Monsters and Maidens (235)[Vol-4 Rough Draft] (Patreon)

Small Disclaimer: This is a rough-draft of the first chapter for Volume 4.

Link to Clean Version + Chapter 236: [Link]

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"Anybody moves and you get to find out what the lady looks like from the inside!"

The words followed a burst of power that washed across the tiny village square and the maiden sent the human woman that had stood upon an improvised podium of wood crashing down to the mud. From within the crowd, chains of purple elemental energy burst forth, wrapping around the screaming woman’s arms and throat, instantly rendering her mute.

The owner of the voice, a Sorceress, stepped forward as the crowd parted around her. Deep purple hair swung on an invisible wind of power. On her right hand she held a staff of old dark wood, its tip the point the ethereal chains were connected to.

“The festivities have come to an end.” She declared, stepping closer to the glaring human. “Isn’t that right, girls?”

The crowd boiled with sudden activity. At once, members of the Sorceress’ gang had pounced upon the nearest human, drawing blades or pulling out claws, each of them aiming to get hold of a hostage. The fights instantly broke out, as the locals had opted to forget the current situation.

With a growl, the Sorceress pointed her free hand to the sky. The swirl of power around her coalesced and shot upwards. The blast made everyone freeze. “HEY!” The maiden snarled, amplifying her voice to wash over the gathering. “The next shot I will aim at the crowd, and then you get to see all your humans turn to paste!”

That stopped them in their tracks, giving the rest of the gang the chance to grab a hold of a dozen or so extra hostages. Vitriol and hate were aimed at the maiden bandits that had, effectively, taken over the very small village. Not that they could stand idle.

“Humans to the right, maidens to the left. Comply, and no one gets hurt!” The Sorceress commanded. Beneath her boot, her captive hissed in anger. The gesture earned her a smirk from the maiden. “You too, village head. Human women are too rare, and I’d rather sell you for a full price.” Her words were full of mirth. Cruelty danced on the upturned lips, made all the more prominent with the panicked look upon the human’s eyes.

“Boss!”

The Sorceress turned her head in the direction of the voice, just in time to see one of her maidens shriek as she flew off, smashing through one of the nearby houses and vanishing into the hole she’d made therein. The crowd that had previously been dispersing into the two groups did so far faster now.

All eyes turned to the perpetrator, a maiden unlike any the Sorceress had laid eyes upon. Standing nearly three meters tall, her arms and legs were covered in deathly white fur with black stripes, the only clothes upon her body a set of wool trousers and a loose linen shirt. The black collar upon her neck marked her as a feral-born thing, a maiden that had only recently been saved from the curse of insanity and introduced into the civilized world.

The maiden’s body was a wall of snarling, lean, tanned muscles.

“No touch Rick. Mine.”

Standing next to the specimen of deadly power, his presence looking more akin to an accident than intentional, was a man with wild black hair and bags under his dark eyes. “Monica…” He bemoaned, speaking with the kind of voice one would use. “I told you to hold back.”

“Bad maiden not dead.” The feline declared with a loud snort. “Held back.”

The Sorceress hesitated, cursing silently. Someone had not done their job properly. They should’ve known in advance about anyone that was this strong! “You!” She called out, pointing at the human. “Tell your monster to let herself be chained or I’ll make your village leader’s head pop!”

“Listen to her, my husband!”

The one to speak had been from within the crowd of humans. A woman had moved forth, sapphire hair spilled like waterfalls down her neck and framing the large cleavage, her face a piece of perfection and beauty, with succulent ruby lips and almond-shaped eyes. She had a face that would outshine the sun, and a body just as sinful, comely curves barely contained under a brown sundress that strained not to explode.

The creature was so impossibly beautiful the Sorceress would have suspected her a maiden if not for the lack of a collar upon her neck.

“Listen to your beloved.” The leader of the bandit proclaimed, turning her staff to aim at the woman. The crowd gasped. “Or she might get roughed up a bit.”

The crowd gasped.

“She’s not his wife!” A shriek came from the group of maidens that had been gathered on the opposite side of the village square.

And the human’s shoulders fell further. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Shoot her and save me the headache.”

“I knew our marriage was a sham!” The woman wailed, stumbling away from the crowd of humans. “Look at him! Day in and day out, I have to tolerate living with that beast!” She took several steps closer to the Sorceress, the bandits glanced in a silent question whether or not to stop her.

The leader just shrugged, waving her staff and cutting the chains to the village chief. “Enough of this.” A new stream shot out, enveloping around the blue-haired woman’s neck and arms. She shrieked and fell down, and the Sorceress turned to face the human once more. “Last warning, comply or she dies.”

“Shoot her!” The voice from earlier called from amongst the maidens.

The human just shrugged. “Monica, get ready to fight.”

“Yes!” the feline hissed, instantly locking on the Sorceress and grinning with rows of sharp fangs.

A cold chill ran down her spine. “Last warning!” She proclaimed, even as the captured woman wriggled and mutely screamed through the chain gag.

“Go for it.”

So she did. The chains ignited, and purple lightning exploded from the tip of her staff towards the woman. The human could only scream and tremble on the ground as her body was lit up with no doubt the worst pain she had ever experienced. The Sorceress smirked, seeing the crowd at either side pale and tremble at the sight. Sometimes it was best to make an example or two and show you meant business.

“Now tell your monster to stand down or-.”

The leader of the bandits was forced to cut off her own words when the feline maiden had exploded forward in her direction. The three meter tall creature had shot out like an arrow with impossible speed. The Sorceress raised her shield and felt it shudder and crack. A shield that could take an explosion at point blank had nearly been useless against a singular kick.

Did he really not care for his wife!?

Fuck. “Capture the human while he’s defenseless!” She ordered the others, hurrying to bring up several more shields before the feline could completely break the first. “And don’t-!”

A hand touched her shoulder, and a wave of foreign power washed over her, paralyzing her in place.

“You shouldn’t leave a girl hanging like that.” The voice whispered into her ear, the hand on her shoulder caressing its way up to her neck. The fingers wrapped around her throat. “It’s so very rude.”

The Sorceress’ eyes widened in dawning horror at the realization it was the blue-haired woman. The strength of the grip currently crushing her windpipe, let alone being able to move after the bout of torture, being impossible for a human. But she had no collar! She should’ve been fighting against the curse of ferality by now, for sure!

“MINE!”

The roar came as the barriers shattered. Blessed air entered the Sorceress’ lungs as she gasped, the paralysis vanishing right as she was caught in the backhand from the feline. Her body groaned in complaint and bones creaked as she tumbled across the village square like a rag doll.

Coughing ragged breaths, she watched in bewilderment as the feline clawed at the now naked blue-haired maiden. “You stupid cat!” The maiden blocked the attacks with her bare arms, the perfect skin only becoming marred with light scratches.

“My turn for fun fight! Not Kiara!”

“Know your place and follow the plan!”

The Sorceress growled in anger, turning away from the two, determined to regain control. She focused on the human, certain the others must have gotten to him by now. Instead, she found her maidens scattering, shrieking in terror as if chased by monsters from the very bowels of the abyss. Even the villagers were running.

Next to the human stood a singular figure, diminutive enough that others might have missed it. It wore a hood and a heavy cape, her features hidden within the darkness of the cloth. There was no doubt this too was another maiden. The leader of the bandits sensed the influence of dark elemental energy and flinched as the hooded figure turned its focus upon her. Panic, horror, and dawning dread washed over her the moment she met the glowing red eyes.

But she was not some bumpkin farmer. She recognized the emotion for what it was, an ability of some kind. And with a burst of her own power, she dispelled it. The recoil made the hooded figure stumble back several steps in shock.

“Enough of this!” she proclaimed, raising her staff, gathering power. The intent was clear: kill the human. “You should’ve obeyed when you had the chance! Now you die!”

The elemental energy had coalesced into a sphere of violent crimson, purple flames licking at the edges as the air simmered with impossible heat. With a flick, the power shot forward.

“Eva!”

“Rick!”

“No!”

Several voices rang out in panic. The human dove towards the hooded figure as if to protect it, both vanishing under the brilliance of the explosion. A cloud of dust burst upwards as bits of debris began to rain down around the town square. The Sorceress did not miss a beat, turning to the two troublesome maidens and preparing to finish them off while they were still suffering the blowback of their bond, having snapped thanks to the human’s death. The curse of ferality soon to follow, no doubt.

She did not expect the stab that slid between her ribs like a hot knife through butter.

The air was driven right out of her lungs as the blade withdrew, and the maiden of violently pink hair moved to shove the knife right back in. The Sorceress stumbled, and the maiden shrieked, following after her, wielding a scalpel that glowed with green light, plunging it into her gut and yanking it sideways, leaving a gash of blood and entrails in its wake.

In a panic, she unleashed a burst of raw, uncontrolled power, blowing the pink-haired maiden across the village square as she tried to hold her gut and fight to retain her breath. Her first instinct was to cast healing upon herself, but she had not missed the feline charging her way using that impossible speed.

So she teleported instead.

Her surroundings blurred, and she collapsed onto the roof. Her whole body screamed, and she hurried to close the wound on her chest before her lungs collapsed completely. The pain burned through her. She could barely spare a thought, her body glowing with every bit of power she could spare.

A shadow fell upon her.

The hooded figure, her half-burnt cape billowing in the wind, exposing skin pale as snow and hair black as coal. The maiden looked upon the prone Sorceress with ruby red eyes, inhaling deeply, pupils dilating. She licked her lips and opened her mouth, fangs gleaming against the sunlight.

The leader of the bandits tried to scream, but the Vampyr’s bite upon her throat took away what little energy there was left within her.

And thus, she died.

***

Eva cleaned the blood from her lips, trying and failing to fight against the delight of how much power coursed through her body, the burns on her skin healing slowly now that she’d drank her fill.

Gazing down at the town square, she focused on Rick. The human was severely hurt, but he’d been fortunate Eva had been able to plunge them both through the shadows at the last moment. Otherwise it would have been deadly.

Dia was pouring over him, the pink-haired maiden healing the burns with meticulous zeal, ignoring the rest of the world even as the Succubus and Sabertooth hunted down the rest of the bandits. The maidens had quickly scattered the moment it had become clear their leader had lost.

A part of Eva hoped no one had seen her feed, but knew that at this point they had made too much of a scene. If they didn’t leave soon, the locals would get curious and inevitably end up finding out exactly what kind of maidens Kiara and Eva were.

And then things would get ugly.

Again.

She’d been just about ready to shadow-dash and hide in the outskirts of this tiny village when she felt someone’s gaze upon her. Eva did not turn to check, she knew the feeling well, it was Rick. His concern had reached her through the bond, and she violently blocked it off before she could let herself forget.

Forget that she’d once been human.

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Author Notes:

Didn't want you guys to feel like I've been forgetting about Rick&Co. (though this chapter will be altered/updated by the time it's officially released all prettied up).

I am currently working on the volume's outline and juggling several other things (such as Flesh, the story that'll come after Flesh, and the auto-loaders).

So, time to announce an update.

I am currently still looking into some alterations in scheduling, chapter size/frequency, and so on. I want to make the narrative tighter so that means things should idle less than previous volumes (also means it's more of a challenge to work on them, since I'd just love to write about Monica basking in the sun and doing shenanigans all day every day).

The plan will be to reduce the number of chapters per week from 5 (not sure to exactly how many just yet), but intending to up the average word-count for each.

With any luck, I should be able to make the first Vol4 chapter posts next week or the one after for Gold Tier patrons. With Silver and Bronze entering the cycle the weeks after that.