The City of Monsters

by Matthew McCollum

  “Uh... okay.” This all seemed weird to him, but he decided to just push past it. “I guess... I guess I need to set up my account. I think.”

  “Alright then. I will begin by asking a few questions. Please answer honestly, but if there is something personal you do not wish to share, just say so, and we can move on.”

  “Okay. Shoot.” He glanced at Derek, who seemed to think the whole thing was funny.

  “First, what is your full name? We will come to nicknames in a moment.”

  “Adam Anders.”

  “No middle name?”

  “Andrew.”

  “Any nicknames you prefer to be called by?”

  “No, Adam is fine.”

  “Where were you born?”

  “New York City. But I've lived in upstate New York my whole life.”

  There was a long pause. “One moment,” the voice said.

  Adam waited. And waited. And waited. He looked at Derek. “Does it normally take this long?”

  He frowned. “No, it shouldn't.” He glanced at the RA. “You ever heard of MC glitching?”

  “Yes, but that's not what this is.” She didn't look up from her magazine. “You'll see.”

  “Hi, Adam Andrew Anders?” It was the same voice as before. But it was slightly... less robotic, Adam thought. More bubbly than anything, really.

  “Yeah, you just—” Adam started, then looked at the screen. Sure enough, the MC icon was glowing strongly. “Is this... the real MC?”

  “Yeah, that's me! Sorry, it's been a slow day, and I set up my programs to flag me if a newb called. Is this really your first day in Domina?”

  “Uh... yeah.” Adam really didn't know what to make of this. Was the operator really allowed to just start talking to her customers? “Is that a problem?”

  “Far from it! It's so rare that I get to meet new people. What are you in the city for?”

  “College, you know. Akamatsu University.”

  “Ah, kay. The kids call it AU, by the way. But you really do seem interesting—why don't I show you around the city?”

  “I'm...” Adam looked at Derek again. He seemed surprised, but far from shocked. Maybe this wasn't quite as unusual as it seemed. “My roommate was actually going to show me around.”

  “Ohh?” There was another pause on her end, much shorter this time. “Derek or Emily?”

  Adam blinked. “What?”

  “Oh, no, Emily would be your RA, right? So I guess you're rooming with Derek.” Her tongue clicked in disapproval. “He's just gonna end up showing you a bunch of those quiet places he likes to hide. Which is okay if you like hanging out on rooftops, but I have a feeling you're looking for something more. Or worse, he might try to get you into the slayer business. Good money there, but they always need fresh—”

  “Wait, wait, back up, how'd you know who was sitting next to me?”

  “You have GPS in your phones. Obviously. Oh, crap! Uh... do I have permission to track your phone's GPS?”

  She sounded genuinely contrite, but Adam wasn't in a trusting mood. “I'm going to have to say no.”

  “That's okay,” she said, although she seemed a little hurt. “That's my mistake. But I still want to show you around the city.”

  “Can you really spare that much time? I mean, I don't really know what your job entails—”

  She laughed, a musical sound. “No, don't be silly. I'll have to spawn a program for you. But if you have any questions she can't answer, she can connect you to me. I'd be happy to help. One second...” She paused. “Okay, we'll start you right outside the dorms. And remember, the programs are pretty clever. Just talk to her like you would a real person.”

  “Alright. And...” Adam didn't really know what to say. He wasn't used to this much attention. And just because he was from outside the city? “Thanks for the help. I honestly appreciate it.”

  “It's no trouble at all,” she replied warmly. “Talk to you later.”

  There was another pause, then her voice came back, more polite and robotic. “I am prepared to start your tour, Mister Anders. Would you like to begin?”

  “One sec.” He took the phone away from his mouth and turned to Derek. “I guess I'm gonna start a tour of the city, so it's okay if you want to go back to the room.”

  Derek shook his head. “No, no, I'll come with you. I can introduce you to some people along the way. Besides, I haven't done the tour in years. Maybe she's added something.”

  Chapter 2: MISSIO

  DEREK

  Derek Huntsman had lived in Domina City his entire life, with only his mom for company. He didn't have many friends. It wasn't that he was shy, it was just... okay, maybe he was a little shy, but he was trying to change. Mostly the problem was that he spent all his time on rooftops he wasn't supposed to be able to get to. Great views, but not very much company. When he came down, it was for jobs. He knew a good number of people through his work, but he never hung out with them outside of jobs.

  Adam... he seemed to be a step in the right direction. As Derek's roommate, they would be pretty much forced to socialize. If Derek could get him to make friends in turn, then they'd prop each other up.

  Which made Derek feel even worse for lying to him.

  Adam's friend, the one he was meant to room with, was dead. At best, he was lying mortally wounded in a hospital. Derek didn't have any concrete details, but North Outer had a few big shootouts around the time Adam said he lost contact. Something about the Levisians getting into another argument with Sealtiel. He just didn't have the heart to voice his suspicions.

  Adam was hard to place. More than anything else, he looked average. Average height, average build. A simple John Smith. But something about him seemed... Derek wasn't sure. It was hard to put his finger on. Perhaps he was just imagining things.

  He didn't act special, that was for sure. As they walked through MC's tour, every word she spoke seemed to surprise him more.

  “Wait, wait, this is a job board? Like...”

  “A place you pick up jobs. Yes.” He really did seem like a good guy, but seriously, how sheltered was he? “People post things they need done, with a reward and a hard end date. See, this one here.” Derek walked up to the board, a simple digital screen with a very heavy plastic layer for protection. He tapped the job he was looking at. It took a few seconds for the board to recognize the input, but it quickly brought the relevant details up. “Some guy needs a rat from the area for an experiment. Alive, of course.”

  Adam stared. “He needs a... what?”

  “A rat. You know—”

  “I know what a rat is. I mean, why would he need one for an experiment?”

  “Let's find out.” Derek flipped out his phone. “MC? I want to accept job 45768 from the South Central job board.”

  “Done,” MC's fake voice responded smoothly, as the entry on the job board disappeared. It had been a while since he got a job from an actual board—mostly he got them in person these days—but the fake didn't care. “This job has an end date of noon tomorrow, and requires any live rat from the South Central district be delivered to Duke Ratko in the same district. He will arrange a meeting when you have completed the job.”

  “Ratko?” Derek asked, incredulous. “Is this a prank?”

  “I'm sorry, that question does not make sense to me. Please clarify.”

  Derek sighed. “Ratko sounds like a bad joke regarding rats.”

  MC's voice was as calm and collected as ever. “Ratko is Slavic, and means approximately war, or battle.”

  “Right, right, sorry. I shouldn't make fun. Just tell me where the nearest trap shop is.”

  “Around the corner to your right.”

  “Thank you, MC.” He hung up and turned to Adam. “C'mon, it's right over here.”

  “What is? The rat we're supposed to catch?”

  “No, no, you'll see.” As MC said, there was a shop around the corner specializing in traps. It wasn't much bigger than the cell phone store we had gone into e
arlier. But in this case, the shelves were lined with cages of varying sizes.

  The clerk looked up. Derek was surprised to see that it was Lily. Everyone knew Lily and Lily knew everyone. She looked like a short little girl, just over five feet, with sand colored skin and abstract, tribal tattoos all over her body. She kept her black hair cut short and out of her face, where it framed her red eyes like a picture. As we walked in, she scratched her horns—short red devil horns, poking out from her hair. She smiled at us, making her sharp fangs prominent.

  “Hey there, Derek. You come by to say hi?” She nodded to Adam. “Who's your friend?”

  “This is Adam Anders, my new roommate.” Adam immediately stepped forward and shook her hand. “And sorry, we didn't come here for you. I had no idea you were working here. I thought you normally just did waitressing.”

  She smiled. “The boy needed someone to fill in for him, so I'm watching the shop for a few hours.”

  Adam frowned. “The owner lets random people work his cash register?”

  Derek smiled. “Lily is a special case.”

  “Everyone is a special case,” she said, her tone friendly but brooking no argument. “We're all snowflakes, after all. Now—what can I help you with? This store doesn't sell anything big enough for your usual fare.”

  “We need a rat trap,” Derek said. “Non-lethal, please. I'm showing him how the job board works.”

  “Ooh,” she said with a grin. “Sounds fun. When's the last time you took a job from the actual board?”

  Derek shook his head. “Honestly, I don't remember.”

  Lily clicked through her phone. “Unfortunately, we don't have any actual traps of the size you're looking for. Just cages.” She looked at him with no hint of mischief in her eyes. “You're going to have to wrestle it in by hand.”

  Derek just smiled. “Sounds like a perfect first job. We'll take it.”

  She shrugged and went to retrieve a cage from the shelf. “Fine by me, just go to the hospital after. Don't want you two starting a plague.” She checked her phone again. “That'll be twenty bucks. Half back if you bring back the cage.”

  Derek pulled a twenty from his wallet and handed it over. “I'll pay this time,” he said to Adam. “But just so you know, generally we'd split it.”

  He reached for his wallet. “Well I can—”

  Derek waved him off. “No, this is a freebie. I'm not going to make you pay for something that wasn't your idea.” Lily handed him the receipt, and he picked up the cage. “Let's go catch a rat.”

  Adam nodded a goodbye to Lily. “Have fun at your party.”

  Derek stopped and stared. Lily blinked.

  “What party?”

  “Uh...” Adam seemed unsure of himself now. “The... costume party. I assume that's why you're dressed like a demon? With the horns and the eyes and the tattoos?” He winced. “The tattoos are real, aren't they? I'm sorry, I was being insensitive...”

  Lily blinked again, then laughed out loud. “Oh, Derek, you didn't tell me he was brand new.”

  “Well, uh...” He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. “I didn't know he was that new...” He frowned. “Didn't your friend tell you anything?”

  Adam looked first at her, then at Derek. “What am I missing?”

  Lily came around the counter and stood right in front of him. He wasn't tall, but he may as well have been a giant next to her. “It's all real, sweetie.” She bent her horns forward. “See? Touch 'em.”

  He gingerly did as she suggested, reaching out to touch her horns. He parted the hair where the horns connected to her skull, and jumped back about five feet.

  “Those... those are...”

  “Real, yes.” Lily stepped forward and smiled even wider, making her teeth even more obvious. Derek had enough experience with her to know she meant it to look cute, but it probably looked terrifying to poor Adam.

  “Lily, maybe you should...”

  “What?” She touched his cheek lightly... with her tail. “I like this one, Derek. He's adorable.”

  He frowned. “When did you get a tail?” She definitely hadn't had that the last time he saw her. Adam seemed completely frozen.

  “Hm? Oh, about two months ago. Isaac only recently started selling them.” She cocked her head quizzically. “I thought I've seen you since then.”

  “I thought so too.” Derek wanted to inquire more, but any longer and Adam would cause a scene. “I think we need to go, though.” He grabbed him by the arm and headed out. “I'll see you later, Lily.”

  “I'll be around,” she said. “And make sure to bring your friend. I mean it.”

  Chapter 3: MONSTRUM

  ADAM

  “She had horns,” Adam said. he couldn't get off that.

  Derek looked pained. “Yes, she did. I didn't know you were that... uh... I thought you knew a bit more about the city.”

  “And fangs. And red eyes.”

  “They're all perfectly common here. Well, maybe not common, but you see them around.” He pointed somewhere. Adam didn't look. “See, there's another one.”

  “And a tail.”

  “Ah, yeah, that's a new buff. Came out about two months ago. I hear it's not very popular, though. Not useful, and it keeps hitting things.”

  Something about that knocked Adam out of his fugue. “Wait, what do you mean not popular? It's... optional?”

  Derek sighed, sat down on a nearby bench, and put his face in his hands. Adam sat next to him, and after a minute he looked up.

  “You've heard of the toy maker, right?”

  Adam frowned. “That... gene mod thing, right? It can make muscle enhancements and stuff, make your bones stronger? I thought that was restricted to the military.”

  “It... it's not a gene mod.” Derek shook his head. “I never really paid attention to how it works, but it has something to do with using unrelated cells as seeds, and growing them into whatever you want, which can then be grafted with no possibility of rejection.” He thought for a moment. “You know how stem cells work?”

  “No.”

  “Good. It's like that, except completely different.”

  Adam blinked.

  Derek sighed. “And yes, it is illegal. Very illegal. But this is where it was first invented, and Domina has never had a very good relationship with US law.”

  “So... it gave her horns and a tail and... red eyes?”

  “Yes, exactly. Well...” He frowned. This clearly wasn't a subject he liked to talk about. Adam wasn't sure exactly why, though. It seemed a sore point, and not because it was something he couldn't adequately explain.

  “You see, the toy maker can't make complicated structures. They're getting much better, but right now a tail—which is basically just one big muscle—is about the most complex they can make. But there are other things, engineered viruses that can make slower changes. Somehow the toy maker makes that easier, I'm not sure how.” He shrugged. “But that's how the eyes are altered, or muscles and bones strengthened. Cosmetic changes, like Lily's eyes, are easy. Those are called cosmos.”

  Adam nodded, catching on. “But changes that have an actual benefit are called buffs, like her tail. Or the enhancements the military is keeping a hold of.”

  “Right, exactly. And the general term is 'toys,' just so you know.” He sighed again. “You need to understand, Adam, Domina isn't like other cities. Here, if you want to be a completely different person, it just costs a bit of money.” He nodded to someone on the street, wearing large goggles that seemed like they would be impossible to see out of. “That guy over there is a vampire—he had his eyes altered to allow him to see in the dark. But the downside is a pretty horrific light sensitivity.”

  “Does he drink blood too?”

  “Probably not. Fangs are common, but the buff to process blood is expensive, and rarely worth it. Most don't bother any more.” Derek shook his head. “The thing about the toy maker... it just gives people more excuses to hate each other. The angels hate the vampires,
the vampires hate the kemos, the kemos hate the demons, and everyone hates the fey. There's no reason for it, they just...”

  “So... there are a bunch of gangs, I guess?” Adam had already seen a bunch of the people Derek was talking about. They were the “costumed” people he had assumed were going to a festival. He made a mental note to punch Dale next time he saw him. This was not something you just forgot to mention.

  Derek waved his hand. “No, no I don't know enough. I don't pay enough attention to politics, I'd just end up giving you misleading information.”

  Adam threw up his hands in frustration. “I don't need a history lesson. I just need to know enough to survive without looking like a complete idiot.”

  “Okay, okay.” Derek sighed. “We'll keep it simple. There are five cultures you need to know by sight. Everything else is secondary.

  “First are the angels. They have eyes that give them incredible dayvision but virtually no nightvision. It's a somewhat common buff, and popular among the military too. But the real distinguishing mark is the dayskin. Basically, they get phosphorescent bulbs implanted under their skin, and can act as flashlights.” He paused. “I think. I really don't know the science of it.”

  “That doesn't sound so bad.”

  “Please don't interrupt. The problem is that the dayskin isn't really all that useful. It's not terribly expensive, but it's not cheap, and it's hard to control. Especially when a good flashlight usually works just as well. So the only ones who get it are the ones who really, really hate vampires, and use it as a weapon against them. Blind them when they least expect it, then shoot them or stab them or whatever.

  “The vampires I already explained. But they have a whole bunch of subcultures that I'm not going to get into. The point is: Black eyes means a vampire. Most of them aren't bad people, but watch yourself anyway.

  “Kemos have animal parts. Usually just the ears or fur, but they've been getting much more advanced in recent years. I saw a full-on humanoid crocodile the other day, scales and tail and everything. Part of the problem is that they're vulnerable. They don't identify as a culture, they identify as subcultures. Canes don't associate with fels or vulps or laces. That just means more division, more fighting.” He shook his head. “The kemos claim to like it that way, but it used to be that the Big Three could keep things from getting out of control. Now...”