Home for Horny Monsters

Hi all!

With the cliffhanger that was last chapter, I certainly can't wait for you to feast your eyeholes on what's about to happen next!

New readers, you should go back to chapter 1. I've had 67 chapters and two spinoff novels worth of plot to get to this point. Why? Because apparently I'm insane and people like it.

Returning readers, welcome! I will warn you in advance that this chapter does contain strong romantic undertones, including hand holding(!), but no sex. For what it's worth, there is a shockingly intense sex scene next chapter, so you will have to wait.

Thanks to everyone who keeps taking the time to rate and comment. I do read through your thoughts and criticisms and want to say thank you to those who have given serious thought to where you think I can improve. When I say that this site has some of the best readers, this is one of the things I am referring to. I appreciate the passion that drives your comments. It means you care about this world I've made, for better or for worse.

I won't keep you much longer. I hope you're having an awesome week, and I can't wait to see your thoughts!

The Devil of the Forest

The Nirumbi emerged from the woods, their bows out and arrows nocked and ready. Mike walked backward toward the cabin, then jumped when the door banged open and Velvet emerged. She scowled at the Nirumbi, counting their numbers.

"There are way more than last time," she muttered.

"I see that." He raised the rifle and took a shot at Leeds. The moment he pulled the trigger, Leeds vanished as if he melted into the shadows. "You know this guy?"

"Nope. But I do know that those arrows are bad news, and we're almost in range. If they can take down Uncle Foot, then we don't have a chance."

"Mike." Dana was nearby, and she raised her hands off the ground. "I'm willing to help, but I need to be let loose."

He looked at her, then at the others. Yuki's snowballs were forming up on top of each other, and she was able to slow down the Nirumbi by casting defensive volleys of ice. Bigfoot crossed over to the barn and ripped the door off its hinges, using it as a shield against the few arrows that were landing nearby. Quetzalli had an intense look on her face, and her horn was glowing with energy. Dark clouds were forming overhead.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked the dead girl.

Dana bared her teeth. "I promise I won't bite. Well, anyone I know."

"Sounds good enough for me," Velvet decreed, then unfolded her sword and severed Dana's chains. Dana moved with astonishing speed, dragging her broken chains behind her in the snow. When she disappeared into the trees, there were cries of alarm from the Nirumbi.

I hope that wasn't a terrible idea,Mike thought, aiming his rifle at a Nirumbi that had broken free of the trees, sprinting toward Yuki. When he pulled the trigger, the Nirumbi spun around before collapsing into the snow. It reached a single arm to the heavens and let out a wail of agony.

Something about that anguished cry struck a chord deep inside of him. When they had been ambushed, he had mostly run interference, scaring them away with his screams. While his friends did the heavy lifting, it had been easy to disconnect from the idea that they were living creatures, but now?

He shivered. It wasn't from the cold.

"Yuki! Bigfoot!" Mike raised the rifle again, watching for more movement. Pondering the ethics of the situation would have to wait for later. He pressed his back to the cabin and kept both eyes open. They couldn't get to him from behind, but knew for damned sure he was vulnerable on his sides. "Tell me who we're dealing with!"

Bigfoot ignored him. He used his shield to make a dash into the nearest group of trees and then disappeared. Mike heard him roar a few seconds later, but now he was on the other side of the clearing. The Nirumbi cried out in alarm, and he saw a few go flying through the air.

"I don't know," Yuki responded. She was holding her tarot cards as the snowballs finished assembling themselves into snowmen. As the featureless bodies hopped past her, she was jamming cards into their torsos and tossing others into the ground. Large stick arms emerged from the snowmen, and they paused only long enough to pick up the swords that Yuki had summoned. "Ran across him once. Claimed to be the Devil, but Emily told him he was full of shit. Did some sort of mumbo-jumbo on us that got us locked in the Everglades for a week."

"How did you beat him?"

"We didn't." Yuki paused, looking away from her makeshift army. "He got bored and let us go."

"You'll find me far more entertaining today." Leeds' voice came from everywhere at once. "You have something that I want, and I shall not rest until it is mine."

Velvet cocked her head, then pointed to the West. "He's over there," she said, then spun around just as a trio of Nirumbi appeared at the corner of the cabin. They raised their bows to fire, but their shots went wide when Dana tackled them from behind.

She hit them hard enough that they scattered like bowling pins. Dana let out a growl and sank her teeth into the throat of the one closest to her and ripped. It was like watching a speed eater at a chicken-eating contest, except with far more blood and shrieking.

"Jesus Christ," Mike muttered. He could almost hear Lily chastising him for his language.

"Sword!" Dana whipped her head toward Velvet, her hand outstretched.

"What do you need it for?" asked Velvet as she tossed Dana the blade.

Dana snatched the sword out of the air and beheaded the Nirumbi she had just bitten.

"Zombie birth control." She tore into the other two before they could regain their footing and stabbed them in the head to prevent them from turning. Dana bolted into the woods, leaving a trail of blood behind her footprints.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Mike muttered, then placed a hand to his stomach. He was feeling woozy.

"It's us or them," Velvet told him, then ran back into the cabin. When she emerged, she was carrying her father's pistol. "We didn't start this. Remember that."

The steely glint in her eyes steadied his resolve, and he continued to watch the trees. The snowmen charged into the forest, filling the air with cries of alarm. With her army finished, Yuki returned to Mike's side and summoned tall walls of ice around them while leaving windows for him to shoot through.

Nirumbi charged at them, and he fired. Once they fell to the ground, he tried to ignore their cries while reloading, doing his best to focus on the task of protecting the others. Quetzalli summoned lightning blasts that struck her horn, allowing her to redirect them into small clusters of attackers that died on impact. The metallic smell of ozone filled the air.

"Something feels off about this," Yuki said, after almost ten minutes of killing Nirumbi. "It's clear that the Nirumbi are outmatched, just like before."

"There are way more of them now," Velvet replied, then raised her gun to take down a Nirumbi that had scaled the wall. "Maybe it's a numbers game?"

"No, Yuki is right." Mike scanned the tree line. "What would be the point in sending them in just to die? Why would they do it?"

"Because they are less afraid of you than they are of me." The voice came from behind him, and when he spun in place, he saw Leeds standing on the roof of the cabin.

Both he and Velvet opened fire, but Leeds flickered as the bullets went through him.

"It's a projection," Yuki explained.

"What do you want?" Mike asked.

Leeds chuckled. "That's simple, dear Caretaker. I want this land."

"Why not just ask? Why not find a different way to reach out?" Mike felt his anger growing as his magic roared inside of him. Tiny sparks formed on his fingertips, but he clenched his hands, willing them away. "I feel like you had options."

"Mike, don't." Yuki grabbed him by the shoulder. "Really, don't even talk to him. He's manipulative."

"Oh, I will only be honest with you, Mike Radley." Those crimson eyes glowed, as if burrowing into Mike's soul. "You see, I wanted to do this long before you took notice of this place. It would have been so easy to take this land, to become part of the Great Game before you even knew what was happening."

"So why didn't you?"

Leeds shook his head. Mike still couldn't see his features. "Because the spell I used to get everyone in required too much time. I couldn't accomplish it while that human was about, the father of the Arachne. On more than one occasion, he disrupted my runes without even knowing it. When he died, I only had to wait for the spiders of the forest to slumber to complete my plans."

"My dad?" Velvet lowered his gun. "You were afraid of him?"

"Afraid is the wrong word, little spider. I respected him. He demonstrated true dedication to defending this place and an attention to detail that his progeny lack."

Yuki started to ask something, but Mike didn't hear what she said. Instead, he heard the distant hoots of the Nirumbi. They were excited again, which meant that something had changed, but what?

When he turned to look back toward the forest, he saw an immense figure moving just behind the trees. A pine was toppled as the being pushed its way into the light. Standing taller than even Bigfoot was a creature with stretched-out limbs and the head of a deer. It snatched up a Nirumbi that tried to run past and shoved the whole thing in its mouth. It chewed on its snack and let out a howl before charging at them.

Mike opened fire, but the thing kept coming. Velvet fired off a couple of rounds before Quetzalli summoned a lightning blast that knocked the creature off its feet. After only a couple of seconds, it leapt into a standing position, its whole body smoldering. Yuki summoned a wall of ice to protect them, but Mike knew it wouldn't last long when the creature dragged long fingernails against the other side and let out a howl of anger.

"Many men have met my Wendigo, Mike Radley. None have lived to tell the tale." Leeds laughed, then vanished. The Wendigo raised massive fists and slammed them into the ice, causing it to crack.

"Bastard distracted us." Mike chambered another round and raised the rifle. Did it have a weak spot? "What do we know about Wendigo?"

"Eaters of flesh." Quetzalli snorted in disgust. "Not like Dana, not at all! They are once-men, driven by greed and power! Dark spirits walk these lands, and I will have none of it!"

Her eyes flashed a bright purple and lightning from above blasted her horn. Instead of discharging, her whole body glowed as she stored it inside her body and repeated the process. Mike covered his ears and closed his eyes. He could feel the thunder rushing through his body and the hair on his body stood on end as the dragon's electrical charge grew.

The Wendigo shattered the ice and tried to force its way through when Quetzalli let loose a lightning blast that caught the Wendigo in the chest and hurled it away from them. There was an explosion, and the air filled with the scent of blood and burnt flesh.

"Gah!" Mike's ears were ringing, and he couldn't hear what Yuki was shouting. But he did see the Wendigo stand up, its body smoldering. It picked up the nearby corpse of a Nirumbi and devoured it, walking toward them with purpose as it feasted with every step. A large hole had been blasted in its chest, revealing the Wendigo's rib cage.

Someone yanked on Mike's arm. It was Velvet. She pointed at Quetzalli, who was lying down on the ground.

"Understood!" he said, his voice sounding muffled to his ringing ears. When he knelt down to grab her, a jolt of energy ran through his body, numbing his legs. Cursing, he stumbled for a moment before scooping Quetzalli up in his arms.

The Wendigo growled, then snatched up a Nirumbi that ran up and prostrated itself. Upon consuming the little person, the Wendigo's wound closed even further.

They're feeding themselves to it?!?Mike stumbled into the cabin and laid Quetzalli on the ground. She was still breathing, but her horn was hot to the touch and she was out cold.

He made a quick detour to his room and dug through the potions that Zel had sent with him. The healing ones had cute little handwritten labels that described their application, but he didn't want those. Instead, he dug for the ones that Zel had put warning labels on. He scooped up a bright red one.

Dragon's Breath,the label declared.Use with caution.

Mike and Zel had become coated in Dragon's Breath shortly after they first met. He could still remember her stern warning to wash it off immediately and definitely to never scratch it or the burning would get worse.

He ran out of his room and then straight out the front door. The Wendigo's legs had been frozen to the ground and the Nirumbi were rushing within arm's reach.

"I can't stop them all," Yuki said as Velvet fired her gun at the Wendigo, shattering part of an antler. "There are too many of them!"

"Where are your snowmen?" he asked.

"Fighting off the rest of the Nirumbi!" She chanced a look over her shoulder. "Mike, there arehundredsof them!"

His jaw dropped. Hundreds?!? "Wh...why aren't they all attacking?"

She turned her attention back to the Wendigo. The ice had encased its waist, but cracks had already formed. Was the Wendigo getting bigger?

"They're luring the snowmen away from here. Leeds is out there too, taunting Bigfoot further into the woods. This is intentional, he's spreading us too thin! I think he knows the Nirumbi don't pose a threat, but this..." she paused to hurl an icicle at the Wendigo. It shattered on hard, white flesh. "This thing is something else."

"Let's see if we can buy ourselves some breathing room." He held up the potion. "I don't think I can throw it from here without missing."

Velvet looked over at him and snatched the potion from his hand. "Seriously, a Dragon's Breath?"

"Yep. Will do some damage, chase it off maybe."

"Roll to hit, add in that Dex modifier." Velvet smirked, then launched the potion. It soared through the air and shattered on the Wendigo's chest, coating the creature in a thin film of red.

The Wendigo immediately tried to remove the clinging slime, but only succeeded in smearing it across its chest and stomach. Frustrated, it tried to wipe its hands in the snow, but whatever Zel had added to turn the fine powder into a liquid wasn't coming off.

Mike watched in satisfaction as it started scratching.

"That's right, itches, doesn't it?" He grinned when the Wendigo let out a growl, followed by a whimper. It had stopped grabbing Nirumbi and was now just scratching itself. A few Nirumbi had been exposed to the substance and were already rolling the snow in an attempt to get it off.

"Magic itching powder?" Velvet cocked an eyebrow. "Seems a little—"

The Wendigo roared, then broke free of its prison, scratching furiously at its chest. The red liquid had turned crimson, staining the Wendigo's paper-white skin. It tumbled about in the snow, trying to rid itself of the Dragon's Breath.

Mike expected the Wendigo to bolt. Instead, he was horrified when it crouched down and dug large nails into its own flesh and started peeling. Yuki gagged when the Wendigo yanked a large strip of its own skin off and tossed it to the side where it slapped loudly against a tree.

Yuki tried to encase it in ice once again while it proceeded to skin itself, but it was enraged now and easily broke free.

How the hell were they going to stop this thing? If they couldn't hurt it, then maybe they could trap it? But how? Yuki's ice wasn't slowing it down much, and the guns couldn't kill it. As long as the Nirumbi kept lining up to be snacks, there was no way they could continue to keep it away.

The Wendigo tossed the rest of its ruined flesh to the ground and then regenerated by stuffing its face with more Nirumbi. It moved toward them, growling ominously.

"Retreat!" Yuki summoned another series of ice walls. "Into the cabin!"

Velvet went in first, followed by Mike and then Yuki. Once inside, they bolted the door shut and ran around to the nearest window. The Wendigo had reached the porch, and it rammed its foot into the front door.

Mike expected it to explode, showering the room with shrapnel. Instead, the kick was little more than a muffled thud. The Wendigo repeated the attack, then shifted over to a window and punched it. Instead of the glass breaking, the Wendigo's knuckles split apart, revealing bone.

"That's not what I expected." Velvet put her hands against the glass. "You can't even feel the vibrations from the hit."

Mike shook his head in disbelief. "So you're telling me the exterior of the home is unbreakable?"

"Guess so." Velvet shrugged. "It's not like this has happened much. Even during the goblin attacks, their arrows would stick in the exterior. They never wielded anything bigger than a club, and dad would shoot them before they got close."

"Well okay, then." He would have to bring Ratu out here and figure out how to do something similar to the house defenses.

"We may be safe for now," Yuki said, her arms crossed. She was in the kitchen, her attention directed outward. "But we're trapped. Bigfoot and Dana are out in the forest, Abella is missing, and help isn't coming. I'm trying to bring the snowmen back, but they're outnumbered and I don't think they'll do any good against the Wendigo."

Mike groaned, then looked back outside. The Nirumbi had formed an outer perimeter and the Wendigo, whose flesh had regrown, was busy trying to rip the siding off the house. Every time those sharp claws dug into the side of the cabin, they seemed to slip right off. Would the magic that protected this place be enough? And if so, how long could they hole up here?

Up on the roof of the barn, Leeds reappeared. His laugh became a screeching sound, filling the air like thousands of angry cicadas. The Nirumbi were lighting torches, their angry little faces highlighted by the flames.

"Uh..." Velvet backed away from the windows. "I really hope this place is fireproof." She was wringing her hands together, her unblinking eyes stuck on the torches that had surrounded her home.

The Wendigo roared, then punched the front door again. This time, the wood groaned and a split appeared in the wood.

"Yuki?" Mike's throat had gone dry. "Have any tricks up your sleeve?"

"Always." Dark lines had appeared on her face and she was shuffling her tarot cards. "Is there a back door to this place? I'll hold them off while you run."

"You can't hold them on your own," he whispered.

"Probably not." When she looked over at him, there was a wild look in her eyes. "This is a bad situation, Mike. Very bad. That thing out there is possessed by some type of spirit that possesses an affinity for the ice. I can't hurt it."

His heart raced when he realized that she was planning to buy them time with the cost of her own life.

"We need a plan," he replied. "A trap, maybe? What cards do you have?"

The door creaked again. The Nirumbi were chirping in delight, and Leeds was now speaking to them in a stilted language Mike didn't recognize.

"Velvet." Yuki looked at the Arachne. "Drag him out of here if you have to."

"I...I..." Velvet's hands went to her throat and squeezed the dog tags that she wore. She opened her mouth to say something, then paused, her eyes on the window.

Curious, Mike peered outside through the glass. The Nirumbi were still cheering, but the Wendigo had gone still, its gaze toward the heavens.

With a sound like a car crash, Abella smashed into the Wendigo from up above. When she rose, the firelight from the torches revealed that her face was covered in purple blood. She grinned at the Nirumbi, revealing all of her teeth, then looked up at Leeds. The Wendigo had gone still beneath her feet.