Alright guys, the long-awaited Chapter 10. At this point, we're cutting into a new arc that really shakes up the formula. But fret not! I didn't forget this was Huniepop. And neither did my buddy Cyper.
Enjoy!
With a well-placed roundhouse to the face, Tala's opponent, in the form of a tattoo-covered beefcake on legs, fell to the concrete in a crumpled heap.
As the gathered crowd went wild at both ends of the spectrum at seeing yet another one of their moneymakers fold, the announcer took the amazon's arm and raised it high in victory to her fans. "Give it up for yo girl, the Amazon!"
Tala tried hard to roll her eyes, but a half-smirk fought just as hard to creep its way onto her face. 'Well, you're half-right.'
"Don't get on her bad side, fellas."
The six-foot woman looked over to her opponent, a complete giant among men. She surmised that he was either Mexican or Hispanic with what little tan skin wasn't covered by tattoos of snakes. As he was helped up and carted off before she herself could lend a hand, the redhead shrugged. "That's all, folks." She marched over to the dealer, extended her waiting hand and collected her pay of a fistful of cash before throwing her jacket back on from around her waist and heading back off into the night. She wasn't naive enough to drive her car anywhere in this part of town as she stepped all over everyone's carefully-placed bets, so it was a nice and lengthy trek back uptown and out of follower range. Now was as good a time as any to cool off.
For the last five days or so, Tala had been visiting that parking lot and participating in the street fights simply to blow off steam. Being on vacation from her job was manageable. But it had gone south exactly a week ago during that... encounter with Audrey following their trip to the mall, and every school day and shopping trip after that just turned into more torment, now that the little she-demon knew just how hard Tala had fallen for her. Audrey will play her like a fiddle if she wasn't careful. And for innumerable reasons, that excited the hell out of her.
But between sexy nights with Aiko, grading and hunting for supernatural sightings with Nikki, pumping iron with Kyanna, and the satisfaction of felling a foe a hundred pounds and twelve inches larger than her, the first three weren't exactly available to her every night before bed. She beat up a bunch of guys and gals, sure, but Audrey was always there the next day to remind her why she was doing it. Wearing short shorts and belly shirts and parading that petite little body of hers, making love to a lollipop with moistened tongue, cooing at her with that sickeningly innocent voice that shook the amazon from her thoughts, no matter how focused she tried to be...
'Goddam Frenc-' Tala's lament was cut short when her Huniebee rung in her jacket pocket. Feeling obligated to answer, the amazon hit talk and placed the arcane device to her ear. "Tala here."
"What it do, Nariko? How's my favorite girl keepin' it t'gether?"
Great, a check-in from her slutty fairy godmother. "I've been better, Kyu."
"Betcha yer doin' a whole lot better with all that extra green in your pocket. That's a whole lotta spendin' money for your dates, girl. Gonna get all fancy fer yer Asian dragon, or maybe we can plan out 'round 2' with that Mexican mama, hmm? Or maybe," the fairy added in her sultriest purr, "you're saving up for a certain bitchy redhead with expensive tastes."
Tala bristled. "I'm doing just fine with Aiko, Kyu. How'd you know about the money anyway; are you spying on me now?"
"Oh I was so checkin' you out tonight. I mean a bunch of hot, sweaty muscle-men stripping down to their shorts, grappling, straddling and wailing on each other? Girl, I am so into the mixed martial arts scene - it's like porn without the pay per view! Adding a fine-ass Irish tomboy to the mix just gets mah motor purrin' all the faster."
She really shouldn't have been surprised. With their mandate to inspect human relationships, love fairies probably had the most extensive surveillance network next to the GPRD.
"I don't have time for this, Pinky. Seriously."
"Oh, right! You're still on about the little firecracker that burned you last week!"
Tala's expression, if it could, fell a little further. "Not when you put it like that..."
"Oh, don't be like that, Tal! We'll get her soon! And I can be there to help you out! 'Cause let's face it; she's worked her evil magic on you." To this day, Tala was always jarred whenever Kyu jumped into 'genuine care' mode. "Oh! Just an FYI, Nariko: there's a package waiting for you back home. She's blue, nerdy and so wasn't putting up with any of this 'wait at the doorstep' shit."
"Nikki?" Odd, they didn't have any grading or mystery hunting due. What was so important that she insisted on seeing her so late, so urgently?
"Mmm, maybe you're gettin' a good ol' fashioned luv confession, Tal'. Want me to check her underwear? Betcha she picked black, just for you!"
Tala massaged her temples. "Just... don't be stupid, Kyu. I'll be back as soon as I can." She hung up, and marched with a new urgency to find a cab to hail. She didn't know what Nikki had to share, but she had a good feeling it might just prove to be the key to keeping her mind off Audrey long enough to get over the bad-mouthed beauty from Hell.
XXXXX
When she finally made it to her house, Tala paid the driver and strode up to her mansion of a home, keys jingling in her hasty stride.
When the door flew open, the redhead quickly poked her head in and looked about the living room, quickly spotting the speck of blue off in the corner, sitting at the computer desk. The creaking of the door followed by the mammoth feet of the giant was enough to get the bluenette's attention as Nikki looked over her shoulder to see the woman she so urgently needed to see.
Locking the door behind her, Tala looked about for the pink-haired nymphomaniac that had initially called her, only to look back to her nerdy little companion when she saw no sign of the former. "Hey Nikki, I came as soon as I-" the redhead began, but stopped herself when the nerd girl urgently waved her over like a child summoning their parent to the toys aisle. Pursing her lips, Tala obeyed, and soon found herself leaning over the back of Nikki's chair, thankful her combat bun stopped her hair from being an irritation. "So what's this I was rushed home for, Nik?"
Nikki was effectively zenned out for a moment when she felt two firm, solid somethings ever so gently press against her upper back. Daring not to turn and affirm what they were, she dealt with the burning in her cheeks and opted to face forward, focusing again on her laptop. "W-well um... I think I... found another cool sighting." Quickly, the bluenette got her momentum back as the subject matter became a more prominent thought, and as she zoomed in on the location presented on google maps, the detail came in, and it appeared to be a building out in the middle of the Glenberry forest.
Stroking her chin, Tala narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of it. There wasn't even a name for the location. "It would be easy to mistake something like that for an old park center or a lumber camp. What's there to say about it?"
"Well, everything's just rumor, but about five months back, this local LARP group did a weekend camp-out in the woods, and their members kept noticing weird figures out in the distance. One girl said she saw a guy with super-realistic elf ears; another saw a short, bearded guy that had a perfect dwarf cosplay, and a third said there was some huge, piggish guy that she swears had green skin."
"An elf, a dwarf and an orc," Tala summarized. "Curious to see those three races in the same area without signs of a turf war."
"But … those don't really exist, do they?"
Tala could only smile. Even after meeting a vampire and a love fairy, Nikki still had her psyche half-tethered to the possibilities of the 'real world'; a world that declared itself exclusively human.
"Hey, Tolkien didn't pull his fantasy races out of thin air, Nikki. Goblins, gnomes, halflings – they're all out there. Some races keep to themselves in the wilderness; others use magic to shift their bodies so they can blend in with us. Some fit so well they've even bred and produced mixed races. I'm actually half-Amazon on my mother's side."
"Amazon? You're an actual … okay, I guess that explains why you're so huge and love to fight so much."
"Well, I'm also Irish."
"Ah."
"But Amazons aren't the only race that's mingled with humans," Tala continued. "Heck there's even a good chunk of liminal races – human/animal hybrids."
"Hybrids? You mean minotaurs or satyrs?"
Tala winced. "Well… those more exotic species went extinct long ago. Nowadays, it's more along the lines of canines and felines."
"Feline? Wait … you're telling me Earth actually has cat-girls?"
"Better than that," Tala declared with a smile and a wink. "We've got sexy cat-girls."
Nikki wrinkled her nose. "Okay, now I know you're pulling my leg. Anyway, I put together all of the LARPers' info, and all of those reported elves and dwarves would've been heading towards this site; towards this building."
"So either it really is abandoned, or whoever's there is an expert at covering their tracks." The redhead smirked back down at her little blue sidekick. "I'm down for checking it out if you are."
XXXXXX
Twenty four hours later, she and Nikki were hiking through the underbrush in full excursion gear - Tal in her camouflage fatigues, Nikki in grubby pants and a hoodie. The abandoned building lay in the clearing ahead, and Tala buzzed with giddy goosebumps to note that light was beaming from every window.
"I don't see any cars or anything," Nikki whispered as peeked out from the thicket. "But there's music and voices from inside. How'd they all get here?"
"Probably the kind of clientele that make a habit out of wilderness walks," Tala mused. Nikki followed her pointer finger to the open door, and the seven foot wall of muscle propped up in the frame.
"Is that ... a werewolf?" Nikki's hushed voice was in awe.
"Even better - a half-orc." In a muscle shirt and slacks, his muscular, green skin was on full display below his ape-like brow and snorting nostrils. A brute by any stretch of the imagination, and a fitting pick for guard duty.
Nikki squealed. "This must be some sort of monster meeting place! Ohmigod, Tala we've got to get photos for my blog!"
"I can get you better than that - how about an inside scoop?" Tala brazenly pushed her way into the clearing, shrugging off Nikki's protests. "Relax, I recognize this guy."
The minute Tala hit the grass, the half-orc's nostrils twitched at her scent. She strode up confidently, and while Nikki braced herself for the coming smack-down, the orc simply grinned.
"Well, well," he growled with a Mexican accent, "the Amazon. Y'nearly busted my jaw the other night, humie. Cost me a lot of money." He extended a tanned arm covered in snake tattoos, and Tala returned his firm handshake.
"I had a feeling you were a non-human after that right hook. You work the street circuits much?"
The half-orc shrugged. "Pain in the ass keeping myself presentable in public, but beating up you lightweights pays the bills." He raised a brow, crossing his arms. "How'd you find this place?"
"I have a well-connected friend. Always the first to hear the new supernatural rumors."
"Lovely, a blogger," he sneered as Nikki found her courage and toddled up beside Tala. A throaty growl sent the bluenette ducking behind Tala's legs.
"This a watering hole?" she asked.
"Only the finest orc draught and elven brandy in the state. I should warn ya - management's got a policy about serving humans."
"No service?" Nikki gulped, and Tala rolled her eyes.
"Nikki, they serve humans here."
"... oh."
The bluenette's tiny squeak sent the orc bouncer roaring with laughter. "Relax - after that beating yer ox friend gave me last night, no one's gonna wanna mess with you. I'll getcha in, but your cameras and phones stay with me," he added, killing Nikki's fleeting joy.
As they exchanged their backpacks for green, plastic wristbands - 'do not eat' stickers, Tala mused - The bouncer had a final whisper for her ear. "We don't just serve drinks, y'know. Got a ring set up in the basement. Always lookin' fer fresh blood, if you've got the stones to go up against actual full-breeds."
Tala cocked an eyebrow. An underground fight club, sponsored by and catering to pure-blooded monster fighters?
Oh, she was going to burn off so much steam tonight.
XXXXX
When Tala opted to join in on the festivities, her weight class put her up against opponents of at least somewhat similar dimension. And even though she'd taken down creatures as large as elephants and many times as dangerous, she usually had good equipment, a solid strategy, and in most cases, a team to fight alongside. To her credit, the weight class she was in kept humanoid opponents, so she assumed she'd be up against orcs, elves, or preferably amazonians.
When she finally stepped into the octagon, goaded by cheers and applauds, Tala found herself facing off against a fellow amazon, as impeccable a specimen of fortitude and womanhood as herself, except a foot taller and menacingly larger. "Tala, was it? For a half-blood, you seem in-tune with your heritage." the raven-haired she-hulk mused in her observation of her opponent, voice pitches deeper, accent heavy as she cracked her knuckles, each pop as loud and sharp as a breaking tree.
Tala rolled her shoulders, loosening up her own taut muscles. "So are you..." Between the beefy curves, that giant bosom, and the way her belted toga just left so much to the imagination, Tala found it hard to focus. The thought of arms larger than her own embracing her was distracting to say the least. Feeling the back of her head to make sure her messy bun was still intact, the half-blood lowered into her stance. "Ready."
XXXXX
As Tala and her opponent went toe-to-toe, Nikki watched the fight with the widest eyes she could muster. And with every passing second, the situation around her sunk in. She was in a World of Warcraft guild, enjoying a super powered beatdown alongside a mixed bag of everything on and off her blog.
And come to think of it, she was glad she couldn't take pictures or record on her phone. Knowing the reclusive pricks that populate the internet, if she blabbed about this slice of fantasy heaven out in the woods, it'd likely be ruined with every spectacle here forced to relocate, and that was the last thing she'd ever want.
But not only was she living a dream, she was also enjoying this dream with her dear friend that made this all possible. Tala Stone. That was a phrase in her head that made her spine tingle. And following that phrase, her thoughts drifted to their time together. Long hours together grading, walks out into the unknown, and there's always talking it easy at her apartment with two controllers and an old-school Nintendo.
"Forgive my intrusion, but what iz a human doing in a place like zhis?"
Nikki whipped her head to the side and jumped back, startled by the strange, ghostly woman who had somehow sat down at her table without her noticing. 'An albino?' Nikki wondered, judging by the slim woman's milk-white skin and short mop of snowy hair. Pale, red eyes scanned Nikki from under a long crop of bangs. She was slim like a ballerina, and dressed in a black bodysuit that seemed to melt into the bar's dimly lit surroundings. The French waif wasn't much taller than Nikki, but definitely older, and the way she looked down on Nikki with a calm smile made the gamer girl sweat buckets. This was clearly a regular patron, and she was the outsider.
"H-human?" Nikki gulped, remembering Tala's warning about the bar menu. "N-nah, you've got it all wrong! I'm a - a ... love fairy, yeah! This is just my human form. Didn't want to make a scene with the wings and all."
Rather than deflecting attention, her lie seemed to catch the Frenchwoman's interest. "Un fae d'amour? Si interesente. Ah you here wi' a client, Madame -?"
"I'm Nik - er, I mean um ... Audrey! Yeah, Audrey Sapphire. Lady Audrey Sapphire. I'm kind of a big deal up in the Seelie court." Desperate for a break, she gulped at her tankard of beer - gnomish ale, the bartender had said, and she still wasn't sure if the recommendation was a jab at her height. The liquid courage did its job, though, and she felt new confidence ease her into the conversation. "You must be a siren," she declared. "Or a banshee? No, definitely a siren!"
The pale woman flashed a wicked smile. "You must forgive me if ah do not ... how do you say? 'Kiss und tell'? Ah woman must have her secrets, n'est pas, Madame Sapphire?"
"Oh, um yeah. Totally. Feminine mystique and all that, um ...?"
"Amelie."
"Audrey! Oh, I already said that, didn't I?" How strong was this gnomish ale anyway? "Well, I'm Audrey."
Amelie smiled, and Nikki decided the woman must be an angel to ignore her drunken antics. Nikki sipped on her drink and the people watched the various clients, making small talk about the weather or the difficulties of 'passing' in human cities. Nikki thanked her lucky stars for all the hundreds of hours she'd logged into her fantasy RPGs. She and her beer-fogged mind must have spewed so much crap about politics and going-ons in fairy world, but Amelie seemed to be buying every line. It was a sweet relief when a certain red haired fighter took to the ring and gave Nikki and excuse to move the conversation.
"Hey, that's my client in the ring - Tala."
The instant Amelie spied the Amazon fighter, her pleasant smile cut to a sharp frown. Nikki yelped as her collar was yanked across the table, forcing her directly into the sight of Amelie's furious red eyes.
"Ah word of advice to you and your 'client', Mademoiselle Sapphire. Stay far away from zhis establishment. Return again, and ah cannot promise your safety."
Then Nikki found herself shoved to the floor, coughing and sputtering among the sawdust. When she righted herself - a feat, considering her drunken mind - Amelie was nowhere to be found.
"Nikki!" The friendly cheer came from Tala, sauntering up to her table with a crazed grin, a fistful of cash, and a nice collection of bruises and cuts along her face. "Next round's on me - champion of the humanoid weight class!" Her smile faltered. "What's wrong, Nikki? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Where'd she go?" Nikki's voice came in frightened snaps. "That woman - the albino?" The one who'd just threatened her life and Tala's.
Tala only scratched her head quizzically. "Nikki, what're you talking about? I was keeping an eye on you all this time. You've been sitting here all by yourself."
You know, when me and Cypher took our time making this, I was hard-pressed to find out no one reviewed since Chapter 7. It's not that I won't continue the story if no one reviews it, because I will regardless, but it certainly stops me from keeping this story at the forefront of my attention. I know people like this story, but I implore my precious readers to tell why they like it in a review. That's the part that really inspires me.