Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 100

Hi, all!

Holy fuck, is this really my 100th chapter of HFHM?!? *stares in awe at that three digit number*

If you're a new reader to the series, I strongly suggest you go back all the way to the beginning and start with the very first chapter. With over a million words, 2.5 spinoff novels, and plenty of butt stuff, there's a lot you need to learn to make it back to this point. Or don't, I really can't tell you what to do.

Returning reader? WELCOME BACK! In a way, this is sort of a celebration for you as well? Why? Because you read a hundred chapters of something! It sounds way more impressive at parties, I promise. Also, a special shout out to the reader who blatantly stated I wouldn't last long after one of my first chapters. Maybe I've finally earned that follow from you?

Folks, speaking realistically, I couldn't have made it this far without your enthusiasm and your readership. I've had a few long time readers send me letters that say it's amazing how much has changed since that fateful first chapter. My writing style, my story telling ability, all kinds of things. I am excited to learn that I've grown in these areas, because I take it all very seriously, despite the amount of dad jokes that Mike now makes. Your comments, your stars, your emails, all of it has contributed to the foundation HFHM has laid on this website. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

As always, the schedule is in my bio. Don't forget to leave stars and reviews, they get people to come here and check things out. Special thanks to my beta team, Pastor, Arthvr, the Mikes, Zing, TJ Skywind, and I'm sure I forgot someone. There is a lot that goes into making sure you all get a quality read, whether in terms of story or grammar, because I truly do believe that you deserve my very best. And with a hundred chapters of this tale now published to Literotica, I hope that I'm finally

Making a Splash

It was only seven in the morning when Mike stepped out of his bedroom to the sound of crashing waves and wind. His suite had a large viewing deck off the living room and the sliding door had been left open. The curtains danced in the breeze, and he saw three figures standing by the balcony.

A carafe of coffee was on the counter of the kitchenette, so he poured himself a fresh mug. Ratu, Quetzalli, and Beth were all leaning against the railing, eyes out towards the water. Beth and Quetzalli were wearing lightweight robes that covered bathing suits beneath, while Ratu had on a wrap. Every now and then, the wind would rustle their clothing, lifting the fabric high enough to see their asses pressed against the elastic fabric of bathing suits.

"The gods have blessed me," he muttered, deciding to wait another minute and just watch the beauties standing before him. The rays of the rising sun obliterated the shadows, giving the scene a surreal aura. They stood in silence, content to enjoy the sunrise and the waves below.

After his meeting with Cyrus, Mike had returned to his bedroom through the rat portal under his bed and gone to dinner with everyone. The food was excellent, but it didn't compare to what he was used to at home. Eulalie had used her weaving skills to generate a duplicate of the bracelet the Order had made, and he kept the real one in his pocket for now. As far as he could tell, that was yet another trick they had all pulled off.

Mike took in the sight for a bit longer, then stepped out onto the deck. "Good morning," he said. The others turned to greet him, lazy smiles on their faces. "What are we looking at?"

"The Order is up to something." Beth gestured down below. "Remember when I told you at dinner they wouldn't let me down into the Cove? They've got patrols down there now, and...just come look."

Curious, Mike walked up to the railing and looked down at the beach. The Cove was a stretch of beach with natural lava rock barriers on both sides that vanished into the water. From where he stood, he could make out a beautiful reef system that started about fifty feet from shore. He had never been snorkeling before, and wondered if he would get a chance to check it out.

But what had Beth's attention was the fact that the barriers were currently being patrolled by the Order. Though they wore clothing suited for the climate, he could make out wands and swords strapped to waists, thighs, and even an ankle holster. Down below in the Cove, the water level was receding relative to the beaches outside of Paradise.

"Are they draining it?" he asked.

There was a small dock that ran along one of the barriers, and the pilings beneath had been revealed. Tables and chairs had been placed in the sand where the water ebbed, and elaborate table settings were being placed.

"It looks that way." Beth held out a hand and closed her eyes, as if deep in concentration. "Something is pulling the water away from shore."

Curious, he opened his mind to study the magic around the beach. The magical barrier around Paradise was a large pink dome that was difficult for him to see in the bright light of day. It extended well past the Cove. In the water below, swirling lines of green and blue were directing the water out to sea.

"It's probably why they closed it," Beth said. "They're getting ready for...something."

"That doesn't sound ominous at all." Ratu chuckled and turned around, her back to the railing. Shimmering scales twisted all along her thighs and upper arms as she studied Mike. "It's water magic. Whoever is manipulating the Cove is being meticulous. That reef system would likely be sensitive to a sudden shift in the current. "

"Interesting." Mike looked at Quetzalli. "What do you think?"

The dragon turned in his direction and winked. "I think I'm hungry for breakfast."

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Mike walked inside and opened it to see Ingrid standing there. She wore a sheer white blouse with a bikini top beneath and a loose pair of shorts.

"Good. You're up." She walked inside uninvited and took a look around. "Your presence has been requested."

"By who?" Mike asked.

Ingrid made her frustrated face, then shook it off. "The royal court. The merfolk wish to meet with you immediately after breakfast."

"Merfolk?" Mike raised an eyebrow and looked at the others, who had come inside. "As in mermaids?"

"You catch on quick." Ingrid surveyed the lot of them. "Where's the intern?"

"In her room," Mike replied. "As you probably remember, she made the decision to drink plenty of booze with her dinner, and...well..." He left the rest unsaid. Cyrus had told him that Ingrid carried a truth stone that would recognize a lie when spoken out loud. Yes, Lily had sucked down another bottle of wine last night. Of course she had made a spectacle of herself. He wasn't sure if she was up to something or just having fun at this point.

"Ugh. You need to learn to control your people." Ingrid shook her head in disgust. "I'll alert the kitchen staff, maybe they'll bring up some food later. If she's as hungover as I think she is, I do not want her speaking to the royal family."

Mike nodded his agreement. In truth, Lily's hangover was a ruse for her to stay in the room and guard the portal under his bed. Ratu had created a simple illusion spell that would mask it, but it wouldn't hold up if someone checked underneath. He also didn't want anyone fixing the cameras they had shorted out.

"Yes, well, Lily has always struggled with authority." Beth moved next to Mike. "Is our current attire appropriate for merfolk royalty, or should we change?"

Ingrid snorted, a small smile appearing. "What you're wearing is fine. Swimsuits are preferred, actually. We'll be meeting them out in the Cove, and everybody will get at least a little wet. In terms of the merfolk, you'll be overdressed, honestly."

"Lovely. Well...shall we?" Beth offered her arm to Mike, and he hooked his arm around hers. On the way out, Beth slipped the Do Not Disturb sign onto the latch of the door. "We don't want anyone disturbing Lily," she explained.

"On that, we all agree." Ingrid took them to the elevator, and they all rode down together. When the door opened at the bottom, Aurora was there to greet them.

"Good morning," she declared with a smile. Aurora did a quick scan of the group and then looked at her clipboard. "Will Miss Lily be joining us?"

Ingrid shook her head. "Too much to drink. She'll be sleeping in today."

"I see."

Though Aurora smiled, Mike saw the cracks in the facade. This had messed up somebody's plans. The weirdest part about the whole affair with the cameras was that he knew they were there, the Order knew that he knew, but nobody was going to come out and yell at him for destroying equipment they had installed to spy on him. Eulalie had tried to explain it using the psychology of espionage, whereas Ratu had done so from a political angle. The whole affair was a little childish, but the consequences of a missed camera or spell were dire.

"Maybe you should send up some breakfast in an hour or so," Beth offered, placing a casual hand on Aurora's wrist. "Make sure whoever you send knocks loudly until she answers."

Aurora chuckled, but Mike could already see that the woman was scheming. His primary plan was to play the fool and reinforce the notion that he was just an ordinary guy with an entourage of beautiful women who he fucked when he felt like it.

"Everything okay?" Aurora studied Mike's face, and he realized that he had been scowling.

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing his sternum. "Coffee on an empty stomach, so a bit of heartburn is all."

"Let me show you to your table. We're dining in the Cove this morning. Our visitors will be arriving in about forty minutes." Aurora spun in place and led them down to the beach. They walked past the pool and the beach bar, then along a wooden ramp that descended onto the sand. Everyone paused to leave their shoes behind in a small cubby, and Mike noticed that the women had all painted their toes. Ingrid was the only one who hadn't. When she saw him looking, he pointed at her feet, then his own.

"Looks like we missed the memo," he said with a grin. "If you want, we could paint each others toes later, maybe have a--"

Ingrid ignored him and walked onto the sand. He shrugged and followed the mage down to the edge of the water where tables and chairs had been set up. They sat down and were immediately offered a menu of primarily egg dishes. Mike noticed that most of the serving staff seemed to be locals. When they wandered off after taking orders, he looked over at Aurora, who had joined them at the table.

"Is the wait staff part of the Order?" he asked.

Aurora shook her head. "Not really. Occasionally you might have a knight or mage who washes out early and needs a quieter job, but we hire locally. Anyone working here not only knows how to keep their mouth shut, but they're making at least six figures a year."

Beth, who had been sipping water, choked on it. She sputtered for a moment, and then wiped her face. "Seriously, six figures?"

"Yes. As well as access to certain amenities." Aurora gestured around them. "For example, many of them live in Order-owned properties by the beach, or even on it. When the Order hires someone, they try to make it the career of a lifetime. The men and women who are serving you food today are paid well, and their families are cared for. Breaking our trust wouldn't just cost them a job, but an entire lifestyle."

"So even though they serve us, they do stand above their peers." Ratu tilted her head thoughtfully. "But what if they decide that they wish to move on?"

"There are other opportunities within the Order. If the man cooking your eggs decides he wants to be a chemical engineer, we send him to school, pay his tuition, and the Order gains a chemist in a few years." Aurora set her clipboard down and leaned against the table. "Any other questions?"

"You aren't a local. Does that mean you are...washed out?" Quetzalli frowned and looked at Mike. "Did I use that term correctly?"

"Sort of, but it isn't nice." Mike looked at Aurora. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Actually, she's a little on point." Aurora turned toward Quetzalli. "When I was younger, my family got involved with a paranormal entity that required the Order's intervention. I wanted to join up, but didn't have the killer instinct necessary to become a knight. Great with a blade, average with magic, but the killing part? Blood makes me gag.

"So they found somewhere else for me to work. I get to meet interesting people, see amazing creatures, and all without the expectation of murder!" Aurora clapped her hands together. "Speaking of which, would anybody here be interested in a murder mystery dinner in two nights?"

"There won't be time," Ingrid said. "The itinerary is full. We were going to do a flyover of the property this morning, but that was pushed back by...this." She gestured toward the still draining Cove. "So we'll try to do that later tonight. As long as the weather holds, we should strike out early tomorrow morning."

"Agreed." Mike was about to add something else when his breakfast was set down in front of him. He thanked his server and then tackled the massive omelet he had ordered. Halfway through his meal, he realized someone was missing. "Where's Wallace?"

"Somewhere else." Ingrid frowned at her plate. "The merfolk aren't very fond of him."

"Tell me more about the merfolk." Ratu sipped at a cup of tea, her sparkling eyes fixed on the mage. "I assume their culture varies wildly based on location."

"They do." Ingrid's forehead scrunched up. "To our knowledge, all merfolk have a monarchical system, meaning a king or queen. Their anatomy will vary depending on their ecosystem. For example, the merfolk in northern Europe look less human than the ones we have here. The colder waters are far more hostile, and they rarely surface because they can freeze. There was a massive kingdom once upon a time along eastern Africa, but they're gone now."

"What happened?" asked Beth.

"Resource issues. They were forced to move to deeper waters due to lack of food, which meant dealing with stronger predators in the deeps. In-fighting caused a bunch of them to flee to different waters after a monarch died, and I won't even get into the wars they fought."

"Wars? With who?"

Ingrid sighed and leaned back in her chair. "With whoever pissed them off. The Order spent a huge amount of time cleaning up messes in that area, but local tribes got into fights with them, and the British as well. Ships kept disappearing, that was usually merfolk. Ferdinand the Second commissioned Columbus to find a transatlantic route because of it."

"I thought the whole point of Columbus was to find a shorter path to India?" Beth had leaned forward in her seat, her chin propped up in her hands. At the mention of Columbus, Quetzalli frowned at what was left of her breakfast and stopped eating.

Ingrid nodded. "That, too. The longer voyages were problematic, but fighting with merfolk was making trips around the Cape of Good Hope unprofitable. Just like countries on earth, merfolk colonies differ wildly. Some colonies were wiped out due to being too friendly, while others were destroyed for being too violent. The few that remain today are either completely xenophobic or have found a way to work with local communities, like the Kingdom of Nalu does here."

Aurora spoke up. "The Kingdom of Nalu used to act similarly as the Order for centuries. The Hawaiian people didn't even know they were here beyond rumors and rare sightings. The merfolk only involved themselves when the island came under attack from the supernatural. According to the historians of Nalu, their people were given refuge here by the gods themselves."

"Gods?" Mike perked up. "The gods of Hawaii?"

Ingrid shrugged. "It's only conjecture. The Order hasn't interacted with any of the gods in this region, but have no reason to doubt the merfolk. It's entirely possible they came across magic users of immense power, or even gods from a different pantheon. We don't pretend to understand them fully, but if I were to give you one piece of advice, it would be this--deities are notoriously flakey." The mage smirked. "But back to the basics. Native islanders and merfolk never truly interacted until the late 1700s. They struck an accord with leaders on land and attempted to unite the islands."

"It went poorly." Aurora shook her head. "The kingdom of Hawaii had a choice. Cut themselves off from the rest of the world, or try to find their place. When they chose the latter, they opened themselves up to trouble."

"What happened?" Mike looked back and forth between the women.

"Resources." Ratu lowered her tea and shook her head. "Once everyone knew what Hawaii had, someone came and took it."

"That's right. The monarchy here was overthrown by the US in less than 24 hours." Aurora stared at her plate. "The merfolk never even had a chance to support their land bound allies. So they hid once more."

"And they stayed that way until 1941." Ingrid looked knowingly at Mike. "When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor."

"Were they at Pearl Harbor?" asked Mike.

"No. But that's when they realized that they could no longer avoid the troubles of the world. They have a saying I rather enjoy: the tide comes and goes regardless of our feelings. If they wanted to stay, they either needed to announce their presence to the world, or find a way to remain in plain sight. And that's when we got involved." Ingrid gestured at Paradise. "The Order's first task was to find a way to unify Hawaii with one of the global powers so that it wouldn't be flipped over so easily in the future. So we arranged for Hawaii to become the 50th state."

"Wow." Mike knew that the Order was powerful, but this sounded almost outlandish. "So Hawaii is the 50th state because of mermaids?"

"It was headed that way already. The Order expedited the process is all." Ingrid picked up an orange and dug in her thumbnail to start peeling it. "Suffice to say, the merfolk here are among the friendliest on the planet. At the same time, they would not hesitate to drown you should you piss them off. Right now, with so many of their own dead, veiled threats are being made."

"And they are very interested in you." Aurora set her napkin on top of her plate. "When we told them that the Caretaker himself was coming, they demanded a meeting right away."

"That sounds a little ominous." Mike noticed that Quetzalli had turned away from the conversation. It was clear that she was upset. "So is there anything else I should know before meeting with them?"

"Don't stare." Aurora chuckled. "They expect it a little bit, but it does piss them off."

Everyone except Quetzalli finished their meal. Once the table was cleared, they were free to walk around as long as they stayed within earshot. Mike watched the storm dragon wander off, but Ratu was close behind. Figuring the naga had Quetzalli covered, he walked down to the edge of the water with Beth.

She stood with her feet in the sand, staring down as the water swept across the top of her feet. When it washed back out, the water sucked sand out from beneath, causing her feet to sink and gradually disappear. There was a look of wonderment in her eyes as the water swirled along her toes before vanishing into the tide.

"When I was a little girl, my family took trips to the ocean in the summer. I used to think that if I stood still long enough, I would sink down to my waist in the sand, and that's when I would get my mermaid tail." She wiggled her toes back and forth, causing her feet to sink even deeper. "One time, when I was eleven, I tried to bury my lower half in the hopes that it would hasten the process."

Mike laughed. "I came to the ocean a couple of times with my scout troop, but wasn't really big on going in the water. The waves always felt too big for me, like they were going to gobble me up."