Monster Fucker Eliza Ch. 03

Author Note: An interlude chapter with no sexy time, didn't feel right to ham fist one into this chapter.

~Chapter 3

~Eliza

"Fuck," Eliza groaned, stretching out the word into absurdity as she awoke. Her body felt like shit and her throbbing headache wasn't making things any better, not to mention the utterly funky taste on her tongue.

With her vision blurred, she sat up, clutching her head, and feeling her bum settle into something thankfully soft and pleasant. She let out a pleased sigh while her eyes adjusted to the daylight and ridiculous amount of dust suffusing the air.

Just how long had she been...

The thought crumbled away the moment her vision sharpened, and clarity dawned about what she'd unleashed in the preceding hours. The ground was covered by a fine film of ash, the four buildings in the town center were blistered, scorched messes, and an army's worth of blackened skeletons lay strewn about.

Eliza's expression was nothing but utter incredulity as she took in the carnage surrounding her. Once again, she'd woken up in the middle of death and destruction, and like before she felt nothing but a vague sense of fascination, as if all the carnage around her was nothing but a particularly interesting insect.

Sure, she'd probably have been... She sighed and shook her head. What was done was done and there was no point in ruminating on the matter at the moment. She needed to get some clothes and get as far away from this shitshow before things got worse, she thought.

Running a hand through her ash filled hair, she looked up and smiled as she saw the floating form of her familiar. The orb was useless 90% of the time but after what it had unleashed earlier, she was beginning to see why the thing was considered one of the crone's most powerful familiars.

"Good to see you to," she muttered.

The crystalline sphere bobbed in response; an almost chirpy static filled noise emanated from it as it did so.

"I don't suppose you know..." She started when the sound of something rattling caught her attention, followed by an ear-splitting scream.

She jumped, her muscles tense as she landed, then sighed as her gaze settled on a rattling pile of goblin bones and the pink and panicking form of the tavern owner's daughter.

~Lisa

Scraping, pain, darkness, moans, teeth, smothering, and...

It was...

A scream and Lisa found herself awake and buried. She thrashed, clawing at everything and nothing as her heart threatened to burst from her chest.

It was too much; she would...

Light, fresh air.

A face. A smile. Green eyes, freckles, and flaxen hair.

An angel? She thought, feeling her nightmare fade away. She smiled, looking up at her savior. The woman looked familiar, like a blurred childhood memory, but there was something different, almost like...

"You okay?" The freckled woman asked, her voice calm and soothing.

Lisa blinked, comprehension finally dawning.

"Yes," she answered, taking the adventurer's offered hand, her voice horse and raspier than a lifelong smoker's.

The adventurer nodded, helping Lisa sit up. She still had no idea what the woman's name was, but she was...

Lisa froze, her heart beat with an ever increasing staccato. There were... The hamlet... The... Her...

Her eyes darted about; her breath became shallow.

She found him. He was prone, buried underneath a pile of blackened bones, his face an obsidian skull with hollow eyes, and the once golden band of his wedding ring glinted like a charred gem. It couldn't be anyone else. He was... her father was... He was dead.

She breathed, taking in shallower and shallower breaths with each passing moment. It couldn't be, maybe she was...

Jeremy.

Her eyes darted.

He was...

It was too much, too fast, and everything went black.

~Eliza

Eliza watched the bar maiden's face go from relief, to shock, to horror, panic, and nearly every emotion in between before she promptly passed out.

"Well, shit," she sighed, holding the now limp girl to her still tender chest. There was no way she could lug about another person, given her own condition and lack of any real upper body strength. And, there was also the matter of getting as far away from the crapshoot that was now Hamel-shire.

"I don't suppose you could?" She inquired, looking up at her always floating familiar.

As always, the orb's reply was undecipherable as it stared blankly at Eliza.

She rolled her eyes. She supposed she should have gotten used to the thing's enigmatic nature, but after what it did...

She sighed, putting that thought away.

First things first, she thought, returning her attention back to the naked, most definitely sunburnt, and still unconscious girl in her arms. She really needed to get out of town before something else happened.

Knowing her luck...

She shook her head. It was probably a better idea not to even think about it, seeing what she'd already been through in just a few days.

~Gertrude

Pain racked Gertrude's blistered and rotund form as her smoldering mount carried her back home. The creature deftly slipped into the shadows cast by the myriad number of trees as it tried to avoid the sunlight searing its shadow formed body, whining each time a piece of its fur was set alite.

An investment was destroyed. Her children were dead. She'd been setback, and it was all because...

She growled low, feeling pain ripple through her body. Pieces of her skin kept sluffing off, her belly felt like a rock, and every nerve in her body seemed to scream for attention.

She cursed.

The damnable orb and its master. She should just have killed the girl the moment she saw them.

Next time... Next time, she'd...

Another growl escaped her tortured throat and she stifled a wince before letting out a breath. She needed to calm down and think.

There would be time enough for vengeance later, she thought, settling heavily into her palanquin. First, she had contingencies to set into motion. If that accursed orb and its mistress were out and about, it would only be a matter of time before all hell broke loose.

She had to get ready.

~Eliza

It took close to ten minutes, but Eliza finally managed to find her pack, toss on what remained of her spare clothes, and lugged the tavern girl into the vandalized and charred remains of what was probably the girl's only home.

"So," Eliza started, looking at the still unconscious girl as she lay on a cleared-up patch of the ruined tavern. The girl was still alive, that much was true given the slow rise and fall of her breasts, but...

She cocked her head at her familiar. It just stared back, and she sighed. It probably wasn't a good idea to just leave the girl, seeing what she'd gone through, and as much as Eliza hated the idea...

She groused, ran a hand through her still messy hair, and sighed. There was no helping it. First though if she was going to leave, she may as well get something for the trip, she thought, scanning the wrecked remains of the bar.

A sniffle and a hitched breath caught her attention. She turned and smiled as she saw the girl sitting up with reddened eyes and slightly peeling skin. She really needed to get the girl's name.

"Hey," Eliza said in her best attempt at a soothing voice.

The girl sniffed, tears welling up at the edges of her blue eyes.

"Hey, hey," Eliza repeated, crouching down near the girl," it's going to be..."

A hitched breath, a sudden hug, and the girl started weeping, her entire body quaking with the effort.

Eliza cringed, looked up to her familiar for something, and remembered that the thing wasn't much for conversation.

The girl continued to weep silently into Eliza's shoulder.

"It's going to be alright," Eliza said, repeating one of the few tender phrases she'd ever gotten from the ancient hag. "It's going to be alright," she repeated, gently patting the girl on the back, and grimacing as she remembered the girl was probably sunburned from the explosive magic she'd unleashed. Maybe, she thought as she continued her attempt at tenderness. She was probably going to regret it, but...

"You can come with me," Eliza said before she reasoned herself out of it.

The girl's breath hitched, followed by another sniffle before she looked up at Eliza, who'd managed to plaster something resembling a pleasant smile.

The tavern girl's face was a mess of snot, tears, and puffy reddened eyes.

"I..." The girl started.

Eliza shook her head," you can come with me," she repeated before the girl started crying again," I'm heading to the capital, and..."

Another hug and the girl started crying again.

Eliza sighed. Well, so much for not making her cry, she thought as tears once more wetted her shirt.

"It's going to be..."

"T. thank you," the girl whispered between her hiccupping tears.

That was one thing done, Eliza thought, patting her new companion's back as her mind returned to the tasks at hand. They still needed to leave before any more shit happened.

She looked down as another thought flittered through her mind, a grimace twisting her features. Skeletons.

A heartbeat later another thought bloomed to life.

She looked up and like most times, her familiar was floating just next to her. She smiled, formulating the rest of her idea.