This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters Universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

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Chapter 24: Home Sweet Home

We were excited to report that Paige got the job once we got home. I was also excited when she said in no uncertain terms that she would be abstaining over the weekend, but wanted to have her turn with me before dinner. Lucy surprised me then, by asking to come with us. I saw this as an opportunity. “Paige, your Double Team ability. I know you have other things on your mind, but I need to know. How does it work, and how long does it last?”

She looked at me oddly. “Given just exactly how erect you are right now, I’ll bite. As long as they aren’t hit, and aren’t attacking, I can occupy two spaces basically forever. Takes a background trickle of mana to maintain, but takes chunks out to get them to take offensive action.”

I grinned, slightly ferally. “Let’s get to the bedroom then.” The door closed behind us, and Lucy basically jumped Paige. Her sudden assault knocked Paige backwards onto the bed, and they rapidly started getting each other naked. Paige was obviously enjoying this, and I dropped my own clothes before getting onto the bed, myself. As Lucy’s skilled hands found Paige’s clit and started playing, and Paige was doing her best to return fire, I thrust myself into the tall Dancer from behind.

She was already incredibly aroused, and I speared into her smoothly in one stroke. Paige gasped with pleasure, Lucy grinned broadly. Much like we did to Emily that first time, we delivered incredible ecstasy to our bedmate, and she came quickly and powerfully. At that moment, I activated Double Team.

There was a brief moment of overwhelming confusion as my brain suddenly started receiving two sets of inputs, but I quickly found that by focusing on one of them at a time I could direct that “body” while my other mostly continued what it was doing. Thus, my wife didn’t even realize there was another body behind her before I grabbed her horns from behind and thrust myself into her all the way to the base. 

She might not have seen me coming, but she certainly recognized the penis inside of her and wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. Both of my bodies were rocked by unearthly pleasure as they slammed into the two sexy women on the bed, and the two of them continued to make out, fondle, and play with each other. I felt it all, both bodies against me, both vaginas, the taste of both skins, both heats. I couldn’t hold out long, cumming hard into both as they both came with me. All three of us collapsed sideways onto the bed with four thumps, and I released my Double Team. My Mana was already under half, but I did not particularly care.

I could see their Auras, already semi-synchronized, snap into perfect unity. Their breaths deep, the afterglow of the encounter so hard both were nearly physically glowing. Lucy’s Aura had actually increased slightly. Paige’s? Well, she went from being nearly full to under half. She’d make it to Monday, but it would be close unless she fed over the weekend. Paige panted. “Jay, would you care to explain exactly what you just did?”

“I just figured out that your Double Team ability can be used for amazing sex.”

“I kind of knew that one. How did you use my Double Team ability?” Ah. Right. It kind of was my first time activating it, and she didn’t ever get the demonstration yet, nor ever saw that the things I used came from the others in my Guild. As we got dressed again I did my best to give her the rundown of how, exactly, my own abilities worked. She was still shaking her head… and wobbling a bit… when we got out to join the others for dinner. Gloria was experimenting with a recipe she found from Korea, some kind of shaved beef on rice, which the cow should feel honored to have been a part of.

Lucy was deep in thought as we ate, a pencil sitting next to her plate, a sticky note with a heptagram drawn on it between her and Sarah. There were all kinds of random letters, dots, dashes, squiggles, and question marks drawn on it. The table chatter was light and friendly, chewing on details about the job offer and the talks, but Lucy didn’t hear any of it. She shook her head, filling in a line on her sheet, then glanced up, finally snapping back to reality. “Gloria, you’re the only one here who has been gaining energy from strictly food. If you were to feed upon a person, how would you go about it?”

The table fell silent. Gloria sat and thought, nibbling on a piece of beef while absentmindedly giving another to Nibbles for additional nibbling. “I’ve only done it a few times, and it gives a lot of energy to me. I have to eat someone’s flesh, or drink their blood or other essence. Waste doesn’t work.”

Lucy nodded. “Okay. Would hair work? That’s really easy.”

No such luck. Gloria shook her head. “No, that’s dead and wasted already, no matter how luxurious it looks.”

Lucy sank back into thought. Her head quirked, but she shook it and settled back into the food. I was glad, really. She needed to make sure she ate, and her figuring out what to do about synchronization would make my own life much easier. We had more or less come to the conclusion that it was better to fully sync up and see what came than it was to live in fear of accidentally doing so. A few of these were going to be easy and obvious. Others, like Emily and Gloria, not so much. 

The question would have to hold for another day, though. We needed to sleep. The beds had been returned to their previous arrangement. Any day with an alarm set was not one we needed to be trying to disentangle from a cuddle pile.

The next day dawned in a bit of a blur. No change on the goals, but I’d only be at the hospital for a half-day. I made my hours this week once the demon was added, and there were other considerations. Amber met me at home, so nervous she almost seemed shrunken in on herself. There were a lot of hugs, and if her grip seemed tighter than usual I did not mind. “Jay… when we go see Dad, can we bring Nibbles?”

“Don’t see why not. Does he like yarrbs?”

“My little brother does. Really loves animals of all kinds.”

“Sure. Speaking of, get your stuff. I’m not expecting trouble, but I’m a lot less nervous myself when I know we are ready.”

She did so. Lock picks. Pistol. Sword. Shield. Spare baton. Potions. Books. A magnifying glass. Telescope. Notebook. The list went on, and all went into her seemingly limitless Pockets. To outside appearances, all she had was a modified tee shirt with extra arm holes, our Guild badge, and a pair of worn jeans. A plain silver barrette in the slightly darker fur atop her head. She was still changing, a week after she had made herself my guild mate and lover. Her chest expanding ever so slowly, her hips with them. I could see the nubs of horns starting at her hairline. There was no way for me to know exactly what else was changing under the surface, in body or mind.

With Nibbles to tag along, we boarded a different bus than our usual. Amber was snuggling into me so hard it was like she wanted to be inside of me. She was practically shaking. Not quite hyperventilating, but not far short of it. By the time we got to our stop downtown, I had to nearly lift her to get off. It did not bode well that she was this scared. What was her dad like that she was utterly terrified of the coming conversation? 

I checked the power levels on my gauntlet. Nearly full, but I was feeling paranoid.

The downtown storefront was tiny, and only had a simple sign stating “Appraisals, Analysis, and Exchange.” A bell jingled as we entered, I caught a flash of motion to my right. A glint of metal dropping behind the display counter, one that somehow still didn’t seem threatening. The place was marginally larger than I had expected, mostly dedicated to displays of random knickknacks and more serious pieces. The back quarter seemed to hold a bewildering myriad of tools, scopes, and scales. Between the two sides was a counter with a register and an appraising pad, and behind this counter an Imp sat on a stool.

The Imp could not be more different than Marcus. He was obviously older, dusky red skin wrinkled and horns curled upwards. He was wearing a comfortable robe and thick glasses, a large book open beside him. Amber’s voice was barely a whisper. “Daddy…”

He looked up, directly at me. His voice was rough with age, but still deep and powerful despite his diminutive stature. “My daughter had best be talking about me, young man.”

How are you even supposed to respond to that? I did my best, feeling beyond awkward as I stepped forward. “Mr. Ian Nichols, I presume? I am Jeremiah…”

“I know who you are. Even if Amber had not described you thoroughly while singing your praises, I do my research. And I’m the one who asked for you to come here.”

“Then you know the kinds of lengths I will go to for her.” I could see an opening and prayed I would be able to seize it.

“Really, young man? I can see her changing. I’d hardly recognize her already were she not so unusual, and she is not finished. A week with you and she is not finished. How much is she changing to suit you?”

“Sir, I don’t know. She joined herself to me and my team while I was dying, mostly unconscious, and her doing so probably saved my life. It was a good start, and I like to think I am doing right by her.” Nibbles was acting odd, sniffing at the corner of the nearest display case. I could see all four of his ears tracking something just out of sight. I looked over. “It’s okay, he likes being pet. Mind the quills.”

A trembling hand reached out from behind the counter. Small, though not so tiny as the Imp, it had the unfinished look of a Slime that needed practice. Thing is, it was a color I had never seen before. The Slime’s flesh was an opaque silver color, extremely shiny in the light. It looked like he was made of liquid mercury. Nibbles stepped forward into it, nuzzling hard. It would take the willpower of a Greater Sage to resist that, and from around the corner stepped a boy, perhaps a young man, of slight build and in baggy clothes. He was wearing a hoodie even in the August heat, and very little of his shining skin could be seen.

Mr. Nichols could see where my gaze was. “Never seen his type before, have you? I am not surprised. Nathan is a Metal Slime, and as far as I know there are fewer than two hundred alive.”

I took a couple of slow, careful steps towards the child and the yarrb, kneeling down. Speaking softly, I directed him to the places that Nibbles liked being pet the most. Under the chin, across the shoulders, scritches between the quills. “If he really likes you, he’ll roll over and let you get at his belly.” Right on queue, Nibbles did exactly that, and with a rapturous expression Nathan rubbed the offered tummy. Nibbles was thoroughly enjoying it, hamming it up, but a moment later his nose twitched. He sneezed. 

Nathan was gone so fast I thought he teleported. I couldn’t even hear where he was hiding. Nibbles was confused at where his new friend had disappeared to. I stood back up and stepped over to his dad again. “You said less than two hundred? I thought there was no such thing as there being less than a thousand.”

“That is true, but you missed a word. I said less than two hundred left alive. Nathan has a truly staggering amount of potential. He is a Rogue with the Specter subclass, and his Race makes him unbelievably stealthy, fast, and tough. But his kind labor under a curse. When killed, they give more than ten times as much Class Progress as a comparable monster. Eighty-five percent of Metal Slimes who die do so by murder. The majority of the rest commit suicide after surviving an attempt.” Ian sighed. “He was ten years old when we realized this.”

“I… I’m sorry to hear that. He seems to be a good kid, you are doing well despite the problems. I can help train him in self-defense if you want. My Enchanter can create some basic safety equipment for him. My Guild isn’t the most powerful out there, but we exist to help preserve life.”

“I do not yet trust you enough to believe you won’t simply kill him yourself. You have already stolen one of my children from me. I will not let you take the other.”

“You know that Amber is here, listening to you say that, right? You can ask her. I am not like her ex. Point of fact, I recently cost Marcus a lot of what he had built up in life.” 

“Young man, the point is that I can’t ask her. I haven’t been able to for nearly three years now. She was blinded by her own emotions, acted without thinking things through, and I could not protect her. Now, I will never have my real daughter back.” Amber was with Nibbles, at the opposite corner of the store. I watched as the young Metal Slime… Nathan… leapt into her arms. We were too far away for me to be able to hear what they were saying, exactly, but she was hugging him with all she had.

I thought through my next words several times before speaking. “Perhaps I never knew her before this all happened, but I know her now. Who she is now is someone worth admiring. She is a strong, beautiful, and capable woman. You likely saw the video of my Guild’s latest fight against the Balar, at the hospital. Amber jumped in without hesitation, and without her intervention I’d likely not have managed to lead my team to victory. You don’t know me, but I will tell you that I did not ask that of her. I’m the planner and tactician, but she had been with us for so little time that I had not integrated her yet. She could have sat it out. Still, she leapt out of a sixth-story window on faith in my wife alone, to help us fight one of the greatest threats the city has ever seen”

“We are at an impasse, it seems. Can you commit to doing your best to remove what is afflicting her?”

I sighed. “I have already offered to attempt it. I am a Cursebreaker, removing effects of this kind is a specialty. She asked me not to until her transformation is completed, for safety. In addition, it was laid on her by a Wish. I do not know if I am the equal of it. All I can promise is that, when she is ready, I will use every resource and ability I have to try to dispel it. If I cannot, then I’ll give her the best life I can, and end those who try to steal her for real without quarter.”

“You will understand that I do not particularly like that answer.” Mr. Nichols looked tired. Overwhelmingly tired. The kind of soul-deep fatigue that can only come from being helpless to protect his two precious children. I did not dare ask about their mother. There were entirely too many ways for that to end poorly. Amber would tell me eventually, if she felt like it.

“I wouldn’t in your place, either, but it’s the best I have. I will not lie to you, sir.” I saw Amber show Nathan the baton I used as a weapon of choice. “My offer still stands. He is too young to become a Delver, but anyone old enough to have to defend themselves is old enough to know how to do it. I have contacts who are familiar with that particular subclass, and Guild members who know that kind of life story. Plural.”

“I will tell him, and let him decide. You will know his decision if he shows up at your door. You may go.” 

I did not call their names. Slowly and calmly, I stepped around the counters. All three of them looked up at me. “Nathan, it was good to meet you.”

His voice was barely above a whisper, a wavering boyish tenor that sounded like it was trying to decide whether to stay there or drop another octave. “It was good to meet you too, sir. And Nibbles.”

“Anyone as brave and as resilient as you are deserves to call me Jay. If you ever want to talk, Amber can give you my number. Any time, day or night, if you ever get in trouble or just need advice. I’m here.”

“Yes sir! I mean, Jay! Thank you!” He stepped forward and gave Amber and I one last hug. “I’m glad you’re back, sis.”

Amber was holding back tears as we stepped out of the shop, into the afternoon sun. They dropped across her cheek silently as we sat on the bus stop bench. I had the feeling that her emotions were mixed, but I also had the feeling that it was more good than bad. Patience would be the key this time. Amber was her own woman, and me trying to pressure or lead her on would not do.

“He didn’t like you, did he?” Amber had taken a few minutes to come around to talk, but it was quicker than I thought.

“Not sure if I’d call it that. He doesn’t trust me with his precious child. Children. Not yet. Still, I can’t blame him.”

“You think he’ll come around?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing. I hope he does. I want to be able to share this life with you without regrets, and him never approving would certainly be one.”

“You know that Nate’s gonna show up at our door really soon, right?”

“I hope so. He needs it, for his own sake. Speaking of, thanks for the reminder.” I pulled out my phone and mentally composed the text.

“George, this is Jeremiah. I have a minor who needs instruction on Specter Rogue Class abilities, and need someone who is 9001% trustworthy. Can’t give more details over text. Any candidates?”

Hopefully, he’d have a bite. At least a recommendation. My phone chimed at me shortly thereafter, but it wasn’t George. Misun was the one texting me this time. “Boss, you might want to check your class forum accounts. We got someone calling himself BlueSkiesAbove who says he needs to talk to you, and it’s urgent.”

Huh? I responded immediately. “I know him, it’s legit. Thanks for the alert.”

The message was simple. “Call me -BSA” followed by a phone number, Oregon area code.

He picked up on the first ring. “Hello?” His voice had a significant gravel in the background, the kind that was usually reserved for chain smokers or people with prior neck injuries.

“Blue Skies? It’s Cubus. You had something urgent?”

“Yeah, and man am I glad you suck at anonymity, Jeremiah.” Freaking ouch. “I need to talk to you, face to face. Can you meet me at the Seattle Guild Hall on Sunday morning? I’ll be visiting my brother. He wants to meet you, too.”

“Two things. First, how will I recognize you? Second, who’s your brother?”

“I’m probably the only Armadillo Beastfolk Mirror on Earth, and failing that I’ll find you. My brother is Jordan Shapiro.”

My pulse shot up to a million beats per minute. I had felt less fear, by far, when the Balar had its whip around my chest. “Um, excuse me? Did you just tell me that the highest level Lightning Magus on the face of freaking Earth, the Guild Leader MARSHAL of Seattle, is your brother? THAT Jordan Shapiro?”

“He’s tied for first right now, but yes, and he needs to talk to you as much as I do. We’d do it tomorrow, but he won’t do business on the Sabbath.”

Right. RABBI Jordan Shapiro often cited his intense study of religion and law before the Change to be one of the main reasons he was such an effective Lightning Magus now. It also meant that, once he became Guild Leader Marshal, the only person to ever attempt to unseat him was one who wore white hoods on his days off. “Got it. Need me alone, or can guild mates come?”

“They’d have to stay outside. You know only Guild Leaders can come to the main hall, and usually not ones of minor guilds. You are, as of that Balar, an exception to the guild size rule for qualification.”

“Alright. Anything else I need to know so that I’m not walking in blind?”

“Yeah, don’t bring up our other brother. Jordan’s still furious over the politics thing. See you Sunday.” He hung up. 

I put my arm around Amber and held her close. Our stop was coming soon. Here’s the thing about what we do, we usually don’t get a chance to overthink. Alert comes, you react, and one way or the other it’s over. I was staring a hurricane in the eye, a man who could wipe me from existence without any particular effort. I could see it coming, and I couldn’t get out of its way.

We got home with the sun still in the sky. Talk wasn’t really on our minds as we rode the elevator up, Amber and I just taking comfort in mutual support. As we approached our apartment door, though, I heard Whitney’s voice in a half-gasp, half-scream. Amber heard it, too, and unlocked the door much faster than I could have. I had my shield up and baton out when I came to the living room…

Only to see Whitney, on her knees and arched backwards, nude, wings flared and face in a silent scream of ecstasy. Gloria was on her back on the floor beneath her, face buried between those powerful thighs. Her lips were clamped to Whitney’s slit, her throat working as she attacked it for all she was worth. I could see her Aura rippling and flowing, synchronizing with Whitney’s, as Lucy stood to the side with an exceedingly satisfied smirk on her face. Her Aura, too, flowed strongly together with Gloria’s. She had not just synchronized with her, but fully done so two-way.

Whitney chose that moment to fall over backwards, hitting the ground and staying there, seemingly unable to do anything but breathe deeply. Her Aura was reduced significantly from what I had seen that morning. The diminutive Hispanic woman had almost literally managed to suck her soul out through her vagina. Gloria, for her part, was still laying on the ground, licking her lips with an expression of bliss on her face. I took a couple of much-less-hurried steps over to my wife. “Um, not that I mind, of course, but care to explain what happened?”

“Oh, I thought that would be obvious. I came up with an idea while we were at work in order to try synchronizing with Gloria. After thinking of you and what we did last night, I was plenty wet, so without telling Gloria what it was I took a sample and asked her to drink it. Sure enough, her Hunger counted it as still being viable, and she Fed from it.”

“Okay, that’s awesome, but it doesn’t explain what I just witnessed.”

“Well, two things there. First, she said it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, and asked what it was. I, of course, had to both synchronize with her and teach her how to get it herself. Did you know that before today she had never had a lesbian encounter? In her whole life? Never experimented, nothing. Well, after she came three or four times and asked for pointers, she tested it out on me, and after two of my own I judged her one of the most talented tongues I’ve ever been with. Plus that suction, hard to compete with. I get why your expression was like that when she was going down on you. Whitney saw what was going on and asked to be next, and you saw the last bit of that.”

… huh. Well, yep, that made sense. I meandered over to the kitchen and found Emily there, preparing some spaghetti with what looked like a meat sauce. She seemed distracted. “I see that Gloria was busy, huh?”

Emily almost jumped out of her fur. “Ah, yeah, you could say that.” She was blushing again. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, are Gloria and Whitney done?”

“Yeah, they just wrapped up as Amber and I got in. I’ll let the others know to get ready.”

The meal was a mellow affair, several grins around the table, the chatter light. I told everyone to be on the lookout for Nathan, and that I would need to get to the Guild Hall first thing Sunday morning. “It’s important enough that I’ll fly out if the bus isn’t going to make it.”

Gloria was, perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly maxed out on her Hunger, and pulled me to bed that evening. For the first time, we went at it missionary. It was definitely a bit harder than I thought it would be. Gloria was a tiny woman, by far the smallest of our team, and had very little sexual experience at all before joining us. I actually had to use Shapechange to shrink in order to fit at all. Though she came, and I Fed, she seemed disappointed. It seemed that this was not her preferred way to get off anymore. 

Still, that was her choice. I’d respect it. I mean, she directly told me she still loved the feel of sucking me down, so I wasn’t exactly missing out. When we all went to sleep that night, she was sharing Whitney’s bed, the little spoon. 

It was adorable.