Everyday Life With Apex Predators

by FrankieMerleaux

At the top of every food chain in all the worlds ecosystems, there is a single species. The Apex Predator. Unchallenged, Unrivaled, they rule over all other species. In a world full of monster girls, these apex predators still reign supreme, but now, they must all cooperate with each other, and live as roommates in a house with the worlds most dangerous predator: Man.

9. Chapter 7: I wanna swim away

Chapter 7: I Wanna Swim Away (But I Don't Know How)

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. Whether that distance is measured in kilometers, or perhaps some other unit of measurement is purely up to the context of your situation. What do I mean by this? Well, sometimes distance is measured with other units, such as time. You could go years without talking to someone who lives right next door. This expression can also be applied to other things, so long as love is involved. You may love where you live, but sometimes you just need to get away for a while. Traveling can be a very enriching experience, but it can also make you appreciate your home a little more.

Keep in mind that wherever you go, you will always bring yourself with you. There is no such thing as a vacation from yourself.

That being said, travel is always a fun activity. Nothing like a good vacation to relax, de-stress, and take your mind off things. Especially when your vacation is to the sunny beaches of Florida!

Ms. Smith had paid for my plane ticket, along with the girls, but we were not allowed to sit together. Due to their sizes, Priya and Liz had to sit in the demi human section of the plane. It was a mix between first class and a petting zoo. The seats were much bigger than the normal seats, and even bigger than the seats in first class. However, only monster girls were allowed to sit up there. Even the flight attendants had to be FIRE certified just to work in that section of the plane.

One important thing to remember is that while there is a designated demi-human section of the airplane, demi-humans were also allowed to sit in the regular cabin. Many choose to do so willingly. These are usually your human sized girls. Think Nekos, Kobolds, Harpys, Lizardmen, etc. The only species of girls who were not allowed on airplanes were mermaids. I thought it was very strange, but Ms. Smith explained that it had something to do with the cabin pressure drying out their skin. Basically it suffocates them. Makes sense I guess, considering they have to breathe water.

Speaking of harpys, there was a big Australian eagle sitting next to me on this flight. She could barely fit in the seat properly, but insisted that the flight attendant let her sit here.

"Ellie, are you sure you're okay? I'm sure you would be much more comfortable if you go sit with the others." I nudged her a little.

"No fuckin' way, mate. There are way too many sheilas on this flight, and I'll be damned if I let any of them get too close to ya."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, i'll be fine. Besides, Ms. Smith is right across the aisle."

"Exactly! She's the cunt i'm most worried about." Ellie lifted one of her wings and pointed it at Ms. Smith, who was calmly sitting across the aisle from us. She had her headphones in, and was working on her laptop.

I heard a ding and looked up. The fastened seatbelt sign turned back on. The intercom turned on as the flight attendant spoke to us.

"Attention passengers, we are going to be going through some turbulence for a little bit, so the captain has asked that all passengers please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. We have turned the fasten seat belt sign back on, and will turn it off once the captain has determined it is safe to do so."

Right after she said that, the plane started shaking. At first it was nothing too bad, just a couple of bumps, but after a few minutes, it started getting real bad.

"Cole, you alright?" Ellie looked over at me. I must have had a scared look on my face, because I certainly was scared.

If I hadn't already mentioned it before, I HATE FLYING. Maybe it's PTSD from my marine corps days, but I just hate being in the air. Whether it's a plane or a helicopter, doesn't matter. No thank you.

One time we hit a really big bump, and I accidentally moved my hand to Ellie's thigh. I was squeezing really hard to try and balance myself. Due to the fear, I had no time to appreciate just how amazing her thighs were. They were smaller than Liz, but still thick and just the right balance between muscle and fat. I don't know if harpys shave their legs, but damn they were smooth.

"Umm… Cole? Mmmph… you okay?" Ellie squirmed as she started blushing. I finally snapped out of it and noticed what I was doing. Quickly pulling my hand away, I started blushing too.

"S-sorry".

Damn, another big patch of turbulence.

This time I felt a huge blanket of soft feathers wrap around me.

"No worries cobber. I got ya." Ellie tried to sooth me as she pulled me into her chest. Between the soft sensation of her boobs on one side of my face, and her soft feathers on the other side, I was starting to calm down.

The turbulence was still shaking the plane, but I felt myself slipping away. Eventually my eyes closed, and I drifted off to sleep.

X

When I woke up, I found myself on a small boat all alone out at sea. It was a bright sunny day, and there were dolphins swimming around me. I laughed a little and waved at them as they surfaced. Then suddenly it got dark and started storming. The seas were churning, and the waves grew taller than a skyscraper. Eventually my boat capsized, and I found myself sinking under the water. All I could do was sink as the surface grew further and further away.

There were sharks swimming around me, but suddenly they swam away in a panic. I looked out and saw a big dark shadow moving quickly towards me in the water. At first I thought it was a shark, but as it got closer, I realized it was actually an Orca.

It had been almost 20 seconds since I fell into the sea, and I could feel myself suffocating. However, right before I passed out, I saw the Orca slowly swim up right next to me, and it looked at me with one of its big eyes. Instead of eating me, it looked…. Scared.

"Help….me….." The killer whale spoke to me.

This big giant killer whale was scared of something, or someone. I looked into it's eye, and noticed that it was crying. However, instead of tears, it looked like some kind of pink slime was coming out.

"Cole…. Cole Please…"

That was when I passed out.

X

I woke up on the plane still in Ellie's arms, but this time she was shaking me.

"Cole, Oi Cole wake up!"

"Ahhh huh what? What happened? Where are we?" I shot up from her lap and back into my seat.

"Fuckin' hell, you finally woke up. 'Bout time mate, we're here." Ellie took off her seat belt. I looked around and saw that everyone else was standing up, and pulling their carry-on bags out from the overhead compartment. The plane was already pretty empty.

"Geez, I must have slept for a long time." I looked up and saw Ellie blushing a little.

"N-nah mate, it was only for a little bit." She quickly got up from her seat and extended a wing to me.

"Come on ya cunt, the beach awaits!"

X

When we got off the plane, Ellie and I met up with Priya and Liz at the gate away from the other passengers.

"Cole! Did you see it? Did you see it?" Priya was (metaphorically) jumping around.

"See what?"

"The beach! Liz and I saw it out the window right before we landed. It looked so pretty!"

Liz put one of her big paws on my shoulder, then slowly removed it. We all looked and saw her holding a brown feather.

"I take it you enjoyed the flight?" She gave us both the stink eye. Before I could say anything, Ellie came to my defense.

"Fuckin' right we did. This cunt is scared shitless of flying, and being an apex of the skies, I was right in my element the entire time. You should have seen the little bugger. He was clinging to me like a runt to his ma."

Something Ellie said must have struck a nerve, because Liz wrapped her paw around me. "That's nice dear, but Cole already has a mama, and it sure as hell ain't you."

Suddenly the airport intercom spoke: "Welcome to Tampa. Flight 1211 from [Redacted] is now arriving at gate B4. Flight 1211 please proceed to baggage claim at carousel 22."

I nudged the group to follow me to the baggage claim. It was pretty wild walking through the Tampa international airport. It had been years since I last flew anywhere, but it was crazy to see how many monster girls there were. Most of them were walking around with a man. However, I couldn't help but notice that they got very nervous when they get close to my girls.

It was the same look people give someone suspicious they think is about to rob them.

When we finally made it to baggage claim, we got our luggage off the carousel and started leaving to find Ms. Smith. We couldn't find her, but instead, we were approached by a man in a Hawaiian shirt.

"Excuse me, are you Cole Casey?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"Excellent! Please follow me to your shuttle." I looked over at the girls. They all gave me a confused look. I started following him outside and sure enough, there was a bus waiting for us.

"Sorry, but why are you picking us up? We're here with~"

"~Ms. Smith right? From the Federal Interspecies Residential Exchange? Don't worry, I know all about you guys. In fact, Smith was the one who contacted us to come pick you guys up! It's all good bro. You guys are going to have a great time!"

This guy was being way too enthusiastic, but if he knows Ms. Smith, then it can't be that bad, right?

"Here, i'll take those." The guy reached for our bags, but I refused to let mine go. None of the girls did either.

"We got em, thanks". Liz spoke to the guy with a threatening tone in her voice. The man backed off and let us walk past him.

The four of us got on the bus and found some empty seats. It was a nice bus, but I noticed that everyone on the bus was a demi-human couple. It looks like there were a lot of people here from the exchange.

Priya and I sat next to a nice looking guy with a spider girl next to him.

"Hey there buddy! Come grab a seat." He motioned for me to sit. This row had two larger seats, so that larger species could sit here.

"I'm Chase. What's your name?" He offered his hand.

"Cole. This is Priya, I'm her host family." Chase looked totally fine reaching out to shake the hand of a King Cobra lamia.

"Pleasure to meet you, young lady!. This is Charlotte. I'm her host family." The little spider girl looked at the two of us and smiled.

"Nice to meet you two." Charlotte seemed very well mannered. She had short brown hair, and six eyes. I could tell she was short, because she was crouched pretty low on the chair, and even still, she was shorter than both Chase and I.

"So, where's your crown?" Charlotte asked Priya.

"Umm… excuse me?"

"You know, because you're a king cobra? I thought you guys all had crowns."

talk about an ice breaker…..

"Uhh no, we don't wear crowns." Priya tried to brush her off.

"O-oh ok gotcha. So does that mean you're technically a queen cobra? You know, since you're not a man. Only men can be kings. But wait, what if you're actually a consort? Does that make you any different than a regular cobra? Do you guys have, like, royal families or something? Is there, like, a cobra kingdom somewhere? Oh wait wait wait, are you like a karate master? You know, like, cobra-kai? I freaking love that show! Have you seen it? It's on Netflix. It's sooooooooooooooo good! It's actually a spin off based on the classic film The Karate Kid. Have you seen that? Oh my freaking god, BEST MOVIE EVER! You know when I was a kid I always wanted to be a karate master like Mister Miyagi. Wax on Wax off right? Hahahaha"

Priya turned to me with a look that said HELP ME in silence. Even I was in awe at how much this arachne was talking. Seriously, this girl was going a mile a minute.

"You said your name was Charlotte, right? Like Charlotte's Web?" Priya finally got a word in. Too bad for her, she picked the wrong word. Charlotte gave her the death stare.

"Seriously? Did you really just make a Charlotte's Web reference?"

Priya was getting nervous. "Oh, i'm so sorry! I didn't mean any offense by it. I was just~"

"~Because I freaking love that movie so much! Oh my god, best movie ever made PERIOD. The fact that you know it makes it even better. Seriously, people these days have never heard of it and it makes me sad. Oh Priya, I can already tell that you and I are going to be Besties for Resties!"

The little spider girl took Priya's hands into her own and shook them very hard. I looked over at Chase and started a separate conversation.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed with how well you're handling this."

"Handling what?"

"Being around Priya. Most people get scared of her since she's so dangerous. You seem to be doing very well so far."

Chase smiled. "Well, when you live with an arachne, you get used to things like that."

"Hey man, I gotta ask, what kind is she? I don't know much about spiders."

Chase corrected me. "Arachne. They are not spiders, and they get really pissed if you call them that. As for Charlotte, well, she's a house spider."

"Wait, what? Seriously?! This scary looking arachne girl is just your average house spider?! Man, I don't know if I could handle one of the more dangerous ones. This girl is a handful and i've only known her for 5 minutes."

Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of the bus driver talking over the intercom.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, who's ready to party?" Everyone on the bus cheered except for me and Priya.

"Come on guys, I can't hear you! I said, WHOS READY TO PARTY?!" Everyone cheered louder.

"That's what I like to hear! Welcome everyone to Clearwater, Florida, home of the inaugural FIRE FESTIVAL. Your exchange coordinator has brought you all here to enjoy a fun filled week of sun, surf, and sand. I see most of you are here with your host family, and that's great! Keep in mind, there will be those here who are single. We at FIRE want you to do your best to show them how great the exchange is, and if you see any ladies here by themselves, do your best to introduce them. When we get off the bus, you will need to check into the hotel. Be sure not to spend too much time up there. We have lots of activities planned for you this week. So relax, take a load off, and have a great time at our inaugural FIRE FESTIVAL."

X

Fire Festival- Day 1

When the bus pulled up to the hotel, I couldn't believe my eyes. This resort was incredible! The building was at least 15 stories tall. There was a fancy concierge waiting for us, and also some black sedans with people wearing black suits and sunglasses. I knew well enough that those were FIRE agents, but I didn't see Ms. Smith anywhere among them.

"Look Pirya, we're here!" Charlotte was pulling Priya to the window to look at the beautiful resort. Priya seemed amazed by it too.

Chase and I looked out the window a little bit, but we were mostly admiring the reactions of our two girls.

"Man I gotta say, your homestay is way cooler than I imagined she would be." He gave me a smile.

"Ehh she's okay. There's good days and bad days, but i've enjoyed my time with her. I don't know if shes better than the other girls though."

"Wait, what do you mean other girls?" Chase raised an eyebrow. I pointed to the back of the bus where Ellie and Liz were sitting by themselves.

"Dude are you serious? You have THREE girls living with you?"

I nodded.

"Damn man, that's wild. Those are some big girls too! How are you even still alive?"

I'm not sure if he was being insulting, or if he was genuinely curious. Since this was a vacation, I decided to play it off. No sense in making enemies before we even check in.

"Well you better be careful man. Someone may see them alone and try to make a move on them. After all, that's what this whole trip is all about."

Chase and Charlotte said their goodbyes and left the bus before I could ask him what he meant by that. The bus driver also mentioned something similar, which has my gears turning. What exactly was the purpose of this festival? Ms. Smith didn't really give me any details other than it was all free.

Oh well, I waved goodbye to Chase and Charlotte as Priya and I met up with Ellie and Liz outside of the hotel front door. The air was salty, and there was a slight breeze. It was sunny with no clouds today. The perfect day to hit the beach.

"Oi Cole! Ain't she a beaut? I'm 'bout to cut up this week mate! Streuth". Ellie stretched her wings out and soaked in the sun. Liz was sweating a little bit.

"Geez, it sure is hot outside. I know it's the beach, but I didn't think it would be this hot."

Poor Liz, I guess she's never been to Florida before.

"Sorry Liz, but down here, it's always hot. Welcome to Florida, where it's 90 degrees all year round. Watch out for alligators, and don't let the mosquitos get you." Right as I said that, Liz swatted a mosquito from her arm.

The four of us checked in at the front desk after waiting in line for 30 minutes. Liz was soaking up the glorious AC, and Priya was getting some glares from the other monster girls.

"Hi, i'm here to check in."

"Name?"

"Casey."

The clerk typed on her computer for a minute. "Alright Mr. Casey you're all set! Here are your room keys. You guys are on the 13th floor, room 1331 and room 1333. Breakfast will be served each morning from 6-10am, and dinner will be served from 5-8pm. Here, you'll also need this."

The clerk handed me a small folder with a bunch of papers inside. "This is the full brochure of all the events and activities taking place this week as part of FIRE Festival. Feel free to attend as many or as few as you'd like. If you need anything, our front desk is 24 hours, just dial 1 on the phone inside your rooms. Thank you and enjoy your stay!"

I walked over to the elevators with the girls, and soon the 4 of us went inside of our rooms.

Wow! The view was absolutely stunning. They were two rooms connected together via an en-suite bathroom, and both had windows looking out to the ocean. One room had a king size bed, and the other room had two queens.

"Impressive. Very nice. These people sure know how to treat a guest." Priya complimented. She slithered over to the table to put her suitcase down.

"I call this bed! Ya hear that you cunts? This one is mine!" Ellie threw her suitcase down on one of the queen beds.

"Oh look, how thoughtful of them." Liz was holding a bottle of champagne.

Wait a minute, why the hell is she holding a bottle of champagne?!

"Umm Liz, where did you get that?" I pointed at the bottle.

"It was like this when we got here. See?" There was a bucket of ice on a small pedestal near the corner of the room. Also featured were two wine glasses.

Ok, now this is getting suspicious. I searched around the room and saw that this place had some more unusual stuff. His and Her bathrobes. A bag full of rose petals. The worst part was inside the nightstand was a bottle of lube and a box of condoms.

"Hehehe, Wow Cole, so this was your plan all along eh? How romantic!" Priya saw me holding the box of condoms. I started blushing hard.

"What these?! Uhh no no you got it all wrong! We're not using these at all!" I quickly threw the box back in the drawer, and Priya's smile turned devilish.

"Ohhhhh ho ho ho! How risky! I like your style." She stood up on her tail and towered over me. "Come on, let's get this party started." Right before Priya could pounce on me, she was stopped in mid air by a giant grizzly bear paw.

"Sorry, but there will be none of that taking place while i'm here."

"Thanks Liz! That was a close one." I thanked my mama bear, and she blushed at me. "W-why don't we all get dressed and head down to the beach. Cole, you go first. The three of us need to unpack."

X

Preparation is essential, no matter what it is that you're doing. Today, I was going to the beach, which means I must be prepared. Liz made sure I had enough time in the bathroom to get ready, so I was now dressed in my swim trunks and a hawaiian shirt. On my head was my sun hat, and a pair of sunglasses. My shoes were also traded out for a pair of flip flops (Ellie calls them thongs). On my shoulder was a bag full of beach essentials. Several towels, sun block, sun tan oil, a few cans of cold beer, my phone, a room key, and a bluetooth speaker. Outside of the bag was an umbrella that I was also carrying.

I found a nice empty area of the beach to set up camp. The sand was white and soft like cotton beneath my toes. The sun was high in the sky, and there were no clouds at all to block it's rays. The water was clear blue, and all around me were humans and monster girls enjoying themselves. It wasn't too crowded yet, so it was quiet enough that you could hear the waves crashing against the shore.

First I put the umbrella in the sand, and opened it up. Once the shade area was established, I laid out the towels on the ground evenly next to each other. Finally, I turned on the bluetooth speaker and connected to my phone.

"Hey Siri, play Toes."

**Beep**

"Playing Toes by Zac Brown Band"

"Ahhhhhhhh. Man, this is the life."

Got my toes in the water, Ass in the sand.

Not a worry in the world.

A cold beer in my hand.

Life is good today.

***Crack***

"Yeah, life is good today."

***Sip***

Ahhhh.

When you are the house mom for 3 apex predator monster girls, your life is always full of drama and chaos. It's the little moments of peace and quiet that mean the most in life. All you really need in life to be happy is a beach, a beer, and a breeze. Cheers.

After the first beer, I started working on the second one when I heard a commotion behind me. It sounded like a group of girls walking around. They were being really loud, and really ruining my vibe.

"Hey would you girls Ke~" My jaw fell into the sand as I saw them approaching me.

Priya was slithering through the sand in a gorgeous bikini. She was showing more skin than I had ever seen her before. The top was teal green with shoulder straps, and the bottom was tied together on both hips.

Ellie was dressed in a cute strapless top that ran under her armpits and around her back. It was baby blue, with matching boy shorts. The outfit did a good job of highlighting her curves, while also holding true to her tomboy aesthetic. She had the smallest boobs of all the girls, but they looked good in this outfit.

Liz was trying her hardest to be modest, but she was still killing it. The giant grizzly bear was wearing a black one piece swimsuit. Even with the modest design, it was useless against her mega mama milkers. She was facing me, so I couldn't see the back, but I knew without a doubt that her big bear badonkadonk was not going to be contained by that flimsy polyester blend.

"Cole! There you are. We've been looking for you." Priya waved at me.

"About time you three made it. I was having such a great time enjoying the beach in peace and quiet that I knew something was up."

Priya frowned at me, but then struck a pose. "Sorry, but you know us ladies need time to get ready. Especially when it's the beach. You think these swimsuits just put themselves on?"

Wow Priya, could you be more obvious? You're fishing for compliments so hard that I can feel a hook wedged in my ass.

"Yeah I can see. You look great, Priya." Okay, there's your compliment. Happy now?

Apparently so. She started blushing, and slithered past me.

"Umm, Cole, does this look okay? It's not too tight is it?" Liz asked me in a hushed voice. How surprising from someone who is usually so cool and confident.

"Nah, it looks nice on you." I did my best to reassure her. Liz smiled and gave me a hug.

"Aww thank you honey! You always know just what to say" This giant grizzly bear is going to be the death of me. Oh well, I should stop complaining. After all, I wonder how many people would pay to be smothered by her giant mammaries.

"Alright then, you cunts ready for some summer fun?" Ellie asked the group. We all cheered as she started flying off into the sun.

"Woah, where do you think you're going?" I grabbed her ankle to keep her from getting away. Not sure if it's because i'm strong, or because she respected my call, but she stopped mid-takeoff and looked at me.

"Oi what do you cunts want now?"

"It's dangerous to be out in the sun like this unprotected. You girls need to make sure you have your sunblock on before we can play." I reached into the bag and pulled out the big bottle. They all groaned at me in unison.

"Awww come on mate! I want to go play."

"Now now Ellie, Cole has a point. You'll burn to a crisp out there, and we can't have that especially on the first day." Liz backed me up.

"Right! Now then, which one of you would like to go first?"

All of the girls shuffled nervously for a second, but Priya was the first one to (metaphorically) step up to the plate.

"I'll go first. After all, I would hate to burn myself out here." She slithered down to the towel, and waited for me to get the bottle of sunblock.

"Ooooo yeah that feels nice. Mmmm be sure to get every inch of me." Priya cheered me on, but somehow the whole situation felt a little weird.

After a few minutes, she took her top off.

"Oi what the fuck was that?" Ellie was getting a little upset.

"Can't have any tan lines, right?" Priya looked at her with a mischievous grin. I played it cool and kept rubbing the sunblock across her naked back. Once I was done I tried to stand up.

"Okay I think you're good now~"

"~No way! You didn't even get my front. After all, I need to be protected from the sun, right?" Priya grabbed me with her lamia tail, and turned herself over. Normally I would get embarrassed at situations like this, but I was 2 beers in, and by god I was going to take in the sight of those fantastic jugs as much as possible.

"Y-yes that's right." I poured some more sunblock on my hand and started rubbing her shoulders first. Only a couple seconds were spent there. We all know where these hands are going.

"Mmmm yeah that feels real good. Just like that!" Priya coached me as I fondled her tits with my oily hands. Thankfully there weren't too many people around. By god I could do this all day. My devilish hands moved past her chest and started rubbing her belly. Oh go, she's moaning. This is so hot. Nobody's looking, maybe if I move my hand just a little bit lower….

"Okayyyy I think that's enough." Liz stepped in and pulled me off the beautiful lamia girl. She grabbed me and the bottle of sunblock and walked over to the umbrella where the shade was and laid down on the towel.

"It's mama's turn now. Be sure to get me real good, okay sweetie!" Liz smiled at me as I put more sunblock in my hands.

At first I started with her shoulders. She was wearing a one piece, so this shouldn't take too long. After all, most of her back was covered up by the swimsuit.

That's what I thought, but I failed to account for just how large her body is. By god those muscles. You could never tell because she has a pretty decent amount of body fat, but beneath that fat is more muscle mass than an offensive line.

"Don't forget my legs, sweetie." I stopped and moved down to rub the sunblock on her thighs. It was the only place on her lower body that was not covered by fur. Oh my freaking goodness these thighs would make a gay man straight. The way that the muscle blends with her fat is a duet that sings a beautiful melody. Her legs were such a powerful force that the two of them could run for president together and they would probably win. These thighs were both the objects of mens fantasies and the final resting place of the chosen few. To be squeezed together between these divine quads would be a blessing by the gods themselves.

"Mmmph sweetie you're getting a little close to my~" I looked down and saw that my hands were massaging her inner thighs. I looked up at her and silently asked her if I should stop.

"D-dont stop. That feels good." Very well then. Mama, i'm coming home. My hands creeped up further and further until they started touching the fabric of her swimsuit. Not sure if it was sweat or not, but god damn this woman was soaking wet.

"You cunts better cut that out before I cut you up!" Ellie walked over to me and kicked me off Liz with her huge talons. Damn I forgot how much those things hurt.

"Ow, Ellie watch it! Those talons hurt ya know." I got up and saw Ellie standing there, red in the face, and covering herself a little bit with her wings.

"W-Well how do you think I feel watching you butter up them sheilas? I need some s-sunblock too.."

"Okay, well then stand still while I put some on you." I walked around Ellie and stood behind her. It was a little difficult since she was a few inches taller than me, but I did my best.

"Eeeek thats cold!" She cried out. I did my best to calm her down. Her body was really tense.

"Relax Ellie. I got you." I moved my hands slowly across her shoulders. This seemed to only make her relax a little. I moved my hands down her shoulders to her arms, and this got her melting.

"Mmmm yeah.. You're real good at this mate." Ellie was now leaning into me. I started moving my hands back up her arms and down her collarbone. She was breathing a little harder, and grinding her ass into me.

"Fuck yeah thats nice. Make sure you get my back mate." Ellie bent forward while keeping her ass pressed against me. Goddamn this girl had the greatest ass out of all the three. Liz has her beat in size, but this girl knows how to shake what her mama gave her. She was slowly working into my crotch like some kind of backup dancer in a rap video. I tried my best to put the sunblock on her back, until something terrible happened.

"Umm… Ellie, we're all out of sunblock."

X

The four of us enjoyed lots of fun in the sun that day, but soon the day was over, and we all went back to the hotel to grab some dinner.

While we were still in our swimsuits, we made our way to the big banquet hall on the first floor. There was a huge buffet laid out for everyone, and it was totally free for all of the FIRE festival participants.

The four of us took our seats at an empty table. We were eating our meal and talking about the events of the day, when suddenly, one of the FIRE agents ran into the dining hall.

"Everyone! Come quick!" We all ran out of the room and followed him into the lobby, where the TV was playing a live broadcast from the US capitol.

We're live on capitol hill as the Senate has just passed an amendment to the interspecies exchange act, which will now allow marriage between humans and demi-humans. The president is expected to sign the bill into law tomorrow morning. This is a massive win for the millions of interspecies couples across the nation, as they can now legally practice their love without fear of legal consequences. We now go live to Senator Allen Gilmore, who was the main driving force behind this historic vote.

The news cut to a slim man in a fancy suit. "My fellow Americans, tonight, Love Won! I am so proud of all of my colleagues in the senate, for coming together, and recognizing that the path forward for our country is filled with the footprints, hoofprints, and paw prints of all Americans. We are a nation that believes in equality, and now, that equality can extend beyond humanity. To all of our demi-humans watching tonight, you can now call yourselves a part of an American family."

The entire hotel lobby erupted in cheer. Everyone was jumping up and down. Hundreds started hugging, kissing, it was incredible. You would have just thought someone won the super bowl in here.

Even the girls were ecstatic. Priya cheered and wrapped her tail around me. Liz was tearing up a little bit, and gave me a pat on the head. Ellie was yelling and cheering like the Eagles had just scored a touchdown.

"Oh Cole, isn't it wonderful? We can get married now!" Priya was hugging me tight.

"Now we can be a real family together." Liz whispered.

"Fuck yeah! I'm finally going to lose my fuckin' V card!" Ellie cheered, but then looked really embarrassed when she saw that we all heard what she said.

Everyone was caught up in a huge wave of joy, but I found myself the only one in the room, who had a very bad feeling about this.

X

Fire Festival - Day 2

It was a little difficult to get the sleeping arrangements sorted out last night, but I stood my ground. I told all the girls they had to stay in the other room. It even had a pull out couch, so everyone had their own bed.

Come on, you really think im going to turn down the idea of sleeping in a king size bed by myself? No way man. That shit is all mine.

Unfortunately for me, when I woke up in the morning, I was in so much pain.

"Owwww god dammit my body hurts." I crawled out of bed as Liz opened the door to my room from the en-suite bathroom.

"Good morning sweetie! Are you ready for another~OH MY GOD".

"What? What's wrong?" I asked her nervously.

"Cole… your skin!"

I hurried into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. What I saw could only be described as the most humiliating thing I have ever seen.

"Mornin' cunts. You ready for some~HOLY FUCKIN SHIT MATE! Are you from washington? Cause you got the fuckin redskins mate!" Ellie pointed at me and laughed.

Priya did not make any comments, because she was still asleep. This is the first time I have actually been happy that girl sleeps in so damn late.

I pressed one finger to my chest, and a white outline of my finger embedded itself into my bright red skin. God damn this hurts like fuck.

"I guess I spent so much time putting sun block on you three yesterday that I forgot to put some on myself. Fuck, this really sucks."

"What should we do? Did you pack any lotion?" Liz asked.

"No, i'll have to go to the store and buy some. You three go on ahead. I'll catch up to you later."

I put on my shirt and flip flops and headed out of the hotel as best as I could. As I made my way through the lobby I was getting stares from the other guests and even a few laughs.

Dammit, this really sucks.

At least there was a Publix down the street within walking distance. It took a little bit, but the weather was nice and I was in no hurry anyway.

If you have never been to Publix, you sure are missing out. By far, the best grocery store in America. Literally anything you could ever need is inside this place.

After a quick search through the skin care aisle, I found what I was looking for. Aloe Vera jelly. I made sure to get the organic one, since the other stuff had all kinds of chemicals in it that my skin does not need at the moment. I also got a few more bottles of sunblock. SPF 50 just to be safe.

You know, while i'm here, maybe i'll treat myself too.

I walked towards the 21+ section and got some beer. Not just any beer. No sir, when you're at the beach, there is only one beer you drink.

Corona Extra.

One more stop at the produce section to get some limes, and I was ready to check out.

"Sir, i'm going to need to see your ID please." the clerk asked me.

"Oh it's okay, i'm with the exchange."

"Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah i'm with FIRE. It's all good bro." I showed him my FIRE card and he finished scanning my groceries.

"Hey man, you here for that fire festival? You need to watch yourself out there." He whispered to me while I was paying.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't hear? They legalized monster girl marriage today. Don't you think it's a little suspicious that the government is throwing a big beach party for monster girl couples right at the same time that they legalized monster marriage? Especially in a place like Florida, where our state voted against the interspecies exchange act? Really gets the old noggin joggin eh?"

I stood there thinking about what the clerk said. Now, i've always been suspicious of FIRE and their whole program, but he was making a lot of sense. At first, I never thought much about this whole thing since Ms. Smith gave us this trip as a way to take our minds off the whole car crash incident. But now that I think about it a little more, it is a little odd that they would get so many monster girl couples here at a big beach resort.

The first thing to remember about the government is that they NEVER do anything out of the kindness of their hearts. Everything the government does has some kind of motive or reason behind it. Whether it's political, financial, or both, they never just do things for free. There has to be some kind of ulterior motive for this whole fire festival. But what could it be?

"Thank you for shopping at Publix. Please come again."

"Oh~right. Thanks!"

I grabbed my grocery bags and left the store. It was a long walk back to the hotel, but it gave me plenty of time to think about what that guy told me.

X

Back at the hotel, I noticed the girls had already left. Thank god. I did not want them to see me putting this aloe vera jelly all over myself. God damn, my skin hurts so bad. Once that was done, I skimmed through the little activity folder the hotel gave us on our first day and looked through the planned events they had today.

10:00am - Women's Beach Volleyball

11:00am - Sail Boat Rides

Ohh I bet those sail boat rides would be fun! I quickly checked the time. 10:35am. My guess is the girls went to that beach volleyball thing. Hope they have fun.

I got my hat and a few beers and headed back out the door to the beach.

When I got there, I saw a bunch of monster girl couples walking around in the sand, and there was a line forming near a large catamaran.

"Excuse me, is this the line for the sail boat ride?" I asked a couple of young guys in front me.

"Holy shit man, what happened to your skin? You forget your sunscreen or something? Hahaha". The dudes laughed at me, so I just nodded. "Ahh come on man, we're just joking. But yeah this is where to be if you want to see some sexy mermaids!"

"Huh?"

"You don't know? There are supposed to be mermaids out there in the gulf. Rumor has it that if you catch one, you can keep her!" The dudes all high fived each other.

"Next!" The FIRE festival employee called out, and I found I was next in line. Once I showed him my FIRE card, he let me on board.

The boat was full of couples, but there were also some singles. Most of them were cool, except for those dudes from earlier. They were playing some annoying music and drinking. Oh well, I guess I can't complain too much, since I snuck a beer on board too.

The catamaran left the beach and sailed out into open water. It was a beautiful day out in the gulf of Mexico. The water was crystal clear blue, and the sky was partly cloudy.

"Ohhh look over there!" One of the passengers shouted. We all looked to the starboard side of the boat and saw a school of Dolphins swim by.

It was a pretty cool sight to see, but I was starting to get a little annoyed at those dudes from earlier. Someone had brought a mini bluetooth speaker, and they were playing some annoying rap music.

"Duuuuude you gotta chug this whole thing!" One of them had a can of beer, and took his car keys and poked a hole on the bottom. He then lifted the whole thing to his mouth and chugged it all.

Now I was about to walk over there and tell them to shut the hell up, but I noticed something weird about the whole scene. It wasn't beer that they were drinking.

No, it was some kind of dark purple liquid. It had a weird smell to it too. I could see it dribbling down one of the guy's chins, and it was certainly no beer I ever heard of.

The boat kept sailing along, and the dolphins quickly left, however, we saw something much larger floating in the water. There was a big fin sticking out of the water, and it was slowly swimming towards us.

"Ahhh shark!" Everyone on the boat was getting scared as the shark was swimming closer to us.

"Folks please remain calm. We are adjusting our course." The FIRE agent told us all as he raised the sails and had us sail away. When we sailed away, we saw a school of dolphins sailing back to us again, except these were much larger than dolphins.

"Look look! Killer whales!" One of the monster girls shouted.

"Actually, they're called Orcas. Don't worry, they won't eat you." The guy next to her said. We looked and saw one of the Orcas sticking it's head out of the water and smiling at us. Everyone started taking pictures.

We all heard some laughter from across the boat, and sure enough, on the port side, those dudes were at it again. This time, they were pouring their drinks out on one of the Orcas as it stuck it's head out of the water. I saw as the dark purple liquid was getting sprayed all over the poor Orca.

"Hey would you guys cut that out!" I walked over and grabbed the guys arm. He turned and scowled at me.

"Dude what's your problem? We're just having some fun with ole Shamu here."

"You shouldn't do things like that to a wild animal! It's not right." I let go of his hand as he pushed me. The Orca looked at me, then dropped below the water and swam away.

"Back off bro! You better get out of my face before I kick your ass." Ahhh dammit. My chest is still sunburned as hell, and that really hurt. One of his other bros came up to me.

"You better lay off my boy before I turn you into fish food." He pushed me again and the pain knocked me back a little bit.

"Aww what's the matter? Not so tough now are you, red man?"

That's it. I stood up and knocked the guy square in the jaw. He fell down and his boys jumped me. My sunburned skin was amplifying the pain x100 and even just two punches was enough to send me on my ass.

"You like fish so much, why don't you go join them?" These drunk guys grabbed me (which hurt like a mother fucker) and threw me over board.

The cold ocean water felt good on my skin, but as I watched the boat sail away, I couldn't ignore the pain from the fight.

It was hard to keep myself above water. As my head sank further and further down, I noticed that there was also blood coming from my nose. I could see it floating in the water.

Fuck.

This is not good.

I clearly remember a shark swimming around our boat earlier, and now it's only a matter of time before he smells the blood in the water.

Yup, right on cue. There he is. I can see the fin above the water, and with my head sinking, I can see the giant great white lumbering towards me. With all my close encounters i've had with death since joining FIRE, I always had the girls to save me.

Not this time.

I was all alone out at sea. Nobody was coming to rescue me. Once the girls figure out i'm missing, they'll call the coast guard, and they'll search for me for a few days before calling it off. Nobody will know that I became shark food. Dammit. Not like this.

The shark swam closer and closer to me, but right when it opened it's giant mouth, Something came out of nowhere and knocked the shark in the gills.

It was a huge black mass swimming right in front of me, then another, soon I was surrounded. It was the Orcas! They were eating the shark.

Wait, what the fuck? These things were eating the shark?!

More importantly, I was drowning. Shit, I need to get back to the surface.

I tried my best to swim up, but I was weak from the blood loss. I can see it. I can see the light. It's right there, just a few feet above me. If I can just reach up a little higher.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was one of the Orcas swimming in front of me and looking at me with it's giant eye.

X

I don't remember what happened, but I woke up back in my hotel room. I was tucked in bed, and Liz was sitting next to me.

"Cole? Oh thank god. Girls come quickly, he's waking up!" I opened my eyes and saw Priya and Ellie come barging into the room.

"Ugghhh what happened?" My skin was still red, and I felt light headed.

"FIRE was looking for you for hours. They said you fell off one of the sail boats out at sea." Priya slithered up to me and held my hand.

"Thankfully your ole mate found you washed up on the beach." Ellie pointed at herself and smiled.

"Yes Yes that Eagle eye is pretty amazing. But I smelled him first." Liz made sure to give herself a little credit too.

"Thanks girls, I'm sorry you all had to worry about me so much. I know we're supposed to be having fun, so let's just forget about this whole thing and try to enjoy our vacation. Priya, what time is it?"

"It's 8:45."

"Ahh shit's it's already night time? Dammit. Come on, let's go downstairs and see if they have any food left."

And so, the four of us left the room and went down to the lobby to see if they were still serving dinner. The banquet room was surprisingly full, and thankfully they still had some food left.

The four of us got a plate each and took a seat at one of the tables.

As we ate our food, I noticed everyone was having a great time, but soon became really quiet once we walked in. A few people were even giving us weird looks.

"What's their problem?" I asked the girls.

"They're probably just surprised to see you, that's all." Liz looked at me between mouthfuls.

One other thing I noticed is that everyone seemed to be drinking that same weird looking beer that those assholes were drinking on the sailboat. It was the same weird dark purple color.

"Cole? Oh thank god you're okay!" A man's voice called out, and I saw a familiar face approaching our table.

"Chase? Hey man, what's up? Are you having fun?" I shook his hand as he came up next to me.

"Yeah, me and Charlotte are having a great time. But dude what happened? They said you fell overboard!"

"Well not really. I was thrown overboard by a couple of assholes. And if I see them again i'm going to kick their teeth in."

"Dude, no way? You think we should report this to FIRE?"

"Yes I'd love to, but not right now. I'm having dinner with the girls and we're just trying to enjoy ourselves."

"I hear ya. Hey, what's that in your glass?" Chase pointed at my beer.

"Uhh it's the mandatory beverage of the beach. Corona! Got some at Publix earlier. Why, what are you drinking?"

"Oh I don't drink alcohol. I'm fine with my Dr. Pepper."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Not that i'm judging but how come? Everything Is free here."

It was at that moment that Charlotte came up behind me. "He's a recovering alcoholic."

"Hey Charlotte. You found any dessert left?" Chase asked her before walking up to give her a small kiss on the lips.

"No, sadly they are all out." She then turned to my king Cobra homestay. "OMG Priya! How are you, girlfriend?! Isn't this place the best?! I don't normally like sand but this place has literally every single movie ever made available on pay per view!" Poor Priya, she just can't catch a break.

"Wait, go back. Chase dude you're an alcoholic?"

Chase looked kind of sad. "Yeah. It's not something i'm proud of. One day I hit rock bottom, lost my job, lost my house, even lost my wi~umm well I lost everything. I had nothing, but thankfully the exchange took me in, and that's where I met Charlotte. This girl was the best thing to ever happen to me. She convinced me to start going to AA, and FIRE paid for my rehab treatment. Now i'm clean, and finally on the righteous path."

I could only smile at such a heartwarming story.

"Well that is just terrific. Good for you man!"

"Thanks. But i'm surprised at you, Cole. How come you're not drinking the free booze?"

"Huh?"

"Oh right, you must not have heard. Yeah, today they announced that to celebrate the legalization of interspecies marriage, they're offering complimentary booze to all guests at the fire festival. Some kind of new champagne or something. Honey, what was it called?"

"Monstato." Charlotte answered.

"Ahh I see, like Moscato. Very clever." I Chuckled.

"Yeah, well anyway, good to see you're doing okay. You take care and enjoy yourself!" Chase and Charlotte left the table and went back to their rooms.

Monstato huh? I've never heard of this drink before. I quickly checked the cups of the girls to see what they were drinking, and thankfully they were all drinking water.

"Something wrong?" Liz asked.

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think we should be drinking that Monstato stuff. Girls, I want you to promise me that you won't drink any of it. Okay?" The three of them all shook their heads.

X

FIRE Festival - Day 3

Thankfully the girls didn't try to make any moves on me last night. I guess the whole bright red sunburn skin had them feeling nervous about touching me. Maybe it was the whole incident with the drowning? Either way, I am positive that one of them is going to try something eventually.

Regardless, today was another beautiful day at the beach, so it's time to go and have some fun. Ellie had woken up first and was just getting out of the shower when I heard the door open to the en-suite bath.

"G'day cobber! You're looking better." She had a towel wrapped around her waist and chest. Her hair was wet, and so were her feathers. She may not have noticed, but she looked really sexy right now.

"You think so? Still hurts like hell but whatever. Hey, you mind handing me that clear bottle?" I pointed at the aloe vera on the counter. She walked over and handed it to me.

As I was rubbing the lotion on my skin, Ellie seemed a little nervous.

"T-that looks like it hurts. Mind if I give it a go?" I stopped and handed her the bottle.

"Please be gentle." She squeezed some of the jelly out of the bottle and used her feathers to slowly massage the aloe vera into my back.

"You know, I was really worried when I heard you went missing out at sea." Ellie whispered while massaging me.

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay. We Eagles have excellent vision. I can spot a wallaby from 5,000 meters in the air. Ain't no way you'll ever get away from me."

I giggle a little bit. Maybe because she was rubbing in my ticklish spot. Or maybe I was just trying to lighten the mood.

"Seriously though. I mean it when I say i'm always watching over you. You're my mate, and If anything ever happens, know that you can always count on me to swoop down from the sky and save the day."

"Thanks Ellie. You're the best mate a guy could ask for."

"Y-yeah. You too.. M-mate."

"I think Liz is going to wake up soon. Better get to the hair dryer before she does. You know how long she takes to dry her fur."

"Yeah you're right. Besides I think I got ya all nice and greased up." Ellie stood up from the edge of the bed.

"Hey Cole?"

"Yeah?" I slowly put a clean shirt on, so I couldn't see her walk towards me. Once the shirt was all the way on, I only had a millisecond before her lips crashed against mine.

"Love ya mate".

"E-Ellie?"

She pulled away slowly and smiled at me with that playful smile she always had. After a second, she walked back into the bathroom, but this time without her towel.

"U-um I think you forgot this?" I held up the towel in my hand, but she turned her naked body at me.

"Yeah Nah, you can keep it." She winked at me before closing the bathroom door. All I heard was the sound of the hair dryer to drown out my racing heartbeat.

X

While the girls were getting ready, I checked the activity folder to see what the folks at FIRE had planned for us today.

10:00am - Snorkeling

2:00pm - Sand Castle Contest

"Hey girls, let's go snorkeling! This looks like fun!" I announced it to the group. Everyone seemed to like the idea.

"Yeah nah mate. My kind don't really swim well." Ellie frowned.

Okay well almost everyone.

"Sure that sounds like fun!" Liz exclaimed. "Yeah let's go!" Priya raised her hand.

"Alright then. Let's go down to the beach and find the Snorkel station. Ellie, you mind watching our stuff while we're gone?"

The harpy gave me a salute with her wing. "Aye aye cobber"

So, the four of us headed down to the beach again. We were all in our swimsuits, and the weather was perfect once again. I helped Ellie set up our umbrella and towels on the sand, and then left with Priya and Liz to go find the snorkel station.

We walked for a little bit and found a large group of people near a stand. There was a sign that read "FIRE Festival Snorkeling".

The three of us stood in line for the Snorkeling, but something felt off. I can't explain it, but it seemed like today there were a lot more single monster girls than monster girl couples. Not only that, but it looks like all the single monster girls were succubi. Way more than yesterday.

Liz and Priya received their masks and breathing tubes before I did. Priya and I got them on no problem, but Liz needed a little help. Poor girl, sometimes I forget that they don't make stuff in grizzly bear sizes.

"You know Liz, i'm surprised you decided to come along with us." Priya commented.

"Of course! We grizzly bears are excellent swimmers! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Liz wrapped an arm around me and shoved me into her boobs.

"Besides, if you think i'm letting my little boy out of my sight after what happened yesterday, then you're crazy."

Once we were all ready, the group went into the ocean and started snorkeling.

It was awesome. The water was so clear that we could see the bottom no matter how far we went out. We didn't really see much. Just some small fish and occasionally a turtle. However, there was one thing I saw that I never expected to see.

As we got further and further away from the shore, and into deeper water, I noticed a dolphin was swimming around. Me being extra cautious from yesterday, I double checked and triple checked that it was not a shark.

Nope, no shark. That is definitely a dolphin. You can tell by the curve of the fin. Dolphins have a distinct curve on the back of their fins, and they swim with an up and down motion. Shark fins are more triangle shaped and have straight backs. Sharks also swim side to side, totally opposite of dolphins.

The dolphin was swimming closer to me, and I was getting excited. However, once it got close enough, I saw it jump out of the water.

"Wooaahhh!" The creature jumped out of the water, and jumped over me completely. However, when it did, I noticed that it was no dolphin, but it was actually a mermaid. A big one too!

The mermaid crashed back into the water, and I looked through my snorkel mask to see if I could find her in the ocean below. Sure enough, I saw her swim below me. She moved slowly, and the two of us made eye contact. She was much bigger than me, but still human sized. She had pale skin, and a human shaped head and upper body, but her lower body was like a fish. She had a long fish tail, and her fish half was black with a few white spots.

She was also naked.

I put my head back above water and looked around. Her fin was sticking up from the water, and I could see her moving around me in a circle. The water was clear enough that I could see her swim under my feet. I took the tube out of my mouth, and dived down so that my whole body was underwater.

The big mermaid swam up to me slowly, and smiled at me. Her teeth were very sharp, so I put my hands up like I was being robbed at gunpoint. The mermaid girl laughed a little and put her hands up too just like mine. She swam right up next to me, and interlocked her webbed fingers with my own. I looked into her deep black eyes, and she looked back into mine. At that moment, I finally understood what "love at first sight" meant. My heart was racing, and I smiled too.

Sometimes being human sucks, because this romantic moment was cut short by my need for air. I let her go and swam back up to the surface to breathe. Surprisingly, the mermaid girl surfaced too.

"It's you! The man from yesterday! I'm so happy to see you again!" The mermaid smiled at me.

"Wait what? What do you mean? I never met any mermaids yesterday."

She shook her head. "No, not mermaid, Orca! I'm an Orca, silly man. Remember, from yesterday?"

Hang on, now that she mentioned it, I do remember an Orca from yesterday. I fell off the boat, and there was a shark, and then an Orca attacked the shark, then I passed out and woke up in my hotel room. Could she be….?

"All I remember is falling off the boat and a shark came to eat me, but then something stopped it."

The mermaid girl smiled. "Yes! That was me! I killed that shark! There was no way I was going to let it eat you after you defended me from those humans on that boat."

"Wait, when you say humans on the boat…. Are you talking about those guys that were spraying that dark purple juice on that Orca?" The mermaid nodded with that adorable smile on her face.

"No way…. So, you're saying you are that same Orca from yesterday?!" She nodded again and then swam over to me and hugged me tight in her mermaid arms.

"Yes yes yessss! Now you know! Now you remember! You saved me, and so, I saved you in return! You and I are friends for life now!"

"Hang on, what do you mean you saved me? I passed out after the shark."

"Oh? After I killed that shark, I put you on my back and swam back to shore. When I dropped you off, there was some girl who fell from the sky and started yelling at you. I thought I would get in trouble, so I left."

Holy shit, this girl is the Orca from yesterday that saved my life? Wow… I can't believe this. She's so cute. Her black eyes are so innocent, like a doll. She has long black hair with white streaks, and her body's a little bit bigger than mine. Not as much as Liz but a little bigger than Ellie and Priya.

"T-thank you. I really appreciate what you did."

"Yayyy! Me and you are friends forever!" The Orca mermaid girl swam up and hugged me again.

"What's your name?"

"My pod calls me ***Dolphin Noise****

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She sounded like that episode of spongebob when they learned the bad word from the dumpster graffiti.

"I said my name is ****Dolphin Noise****

"Umm sorry but I don't speak Orca. How about I call you…. Olga? Yeah, Olga the Orca! Is that okay?"

The mermaid thought for a second. "Ooolllllggggaaaaa? Oh Guh? Olga? Yes, Olga! My name is Olga! Nice to meet you!"

"Haha My name is Cole Casey. Nice to meet you too!"

Suddenly Olga started getting serious. "Someone is coming." She then quickly dipped back underwater. I looked around and saw Priya swimming up to me with her snorkel mask on.

"There you are! We're all heading back to shore now."

"O-oh right. Thanks."

"You okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Nah, i'm fine. Come on, let's get back. Hopefully Ellie didn't drink all of my beer." I put my snorkel mask and breathing tube back on and swam back with Priya. Every now and then, I would look down below the water and see Olga playfully swim past and wave at me when Priya was not looking.

X

Snorkeling sure was fun, but now it's time to get some lunch. Liz had already made it back to the beach when Priya and I got there. We saw her waving at us from where our umbrella was.

"Hey! Over here!" I heard from a distance. I looked over at Priya, who giggled a little bit. The two of us made our way over there and found Liz rummaging through the cooler.

"Cole, did you pack anything for lunch? I don't see any food in here. Just bottles of beer." Poor girl seemed so deflated.

"Haha nope sorry Liz! If you want something to eat, I suggest you head back inside to the buffet." I chuckled as I reached into the cooler and grabbed a cold Corona. These were the glass bottles, so I had to be careful with them as they are technically prohibited on the beach.

"Alright then. Priya, you coming?" Liz asked the king Cobra. "No i'm actually going to go back up to the room for a bit and take a shower. That saltwater is bad for my skin."

The two of them walked back inside of the hotel, leaving me all alone on the beach. Once I made sure the coast was clear, I took a lime out of the cooler and a small knife. After cutting the lime, I got my bottle opener, cracked open my Corona, and put the lime inside.

Ahhh that's what i'm talking about. Nothing better than a cold beer on a beach. Not a single cloud in the sky…. So why is it getting dark all of the sudden?

"Oi G'day cunt. How ya goin?" I heard from above me. This has happened enough times that I didn't even bother flinching.

"So far so good Ellie. Today has been nice and chill, just the way I like it." I took a sip of my beer before continuing. "How about you? See anything cool up there?"

Ellie landed next to me, then got a beer from the cooler. "Nah, nothing much mate, just the same old beach." Once she had the beer, she moved her leg up to point her talons at me. "Except today, I saw a certain someone flirting with some Sea Sheila." Ellie then used her talons to open the beer bottle. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Believe it or not, that mermaid girl was the one who saved me yesterday".

"Yeah nah you're tellin' porkies mate. Ain't no way some fuckin' mermaids saved you. It was ole Lizzy and me." She glared at me while taking a sip of her corona.

I passed her a lime wedge. "The fuck am I supposed to do with this little cunt?"

"You put it in the bottle! See, watch and learn." I took the bottle from her hand, and gently pressed the lime wedge inside the glass bottle of beer. Once it was down inside the glass, I handed it back to her.

"Here, try it now." Ellie stared at the drink for a little bit, then took another sip.

"Damn this is some good shit, mate! You sure are a clever little man." The two of us sat on the beach together sipping our beers and watching the ocean.

"So, you never answered my question. What's the deal with that sea sheila?" Oh god, not this again.

"I told you, she was the one who saved me yesterday." So I told Ellie the whole story. About the guys on the boat, and the shark, and the Orca who saved me.

"But that doesn't make any fuckin' sense. How does an Orca suddenly become a sheila overnight?"

"I don't know either, Ellie. All I know is that something is going on here, and I have a feeling that FIRE is behind it."

The two of us finished our beers when Priya came back from the hotel room.

"Hey Cole! There's a bunch of people over there. Any idea what that's all about?" She pointed to a large crowd gathering further down the beach.

"Oh right, this afternoon is the sand castle contest! Priya, you wanna do it with me?" The lamia's eyes lit up like fireworks.

"Yes yes yes yes yes let's go!" She practically ripped my arm off as she dragged me towards the crowd. I looked back at Ellie who closed the cooler and took off into the sky. She didn't look very happy, kind of like something was bothering her. Whether it was the whole thing with Olga, or the fact that Priya was hogging all my attention, it's anyone's guess.

X

The rules were simple. You had 1 hour to build a sand castle using only sand and water. After your time was up, the judges would walk around and check each one, before announcing the winner. Oh yeah, and since this was FIRE festival, they made things fun by banning solo entries. Everyone who entered had to enter as a team with a minimum of two players. If you did not have anyone sign up with you, they had a matching service to help pair you with someone else. As you have probably figured out by now, they only paired single people with monster girls.

One such pairing caught my attention, as it was a short nerdy guy who got paired with a huge lamia girl. At first, I thought it was Priya, but she made sure to let me know that was NOT her.

"Umm excuse me, but did I just catch you checking out that other lamia?" She slithered up to me.

"Ahaha no way! I was just curious that there was another lamia here who was as big as you."

Priya crossed her arms. "As if. I'm an apex predator of the jungle. None of these little snakes here would dare challenge me."

Soon we were all sent to our own little spots on the beach, and the judge blew an air horn to start the contest.

Priya and I were hard at work. It was my job to get water using our bucket that the judges provided us, and Pirya was our master engineer.

Time passed, and I must say, I was very impressed with Priya's engineering skills. She was making a beautiful castle. Maybe it's because of her lamia tail, or maybe she is smarter than I give her credit for, but believe me when I say, this thing looks good.

We were almost done, when the two of us heard a commotion nearby.

"Ahhh my castle! It's ruined!" A young Blue Jay harpy cried out. Her boyfriend looked very upset, and walked over to that big lamia girl I saw from earlier.

"Hey! You knocked over our sandcastle. Apologize!" The lamia girl turned around and gave him the stink eye.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. My partner and I have been right here the whole time."

"No way, you knocked over our castle! Look, the dent even looks like your tail. Now apologize before I call the judge over and have you disqualified."

The two of them started getting into it, and unfortunately, there was nobody around that seemed willing to intervene. Everyone was trying to ignore them, probably because the lamia was so big, they were worried they would end up getting hurt as well.

The bystander effect is real, folks.

Once I heard the lamia girl start making a loud rattling noise, I started getting really worried.

"Oh my god, that rattling is so annoying! I can't concentrate." Priya started getting angry, and slithered over to her. I stayed behind to finish the sandcastle, but I made sure to keep myself ready incase things escalated.

Priya's a big girl, she can handle this.

"Hey you there! Shut the fuck up! I can't concentrate with that goddamn rattling noise you're making."

The lamia turned around and gave Priya a threatening look. She had golden eyes, blonde hair, and golden snakeskin with a black diamond pattern.

"Back off, you ugly freak. This doesn't concern you." She started rattling her tail even louder.

"What did you just call me?" Priya spoke in a low voice.

"Oh what, you think i'm scared of you? I'm a Diamondback rattlesnake. Nobody crosses me and gets away with it. Now I suggest you back off before I send you to the hospital." The rattlesnake crouched down slowly, assuming her attack position. Her rattle was going off now, before it suddenly stopped.

Priya raised herself up high in the air, towering over the blonde lamia. She reached forward and grabbed the rattle with her hand, squeezing it as hard as she could.

"Listen here you little worm. You clearly don't know who I am, otherwise you wouldn't dare speak to me like that, so allow me to introduce myself. I am a fucking King Cobra. I eat snakes like you for breakfast, literally. You think your little bite could take me down? Bitch, my bite will kill you before you have time to cry for your mommy. Now how about you be a good little baby, and put your rattle away, before I rip it off and shove it up your cloaca."

At this point, the rattlesnake was crying, and the FIRE agents were running over trying to break up the fight.

"You there! Stop right now! You are officially disqualified." They pointed at Priya. I came over to protest, but they told me the same thing.

"Come on Priya, let's go." I grabbed her hand and the two of us walked away back to our hotel room. Poor Priya. She looked so embarrassed. At least that other lamia was disqualified too.

X

Back at the hotel room, Priya was beside herself. She felt so embarrassed about what happened. I kept trying to comfort her, but it wasn't working.

"I am so sorry Cole! I didn't mean to lose my cool like that."

"It's okay Priya. You stood up for that little Blue Jay harpy, and i'm proud of you for that. It must have taken a lot of courage."

"R-really? You're not mad?"

"No of course not. Come here." I opened my arms, and Priya slithered right in. She coiled herself around my legs, and held me tight.

"You're so good to me. How did I get so lucky to end up with a nice guy like you?" She squeezed me tightly. I didn't know what to say, so I patted her back slowly.

"Here, let me make it up to you." Priya uncoiled herself, and pushed me back on to the bed. I saw her grow a sneaky smile as she started taking off my pants.

"Woah~Priya~hold on~stop! What if the others found out?"

"Oh please, they won't find out. The curtains are closed, so Ellie can't see us, and i'm sure Liz is too busy shoving her face full of food that she won't bother coming up here for a while."

My pants were off, and Priya was starry-eyed as she gazed at my member.

"Now, it's just you, and me, and this little guy right here." She leaned in, and attempted to put her mouth around my member. Right before she did, I saw her huge fangs retract out of her mouth, and I screamed as loud as I could.

"Woah woah hey calm down, Cole! What's the matter?" Priya hovered above me with concern on her face, and a moment later, the door to our room slammed open.

"COLE?!" Liz came storming in, and saw the scene on the bed. I was laying with my pants down, and Priya was hovering over me. You didn't have to be a genius to figure out what was going on here.

Despite being an apex predator of the jungle, there was one thing Priya was afraid of. A giant mama grizzly bear protecting her cub.

X

FIRE Festival - Day 4

I don't know if i'm going to make it through this week. My sunburn was finally starting to heal, but now i'm having to deal with all of the angry looks from all of the other guests at the resort. On top of that, all the girls are at each other's throats over what happened with Priya yesterday. I still have one more day of this stupid thing? Damn, not only has this whole trip been a disaster, but at this point, i'll be lucky to make it back home alive.

I woke up extra early today simply because I wanted to be away from the girls for a while. It was barely before sunrise, and rather than go relax on the beach, I laced up my shoes and grabbed my bluetooth earbuds. Once I was down on the beach, I played some music on my phone and started a nice little jog along the beach.

The sun was beginning to break over the horizon behind the hotel, and I could see some dolphins swimming out at sea near the shore. It was nice being up this early. Nobody was around, so it felt really peaceful.

As I kept jogging along the shore, I felt a bunch of water splash on me.

"What the? Who did that?!" I looked around and saw a grinning Orca mermaid girl waving at me from a few feet out at sea.

"Good morning Cole Casey! It's nice to see you again!" She smiled at me. I smiled and waved back.

"Hey Olga! Didn't think you would be up this early. Also didn't think you would be hanging out this close to the shore."

"Of course! I've been waiting for you to come play with me since yesterday!" She seemed so excited. Although, I was more curious than excited.

"Hey, can you come on land? Like, will you die if you stay out of the water for too long?" Olga thought about this really hard.

"Hmm… I don't know. Maybe? Why? Do you want Olga to come on land and live with you?!" She got really excited again. Gosh this girl was just so precious.

"Woah, let's not jump to conclusions. I was just thinking that it would be easier for me, and more fun for you, since you can experience all the fun stuff that the surface world has to offer."

I started jogging again, and Olga followed me along the shore, marveling at me.

"You land people sure do move funny. How do those legs do that? It's so amazing."

The two of us kept up the small talk as the sun rose above the horizon. Soon I had to turn around and go back to the hotel room.

"Listen Olga, I'm going to talk to a friend of mine, and see what we can do to help you live life on land. Then we can spend some more time together!"

The Orca mermaid jumped out of the water and clapped her webbed hands together. "Yay! Olga and Cole will be best friends forever!"

X

Later on, after showering and getting dressed before the other girls got out of bed, I went downstairs to get breakfast as the buffet. Thankfully nobody was there yet, because ever since the little incident yesterday with Priya, the rest of the guests have been giving me and the girls dirty looks.

Surprisingly, there was one other person eating breakfast this early. It was my lovely FIRE coordinator Ms. Smith.

"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?" I approached her.

"Good morning Mr. Casey. Have you been enjoying yourself so far at FIRE festival?" She gave me a look that signaled this was a rhetorical question.

"Honestly, no. This whole trip has been a disaster. I just want to go home." I groaned as I started eating my scrambled eggs.

"Hmph, you're telling me. With all the crap that you and the girls keep pulling, I've been getting complaint after complaint from all the other guests. Even the other agents are getting on my back. You four are on thin ice, Mr. Casey. No more shenanigans, or else you're all getting on the first flight back home."

She was trying so hard to be strict, but this was the best news I had heard all day. Anything to get us the hell out of here!

"Yes ma'am."

Ms. Smith went back to working on her tablet while I kept eating my breakfast.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ms. Smith nodded. "Is it possible for mermaids to live on land?"

"Of course. All we have to do is give them a life jacket, and they can spend as much time on land as they want."

"A life jacket? What's that?"

Ms. Smith pulled up an image on her tablet. "It's an airtight vest that they wear around their gills, and we fill it with water so that they can breathe. Depending on the subspecies, we fill it with saltwater or freshwater. However, these are susceptible to changes in air pressure, so they're not allowed on airplanes or submarines."

Fascinating. I never knew that FIRE had such technology. "But what about mermaids who are like a subspecies of Orca."

"Well i've never met an Orca mermaid, but if I did, I wouldn't need to do anything for them."

"Wait what?! Why wouldn't you do anything for them?"

Ms Smith gave me an annoyed look. "Because Orcas don't have gills, stupid. They breathe air just like we do."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes Mr. Casey. Orcas are a subspecies of Dolphin. Not only are they mammals, but they breathe air. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a meeting with some tequila and frozen fruit juice."

She got up and left me at the table. Other people started shuffling in, but I was already heading back out to the beach.

X

If you had asked me what the girls were doing right now, I would not be able to give you an answer. Thats a good thing, because frankly I don't give a rats ass. Ms. Smith warned me not to get into any trouble, so lets just hope they all find something to do thats safe and quiet.

Me on the other hand, was currently at the dock, trying to rent a jet ski. The Jamaican man who was renting them out gave me a funny look when I showed him my FIRE card from the resort, but ultimately agreed to lend me the keys.

"Rentals are good for 4 hours, then you gotta come back and refuel, mon."

Once I got the engine started I zoomed out of the dock and into the open water. Folks, let me tell you something, you haven't lived until you've rode a jet ski at top speed through the crystal clear ocean water.

I had to slow down to avoid the sand bar up ahead, and when I did, I saw a familiar face wave to me.

"Good morning Cole Casey! It's nice to see you again!" It was Olga. However, this time she was not alone. There was a whole pod of Orcas much farther out at sea.

"You know those guys?" I pointed at the pod. Olga smiled and nodded. "Yes! That's my pod. I told them about the nice human man who is my best friend for life! They all wanted to come out and meet you." I couldn't help but laugh. This girl is just so happy and innocent. It's almost like having a little sister, except that she is twice my size and has boobs the size of Priya's. Boobs that she has never once tried to cover up.

"What's that big machine you're riding? I've never seen a boat like that." Olga asked me.

"This is called a jet ski. It goes much faster than a boat, and it's super fun to ride!" Olga started clapping her hands together. "Oh Oh Oh can I ride with you?"

How could I say no to that face?

"Of course you can. Hop on the seat behind me!" Olga jumped out of the water and sat on the girl seat. I turned the engine back on, and she shrieked a little bit.

"Okay here we go. Wrap your arms around my waist, and hold on tight!" I started accelerating slowly, and she quickly wrapped her arms around me.

Soon I was going as fast as I was earlier, and Olga was loving every minute of it.

"Wooooo! Hahaha this is so much fun! We're going so fast!" She yelled out. I maneuvered the jet ski towards the Orca pod, and saw them all start following us through the wave trail.

"Hey Olga, I think your pod wants to play!" I yelled back at her. She smiled and yelled back. "Yes! Show us what you got!"

Thinking quickly, I did my best to pull off some cool maneuvers in the water. Some at top speed, others at a slower speed. Eventually the Orcas figured out what I was doing, and they started swimming in front of me so that I would dodge them. I don't speak Orca, but Olga told me they were all having a blast.

It was starting to get late, and my time on the jet ski was almost up, so unfortunately I had to wave goodbye to the Orca pod. Olga translated for me, and they all went back out to sea.

"Hey, can you get off here? I have to return the jet ski, but we can meet up at the beach outside the hotel in a bit." Olga nodded. She jumped off the jet ski and swam away while I drove back to the dock to return the jet ski to the Jamaican man.

Once I returned back to the hotel, I saw Olga waiting for me in the water by the beach.

"You hungry? It's almost time for dinner, and i'm sure they have plenty of fish." Olga's eyes lit up as she jumped out of the water and did a flip.

"Yes yes yes lets go lets go!" The tide was going out, and Olga found herself stuck on the beach. Too bad these mermaid girls don't have legs. That would have made this a whole lot easier.

"Cole help me, Olga can't move." I walked towards her and did my best to carry her princess style. Holy shit this girl was heavy.

"Hhhhnnggggghhhhhh Okay let's go." I did my best to carry that giant fish back inside. It took me almost 30 minutes, but eventually we made it to the dining room. Once we got inside, I set her down in one of the chairs and walked over to the front desk. I asked them for a wheelchair, while making up some story about how my guest sprained her ankle and couldn't walk. Thankfully they had one in stock and let me borrow it.

I rolled the wheelchair back to the dining hall and found Olga right where I left her.

"Here, let's try using this from now on." Olga sat in the wheelchair with delight. "Yayyy! Come on Cole let's go get those fish!"

You should have seen the size of this girl's plate. It would have put Liz to shame. 30 fried fish filets. Believe me when I tell you, she ate every. Single. One.

"Good evening Cole, I didn't know we had company tonight." Liz announced from behind me. I turned around and saw her standing with her arms crossed. Priya and Ellie were with her too. None of them looked happy at all.

"Oh hey girls. I want you all to meet Olga. She's an Orca, and she saved my life two days ago."

Olga waved to them with crumbs all over her mouth. She didn't say anything because her mouth was full. The other girls were not impressed.

"What's wrong with you? You have three girls, and yet that's still not enough! You ditched all of us to go hang out with some random mermaid girl?" Priya was not having any of this.

"It's not like that! I owe her my life, so I figured I could at least treat her to dinner."

The three of them scoffed and walked away to the buffet line for some dinner. Ellie turned around and did the little finger gesture that said "i'm watching you".

As Olga and I sat there and ate. We saw a group of three succubi walking past us, and she started getting really angry.

"Bad men! Bad men! Go away, bad men!" She pointed at the three succubi and they were just as confused as I was.

"Olga stop. Those are women, not men, and just because they're succubi doesn't mean they're bad." I apologized to the three ladies as the quickly walked away.

"No Cole, not ladies, those were men. The men who were mean to Olga, and you! They were the men that you saved me from. Remember?"

Hmm… I remember them pouring that dark purple drink on her. What was it called? Monstato? The three of them were still drinking it, as was everyone else here. Everyone except for myself, the girls, and that guy Chase I met earlier. Now that I think about it, there were no not very many men here anymore. I've been noticing a lot more succubi have been eating here than when we first checked in. Did they come with the FIRE festival? Was there another group that booked this place too? Where did all the men go? I've been noticing that the interspecies couples that came here were now being outnumbered by groups of single women succubi. Maybe all the single guys left early? Something very weird is going on here.

The girls came back to the table and did their best to make small talk with Olga. Liz started warming up to her a little bit, and Priya came around once she found out that Olga was going to go back to the ocean after dinner. Ellie still didn't say a word.

Once dinner was over, I took the wheelchair and pushed Olga back to the beach from the dining room. The girls waved goodbye to her before going up to the room.

"Well Olga, looks like this is goodbye."

"No! Not goodbye. Cole is going to visit Olga tomorrow, right?"

"I don't think so, Olga. Tomorrow is our last day here, so we'll be leaving back to our home."

"W-where do you live? Olga can swim there!"

"No Olga, I'm afraid you can't. This is goodbye." I wrapped my arms around her. "Thanks again for saving my life. I'll never forget you."

The poor girl. She let out the saddest noise. It was a mix between crying and a dolphin whine. Instead of breaking the hug, I picked her up from the wheelchair and carried her bridal style into the ocean. Once the water was waist high, she swam out of my arms and back out to sea. I turned around and walked back to the hotel, but she was watching me the whole time.

X

FIRE Festival - Day 5

Thank god, I finally made it to the last day of FIRE festival. The clock struck midnight, and everyone was sound asleep, except for me. The only event they had on the schedule today was something called The Last Dance. I wonder what that could be?

Well, whatever it was, I still had one more loose end that I needed to take care of before I could leave this place. When I was in the dining room, I stole a bottle of that weird new alcohol they have been serving everyone, and took it back to my room. Hopefully it wasn't too late back home, but I called up my good buddy for some FaceTime.

"Yo Ronnie! What's up man?"

"Hey Cici's. I'm good dude. What's going on? You normally never call this late."

"Is Greta awake? I was wondering if she could look at something for me."

"I think so. Hang on. (Greta! Phone for you!) Yeah she's coming. One sec." Ronnie handed the phone over to his Lich girlfriend.

"Hello Cole Casey. What can I do for you?" The little Lich greeted me in her monotone voice.

"So the girls and I are at this big thing called FIRE festival, and they're serving us this new brand of alcohol called Monstato. I've never heard of it before, and I think there's something wrong with it."

Greta narrowed her gaze. "Interesting. May I see it? Do you have any of it with you?" I moved the camera over to the bottle that I stole.

"It certainly is unusual. Can you pour some out?" I grabbed a wine bottle opener and poured some into one of the champagne glasses they left for us in the room.

Now, Greta was normally very stone faced and calm, but this was the first time I have ever seen her look shocked. Her eyes went wide, and her voice raised an octave.

"By the demon lord! Oh no, this is bad, this is very, very bad. Cole, whatever you do, DO NOT drink that stuff no matter what!"

"Woah, Greta, calm down! Why are you so scared? It's just alcohol right?"

Greta shook her head. "No sir, that right there is liquified demonic energy. Just one glass will turn you into an Incubus, or if you're a virgin, into an Alp."

I froze. Holy shit. This stuff is turning people into those succubi? I knew this stuff was bad news, but I didn't know it was this bad. Thank god I never drank any of it. But this just raises even further questions. Why was FIRE giving this stuff out to all of the people at FIRE festival? Why would they want to turn people into succubi? What was the real reason behind this whole thing? All of those questions would have to wait, because Greta was giving me orders.

"Cole, you and the girls need to get out of there as fast as possible. It's not safe. I don't care what time it is, pack your things and get out of there NOW! Ronnie and I are going to book you guys tickets on the first flight out of there tomorrow morning. We'll email you the tickets in a little bit. Just get out of there now!"

The fact that this little Lich was in a full on panic had me going into a panic too.

"O-okay Greta, I'll wake the girls up. Thanks for all your help."

"No problem. Also, if you can, please bring a bottle of that stuff back with you. I want to analyze it in my lab. Goodbye."

Once the FaceTime call was over, I walked into the en-suite bathroom and opened the door to the girls room.

"WAKE UP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran to turn on all of the lights. They were all very upset.

"Oi Cunt what the fuck are you doing? You know what fuckin' time it is?"

"Ellie, pack your things right now. Same goes for you two as well. We're getting out of here right now." I was running around scrambling to pack the girls things into their suitcases. Liz got up and grabbed me.

"Mind telling me what has you so worked up?"

"I just got off the phone with Ronnie and Greta. That new booze they're making us drink? It's pure demonic energy. Everyone in this hotel is now a succubus or an incubus. We need to get out of here now!"

Liz's eyes shot wide open. "Oh my god." She started getting dressed too and helped me wake up Priya. Even Ellie was starting to pack at this point.

After we were all packed, we ran down the hall to the elevator, and then to the front desk.

"Excuse me, but where are you all going?" The front desk clerk asked us. We turned around to find that she had horns and wings.

"Oh god, you were right Cole!" Priya yelled out as we turned around and saw succubi and incubi coming into the lobby from all directions. We were surrounded. I looked around and the girls were all ready to make their last stand, when suddenly Ms. Smith of all people came walking out of the elevator with several other FIRE agents.

"Ms. Smith?! What's going on here? Why did you turn everyone into Succubi?!"

She and the other FIRE agents raised their guns at us. "I'm sorry Mr. Casey, but you know too much. You and your friends have become a liability." The last thing I heard was all of the agents fire their guns at us. A small tranquilizer dart hit me in the neck, and I quickly fell to the ground.

X

When I finally woke up, the smell of salt hit me first, then the sunlight. I looked around and saw that my hands and ankles were tied together. I also noticed that I was on a boat, out in the middle of the ocean. Priya was next to me on my left, Ellie on my right, and Liz was behind me. The four of us were surrounded on all sides by succubi. They were being ordered around by a few FIRE agents. One of them looked at me and smiled.

"Well well well, looks like you finally woke up. Just in time too. We're almost there."

"What's going on? Where are we?" The succubi laughed and then slapped me across the face.

"Shut your mouth before I tape it shut."

The boat kept cruising along until the engines stopped. We were out in open water, with nobody around for miles. If the government was ever going to make someone disappear, this would be a pretty good way to do it.

"Good morning Mr. Casey. How are you feeling?" I looked over and saw a woman dressed in a black suit.

"Like I want to kick your ass! How could you do this? I trusted you!" Ms. Smith turned away for a second.

"Please understand. I'm just following orders. This is nothing personal."

"Nothing personal? Nothing personal?! I'm about to die and all you have to say is that it's nothing personal?! I swear to god you better kill me, or else i'm going to make you beg for your life with those fucking sunglasses shoved up your asshole."

"That's quite enough, Mr. Casey." I looked and saw another FIRE agent walking towards us. This time it was a man. He was tall, with short salt and pepper hair. He had on a black suit and black sunglasses just like the other ones, but this one carried an air of authority about him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Mr. Smith, and I am the Deputy Chief of the Federal Interspecies Residential Exchange. You have been a thorn in my side for far too long, and now with all the ruckus you and your friends have caused at FIRE festival, we cannot tolerate your behavior any longer."

"Before you kill me, tell me why? Why did you turn everyone into Succubi? Why were you trying to get all the monster girls to have sex with the host families? What's your endgame?"

Mr. Smith fixed his tie a little bit. "Please Mr. Casey, they are not monster girls. They are the new Americans. We must do our best to welcome them into our society, and you are getting in the way of that."

New Americans? What the hell is this guy talking about? Hang on, I think i've heard that somewhere else before. Isn't that what that politician kept saying on TV when they passed that bill? What was his name? Allen Gilmore? Yeah, he was the one. He said the same thing.

That's not all of it though, I remember something else about this too. Something that the Lilim told me last time I fought her on the full moon.

You're all going to die. Operation Lescatie must be stopped, and i'm the only one who can stop it. The sooner you all realize that, the sooner we can work together to save the human race.

"Oh my god Lily was right. She was right all along. Ronnie was right too! Operation Lescatie is real!"

Mr. Smith pulled a gun out of his suit jacket pocket and pointed it at me.

"Enough, I will hear no more of that from the likes of you. It's over, Mr. Casey. We're hundreds of miles out at sea, and nobody is coming to rescue you."

He cocked the hammer back on his gun. "Any last words?"

I cocked him a sly grin. "Just one. OOOOOLLLLLGGGGAAAAAAAA"

Everyone on the boat stood in silence for a second. One of the succubi started giggling before Mr. Smith gave her a look which shut her up.

"Very amusing, but now it's time for you and your friends to die." Just then, something big rammed into the boat. It shook the vessel so hard that everyone lost their balance and fell down.

"What was that?!" Mr. Smith yelled out.

"Sir, we've been hit!" One of the succubi yelled out from across the bow.

"Impossible! We're in international waters. The Coast Guard would have alerted us if there were pirates in the area."

"It's not pirates sir."

"Then what is it?"

Just then the boat was rammed again, and this time The boat leaned far enough that some of the succubi fell overboard. What awaited them at the bottom was a pair of hungry Orcas.

"Cole, what's going on?" Priya aksed me. I pointed over to the port side of the ship at the sexy mermaid leading the pod of Orcas.

"It's Olga! She came back to rescue us!" Olga must have seen me, because she broke her cool trance and waved at me with that silly grin on her face. Then she immediately turned serious again.

"HVT spotted. Alpha team, continue the attack on the bow of the vessel. Bravo team, put some muscle into it! I want this boat capsized yesterday! Charlie team, eliminate any tangos that are stupid enough to get near the Port side. Delta team, what's the status on those lifeboats?"

I heard some high pitched dolphin noises.

"10-4. Keep it up. Anyone who gets on those lifeboats is breakfast."

Holy shit, I had no idea that Olga was so smart. Nevermind, I need to get out of these ropes.

"Psst. Hey, Ellie, you awake?"

"Yeah mate. How ya goin?"

"Listen, I need you to move your feet behind you. Once you do, I'll use your talons to cut my rope. Then i'll get the rest of you guys out."

Ellie did as I asked, and I was able to cut my ropes. Once I got free, I untied her ropes, then we cut Liz and Priya's ropes too.

"The prisoners have escaped! Repeat, the prisoners have escaped!" One of the succubi yelled out. A few more succubi ran out with guns drawn. "All of you, stand down!"

I chuckled a little bit. "Sorry, but that's not happening. You see, there are three of the world's deadliest Apex predators on your boat, and they are all very VERY pissed off. If anything, it's you who needs to stand down."

They all raised their guns at us. "This is your last warning. Stand down with your hands up or we will shoot."

Cue dramatic pause.

"Fuck off you cunts" Ellie chuckled when I said that.

Just then, the Orca pod rammed into the boat again, and the succubi lost their balance.

"Get 'em Girls!" Liz took off and started hacking away. Priya lunged out and bit one of the succubi right in the jugular. Ellie took off and did her best impression of a WW2 Japanese Kamikaze pilot. Her quick dive bombs sliced and slashed up the succubi like demonic cold cuts. No matter how much they shot their guns at her, they never landed a single hit.

While the girls took care of the girls, I searched the boat to find that bastard Mr. Smith. I still had questions, and he had answers.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet." I found him trying to get in one of the lifeboats.

"This isn't over, Mr. Casey. I have Navy choppers inbound to our location right now, and once they get here, you and your friends are dead."

"What makes you so confident that you're getting out of here alive?"

He gave me an evil grin. "You still have questions, and I'm the only one who can answer those. Kill me, and you'll never know the answers that you seek."

Dammit, he was right. He knew my weakness and played his card perfectly. If I kill him, the government gets to keep their secrets. If I let him live, then the choppers are going to come kill us. This was a lose-lose situation.

Time to call his bluff.

"What about the rest of your agents on board? You're going to leave them to die too?"

"The mission take priority over everything, even our own lives. Everyone here knew that and agreed to it the day the signed up for this job." He pulled his sunglasses down to reveal a pair of sinister brown eyes. "You of all people should know that, Corporal William Coleman Casey Jr."

"I hope you brought a blanket with you, because you're sleeping with the fishes tonight."

The Orcas rammed into the boat one more time, and the ship was now beginning to capsize. I sued the momentum to push Mr. Smith into the water. As soon as he fell in, a pair of hungry Orcas ripped him to shreds.

Liz was like a tornado. I've never seen someone kill so many people with their bare hands (no pun intended). Priya was just as deadly, but had the lowest kill count of the girls. Mostly she just used her tail to knock the succubi overboard. Ellie was basically a one woman air force.

However, now that the ship was capsizing, it was time for us to make our exit.

"Alright girls, everyone into the water! The Orcas are waiting for us!" Priya and I jumped in, with Liz quickly after. Ellie just lazily gilded above us at 20 feet.

Once we were all in the water, a few Orcas swam up to us and made happy dolphin noises. Olga also swam up to us and gave me a big hug.

"Cole! Olga is so happy you're okay! Olga was so worried about you! Olga saw those mean people tie you up and put you on that boat, so my pod followed you out here."

"Wow Olga, that was really brave of you. Thank you so much for saving me! And thank you for saving my friends too. You all did a fantastic job." Olga translated to the pod, and they all started cheering in their Orca language.

"The pod says they are glad you are safe and that they had a lot of fun killing those bad people."

Priya spoke up. "Wait i'm confused. Why did you come save us? You barely know us."

"Cole save Olga, and took Olga to fancy dinner party on the surface. He also played with the pod, so when I told them that Cole and Olga were best friends for life, they agreed to make Cole a part of the pod too!" Olga swam up to me and gave me a hug.

"Thanks Olga. But now we have a new problem. How are we going to get back to shore?"

"No problem! Olga will take you back! But only on one condition: You have to let Olga come live with you in your land home forever and ever."

I looked at the girls, and they shrugged their shoulders.

"Okay Olga, you can come live with us." The cute mermaid shrieked in her dolphin language, and the rest of the Orcas cheered too. Soon a few of the big Orcas swam under us, and put us on their backs.

Holy shit, I never thought I would ever get to ride an Orca!

Before we left, one of the Orca's swam up to Olga and started speaking to her in their dolphin language.

"What it is delta team?... Hmmm…. I see…. I'll ask him." She then swam up to me. "Cole! One of the Orcas told Olga that he found a human survivor dressed in a suit. She was the only one who didn't smell like the bad ladies. What do you want to do with her?"

Ms. Smith is still alive? That could be useful to us. "Olga, have one of the Orca's bring her back with us. I've got some questions I need to ask her."

TO BE CONTINUED...
AN: Bonjour dear reader! Happy New Year! Hard to believe it's already 2023 huh? Sorry this took so long to get out to you. I always get really busy at work in January, and this chapter ended up getting re-written because the original draft was not very good. You are my dear reader, so you deserve my very best. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this beach episode! What are your thoughts on Olga? Is she the new best girl? Who is your current best girl? Did you like that little twist at the end? So the whole "FIRE Festival" thing in this chapter was based on a real event called Fyre Festival that happened in 2017. It was one of the biggest disasters in the history of music entertainment. I highly suggest you DYOR on it as it is a fascinating case study. Remember, don't drink the punch! Those folks at FIRE are certainly up to no good, and now Ms. Smith has got some explaining to do. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much for reading my story! Cheers to 2023!

Here are some fun facts about Orcas:
-Despite being named "Killer Whales" Orcas are not actually whales at all. They are actually a subspecies of Dolphin
-Orcas are mammals, which means they don't have gills. They breathe air just like dolphins (and people)
-Orcas are considered Apex predators of the sea. They are feared by all aquatic species, including sharks. Yes, Orcas kill sharks.
-Orcas are the smartest animals in the ocean, and the second smartest animals on the planet next to humans.
-Some scientists have studied Orca calls and have real evidence that suggests Orcas not only have their own language, but they even have separate dialects between different Orca pods.
-Orcas are the only other animals besides humans that have been observed killing other animals for sport rather than for food.
-The US Coast Guard, and the British Royal Navy have both documented multiple accounts of Orca pods working together to capsize fishing boats
-Orca pods have a complex social structure that operates very similar to a wolf pack.
-Also like wolf packs, Orca pods have been observed to have complex group hunting techniques. One pod of Orcas in south america has even been observed by scientists to beach themselves on purpose in order to hunt seals.
-Orcas have been known to teach hunting techniques to their young. Scientists have observed Orcas in the wild conducting "hunting drills"

Next time on Everyday Life with Apex Predators: Olga moves in. Cole and the gang unravel the conspiracy behind FIRE and Operation Lescatie, and a familiar face returns. See you next time and GO BE ALIVE!