This is still a noncanonical fanfiction to the Becoming Monsters series, 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 29: Great Responsibility

 

As soon as the important thing (chocolate) was out of the way, Gloria stood to go to the stove. “Need to get some good iron back into us, so we’re splurging a bit.” She pulled steaks out of the fridge. Steaks! Not a thing that had been on the menu in a long time, that’s for sure. She began laying things out and cutting things up, and when I started to walk over to help I had to duck backwards to avoid a pan swung in my general direction. “Oh, no you don’t! Only way you’ll be helping me is telling me how done you like your steak.”

 

“I prefer to be able to taste the cow’s last thought before it became dinner.”

 

“Good, yours will be easy. Now go sit down.” What can I say? I’m brave, not stupid. I sat. Nibbles curled up in my lap when I did. I’m sure there was something in some pet training manual somewhere about letting a yarrb do that at the dinner table. I, frankly, did not care as long as he didn’t try to take a bite of my steak.

 

Sarah was animatedly chatting with the others, writing down data. I could see as she did so, overlaying everything, the shimmer of Hungers equalizing. It was mostly done well before I got home, but the emotions had been running high and threw off the balance as the girls siphoned from each other. “Jay! I think I know what’s going on. I have some good data from today, but I have to ask you a question. When you Feed on one of us, how much of your Hunger pool do you usually get?”

 

On the one hand, talking about my sex life at the dinner table in front of seven distinct women who have been active participants in it within the last 72 hours could be seen as awkward. On the other, data. Data won out. “About 1% if nothing special is going on. It can go up or down, but that’s a baseline.”

 

“Okay. Amber, how much did he pull from your pool when you were together this morning?”

 

Amber sighed with memory. She was not done with her Heat cycle. “15%, why?”

 

“Just trying to get some basic numbers! So, we can’t know for sure, but here’s an estimate. Jay, pretend that one percent for one of us is about one ‘point’ of Hunger. I know it’s not exact, but this is napkin math time. You can hold about one thousand five hundred or so. Basically, twice as much as the rest of us combined. I can work out some rates from there, but I think I know what’s going on. All of us got into each others’ Hungers.”

 

“Yeah, I mean, I can see your pools flowing into each other when you are in the same room.”

 

“More than that, Jay. I think, when you spotted me Feeding in the lab, it was with Paige’s method. Admiration from others who were there. Not nearly as effective as hers, of course, but there. I could get individual points. Same thing happened to Lucy in the cafeteria, and probably at Pediatrics while you weren’t looking. I bet all of you gained from the fights at the bank and against the monsters. Watch us while we eat dinner, if I’m right then all of us should be gaining via Gloria’s Hunger when we do.”

 

That was still a ton to take in. It was more than a game-changer, it was a LIFE changer. It held up through dinner, too. Every bite taken seemed to be a raindrop in the lake of their shared Hungers, though Gloria’s was by far the greatest of these. I enjoyed the steak and spinach salad more than I likely should have (I mean, come on, it tasted like the cow had been raised eating manna instead of grass). Everyone made sure to donate what MP they could easily spare to top off my shield and the other batteries, usually with a hard look at me. The discussion at the table turned to each other, asking how they all did their feeding.

 

I know I mentioned we had just talked about me doing so, but some of the details got… well, let’s call it a bit involved. I’m not exactly squeamish, given my life and line of work, but it was more than I was yet comfortable with. I let them get on with it and excused myself, heading to the bedroom to start getting ready for bed. There was a lot of stretching to do, a lot of making sure that Regeneration was working properly. There was a tick of metal against the floor as my leg spat out a piece of shot from the first skeleton’s attack. Not a souvenir I wanted to consider too hard.

 

I’d managed to get into my pajamas for about a minute and a half before Amber and Lucy came into the room and essentially ripped them off of me. Both wanted to be able to sleep that night, and a couple of good orgasms were the key to that particular future. With Amber’s new cycle following my wife’s pattern, neither was actively bleeding (though, thinking about it, Lucy never actually had this month). As a result, they both shoved me down onto the bed and rode me like they needed to cross a desert, and I was a horse with no name.

 

The next morning started entirely too early. My phone rang, the tone one I specifically assigned to Guild Officer contacts, at four in the morning. Groggy, I rolled to the side and grabbed it. “This is Guild Leader Kithkin.”

 

“Jay! I’m glad you answered, it’s Vish,” came the faint Indian accent. “Giving you warning, we have an emergency rescue within the Dungeon. Need a paramedic who is Delver certified, and the only one available right now belongs to your Guild. Hospital should alert you soon.”

 

Man, will THAT wake you up fast. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll make sure Emily is ready… and Lucy to escort, I think, she has delved with Golden Age before and can help interface.”

 

“Good call. I’ll be at the Dungeon Gate with our side of the rescue team. Sounds like we need a tank. George is already down there, but I’ll get Yasmin or Deke prepped. They both live at Camp.” He referred to the apartments adjacent to the Guild Field. Ones that took their rent in Coin and catered to those who lived their lives there.

 

Further details were quick to hash out. The group had gone down to help train up relatively new members. Other, more senior, teams were not available due to having multi-day trips underground already, having to hike out to target zones. George Godfrey had charged in solo as soon as word of trouble had gotten to them, and would hopefully be able to keep the team safe until our healer could get to them.

 

Lucy and Emily got ready very, very fast. They could prepare for things, this time. Powers were channeled. Equipment gathered and properly donned. Quick breakfast of leftovers (which, let’s face it, probably represented the best breakfast in the building). By the time the ambulance got to our building, both were waiting for it. I got back to the apartment to get everyone else ready and let them know what was going on over our own morning meal.

 

“Plans changed this morning. Gloria, Paige, and Amber, do you have any crucial tasks happening this morning? No? Alright. I need you three to suit up and badge up, get to the Guild Hall and be ready for anything. Sarah, Whitney, we are going to be stuck at the Hospital for at least the morning, but I want you to be ready to go as well. If anything goes down around Seattle, we’re it. Sarah, you in particular need to be able to receive alerts if at all possible.” Everyone acknowledged and got themselves prepared. A lot could happen.

 

My head and heart were, to put it lightly, not on what I needed to do for work. My coworkers understood, thankfully thinking that it was about the previous day’s monster alert. I didn’t bother correcting them. It really says something that destroying two skeletal tigers was the least stressful part of that afternoon, doesn’t it? After a couple of hours of this, my team leader told me to just go home, and be back on my game the following day. I was just glad it wasn’t terribly busy, and that I was ahead on hours.

 

Sarah and Whitney were already back home by the time I got there. Something about a small explosion. We got ourselves fully and properly equipped. I was in my mail coat and manashed undershirt, all weapons prepared. I loaded my pistol and had one round waiting in the chamber. Whitney, too, had some leather guards on her forearms and shins. We had never quite gotten the chance to get her fitted for more complete armor. Even Sarah had her shield charm and main wand. Her ring was glittering more than I could easily account for, too, and the backup Silver Battery she had attached to her wand was indicating a full charge.

 

The bus ride was painfully long, and none of us were in any mood for light conversation. There was dread, a feeling that we were not going to enjoy what was coming. We nervously ate some small snacks on the bus, tasting none of them. It was with a sense of relief that we got off at our stop, and immediately saw the other three there.

 

The good feeling lasted a matter of seconds. There had been no word back at all from the rescue team, or the people being rescued. Lucy and Emily had descended at around five in the morning, nearly six hours had passed since then. No word. Emotions at camp were ratcheting up, and it was not just our tiny guild feeling it. “Ladies, I need to go by the scheduling house. I’m going to tell them we are there to mount rescue, and get directions to where the downed team was. Get ready. We will be on the next shuttle to the gate.”

 

The staff there understood, and my visit took less than a minute. I left with a map in my hand of their planned route, and last-known open areas they might have stopped. Phones did not work in the Dungeon, but they also gave me a Messenger Egg, a one-shot enchantment that would create a magical construct in the shape of a parrot, to carry a one-sentence message back to the gate. I’d have to make it count.

 

I got back to the girls at the same time that the shuttle did. The trip was short and bumpy, few of the comforts of the main road bus were present in favor of one that could accommodate the hundreds of shapes and sizes this route carried. Our search was not going to be complicated. Really, that was a big part of what was making the camp nervous. The location estimated for the group in distress was only about thirty minutes away from the Gate at a fast walk. It was in an area that should hardly have counted as a delve at all. The woods around camp, aboveground, were arguably as dangerous. That they were not back, and couldn’t even get word out, was baffling everyone.

 

The gate area was… normally fairly clear. An open field meant to be used as a staging ground, about the size of a football field. A watch post the camp kept manned whenever there was a team Underground, which meant effectively 24/7. The gate itself, looking moderately innocuous unless you knew what it was, essentially a hole in the side of a hill that almost looked like an abandoned train tunnel. Today was not normal. There was an aid tent set up, people assuming the worst. An Archivist was present. So was a very large and powerful man.

 

Guild Leader Theodore Weiss was an actual Gargoyle subspecies, a foot taller than me, his stone skin flecked with the gold that gave his guild its name. Golden Age had prospered under his leadership since it had been founded, and he was arguably the second most powerful person at Camp after Marshal Shapiro. Both in terms of influence, and in personal strength. He was a Mage Knight, combining many of the greatest strengths of several other classes, and last I checked had crossed level 25 and never stopped advancing. His full plate armor shone in the sun, the badge of a sunrise over the city obviously worn with age and hard use. “Guild Leader Kithkin! I didn’t expect to see you at the Gate.”

 

“Guild Leader Weiss, I’m glad to see you. I got the call around four this morning that there was a team in distress. My healer is the only paramedic at Central Cascadia Hospital who is Delver qualified. I sent her and my Sorceress as an escort along with Vish and one of your tanks. They haven’t gotten any messages back to me, either.”

 

“Let me guess, you were preparing your team to go in after them?”

 

“Considering you are looking at every full member of my guild who is not already Below? Yes.”

 

“Easy to forget not everyone has multiple full teams plus support staff. I was giving it another thirty minutes or so before sending my next team in, but if you intend to dive right in I’ll task them to you.”

 

“As long as you have someone who can be a wayfinder, that works perfectly for me. Emily multitasks as my scout when she’s not fixing me up after getting smacked around by surface incursions.”

 

“I’ve got you. Mark is a Foresight specialist, technically too low level for a standard team but perfect for you and what you need. If you get close, he’ll home you in.”

 

“Sounds good. Let me give you my contact information for later, we should sync up now that I’m in on the Major Guild rotations… um. Who’s yelling?” Under the tent, a tall Human male was suddenly panicking. Guild Leader Weiss looked concerned. That, itself, was concerning.

 

“That’s Mark.”

 

I saw it, then. A ripple in the air. As though a viscous and clear liquid was being poured all over the camp... or was pouring out of the Gate. I could feel it this time, cold dread in my heart. A demonic Aura. A really freaking strong one. “PREPARE FOR CONTACT!”

 

When I need to, I can yell extremely loudly. Enough to be heard over the din of a crowded hall, enough to cut through the chaos of combat. My call pierced the clearing, and everyone knew what it meant. Guild Leader Weiss had his shining sword and shield out instantly, my team armed with similar speed, and from across the clearing I could hear the clatter of a dozen other Delvers drop anything that wasn’t breakable to get set.

 

The ripple and flow oozed over the camp, and suddenly the aid tent was no more. Crushed as though under a landslide. Only Mark’s warning let the staff who had been there escape mostly unscathed.

 

“Sarah, max power Disenchant over the remains of the tent, now!”

 

To her credit, she was already charging it before I gave the command. The pulse of power sailed forth and connected with something. Something big. A wave of golden fur revealed itself, a patch several feet on a side.

 

“Weiss! I need you and anyone else you have to Purge Invisibility! Demonic attacker, big one!”

 

“Noticed!” he yelled back. Sarah and I were both launching bolts of dispelling power at the thing, Weiss joining us along with a couple of his Guild from the other side. More patches of golden fur appeared, some tan, defining a body that was frankly enormous. I saw a shifting of the air, a sense of motion.

 

“Defend!” I called my Shield and braced myself, Guild Leader Weiss doing the same and Sarah activating her Shield Charm. Amber strode forward and braced with her physical shield as well. Between the four of us, what struck didn’t kill or disable anyone. Problem is, that’s about all I could say about it. Both my own shield and Sarah’s were strained to the utmost, my Battery draining by nearly a quarter and her own shattering.

 

Gloria had enough of a target now to be able to call Acid Mist in the right place. It outlined a giant beast, multiple tails thrashing. Paige began to dance, wiping away fatigue and soreness, as my group began to shift location. We needed to present a unified front. Guild Leader Weiss was barking directions at his people with speed and confidence, he knew them almost as well as I knew my own. Though the threat remained massive, we were past the initial shock. Several of his own people with ranged attack capability were unleashing the fury at the target they could now see well enough to target. Progress was being made.

 

Suddenly, the combined might of all the pressure pouring in overwhelmed the target. Its power of invisibility dropped, and we finally got a good look at what we were facing. The beast was massive, easily over thirty feet tall at the shoulder. It was quadrupedal, covered in golden fur, with tan at its underbelly and the tips of its four thrashing tails. Wild red eyes shone from its vulpine head, enormous fangs shone from its maw. Terrible claws emerged from its four paws.

 

My world froze. I knew this. I knew her. Cursebreaker merely confirmed it. The Curse of Reversion lay heavy upon this titanic Kitsune. Emily had been targeted and struck by it, and became this thing. Everyone in my Guild knew it, too. They had all been struck by the same thing in the past.

 

“Whitney, Paige! Full send, try to strike at tendons. Sarah, hang back and conserve mana, focus on shapeshifts and major illusions. Gloria, Pinning Shots, save mana for Acid Mist if she tries to fade out. Leader Weiss! Change of plans!”

 

“What do you MEAN Change of plans?” We had just managed to link up with the rest of his Guild, our side of the conflict now numbering twenty capable Delvers.

 

“This is the exact kind of demon we have been dealing with the past few weeks! Dispellers stay ready, and anyone who can use abilities to hinder it, prioritize over raw damage. Shield wall forward to catch tail strikes and potential thaumic blasts. If you see the beast catch fire, stop all attacks!”

 

“Kithkin, if it had been anyone else outside of Golden Age saying that… You all heard the man, Get to it!”

 

As Whitney and Paige sideslipped one enormous strike, a gray-robed spellcaster gathered his strength. My Berserker delivered a terrible slash to the back of one of Emily’s hind legs, and suddenly a black disc appeared underneath the giant monster. I could see the air warp in a column as the spell dropped a hammer of intense gravity to the area, driving the thing to her knees. And the magus as well, the effort of that great a working nearly draining him in one shot. Others in the group called power of their own, adapting to the shift in tactics like the team of trained professionals they were.

 

As the demon struggled against layer after layer of binding and inhibition, I snapped back to Cursebreaker and started gathering my own power. This Curse was depicted in browns and greens, looking raw and barely finished, almost as if it had grown there like a plant. It had not had much time to set in yet, its connection to her more tenuous than the others. The problem was that Emily had a much deeper reserve of mystic power than the others, and this Curse looked ready to fight back. I got to work, visualizing my assault less like a scalpel and more like a flame, burning away the threat it presented.

 

The demon screamed at me, and lashed out with a wave of pure mystic might. The shield wall before us held, somehow, but more than one of them were looking like they were barely hanging on. This group was incredibly capable, but what they lacked was a healer. Our healer, unfortunately, being otherwise occupied trying her hardest to kill them all. I focused harder on my task, severing the vile icon from its victim thread by thread. I noticed, remotely, that several spellcasters of Golden Age looked on in a mix of fascination, awe, and horror as I poured myself into what only I could do.

 

Finally, the icon was severed, and I blasted it with the purifying power of the sun above. The monster caught fire, collapsing to the ground. “Shield Guild! Go forward!”

 

Beside me, I heard Weiss shout at his own people to stand down. They did so, quickly and cleanly. It appeared that we had no fatalities or major injuries, but a lot of these people would not be very useful in further fights today unless their leader was willing to court much larger risks. He turned to me. “Care to explain what just happened?”

 

“Walk with me and I will. It is a… trade secret.”

 

He was curious enough to follow me forward, where Whitney and Paige were getting to the thankfully-breathing body of one Emily Johnson, Kitsune. “Sir, you might remember your main tank getting laid out by a severe illness recently. What you just witnessed is what it does to a Demonic.”

 

Theodore Weiss, Gargoyle, Guild Leader, and devastatingly powerful combatant, was at a loss for words.

 

I took the opportunity to continue. “I saw the attack coming due to a unique ability to see Demonic auras, and was able to end it due to the same ability I used to get George out of the hospital bed last month. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person in this state, and possibly this country, who possesses it. This is Emily, my healer, the one who I sent down to help your team. Thank you, and your Guild, for helping us rescue her. My team is going to take about a third of the reagents and half the coinage from this and leave the rest for you.” I sighed. “Whatever has been behind the attacks? They ran into it. This means that whatever your team thought they were facing? It’s something that could create that. Topside has been crazy enough that I haven’t gotten a chance to pursue what could be causing it.”

 

“I see. I definitely heard something about a bank robbery yesterday, so I get it. Let the Leader Network know about threats this big next time.”

 

“Sir, until this past weekend, I was a Minor Guild Leader. You telling me that is the first I heard about an actual Network.”

 

He stared. “Your team is that capable and coordinated, and you’re telling me you were in the Minor Leagues last week? After what I have seen you all do? What are you, Kithkin?”

 

“I wish I could tell you, Weiss. I’m just a man who is struggling to do the right thing, and that puts me and mine in the path of a lot of trouble. This fight is the sixth such that we have had in the last month, and the first time we have had an outside Guild supporting us more than recording ongoing events.”

 

“We are not done talking. I hear something about you and Flight of Fury’s Dimensional Magus going on sabbatical as well, but call me once we are done rescuing our people.” He turned to face his Guild. “Anyone who is too injured to go Underground, go set the tent back up as best you can. Mark, on me.”

 

I looked to my team as his instructions continued. “Sarah, I need you to recharge my Battery then hang back. Don’t try to hide it, I can see you limp after that attack and I know your Shield Charm isn’t going to be able to stop more than a paper airplane until tomorrow. I need you with Emily. The rest of you, get ready. We’re going underground.” I took one long, shuddering breath. “I’m not going to lie, this is bad news. If whatever has been cursing all of you caught up with the group down there? That means there is a very, very angry full Succubus down there who knows all of us inside and out, who also has an incredibly powerful set of magical attacks at her disposal.”

 

The ladies of Shield Against Shadows looked grim. None of them wanted to think about precisely what we were going down there to face.

 

“Here’s the plan. We go forward along the route, and we escort the Golden Age team. I do not expect to find anything good at the destination. Our primary goal is to stay alert for Lucy. These folks cannot possibly deal with her alone, much less have a hope of rescuing her alive.” My throat was dry. I was fighting back tears. “I want my wife back, and we are going to get her.”