Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 069

This is how I and my big ass die, she thought as she moved into the space.

Kisa was crouched nearby, and she was holding a finger to her lips again.

It was cold, and the dust made her want to sneeze. The walls had been decorated with stick figure drawings that she almost immediately recognized as people who lived in the house. Boxes had been stacked to make a maze, and Kisa led her through it. She heard someone speaking, and immediately recognized Reggie's voice.

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to work," he said. There was a clacking sound, followed by something hitting the wall. "That isn't very lady-like."

What the fuck? Beth moved behind Kisa, who was peering around the corner. The room they were in was tall enough to stand, but something about the attic had Beth fully paranoid about discovery.

A small tea table and chairs had been set up. Reggie sat across from Jenny. In the other seats were the dolls that had once filled the house. Beth remembered that there had been plenty of them, and had wondered where they all went. It was eerie seeing them sitting there, almost as if the room was a small gladiator arena.

Along the opposite wall, Reggie's King's Guard of rats had spread out. Half of them were napping while the others watched. On the table, a board game had been set up. The room was lit with an electric lantern that hovered in the air over the table.

"Reggie?" Beth stood and moved around the corner. When the rat king turned to look at her, she noticed one of the pieces on the game board move while he wasn't looking. It was an old chess set, and the pieces looked like they were made of marble.

"Ah, Lady Beth, hello." He turned back around and gestured at the table. "We are just having a friendly game of chess." His nose and whiskers twitched, and he reached out and pushed the piece that had moved, a rook, back to where it had been.

The rook wiggled and then shot from the table. It bounced off of a stuffed bear, which clapped its hands excitedly.

"Doesn't look friendly." Beth crouched down next to them. Jenny was sitting on the other side of the table, her doll unmoving. "How are you supposed to win if she just removes the pieces?"

"Neither of us is playing to win." He let out a long sigh. "Jenny brought me up here when she discovered how down I was. Thought it might do me some good to get away for a bit. This room is where she used to hide back before she was welcome downstairs, so there are many toys and games to play with."

"It looks like a child lived here." As a rule, children's rooms hidden in attics were generally bad news, Beth thought. Especially in scary movies.

"Indeed." Reggie moved a pawn forward, putting Jenny's queen in jeopardy. Apparently, Jenny didn't like that move, because his pawn slid the rest of the way across the table and then fired through the air and bounced off the wall. "Jenny was once a child's toy, you know. She doesn't talk about it, and I know better than to ask."

"Your people should be safe," Beth told him. "We found out that the house has been locked away from the real world. It's what was happening when Murray was yelling out front."

Reggie watched as Jenny's knight moved five squares forward to take his bishop. He picked up the bishop and the knight and put them back where they had started, then turned back to Beth. "Do you really believe my people are safe?"

"I have every reason to think so."

Reggie let out a sigh that sounded more like a squeak. "This is good news, indeed."

"There's more, though." Beth filled him on everything else that had happened. While he listened intently, he paused every few seconds to look at the board and undo Jenny's attempts to cheat. Once Beth was finished, he contemplated her for several moments.

"These are dangerous times," he said, then turned back toward Jenny. He tipped over his king and held out a paw toward the doll. "I yield. You have won this day."

Quitter. Jenny's voice was a whisper, yet came from everywhere at once. The lantern flickered above them as if it would go out.

"Yes, I am. But I fear that the others need us. We all have a part to play in restoring the house to its former glory." He adjusted his glasses and hopped down from his seat.

The lantern dropped out of the air, but Beth grabbed it before it could hit the table. Jenny hopped down from her seat and held her arms up, waiting to be picked up.

"I've got you." Beth picked the doll up and cradled her in one arm. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought something bad had happened to you." As she turned, she saw a stack of board games against the wall. Most of them were very old, and she couldn't help but notice that one of them was a burnt copy of Clue. "Jenny, didn't we throw that away? You know that's a banned game."

"Sometimes we must be reminded of our past failures. Jenny kept it as a memento. Besides, there aren't enough pieces left to play a proper game." Reggie walked over to the box and placed a paw on it. "And to think I was so close to figuring out who the killer was."

"Your Majesty, might I remind you that we do not speak of the Clue incident?"

The walls around them groaned, and then Jenny's voice chuckled from the dark corners of the room.

I would have won, she added.

"You were cheating. That's not how we play family game night." Beth carried Jenny out of the room and was followed by Reggie and his rat guard. She started closing the secret door when Kisa bolted out, startling her. It was uncanny how she could forget that the catgirl was even there. Was it a similar spell to the geas? "Also, I think you should know that something escaped from the Vault."

What? The temperature dropped dramatically, and the dimly lit furniture in the room shook.

Beth gave Jenny and Reggie an abbreviated version of events as they exited the attic. Once on the floor, she set Jenny down next to Reggie and had Kisa help her push the attic door back up. Cecilia poked her head through the wall to check on them, gave Beth a thumbs up, then went back to her surveillance.

The group headed to Kisa's bedroom, where Lily sat over Tink. Her face was flushed, and she kept licking her lips. She opened her eyes when they came in, and a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"Everything okay?" Beth asked.

"Yeah." Lily removed her hands from Tink's head. "Just trying to mind meld with a brain-damaged genius who is currently dreaming about being gangbanged by Romeo."

"There's only one of him," Kisa said from behind Beth.

"Not in her mind. She's got an entire reverse harem in there. For example, she has one that lives in the bath and is made of water, one that's a ghost who sits on the porch..." Lily smirked. "I may have gotten distracted getting to know the one with wings and a tail."

"But what about the Vault?" Beth set Jenny down on the record player.

"Hmm." The succubus shook her head. "When Tink realized that the house had been transported, she ran to check on the Vault. You know how all those portals closed? She was worried that the Vault wouldn't be there anymore, which meant it was no longer properly sealed."

"I guess that makes sense. What happened?"

"She saw that it had been opened but was taken out before she could see anything else. The sleeping spell that put her down wasn't a minor enchantment by any means. We're talking Rip Van Winkle caliber shit. She's out at least a few more days. We'll have to figure out how to keep her hydrated."

"Fuck." Beth walked over to the window and looked outside. The mist shifted ominously around the perimeter of the home. She half expected dark shapes to flit around in it. "So it means that someone else was in the house."

"And likely still is. There really isn't anywhere to go." Lily crossed her arms. "But let's address the real issue. Whoever did this was allowed in the house. Romeo hasn't invited anybody new in quite some time, other than Eulalie. And she was in the Library when it vanished."

The implications made Beth sick to her stomach. Whoever was causing trouble inside the house had been there for some time. She didn't think it was her doppelganger upstairs, Slime-Beth couldn't even get out of her tub yet. That meant whoever was doing this was someone that had been in the house all this time.

"Ah, looks like my point is finally sinking in." Lily crossed her legs and leaned back on Tink's bed. "Whoever did this to Tink and opened the Vault..."

"Is still here with us," Beth finished. She looked around at the others. There wasn't a single reason she could think of for anybody in the room to betray them. Jenny was probably the only one who could have gotten away with doing something right under their noses. But despite the Clue incident, Beth trusted the little doll.

Was it Kisa? She could be essentially invisible. But why? It occurred to her that everybody was a potential suspect. Was that part of the intent? To tear them apart while they dealt with the horsemen?

"How do we figure out who did it?" she asked, then met Lily's gaze.

There was a loud splat from the hallway, like mud being dropped from a great distance. Puzzled, Beth walked out of Kisa's room, followed closely by Lily. At the end of the hallway, a large green mass had accumulated at the edge of the stairs and was moving their way.

"Is that... who I think it is?" Lily looked at Beth with concern on her face. Her question was answered when the slime pushed upward and formed into a naked torso. Slime-Beth's features were fixed in exaggerated horror as she pointed up the stairs with both hands.

"What's wrong?" Beth asked, but the slime continued to point.

"Let me check." Lily moved down the hall and had ascended a few of the stairs when her clicking heels came to a stop. "Mother fucker!" she swore.

Beth raced down the hall, nearly slipping in her doppelganger. Lily moved her tail over to let Beth through, but she never finished climbing the stairs.

Hovering horizontally in the hallway was Cecilia. The banshees hair floated around her as if she was sinking in a pool of invisible water, her hands crossed over her chest. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were pulled into a grimace.

"Cecilia?" Beth moved to the banshee's side and tried to touch her, but her hands passed through. "Cecilia!"

"She's...sleeping." Lily was by her side, her palm hovering over the banshee. "Dreaming, even. But how? Banshees don't sleep!"

"I just saw her not that long ago, right before we came to check on you and Tink." Her heart was pounding so loud that she could hear it. That meant that Cecilia had been attacked while she was in the room with everyone else. The only people not present were her doppelganger and Death. Did this mean that the slime was the culprit?

But then why had Slime-Beth gone to the trouble to let them know? Was this a trick? She looked down the hallway at the other doors. They were all closed. If it wasn't the slime girl, then was the culprit still up here with them?

Lily was already moving down the hall. She opened up the bedroom doors and took a peek inside, then moved to the Observatory. Beth held her breath, fearing that the succubus would simply disappear. After a few minutes, Lily came back out, shaking her head.

"No sign of anyone." Her shoulders slumped. "This is almost as bad as the Clue incident."

Beth sighed. Things were bad all right, and the last thing she wanted was to be reminded of the Clue incident. "Let's figure out how to bring her with us. Maybe Jenny can do it? I want everyone gathered up somewhere downstairs where we can keep an eye on each other. Nobody goes anywhere alone starting now. Agreed?"

For just a moment, Lily looked like she was going to say something snarky. However, she glanced over at Cecilia and just nodded her head.

"Agreed."

🏠🏠🏠

Abella stood on the roof of the barn, her wings spread wide as the morning sun provided her with much-needed energy. The previous night's fight had been exhausting on its own, and her use of the heartfire had drained her reserves.

The large shadow she cast stretched behind her and touched the edge of the cabin. From where she stood, she could hear the quiet voices within. The night had been touch and go as Yuki fought to keep Mike alive using the potions that Zel had sent with him.

Throughout the night, Abella had felt an odd tingling in her chest. It came and went, but now that the sun was up, it seemed to be gone for good. Though it had bothered her, the spiral fractures in her left wing concerned her even more.

She could heal from a wound over time, but if her wing shattered, there was no way to fix it. Though it was rarely spoken about, it wasn't uncommon for her kind to throw themselves from buildings if they broke a wing. Losing the sky was considered a fate far worse than death.

As she looked over at the cabin, she could think of something far worse. The realization that she could have lost Mike had cemented a new reality for her. She would likely live for centuries, or even thousands of years. Her kind didn't age past maturity. The stone of her body would weather like any stone, and her time at the house protected her from the elements.

One day, she would be forced to live without him. It was a scary idea, a thought so powerful that it made the world tilt beneath her feet.

Mike moaned, and Yuki whispered words of comfort. The kitsune hadn't left his side, and Abella could hear the exhaustion in her voice. They were all battered and bruised, and if Leeds somehow returned in the near future, they wouldn't have the strength to hold him off.

Velvet bustled around the house, bringing food to Bigfoot and Yuki. The Arachne kept humming little melodies to herself as she moved through the cabin, the hairs on her legs brushing against each other on occasion. It wasn't lost on Abella that Velvet had tried to rescue her from the Wendigo. Had the Arachne done it for her sake, or Mike's?

It also wasn't lost on her that Mike had gotten hurt trying to save Yuki. She wanted to be angry at him for it, but how could she? It was no different from what she would have done for him. It gave her plenty to think about as she passed the hours up on the roof.

Her reverie was interrupted by the creaking of wood, and she turned around to see a large hand appear on the edge of the roof. Bigfoot pulled himself up without a sound and crouched down in her shadow.

"I didn't hear you coming." She narrowed her eyes at him. If not for the roof, he could have gotten right behind her.

"It's my specialty." He grimaced and turned his body so that he could lie down. "I couldn't stand to be inside any longer. The others think I'm out on patrol again, but it isn't necessary."

She noticed now that he was lying on the portion of the roof facing away from the cabin. "Why the deception?"

Bigfoot frowned, then sat forward. "Leeds may be a coward, but he's smart. We hurt him badly last night and he'll need time to recover. The Wendigo may come back someday, but it'll be a while. You killed its host, and it can't just possess the first poor bastard it comes upon. There are rules." He lifted up a twelve-pack of beer. "You want one?"

"No, thank you."

"Good. More for me." These beers were in cans, and he didn't bother with the tab. He jammed his thumb into the lip and poked a hole for him to drink from.

"You seem to think you know Leeds pretty well."

Bigfoot sighed, then sucked down the contents of the can in just a few seconds. He smashed it into a thin disc and set it down on the roof, then opened another. "I do. Wish I didn't."

Abella waited for him to continue. Bigfoot slammed two more beers and then finally slowed his pace on the fourth.

"He and I were friends," he finally told her, his glistening eyes on the forest. "At least, I thought we were."

"How could you be friends with someone like that?"

He grimaced. "When we first met, we fought something fierce. I thought something evil had invaded the forests, that was kind of my thing for a few centuries. I had a much larger range then, and heard rumors of some bat-winged bastard causing trouble for the new locals. Didn't care much for them, but the tribes in the area were seeing it, too."

"So what happened?" she asked.

"Loneliness. Over the decades, my forests were chopped down, my tribes decimated. The white man was hungry to shoot anything it didn't understand with those guns of theirs. I once watched them shoot a herd of buffalo in cold blood, then leave the remains behind." He shuddered, then sucked down another can. "I actually came across him one night by accident. Little bastard was sittin' in the forest trying to read a book. If you can believe it, he was fuckin' crying to himself. I had already had a bad day and thought it was odd to see him so vulnerable, so I made one of the biggest mistakes in my life.

"I talked to him. Turned out that he and I had quite a bit in common. Our beginnings couldn't have been any more different, but we shared that thread of loneliness. My kind had been disappearing over the years, and it was nice to speak with someone that was like me. Just another cryptid."

"I understand the loneliness all too well." She dipped her head in reverence. "Do not fault yourself for giving in."

"Well, I do. You see, we became thick and thin for a while. Leeds has never had a family, not one that loved him anyway. His body was traded to a dark entity, a demon, and he is forced to live out his days in that taxidermic shitfest he calls a body. It's also why you can't kill him--his body is made mostly of shadows and magic. You can hurt him, you can make him go away, but he cannot be put in the ground."

Abella thought immediately of Lily. "Does that mean the demon is still around somewhere?"

Bigfoot nodded. "Somewhere out there is a demon wearing Leeds' skinsuit, and probably being a ripe cunt about it, too. We spent over a century trying to find any clues that would help him. Thought maybe if we caught the demon, we could force them to change back. Never made any headway. Think it fucked Leeds up pretty bad, to be honest. His family didn't want him, nobody wants him. He can read minds, too. Knows what people think of him. Drives him absolutely nuts."

"So if you are friends, then why is he here trying to kill us?"

The sasquatch sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. He's always had these ambitions that never really pan out, but I think that maybe he's here for revenge. You see, when we parted ways, it was under pretty severe terms. Late eighteen-hundreds, the two of us got into it over humans. He had started killing them for sport, and I didn't take kindly to this. For one, it brought the men in white coats. Never been much of a fan. But two...he wasn't targeting humans that mattered. He was going after women and children, former slaves, people that nobody would miss. His intent sounded noble, but his reality was as monstrous as he is."

"I understand this. My kind, we were often faced with fighting to survive or fleeing for our lives. It was not an easy choice to make."

Bigfoot rubbed his nose, then drew a finger across his eye. Dark stains had formed on his fur in the corners of his face. "We are peaceful. Or we used to be. Back before this land was colonized, I used to run wild with the deer, or wrestle bears for fun. The tribes, I looked out for those who revered me and avoided those who despised me. I was a danger to nobody, happy to be left on my own.

"But now? I can't even go anywhere without being afraid of being spotted. I didn't use to care, but those assholes always find out, and they always come for me."

"The Order?"

"Do you know why they're called that?" Bigfoot shifted so that he could see her better. "Because they want to help, to keep the peace. They are doing what I have been doing for centuries, only I got forced into early retirement. Chupacabra tried to wander up here one time, and I chased that little shit back down to the southern border. It was never personal, it was about maintaining a balance. But that was before the balance included humans!"