Jer recoiled and dropped the syringe, but Evangeline grabbed it in time, just before it hit the deck. From inside the syringe tube, Matthias groaned and scowled at Jer. “You could have killed me,” he said in a squeaky and gargling voice.
“Sorry,” Jer said. “Just wasn’t expecting this is all.”
“Normally, no one ever sees me like this,” Matthias said. “I usually transfer between genitalia.”
“Really didn’t need to know that,” Jer said. “But good to keep in mind if there’s a next time.”
“Get me out of here,” Matthias demanded, in his squeaky voice.
Jer hesitated. He didn’t want to touch him.
“I’ve got it,” Evangeline said and popped the seal off.
“Oh, that feels good,” Matthias squeaked as he tries to slip out of Evangeline’s grasp and make a run for it.
But Damiana snatched him up, shoved the splooge into a coffee mug, and screwed the lid on tight.
“Hey!” Matthias screamed from inside the sealed mug. “Can’t breathe.”
Damiana slid the drinking slit open so Matthias could breathe, and she peered inside. “Stay put,” she ordered.
Matthias grumbled but slinked against the inside of the coffee mug. “Now what?” he asked in his squeaky voice.
“Now for the magic trick,” Jer said. “Max and Evangeline, you’re up.”
Max rubbed his sweaty palms, anxious as hell.
Evangeline strode forward and grabbed Max by the shoulder, pulling him along to the next objective.
“Hang on,” Jer said.
He pulled out a small lapel pin with a monster sketch scrawled onto the surface and attached it to Max’s suit coat.
“It’s a camera,” Jer explained. “To make sure we know when it’s safe.”
Evangeline stole a quick but wet kiss from Jer before sauntering away and toward the enemy.
26
The Magic Trick
Evangeline slipped cuffs over her wrists and hid the key inside her teeth. She then held out her wrists for Max to lead her.
“This feels wrong,” Max said.
“It’s necessary,” Evangeline said, trying to ease his worry. “We need to draw Pike’s monster kill-squad away from the escape route, or all of this is for nothing.”
Max nodded and took Evangeline’s restraints in his hands. He tugged on the chain and furrowed. “I’m still making my objection known,” he said.
Evangeline smiled. “I’m beginning to think you’re not so bad.”
Max grinned and led her to the maintenance corridor exit, where they expected to find Pike and her monster kill-squad. Just before the gate, they heard a loud breathing, and steam swarmed across the opening to the corridor.
“It’s the dragon-monster,” Max said. “I do not want to be that thing’s lunch. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s the only idea,” Evangeline said. “Now come on, let’s go and get caught.”
At the very edge of the exit, Evangeline urged Max to call out for their capture.
He groaned but did as asked. “Hey! Hey! Pike, it’s Alderman Max. I’ve caught one of them.”
Pike didn’t respond. Instead, the dragon-monster stomped in front of the exit, scraping the concrete with his massive claws. He huffed, leaned down, and began to open his maw as if he was about to obliterate them in a torrent of fire. Rather than burning them to a crisp, however, the dragon-monster snarled and growled with a powerful screech that echoed off the walls and caused the ground to tremble.
If the point was to terrify Evangeline and Max into submission, it was working. Max’s eyes widened as he backed up. Evangeline, ordinarily fearless, stepped back as well.
Footfalls followed the massive growl. A click clack of heels approached the opening.
“Alderman Max,” Pike said. “How lovely. You’d better have one hell of a good explanation for your recent actions, or you’ll suffer in the worst ways possible for being an accomplice.”
Max stuttered. “I-I…”
Evangeline nudged him from behind.
“I’ve captured one of them,” Max said. “One of Jer’s right hand…monsters.”
“Which one?” Pike asked.
“Evangeline. She’s the one who’s been helping him work with the monster underground.”
Pike grinned. “Bring her to me,” she ordered.
Max tugged at Evangeline’s shackles and pulled her forward.
Pike’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
“How what?” Max asked.
“How’d you capture her,” Pike clarified.
“Trickery,” Max answered. “I pretended to help so she’d give up their plan in an attempt to garner my help. Stole the cuffs, got her alone, and brought her straight to where I knew someone like you would be ready to bring her in.”
“Seems awfully fucking convenient,” Pike replied.
“I can see how you’d see it that way,” Max said. “But I have a long history of being against monster equality and their bullshit revolution. Does that not mean anything?”
Pike placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “We got her either way. But you’re not free until Jakoff clears you.”
Max put his hands up and nodded his head in agreement. “I’d do the same in your position.”
“You’d never be in my position,” Pike said. “I’m a killer. You’re a glad-handler. Just hand the shackles over.”
Max did as he was ordered, but once Pike had a hold on Evangeline’s shackles, she slapped another set of restraints onto Max’s wrists.
“What the fuck?!” he said. “I brought in one of their leaders.”
“Not taking any chances,” Pike said.
On the other side of the camera feed, Jer covered his mouth to stop himself from letting out any noise that could compromise the plan as he watched Pike drag Evangeline and Max into the Pharma police station.
Inside the building, Pike took Max and Evangeline to a holding cell on the first floor, while leaving the shackles on.
“You’re just leaving us here?” Max asked. “I demand to see someone in charge.”
“You’re a puppet alderman. No one’s listening to you,” Pike replied and slammed the door behind her as she exited.
Max slinked back against the wall. “You really think this is going to work?”
“It already has,” Evangeline said. “I hope.”
Under the Pharma police station, Jer pulled his eyes away from the camera feed and looked to Damiana, who was holding the coffee mug with Matthias inside, and Mira, who was flittering just above Damiana’s left shoulder.
“Ready?” he asked.
Damiana and Mira nodded.
Jer stepped in close to Damiana and took her hands in his. “You think this will work the same way it does for Evangeline?”
“I do,” Damiana said. “Every time it’s happened was when my adrenaline was rushing and you were in danger.”
Jer shrugged. “Worth a shot.” He then leaned in and locked lips with her.
The two of them kissed passionately as if no one was watching. After a few seconds of hesitation, Damiana began to relax and pull Jer in closer. She ran the claws on her right hand down his neck and slipped her left hand up underneath his shirt and dug into his flesh.
Jer smirked as he continued kissing her passionately as he grasped her buttocks with his left hand and ran his right hand up her back and to her neck, clutching her with strength and firmness.
Another few seconds of intense, and then…Damiana’s horns began retracting, her claws withdrew, and her flesh turned from light crimson to an olive color.
Jer pulled back to get a better look and see if the kiss had worked.
Damiana’s hair was full and rich, her eyes pierced into him with lust, and her breasts were still a shade of crimson, from being turned on and excited. She looked Greek. Her muscles were still taut and ripped. The slightly ripped tank top and torn jean shorts looked more punk than badass now
that she appeared human, but it was still sexy as hell, and Jer was tempted by the thought of skipping the mission and going somewhere private to continue what they’d started.
Damiana smirked in response to Jer’s lustful gaze. “Seems to work on you too,” she quipped.
Jer looked down, wondering if he’d transformed into a monster.
“I didn’t mean like that,” Damiana said. “You’re equally as aroused, and you kiss like you haven’t eaten in months.”
Mira coughed, interrupting them. “The mission,” she reminded them.
“Shit,” Jer said as intensity spread across his face and he got back in the right mindset. “We need to move while Pike’s distracted.”
The three of them, with Matthias inside his coffee mug, rushed up the ramp and toward the opening. They stopped short of the exit and waited, listening for any sound to indicate that Pike’s dragon-monster was nearby.
After several seconds of silence and no sign of the dragon-monster, Mira flew up to the highest point of the exit and peered around the edge. Her wings flapped, and she flew backward, turning to Jer and Damiana. “It’s clear,” she said.
Jer and Damiana rushed out into the open. They then sprinted across the space between the building and an electric chain-link fence.
Mira slipped through a small opening in the fence and pulled a device out of her the back of her armor. The object looked like a portable hard drive. She slid it into a slot next to an emergency fire exit in the fence, and the gate popped open.
“Can’t believe that worked,” Damiana said.
“At great cost,” Jer reminded her. “Rescuing Evangeline is as equally important to me as getting the other half of the formula…more important actually.”
“Agreed,” Damiana said.
They followed Mira out into the Pharma police station parking lot. Mira flitted around in the air looking for a cracked window. Once she found one, she slipped inside and hotwired the vehicle in an instant.
“Get in,” she said.
Damiana hopped in the driver’s seat of a yellow two-door Camaro.
Jer slid into the trunk with Mira and Matthias’s coffee mug.
“What’s going on out there?” Matthias asked in his squeaky voice.
“Be quiet,” Jer ordered. “We’re about to pass through the guard tower.”
Damiana revved the engine and pulled out of the parking spot. She drove in between the other vehicles and pulled up to the guard tower.
“You new here?” a lanky and frail guard asked.
Damiana nodded as she pulled out a fake ID badge and flashed it. “Undercover with monster sympathizers. Can’t be seen here for too long.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not making sure you’re clear.”
The guard scanned her badge. After several gut-wrenching seconds, the scanner beeped, and a green light flashed.
“You’re good to go,” the guard said.
Damiana put the Camaro in first gear, but the guard slapped his hand down on the door. “Wait a minute,” he said firmly.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” he said and smirked. “That is unless you’re busy later tonight. I think we’d have one hell of a time.”
Damiana forced a playful and flirtatious smile. “You flatter me, but no way am I your type. Too…FBB”
“FBB?”
“Female body builder,” Damiana clarified as she flexed her massive right bicep. “It’s a type. Not sure you’d like what I do in the bedroom.”
“I’m into rough,” the guard said through his yellowing teeth. “Let you peg me while you’re at it, if that’s your thing. It’s definitely mine.”
Damiana did her best to suppress a gag reflex. “TMI, but sounds fun!”
The frail guard smirked, revealing a piece of corn stuck in his teeth. “Hell yeah, you’re not gonna regret it.”
“Can’t wait,” Damiana lied and didn’t mention the corn in his teeth. The less time she had to spend in his presence, the better.
The guard blew her a kiss, and Damiana forced herself to catch the air-kiss in her palm and giggle. In the same moment, she hit the gas pedal and rushed through the gate and out of the Pharma police station.
“I think I’d rather be locked up like Evangeline and Max,” Damiana said loud enough for Jer and Mira to hear inside the trunk.
Jer leaned his head against the floor of the trunk. “Hope this plan works,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” Mira said. “Your friends won’t be harmed. My secret squirrels have been watching Jakoff long enough to know he’ll use them as leverage against you.”
“Not exactly reassuring,” Jer scoffed.
“Yeah, good point. Should have phrased that differently.”
“I get what you mean, though. They just need to stay alive long enough for us to get them out.”
“I’m using every resource at my disposal,” Mira offered. “Evangeline has risked everything for others. We’re not leaving her there.”
Jer nodded and looked to the coffee mug with Matthias inside. “You’d better be worth it, buddy.”
“I’m not your buddy,” Matthias squawked.
Mira kicked at the coffee mug, causing Matthias to grimace. “Keep a lid on it, bucko.”
Jer laughed. “You and I, on the other hand, are going to be even closer after all this. If we get through it, that is,” he said to Mira.
She blushed and rubbed the full length of her body along his cheek, flicking her wings, sending shivers through Jer’s body.
Once Damiana had driven them down to the shoreline, she parked the vehicle beneath overgrown shrubbery and popped the trunk open. Mira and Jer exited the trunk with Matthias in tow.
“Mira, you’re up,” Jer said.
Mira flitted out over the water and flapped her wings until a small current of waves began rippling and pushing out from the shore. Several seconds later, what looked like seals swam up close to the shoreline. An eerie siren humming came from beneath the water. Damiana and Mira echoed the noise back, resonating a perfectly matched pitch.
The seal-like creatures rose up out of the water, revealing that they were selkies, similar to mermaids but seals that looked human when out of the water. They all stared at Jer as they waited.
“What are you waiting for?” Mira asked. “Everyone mount up.”
Damiana slipped the coffee mug into her belt and straddled a selkie next to Jer, who had trouble not slipping off the slippery scales.
“Hold your breath,” Mira said.
The selkies submerged several feet beneath the water’s surface. Jer kept his eyes open. He didn’t want to miss this experience. Mira remained above water, keeping watch for drones. As hard as it was to hold his breath for so long, Jer most certainly preferred the personal escort over sludging through the sewer lines, even if this was more exposed and dangerous.
Once they reached the opposite shoreline on North Brother Island, the selkies pulled up onto the sand. Jer dismounted first and looked down to see that when the selkies were out of the water, their bodies were fully human-looking. It was eerie to think he’d just been given a ride across the water by such a creature. When the selkies slipped back into the water, their forms became seal-like once more, and they dove into the depths of the water out of sight.
Somewhat safely back in North Brother Island, Jer and Damiana, Matthias still tucked into her belt, trudged up a rocky hillside while Mira flew up to the top. She gave the all-clear sign just before they reached the edge, and they climbed over the top.
“On foot and claw or hoof from here,” Damiana said.
On foot, they crouched low to avoid patrols and made their way onto a gravel road that snaked into a wooded area. Deeper along the path, the overgrowth covered the road, and it grew bumpy. The shrubbery and trees became so closely packed together that they crawled to almost a halt, trudging through weeds and over rocks.
When the coffee mug slipped out of Damiana’s belt twice from being bumped by stray bra
nches, she handed the coffee mug to Mira, who flew out ahead on her own, holding onto the mug with her powerful fury strength.
Damiana shot Jer a wicked side-eye. “You do like your strong women, don’t you…”
Jer smirked and gestured for them to follow Mira through the woods to get back to Ambrose’s underground lab beneath the amusement park.
27
The Transhumana Monstrare Riddle
Ambrose rushed out of a hiding spot behind a carousel to greet Jer and the others. His monster-guards stayed behind and kept watch.
“Can’t believe you guys made it,” Ambrose said. “Did you manage to get him?”
“I’m here,” Matthias squawked from inside the coffee mug. “You can rest easy now. I’ll lead us to victory!”
Ambrose chuckled at the sound of Matthias’s squeaky voice. “He’s in his true form?”
Jer nodded. “And you really don’t want to see it.”
“I do, actually,” Ambrose said.
“Suit yourself,” Jer said and stepped out of the way.
Mira flitted down close to Ambrose and opened the coffee mug drinking slit.
Ambrose peered inside. He grimaced at the sight. “Is he…”
“Yes,” Mira said.
“Gross,” Ambrose said.
Mira furrowed. “We should get to it.”
At the wave of Ambrose’s hand, his monster-guards lifted the carousel to reveal a secret entrance into the underground. “No need to delay,” he said. “Let’s solve this riddle.”
Once they were all inside Ambrose’s lab, Damiana checked the lone entrance to ensure the room was secure and Matthias wouldn’t be able to slip out without giving up his half of Jasper’s formula first.
“Okay, we’re good to go,” Damiana said.
Mira grabbed hold of the coffee mug lid and flapped her wings at a furious speed until she’d built up enough speed to spin the lid off, popping it into the air. The lid rattled on the ground.
A second later, Matthias placed his wet and sticky hands on the rim of the coffee mug and poked his head out. His translucent eyes flickered back and forth, taking in the surroundings. “I’m not the one being experimented on, am I?” he asked, squeaking.
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 22
