Becoming Monsters: in the Mirror 37

And so we have arrived here. Welcome to the last main chapter of In The Mirror, Book One. Stay tuned for bonus content later.

This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters Universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

—

Chapter 37: A New Day Dawns

"You know you work here, right? If you wanted to talk to me that bad, you could have just asked."

Dr Abode was in our large second-floor room in the pale predawn light. Finding a way for the eight of us (plus a Guild Pet) to be accommodated together was not easy. In the end, Emily suggested adapting a room originally built for Giantkin that was currently empty. It fit all of us, if a bit cramped. We weren't exactly a normal group, and separating us would not have worked out. We were, thankfully, quite comfortable with each other.

"Yes, and we have one of your best nurses and paramedics on our team, too, but after what happened we kind of need the full professional treatment." I stretched out a bit, again. I hurt from a hundred places on my body, ranging from the numerous scars I had maintained into wakefulness to many more-typical injuries stemming from the last month of my life.

"That is one way to put it. Hope you don't mind being the subject of at least three papers that I know of, the interns and new doctors who still care about that seem to find you fascinating."

"That's one reason I asked for you by name. Well, that, and I knew you were adaptable."

He ate another candy from his little dispenser. Really liked those things. "Yes, well, I'll have the team up here to give you all some more thorough checks soon. Don't anticipate leaving this weekend."

"You know, doc, I think I'd rather like that. My life has been a bit too eventful recently for my tastes."

He left. As much as he was an entertaining sort of person to talk to, I was relieved when he did and flopped down into the uncomfortable hospital chair. And winced, because seriously, the scars hurt and I'd forgotten they were there.

From the nearest bed, a certain red-skinned wife of mine chuckled a bit. "You're weren't wrong, love. I could do with a couple days of boring. Maybe your dreams will leave you alone?"

"Who knows? I'm three for three right now. Just hoping that the next one doesn't decide to drag you in with it again. I like dreaming about you, but not in those circumstances. How are you doing, speaking of?"

"My skin hurts, I have an upset stomach and some cramps, and I'm super drained. Something about using my entire mana pool to punch someone in the face late last night."

Whitney chimed in from next to the window. "Nice shooting, by the way. Remind me not to get you mad at me."

We all laughed a bit more. Lucy grinned, and replied. "Thought you figured that out almost a month ago." More laughter.

"Okay, fair. At least this time we're here in fluffy pajamas."

Gloria sat up from where she had been laying on a different bed. "Whitney, you sleep naked. Walking to the hospital like that would not have worked right." More laughs, from everyone.

I stretched again, wincing in pain. Emily stood up in the far corner, having probably been hanging out in fox form, and walked over to me. Without saying anything, she began to check the various scars I had acquired overnight. They were all still there. Scalp and upper back and spine. Biceps and forearms. Rings and lower abdomen. She mercifully left me my pants, or the thighs and calves would have joined them. "Looks like my estimate from overnight was right. These could have been much worse, but unless I miss my guess you're going to be under my care for these for a long time. You will need to work on them every day. All of us will, you just have it a lot worse."

"Will they interfere if another fight comes down?"

"You

would

ask that. This isn't my specialty, but you have so many of them that they almost count as more armor. If you let them seize up, they're going to put you into a wheelchair. Forget about fighting."

"And your ability to heal them?" I knew the answer probably wasn't as simple as being low on mana, but I had to try.

"Not applicable, unfortunately. They aren't injuries anymore, not according to the powers I have. They're a part of you, that you will need to recover from yourself. Treatment is going to be the old-fashioned way unless someone has an ability I don't know about." Her tails had been down, out of my view, but as I looked I counted one more than expected, once again. She had earned her sixth tail overnight. There was a lot it could have been, but only one thing really stood out. As I saw it, I felt her arms around me as she fought back tears. In the back of my head, I could hear the echo of her voice from so recently.

"Jay, I just killed someone, and the universe decides to reward me for it?"

We were interrupted by the arrival of breakfast... and a guest. Gregory Grits, the red-furred officer of

Flight of Fury

who happened to be a bit of a Giant himself, stepped in as the carts came. "Guild Leader Kithkin, was dropping by to check on the

Golden Age

people and I hear

Shield Against Shadows

ended up down the hall. You been getting into more bounties?"

"Not this time, Grits. We got attacked again, starting to get a bit old. Still, we came out in decent shape, just getting ourselves seen to. Just in case." The kitchen staff left, and I uncovered my dish of... grits. Alright, whomever is writing these jokes, you can stop now. That was corny. Gregory, thankfully, got a good laugh.

"Well, we'll make sure to get some patrols on the streets for the next few days. Take care of yourself, man. We don't want to lose you. Need me to tell the senior leadership?"

"Yeah. I don't think we'll be in here long, and I'm almost entirely sure no major demon attacks are going to happen. All of us are conscious and able to walk, no missing limbs or eyes. Still, better safe than sorry. Don't want to hear that I missed an emergency meeting in the next couple of days."

"You got it, sir."

"Grits, please don't start calling me that unless we're out in public somewhere it matters. You know me too well for that."

"Of course, sir, why do you think I called you that?" He smiled an enormous, chaotic grin, and took his leave before I could throw my wadded-up napkin at him.

Between bites, Paige looked over and asked "feeling old, sir?" Then she ducked, fast, dodging the napkin that I conveniently had ready to throw.

Sarah had been quiet, but couldn't stop herself from laughing. Then, she got quiet again. Thoughtful. "Amber, can you do me a favor?"

The four-armed demoness was stretching like I had been earlier, her upper back deeply scarred. "Yes?"

"You saw how much he hated being called that. Do it to him anyway."

"Uh..."

"Just try. For me?"

Amber looked at me with a determined look on her face. "What do you think... sir?" She gasped and put all four hands over her mouth.

I just smiled, hugely. "Looks like the first part of the night was worth it. Congratulations, Amber."

"But you got hurt so badly, Jay! And... what will I do from here?"

"Pain is pain, it'll pass. I knew the cost going in. You say all of that like you think I'm about to kick you out. Nope. I'd still love to have you... if you want to stay. Now, you get to make that choice for yourself."

Her choice was abundantly clear seconds later. She had started across the room, with several beds between her and where I sat. She ended up in my lap and in my arms, kissing me deeply and hugging me close as all six of the others applauded. It was one less weight on all of our shoulders. Especially on the two of us bearing scars across ours.

The peace was short-lived, as peace usually is. At least this time it was something we were expecting. Well, almost entirely expecting. What seemed like a battalion of nurses, orderlies, and other technicians came in and subjected us to a thousand different confirmations, questions, tests, and movements. A very familiar and violently multicolored avian asked quite a few of them as he tried to decode the events of the dreamscape. Joseph the Technicolor Dream Duck, it seemed, was another of the folks who split their time between the Camp and the hospital. I wondered how many others there were.

He left with an enormous amount of notes, and I'm not entirely certain how comfortable I was with his look of confused fascination as he looked at them.

Whitney and Emily were utterly invaluable translating between English and Medical. In both directions. They both knew the rest of us better than any typical medical professional could ever hope to, and could zero in on relevant events and baselines from their experiences this month.

It wasn't perfect, but the information got across. My team was highly cooperative and in good spirits, which was more than most patients could claim. Nibbles was even good with the veterinary tech who came to check on him, between begging for pets and treats. Successfully, I might add, on both counts.

Emily had to go get checked for possible traumatic brain injuries, following her close encounters of the claw kind. Whitney and Paige did as well, just for safety. I hadn't taken any strikes to the head, but all three of them had gotten the wrong end of at least two point-blank attacks. It would not do to have come through all that we had, only to succumb to invisible wounds a month later. Gloria took Nibbles out for a walk, needing some air herself and being permitted to seek it. Similarly, Lucy and Sarah were taken for lab work in wheelchairs after their extreme exertions the previous night had them barely able to move from their beds. Amber was taken for examination at the Curse Annex, given her history and our claims. I was not considered an appropriate authority for this, given my own relationship with her, but I knew she'd be in good hands.

The room, which had been so full and chaotic minutes before, was suddenly echoingly empty. The view of the block outside the window wasn't much compensation. It was odd. This was the first real time I'd had alone since... well, since the last time I was in the hospital, but last time I was being observed almost the entire time. I wasn't sure I liked it anymore.

I of course turned out to not be alone. When I turned away from the window, someone was seated in the chair by the door. Leah the assassin wasn't in full armor, but her black clothing still concealed almost all of her pale skin and face. "Wondered how long you'd be looking out there. Not the best view, huh?"

I somehow managed to keep from jumping out of my own skin or launching a Net at her out of surprise. "Really isn't, not when my apartment is way higher. What do I owe the honor of the visit?"

"Nobody is going to be in here for the next hour, not after Nibbles found some particularly interesting pigeons who owed me a favor. So. I am invoking our contract. Tell as much as you can now of the story, if I have to disappear before you finish I'll find you for the rest."

I sat on the bed. "Alright. The story begins a month ago... wait, no. You wanted context. Five years ago, Lucy and I. Our date had gone well..."

The next hour consisted mostly of me telling her what happened, omitting... well, not quite nothing, but certain details of my sex life didn't need to be shared like that. I mean, Incubus, I get it, and a surprising amount of what happened during those times was relevant to other things, but I could gloss over some of the finer details. Thinking about it, it seemed like half of my life's major changes this month had occurred while in bed with someone.

She eventually stopped me, checking her watch. "We aren't done, but if you were not presently being literally compelled to tell the truth as you see it I'd not have believed most of what you just said. Even in our line of work, that was insane."

"I never claimed to be a simple person, Leah. You've known me, or about me, since before all of this. Since the First Year. You had to know what you were asking for."

"You are a

very

simple person, Jeremiah Kithkin. A man with a few ironclad rules that he tries to follow to the best of his deceptively impressive abilities, and woe betide the man, beast, or lesser deity that dares try to interfere. Your circumstances are just complicated. I will seek you out again in good time, but I have the distinct feeling that you aren't done writing this story. The tale has more to tell. I think I will enjoy hearing about the rest of it once it happens."

"Please don't curse me like that. There has been plenty of excitement recently to last me a very long time."

"If you get more than a week off, I will be shocked. Recover well, and give my best wishes to Lucy." She... vanished. Didn't get up and walk out, didn't jump out a window, just vanished. I had no sense of where she had gone or how she had gone there. In the span of a blink of the eye, the chair just went from being full to being empty.

Seconds later, the door opened, and Emily reentered with Whitney and Paige. Whitney was protesting something. "... and I'm telling you I just sneezed."

Paige and Emily were laughing and teasing her. Something about tripping during a balance test, flapping to keep her feet, and knocking over a weight rack. One of the good ones, something about enough weight being on it to crater the flooring. All of them had to help put it back up, which was horrifying given the kinds of force I had seen them all apply in the recent past. They found their seats and beds, and tried to relax. There was the sense, though, that something was being left unsaid. Something about how they would glance in my direction every now and then, and the conversation would shift sideways.

"Alright, ladies, this is getting awkward. You're all acting nervous. You want to ask me something but can't figure it out. Just spit it out, please? Best shot you're going to get."

Three sighs in unison. Both Whitney and Paige looked at Emily, who realized that she had just been unanimously voted into the position. Her pleading eyes were met with silence, and seconds later she looked at me with her vulpine gaze. "Jay. We were comparing notes while we were down there. I need you to answer me a question. When was the last time you fed on anyone besides the seven of us? Or even had sex at all, whether for pay or not, with anyone who is not now a part of our group?"

I thought back. And... back. Paige hadn't been a part of us when she started, but she joined. That last day at the Red Light Rooms, three-ish weeks ago? No, my only customer had been Emily that evening. That meant I had to go back even further. It would have been the day I defeated the Karackt and learned Concubal Acquisition... nope, also Emily, then Whitney. The day before. I had two customers for cash. "It's been four weeks or so since any at all, couple of days before that for Feeding. Why?"

Paige tilted her head. "That would be before even Whitney joined you, and she was the first other than your wife. This isn't exactly a monogamous setup you have, but you're an

Incubus

, Jay! That's completely ridiculous! I've watched you do a great many things I'd not have believed possible if you had asked last year, but that? That takes the cake. Especially since you don't even seem to realize it."

I blinked. "It was deliberate for the last little while, but yeah. I guess before that it was odd." They were going somewhere with this. That comment wasn't the end of it.

Whitney's gaze was intense. "You don't even realize it, do you? You normally know exactly what's coming, but you have

no idea at all

where we're going with this. Kind of refreshing. Can I let him off the hook?"

Emily nodded. "Much as I'm enjoying the moment, I don't know how long we have."

"Jay, I need you to think very hard about this. When was the last time you think that Lucy had sex outside of our group?"

Lucy? The Succubus who had to do it in order to survive? Well, maybe not so much recently, ever since they had synced up she didn't have to anymore. "Knowing her? Probably been about a week. Maybe a day or two more. Now that you are all sharing Hunger pools, I don't imagine she is doing things outside of the group."

Paige boggled at me. "You really didn't realize it. I just lost a bet I thought was surefire. Jay, in the last week, she hasn't had sex with anybody but you unless you were involved in it. Which, by the way, is very disappointing to me personally, given the one time I got to experience her attentions directly."

Emily finished the thought. "She has not had sex outside of our group since I joined, at least. I think the last time she did was that day I saw you at the Red Light Rooms. She had been exclusively feeding from the rest of us. Especially Sarah and I, since we have the easiest time recharging normally. Whitney and Gloria occasionally, whenever they have an overcharge."

"If you wonder why I'm so eager to fight these days, it's not just you, Jay. You might have noticed, Lucy is good at what she does." Whitney's grin was rather fond.

My brain just stopped. It was

impossible

. Lucy's Hunger had been riding

high

, she had been giving herself to me

frequently

. The entire time, and she had been Feeding exclusively from these few? These few who had to, as a result, sustain both themselves and her, then me? And despite all of this I, who could literally see it directly, had not noticed at all? Freaking

HOW

?

"Yup, he gets it." Sarah had apparently stepped in while I was in the middle of the mental blue screen. Odd, I would have expected Lucy to come back with her, since they went to the same place. Amber and Gloria got back as well, as I was contemplating things.

"Can you all tell me one thing? How hard were you all working to keep this from me?"

All six of them started laughing. Riotously. Uproariously. Loud and long. I... didn't get what was so funny.

Sarah looked back at me after recovering herself, wiping tears from her eyes. "Jay, you've literally walked in on us at least twice. Remember that time when you came in to see Whitney and I massaging her? Remember when we were starting to really dig in and deliberately sync up the team? You really just didn't even notice. None of us have had to put out any effort. We just never talked about it with you directly."

"I... huh." Something in my expression must have been hilarious, because it set them all off again. "I'll have to talk to her about this, I think. Still, where is she? I thought she was in the same labs with you, Sarah?"

"We were at the beginning, but she got taken a couple of doors down after the first scan. Something about physiology causing unexpected reads."

"That doesn't make sense. Succubi are Demonics, sure, but their physiology is infamously Human-like until their Status abilities have to kick in. Especially for Lucy's subspecies, her skin might be cherry red but the lack of wings puts her metabolism even closer than most. If you all will excuse me, I think I'm going to go check on her. What room is the lab, Sarah?"

"First floor in the east wing. 185, I think? If not, it was close. I remember the number being just above a half-circle."

"Got it, thank you." If you've never been inside a large hospital, first off, I envy you. Second off, no matter how straightforward they try to lay things out, the internals are a maze. Though I knew this particular hospital, the walk was still a significant one. Probably a good thing, too. The scars and the muscles under them were tensing up a bit after being cooped up, this helped them stretch out.

Room 185 ended up being a supply closet. 183 was the Thaumic Analysis lab, 182 was the waiting room. They, in turn, sent me to 186. The phlebotomist there thankfully knew me on sight due to my having helped him with a couple computer issues the past week. He also knew Lucy, and took me directly back. Past the chairs that were usually the place to go for lab draws, through a pair of double doors he had to badge through, into another set of unremarkable white rooms. It was an oddly familiar place, though. I wasn't exactly sure where we were, but my attempts to figure it out came to a halt when he turned me into one of the rooms before leaving to go back to his station.