I do not own Daily Life With Monster Girls.
Chapter 20 Moonside chat.
"No no no no no no."
The distraught spider-woman thrashed around the room. Knocking around empty boxes and toppling a lamp.
"Where are you?" She bellowed at the night.
"HEY!"
The commanding shout drew Tetra's attention to the door. Sula stood there in a long blue night gown with her arms crossed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Jack's gone." The arachne hastily explained. "I can't find him."
Sula's eyes widened in shock and her arms dropped. "What?"
Tetra sneered. "Don't just stand there, help me." She turned back into the room and frantically scanned for any sign of him. "He was just here. I can smell it."
The echidna's tongue flicked out. "You're right. His scent is strong. And...something else."
Tetra whirled back to her housemate. "Something else. Like what?"
Sula didn't reply. She slithered in and looked up at the ceiling. She raised herself with her tail and plucked a thread from above the door frame.
She lowered back to a regular height and flipped on the room's light. She held up the piece of string and examined it. "This is arachne thread."
Tetra blinked rapidly. "That's not mine."
Sula flicked her tongue out again. "No it isn't." She darted her eyes to the window. She crossed over and reached out and plucked another thread from the underside of the frame. She held it up for her roommate to see.
"He's been taken." Tetra whispered.
The echidna nodded. "By another arachne it looks like."
Tetra's breath seized up. "On a full moon night. She'll kill him."
Sula faced the window again. "Not if we stop her." She waved forward. "I have her scent. C'mon."
Both alpha predators prepared to leap out the window when another voice interjected.
"Hey. What's going on?" Dawn asked.
Both whipped their heads back at the woman in the doorway.
"Jack's been taken." Tetra said.
A blueish glow flared in Dawn's eyes. "What? When?"
"Less then a minute ago." Sula supplied. "We have to go. I don't want to lose the scent."
"Wait!" Dawn jogged up to them. "Don't go without me."
Sula grimaced and faced Tetra. "Leave her. We're wasting time."
Tetra glanced between the two of them and made a hasty decision.
"Sula get going. We'll follow you." She waved a hand. The echidna hardly needed any encouragement as she flowed over the window frame to the ground below and darted across the lawn.
Tetra turned her abdomen to Dawn and thumbed at her back. "Hop on."
The slim girl approached as the arachne bent in her forelegs. She slid a leg over and hooked her arms around Tetra's ribs. "Umm. What if I fall off?"
"You won't." Tetra replied. She raised both arms and twirled her fingers around some thread and pulled it forward. A thin net wrapped around Dawn's back and tied around Tetra's waist.
"Ready?"
That was the only warning she gave before leaping out the window and onto the wall of the adjacent house.
"YEE-AAHHH!" Dawn screamed and clutched tighter.
The arachne ignored the extra pressure and scrambled up the siding and mounted the roof. She just caught sight of Sula's tail rounding a corner up the street. She gave chase.
Please be alive, Jack. Goddess, please be alive.
Jack had flown a couple times before. In a jet plane, in a comfortable seat.
What he was experiencing now wasn't really flying. But the loss of control as the world whipped by his head vaguely reminded him of a class trip to Washington D.C.
Except there was no funny attendant that joked about beating unruly students on his plane. No head phones to listen to music or a book to read as he hurtled through the air faster than he'd ever gone in his life.
No, this was fucking terrifying.
Whatever had grabbed him only held him by his waist with one arm. The webbing that bound him wasn't looped around the creature. The binding merely gagged him and kept his arms and legs shackled. They dangled from his body. Every time the creature leaped to a new rooftop he swore it was going to be the last time and it would lose its grip and he would plummet to the ground.
He tried to keep his arms and legs in close to prepare to roll each time they jumped, but his body refused to respond. He was totally numb. He couldn't feel the arm holding him, he couldn't feel the wind rush by his face. He could only feel his fear.
There was no telling how far or how long he'd been taken but at some point the creature jumped higher than it had previously done and Jack tried to assume a fetal position and closed his eyes.
When he didn't hit hard ground he peaked open one eye.
Wherever they were was dark. It smelled dusty and empty. What little moonlight got through the window they'd entered only shone on the dirty wooden floorboards.
A few boxes and dead leaves dotted the area and an arched ceiling high overhead allowed Jack to surmise he was in an abandoned building of some sort. Where...he hadn't a clue.
Jack noted that he was still breathing heavily through the gag. He only just realized that he'd been hyperventilating the entire trip. Sweat beaded around his brow.
The creature that had taken him stepped around and into view.
She had a very similar build to Tetra's but her carapace was dark silver. Her eight legs and pedipalps were banded with black stripes alternating from the 'hips' to the ends. She wore an unzipped black leather jacket and a gray t-shirt. A short gray sash covered her waist. Her hair was blue or blueish in the dim light and hung around her face. Her six red eyes regarded Jack passively.
"I suppose I should offer an apology for not introducing myself." Her voice had note of central American in it. "My name is Marian." She reached forward with a claw toward his face.
Jack's eyes widened in panic and he tried to back his head away but his body barely moved. Her claw lightly brushed his cheek and sliced the gag on his mouth. It fluttered off and landed softly by his thigh.
Marian withdrew her hand and folded her arms. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"
Jack lifted his head a bit but he could only moan and maybe mumble a syllable.
She frowned. "Hmph. My venom." She looked him over. "I overestimated the dosage." She shrugged. "Ah well. Guess this will have to be a one sided conversation." She held out a hand. "I suppose you're wondering why I've abducted you."
Jack tried to nod but only managed to shake his head side to side a bit.
"You likely won't believe this but, I have just saved your life."
He blinked.
"It may not have been this night, or the next full moon, but eventually..." Her eyes hardened and her claws clenched. "The spawn of that vile wretch would have murdered you."
Confusion would have registered on his face. Instead his eyes just wavered a bit.
"She hasn't told you has she?" Marian continued. "Of course she wouldn't." She waved a hand flippantly. "It's not an easy thing to live with."
Jack sorely wanted to yell at her for playing the pronoun game but he only managed to gurgle something in his throat.
"I hope you appreciate this." Marian inclined her head. "I've given up my guest status to make sure you live tonight."
Jack sorely wanted to speak. To ask her what the hell she was talking about. He tried to gurgle out another response when something shiny flitted by the corner of his eye.
"The Exchange will not fully appreciate my reasons and Mr. Tucker will be..." She dipped her head and closed her eyes. "disappointed."
Jack saw the flitting again, just out of the corner of his other eye.
"But." Marian continued. "I have to make sure relations between humans and arachne are not completely destroyed because one-" She halted and spun around. "Who's there?"
Jack couldn't see anything around Marian's abdomen. He tried to lean his head over but still couldn't get the proper muscles to respond.
Suddenly a thick thread shot out of her spinneret and snagged Jack's chest. He was yanked forward and around her legs. She clutched one arm around his chest and held her other hand near his head, claws glistening in the moonlight.
"Show yourself. All of you!"
Jack had never been so happy (and kinda intimidated) at that moment, then when Tetra, Sula and Dawn stepped out from the shadows. All three were very, very pissed. If he were calmer (and not paralyzed) he might have made a Charlie Angel's reference.
"You!" Marian barked and glared at Tetra. "Come to collect your toy?"
"Let him go." Tetra growled.
Sula's eyes scanned Jack. "What did you do to him?"
Dawn pointed at his left side. "She bit him, see his shoulder."
Tetra's eyes inflamed. A cold rage threatened to spill out and consume the monster that held Jack. She leaned forward and raised her claws.
"Don't." Sula grabbed one of Tetra's arms. "She'll kill Jack."
"I'll kill him?" Marian's voice rose in pitch. "I'll kill him? You should worry about her doing the deed."
She pointed right at Tetra.
The lamia narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"I was going to get this human away from her. So she wouldn't murder him." Marian spat.
Jack squinted skeptically.
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "So you bit and abducted Jack?"
Her free hand clenched. "Better than leaving him to die." She glared straight at Tetra. "The moon is full. I had to keep her from killing this human."
"I would never harm Jack." Tetra snapped. "I have given my word to protect him."
Marian laughed. "Your word?" She mocked. "Your word!" Tetra glowered. Marian raised her hand in the air. "The oh so infallible word of an arachne." She cackled mirthlessly. "Means nothing from the daughter of a true monster."
Tetra's eyes narrowed. "Don't."
Marian glanced between the echidna and the yuki-onna. "She hasn't told any of you?" Their heads inclined and both glanced at Tetra briefly. "She hasn't told you what her mother did."
"Don't." Tetra stated.
"What's her mother have to do with this?" Sula asked.
Marian sneered. "Decades ago, on exactly a night like this. A young man lost his life." She stared straight at Tetra. "A young man that I'm sure received a similar promise. From a similar arachne."
"Don't. Not like this." Tetra almost pleaded.
"But," She ran a line along Jack's throat with her claw. "She broke that promise."
"What...?" Sula exhaled.
Sula and Dawn each turned to Tetra. They kept an eye on Marian, but their focus was split. Jack..didn't know what to think.
Tetra gritted her teeth and tears began streaming down. "That's not me."
Marian nodded. "No, it probably isn't." She tightened her grip on Jack. "But for the sake of all arachne, I can't risk you killing this human. Not when we are just starting to convince them to stop fearing us. We are moving into a peaceful future Tetra. If we are seen as killers, they'll turn on us. There will be war, and many will die."
Tetra jerked her arm sideways. "That won't happen! I won't allow it!"
Marian sighed. "Would that I could believe you." She shook her head. "But given your family history-"
"I am not my mother!"
Marian raised an eyebrow. "And if you never get this close to another human again, you may just prove that." She backed a step toward the window. "Meanwhile, I'm going to assure this human stays out of your web."
Tetra didn't respond. Jack tried to struggle out of Marian's grip, to no avail.
Sula moved forward brandishing her claws. "That human's name is Jack and you are not leaving with him."
Marian pivoted slightly to face the echidna. "You want him, come get him."
Sula gritted her teeth. With Marian's claws at Jack's throat she couldn't risk any move. Marian took another step back. With just one more she could dash out the window and attempt a getaway.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?"
Both arachne, the lamia and Jack all focused on Dawn.
The slim blonde wearing pink slippers and light blue pajamas pointed straight at Marian. "I said: Who the fuck do you think you are?"
The arachne holding Jack blinked rapidly. "I.. beg your pardon?"
"Who are you to decide what happens to Jack?" Dawn's caustic tone could peel paint off a wall.
Marian gritted her teeth. "I'm trying to save this human-"
"FOR THE LAST TIME HIS NAME IS JACK!"
Marian blinked. Dawn took a step forward. "This whole time, you've been calling him 'this human' like he's not a person."
Marian frowned. "I know he's a person. Why do you think I decided to-"
"To override his free will by abducting and envenoming him?"
Marian scowled.
"You know he's a person and you don't care." Dawn accused. "The only thing about him that you're concerned about is that Jack is human and Tetra's host. Beyond that, he's just a faceless mannequin to you."
Marian opened her mouth to retort but Dawn cut her off.
"Of the two arachne in this room," She asked. "which one has assaulted a human tonight? Which one has kidnapped a human? Which one has directly harmed and bound a human?" Her finger never wavered. "Which one has actually jeopardized relations between their people and humans?" Dawn's eyes bore into Marian's. "You claim to act for the benefit of peaceful relations. Yet you're the one holding Jack as a shield against his friends."
Marian's jaw flexed around. "This wasn't supposed to go like this."
"Your intentions are immaterial!" Tetra bellowed. Marian's eyes darted to her. "Your actions will be the only thing people will see and judge." She raised a claw. "You know who taught me that?" Tetra asked. "My mother."
This time it was the other arachne that didn't have a response.
"You have broken the law and must face the consequences." Dawn stated. "Let him go."
Marian grimaced. She looked directly at Tetra a moment. "Do you love him?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yes." Jack's eyes brightened with hope as his captor's grip loosened a bit.
Marian breathed out once. "I'm sure your mother said the same thing." She blinked a few times. "I let him go. You let me leave."
Dawn chopped her hand across the air. "No. You are not using Jack as a bargaining chip. If you actually cared about what happens between your people and humans you will surrender now."
Marian eyed Sula then Tetra. She drooped her shoulders and breathed out. "Fine." She held out Jack. Tetra dashed forward and snatched him.
"Jack. Jack? Talk to me."
He tried say something but the paralysis kept him from doing anything more than moan and gurgle. The desperate concern in her face made him really worry about his well-being. And...there was something else in her eyes. Something angry, feral.
"You feel it now? Don't you?" Marian asked. "The urge."
Tetra gnashed her teeth and held Jack tighter. "Shut up."
"You love him, but you'll kill him. You know that."
Dawn jerked a hand up in the air. "Gawd! Are you still going on about that."
Despite her roommate's protest, Tetra's instincts screamed to take him. Ravish him. Eat him. The moon thrummed in her head like a drum beat.
Tetra shut her eyes. "Sula."
Her friend slithered up to her. "What do you need?"
"I need you to take Jack." She held him out to her. "Take him away and get help."
"But what about-" Sula started to protest.
"Take him." She insisted. "Get him out of here."
The echidna set her face. "Alright." She cradled her hapless host. "It's alright Jack. I'm going to get you some help." He moaned something that might have been a thanks. Sula darted to a window and lifted it open with one arm.
She hesitated and turned back. "I see you near Jack ever again..." Marian stoically crossed her arms. "You are dead." The echidna promised.
Sula slipped over the window frame, stretched her whole tail out to its maximum length before dropping several feet to the concrete. She curled her body like a spring as she fell.
"Okay Jack." She grunted and looked around. She flicked out her tongue. "I'm not entirely sure where we are, but I'm going to head for home as best I can alright? I have an anti-venom kit back there."
"Okay." He groaned hoarsely.
She looked down at him. His eyes were closed but he was nodding his head. The venom had to be wearing off finally. There was something else though. She could smell something tangy and a bit rancid coming off him. His face was damp with sweat.
She knew from her studies on envenomations back on the island that his body was fighting the foreign material furiously. Which was causing him to start burning up. Her poikilothermic nature allowed her to gauge that his body temperature was several degrees higher than any healthy human's should be.
I have to get him help now. I shouldn't have left the house without my phone.
She flicked her tongue out again and picked up Tetra and Dawn's scent. But instead of following where it was strongest, she'd have to back-track a fading trail.
A hint of Dawn led straight toward the nearby road and Sula surged ahead. As soon as she started to cross it a bright light came on just to her right.
"Yah!" She was so startled she nearly dropped Jack.
"Well, now he really is as good as dead."
Tetra whirled from watching the window and glared pure vengeance at the other arachne. "You know nothing about Sula."
"Whatever." Marian shrugged. "I'll be leaving now."
"The hell you will." Tetra sneered.
Marian scoffed. "You sent away your echidna friend. I'm not afraid of you."
Tetra raised an eyebrow, then she smirked. "Kuro."
The slim blonde girl to Tetra's right closed her eyes and leaned her head back. A second later Kuro faced forward, blue eyes glowing dangerously. "Tetra."
Marian's entire body rattled. Her eyes enlarged in their sockets and she pointed at the Yuki-onna. "What...what the hell is that?" She faced Tetra. "What the hell did she just do?"
Tetra ignored her. "She can't be allowed to escape."
Kuro eyed her housemate. "You're certain about this?"
"She can't be allowed to escape!" She insisted.
Kuro let out a breath. "So be it."
Marian raised her arms and braced her legs for an attack. But Kuro didn't move. She seemed to not be doing anything.
Despite feeling the effects before and having advanced warning Tetra still shivered as the first wave of the freezing aura hit her. She did her best to block it out. Focusing on the bitch in front of her instead.
This is incredibly stupid.
Tetra's eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists.
She hurt Jack. She's gonna pay.
Marian shivered and blinked as the cold air hit her. "What? What is...?" Her jaw fell open as she realized that the slim girl wasn't just some human with glowing eyes. "No. It can't-"
Tetra bolted forward and struck first. She buried her left fist straight into the other arachne's solar plexus. Marian's breath exploded out of her mouth and she doubled over. Tetra followed up with a right hook across the jaw.
Marian brought one of her pedipalps up and tried to nail her opponent between hers. Tetra anticipated that move and pivoted her body to catch the blow on her 'thigh'.
"Fucking bitch!" Marian screeched and lunged. She raised her four forward legs around Tetra's back. Tetra ducked and tackled, trying to knock her over.
Tetra raised her legs and caught on Marian's, unbalancing her for a moment. Tetra took advantage and clamped her pedipalps around her opponent's and pulled down. Marian swiped with her left hand and barely grazed Tetra's temple. Bits of blood flecked into one her upper eyes.
Tetra ducked and grasped Marian's left wrist with her right hand and attempted to seize the other but missed. Marian swiped with her right hand and raked her claws along Tetra's cheek and jaw.
"Gah!" Tetra thrust her left arm forward and pinned Marian's bicep against her chest.
"Kuro!" She cried out.
The yuki-onna stepped forward. The freezing aura intensified and Tetra could feel her strength sapping as the heat from her body dissipated.
"No. No you bitch." Marian's voice lost volume as the cold robbed her resolve. Both arachne collapsed and lay in a heap of tangled legs.
Tetra's last sight was of Marian clawing toward the window. Then blackness stripped her of all sense.
Agent Halia soared low over the industrial park. She kept her speed as low as possible to catch any sign of multiple runaway liminals that were reported tonight. Her large wings flared out against the air and her talons gleamed in the dim light.
Although the moon's constant drone buzzed in her heart, the pill she took earlier and the intense training MON put all their recruits through allowed her to stave it off and focus on her mission.
Loud shouting drew her attention ahead of her and she aimed for an open window on the top floor of an abandoned workshop. She could just make out some violent motion just inside. As she drew her wings up to alight on the open window two figures collapsed on the floor and a third rushed toward them.
"MON agents. Freeze." She commanded.
The blonde girl wearing pajamas raised her glowing crying eyes. "Please! My body doesn't make heat. Please help! She needs to get warm."
Halia shook her head and shivered as her body attempted to ward off the sudden and severe cold that pervaded the entire room.
"What happened here? Who are you?" She demanded.
"I'm Dawn and Tetra needs help now. Please!"
Halia scrutinized the two bodies on the floor. She noted the bloody claws on one of the arachne and the bloodied face of the other.
She keyed her radio. "I need warm blankets and medical attention for two arachne at my location now."
Kuro raised her head and glanced at the other spider-woman. Like she'd forgotten she was there. She faced back to Halia, rage blazing in her light blue eyes. "Fuck that bitch! She hurt Jack. Let her die."
The agent paused and keyed her radio again. "Repeat. I need medical attention for two arachne at my location now."
She stepped down from the window and wrapped her wings around the darker arachne. "Alright Tetra. Come on. Come back to us."
Sula squinted against the light and almost raised her arm to block it out. But she remembered she was carrying Jack and held tighter.
"Sula! This is Agent Magnus." An amplified voice boomed from behind the light. "Let him down and back away."
"He needs help. He's been bit and he's burning up." Sula countered. "Please."
"Set him on the ground and back away Sula." Magnus commanded. "Do it now. I don't have patience for games tonight."
"I'm not-" She protested then clamped her mouth shut. She glanced down at Jack. His eyes were closed but his mouth was moving.
She leaned in to try to catch what he was trying to tell her.
"'s okay. It's alright." He stated weakly.
Tears shed from her eyes and she hugged him close one last time. "Okay Jack."
She leaned down and set him on the road and reverse-slithered a foot or two. Three humans males in khaki uniforms and dark pants approached from the light.
Two of them laid down a stretcher next to Jack. The third kept an eye on Sula and a hand near a holster.
"He's been bit by an arachne." She stated.
"How long ago?" The third human asked.
Sula shut her eyes and tried to recall the time between leaving the house and carrying Jack out of the building. "Um...less than an hour, maybe thirty minutes."
"Was it Tetra?" He asked.
Sula shook her head. "No. She.." Her eyes hardened. "She had a silver carapace, blue hair. And her legs were striped."
One of the men attending Jack glanced up. "That sounds like Marian sir."
He glanced down at his patient then back to Sula. "You're certain it wasn't Tetra?"
The lamia nodded confidently. "Positive."
The other two humans hefted Jack onto the stretcher and hauled him up.
She reached out. "Please. Please take care of him."
The third human nodded and turned away. "We'll do our best ma'am." He followed the other two at a jog and called out ahead of him. "Do we have Marian's antidote?"
"Please take care of him." Sula cried as Jack was taken away into the light. "I can't lose him." She hugged herself as the coolness of the night set upon her. "He's the only host I have."
Her breath caught as a realization struck her.
"And..."
Oh no.
"I love him." She whispered.
The confession smashed through her thought-process like a meteor. The moon pulsated in her heart and her head. Guilt, relief, rage, excitement and confusion all swirled in her chest like a kaleidoscopic whirlpool.
Most of the lights cut out and Sula blinked several times to adjust to the darkness. She rattled her head and tried to refocus. She tried to shunt the sudden onset of emotions aside and looked back up.
Several police cars and a huge box van with the letters M.O.N. stenciled on the side blocked the entire street. Several officers were deployed and she recognized most of the members of MON mixed among them.
Agent Magnus approached from the line and laid a hand lightly on the lamia's shoulder. "I know he is Sula. I know."
She holstered her pistol and dropped her hand. "Now, can you tell me what the hell happened tonight?"
A/N: Oh these big emotional reveals are too fun.
Also some heavy arachne on arachne action.
Hope you readers are liking it too.
As always, please, comment and review.
