Home for Horny Monsters

Hi all!

I know it's been a bit, but here it is, the 51st installment of a story I started (mostly) as a dare!

New to the story? Well, there are lots of monster girls, lots of mystery, adventure and intrigue, oh, and a whole lotta weird sex. You probably wanna start at Ch. 01, but hey, maybe your kink is jumping into the middle of the story, so you do you.

Returning reader? Hi again! I promise that I've just been SO busy lately, and I'm not losing interest in this tale or anything. I'm actually in that weird state of mind where I am thinking about the story during my waking hours and some of my friends/family are wondering if I've developed ADHD or something, cause I am tuning everyone out (which has made for a couple embarrassing moments).

I've also been working hard at getting better at my craft, and I hope it has shown in the last few chapters. This has been possible from hearing from you in the comments and feedback (stuff you like, don't like, random hate mail, etc), so please keep sending it. Someone asked me recently how I found the motivation to keep writing (writers do get fatigued, after all) and I can tell you that the appreciation of this community has been a huge part of it.

Speaking of appreciation, I would be remiss in not mentioning what a huge helpTJSkywindhas been for me, especially in regards to Sulyvahn's dialogue. Between a keen eye for editing and helping me with my conversational Irish, he also has an extensive knowledge of mythology and has written plenty of his own tales, you should go check them out.

Do you like cat girls, dragon girls and wanna read a Beth chapter? Then I have just the tale for you!

Getting A Head

Beth scowled at the water. She was sitting on the shore of the Labyrinth's circular river, watching it rush past. Her knees were pulled against her chest beneath a powder blue skirt, and she tossed another rock into the cold water. It disappeared with a small splash, and Asterion lifted his head from his position next to her to see what had happened.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes, but didn't look at the minotaur. "Yeah, it's fine."

In truth, it wasn't. Ever since her return from the faerie realm, she had been playing the episode with the queen on repeat in her head. All she could think about was the giddiness that had overcome her, the rush of excitement that flooded her whole body and caused her to so quickly turn her back on Mike and the house. At that particular moment, she would have given her very soul to stay with the fae, and it bothered her to know that she had been out of control.

She hated being out of control.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Asterion asked, his voice a low rumble.

She had come down to the Labyrinth to drop Quetzalli off so that Ratu could examine the enchantment on the dragon and try to break it. Beth's plan had been to take her mind off of the faerie queen incident by dallying with the minotaur. However, before they could even get started, all she could think of was the queen's mocking tone as the nobility pawed at her body. It had been like a cold shower on her libido, and she had ended up just cuddling with the minotaur by the river.

While Asterion was kind, he was a terrible conversationalist. She had explained what had happened, and he had spent several minutes in thought over it with absolutely nothing to add.

"Yeah, I'm good." She sighed. Mike refused to talk about it with her. He kept telling her it wasn't her fault, and when she had tried to explain her discomfort at being unable to control herself, he had just nodded and explained it would get better with time. It had been a couple of days since the incident, and now Mike was back with the centaurs over his head wound. Apparently his wound had gotten infected, so she was stuck with bringing the dragon down to the Labyrinth.

Quetzalli.

There was yet another problem with no clear answer. For whatever reason, Quetzalli was now Beth's eternal shadow, and while the dragon meant no harm, it was very much like babysitting an adult child capable of shorting out anything she touched.

Beth's phone had been the first victim. A curious peek, a loud zap, and the screen went dark forever. Her computer was spared, but Mike's was not, and while Tink was ordering what she needed to replace the electrical system, Quetzalli had pointed at the screen in wonder and a series of electrical arcs jumped from her fingers to the laptop, turning it into a paperweight.

After emitting a string of curses that sounded like an entire rap album in fast forward, Tink had dropped everything to make Quetzalli a horn cap. The shiny metal horn the dragon now wore twisted into place and had the appearance of a unicorn's horn, and she shocked everyone and everything far less frequently now. By then, it was bedtime, and she had crawled onto Beth's mattress and fallen asleep right away, leaving Beth to sleep on the couch in the living room.

That was when she discovered that Jenny and the fairies liked to stay up late and play tag in the dark.

In the morning, she made sure to make a nice, big pot of coffee before Quetzalli could short that out, too. When the dragon had failed to show for breakfast, Beth went upstairs to discover that Quetzalli had opened all of her drawers and tried on most of her clothes. Even worse, her clothes now stuck to each other, which meant that she would need to run them through the laundry again with copious amounts of fabric softener.

What was going to be a sexual interlude to take her mind off of things was now just a picnic by the river, and Beth sighed when Olivia buzzed up, leaving a trail of sparkling lights behind her.

"They're all done!" The green fairy announced, and then shot off like a rocket, leaving a floating glitter trail behind her. The fairies seemed to have recovered nicely from their ordeal, and had more energy than ever before.

"Take me back, please," Beth said, and Asterion rose.

Together, they rolled up the blanket, and she picked up the small basket of snacks to carry it back. It was still a fifteen minute walk back to Ratu's lair, and when they arrived, Ratu and Quetzalli were in the middle of an animated discussion at one of the tables.

"Oh!" Ratu saw them, and set down her tea. "You're back already, I figured you would still be busy. Come, sit with us." A small feast had been laid out, and when Beth sat, she grabbed a few grapes off of a nearby plate. Asterion wandered off to put the blanket away and then stood guard at the edge of the table.

"So what did you learn?" Beth asked.

"Not much." The naga sipped at her tea. "We actually wrapped up an hour ago but got to talking. Sorry about that, but I assumed you were enjoying your visit."

"Mmhmm." Not really, but there was no polite way to say it. "So is the spell reversible?"

"Fascinating thing about faerie magic. How do I put this?" Ratu set her chin on her hand for a couple of seconds in contemplation. "It's one of the earliest kinds of magic, therefore making it among the most powerful. Not much came before the fae, so we are talking about one of the first languages, in a way."

"I think I follow, but that doesn't tell me much."

"Oh, I'm getting there. It's interesting actually, because I just spent so much time studying Kisa only a couple of days ago. In her case, she has been changed on a cellular level that grants her properties similar to a cat. Her body no longer knows the difference between being a human or a cat, it just is what it is."

"Okay?" Beth thought about Kisa. The cat girl had been scarce since her emergence the other day, and she knew nothing about her yet. There had simply been too much going on in the house to make any sort of real effort to even meet with the newcomer.

Quetzalli spoke up. "Humans and dragons are very different. Obviously, the queen was unable to convert me completely, meaning I am still part dragon. Dragons like me are a physical manifestation of magic that is just as old as the fae, which puts my biology on par with the enchantment I have been afflicted with."

"Meaning?"

"The transformation is temporary." Ratu set down her tea and moved to sit next to Quetzalli. "I'm sure you've already noticed the scale patterns on her body, yes?"

Beth nodded in interest. She had gotten a close peek at them a few times and had been fascinated by how they caught the light. The patches rested on top of Quetzalli's skin and looked like pieces of scale-mail that had been glued to her.

"Without examining her innards, we already know that a small part of her body is still that of a dragon. The enchantment that transformed her is fighting to keep her in this form, but over time, her cells will feast on that magic and enable her to revert to her previous form."

"Wow, okay, so...any idea how long that will take?"

"I did some math." Ratu held up a sheet of parchment that had been on the table in front of her. "Based on the limited data I have, I predict the spell will likely break itself in a few hundred years."

"Years?!?" She looked to Quetzalli, and then back. "You're talking centuries!"

"For creatures like us, a few centuries really isn't that long," Quetzalli said with a shrug. "Though inconvenient, I feel like it could be a great learning experience. I am already enjoying the many kinds of meals that Sofia makes, and am very interested in some of those clothes you had in your...dresser? Is that the right word?"

"Please stay out of my dresser." Beth had no idea what clothes Quetzalli meant, but didn't need a repeat of yesterday morning. "We can get you some clothes of your own."

"Ah, an outing!" Quetzalli slammed her fist on the table in excitement. "Yes, I would love to see more of the human world."

"No, that's not what I..." Beth shook her head and held up her hands in defeat. "We'll talk about shopping later. Seriously, is there anything we can do to speed up the process? She'll still be a human long after I'm dead, and that just doesn't seem fair."

"If there's a trick to reversing the enchantment, then I am unaware of it." The naga picked up her tea cup and smiled. "Besides, it will be nice to have someone to talk to over the years."

"Oh, well, since you two seem to enjoy each other's company so much, maybe she should stay down here with you?"

"No." Quetzalli shook her head. "I'm afraid I miss the sky over my head. Besides, Ratu has informed me that my power surges threaten the nature of her work down here."

The naga smirked over her cup, and Beth threw her a dirty look.

"Indeed. Her electrical discharges have already caused a few issues with some of my experiments. It would be safer for all involved if she were to remain topside."

You fucking liar.Beth was glad Ratu wasn't a mind reader. "Okay, well, thanks. So...are we done here?"

The naga nodded, and Beth and Quetzalli bid her farewell.

Asterion led them to the shortcut out, and they were at the door that led into the house in just under twenty minutes.

Beth waved goodbye to Asterion, and then led Quetzalli into the house. Through the nearby back door, she could see Dana outside messing around with one of her drones again.

"Oh! The dead girl is flying her mechanical device again!" The dragon did a cute little hop in the hallway, the ends of her hair fluttering toward the nearby wall.

Beth stepped past her and opened the back door. "I bet she would love to talk to you about—"

Quetzalli was already out the door, holding up her skirt with one hand to avoid tripping over it. Dana cocked her head to see who was coming, and an almost imperceptible look of dread moved across her features when she saw who it was.

The door slammed behind Beth as she ran to the front of the house. She felt bad dumping Quetzalli on someone else, but needed a break. Spending the morning with Asterion was supposed to have made her feel better, but now she just felt antsy.

At the base of the stairs, she paused briefly to look up. Was Mike back yet? She debated climbing the stairs to check, but decided against it. While she really wanted someone to talk to, there was too much weird tension between them right now, even if most of it was just in her head. She still needed to process some things internally before having a chat with him.

Through the open front windows of the house, she heard someone whistling a tune. When she looked outside, she saw Sulyvahn standing right next to the porch, his hands in the bushes. Curious, she stepped outside for a better look and saw that he was holding a pair of clippers and had a bucket nearby.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Hmm?" He looked up, and then back down at the roses. "Ah, pleased I am to be seeing ye, lass! The centaurs be lettin' me tend these 'uns. Roses be simple enough, once ye get the hang of them."

"You're...gardening?" It was odd seeing the dullahan hunched over the foliage, wearing his black leather outfit. It made her think of a goth teen being forced to trim his grandmother's bushes, which made her smile.

"Aye. Not much opportunity fer it afore now. There's a reason everyone says to stop and smell them." He snipped a rose free and held it up. "Fer yon maiden faire."

"Thank you." She took the rose and smelled it. The aroma was a subtle perfume that reminded her of the summer, and she felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. "You don't strike me as someone who likes to garden."

Sulyvahn grinned. "In a way, t'is not so much different from the job I had before. When ye look at a plant such as this, ye cull out the parts that be dying, or clip the buds to be making room for more."

"And that's like...collecting souls?"

"Aye, that it be." He knelt over a rose that had snapped and was supported from below by a few others. "The human soul is much like a flower. When e're ye pass, yer a creature of beauty and light. But if nobody comes to collect, ye spoil and rot."

"Souls rot?"

"Hmm." He stood and pondered her question for a bit. "Not in a traditional sense, I'll grant ye. The human soul be just a collection of memories and emotions, those that ye take with ye when you go. Over time, I suppose some of the memories become stronger than others. Fer some souls, this can mean being trapped, and when it's time to move on, they refuse."

"I guess that tracks with just about every paranormal documentary I've ever watched." She smelled the rose again, then leaned against the railing. "Humans have a theory that ghosts who don't move on can become wrapped up in their own anger."

"Aye, that isn't even the half of it." He gestured toward the house. "That little doll ye have inside is a right proper example."

"That's Jenny. She's mostly harmless."

"Fer now." He moved to the next bush and examined the branches. "How should I be sayin' this now? When yer dearly departed refuses to move beyont, oft time they be gettin' stuck in a loop. They be drawin' their energy from this world, very much like a lightning rod. Ye ever walk through a cold spot? Probably a spirit, takin' just a wee bit o' yer heat to keep themselves going.

"The angry ones, though, that's a different matter entirely. They feed on their own hatred fer the livin', and will be takin' any opportunity to sap the energy of their own if it means gettin' ahead."

"You mean, like, ghosts attacking ghosts?"

"Aye." He pinched off the head of a stunted bulb. "Much like these flowers, if ye be leaving the head to rot, the whole plant still tries to feed it. Imagine then if these blighted buds in me bucket fed off each other—till one becomes strong enough to attach itself back to the plant. Ye remove the dying buds so that the whole plant may live, after all, so why would ye be wanting to reattach the damn thing?"

"Well, you don't."

"Exactly. So these beings go traipsing around, trying their damndest to remain on the mortal coil, living a faux life, as it were." He picked up his bucket. "Unseen by mortal eyes, they continue to bleed away the life of the whole plant."

"Is that why dullahans exist?"

He nodded with a huge smile. "Indeed! It's me job to pinch the bud before it becomes something more sinister. Something twisted, like the sluagh that chased you when you first crossed. My sister's job were similar, though she be having a smaller clientele."

"Smaller clientele...do you mean Cecilia?" Now this was news. "Cecilia is your sister?"

"As much as 'tis possible for my kind. We be some of the first fae, created by the queen herself. She followed the rules of creation, and it were considered fashionable to mimic the new humans that were roaming about. One fine day, she reached into the heavens and commanded the light of the stars to create the banshee and the dullahan—or so the old tales be sayin'. We be made in pairs, one man and one woman, and Cecilia is me twin. A woman to be tendin' the home and a man to roam the fields, though I've heard tell that's no the case these days. We be a physical manifestation of midnight and mortality, so the queen gave us our fearsome appearance to scare the living and the dead. It helps us with our jobs delivering souls to the other side. We keep them from lingering around and making trouble."

"Oh, I see. So you're a lot like Death."

"What?" He tilted his head. "Not a'tall, not a'tall, lass, we be very different. Death is the one who cuts the thread. I be the one who comes to collect and deliver."

"I see. So you're kind of like a failsafe then."

"I guess so." He lifted his bucket, looked inside, then back at Beth. "I promised the centaurs I be tending the ones in the hedge maze as well. Walk with me, lass?"

Beth smiled, twirling a strand of her hair with her fingers. Something about the dullahan was igniting a spark inside her, and the thrill of the chase was just what she needed to take her mind off the faerie queen. Besides, the dullahan seemed eager to chat, and she wouldn't mind a sympathetic ear right now.

"I'd love to," she told him, then walked down the steps of the porch to join him.

🏡🏡🏡

Kisa watched from the window as Beth walked down and joined Sulyvahn on the path that led to the hedge maze. She yawned and rolled over on her back, frustrated that her sunbeam had moved.

The last couple of days had been nothing like she expected. Besides a few basic questions about where she may have come from, the others seemed content to let her have free roam of the house. She hadn't explored much on the third floor. Those were bedrooms, and the weird door at the end of the hall was guarded by a small group of rats. Apparently the mechanism holding it shut was capable of killing you if you didn't know the code, so she did her best to put it from her mind.

Yesterday she had explored the second floor. The room where she woke up was still empty. Mike had explained that they had ordered some furniture for that room and she was welcome to it if she wanted it for her own. She had accepted, but all that was in there right now was Mike's sleeping bag, which wasn't that comfortable.

The other rooms on that floor were mostly for the rats, though she did find an interesting room that looked like a small library. The window overlooked an impossible mountain range, and she wondered what would happen if she climbed out the window and just started walking. The thought was brief, though, because the air had been cold and the cliff was very steep. Apparently nobody had really thought about exploring that area, and without wings, she wouldn't get to either.

Today had been a perfect day to lounge downstairs. Tink was busy trying to fix the electrical panel again, and Mike was with the centaurs. With most of the floor to herself, she had gone into the office and found the door leading to her current location.