Making Monster Girls: For Science!

by Eric Vall

  “But, Charles!” A.B. protested. “You haven’t told us the plan! What’s happening? What are we doing?”

  “Well, we’re going back to the Duchess’s property,” I told them. “All three of us. Daisy and I will dig a small grave, place Delphine’s corpse in it, cover it with a small amount of dirt on top of her, enough that she’s only slightly covered, and then once we’ve finished that, Valerie will sneak off. She’ll locate Milton, lure him back to the sight and then… we’ll kill him.”

  “How?” Valerie tilted her head. “How will you kill him? If it’s a murder and suicide, how will you make it look like he did it?”

  “I haven’t look in on Delphine yet, but it doesn’t matter what she looks like,” I shrugged, crossed the room, pulled open a cabinet, reached in, and then lifted out the weapon. “And then… I’ll use this on him.”

  “A gun?” the brain shrieked. “You’ve had a gun in the laboratory the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You didn’t need to know,” I uttered, palmed the pistol, and examined its pristine black surface. “I only kept it in case one of the prisoners got absolutely out of control, and I couldn’t control them with the pulleys or tranquilizer. I guess I need it for something else entirely now.”

  “But a flintlock?” A.B. asked. “You could use something else, like a knife, maybe slit his wrists or throat but… a dueling pistol?”

  “It’s the only way it’ll look believable, A.B.,” I snorted. “Those constables are smart, highly trained, and will notice if something is off. I just have to get the angle right to make it look like he did it himself… easier said than done.”

  “What do you mean by that, Charles?” Daisy brushed off her dress, scooted forward, and slowly rose to her feet.

  “I have to get close to him,” I exhaled. “To the point that the barrel of my gun is touching his temple at least. It has to look like he did it himself, I’ll leave the gun there with his body and no one will suspect that it’s mine.”

  “I know you can do it,” Valerie grinned, skipped across the room, lifted her right leg into the air, held it there with her arms, and then let it drop before repeating the movement with her left. “I believe in you, Daisy believes in you, and I bet that A.B. does too.”

  “If anything goes wrong,” Daisy shuffled closer, lay on her hands on my shoulder, and leaned her head back so that her big brown eyes stared into mine. “Valerie and I will be right there with you, we’ll help if you need it.”

  “Thank you,” I breathed, reached out, stroked her cheek, and then rolled my shoulders. “Daisy, could you help me for a second? We need to get Delphine’s body out of the compartment, I just need you to lift one side for me.”

  “Of course, Charles,” the brunette nodded, slid the tarp from shoulder and then stepped toward the machine. “Compartment B, correct?”

  “Yes,” I nodded, grabbed the handle, swung the door open, and gazed down at the corpse.

  “By science!” I retched, covered my mouth with my sleeve, and drew back a step. “What happened to her?”

  Daisy’s eyes squinted, the brunette lifted her nose into the air, sniffed a few times, took a step closer, and then stopped as I grabbed her by the shoulder.

  “Why is she… green?” the bear-girl tilted her head, twitched an ear, and sniffed again. “And moldy…. Is that mold, Charles?”

  “She’s decaying,” I grunted through the fabric. “The residual heat from my machine must have sped up the decomposition process. She’s only been in here for a few hours, but she looks as if she’s been here for ten days.”

  “Will that be an issue?” The brunette tilted her head. “When we bury her? Will the constables know something is wrong with her body?”

  “Of course, they will,” I sighed, grabbed the tarp from her hands, spread it out on the floor, and then grabbed two pairs of sterile gloves from the counter. “But, it’s a been a hot summer, and logically, if the Warden held her body in his tiny shack of a home then… maybe, just maybe… she would have reached this stage. I’m sure they won’t question it much, but it’s not like they’ll be able to ask the Warden, he’ll be dead. Here, put these gloves on, we’ll roll her onto the tarp, wrap her up, and then carry her upstairs.”

  “Yes,” Daisy nodded, slipped on the gloves with a snap, bent her knees, and prepared to push. “Ready when you are.”

  “Alright,” I forced out, put on my own gloved, gripped the corpse, and stepped backward. “One, two… three!”

  For a moment, I completely forgot about Daisy’s inhuman strength, and the corpse rolled toward me with the nauseating sound of tearing flesh. I kept my eyes toward the ceiling as I guided the body onto the tarp, sucked in a lungful of air, and then held it. The smell was even worse after moving her corpse, and I hastily threw the tarp over her once she rested in the middle of it.

  Daisy leaned forward, wrapped her side over mine, cinched it tightly, leaned back on her haunches, grabbed both ends of the tarp, and lifted it easily. The tiny bear-girl held all the weight, blinked at me, smiled, and then nodded toward the door.

  “Ready?” the brunette giggled. “I can carry it by myself, don’t worry.”

  “S-Sure,” I stammered, scrambled backward, and then held the compartment door open. “We just need to get it into the back of the wagon. Can you carry it up the stairs by yourself?”

  “Yes,” the bear-girl smiled. “She’s not very heavy, though, she is kind of stinky. I remember smells like this from before, my past life… I think I liked them at the time, they meant food but, I don’t like them anymore, human food tastes and smells so much better.”

  “Do you remember a lot of your past life?” I asked, grabbed a coil of rope from the side table, stopped, waved over my shoulder to A.B., and then hopped up the stairs. “I know you said you could remember a little, but has anything come back to you?”

  “Hmmm, well, there are a few that stand out to me,” Daisy breathed, climbed the stairs, and lifted her face toward the night sky. “I remember these strange, grey orbs that hung from trees like fruit. They didn’t look like much, but if you knocked them down, and tore them open, they had this golden liquid inside. It was thick and sweet, and so delicious. I’d spend hours searching the trees for them, and sometimes, I’d have to climb up high to get to them, but the reward after was so yummy. A lot of the time, these strange, tiny things would fly out of the broken orbs and bite my paws. A few times, they even got my nose. I’d like to get more of that yellow stuff, Charles, can you get it for me?”

  “It’s honey,” I chuckled. “Sure, I can get you honey, a lot of the shops in town sell it. Though, I’ve never eaten it raw, like you have. I usually spread it onto biscuits, or cookies, or use it in cooking. Also, those tiny ‘things’ you’re talking about are called bees, they’re the ones that create the honey.”

  “Mmmmm, eating it raw is my favorite way, even if I get stung in the process.” Daisy licked her lips. “I wish I could have some right now, I’d just lick it off my fingers as I did before in my past life.”

  “You said you remembered something else?” I asked. “What was it?”

  “Do you ever feel drawn to something?” the brunette wistfully breathed. “Like a call far off in the distance, and it’s like you have a string through your chest, you’re just pulled to it instinctively?”

  “Maybe science?” I chortled. “Or you or Valerie, but other than that, no.”

  “I don’t feel it anymore in this body,” the brunette nodded toward her chest. “But in the form I had before, there was this constant call, a need to be near that manor. There was a woman inside, she’d come out into the woods and take care of us… I want to say it was the Duchess, but the woman that I knew was totally different from the one I encountered earlier tonight. It saddens me to think that the woman who cared for me, took thorns out of my paws and ran her fingers through my fur is such a horrible human to the man I love.”

  “Yeah, as the person on the other side of this,�
�� I snickered. “It’s hard to imagine her doing those things, but I do know that animals are drawn to the natural power of her abilities. Maybe that’s the pull you were talking about?”

  “Maybe,” Daisy nodded, stepped up the last stair, waddled forward toward the wagon, hoisted the tarp up, and then threw it into the bed. “I have to admit, I’m kind of glad that it’s gone. I never want to be near that woman ever again, especially after seeing how she treated you. I love you, Charles, I really do, and no one should ever speak to you that way.”

  “Thank you, my dear,” I smiled, reached out, and stroked her soft brown hair. “You and Valerie… are the only women to ever treat me with kindness and love. I treasure your hearts, and I will keep them safe, I promise.”

  “Alright, lovebirds,” Valerie sang, flipped hand over hand, bent her knees, and then launched herself into the driver seat. “Ready to go? I got the spades all packed away, the horses are fed and hitched, is there anything else we need before it’s fun-fun murder-time?”

  “No,” I shook my head, offered a hand to Daisy, helped her up into the back of the wagon, and then climbed in beside the cat-girl. “The only thing left is the flintlock, and I have that in my pocket. I won’t load it until you sneak away to find the Warden.”

  I grabbed the reins, slapped them against the horse’s backs, steered them through the gate, and made the journey down the hill toward the city. It was late, the moon hung high in the sky, and barely any candles flickered in the windows of the homes below. We’d make it through the city fairly easy without being noticed, but I wasn’t so sure about once we arrived at the Duchess’s duchy.

  “The Warden will be there,” I uttered. “And I’m sure he’ll be fired up after a tongue lashing from Edony. He and his men will be on high alert, especially after the incident with his two lackeys. We have to be absolutely silent the entire time once we’re on the property. We can’t get caught going in, but I’m more concerned about being caught on our way out. If anyone sees us as we’re leaving, that’s the end of all of us. Just… keep your wits about you.”

  “Got it!” Valerie nodded, tossed a closed fist into the air, and pumped it.

  “Yes, Charles,” Daisy smiled, snuggled closer, rested her head on my shoulder, and closed her eyes. “I’m just going to nap on the way there if that’s alright with everyone.”

  The journey to the city was quick, and when we reached the brick-paved streets, no one was in sight. Edenhart was eerily quiet except for the soft rumble of our wagon’s wheels, and every distant sound set me on edge. We’d reach the duchy within a few minutes, disappear into the forest, and then… the thought of what we’d do after made my heart hammer anxiously against my ribcage.

  “Duck low,” I instructed the woman as I turned onto the long drive onto the Duchess’s property. “We’re almost there…”

  In the distance, the lamps of the duchy burned brightly in the night, and I could barely make out the shifting silhouettes of Edony’s manservants as they went about their nightly business. None of them seemed to notice us from this far away thankfully, and I hastily turned off the path where we’d gone before. The tree line opened up the tiniest bit, I guided us through, and the forest seemed to swallow us in utter darkness.

  “How far in should we go?” Valerie whispered. “Far from the Duchess’s manor?”

  “No,” I murmured, shook my head, glanced over my shoulder until the drive vanished from view through the trees, turned back, and pulled on the reins. “I want it as close to the duchy we can get without getting caught in the process.”

  The horses shuffled, whinnied softly, and then came to a full stop in a small clearing. I tied the reins off, jumped from the driver’s seat, helped both women down, and then reached into the wagon bed. The scent of Delphine’s rotted corpse overcame me, so I gulped, covered my nose, grabbed the two spades, and then hastily pulled away.

  “Here, Daisy, take this.” I held out the second spade. “We’ll dig over there.”

  “What should I do?” Valerie jumped from foot to foot. “I want to help, I don’t want to stand around while you two are breaking your backs digging the hole.”

  “No, it’s fine,” the bear-girl assured. “I don’t mind the hard work, it allows me to get all of my energy out and then I can nap a lot longer later.”

  “Come up with a plan in your head,” I instructed her. “Or we can talk it through while we dig.”

  “Okay,” the cat-girl nodded, crossed her arms, and tapped her chin with her pointer finger. “I know I have to distract the Warden, but how?”

  “He has to be intrigued enough to follow,” I stated, held the spade in both hands, brought up over my head, and then stabbed down at the dirt with all of my might. “Maybe slink back and forth behind trees? Call his name a few times?”

  “That might scare him,” Val snickered. “Remember in the manor? He seemed terrified of ghosts.”

  “Attack him from above,” Daisy replied in a monotone voice, slammed her spade down so quickly that it was almost a blur through the air, and tossed piles of dirt over her shoulder. “An ambush, jump on him, scratch him a few times, and then run away. He is sure to follow if you do something like that.”

  “That,” I nodded, dug faster to match the bear-girl’s pace, and breathed heavily from the strain. “Good idea, Daisy. Find out where he is, climb into a tree, drop onto him, maybe hit him a few times, and then run away. Lure him to where we are now.”

  “What if he has a weapon?” The feline-woman tilted her head. “What do I do then?”

  “He won’t.” I shook my head. “The Warden isn’t allowed to carry weapons, especially since he’s a man and the aristocrats don’t trust him with anything. The most he’ll have is a horse, that’s the only thing that I know the Duchess has given him.”

  “So, I’ll be safe?” Valerie asked.

  “Yes,” I smiled, wiped the sweat from my brow, leaned against my spade, and nodded once. “The most he’ll do it maybe throw a weak punch, but you’re agile, you can avoid it. If he almost lands it, just turn invisible, get a little farther away and then taunt him.”

  “Okay!” the feline-woman cried. “I’ll do that, Charles! I’m kind of excited! It’s my first mission alone!”

  “And you’ll do fantastic, my dear,” I breathed, picked up the spade, and dug even deeper. “I know it. Now, let’s get this finished, and then we can move on to the harder parts.”

  Daisy and I piled the dirt together and continued working until we stood in a hole about six-foot-long, and two feet deep. It didn’t take as long as I expected, since the bear-girl shoveled faster than I thought was possible, and I assumed it was from the massive amount of strength she held in her surprisingly tiny arms.

  I stepped away from the hole, breathing hard, wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt, and then smiled at Valerie. The feline-woman had climbed a tree, scaled out onto the branches, and lay lazily across one of the thickest ones with her hand dropping down toward us.

  “Ready?” I asked. “All we have to do is load Delphine’s corpse into the hole, and then our side will be finished.”

  “Alright!” Valerie giggled, sprang up onto the balls of her feet, grabbed the tree limb in both hands, swung once, flipped twice over twice, let go, spun in the air like a ball, and then landed with both feet planted in the dirt. “I’ll be back!”

  The cat-girl dropped onto her hands and knees, bolted forward, and was gone in an instant through the rustling brush. She was practically silent as she tore her way through the forest, and I knew if she encountered anyone other than the Warden, she’d go unnoticed.

  “Daisy, let’s--” I turned toward the bear-woman, but she was gone from the hole.

  “Already on it.” the brunette smiled, grabbed the edge of the tarp in the wagon’s bed, slid it closer, grabbed both sides, and then lifted it effortlessly. “She’s light, I can do it by myself. Also, you’re already exhausted, Charles. Why don’t you let me do this for you?”

&nb
sp; “O-Okay,” I sighed, leaned against the wagon, and then slumped forward with my hands on my knees. “Thank you.”

  “There’s no need to thank me,” Daisy smiled. “You’ll need your strength for when the Warden shows up. I hope that once this is over… we have no more problems and can live in peace and take plenty of naps. Also, eat honey.”

  “That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” I breathed, hung my head back, and stared up at the twinkling stars through the treetops. “My entire life, I’ve only wanted to be left alone, and work in my laboratory away from everyone else, especially the Duchess.”

  “And eat honey?” the bear-girl asked as she raised a pretty eyebrow.

  “Of course,” I chuckled at her single mindedness.

  “If the duchess causes you so many problems. Maybe we should kill her too.” Daisy shrugged.

  “Oh no,” I exhaled. “We couldn’t do that. Edony is too powerful… With her, it’s so much different from Delphine and the Warden. Those people, yes, they’ll be missed, and people will search for them, but they’ll be easily forgotten within a few months, Milton more than Delphine. The Duchess, on the other hand? If she were killed, the city would end up in upheaval, and they wouldn’t stop looking until they found the person that murdered their precious leader.”

  “Well, if the problem with the Duchess persists after this.” Daisy shrugged. “Murder is still on the table for negotiation, yes?”

  “Absolutely not,” I chuckled. “I’ve already listed the reasons why we can’t do that.”

  “Fiiiiine,” the bear-girl sighed, dropped the tarp, unfolded its sides, and glared down at the contents.

  My eyes blinked in the darkness, gazed over the putrified flesh of what once was Delphine’s face, gulped, and then took a shaky breath. Daisy tilted her head, pursed her lips, lowered herself to her knees, grabbed the edge of the tarp, and then in a single, swift movement, yanked it out from underneath the body. Delphine’s corpse rolled twice, fell into the pit, and then landed with a soft squish.