Home for Horny Monsters

Welcome back, monster lovers! Annabelle Hawthorne has once again returned to present you with the next stunning chapter of "Please don't show this to my therapist, Book 8!"

(I'm not anti-therapy, I just don't want this dominating my other issues)

Hello, new friends! You've clicked on this because you're in disbelief that this is somehow the 121st chapter of a story. "Surely the chapters are short" you may think, but nay, I have deceived you! Not only is my average chapter around 13k words, but there are also 3 spin-off novels in this series along with so many sex scenes that I am legally obligated to warn readers with nut allergies. So if you don't want to go into shock over the sheer confusion you'll experience by jumping in, you should probably go all the way back to chapter 001 and start there! (That's right, two zeros, like fucking James Bond)

(Annabelle's lawyer here. We are under no legal obligations regarding nuts, please disregard)

Returning friends and readers, hello and well met! This summer was long in all the best ways and short in all the rest. I did get a chance to rest and recuperate, which will serve me well in the fall and winter months while I fight the desire to buy a bunch of pumpkin spice crap from Starbucks (why must it taste so good?!?).

A huge shout out goes to my beta readers who help me look for inconsistencies. You'd be surprised how much garbage sneaks through. Lit's own TJ Skywind found a glaring mistake in this draft that other early readers missed entirely, that's another author here who is committed to quality. If you're ever stressed about when the next chapter might post, I put all that info in my bio fso you can schedule appropriately.

Anyway, it's about time to let you get to it. Don't mind these mini-blogs I always do, it's just me

Chiming In

Eulalie sat in her web hammock, her attention firmly focused on one of the monitors as she typed lines of code into a text editor with one hand. The other hand casually flicked at a fidget spinner that was held in place by the paw of her fourth leg which she had curled upward. In truth, she could have written code solely by sound if she wanted. Her hearing was sensitive enough that she could now recognize the distinct sound of every stroke on her keyboard. Still, being able to triple check for errors now was far preferable to potential hours searching for her mistake later.

That, and then she wouldn't be able to listen to the satisfying buzz of ball bearings as her fidget spinner whirled. It sang to her as she flicked it again, then she flexed her paw so that the spinner was balanced in the center much like a juggler might spin a plate.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to shift her attention to a rat carrying a strand of fiber optic cable. The creature came to a stop beneath her, its whiskers twitching with anxiety as it held the cable up for her inspection.

"We lost another connection," it said. Eulalie studied the rat for the span of a breath to identify it. Her senses dug through all the markers: fur, scent, pheromone, the way the rat held its tail aloft when he walked on two paws, the small clip in his left ear. This was Basil, who belonged to a family of rats who had taken their names from the contents of a spice rack once upon a time. Basil was technically a legacy name. Right now, Basil Sr. was in charge of organizing incoming cookbooks for the Library, but not because he was named for a spice. The whole family knew how to read and understand food labels, which was definitely a niche skill set for rodents.

"Tell me more, Basil." She leaned over and took the cable from Basil and held it up to get a better look at it. Sure enough, the cable was neatly severed by a collapsing portal. There was a bit of an art form to the magical portals the rats made. When they fell apart, anything caught in the portal was simply detached at a molecular level. There were likely some interesting applications of this process, but the Arachne had plenty of other things on her plate.

"This one came from the server room in the Computer Sciences Department at MIT." Basil cleaned his face nervously. "It was spotted by the intern."

"The intern?" Eulalie's eyes narrowed. "Do you mean Carl?"

Basil nodded. Carl the intern was a new student in the Computer Sciences Department. For whatever reason, he had been put in charge of the server room maintenance, and had become the bane of Eulalie's existence on the MIT campus.

Server rooms were easy to infiltrate once you bypassed external security. Unless there were problems with the server, nobody paid much attention to what was going on with the hardware itself. It was easy enough to plug a direct line into a server and maintain a continuous connection. In fact, Eulalie often did maintenance of her own to ensure nobody looked twice. There were over a dozen college campuses right now that were running at peak performance due to her interventions.

However, Carl was either some sort of cable savant or a bored nerd. This was the third time this month the man had discovered one of her cables. The rats monitored stuff like this for her, and protocol upon discovery was to immediately shut down any portals to that location. This meant that Carl had likely discovered what appeared to be a cut cable attached to nothing, or perhaps even a hole that went a few inches into the wall and terminated abruptly.

Now that was something she wished she could see. She fiddled with the cable for a moment, wondering if it would be worth installing another one sometime just to see how fast Carl would find it. However, if this guy was half as good as she thought he was, there was a chance he was doing diagnostics on that particular server already. He would see that information had been going both ways through that port, which meant problems for Eulalie. The safety of her niece and the house came first and always. Sighing, she handed the cable remnant to Basil.

"Go ahead and pull any other connections from MIT," she said with remorse. She hated losing a direct server connection because it would be that much harder to dig through data flowing through the school. MIT had some cutting edge research, along with top secret government programs that she had been eagerly watching. The Arachne turned her attention to another screen and set a reminder to check on Carl's enrollment at MIT every six months. The guy was due to graduate in two years, and she didn't want to forget to go back later. Someone like Carl was good to know about, and maybe even hire someday.

Ignoring the rat, she opened a command console window and quickly set up a search program that would dig through forums, message boards, and anywhere else a server junky may go. If Carl started asking around about mysterious cables that disappeared into walls, she wanted to know right away.

When she turned her attention back to Basil, she was happy to see that he had at least relaxed a little. The rats trusted her, but they got very anxious whenever failing a task, even if it wasn't their fault. Reggie's predecessor was largely at fault for this. That rat had been a real bastard.

"Dismissed," she said as she leaned back into her webs. "And thank you."

Basil bowed low, then scampered off with the cable in tow. She watched him vanish into one of the tunnels carved in the wall, then reached out and flicked her spinner again. It practically hummed while spinning, and she tossed it in the air with her paw only to catch it on the end of another leg. Grinning, she looked back at the code she had been working on.

The flow of air shifted slightly in the room and was accompanied by the sound of sliding fabric. Eulalie frantically typed in an attempt to finish one last bit of code just as Sofia entered the room. She hit enter and leaned back so far in her hammock that she was now looking at the cyclops upside down.

"Ugh, I hate when you do that." The cyclops shivered, then continued into the corner of the room where a small table and chairs had been placed for visitors. Earlier, the rats had set up a small plate of cheese and fruit. Eulalie had wondered who was coming to visit her.

The Arachne tumbled backward out of her web, the fidget spinner precariously balanced on one foot. She wondered how long she could make it spin. Her personal record was almost two hours. How long had it been spinning already? It didn't really matter. She could just start the timer now.

Walking across the room, she studied Sofia. For the first time in a few days, the cyclops didn't smell of alcohol, which was a pleasant surprise. She did, however, have a large bag under her eye from lack of sleep. It was almost painful to look at, and made Eulalie think of a double chin. Every time the cyclops blinked, it wobbled. Arachnes didn't really get bags under their eyes. It didn't serve any evolutionary advantage. In fact, she wasn't entirely certain what purpose they were meant to serve. Of what use was advertising to the world that your sleep habits were trash?

Then again, maybe it was meant to be a physiological warning sign. One look in the mirror and you knew you weren't at your best. How much sleep had Eulalie been getting lately? She did some quick math in her head and frowned. If she remembered correctly, she was averaging around five hours of sleep a night. That was definitely sub-optimal. She couldn't even blame an MMO this time.

Gods, that little eyelid chin just kept jiggling. The eye itself narrowed and Eulalie realized she had been staring for a few seconds.

"Good..." Eulalie checked a nearby monitor for the time. "Morning!"

Sofia sighed. "Did I come at a bad time?"

The Arachne shook her head. "Lily and Dana aren't currently murdering anyone... I think. No, this is fine. Is something up? Is this about all those books I ordered? That's just blatant market manipulation and I did it on my own account. Or maybe you heard about MIT?"

"MI... no, I'm not here to talk about whatever is going on outside the Library." Sofia took a deep breath and looked away. This was a sign that whatever she had to say was difficult for her. Eulalie hated conversations like this. They made her itchy. "I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Eulalie winced. She could still picture that bubbling wraith as it twisted away from her, like hot tar with an attitude. The thing had been nearly as quick as she was, only slipping free of her grip due to its amorphic body. Dealing with any creature that could out maneuver her was always unsettling.

"Yes." The Head Librarian sat up straight in her seat, which put her at eye level with Eulalie. "You broke protocol. Severely."

Eulalie immediately stopped the fidget spinner and slipped it into her pocket. She dropped her other hand to her spinnerets and pulled out a small length of webbing, which she immediately pulled into a loop. This activity was far quieter than the fidget spinner and less likely to annoy the cyclops.

"Yeah, about that." The Arachne studied Sofia, uncertain where to begin. "I'm really sorry."

"Sorry? That's it?" Sofia's tone was like ice. "You accidentally freed a malevolent entity and you're...sorry?"

"I guess I'm not sure what else you want me to say." This was why she hated confrontations that weren't through a keyboard. She screwed up and had apologized. What more was there? "So yeah, I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough, Eulalie." Sofia stood now, her fists balled up. "Do you have any idea what you almost did?"

"I mean..." Eulalie dropped her gaze to the webbing in her hand. She had already converted the cat's cradle into a Jacob's ladder. "Yeah, that thing almost hurt everyone."

"That thing killed one of your rats and almost killed me." Sofia's voice was little more than a whisper.

"No, it didn't." Eulalie tilted her head to one side. "Not the rat part, that was very regrettable. I mean the latter half. You can see your own future if it involves getting hurt or dying. That thing wasn't actually going to hurt you."

"You're wrong, Eulalie. I saw that thing kill me, over and over again. But do you know what? When it came at me that very last time, I saw my death. I amended every possible outcome I could, and nothing changed at all. In those two seconds, I died over a dozen times, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing at all!" The cyclops was grinding her teeth, Eulalie could hear them. "If Mike hadn't stepped in, I would be dead right now!"

"Oh." Well, that was quite the revelation. How was she supposed to parse that nugget of information? "Um...well...I'm glad you're not dead."

"Gods, you don't even see it, do you? What would have happened if I died?" Sofia ran a hand through her hair so roughly that some of it pulled free from the braid. "Well, to start with, you would be responsible for my death. Can you even comprehend what that's like? To fuck up so badly that somebody you know dies in front of you?"

"Uh..." This conversation was already difficult, and Eulalie was now in uncharted territory. What could you say to someone you almost killed due to carelessness?

"How would you have lived with yourself? Do you know what it's like to get somebody killed and constantly see shadows of them?" Sofia's features were bright red now, and Eulalie half wondered if the cyclops might take a swing at her. "What if Mike hadn't been there, hmm? What if that thing had gotten away and killed Tink? When you have to sit down with Grace and tell her that you accidentally killed her primary mother figure, would you just say 'Sorry'?!?"

The webbing in Eulalie's hands snapped. The cyclops now had her full attention.

"Don't bring Grace into this," she whispered. Eulalie loved her niece more than anything, and maybe that was part of the problem. She had never planned on becoming a mother. Honestly, neither had Velvet. Years ago, they had resigned themselves to the idea that the two of them would be the last of their species.

But now, the future of their species was in the hands of a little girl who still ate crayons. Eulalie sometimes wished more than anything that she could set aside her asexuality and take that burden, to mate and produce offspring of her own. But Arachne biology demanded compatibility. Even if she tried to inseminate herself with a turkey baster (per Lily's suggestion), it would do nothing.

Was Grace destined to feel the burden of their species? Or was she loved enough that she would never crave the companionship of her own kind?

"But she's a part of this, no matter what you want." Sofia looked down at Eulalie over her nose. "Every person is a member of her family. She still carries around that bear of hers, and she only knew Cyrus for a few months."

"Don't...don't talk about him, either." The room felt like it was spinning under her feet. "He's off limits, too."

"You don't get to duck out of an adult conversation just because it's hard. For fucks' sake, Eulalie. I'm the one who almost died because of you! You couldn't follow the rules! Fuck!" The cyclops slammed her fist against the wall, which startled a few rats who had been trying to covertly conduct their business through the room. "Once I'm gone, that's it! You're the Head Librarian. Then it's your turn to be miserable and remember those who came before you, wandering the stacks and wondering what you could have done differently. Do you think I want that for you?"

"I...um..." The Arachne was so off balance, she wasn't sure where to begin.

"You're nowhere near ready for the responsibility." Sofia crossed her arms. "If you ever hope to become the Head Librarian, you need to find a way to properly own up to mistakes like this."

Aha! That was something Eulalie could finally latch onto! Should she beat around the bush a bit? Some people preferred that. Then again, Sofia looked tired and would probably just be annoyed.

"Except I don't want to be the Head Librarian."

"What?" It was like the breath had been knocked out of the cyclops.

Eulalie shrugged. "I like helping you and being part of the Library, but I've never wanted to be in charge. I'm not really a people person. My skill set is very different from yours. I would be a terrible Head Librarian." She jerked a thumb at the rats. "And it's not like that lot can be in charge. They're happy to have a purpose, but this place needs someone like you who can restore it to its former glory."

"You...don't...want..." Sofia's mouth opened and closed much like a fish out of water.

"Not in the slightest." The Arachne gestured at the bank of monitors. "I'm already caught up in so many other things, and that doesn't include being the Rat Queen. The Head Librarian isn't just a title. It comes with so many duties that I wouldn't know where to begin. I always figured we'd just work together until we had a few more librarians and that maybe you'd choose one of them."

The cyclops had gone pale and was breathing fast. She mumbled something under her breath that even Eulalie couldn't make out, then stood and walked briskly out the exit. The Arachne stared at the archway as she pulled another bit of thread from her spinnerets.

"Well...fuck," she muttered. She was fairly certain that conversation had gone better for her than Sofia. Tapping a finger on her chin, she sighed and turned her attention back toward the computer.

Doing computer stuff was always easier than dealing with people.

🏡🏡🏡

🏡🏡🏡

Mike looked down at the table and frowned. He contemplated the playing card with a picture of a hobo spider on it, his left hand hovering over the face-down cards spread across the table. Opposite from him, Grace stared through his soul, somehow looking back in time to his childhood and judging him even there.

"Blink, honey." Yuki ruffled Grace's hair. The Arachne blinked exactly once, her gaze never leaving her father's face. Squatting next to the little girl was Abella. The gargoyle had positioned her hands beneath her chin as if in deep contemplation. In front of her was a pair of cards she had already matched in the memory game.

Mike sighed. He had no idea which card he needed and it was time to commit.Fuck it, he thought and chose at random.

He flipped over one of the other cards. It was, in fact, not a hobo spider. The jumping spider looked friendly enough, but his failure to match cards meant that his turn was over and the game had now circled back to his daughter.

"You're up, kid." He leaned back and groaned inwardly. Grace stared at him as she flipped over the hobo spider once more and then turned over its match, which had been revealed by Abella on her turn. The jumping spider was next, and its match was exactly where Reggie had found it three minutes ago.

"Bugs," muttered the Rat King. He had three matches in front of him, his tail twitching in irritation. One by one, Grace went through the cards and matched all of them until there were four cards left. At no point did she ever look away from Mike as she promptly stomped on everyone who was playing. However, she did pause to contemplate the final cards, none of which had been flipped yet. She took a chance and failed to match the crab spider with its mate.

Reggie sighed. He flipped over one of the remaining cards, then swept the table. He held up his matched cards. He had five matches to Grace's eight.

"I'm starting to think she may be unstoppable," he said.

"We can blame that on Jenny," said Mike. Now that Grace was old enough for certain games, she played with Reggie and Jenny all the time. The doll was usually cheating somehow, but Grace's intense focus often meant she was able to bypass the doll's exploit. Poor Reggie was usually caught in the crossfire of the battle of the titans, and Mike wondered if the extra gray hairs on the rat's snout had come from playing with them.