taken us half the day.

  “How does that stuff work?” Christoff asked, getting a closer look at the golden, shimmery dust.

  “The dust really acts as a gateway for a portal to open. You must have some amount of practice to use it, as it can end you up in a load of trouble if you appear somewhere you are not meant to be,” I explained as I tucked one of the pouches into my pack for safekeeping. The other, we would use to get there.

  “Really?” Chris asked, his eyes wide. “Like where?”

  “I once got lost in a foreign village where everyone spoke a different language for three days. I had no way of communicating with them, nor did I have a clue how to get home.” I cringed at the memory at first, but then my features smoothed as I remembered what came after that. “That was until a shaman of the village recognized the golden dust I kept in a pouch on my being at all times. He showed me how to use it to get back home, to envision where I wanted to go, and how to manifest it.”

  “That’s incredible,” Christoff rasped. “Do you have any idea where you were?”

  I shook my head solemnly. “I’ve run it through with Aerywin a thousand times. She does not have a single map that represents the place I visited. We have concluded that it must be from another continent. Maybe even another world.”

  A shiver seemed to run down Christoff’s spine, and he shivered. I had no clue how my words had affected him.

  “Are you cold, my lord?” I asked softly, instinctually pulling him towards me, but he shook his head.

  “No. I just can’t imagine being stuck in a foreign world forever without a way to come back home,” he mused. “If that shaman hadn’t been there to teach you how to use the Winnow dust, you might not be here now.” The reality of it seemed to settle in on him.

  Instead, I squeezed his hand so he would look at me. “But I am here now.” I held up a single pinch with the shimmering dust inside. He eyed it skeptically. “And I swear not to get us trapped in another foreign land on our way to The BloodDrake nor on the way back.”

  His lips curled up at that, and some of the tension faded from his gaze. One more squeeze of his hand and his focus was back on me. “Alright, just as long as I don’t have to touch the stuff.”

  “That will not be necessary, my lord,” I explained. “The powder will cut our travel time in less than half. We will still have to search for the BloodDrake’s cave when we get to the mountain range, but the powder will take care of the half-day flight there and back.”

  Christoff shot me an impressed look. “Well, in that case, let’s get this show on the road.”

  30

  Anix

  Most of my days were spent training the troops with Adriana, which was my normal routine, but we had ratcheted up our drills in preparation for the battle that we feared was coming. We also had all the new recruits to get up to speed, including many humans from the West Village. Christoff and the other humans showed promise, giving Adriana and me a boost in confidence that if the zombies came, we would be ready.

  I pushed them to their limits, day in and day out. Sometimes we trained all day and late into the night, running through battle formations and drills until we could barely stand. I wanted my soldiers to be ready for whatever was coming, and that meant preparing for all possible scenarios. That meant fighting in daylight or in darkness, in rain or in sunshine. It was hard-going at first, especially for the new recruits, but as the long days went on, I was more than proud of my soldiers and knew they would give their all for Constanta.

  Apart from our worries about when and where the zombies might attack from, we were also concerned about the eastern kingdoms, which hadn’t sent any word yet. Aerywin continued to send her messages daily, but no message ever returned, that is until the day Rozmarin and Christoff winnowed off to find the BloodDrake. Only hours after they left, an exhausted and terrified messenger appeared at the eastern gate of the kingdom with news that the hordes were approaching their kingdoms, and fast.

  Adriana and
I had finished up some drills with our soldiers, and I’d decided to take a break to have lunch with Aerywin and Rachel in the royal chambers. We sat around the table, feeling the absence of Christoff and Rozmarin, hoping that their journey would be quick and successful.

  Aerywin, as she usually did, had a map held up in front of her and looked it over as she chewed on a piece of bread. Rachel slouched back in her chair and barely sipped on her cup of blood.

  Aerywin sighed and set her map down. “They’re going to be fine, Rachel. Trust Rozmarin and don’t stress yourself out.”

  “I just wish she wouldn’t have gone, or that she at least would have taken one of us with her,” Rachel groaned.

  “She has Christoff with her,” I reminded the vampire.

  “That worries me, too,” she sighed, and I couldn’t blame her.

  Christoff had slowly but surely become an integral member of the council, and we had all come to realize that he was far more than a thieving human from the West Village. He was strong and determined, and he cared about Constanta just as much as the rest of us, and Sahar obviously knew he would play some part in our kingdom’s fate as Light-Bearer.

  “They’ll be alright,” Aerywin comforted.

  Rachel gave another sigh as we heard hurried footsteps approach the door. I expected a knock since we were in the royal chambers, but an out-of-breath guard burst into the room, startling us all. We all turned to see Lorelia panting and heaving as she tried to catch her breath, and when I saw the worried look in her yellow eyes, I knew something was happening.

  My thoughts first went to Rozmarin and Christoff, but they had only just left that morning, and there was no way we would have had any news from them yet, but as Lorelia spoke, I realized what she was going to say before she even finished her sentence.

  “We’ve received an SOS from the east! Zombies are marching straight for their kingdoms!”

  A solemn silence hung in the room as everyone’s eyes turned to me, the commander of Constanta’s army. It only took me a second to give an answer because I had already made the decision a while ago that we would send aid as soon as word came.