“Oh?” She glanced around, then nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s do that.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I didn’t sleep well. Worry, maybe… and I wouldn’t mind.”

  “Just sleep, though.” I wasn’t sure if it was a statement or question, or which way I wanted that to go. On the one hand, I was legit tired. On the other, that sight of her in her shirt and panties, I’d be a fool to want only sleep.

  “Of course.”

  She led the way, and I had no doubt she knew I was checking out that ass and tail. When we reached the room, she crawled under the blankets, eyed me with a humored grin, and said, “What’re you waiting for?”

  I didn’t respond, instead simply heading over and getting into bed next to her. Basty leaped off, curling up on the nightstand, while Suiko was off discussing with the others. Bloodsong turned to face away from me, but said, “Can you hold me? I think I need… comfort.”

  It took a second, then I scooted over, turned, and put my arm around her. This was so weird because I wasn’t sure we were at this point yet. I mean, there we were, spooning, and she moved her ass back to press against me. My cock was already rock hard, but it twitched, pulsing and growing stronger at that. This was supposed to be my rest time, so I scooted my hips back to avoid getting too turned on, but she just moved with me.

  “Bloodsong,” I whispered.

  “Just...” She reached back, taking my cock in her hand, and slid it between her legs. “Rest.”

  I laughed softly. “If you think a guy can rest like this, you’re crazy.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Was she asleep? I couldn’t believe this. She was already drifting off to sleep, or in dreamland, after what she’d just set me up for?

  “Not asleep,” she noted in a whisper, then asked, “What do you want?”

  “Sleep.” The word lingered, but her legs around my cock and the softness of her panties and mound against it told me I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not until things happened. I shifted my hips slightly, then kept rocking, more and more into it.

  She reached down, hand between her legs to move along my shaft then stroke the base.

  “Is this okay?” I asked.

  “You’re asking me?” She chuckled. “It feels good, just like this.”

  I imagined my cock was rubbing up against her clit, and I certainly wasn’t complaining.

  “What I meant, is… your mom, the others?” I moaned, gripping her breast instinctively.

  Her tail twitched against me, and I noticed she had stopped stroking.

  “Maybe we don’t mention her for the next couple of minutes?” Bloodsong turned to look over her shoulder at me. “If you mean to ask if she and the others have an issue… of course not. We’re good.”

  My response was a subtle, “Mmmm,” as she started moving her fingers along my cock again.

  Her ass was soft against me, my hips angled forward in a way to keep from pressing too hard against her tail. The added benefit was that the angle added more pressure to her clit, and she was moving her hips forward and back.

  “Close your eyes,” she said, “focus on the moment, and… oh… OH!” She was suddenly pressed up tight against me, rubbing furiously as she let out a slow moan, then had finished. She quickly took my cock in both hands, stroked furiously, and caught my cum in her hands.

  “Now you can get some good rest, “I imagine,” I said.

  She simply wiped my cum on the sheets in front of her, then brushed my hand from her breast and was lying there facing away from me again. What just happened?

  Not that it mattered. She’d had her fun, I’d had enough of mine, and she was right that it made sleep come much easier. Before I knew it, I was in dreamland, caught up in a flowing, flying love-making with Suiko floating us through the air. Bloodsong with her soft cheeks slamming against my hips, reaching back to slide my cock into her ass. It was too hot, so much so that I yelped in pain, to the point that I sat up in bed, awake.

  “Mmm,” Bloodsong asked, turning to me, eyes opening partially. “You okay?”

  “Weird dream is all,” I said, lying back down and closing my eyes.

  I wasn’t sure if the next part was reality or dream, as she said, “This might help,” then went under the blankets, tongue working its magic on my nether regions. If it was a dream, it was certainly a nice one. If reality, I’d have to remember to get her back. Then again, I looked forward to eating out that pussy cat either way.

  More moans sounded, but I woke up to find it wasn’t from my dreams or either of us. Bloodsong shifted, too, stretching and opening her eyes.

  “Suiko moaning like a ghost now, too?” she asked.

  I laughed until the moan came again. It didn’t sound right, and certainly wasn’t one of pleasure.

  “Let’s check it out,” I said, up and glanced at the sheets, frowning. “Also, let’s remember to get those cleaned.”

  “You think that’s my job?”

  “No, no. I didn’t say you should.” I was standing, giving her a hand to pull her up. Her nipples were practically poking through her shirt, panties still wet from just before our nap.

  She saw me looking and wrapped her arms around me, tongue along her lips. Then that moan came again, and this time I recognized the voice.

  “That’s Lizzy.”

  Bloodsong sighed, nodded, and led me out of there. Neither of us changed, and that was fine. We went into one of the other rooms and found Lizzy there, on her knees with her face buried in the bed. Ahlaksiz sat next to her, rubbing her back, meeting my gaze when I entered.

  “She’s not feeling well,” Ahlaksiz explained. She gave her daughter a frown but quickly refocused on Lizzy. “It might be… I mean, it doesn’t make sense, but…”

  Randi entered, slithering along with a tray of tea. Only one cup. She placed it down next to Lizzy on the bed, and slid up next to her, pulling the lady’s hair back from her face.

  “Pregnant.” Ahlaksiz eyed me, pursing her lips before saying, “In a strange way.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “That’s what it seems.”

  “Yours?” I asked Randi.

  Randi scoffed. “I might be able to make it seem like I got the parts, but they don’t work that way.”

  “Not anyone’s,” Lizzy said. “Can’t be.”

  “But if it is…” Ahlaksiz kept rubbing her back.

  “No. Aside from… recent events, I hadn’t since my last relationship, and that was…” She moaned again, holding up a hand, then gagged. “That was almost two years ago.”

  “It might not be,” I pointed out. “Seems too early to tell.”

  “Except, I know these things,” Ahlaksiz countered.

  “How?”

  She pointed at her nose. Okay, she could sense this stuff, even smell it? I had no idea what was happening, then. Some sort of monster or magic impregnation?

  “Excuse me,” I said, stepping out of there. I needed some fresh air, so went back into the main room and headed for the patio. Halfway there, I took the sheets off and threw them to the floor, more in frustration than I had thought, then slammed open the doors to the patio.

  To my surprise, Fiare was there, sitting in a chair and watching a movie on an iPad.

  “What…?” I started, totally caught off guard.

  “Hello, there,” Fiare said, handing me the iPad. “Yuki showed me this thing. It’s great, but I don’t know how to stop it.”

  I pressed pause, then saw she was watching Alice in Borderland, the Netflix show. One of my favorites.

  “Liking it?” I asked.

  She frowned. “It’s confusing. How much of it is real?”

  “Uh, none. I mean, there’s a place called Tokyo, where that story takes place, but all the game stuff is basically fake.”

  She nodded, eyeing the device like it was the weirdest thing she’d ever seen. Considering where she’d come from, that was a shock. If I got focused on all the oddities I’d seen lately, my mind would turn off as it got lost in those thoughts.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, clearly noticing I’d spaced out for a bit.

  “Yeah, stuff in there.” I turned to look back into the room, the other door still open. Another moan came from Lizzy.

  “I was out here, you know. When you went in for your nap.”

  “Oh…?”

  She grinned. “Was about to interrupt to scoot out, when I realized what was going on.”

  “So, you sat out here the whole time?”

  “Right.” She indicated the iPad. “I’d only just started, after all. It wasn’t so bad. Downside is, I can’t exactly show my thanks yet, considering.”

  I blinked, too distracted by Lizzy’s moans and the thought that she might be pregnant. As she saw this, she stood, heading for the door.

  “Listen,” I said, and she turned, waiting.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m glad you’re here with us. It’s going to be fun.”

  She grinned, putting a finger under her mouth and breathing out a small burst of flame as her wings spread and her tail swayed. “You bet we are.”

  16

  Ahlaksiz was on me in an instant, hands on my face and in my hair, eyes staring into mine. “You’re safe? You made it? Ferris, dammit, you had me worried.”

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, liking this new, worried side of her. “We’re doing what we can to keep Rumeloy safe.”

  “Right, but…” She took a step back, eyes wide. “Where did you hear that name?”

  “What? From a man we met out there, the guy who helped us to get back.”

  “A red cape?”

  “That’s… I think that’s right.”

  Her face was pale. “I knew him, but only from my dreams. Nothing more. He would come to me, tell me I had to secure the world known as Rumeloy, then show me…” Her hand went to her mouth, and she stumbled.

  “Mom,” Bloodsong said, going to her side and catching her.

  “It was you,” Ahlaksiz said, looking back up at me. “The dreams were so long ago. I didn’t put it together. But clearly, yes…”

  “What dreams?” I asked.

  “Visions, I should say, now that I know. Of you in a strange place, fighting to secure the passageway between worlds. For so long, I thought it was outlandish. That it was some crazy dream my mind had made up.”

  I stepped forward, taking her hand, and helping her to stand. “It was me, all along.”

  “That’s clear, now.” She stepped back, running her hands through her hair, then turned to the others. “You realize what this means, right?”

  “No…” Koharu said.

  “Everyone, can we breathe for a moment?” Amabie said. “I think we’re all a bit stressed about the fact that we were worried about several of our own.”

  “It’s more than that,” Ahlaksiz said. “I had gotten it into my head that we’d be able to figure all this out, maybe we’d be able to sort of settle down into this place, relax and…”

  “And what?” Bloodsong asked. “Live a normal life?”

  “It was a thought.”

  A scoff from her daughter. “Our kind, in a world like this? Not likely.”

  “Any world, I’d venture,” Milrae cut in. She growled, looking like she was going to get involved, but instead turned to me with wide, longing eyes. “Now that we’re back, can we please go get a burger and milkshake? I’ve been craving butterscotch since we left. And oh, the burger, with bacon and barbeque, please-please-please!”

  I almost laughed, except for the look from Ahlaksiz. With a deep breath, I said, “Here it is—plan time. We get those burgers, discuss the situation, and then be ready to rumble.”

  “You already have a plan?”

  “I have an idea. It’s all about STP. They’re key to all this.”

  The others looked at her anxiously, then to me. With a grin, I said, “Trust me, it’ll be fine.”

  “All of us?” Jericho asked, nodding at the setting sun. “Because… some of us have shit to do. No offense, burgers are awesome and all, but in addition to all this, I have an essay to write for IR Theory.”

  “As if that’ll take any effort on your part,” Steph said.

  He frowned. “I got the info down, doesn’t mean I’m great at writing it.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “The compound needs defense, anyway. And the Protector?”

  “He took off already. Said he had issues to check in on.”

  I nodded. “There you go. Burgers for us, sleep for Jericho, yeah?”

  “Deal,” Jericho said, but at a clearing of Steph’s throat, said, “Mind bringing something back for us?”

  “Consider it done.”

  Maybe I was tired and exhausted, but hell, at the moment I didn’t care. That burger sounded damn good, and honestly, a root beer would hit the spot. I was hoping they’d have those little bags of Doritos, too. We took more than one car this time, with Bloodsong at the wheel of the other. Hitting up our favorite spot, I was surprised to see Arturo and his six-armed friend arrive with their car.

  “You thought you could ditch me?” he asked.

  I laughed and indicated the woman. “Glad to see Sharice here.”

  “Shelice,” he corrected me, and grinned. “She’s amazing.”

  We put two tables together and got our food, and I had to stifle a laugh at the way Milrae scarfed down her meal, then went for another. Hamburger juice ran down her chin, a piece of bacon crunching in her teeth. Damn, she could even make that sexy.

  For a bit, as I munched on my burger and listened to Bloodsong tell us what had happened while we were gone, I could almost pretend we were just a bunch of friends and lovers gathered around a table enjoying their lives. No cares in the world. I envied people who could sit around and play video games and waste their days away simply trying to figure out what to do next with their time. That was so not my life. Then again, with another glance up and down the table, I was reminded why I’d choose my new life every day of the week.

  “We were seriously worried,” Bloodsong said. “I mean, you’d just gone through when we saw that ship there, and suddenly we were on the attack, but you were gone! And with three badass warrior ladies, along with Jericho and two of his.”

  “Aw, you think we’re badass?” Kinara said and blew her a kiss. “Aren’t you sweet.”

  Bloodsong frowned. “No. I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of that.”

  I chuckled, caught off guard with how serious she took being called “sweet.” A bit of food flew out to land on Milrae’s plate, opposite me. She gave me an arched eyebrow, picked it up with a claw, then licked that claw clean.

  “Dude, I was almost shitting myself,” Arturo was saying, eyeing me, and I realized I’d been spacing out.

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” I said, then motioned to the table. “Also, language.”

  “Oh, damn—I mean, dang. Sorry.”

  Others laughed and I joined. “Just messing with you. They don’t mind, except a couple of them.” I nodded at Ahlaksiz, then Amabie.

  Amabie looked up from her plate of lettuce and a pickle. “Hmm?”

  “You have enough to eat there?”

  She nodded. “Oh, yes. Actually, I’m not even sure I’ll eat it.”

  I nodded, explaining, “I was saying you’re maybe the only one here who is offended by swearing aside from Ahlaksiz.”

  “We’re ladies,” Ahlaksiz said, sitting straight and dabbing her lips with a napkin.

  “Fine by me,” Kinara countered, “because I’m a fucking monster.” At that, she finished off her extra rare burger.

  Arturo eyed the sight, then turned back to me and said, “The monster attacks, gargoyles and all that are scary, but they still don’t seem real.” He suddenly made a face, contorted, and put his hand on one of his new lady’s six arms. “Real, real. I mean, it’s like a dream. But when I saw my own kind coming in and attacking… I don’t know. Maybe I’ve just been raised to be more freaked out by the idea of cops and the like than monsters?”

  “I hear that,” I replied. When Bloodsong gave me a doubtful look, I explained, “You hear horror stories of real beings, and others that you don’t believe are real. Which is going to be scarier?”

  “If you’re freaked out by your own law enforcement, you’ve got a problem.”

  “I’m not saying we do or don’t, but some people abuse power. That’ll always be the case.” I took a bite of my pickle, trying to think of how to change the subject. The last thing I needed was a debate about cops with a cop of sorts, and hell, I didn’t even have an opinion on the matter.

  “All this serious talk,” Fiare said, leaning over the table in a way that caused her breasts to rest on her forearms, pushing up her cleavage nicely. “When are we heading back to the mansions?”

  I gulped, not missing her meaning in the slightest.

  Jalee leaned over to her sister, whispering but not quietly enough for us to not hear, “Maybe we all need to discuss a thing or two first.”

  “Before what?” Fiare said. “There’s a hunter here, yes? Loose in this world somewhere. Since I’m not linked—many of us, actually—we will be very susceptible.”

  Somehow, that had slipped my mind. Until they were claimed, or “linked” to someone through sex, they were easily traceable by the hunters. If one really was here, the head hunter bitch at that, we might have been sitting ducks.

  “A lot of monsters came through,” I pointed out, then shifted uneasily. “Not all were… female.”

  “So?” Fiare asked.

  This time, when Jalee whispered, it was quieter. Judging by the laugh Fiare replied with, then the humored way she looked at me, I could guess what she’d shared.

  “I’m not homophobic or anything,” I argued, “but there’s got to be another way to break the trace on them, right?”

  “Actually, Greg might be able to help there,” Ahlaksiz spoke up. “He was showing me some of the old STP gadgets, and new ones he is working on. He’s quite the tinkerer, and… I think there’s a reason the hunters might not have the trace. That reason being a fun little anti-GPS type toy.”

  “Except, we’re out here, eating,” I reminded her.