Logan Zwarey was alone. It is important to understand that fact in this story, for what happens in the telling will seem very much untrue. Logan had been alone for a very long time, although not by choice, not at first. Logan grew up in the heart of America, the Midwest was his home. He had lived there most of his life in surprising ease. His family knew wealthy but were not rich. His home was warm and spacious but was not extravagant. All the needs of life were met, and Logan wanted for little. His one trouble, however, was making any friends. His parents had taken it was childhood awkwardness, but soon the truth was revealed to them, and so their fear was revealed as well.
The horror that would befall Logan originated in his grade school years. By this time in the world, there was peace, albeit a hard-fought peace. There was a species, or rather assortment of species called "monstergirls" that had begun creeping its way into society. There had been all varieties of monstergirls that had made themselves known in the early years, and more it seemed sprouted up by the day. With any new change there was resistance. Even an Order was founded to directly handle the threat, but that was years ago. In no time at all, the Order fell, and a truce of sorts was established. Laws were passed that allowed interspecies people to attain jobs and homes for themselves. Eventually their true intent was found; marriage to a suitable spouse. This is not a typically horrendous goal in life, but for monstergirls this is all they sought, their every goal and motivation being to find a husband for all time.
Logan had begun third grade, and by then the world had settled into the first years of an uneasy truce. Logan had not really understood monstergirls at that time. His parents knew of their existence, hiding the nightly news of disappearances, kidnappings, and rape victims finding themselves in a sort of shotgun marriage. Though after a while, these reports stopped coming, and the world gradually accepted these things as normal in society. Men grew smarter and more cunning, monstergirls became more determined and desperate. Soon it was established that if the crisis of monster-human integration was going to work, equality across the board had to be the law of the land. Treated as average citizens with special protection against discrimination, attack or any type of violence against monstergirls, men found the women far tamer than in the beginning. Slowly those first families began to be accepted; monstergirls with mates and a brood of their own. Thus, on his first day of third grade, Logan met his first monstergirl.
Her name was Alexia, and she was a Kikimora. Young as she was, Logan had noticed that she didn't seem altogether dangerous, as her parents had made him to believe. Still, he kept his distance, always sitting as far as possible from the newest student in the class. In time, she was well accepted by the class. She even began to easily make friends, being well spoken and well educated. She got along with most everyone in the class. Everyone, except Logan. For all his effort to be polite and not be rude without cause, she rarely spoke to him. Alexia even would avoid making eye contact with him at all costs. This never sat well with Logan, and as the year went, he slowly noticed a growing distance from not only himself, by everyone in the class. His friends that would normally sit by him at lunch and play with him at recess slowly stopped noticing him altogether.
One day near the end of the year and summer break around the corner, Logan decided Alexia coming into his class had caused the distance to form. Working up the nerve, he walked up to her at recess while she was playing tag with her friends.
"Why don't you like me?", Logan asked sternly. Alexia had been running in the field and had seen him walk up, unable to turn and run past him or away from him since another kid was running full speed behind her. She skid to a halt in front of him, the momentum of her torso nearly pulling her to the ground. She looked back up at him for the first time, and Logan noticed a nervous twitch of her eyes as they darted to look behind him, as if someone was there.
"What-OOOF!", cried Alexia. She had been tagged squarely in the back, sending her headlong into Logan. He had only just begun to raise his arms reflexively to protect himself from the impact, but too late. Alexia sent both of them tumbling to the ground. Logan landed hard on his tailbone, rolling down his back until his head touched down on the grass beneath him. Looking down, Logan felt his cheeks heat up as Alexia had found her way between his legs. Her face was buried in his chest, one hand planted firmly on the ground, the other on the top of his upper thigh. As she too recovered from the fall, she immediately looked back up at him, fear apparent in her eyes and she looked anywhere but his face. She scrambled from him as if she was to be lit aflame by the brief contact they shared.
"I'M SORRY, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, PLEASE DON'T BE MAD!" Alexia screamed far too loudly than what Logan would have expected. For his part, Logan was as surprised as he could be, feeling lost in the girl who had barely spoken a word to him now being deathly afraid of him. Just as he was about to speak. Her hand went to hear mouth, urging his silence. At this point some of the children she had been playing with had stopped, watching the scene in front of them ever since alexia screamed to the heavens her apology.
"I'm sorry, i-it won't happen again. P-please don't hurt me…"
That had Logan scared now, the idea that he was about to be painted as a mean kid for scaring what the rest of his class considered the nicest girl in their grade. After a moment of staring at the area around his head, she began to move slowly up, her head fixed in his direction, never really moving away. It was when she was about halfway up Logan noticed a chill in the air, which was odd considering how warm it was this close to summer. It started at the base of his neck, moving around his shoulders and soon his whole head felt like it was in an icebox, cool and breezy while the rest of his body was feeling the harsh gaze of the sun. Alexia finally stood entirely, moving several paces back from him. She had a worried expression on her face, almost, Logan recalled, as a look of pity on her face.
"I'm sorry Logan," she whispered low and quick, "but it looks like you're already spoken for."
With that, she hurriedly turned from him and made her way back inside, careful to glance over her shoulder now and again to look back over at him, an untellable fear etched on her face.
From that day forward Logan could not ignore the strange presence that surrounded him day and night. Since Alexia had mentioned that he had been claimed by someone, the isolation he experienced began to make sense, while raising more questions in its wake. After the incident at recess, some of the students had talked to his teacher about the interaction. This led to Logan having to explain the incident to his teacher, then his principal, his nurse, then his own parents, much to his overwhelming embarrassment. He felt that tinge of cold behind his neck more frequently, even after his parents spoke with the principal in private and he sat alone outside; even as he sat in his seat of his seat as his parents drove him home. There was a silence that followed through that evening, and for many that followed. It's like his parents didn't know who he was anymore. Sometimes his mother would look around him, like Alexia had done trying to see if there was someone standing behind him. His father would glue his eyes to the computer screen, reading tirelessly articles about monster girls, but never let me see what he was reading.
This continued for several years; the silence at home and the silence at school. Logan never felt like he did anything particularly wrong to warrant this behavior. He did try to get his parents to talk to him and at times it did work. They gradually moved from short replies to short conversations, nothing that wouldn't be normal for the average kid. As those years went by, Logan continued to be plagued by a social disease that rotted away at any chance of a social life. His friends from grade school were maturing just as he was, with the exception of being far more advanced in their social graces. Along with new students and a new school came more new monstergirls. Slowly but surely the once human dominated classrooms were slowly equalized by various arachne's, lamias, wolf girls and even the occasional Ryu became the general norm. All had begun puberty years ago, and soon after beginning 9th grade Logan noticed many of his fellow male students (and even the occasional human girl) getting 'chosen' by one of the illustrious monstergirl. Logan would walk down the hall and see a Minotaur bully a football jock, or a straight up succubus flying the school grounds and swooping down on a young man before he could even walk into the building for the start of the day. More and more were his peers chosen as mates and husbands by the monstergirl population.
All, it seemed, except Logan.
Even as many of the males were warned in seminars and school town halls, the idea of willingly submitting to a monstergirl never sat right with Logan. Although he was never forced to make the choice; all the monstergirls he met were altogether nice to him, but kept a healthy distance. Even the Bicorn from the senior class would keep outside a body length of him at any given time. Logan had learned to not mind this so much, as he found ways of occupying himself as best he could. He took up an interest in computer coding, which worked well for him since it required intense focus and isolation, something he was often given the chance to exercise.
For fun he began to play in the chess club, not finding any major complaints from any of the members about his joining the club. One guy in the club, Jacob, actually became the closest thing to a friend he had in a long time. He and Jacob would play for hours, just idly chatting as they battled a game of wits and chess. At first Jacob was the skilled master, but some months of playing allowed Logan to get a general gist of strategum and piece mechanics. Before too much longer Logan was able to hold his own against not only Jacob, but all the competing members of the club, and for a few fun games, the math teacher who hosted the after school club.
One day, Logan found himself in a tourney against Jacob, playing a red robin elimination match and decided to strike up a conversation beyond the general chit chat that they normally shared.
"Am I off putting Jay?", asked Logan.
Jacob looked from the board for a moment, his chin resting against his folded hands and he contemplated his next move.
"No." said Jacob, "No, I wouldn't say that. Why do you ask?"
Logan motioned for Jacob to lean in a bit to which Jacob did, leaning even more forward on his hands.
"I think I'm off putting. If there was something off about me, would you tell me so?"
Jacob stayed leaning forward towards Logan, but his eyes twitched for the briefest moments to Logan's right ear, if only for a moment.
"Well…", began Jacob, "I can only tell you that when I'm looking at you, it's like someone else is watching me. It's kinda creepy at first but it comes and goes."
Logan blinked. What an odd thing to say, Logan thought to himself. Logan looked down at the board. Jacob had employed his favorite strategy,the Queen's Gambit. It revolved around a simple move that he often took before making a huge distracting play with his Queen that would allow him to trap major pieces and slim down his opponents forces.
Logan lazily prodded his King's Knight. "What makes you say that?"
"I've heard there are all types of monstergirls who can go invisible and creep on their husbands or boyfriends to make sure they don't cheat on them when their away. I always kind of thought that you had a girl like that. Rook takes Queen's Bishop."
Logan's mind retreated into itself. He had never heard of a monstergirl that did that before. Even in his classes they never discussed monstergirls that were essentially stalkers.
"Like what?", said Logan.
Jacob looked up from the board to the intense eyes of Logan staring back at him.
"None that have been seen a whole lot. You know how they keep saying more species pop up all the time? Like who Molly Peters from algebra class turned out to be an Alp before she moved-"
"No dude, not like Molly.", interrupted Logan, "I just need to know if any can be invisible."
"Oh well..I mean there are predators, some spider types can stalk but can't be invisible...could be a dopple? No...maybe a succubus or de-"
Before Jacob could finish, the whole table shook violently, throwing partially Logan but mostly Jacob who had still been leaning on it. He fell to get ground out of his chair, shock and confusion on his face. The whole chess club room went as silent as the grave. No one uttered a word but stared at the table, Jacob on the ground, but mostly at Logan, who had stood up at some point since the table shook.
Logan remembered that day, and how he had only paid more attention at the time, he may have avoided much of the pain he would experience later.
Several years had passed with relative peace for Logan. Aside from the continued social isolation he found himself pouring into his work. He had graduated school with above average grades and was accepted to the Monstergirl City University in what had once been upper Manhattan. Since monstergirls began to gain more acceptance in human society, they began to flock to urban cities where humans were densely populated. This caused his parents to grow extremely cautious when his acceptance letter came in the mail two weeks before high school graduation. Their hesitancy to Logan's attendance to MGCU was muted once they saw he had earned a full ride to play for their chess team.
The day he moved out for MGC, he noticed his parents look at him with that same halting fear in their eyes, trying to look past him or see something behind him. But as Logan hugged them goodbye, promised to visit soon and write often, he was out of the driveway in his family's old van and off to the city.
He felt an odd sense of victory from finally flying the coop and getting out on his own. He had been fortunate enough to receive a housing grant from MGCU, which meant he was heading towards his own fully paid apartment in the better part of town. Normally this would be a small consolation for any male heading on his own to one of the surest places on Earth where he would get forced into marriage to a luscious monstergirl, if not just raped for a quickie on a full moon night. But Logan had not forgotten his lack of attraction to the fairer sex, even the fairly monstrous fairer sex.
As he drove past farm fields, small suburban neighborhoods, and slowly creeping his way into the city limits, Logan thought back on how he had managed to get this far as a single guy. He remembered the countless attractive monstergirls he had met and even befriended in his high school years, even during middle school and grade school-
Logan suddenly remembered that odd day on the playground. It was curious he had not remembered it until now, but there it was, fresh as if it had just happened.
'I'm sorry Logan...but it looks like you're already spoken for.'
That never seemed odd at the time, thinking there was some monstergirl at the school he hadn't met yet but was waiting to strike. But that never happened, and he remained single and unclaimed for many years after the Kimimori had uttered those words to him. '...you're already spoken for.'
By who, or what, was he claimed? Logan never could crack that. He knew none of the monstergirls he encountered ever sought him out, in fact they mostly regarded him like a normal human woman would if uninterested in a man. That never happened as far as Logan was aware, unless a man was claimed and married already. But he never met a monstergirl, or any girl, who sought him out…
Logan remembered the cold chill of that day, but could distinctly remember how warm and humid it was on that day. But despite the weather's clear indication of heat he could swear that there was a pleasant chill on the back of his head and neck when Alexia spoke to him. Could that have been the thing that claimed him? But he had never heard of a monstergirl that could stay invisible, not for that long. Yet a nagging feeling pulled at the back of his mind; he had felt that feeling before. since that day, coming and going, whenever he spoke with a friend, be they monstergirl or human, that same coolness was felt. He didn't feel it now, but he knew the feeling by its absence.
More and more the farmlands of the country gave way to small building and suburban neighborhoods; a sure sign the city was upon him. Yet the memories of his past pulled Logan back to the recent high school years and that day in chess club. He knew there was something to that conversation that stirred something up. Since that day Logan had suspected he was haunted by some ghost or even a poltergeist girl, but never say it manifest. The idea that a monstergirl would wait nearly his entire life to reveal itself, watching him and shadowing his every move since that day on the playground seemed so farfetched to Logan. But the truth was evident, there was no denying it now. Logan was being stalked by something with the power to watch him at all times. The intentions of this creature were still alluding him, but with the world he found himself in, there were few alternatives to assume other than monstrous behavior.
Looking back on his first glimpse of the city peeking over the horizon, Logan remembered the tinge of fear once again gripping on his soul. He had willingly agreed to take a scholarship to a prestigious, albeit monster-dominated university in a city that was known for being the hub on monstergirls of every variety all on his own. Thinking back, he had to be a fool to believe his conscious that he would be safe. Now that he thought about it, that voice was a little to eager in its encouragement.
The first year at the university passed fairly quietly during the day, Logan had noticed. That was not the cause for the anxiety he grappled with. He was possessed by fear and loathing of the night. The housing chosen by the university was not bad by any means; spacious two bedroom with full kitchen, spacious living room and full appliances. If not for food, work, school, and his general errands Logan hardly ever needed to leave his apartment. His vaulted ceilings and extra wide doors had first puzzled him when he first entered the apartment after the long drive from his hometown, but soon confusion turned to understanding as the building's landlord explained this was designed for couples originally, but with the lack of students with significant others rooming together first year, the building opened up to single men and monstergirls, in the idea of 'building school unity through shared living experiences'.
Logan quickly realized this was a convenient way of getting the two species to mingle and get them romantically involved faster, none to his surprise. What did surprise him was now that he was living on his own without the pressures of home life, he was not even approached by the fellow single ladies on his floor, or the entire building for that matter. Some of the guys who were claimed offered nods of acknowledgement, some even small chat about classes or city sights.
But what haunted his thoughts each passing night, and what made the current night terrifying was the presence of that cold spot on the back of his neck getting more frequent and more persistent as time passed. Each night he would come home from school, eat a cheap sandwich from 7-11, and go right into homework with a beer on the table. But as the nights drew on, the cold, sweeping chill on his back grew more and more. The spot has been small, but soon grew to much of his body, spreading like tendrils of some dark unknown thing. Logan knew the thing that had been following him all his life was close.
So when Loganhad come home tonight from his typical day of school and study to a very darkened apartment, the fear gripped very tightly to him. It had begun in the lobby; the usual sphinx that stood guard over the entrance that usually asked him a perverted riddle before allowing him access just sat staring at him with a funny look on her face. The lobby of the building was devoid of night owls and the various creatures that crept from their respective rooms to engage in their nightly prowls. All was silent as he rode the elevator up to his floor, the hallway eerily silent. His every footfall felt like glass shattering in the silence of the space, and his key turning the lock as though a hammer struck anvil in the deafening stillness.
Opening the door and crossing the threshold, he saw the clock in the kitchen was off, just blinking 12:00 repeatedly, offering the only light in the very dark, soundless apartment. This was not noticed as much to Logan though, as compared to the frigid cold in his apartment. It was very similar to the cold he had been feeling on his back, spreading from the base of his neck and flowing out to the rest of the apartment, enveloping him in a chill that grew the budding terror in his heart.
He fumbled with his shoes for a moment, slipping them off and reaching for the lightswitch. Logan flipped the switch, and no lights came on overhead. Cursing under his breath, he put his hand to the wall to guide him through the entryway and to the living room. His balcony door should have some light pouring in from the city outside, but to his surprise and growing concern his curtains were drawn. He had not remembered closing them before leaving, and the darkness they provided was so dense his own hand was lost to him even if he held it close to his face. His footfalls were steady as his bumped into the sparse furniture of his living room, making his way to the blinds to draw them. Grazing his knees on the couch corner and coffee table, he found the draw stick of the curtains and with a shaky breath drew them open.
The lights he had been expecting from the city below were not there. They were covered by a dark, looming shadow with lights of their own. Two very bright, wicked red silica lights of eyes that peered inexplicably into his own. The complete shock of seeing this shadow so close to his face, with only a pane of sliding glass door to seperate them was unnerving at the very least. So much so that Logan's immediate response was to jump and run at the same time, accomplishing a sort of leap backwards and into his coffee table A loud yelp escaped his lungs as pain spread through his leg and his torso fell backwards into the couch, leaving him sprawled out in front of the creature on the balcony.
Logan's heart was desperate to escape the prison of his chest from the rapid beating he could feel. The cold, blank stare of those eyes followed his every move now, their gaze indecipherable as they moved with precision, never flinching, never faltering from their target.
With the distance he created by his own fumblings, Logan was able to fully take in the creature on his balcony. It was large, or had looked large at first, until Logan noticed the large bat-like wings protruding from its back, and the slow curling of a tail from behind the legs of the thing. Then the wings folded inwards, forming to the figure of the thing and allowing some of the city light to illuminate it from behind. Now more clearly did the terror set in Logan's heart.
The thing was smiling at him, a the feature on its face as not noticed in the dark shadow of its wings. It was covered in some sort of armor, if one could call it that, with the the armor only covering the most vital areas; namely the groin and chest area, though even those spots left little to the imagination. The blue hue of its skin was flawless, tracing every curve and contour of its body. This was clearly a monstergirl from the assets it carried, but a species that he had not seen before. The bust on this thing was impossibly huge, gravity defying and supple, only complemented by the crossed arms that raised and amplified the bust. The smooth toned stomach gave way to the wide, inviting hips and waist, followed by the soft thighs and long legs capped off by impossible high heeled boots.
She, if he was correct in it being a monstergirl, was the most imposing and appealing creature he had ever seen. His eyes travelled back to meet hers, the fiery iris separated by black slits as he quickly took in her face. Pointed ears that jutted out slightly and twitch at his every move, black hair that framed her face and fell into small waves near the ends. A pair of horns on her head set the look of a creature he had never seen before, looking menacing but oddly smooth. The woman outside the window simply watched him, though intently at his every flinch and ragged breath.
Logan felt utterly paralyzed under that gaze of the woman outside his balcony. Then suddenly, at a painfully slow pace, the woman uncrossed her hands and began to reach for the handle of the sliding door, the smile on her face growing wider as she drew nearer to it. At this Logan's instincts took over and ran, stumbling but fast as he sped out of the living room to the bedroom door at the end of the hall. He kept a bat underneath the bed for safety and in case of burglars, or in this case, lust crazed monster women.
His last glance at the door was it sliding open just a crack, but his feet did not betray him as he slipped out of the living room and into the hallway, arriving at his door in three large steps and closing it promptly behind him and switching the lock closed the moment it was shut. He bounded to the bed and lept over it, nearly colliding with the wall on the other side as he knelt behind it. His hand groped desperately for the handle of the bat underneath his bed, finding it just where he had left it, and pulling it tightly to his chest and he wheezed out his stressed breathes.
He sat behind his bed and waited for the doomful footsteps of the woman who must now be in his apartment. All of his nightmares and unspoken fears were rushing through him as fast as his heart was pumping blood through his veins. The stillness had returned to the apartment and his ears strained to hear any sound he could in the night.
This thing, this woman had hunted him for years, slowly circling him he just knew it. This creature, with its aura and imposing presence must have been what followed him all throughout the questionable moments in his life. Had anyone else seen her, and never spoken out of fear, or threat? What had this creature done to secure its secrecy from the eyes of even his own family. The burning question of being claimed, as Alexia had said all those years ago, seemed to be answered in those red silica eyes whose gaze even now was etched into his memory. He felt in those eyes laid his utter ruin, and his soul lamented into a baser form of fear and resignation to his doom. He waited, fearful to hope and dreading the inevitable turn of the handle, the door being ripped off its hinges, or to see woman manifest itself from a dark shadow that enveloped the entire room. So the surprise he felt was a near overload to his system, when as the silence crept on for such an agonizing amount of time Logan heard a soft, gentle rapping against his door sounded, like Death itself asking to be let in.
This is the first chapter in a new series. I don't own MGE and I don't own the characters. More to come, let me know if I nailed the suspense.
-Banis