A Monster Life Ch 67 69

* I realised recently things were going quite fast when I closed in on completing the draft of volume 6 with chapters up to 90. Soon enough I'll reach the milestone of 100 (not counting the bonus chapters that I wrote for the e-books), and I'm not even sure myself just how much of this world has become involved in conflict.

Anyways, thanks for reading and commenting, and a special cheers to He Who Leaves Lots Of Reviews On A Popular Website. Ya know who ya are. ;-)

*

67 - No Options

The colours in the sky faded slowly towards the black and white of the long night in this world, and Ulric stopped Harry and nuzzled Kaui's neck, who sat in front of him to keep him company during the trek. 'I think we should stop while it's dark. I don't trust following the path through these mangroves during the night. The light from the ring and moons and the shadows obscure everything.'

Kaui gazed into the darkening surroundings and heavy, moist, and smelly air hiding the packs of buzzing insects and the small wildlife hunting them. 'This place daunts me, Master.'

He kissed her softly in her neck and gave her a light squeeze. 'I can imagine, my cutie. I'd rather not be here myself.'

Valdys approached them when she stepped out of Cat. 'Done for the day, love?'

Ulric helped Kaui off of the bike and stepped off himself. 'Yeah. I don't want to risk mistaking a patch of pond scum for solid ground.'

A soft splash drew their attention, and Ulric blocked the arrow meant for Kaui with his scaled arm.

'Attack!'

he said over the link while spreading his wings to protect his girls.

From the green waters around them, armed demons appeared which Ulric would describe as almost humanoid alligators, who threw spears and shot their bows as they rushed forward.

Ulric cut the rope tied to Harry, and it drove quickly to the side of Cat, while Valdys conjured up a shield wall at once. The attackers crashed into them while Iphigenia, Elzbieta, Conchim, Caylais, and Susi ran out of Cat, ready to fight.

Elzbieta made a quick estimate of the increasing amount of demons hacking and pushing against the invisible wall. 'Where did they come from?'

Ulric retracted his wings. 'They showed up from the waters suddenly in an ambush.'

Iphigenia moved quickly towards the end of Cat. 'That just might be it with our friends following us.'

Ulric looked at Elzbieta. 'I think we're at a disadvantage if we fight them now.'

She gripped her sword. 'I have to agree. We need a better place to defend ourselves than here in the open.'

'Master!' said Kaui and pointed at a group of the demons climbing up against Valdys's defences by standing on top of one another.

'Crap!' grumbled Ulric.

'There's a path we passed that leads to one of the ruins nearby.' said Valdys. 'We should head there.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta agreed and Ulric looked back at Kaui. 'Tell Isa to reverse and follow Val's directions.'

'Yes, Master.' she said and hurried into Cat.

Cat moved backwards a moment later, with everyone keeping pace with its trot. The swamp demons tumbled forward while Valdys also pulled her shield back, and Iphigenia and Elzbieta used their bows to shoot the fewer demons at the back to slow them down in surrounding the whole party. They used up so much arrows that Susi kept running back and forwards between them and the weapons supply inside Cat.

Ulric snarled at the scent of their earlier pursuers reaching his nose. 'Our four friends and their friends are close enough now that I can smell them despite the stench here and the wind. We have to hurry.'

Isa sped up Cat, which helped in reducing the number of demons reaching the back, but all were glad when Valdys gave Isa the signal to stop and turn right. The girls boarded Cat while it trotted along the new path, on which Ulric drove ahead as fast as he dared in the dimming light with Valdys in front of him.

'There.' she said a little later and pointed at the dark silhouette appearing above the mangrove trees up ahead.

Ulric guided Cat up a path carved into a shallow rocky hill, and to the remains of an ancient fort. Valdys surveyed the visible side of the dark stone structure. 'If those high walls are all intact, I can defend it with little effort.'

They drove through the short gate passage into the courtyard, where Ulric turned around and stopped again at the inside of the passage. The first raging demons ran up the old path but crashed hard again into Valdys's shield. The others girls left Cat and surveyed the fort at once.

Iphigenia ran up steps leading to the top of the wall at the rear and checked left and right.

'Rear looks intact. No damage I can see from here.'

'Same on my side.'

said Elzbieta.

Conchim, who flew up onto the partially collapsed roof of the main building looked down upon the outside wall.

'I see no damage here.'

'At least that's some good news.'

said Ulric.

Conchim squinted at the trees in the distance and the movements between them.

'Here's some bad news, the rest of the demon company will soon be here.'

Ulric looked at Valdys, who closed her eyes while she adjusted her defensive spells, then gave him a nod. 'We're shielded with a minimum of effort for me. I can keep this up for a long time.'

Ulric felt some relief at her confidence.

'Conchi, can you keep an eye on things while we discuss our options?'

Conchim flew up from the roof.

'No problem, hubby. I'll keep a low profile while I circle the perimeter.'

'Thank you, sweetie.'

said Ulric, and went with the others into the common room, where Valdys spread a sheet of paper on the low table between the pillow seats and drew a rough floor plan of the fort.

***

Naczary, leader of the Bognam, greeted Tarrence when he arrived at a short distance from the ancient stronghold. 'We have them surrounded at an old ruin, which they unfortunately were barely able to reach before we could completely block their way.'

Tarrence dismounted his nasr. 'That's unfortunate indeed if that gives them too much of an advantage.' He stared blankly at the short alligator-like face. 'For you, that is. They must not escape.'

Naczary didn't fear any opponent easily, but the icy stare and calmness of the canine demon gave him the chills. He gestured at the building nearby. 'All my available men have taken up posts around the fort. There's no way they can break through from any side, even though the only real way in and out is through the gate. There's no way they can defeat us with the handful of them.'

Tarrence walked briskly towards the fort. 'Don't underestimate them. I did not summon this many people for no reason. Keep up the attack.'

Naczary hurried to keep up with him while remembering his species was made to swim and wade through water, not walk on solid land. 'But we can't enter the fort. The gate is blocked by magic.'

'I don't care. Keep at it. Crawl all over the place personally if you have to. I don't want to give them any time to rest. My man will work on the barrier in the meantime.' He turned to pierce the Bognam leader with his sharp gaze. 'Understood?'

Naczary nodded quickly. 'I'll put my men to work right away.' he said, and scampered off, shouting orders.

Tarrence's three party members walked up to him. 'What about the men we brought?' asked Muni.

'We'll hold them back for now and make use of these swamp dwellers first.'

***

Ulric watched the frenzied swamp folk hack at the fortified walls and trying to shoot arrows or hooks into the protective bubble of Valdys's shield spell. 'They're not letting up.' he said to Conchim next to him.

She nodded. 'Valdys is strong, but this will drain her energy little by little.'

'Yes. we have to prepare to fight our way out as soon as we can.'

Inside Cat, they joined up with the others in the common room around the floor plan and the strategy notes. Ulric stroked Valdys's back gently. 'Doing all right, my love?'

She gave him a warm smile and kissed his muzzle. 'I can keep it up for quite a while.'

'I think we should head out at first daylight. What can we do to break through, or better yet, defeat as many as it takes to lose them?'

Iphigenia drew one of the notes closer. 'Going by physical strength between Elz, you, and me, we can take on a good amount if we stick to one place. On the move, and with Cat and the others with us, we're outnumbered.'

Kaui looked at her inventory list. 'Conchi could drop all the grenades I made, but there aren't enough to do major damage.' She looked up. 'I'd need a lot more materials.'

Valdys produced a small shard of ice and a flame in her hands. 'I have some wide area offensive spells that I've trained in lately, but by morning my mana will have dropped significantly.'

Elzbieta looked at Caylais. 'How about your ability?'

She glanced at Ulric and blushed lightly. 'I can take out a large group with a boost from Ulric, but also not enough of them, and I could only do it once because I can't hold that much power on my own.'

Valdys jerked with a loud groan, and Ulric pulled her against him. 'What's wrong!?'

She shook her head to clear her mind. 'That lich. He's attacking my barrier. This is costing me much more mana.'

Ulric growled as he looked over the others. 'We need much more strength.'

Iphigenia scribbled a few calculations on a blank piece of a note. 'That might be possible.' she said and looked from Ulric to Caylais. 'But it depends on you two.'

They gazed back at her. 'How do you mean?' asked Ulric.

Iphigenia tapped on her scribblings. 'I roughly remember my tallies and those of Elz and Kaui from the beginning, and calculated the increase each time one of us bonded with you.' She looked at Caylais. 'If you bond with him, you should receive a tally boost like we did at our bonds, and also boost the rest of us at the same time. I expect you can do a lot more damage then, and also won't need to rely on Ulric channelling his mana into you. At least, not the way he did thus far.' She leaned back. 'I estimate with the gain from this, we have a good chance to survive this siege.'

Caylais blushed at the thought of belonging to the bloodwolf. 'I, I'm not sure if..'

Iphigenia chuckled once. 'It's clear enough what you feel for him.'

Caylais glanced at Ulric, then sagged her shoulders and flattened her ears as she looked down. 'I can't do this to him.'

Iphigenia looked at Ulric, who frowned in thought. 'I understand your thinking, Iphi. It makes sense.' He looked at her. 'I don't know if it's possible though. Simply making the bond is one thing, but all else it encompasses, it changes everything in a life and I don't want to see her unhappy in this.' He looked at Caylais. 'Cay is a cute girl in every way in my view, apart from that certain detail, which does not evoke the same reaction in me as you girls do. Not to mention, doing it the only way possible, would all of you even want to experience that?'

The girls sat in silence as they thought about it. Caylais looked up at Ulric. 'I won't deny that I imagined sharing the bond and being loved by you, and wished I was a complete woman. I don't want you to do something that disgusts you.'

He blushed lightly. 'Well, I guess I never thought about it since I came here, but I have fantasised about doing that with a woman on occasion in my old world while watching certain movies occasionally.'

'Master?' said Kaui softly. 'I won't mind if you want to try it first with me. I'm happy if I can serve you in one more way.'

Iphigenia chuckled. 'My curiosity is tickled, Wolfie.'

Elzbieta fiddled with the corner of a piece of paper. 'I suppose if you really want to defile me in such a way, I can not stop you, darling.' she muttered.

Conchim bit her lip. 'Such a strong way to be dominated.'

Valdys giggled and looked at Ulric. 'My curiosity hasn't faded in anything over the years. I don't mind trying it with you.'

Susi put her paws on the table next to Ulric. 'Susi doesn't know what is talked about, but will help daddy in any way.'

He chuckled and stroked her head. 'It's something only us adults can do, but because you're my only daughter, you need to keep doing what you already do, my little one.'

'I will help as well.' came Isazea's soft voice from a corner of the table. Everyone gazed at the shy girl's lizard nose peeking out from under her hood while she gripped her cloak in her lap. She looked up at Ulric and a little of her dark purple cheeks showed. 'I don't think it would be fair to Cay to put the burden only on her, although I don't know if I would contribute anything at all.'

Iphigenia leaned forward with her elbows on the table. 'If you gain more ability with your golem work, I doubt they'd have a chance to stop us. You're willing to fully become one of us?'

She gave a quick nod. 'I'm not pretty or strong or anything, but I feel at home here with all of you, and I don't want to lose it.'

Iphigenia looked at Ulric, who then looked at Caylais. 'I don't like how we're forced into this thing, but I can't complain about two pretty girls offering themselves to me.' he said and chuckled once. 'As awkward as I always feel doing it for the first time with someone, the current situation makes it even worse to the point that I almost don't know what to do.'

Iphigenia giggled. 'This isn't the usual relaxed mood to enjoy our recharging time in, but I think we can make it work.' she said and stood up. 'I suggest we simply begin and see where it leads us.'

Ulric looked down at Susi and stroked her head again. 'Sweetie, I need you to stay in the cockpit and keep an eye on the gate. If anyone breaks through, bark your alarm.'

She gave a nod. 'Susi will do her duty, daddy.' she said, and hurried out of the room.

Trixy crawled out of Valdys's hood and chittered.

He smiled and stroked her head. 'Good idea. Keep an eye on things from the roof.'

She chittered once more, then hopped away.

'One thing though,' he said and turned to Valdys. 'Won't what we do affect your ability to maintain the shield spells?'

'I'll use a new spell I thought of to numb the bond's effects. I should be able to stay in control while still enjoying our time.'

Ulric nodded, then looked at the others as he stood up. 'Shall I bring drinks to the bedroom to ease the mood then?'

The other girls gently helped the shy Isazea and Caylais undress when they were all in the bedroom, and they sat on their knees in front of Ulric, who couldn't hide his own blush. 'Ready to make the familiar bond?'

The both of them nodded a little, and Ulric leaned closer to each of them and evoked the bond spell. When he sat back Iphigenia checked everyone's tallies. 'As I thought, the bond alone is not enough. It needs the bond of body and mind as well.'

Ulric took Isazea's and Caylais's hands in his paws, and looked at Isazea. 'Shall we begin first?' he said, and looked at Caylais. 'I think it's better if we're warmed up before we do it.'

Both girls nodded in agreement again, and Ulric moved Isazea on her back, and laid down next to her. 'If you feel uncomfortable in any way, say so at once.'

She gave a single nod. 'Will you kiss me?' she whispered.

He smiled softly at her and cupped her cheek. 'As much as you want me to.' he whispered, leaned closer, and kissed her softly while caressing her cheek with his thumb.

She opened up to him and shyly touched his rough tongue with her thin one. He let her ease into it, and after a few moments she reached her hand to the back of his head, and pulled him a little closer.

Ulric laid his paw on the side of her hips, and moved it gently up and down, every time a little farther until he stroked her whole side from her chest to her knee, and sensed the small girl relaxing more under his touch.

He pulled back from the kiss to give her a moment, and ran his eyes along her body. She looked so small and vulnerable compared to his length and bulk, he worried he'd hurt her if she wouldn't be aroused enough. He kissed softly all over her scaly chest, and although she had no breasts or nipples, he enjoyed it as much as with the other girls.

The same kind of tingling itches filled her chest as the ones she experienced when she dreamt about being wrapped up in him. At first a little scary, but she knew enough about how biology worked that she accepted what happened to her, and relaxed slightly to let the sensations of his paw and kisses flow through her. Glancing at the other girls and their comfortable expressions as they watched, she gained more confidence in how good he would make her feel.

He looked up at her. 'Are you still comfortable with this?' he asked softly.

She looked down at him and gave him a shy smile. 'Yes. I feel strange, but good.'

He kissed her stomach once. 'I'm going down more now, all right?'

She nodded slightly when a wave of prickles rushed through her, and he moved down, kissing her abdomen which tensed less at every kiss, until she was relaxed enough that he kissed around her pubic area. She tensed again, but slowly relaxed like before, while Ulric noticed that even though her skin was scaled, it was still soft and warm to the touch, and had become warmer along with an increase of her scent emanating from between her legs. A scent that affected him just as much as any of the other girls did.

He only needed to press gently against the insides of her thighs and she spread them for him, and he had his first look at her dark yellow mound and the soft and darker slit splitting it in two. Keeping his eyes on her , he carefully kissed down her pubic area and around her mound, sensing the twitches of tension in her thighs, and seeing her chest heave slowly more as her body temperature rose.

Isazea couldn't remember experiencing such a mix of nervous excitement and warmth building up inside her ever before. Only once or twice had she thought about finding someone of her own species because it seemed the right thing to do, but she never knew the urge like some of the human maids in the castle seemed to have for some of the men. She didn't understood. Until this curious party arrived and showed her not only strong attraction was possible between different species, but that she too could experience that same feeling.

She wanted to become one with Ulric and softly moaned his name.

68 - Shock and Awe

Ulric licked the length of Isazea's soft scaled mound gently with the tip of his tongue. Her scent became stronger along with her soft moans for him, and he slid his tongue slowly through her slit.

She stiffened when the first sting of electricity shot through her lower abdomen, then tilted her hips because she wanted more.

Ulric explored her anatomy with his tongue, and spread her lips with his fingers. He didn't remember much from his biology class, but enough to recognise some of it. He moved the tip of his tongue around, and discovered she was sensitive all over from the tension in her thighs and her shy moans. In a sense he was glad because he feared her lack of a clitoris would lessen her pleasure.

Isazea breathed harder while the heat and itching within her grew. She looked to the side and now saw the effect of the familiar bond. The other girls were breathing heavy while they pressed their thighs together in the shared sensations of physical pleasure. Another rush of electricity washed through her from the sudden increase in arousal at knowing they all felt the same. She began to understand why they all enjoyed doing this together. Even Caylais squirmed a little while she hid her lower abdomen.

Ulric slid his tongue deeper inside her vaginal tract and she gasped. She gripped the pillows and panted with higher pitched moans as the fire inside her spread out. A single instinctive urge filled her mind. 'Inside.' she breathed. 'Come inside.'