Making Monster Girls 3: For Science!

by Eric Vall

  “So, do you think it’s solely passed through the mother’s DNA?” the bear-girl asked. “Or do you think, at some point, it could be passed down to the sons, too?”

  “It’s possible,” I pondered. “I’ve never looked into it for myself, but I believe that the reason that women have developed powers could be because of a genetic mutation. It is entirely possible if a woman’s genetic material mutated, a man’s could do the very same, especially since women are continuing to breed with specific families. Or the gene could be recessive in men, they could be the carriers, and they’re the ones who pass it on to the females. I have no idea, as I said, I’ve never looked into it, but I bet if I collected enough blood samples from males and females, I’d be able to figure it out.”

  “Maybe we should do that,” Daisy suggested. “Though I doubt we’d be able to get the aristocrats to agree to it.”

  “I mean, if we posed it a certain way,” I chuckled. “Maybe said it was a DNA test to prove that women are superior in every way, then they’d be lining up at the door to give me blood samples.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it,” the brunette smiled. “You can have mine, Valerie’s, and Rian’s, but I’m not sure if it’ll make a difference since we’re created in a machine.”

  “I’m sure that it would work,” I assured her. “You came from three women with strong powers, I don’t think it’ll make a difference that half of your DNA came from a beast.”

  “Then we should test it,” the brunette assured. “Like you said, pose it so that the aristocrats think it’s about them, and then study the samples. You could do the same thing with the men, I’m sure that all of the wealthy women would cart out their consorts to have their blood tested, too.”

  “Do you think it’d be believable?” I asked. “Do you think that the aristocrats would believe it?”

  “If they were all as smart and cunning as the Duchess, no,” Daisy breathed. “But seeing how they all act around each other, they’re not as intelligent as Edony, so yes, I believe that they would. They’re so full of themselves, so concerned with their money and social standing, that there’s no way that they would see through our ruse, and then, once we’ve finished with the blood, we write up a bogus report saying all the things that they already believed.”

  “That could work,” I chuckled. “The aristocrats may be powerful, but their true downfall will be their vanity. They care for no one around them except for themselves… that’s why I think I like Ms. Josephine so much, she’s the only aristocrat I’ve ever encountered that gave a damn about those around her, especially her workers. That’s what surprised me the most, I remember going to Delphine’s mercantile, and she treated her employees so horribly, but Josephine is so… different. She treats them with respect as they should be, and you can tell from the way they act around her that they love her and want to continue to work for her.”

  “I think that Ms. Josephine will be a useful ally in the future,” the brunette agreed. “Think about it, she has a power that you or I do not, she’s been in Edenhart for all of her life, she knows these women, and knows how to speak to them. I may have Delphine’s memories, but I’m not someone that they can trust, they don’t know me or anything about me, but Josephine… she was raised here, she knows everyone, but more importantly, she knows how to move through the social circles with grace and the air of someone who’s lived this life.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “I know that Valerie and Rian desperately want to add her to the sisterhood, but Josephine is better at all of these societal things than any of us. If we were to have her on our side, it would be better to have her as the face of our operation.”

  “Not only that,” Daisy interjected. “If we transformed her and added her to our family, she would lose all of that social standing. Once she went into the machine, her life and appearance would be changed forever, no one would know her as they have done with me. We simply cannot lie again and say she’s another aristocrat from another city, there is no way that it would be believable. All of us know how Edony is, if we lied again about another aristocrat moving to the city and being interested in you, she would be immediately suspicious. I swear, that woman is like a hound-dog when it comes to anything related to Charles Rayburn, I honestly want to know why she’s so obsessed with you. Well, besides the fact that you are so intelligent and handsome.”

  “I have no idea,” I grunted. “It wasn’t like this before, especially when I was under her patronage. She only came to the manor when she wanted to check on the experiments or intimidate me into working harder or faster.”

  Daisy shifted in the seat as the wagon rolled from hard-packed dirt onto the brick pavers of the streets. The gorgeous brunette lifted her head, adjusted her bonnet, and then glanced around the streets. Every time we entered town, it was almost as if an entirely different persona took over her. She always sat up a little straighter, her expression took on a displeased grimace, and the softness in her golden eyes hardened.

  The bear-girl carefully took the reins from my hands, held them in her own, but kept her eyes glued to the side streets. A few aristocrats noticed us, nodded in our direction, but none of them called out to Ms. Browning directly. After the drama with the Duchess, it was clear that no one wanted any part of Daisy Browning after that, and I was totally fine with it, as long as we were left alone.

  “Where are we going, Charles?” Daisy whispered under her breath. “I haven’t fully memorized the layout of the city, and I still need you to show me where to go.”

  “There’s a few tailors in the city,” I told her. “But only one that sells dresses and costumes for things such as masquerades. It’s pretty close to the town square, I’ll guide you from here. Take a right on that street ahead of us, do you see it?”

  “Yes, Charles,” the bear-girl breathed. “But you should guide me with your hands from now on, so it doesn’t look as if we’re talking, we don’t want anyone to suspect anything.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” I chuckled. “Anything you wish, Mistress.”

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that,” the brunette giggled. “I only want our relationship to look believable to those around us.”

  For the rest of the way to the tailor’s shop, I guided the brunette with hand signals, and she followed them perfectly. Before long, we pulled off to the side, tied off our horses, and I was the first to hop from the driver’s seat. Daisy stood and offered me her gloved hands, but I pushed them out of the way, grabbed her by the trim waist, and lifted her down. A few aristocrats giggled from behind us, but none of them dared to speak a word in front of Ms. Browning. Daisy may have been new in town, but she’d effectively taken on the Duchess, the most powerful woman in Edenhart, not only that, but she’d won back the manor Edony had tried to sell-off. So, to the other aristocrats, the petite brunette was something like a legend, and I wasn’t sure if they respected her, or if they feared her.

  “This way, Charles,” Daisy demanded. “I don’t have all day.”

  The bear-girl strode ahead of me, curled a finger over her shoulder, and gestured me forward. Like before, I walked a little bit behind her, not shoulder to shoulder as we would back home, and I felt the eyes of the other aristocrats as they burned into my back.

  The tailor’s was pretty close to the place where we’d met Josephine for the very first time, and I guided Daisy under my breath. The shop was at the end of the street, right before it opened up to the town square where even more stores and restaurants were located. I hurried after Daisy, glanced down the road where the large, central fountain flowed in the middle of the square, and then paused for a second.

  The Duchess moved freely through the massive courtyard, a lace umbrella held over her shoulder, and shrouded her angular face in shadow, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. A man I’d never seen before trailed after her in a white lab coat, not unlike the ones I often wore in my laboratory, he looked young, at least in his early twenties. From the way he held his nose high in th
e air, he thought himself to be more important than the rest of the aristocrats.

  His hair was a light, sandy blonde with light waves that rested against his broad, pale forehead. From this distance away, I couldn’t tell what color his eyes were, but their shape was large, almost freakishly too big for his face while his nose was small and feminine. His lips were a darker color, almost as if they were covered in a thick layer of lipstick, their bow was large and pointed to the point it almost brushed the underneath of his nose. His cheekbones were high, and gaunt looking to the point that they cast shadows over his face.

  The scientist wore a starched, pristine white lab coat, but underneath it, he wore a black jacket, a button-down white shirt, and dark trousers. His neat, light brown loafers clicked against the courtyard’s pavers, and every few seconds, he hustled to keep up with the Duchess’ long-legged gait. He seemed to struggle to keep up with her even though he was only a few inches shorter than her, and taller than the average man.

  Edony spoke to the man behind her, but never shifted the umbrella from her shoulder, or turned to look at him. It was clear that the two of them were engrossed in deep conversation, about what I had no clue, but I was sure that this was the scientist that had replaced me, though I doubted that he would be successful in the endeavors she’d paid him for.

  “What is it, Charles?” Daisy asked. “I thought we were going to the tailor’s?”

  I barely turned my head in her direction, the brunette came to stand next to me, gazed out over my shoulder, and then spied the Duchess. Daisy froze for a second, her gaze narrowing on the tall, thin blonde woman as she floated through the town square, and when I glanced down at her, the brunette’s tiny hands curled into fists.

  “Oh, it’s Edony,” the bear-girl uttered. “But who’s that with her?”

  “I believe that’s the scientist that replaced me,” I stated. “The one that created those augmentation stones, you remember those, don’t you?”

  “Of course, I do,” Daisy whispered. “She used them on those men the day she came to take the manor away from us. They didn’t work very well… That must be the man that Ortensia mentioned in her diary, what was his name? I think it was Lucio… no, that’s not right…”

  “Lucien,” I grunted. “That was his name…”

  “Why does he look that way?” the brunette asked in a haughty tone.

  “What do you mean?” I snickered.

  “He looks so… so… pompous,” the bear-girl giggled. “Like he’s the most important person in the courtyard, look at the way he holds himself. It’s almost as if he thinks he’s more important than the Duchess, and yet, Edony won’t even look at him while she’s speaking.”

  “I wonder where she found him,” I murmured. “He must not be from around here, I’ve never seen him before.”

  “He probably came from the capital,” the bear-girl shrugged. “I mean, I’ve never been there, but he looks like someone who comes from a rich city like that.”

  “I almost want to warn him,” I breathed. “If he doesn’t finish the tasks that the Duchess has given him, she will kill him without a second thought. I wonder if he knows that, or if he’s too vain to realize it.”

  “If you did warn him,” the brunette murmured. “Do you think he would believe you? I mean, honestly, would a man like that listen to you?”

  “Probably not,” I stated. “But… Daisy, I have to try… He probably has no idea what the Duchess will do to him if he doesn’t perform for her. We all saw how terribly the augmentation stones went… if that’s the best that he can do, he’ll be dead and in the ground within a month, I can guarantee it.”

  “You could try to tell him?” the gorgeous woman beside me urged. “Where is the shop? I could go in by myself and pick out all of the dresses, I mean, Rian and Valerie told me specifically what they wanted. Not only that, but are consorts allowed in tailors with their Mistress’? That definitely seems like something that isn’t allowed around here.”

  “It depends on the Mistress, honestly,” I told her. “Most women don’t mind if their consorts come in with them since… consorts see them undressed anyway, but some women like to keep their modesty.”

  “Then I’ll go in and buy the dresses,” Daisy offered. “Then you can warn him, and once you’ve finished speaking with him, you can come into the tailor’s, too, and see what I’ve picked out.”

  The brunette hastily snapped her lips closed, raised her chin, and gazed haughtily over her shoulder as the Duchess and the scientist stepped past. Edony’s violet eyes stayed straight forward, she floated past but right as we were shoulder to shoulder, her gaze drifted over. A sly smile spread over the Duchess’ lips, her violet gaze slashed into me, and then she turned toward the man behind her.

  “Lucien,” Edony purred. “Remind me again of the plans for the rest of the week, I want to know what you’re doing every second of the day, do you understand?”

  “Yes, Duchess,” the young man grinned. “Tomorrow, I plan to search for new patients that will better suit the experiments, I truly believe that it’s the blood type that will make my machine work.”

  “Our machine,” Edony corrected. “I want you never to forget that, I pay you to do all of these things, but if you break our contract, the machine stays with me permanently. I won’t have a repeat of what happened to me last time, you know, the man I told you about.”

  “Yes,” Lucien nodded. “That horrible, weasel of a man who stole your time, money, and then the machine you two worked so hard on for many months. I would never do that to you, Duchess, I swear to you. I promise that I will try my hardest, and I will make the experiments work even if I have to continue until my fingers bleed, I will do it for you.”

  “I appreciate the sentiments,” Edony simpered. “But until you produce results, I make sure that you work night and day tirelessly. You promised me when I hired you that you were the best in the capital, and I want you to prove that to me, do you understand? I will not give up this time, I will get what I want, and what I paid for. You’re going to give it to me, you promised in your contract, and I expect you to deliver.”

  “I will, Duchess,” Lucien squealed. “I will do anything to please you, I will give you everything that I’ve promised.”

  “Good,” the Duchess barked. “Now stay out here, I’m going into the tailor’s, I will be out in about an hour or so, I trust that you can occupy yourself for that amount of time.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Lucien grinned. “I’ll wait for you here, and won’t move from this spo--”

  Edony brushed past him, rolled her eyes, sighed loudly, and then ripped open the door to the tailor. Daisy’s lips pursed out, her eyes widened, and then she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

  “I don’t think she likes him very much,” the bear-girl giggled. “He sucks up to her too much, and you can tell she hates it. All of his words are just false promises, there’s no way that he can create super-soldiers for her… not even you could do that, Charles.”

  “That’s why I said that she’s going to kill him,” I grunted. “There’s no way he’ll succeed, and when she’s done with him, it’ll all be over.”

  “I guess this means I have to go into the tailor’s shop with her,” the brunette chuckled. “This should be… interesting.”

  “If I know Edony well enough, I doubt she’ll say anything to you,” I assured her. “If anything, she’ll just glare at you out of the corner of her eye or something like that. After the debacle with the manor, she can’t face you.”

  “Alright, Charles,” Daisy smiled. “I’ll be back in a little bit, I’ll pick out everyone’s dresses for them. Do you need a suit? I could pick one out for you?”

  “No, I have one at home,” I shook my head. “Go on ahead, I’m sure Rian and Valerie will love anything you pick out for them.”

  Daisy nodded once, smiled up at me, turned, and then stepped toward the tailor’s. She glanced back at me once more, grabbed the handle to the door
, and then swept inside. Once she was gone, I breathed a heavy sigh, glanced around at the other aristocrats, adjusted my shoulders, and then took a step toward the scientist.

  I didn’t care about warning him about his fate, he should’ve known that when he agreed to the contract with the Duchess, he signed his own death warrant. I was here because I needed to know what they were doing, what types of experiments they were performing, and what it meant for the rest of the men in Edenhart.

  I could tell just from looking at Lucien that if I approached him, he wasn’t going to just give up the information willingly, and I knew that I’d have to trick it out of him. Sucking up to him wouldn’t work either, he may have looked like a pompous, self-centered man, but if the Duchess hired him, he had to have some sort of intelligence to him. I had to be aggressive with this man, there was no other way to do it, and if he refused to speak with me, I’d have to find another way to get the information out of him. There weren’t any guarantees that he was going to tell me anything, or that I’d succeed, but… I had to try.

  Chapter Seven

  My shoes clacked against the brick pavers while I thought through what I was going to say to him, and as I approached, the blond man turned, analyzed me for a second, scoffed, and then turned away. I wasn’t sure if he had any idea who I was or if Edony had pointed me out earlier. It was clear that she’d seen me, the Duchess would never bring up the experiments in public, not that she’d said anything that’d give away what she planned, but even when I worked with her, we never spoke about it openly in front of others.