She ducked under a low branch then hopped over a fallen tree, gracefully making her way deeper into the forest before she came to a small clearing and stopped with a sudden gasp of surprise. Her eyes went wide while her jaw dropped slightly, the world around her falling silent even as Forrus quickly leapt out from the trees and landing down beside her with a loud growl. The lycan glared at the neko before looking forward and jumping with a startled gasp, widening while she slowly took a step back and fell silent.
“Tabitha, don’t run away, please!” Scay called out before slithering out from behind and coming up beside her friend. She saw Tabitha staring ahead with a frozen expression of surprise then looked forward before jumping with a squeak of fright.
Sasha and Rulo ran out from the trees behind them, seeing the girls all staring in silence at something before slowly looking forward as they knew what stopped them in their tracks.
In the middle of the clearing where the moonlight came down through the trees Daemon stood with a cold blue eye glancing back towards the girls behind him, his hand slowly wiping the blood from his mouth and chin while at his feet were the ravaged remains of a fluugher. The plant monster had a frozen expression of horror on her face while her body and torso had been torn apart, revealing a nearly clean skeletal frame with scraps of flesh and bloodied sinew hanging from the bones. The monster’s tendrils and floral petals were slashed and scattered around its corpse while blood had soaked the ground and leaves under the swordsman’s boots.
“Wha… wha… what the… hell?” Tabitha breathed out in shock.
Daemon turned around and started walking towards them, with Tabitha and Scay staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths while Forrus slowly backed up and lowered her head with a whimper. Rulo and Sasha glanced to each other then to the girls as they watched the swordsman approach them.
“He… he… ate her,” Scay squeaked out before she quickly wrapped herself up with her tail, covering her body up to her eyes which nervously peeked at Daemon from behind her long hair.
“No… he can’t be…” Tabitha said slowly shaking her head.
“I told you to wait by the cliffside,” Daemon spoke while watching Tabitha starting to tremble out of fear.
“It can’t be true… it can’t be true…”
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Forrus quickly apologized. “She got past me and came here looking for you. I know you don’t like to be disturbed when you’re eating, please forgive me.”
“Eating?” Tabitha nervously breathed out as she glanced to the fluugher in the clearing, seeing the lifeless gaze in the monster’s frozen expression of horror as it lay eviscerated on the bloody ground.
“He’s a monster!” Scay cried out while feebly holding her dagger out between two of her tail’s coils towards Daemon. “He’s going to eat us! He’s really a monster!”
Tabitha stared at Daemon in complete shock as he walked up and stood before her, his eyes staring into hers while his hand rested on his sword’s handle. The neko slowly looked to his gloved hand, hesitating at first before carefully reaching out and taking hold of it. He offered no resistance as she nervously lifted it towards her, her eyes nervously staring at the black glove before she very slowly used her fingers to carefully pull it off.
“It can’t… be…” Tabitha softly said as she saw the black scaly hand under the glove. Scay whined with fright at seeing the inhuman hand on Daemon while Tabitha slowly looked up into his eyes with wonder.
“I don’t believe it…” the neko faintly said. She looked to his inhuman limb again as she held it with a trembling hand, then slowly down towards the sword he had sheathed at his hip.
“That’s really…”
“The Archlight’s Blade,” Sasha confirmed.
“He’s really…” Tabitha said looking back up to Daemon and stepping away.
“A cambion,” Rulo solemnly stated.
“You were…”
“Telling the truth,” Forrus finished.
Daemon calmly reached out and took his glove back from the stunned neko, her eyes just staring at him while she was rendered speechless. He slipped the glove on his reptilian hand, flexing it slightly with his fingers before raising an eyebrow at Tabitha in question.
“So did they answer your questions?”
Tabitha merely stared at him in silence, not even her tail moving an inch now as she appeared to become disconnected from reality.
“Is the gold you’re being promised enough?”
The neko continued to remain quiet and still as the other girls watched her curiously. She didn’t blink or even move her eyes from the swordsman as he then waved a hand in front of her face.
“Are you even listening to me now?” he dryly asked.
“I believe we have our answer,” Sasha reasoned with a skeptical glance at the neko. “I didn’t think she could handle the truth to be honest.”
“We didn’t even tell her everything before she took off,” Rulo snorted. “I knew she couldn’t handle it like we did.”
“Didn’t you two faint when he first showed you his true self?” Forrus questioned them.
“Shut up!” Sasha and Rulo snapped at her.
Daemon shook his head slightly as he saw Tabitha having been stunned into a petrified state before he glanced to Scay, the naga trembling while weakly holding her dagger out towards him from behind her tail.
“Please don’t eat her, she’s my friend,” Scay nervously whimpered.
“I wasn’t going to eat her or you,” Daemon calmly assured her. “I don’t like to eat sentient monsters if I can help it.”
Slowly Scay unraveled her tail from her body and watched Daemon with worried eyes. She slithered over beside Tabitha and held onto the neko tenderly before glancing to his gloved hand then to him again while remaining silent.
“You and your friend should seek work elsewhere,” Daemon said before walking past them towards the forest. He stopped at the edge of the clearing and glanced back to the naga and neko while his girls gathered close to him. “I don’t recommend staying out here for long. There are a lot of dangerous monsters hiding in these woods.”
Scay watched the swordsman and his followers take their leave into the shadowy forest then looked to Tabitha as the neko slowly lowered her head while holding her hands over her mouth.
“Tabitha? Are you alright?” the naga asked as she gently shook her friend.
“I don’t believe it,” Tabitha softly said taking a few steps forward. “This is… this is…”
She then jumped with a loud meow and turned to Scay with a bright smile.
“This is perfect!” she cheered before rushing over, hugging her friend and lifting her off the ground a little.
“What? What’s perfect?” Scay asked with a confused smile on her face.
“Him!” Tabitha exclaimed as she looked towards the woods where Daemon had left. “This is perfect, Scay! We hit the jackpot with this job!”
“Job?” Scay nervously repeated as the neko set her down. “Wait, you’re not still thinking about going with him, are you?”
“Of course I am. Scay, don’t you understand? Charlotte wants him to be watched over and protected from danger, and to keep him a virgin from those other girls.”
“We have to make sure he stays a virgin too?” Scay asked with a puzzled expression. “But he’s really sexy, that sounds like it’s going to be hard to do.”
“Not at all, we don’t have to do anything to achieve that. Think about it, he doesn’t need protection. He doesn’t need anyone watching out for him, nobody’s going to try anything with how strong he is. And with that sword in his possession he won’t be having sex with anyone, ever. That means those other girls won’t lay a finger on him, they’ll even make sure nobody else does. This is too perfect for us!”
“What do you mean?”
“Scay, our job is going to take care of itself,” Tabitha smugly explained. “All we have to do is follow him in his quest for those artifacts,
and they’ll take care of the rest. He’s so strong that nothing is going to be a threat for him, and that sword will make it so nobody will be allowed to have sex with him. Those other girls aren’t going to rape him; they’re going to make sure he stays a virgin. This couldn’t be easier for us.”
“Are you sure?” Scay nervously asked.
“Scay,” Tabitha purred as she hugged her friend close. “This is as easy a score as we can get. You want two human men to have a threesome with, don’t you?”
“A bloody threesome?” Scay strained out through her teeth while grabbing her hair.
“A real bloody threesome,” Tabitha agreed with a slick smile. “And the best part is the gold is going to be practically handed to you. What do you say?”
“I want that! I do! Stab! I want! Stab!”
Tabitha nodded and looked towards the woods with a sly smirk on her face while Scay trembled in her arms and kept stabbing her dagger around in the air to their side.
“Alright, Scay. That leaves just one more thing for us to take care of,” Tabitha mentioned, with Scay then looking at her curiously while giving one last stab of her dagger in the air before lowering it to her side. “Another part of Charlotte’s deal that I’m going to want your help with. I can count on you with that of course, can’t I, friend?”
“Another part of the deal?”
“Yes,” Tabitha said glancing to her with a sly grin. “You see, we’re not just protecting his life and chastity for Charlotte. We’re also… collecting a few things for her.”
*****
Daemon and his girls walked out from the woods and onto the overlook above the valley that lay ahead, all of them gazing out at The Outerlands before them under the moonlight and starry sky above.
“I’m glad those two won’t be tagging along,” Rulo snorted while holding her hammer over her shoulder with ease. “That naga was really messed up in the head.”
“I’d rather tolerate her insanity than that neko’s mere presence,” Forrus growled in discontent. “Just the mere thought of having to deal with that wretched feline during our journey makes my fur crawl.”
“Forget about them,” Sasha ordered while keeping her eyes on Daemon and a hand on the satchel at her side. “So then, where do we go now, master?”
“Sasha,” Daemon flatly said shaking his head.
“I mean, Daemon,” Sasha corrected looking down with concern.
Daemon rolled his eyes then glanced back behind them, with the other girls looking over to see Tabitha and Scay coming out from the tree line and approaching them with smiles on their faces.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Rulo grunted.
“Can I please kill her?” Forrus snarled while glaring at Tabitha.
“I thought we made it clear to you that this job is not one you should be taking,” Sasha demanded as she and her two comrades turned to face the new girls.
“We talked it over,” Tabitha said as she and Scay exchanged glances briefly with one another before walking closer and standing before the trio of girls that were glaring at them. “And we decided that even with all the strange things about this job, it’s still worth it for us to take.”
“Yeah, so worth it,” Scay giggled with a hand lightly held over her mouth.
“You’re not coming with us!” Rulo shouted out.
“Get lost, now!” Forrus roared at the neko.
Sasha hissed and brought her sword forth towards the new girls before Daemon took her hand and lowered it, with all eyes then watching as he looked between Tabitha and Scay before shaking his head slightly.
“You two do realize that I don’t need your help at all, right?” he dryly asked.
“Of course you don’t,” Tabitha answered with a small bow, taking a moment to then nudge Scay to get the naga to do the same before smiling curiously at the swordsman. “From what we’ve seen and heard you need no assistance whatsoever with finding those elusive treasures. But we’re still being paid to aid you however we can, and much like those three with you who also are not needed by you, we wish to remain by your side and do what we can to help. If they can stay with you then surely it would be alright if we did as well, at least until your mission is over and we get paid. Would that be okay with you?”
Daemon watched as the neko and naga smiled hopefully at him before he started walking away along the overlook, taking a few steps then stopping with his eyes kept forward while the girls all waited anxiously for his decision.
“Do as you wish,” he said with a shrug. “As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into, that’s your choice. Just don’t slow us down or get in our way.”
Sasha, Rulo, and Forrus held in their growls of discontent as they glared at Tabitha and Scay before reluctantly walking over toward Daemon and standing by his side.
“If that is his choice, then so be it,” Sasha stated before looking back to Tabitha with a cold glare. “But we’ll be watching you two. If you try anything stupid you’ll be dead before you know it.”
“If you get in our way you’ll regret it,” Rulo snapped before looking away with a grunt.
“Just give me an excuse, neko,” Forrus growled at Tabitha before turning away from her.
Daemon and his girls started walking away while Tabitha and Scay slowly followed after, the two new followers glancing to each other with winks before quickly catching up to the group.
“So,” Tabitha said as she trotted over next to Daemon before Rulo grabbed her tail and yanked her back, the neko stumbling before catching her balance and glaring at the orc. “Now that we’re all on the same team, there is still one question we didn’t get an answer for. Just what are those artifacts for anyway?”
“What do they do?” Scay eagerly asked with a wide smile while hanging onto Forrus’s arm, the lycan then shaking her off and shoving her away with a grunt. “What do they do? Tell us, please? Please please PLEASE? Nrrghmmm I really want to know.”
Daemon glanced over to Sasha who was at his side as she always had been since they first met, her eyes meeting his then looking down to the satchel at her hip which she held one hand over and kept close with. The reptile girl then looked back to Tabitha and Scay while Forrus and Rulo watched the new girls with discontent as they all walked together with their swordsman.
“They are the keys to something that must remain buried in this world.”
*****
Slowly her eyes opened, ears picking up the sound of those sleeping near her along with one in particular who was snoring very loudly. Her vision cleared and showed the ceiling above with the two lanterns hung from the rafters which had no flames lit, although everything appeared illuminated with a cerulean hue to her eyes as she slowly sat up in bed.
Looking to her left she saw Specca and Daniel sleeping with Alyssa on the other side of the boy who was snoring very loudly on his back. Specca and Alyssa showed no irritation to the sound at all as they cuddled closer to him and were holding onto his chest in their sleep while both having peaceful expressions on their faces.
Turning to her right she saw Luna sleeping quietly beside her with Pip nuzzled in between her breasts, the tiny fairy dreaming with a smile on her face as she tenderly held onto the butterfly girl’s chest during the night. Beside them Falla was sleeping with her back turned to them, her wings drooping low under the covers as she dreamed peacefully despite the loud echoing of Daniel’s snoring. And curled into her usual nighttime ball above the butterfly was Squeak, the ant girl squeaking quietly in her sleep while her antennae twitched slightly now and again during her dream.
Gazing around the cabin her mind was blurry and unfocused, not a single coherent thought coming across her as she slowly crawled forward across the bed and quietly stood up in front of it as if in a trance. Looking down to her body and breasts she slowly brushed her blonde hair with blue streaks back over her shoulders before remaining still as nothing but Daniel made a sound in the caravan. After a while she slowly walked towards the wardrobe with
silent steps, eyes going from one outfit to another before she picked out something that seemed to call to her. She slipped on a short white miniskirt with black frills on the bottom, donned a white low-cut belly bearing shirt with black edgings and shoulder straps, attached her usual bracelet with its green gemstone to her left wrist, and fastened a dark belt with golden embroidery around her waist. Pausing for a moment she then put on her gray boots before slowly walking towards the entryway, eyes glancing around at the interior of the cabin as if having never seen it before while she made not a sound with each step she took.
Walking outside through the black curtain she stood on the front seat of the caravan, a calm breeze blowing against her as her eyes looked around at The Outerlands they had made camp in. With a graceful hop she jumped from the ride and landed on the ground, taking a moment to look down at her feet before slowly walking forward again. Everything was illuminated for her with a cerulean tone, with Lucky being seen with a faint orange glow as he slept in his grass bedding nearby. The horse grunted then quickly awoke with a startle and got to his feet, backing up away from her while bucking about anxiously. She watched him seem to become afraid of her then continued walking on, paying the horse no mind while she gazed around at the surrounding land in silence.
She then stopped and turned her head towards the large hillside nearby, watching as the grass along the slope swayed slightly in the wind while she felt the presence of two others over on the other side of it. Heavy flaps were heard behind her before she began to lift into the air, her eyes looking down at seeing her feet dangling under her with the sight of the caravan and Lucky dropping further below. She then flew over the hill and looked down at seeing a large clearing behind some trees, and two faint glows coming from a centaur and an elf who were close to one another near a tree across the field. Hovering above them she saw the elf picking out arrows from the tree and placing them in the quiver on her back. The centaur was looking around the field while speaking to her friend before looking up then jumping with a scream.
Chronicles of Eden - Act VI Page 36
