Making Monster Girls 7: For Science!, page 29
For a second, I thought she was talking to me, but then I realized she was talking to the creature that’d appeared out of her body. The black outline that was still partly connected to the marchioness at the waist shuddered violently, and the shrieking heightened to an ear splitting scream. Suddenly, the creature broke away from Alliana with a low moan, and I watched as it flowed down into the staff’s core like a black, rushing river. Alliana’s power seemed to be a living being instead of just an ability, and as the core stole it from her, the marchioness slumped forward with panting breaths.
I’d expected her to fight harder than this, but me and my women hadn’t given her a chance even to lift a finger. As Alliana’s exhausted head slumped onto my shoulder, I stepped back with a disgusted grunt. The marchioness crumpled to her knees and barely supported herself on her right arm when she fell forward. She took a deep breath, and her entire body shuddered from exhaustion. I glanced down at the staff’s core and watched as colors flashed from inside of it while it absorbed Alliana’s ability. In one swift movement, I leaned down, bent my knee, and leaned my elbow against it. Using the tip of the staff, I reached forward and lifted Alliana’s face.
“I want you to tell me something,” I whispered. “Why is Granhamn so heavily protected? What are you, or what is the Queen doing here that needs to be shielded from the rest of the world?”
The marchioness’ yellow eyes met mine, and her lips curled into a snarl. I knew what she was doing. She was attempting to activate her power, but she couldn’t; it was gone forever.
“I won’t tell you,” Alliana snarled through gritted teeth. “I’ll never tell you, brute swine.”
“Very well,” I nodded, leaned back, and turned toward my waiting monster-women. “You will eventually. Maybe not right now as an aristocrat, but maybe in a few hours after your transformation, you will. Though, I’m sure that after my soldiers raid this town, we’ll find whatever you’re hiding.”
“Transformation?” the marchioness sneered. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well,” I uttered and spread my arms out at the scene around us. “I managed to fuse humans and creatures. Look at my women, they’re the product of my genius. They’re more powerful than any woman will ever be, but not only that, Alliana, they believe that men are more than slaves. They believe that men are equal and deserve to live freely in this world.”
“How do you know my name?” the marchioness spat. “I didn’t tell you. Unless you knew it before you came here.”
“Oh, no,” I shook my head, grinned, and pointed down toward Aschere. “I learned it from him. Do you recognize him?”
Alliana lifted her yellow gaze upward, and my women stepped aside. Aschere moved forward with his hands folded in front of him. His unused warhammers hung limply from his fingertips, but his eyes connected with Alliana’s with an audible click.
“Aschere, my love, Aschere,” the marchioness whispered and scuttled a little closer. “What are you doing here? Oh, my, you used to be such a little, scampering pup, and now you’ve grown so much. What happened to you? Why are you here? What happened to your face, pet? Where did you get the scar?”
“I knew it was you,” the guard stated in a firm voice. “The moment Charles mentioned the Soul Suckers, I knew it was you who was in charge of Granhamn.”
“I always had such a tender place in my heart for you, puppy,” Alliana smiled weakly. “I always missed our long talks. I never had a consort after you who was so intelligent and gentle.”
“Alliana,” Aschere began and then cleared his throat. “Alliana, you need to tell Charles what the Queen is doing here.”
“I should’ve known you would bite the hand that feeds you,” the marchioness barked, retreated on the steps, and slammed out a hand toward him. “Goddamnit! Why won’t my power work, you bastard? You know, Aschere, it’s always the quiet ones who do the things you don’t suspect. I should’ve known you were a weasel. I can see it now in your eyes.”
“Let’s get her out of here,” the guard sighed and batted a hand in Alliana’s direction. “We’re not going to get any information out of her in this state.”
“You won’t touch me!” the marchioness snarled, but she was thrown back with a soft yelp.
“You will stay down,” Kleeia snarled as she retracted the wall of ice and replaced it with a pair of frozen shackles just as she’d done with Samila.
“Cecelia,” I uttered, and the redhead skipped over. “Will you do the honors and take her back to the caravan? She’ll be the first one we transform once we’ve captured the rest of the aristocrats. Then we’ll get the answers that we need.”
“Yup!” the black-drake-woman sang, skipped over, and grabbed Alliana by the crook of her arm. “I’ll be right back in a jiffy!”
“Let go of me!” the marchioness screamed. “I’ll kill you, freak! Get off of me!”
“Not going to happen!” the ex-guard grinned. “Before long, you’ll be one of us, Alliana, and you’re going to love it! We all do!”
With a puff of royal blue and black smoke, a portal appeared in front of the two of them, and Cecelia dragged the struggling marchioness toward it. The aristocrat screamed and wriggled to get free, but it was no use since the ex-guard was too strong. In one swift movement, Cecelia held the shackles between both hands, lifted Alliana up off the ground, and tossed her through the portal. The redhead brushed off her hands and then crossed them over her chest.
“What are we going to do after that?” Rian asked, pressed a single hand to her growing stomach, and tilted her head curiously. “Move on to the next city?”
“You know,” I uttered. “We’ve been on quite a tight schedule lately. What if we celebrated for a night or two?”
“You mean?” the imp-woman gasped. “A feast? A feast! Charles, I’m so hungry, I could eat a whole horse, maybe even one of those wild boars we ran across a while back!”
“I’m sure if we threw a feast,” Daisy chuckled. “We’ll be eating more normal foods, but we can see what we can do to suit your needs, Rian.”
“Is that wise, Charles?” Edony asked. “Shouldn’t we pack up and move on to the next city before anyone hears about what happened here?”
“No one will learn what happened to Granhamn,” I assured. “No one’s escaped, and even if they did, the nearest city is Birskonn and beyond that, Edenhart. Both of those are empty except for the soldiers and monster-women I left stationed there. No one except for us will know what happened here.”
“Well, howdy, partna’!” a familiar voice shouted, and the sound of pounding hooves echoed down the long street. “Didja finish what you needed to?”
Matilda and two of the desperados rode into view, pulled back their reins, and then hopped down off their mechanical beasts’ backs.
“Yes,” I nodded. “What about you? Reports from the front lines?”
“Well, most of the wall is comin’ down,” the green-haired woman told us. “And the rest of the soldiers have taken the aristocrats into custody, and now they’re ransackin’ the houses and businesses. We wanted to get your approval before we went in and stole some stuff, too.”
“Well, it’s not exactly stealing,” I explained. “We go in, take supplies or items that we’ll need in the future, and then head out. A lot of the time when we search the houses, we’re also looking for servants or aristocrats who’ve hidden during all of the pandemonium.”
“So, what your sayin’ is,” Matilda laughed. “If a few things go missin’ here and there, we won’t get into trouble?”
“As long as it isn’t something important we’d need in the future,” I smiled. “Then sure, take whatever you want.”
“Alriiiiiight,” the lead desperado cried, slapped her hands together, and then vigorously rubbed them together. “We’ll start gettin’ to lootin’, then. I didn’t expect all of this to happen so fast, Charles. You really came in here, busted ’em up, and then took what ya wanted.”
“I guess that’s true,” I laughed heartily. “But I’ll tell you this now, you’ll have to finish up collecting all of the aristocrats before you can go in and take the things you want.”
“Fiiiiine,” Matilda laughed. “Fine, fine, fine, Charles. Is there anything else we should go lookin’ for?”
“Yes,” I nodded and stepped forward. “Food and alcohol. Lots of it. We’re throwing a feast. It’s time to celebrate like the true conquerors we are!”
Chapter Twenty
Granhamn was ours, and I walked through the darkened streets as my soldiers dragged the unconscious aristocrats into a neat pile. Every once in a while, Cecelia would appear in a plume of black smoke and portal more of them back to the cages at the caravan. and I knew they would soon be converted to loving monster-women that would serve me for the rest of their lives.
The rest of my soldiers and monster-women raided the houses for items and people who may have been hiding inside. By now, we’d gotten our routine down, and everyone knew their part to play as we cleaned up the city. I’d ordered my women and the desperados to search the houses for food and drink, but I’d yet to tell my troops that we’d spend the next day and a half celebrating our victory.
I stood back from the hustle and bustle as my men worked to get all of the aristocrats out of the city. I wonder what my soldiers would find hidden within the factories and if there really was something that Alliana and the Queen were hiding in this enormous maze of buildings. I could be mistaken, and my hunch could be wrong, but it rarely was.
“Charles,” a purring voice came from over my shoulder. “There’s something I’d like to show you.”
“Edony?” I asked. “What is it? Did you find something of interest?”
“Somewhat,” the she-wolf laughed, slipped her hand into mine, and turned me toward the street to the left. “It’s nothing of interest to our soldiers or armies if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Then what is it?” I probed.
“I told you a while ago,” the stunning Duchess stated. “Granhamn has one of the largest libraries of records in the whole country. Back when it was still part of my duchy and people came into the city intermittently, it was one of the most popular sights to see for visitors. I didn’t build the library, but one of my ancestors did, and it’s a beautiful work of architecture.”
“What’s inside the library that’ll be so interesting to me?” I chuckled. “I’ve always loved books, but I should be helping my men right now.”
“They can handle it for now,” Edony soothed gently and pulled me farther down the street. “My sisters and the desperados are handling the feast. We found enough food to feed everyone, and Matilda broke into a house where we found tables long enough for everyone to sit at. I told you a while ago that the library here in Granhamn has most of the birth records for this part of the country. If you were born in the northern or southern regions, they’ll have it. You remember the number you were assigned at birth, right?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “It’s IV992468. How could I forget it? It was my name for most of my life before I moved out of the boarding school.”
“Hmmm,” the she-wolf pondered. “That sounds like the capital’s starting letters. They may have the records here for those letters, but there is never a guarantee.”
“Wait,” I uttered. “What? The capital’s starting letters?”
“Yes,” Edony nodded, turned left down a wider street, and pulled me along behind her. “Think of the first two letters of each assigned number as an identifier. The recorder keeper will see it, and based on the two characters, put it in the correct district of where the child was born.”
“I…” I paused and glanced toward the wolf-woman. “I was born in the capital?”
“You could be,” the Duchess explained. “Or somewhere that’s close to the capital, an outlying suburb or rural estate perhaps. If you’re in the records here, it’ll have your actual place of birth, possibly even the name of your mother, but that’s not usual, though. Most aristocrats don’t want to be associated with the brutes that they birth. Generally, it’ll just be an initial, no actual name.”
Most of the buildings on this street were severely burned or almost crumbled to dust, while the factories in the distance were left entirely intact. I wasn’t sure what they were used for, but if they were ironworks or coal production, we could use them in the future. The only building that was left standing was all the way at the end of the street, and it towered into the sky. This had to be the library that Edony told me about, and I had to admit, it was a beautiful building. It didn’t look like it belonged inside of the grimy, dirty Granhamn at all. Maybe in Edenhart, but certainly not this place.
The walls had once been a creamy white, and now they were covered in a thick layer of grease. The columns that stretched across the front were intricately carved into women’s bodies, as if they held up the entire front of the building. The windows were covered in ornate stained-glass, and when I lifted my eyes toward the roof, I noticed the enormous glass dome. Some of the windows were boarded up, and the massive front door was, too. The two of us hurriedly climbed the eight steps toward it, and I pressed a hand against the rough wood blocking us from entering.
“Why would they close it up like this?” I asked.
“To keep the people of Granhamn complacent,” Edony whispered sadly. “My mother once told me a liberated and educated mind will question anything. People kept in poverty and deprived of stimulation are more complacent about the things happening around them. I may not care for the aristocrats, but I will admit that they are often brilliant and well-read. Alliana was depriving the citizens of Granhamn. If they don’t realize that there’s a better way to live, they won’t revolt.”
“But they do know there’s a better way to live,” I stated, and my eyebrows furrowed. “It wasn’t long ago when you were in control of this city. They must’ve remembered that there were better times and that all of this isn’t acceptable.”
“They were force-fed lies about me, Charles,” Edony breathed, hung her head back, and took in all of the damage to the outside of the library. “They believed that when I was in control of this city, they were abused, taken advantage of. Suppose you hear that every day, every second from the mouths of your new leader, you’ll start to believe it, too. The only thing that gives me hope is that once all of this is over and the women of Granhamn are transformed into monster-women, they won’t remember any of the time that Alliana was in control. You promised to destroy this city and build it anew, but my only wish is that it could go back to the way it was before the marchioness took control.”
“And it will,” I nodded, gripped one of the boards blocking the door, and ripped it free. “I will do anything to bring Granhamn back to its former glory. Not even former glory, but a new glory that we would’ve never imagined before.”
The two of us fell into silence as I worked at pulling off the boards that covered the door, and after a few minutes of hard work, I finally got all of them off. I reached for the ornate golden handle and turned it slowly. The door creaked loudly, but it had a pleasant twinge to it, and it reminded me so much of the much-loved library back in Edenhart. I’d spent so many hours in that hallowed place, pouring over medical and scientific books. As we stepped inside the enormous library, the same feelings I felt while in Edenhart rushed over me.
Every time I went to the library in Edenhart, it was almost always empty except for the single librarian at the front desk. She’d ask me a few questions, especially why I was there, what did I need for my mistress, and each time I came up with a new lie, so I could gain access to the books that I so desperately needed to further my career.
“It’s so beautiful,” I murmured and leaned my head back to stare up at the intricate details in the glass dome above our heads. “I would’ve never known a place like this exists in Granhamn.”
The building was three stories high with long, white railings around each level. Aisles and aisles of books stretched as far as the eye could see, and as I turned to take everything in, dust floated and danced in grey motes in the air. This place was utterly forgotten. Frozen in time with opened books lying on tables and papers scattered across the floor. Everything was detailed in the same creamy white with hints of gold and dark cherry wood.
Edony stood a little bit behind me with a soft, gentle smile as I walked through the aisles at the front of the building. They had every book I could imagine here on almost every subject, and though I wanted to grab a few, I refrained. If we’d brought Daisy here, the bear-girl probably would’ve fainted from excitement. That’s what I loved about the brunette so much, our shared love of books, and anything literary.
“Follow me,” the Duchess urged in a low voice and offered me one of her delicate hands. “Let’s go to the records section. I believe it’s on the third level.”
I followed after her like a child being pulled along after its mother, with my head hung back and my mouth agape. The two of us climbed up a metal spiral staircase, and I stared down at the library below with wide, awestruck eyes. Edony brought me to a far corner of the building where barely any light reached, but once my eyes adjusted, I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“What are these?” I asked, stepped forward, and brushed my hand against the cover of a book that seemed to be at least five feet tall.
“The records of every birth within the last few years,” the Duchess shrugged. “Those probably aren’t the ones we need. Here, follow me; we have to find the ones from your birth year and the same district.”
The she-wolf disappeared down an aisle with her tail whipping out behind her, and I followed. I felt a little useless because I’d never seen records like this before, but the Duchess seemed to know exactly what she was doing.
“Are these just the boys born?” I asked. “Or all of the births, female and male?”
“No,” Edony shook her head. “Just the males. There’s an entirely different record collection in the capital for all of the females born, but those are well-kept and updated every year. When boys are born, they write down when, where, assign them a number, and that’s it. They never record the deaths or any other major life moments, except for sales records. Most aristocrats have an entire portfolio to their names, but they keep it with them their entire lives and have an officiator log all of the items.”
