Making Monster Girls 2: For Science!

by Eric Vall

  I dropped to my knee, opened the toolbox, grabbed a small length of rope from inside, and then secured it tightly to one of the sides of the cage. I wrapped the other end around my middle, made sure it was secure, and then reached for the door beside my feet with my flashlight in hand.

  Mr. Bronson warned me that the elevator would shake violently at first, and then drop down a few floors, but I hadn’t expected what happened next. The small, metal box I crouched in rocked back and forth so wildly that I almost slid across the floor each time it tipped. I gritted my teeth, held tightly to the floor, and waited for the drop that would come next.

  It didn’t take long before a sudden, gut-wrenching weightlessness washed over my whole body, and the elevator dropped down the darkened shaft. Overhead, the lights flew away from me at lightning speed, and I pressed my lips together to stop myself from screaming. My entire body lifted off the floor, and I clung to it with my fingertips as darkness overcame me.

  I slammed back down onto the floor as the elevator slammed to a stop, clattered against the walls for a moment, and a loud, angry hissing reached my ears. I groaned, rolled over onto my back, and then forced myself up onto my knees. I raised my flashlight, shone it around the small space, and then groaned loudly. The contents of the toolbox were spilled all over the floor, I hastily pooled them all together, and then dumped them back into the box.

  I aimed the flashlight up toward the mechanicals above my head, shook my head, aimed my gaze down at the obscured machinery below my feet, squinted my eyes, and then reached for the small door at my feet.

  “It has to be down here somewhere,” I grumbled. “Everything up top looks brand new.”

  I heaved the door open, tugged on the length of rope around my waist one more time, and then climbed down the small ladder toward the major system. I glanced over my shoulder at the massive, hanging gears, pulleys, and spools of loose, metal wire that were used to lower the elevator.

  “Here goes nothing,” I grunted.

  I turned on the small ladder, grabbed the rope tied around my waist, and jumped out toward the massive jumble of metal. I slammed into it, gripped onto it, teetered for a second as I cursed aloud, and then regained my balance. I held the flashlight in one hand, peered around the massive blue and red wires, squinted my eyes, and moved my head closer to the core of the apparatus. There was a small space where all of the cables, mechanics, and gears came together, and from the light of my flashlight, I could see that most of them were blackened. I swiped my hand against them, brought my fingertips closer to my face, and then grunted deep in the back of my throat.

  “Soot?” I questioned. “Ash, maybe? From the mines? Hm… no.”

  I placed one hand on the enormous hanging machinery, the other on the rope above my head, and maneuvered my way around the metal mass. The wires here and there were charred, I reached for them, tore them out, and then examined the rough edges. All of them were burned to a crisp, and it was no wonder to me that the elevator kept malfunctioning, but in different parts of the hanging metal, the wires looked brand new and freshly replaced.

  “Well, they did say they had to keep repairing it…” I mumbled. “But if I can figure out why it keeps happening…”

  The hissing that Mr. Bronson told me about was almost constant in my ears, but I did notice it was louder down here than in the actual elevator. It didn’t sound like it came from the machinery, nor was it any electrical sound that I knew of. I glanced around all of the gears toward the open space of the core, shrugged, fitted my hands into the metal, and plunged my bare hand inside. My hand patted down the inside, felt wires, smooth gears, and then… my fingers wrapped around something that didn’t seem to fit.

  The hissing loudened, rose to such a pitch that it was almost a human scream, and then pain ripped through the soft flesh in between my pointer finger and thumb. I tore my arm back, stared down at the clean bite on my hand, panted, and then brought my face closer to the empty space inside of the core. A small creature roared at me, beat its wings, bared its teeth, and jabbed its head through the tiny space to reach me. I hastily pulled away, swung on the rope, held tightly to the machine with my injured hand, and panted softly.

  “What is that?” I gasped.

  The small beast inside of the core made strange clicking noises as it retreated into the center, glanced back at me with golden, hateful eyes, dropped its mouth open, and hissed loudly in my direction.

  I glanced down at the still bleeding bite on my hand, wiped away the blood, and marveled at the almost human-like structure of the creature’s teeth imprinted in my flesh. I chuckled, shook my head, leaned in a little closer as the wild beast seemed to calm down, and peered in at it once more. Its skin was a dark scarlet color, muted in some places to an almost grayish color. Small horns sprouted from its head, a pair of tattered black wings beat from its back, and a thin tail, pointed at the tip like an arrow, whipped out behind it agitatedly.

  “By Science!” I grunted. “A magical beast!”

  The small creature glared at me, pressed itself against the corner of the wall, opened its mouth to hiss at me, but I had to admit… when I looked at this creature, I didn’t see it for what it was. When I looked at this tiny beast… all I could do was imagine what it would look like as a newly transformed monster-girl.

  I chuckled deep in the back of my throat, the sound bubbled up from deep in my chest, and I leaned in close once more.

  “What are you, little one?” I grinned. “And who will you become for me?”

  Chapter Eleven

  It was clear to me that the small creature had made its home inside the core of the machinery. It’d be easy to lure it out and then trap it, but I’d have to wear a pair of thick gloves to do so. I already knew that it wasn’t some type of rabid squirrel or chipmunk, it had to be of magical origin, and that made me even more excited.

  “Goddamnit,” I grunted. “I can’t trap it and take it back to camp now…”

  There were too many people bustling around, and Josephine would certainly ask if I’d fixed the machine, but… at least I’d figured out why the elevator wasn’t working. The wires and gears surrounding the core were utterly fried and unusable, but I knew once I got the beast out and replaced everything, the lift would be back in working order.

  “But will the movement of the elevator scare it away?” I questioned, glanced up toward the shaft above my head, and then scoffed. “No… if it hasn’t already moved from this spot after everything they’ve done to try to fix it, it probably won’t leave if I go back to the surface one more time.”

  I glanced once more at the small, hissing beast, let go of the mechanical core, and climbed hand over hand back into the steel frame of the elevator. I closed the door slowly, locked it into place, stood, and then crossed toward the control panel. I jammed my finger against the UP button, waited for a second, and listened to the loud groaning of the gears above my head. Slowly at first, the loose wire below me returned to its spool, and the elevator began to rise back toward the control room and the first level where I’d entered.

  Surprisingly, the elevator didn’t give me much trouble on the way back up, but I kept my eyes glued toward the core below my feet in case the small creature attempted to escape. My heart hammered in my chest, and for the first time in months, I realized it wasn’t out of fear, but from excitement. If I managed to capture this mystical beast, we’d only have to find another woman to experiment on.

  We knew what a mundane creature and a woman could make, but what could a magical creature and a woman make? The possibilities boggled my mind, but first I needed to capture the creature.

  And then I needed a woman.

  “If I were to say these things out loud to any other person,” I breathed. “They’d probably think I was absolutely out of my mind. I’m even talking to myself… that might be a sign, too.”

  I snorted out a chuckle, lifted my head as the bright lights from above flickered on one by one, and I knew I was near the open
ing for the shaft. Once I reached it, the elevator slowed to a stop, clanged pleasantly, wobbled once, and then held still. I stepped out onto the solid earth, glanced around, and then headed toward the entrance.

  None of the workers bustled around the entrance into the mines, and I guessed that they’d returned to their tents for the night since there was no work for them yet. I wasn’t sure where Daisy and Josephine went, let alone where Valerie had slunk off to in the waning light. I assumed that the two aristocrats had headed back to Josephine’s tent, the largest out of all of them, so I set my sights on it, and headed straight for it.

  “Charles!” a voice shouted from behind me, and I whipped around.

  “Val?” I hissed into the darkness. “Valerie?”

  “Right here, Charles!” the feline-woman giggled.

  Valerie appeared out of nowhere, threw out her arms, and launched herself at me. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I opened up my arms, braced my legs, and caught her midair.

  “Where have you been all day?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know,” the cat-girl purred. “Around. Exploring, chasing butterflies in the field beyond the trees, going through people’s tents, and looking for shiny things.”

  “Val…” I chided.

  “I know, but I didn’t find anything interesting in the workers’ tents.” The beautiful blonde shrugged. “I did look through Josephine’s tent while Josephine was showing Daisy around, and I found a lot of interesting things!”

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” I chuckled. “It’s not very polite… and what would’ve happened if you were caught?”

  “But I wasn’t,” the feline-woman offered. “I left as soon as I heard their voices approaching! No one saw me or even suspected that I was there! I even found this!”

  Valerie reached behind her back, grabbed the pack she’d slung over her shoulder, and then rummaged inside of it. The feline-woman found what she was looking for, grinned widely, and then pulled out a weathered looking leather-bound book.

  “What is it?” I asked. “A book?”

  “A naaaaaughty book,” Valerie giggled. “I peeked inside, and it has all sorts of dirty things inside.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, took the book from her, and flipped through the pages.

  “It’s like a regular book, like the ones you have in your house,” the cat-girl giggled. “But there’s lots of sex in it, even pictures, too. Why would Josephine have such a thing? Here, read this passage? The man is inside of the woman, but he’s telling her how much he’s in love with her? How can that be? Men and women aren’t allowed that.”

  “Well, from the looks of it,” I uttered. “This book is old, like centuries-old, probably from before women manifested powers.”

  “But why would Josephine have this?” Valerie asked. “Wouldn’t books like these have been outlawed? Or burned? Something like that, right?”

  “Most likely,” I shrugged. “Maybe Josephine managed to get her hands on this one by accident.”

  “No, not just one,” the cat-girl breathed. “She had a whole trunk of them, hundreds of them, all stacked on top of each other. They all looked like this, old, smelly, and worn, some of them were even crudely sewn back together. She must like them a lot.”

  “Then, you should put this back,” I stated.

  “What?” the feline-woman cried. “No! She has so many! I want to read this one! Plus, why would she even have these if she finds men disgusting? These books are all full of mushy, gushy stuff about love and sex! As an aristocrat, she wouldn’t be interested in that stuff!”

  “Maybe… she just likes the stuff?” I asked. “If she has so many of them, she must enjoy reading them.”

  “But isn’t it… illegal?” the beautiful woman asked. “You’d think this is something they certainly wouldn’t allow to be passed around among the aristocrats.”

  “I know for sure they were outlawed,” I muttered. “But I genuinely doubt if they’ve come back into style. Certainly not something like this, it’s too old and beaten-up.”

  “Well, you’d think if they were back in style,” the feline-woman exhaled. “You’d think that they’d been more geared toward… aristocratic things, like consorts and generally being unagreeable.”

  “I’m not sure,” I sighed, took the book from her, and turned it over in her hands. “But I don’t think we’ll find out unless we ask her directly… then we’d have to explain how we got the book in our possession, and ultimately, we’d have to tell her about you. See how that works out? We can’t do that, you need to get that back in her trunk somehow, by the end of tonight or by tomorrow.”

  “Nooo,” Valerie whined. “I want to keep it and get ideas for the two of us!”

  “That’s a nice idea,” I chuckled. “But it’s not yours. You need to put it back, tonight or tomorrow, do you understand?”

  “Yesss,” the blonde pouted.

  Valerie grabbed the book back, gazed down at it lovingly, pushed out her delicious lips into a pout, sighed softly under her breath, and then tucked it back into the brown pack at her waist. I knew how badly she wanted to keep it, but if Josephine found out it’d gone missing, I’m sure that the aristocrat would tear the whole camp apart to find it. If Josephine had so many of them, as Valerie had said, they must’ve been the aristocrat’s most prized possessions, and she’d know the moment they went missing.

  “Oh, Charles!” Valerie grinned. “Did you fix whatever was in the elevator?”

  “Not yet,” I grinned. “But I found something, and I’m going to go get Daisy so I can tell you both about it. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay!” Valerie smiled. “Hurry back!”

  I nodded once, turned on my heels, headed for the tent, and cleared my throat once I stood outside of the flap.

  “Hello?” I called.

  “Oh! Charles!” Josephine cried. “Come in, come in! Daisy was just telling me the story of how you two met!”

  I lifted the flap, and light flooded out onto the patch of sickly grass I stood on. A wave of heat from inside washed over me, so I stepped inside, blinked, and then gazed down at the two women as they sat in comfortable looking chairs. Josephine’s tent looked almost like a miniature house with a large table heavy with food, a few chairs, a small wood-burning stove, two armchairs, and in the distance, a small, comfortable-looking bedroom shrouded in long swatches of sheer fabric.

  Josephine leaned back in her chair, a full glass of wine in one hand, and a small triangle cut sandwich in the other. The moment her eyes settled on me, her round, childlike cheeks flushed pink, and giggles bubbled up her throat.

  “I just think it’s so rooomantic,” the blonde gushed. “Seeing him out on the street, and just knowing that was the one you wanted. I haven’t had that yet, but I like to imagine it a lot, finding a… consort that fits perfectly into your life! I’ve dreamed about that day all of my life!”

  “Have you?” Daisy asked. “I’ve had a few consorts here and there back home, but never one that I truly enjoyed having around… well, except for Charles, he’s the exception.”

  “You’ve never dreamed about meeting a m--, I mean, a brute,” Josephine hiccupped. “And t-taking him home, c-cleaning him up, and m-making him like new? Maybe… uhh... teaching him things? Sharing conversations with him? You’ve n-never thought about that?”

  Almost every word that slipped out of her mouth was slurred, and it was clear to me that Josephine had far too much to drink. I smiled gently down at her, nodded once, and then took the full glass from her hands.

  “Josephine?” I asked. “Why don’t we get you to bed? It’s quite late, and I’m sure you’d like to be well-rested tomorrow when I finally fix your elevator.”

  “Y-Y-You can fix it?” the blonde shouted. “T-That’s wonderful neeeews, Charles, I’m soooo happy that you can! I knew you were the man for the job!”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” I nodded. “But let’s get you into bed first. I have important things to discuss
with Ms. Browning.”

  “Oh, no!” the blonde gulped. “Don’t take Daisy away! I loved speaking to her so much! I want her to stay!”

  “It’s quite alright, Ms. Josephine,” Daisy breathed. “You’ll see me all day tomorrow while Charles fixes your elevator, I’m sure we’ll get along handsomely.”

  “I’m sure we will!” Josephine blubbered. “I’m sure! Y-Y-Yes, Charles, I’ll retire to my bedroom for the night!”

  The blonde climbed out of her chair with some difficulty, wavered on her feet for a second, giggled loudly, and then tripped toward her bedroom at the back of her pavilion. I rushed forward, grabbed her by the arm, held her steady, and Josephine leaned her head back with a loud sigh. The blonde held onto me for a moment as she breathed heavily, and her cat-like orange eyes widened on my face.

  “You know, Charles,” Josephine slurred. “I’d never knew what you looked like until that day we met you in the town square.”

  “Yes?” I chuckled. “I tend to keep to myself and stay in my laboratory experimenting.”

  “I thought you were so haaaandsome,” Josephine murmured. “You have the prettiest hazel eyes, I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed it until now… My heart beats fast just looking at you, I know Adelia and Lilliana thought it, too, but they’d never admit it aloud… which is surprising, because the two of them keep the most stunning consorts in all of the lands. The only rivals they had were Delphine’s, but sadly, bless her heart, she has moved on to the next life. I pray that her consorts find better Mistresses. We all knew how horribly she treated them… why didn’t any of us stop her?”

  “Ms. Josephine,” I grunted. “I’m sure it’s the drink talking for you, but… you shouldn’t say things like that. Someone might believe that you’re a harlot, someone who wishes to overthrow the matriarchy.”