Rostrum

The four of us awakened just after daybreak and headed to the Tartarus. It looked pretty much the same as the first one, except for the fact that the church wasn't studying it due to the difficulty of reaching the location. Nevertheless, there was a rope ladder, just as there had been at the first site. Had someone been here? Had the white rabbit left it for us?

"I wish I'd kept that big gun," Sonya said as we descended the long rope ladder down into the hole.

"Since I can't use my power, we should all grab weapons if they are down there," I said. "assuming we can operate them."

Reaching the bottom, we found crates of firearms almost immediately. Or "makina" as the locals by Iliasville had called them. Unfortunately, these particular firearms didn't have an obvious way to fire them. There were no triggers, no buttons. There were ports, which made me assume that they were for use by machines of some sort. That didn't help us, however. Still, Alice grabbed one for her bottomless bag for later study.

Cautiously exploring, we found initially that the Tartarus looked pretty much the same as the first one. An advanced, if dilapidated facility. We must have explored for at least an hour and not run into any opposition. Then we discovered a forest.

"How the hell did a forest get here!?" Sonya asked.

"Dimensional displacement would be my bet," Ilias answered.

Alice sniffed and then licked one of the trees. "I don't recognize this species. These trees are alien."

"I guess I don't have to tell you all to keep an eye out for anything alien that moves around," I warned.

I certainly did not. All four of us were on edge, ready for anything. Yet we encountered nothing, exiting the facility through another dimensional door and into…. Remina again?

"How did Remina get here too?" Ilias wondered. "It feels different here. Is this a different Remina from the one we saw before?"

"It must be," I said. "There aren't any people here and it looks more decayed than the last version."

"There's someone over there," Sonya said, pointing in the distance. Sure enough, there was someone there, a short girl with glasses. The girl spotted us at the same time and ran into a nearby house.

"Now that's different," I said. "The last time someone here reacted to us they changed into one of those apop… apip. Dangit…"

"Apoptosis," Ilias corrected. "And I think I know that girl and why she hasn't been changed."

"Really? We'd better go check it out then. She might need our help."

"Oh, if that's who I think it is, she's going to need help all right," Ilias growled.

We cautiously approached the door of the house. I opened the door cautiously and stepped into the house. The girl was there, and our eyes met. I recognized her instantly.

"Promestein," I breathed.

"Promestein!" Ilias growled.

"Who?" Alice asked.

I rushed forward and embraced Promestein, who stared at me as I approached, but didn't run. She didn't return my embrace, either.

"Do I know you?" she asked, seeming less afraid than confused.

I pulled away and took a closer look at my old…. Er… friend? I guess I'd never quite figured that out. I already knew she couldn't be my Promestein and taking a good look at her it was obvious that she was not. She was younger looking, barely an adult, or possibly a teen, although given the fact that she was an angel that would have been misleading.

"It's… hard to explain," I stammered. Ugh, that line again. Still, if anyone could understand, it would be her.

"I would definitely remember if I'd met you before," Promestein said. "I don't forget much. Are you from another dimension where a variant of me exists and you knew that version of me?"

Oh, was I happy to see her! She figured things out so quickly!

"Yes, that's exactly it! I knew a version of you who helped me with problems of a scientific nature quite a few times. I can't tell you how amazing it is to find you here! We're in big trouble and we need your mind on this problem."

"As if we could trust her!" Ilias yelled. "I don't know what the Promstein you knew was like, but you've told me that people don't change from universe to universe. She'll turn on us when we need her most."

"Excuse me, who are you?" Promestein asked.

"How can you not recognize me!" Ilias exclaimed. "I may be little, but it should be obvious who I am!"

"Are you a younger version of Mariel? You look a lot like Mariel."

"Mariel's beauty is nothing compared to mine! How dare you insult your goddess!"

"Goddess? Oh…. Wow. What happened to you?"

"You know very well what happened to - wait, you wouldn't know, would you? Oh. Never mind."

"Okay, would someone explain to me what is going on here?" Sonya asked impatiently.

"I'd like to know as well," Alice added. "I can tell this is an angel. A lowly one at that. How did you get here and why is there a debate on your trustworthiness?"

"I got here doing an experiment," Promestein answered. "I was studying how to combine holy and dark energies when I got sucked into a portal which trapped me here."

"Wait, are you saying you caused this thing?" I asked.

"No, no! Definitely not! What I was studying was on too small a scale."

"Well, you're rescued now, Promestein. We need you badly. Something is causing all of these dimensional rifts and we need to know what and how to fix it. Not just one universe, but many, might be in danger."

"I surmised as much," Promestein replied. "But how did you get here? Were all of you doing experiments too?"

"This human here has the power to open dimension doors," Ilias interjected. "Something even I can't do! How did he get that power?"

"Really? A human can do that? May I remove your frontal lobe and study it?"

"My frontal lobe?" I asked, uncomprehending.

"She means you're brain, idiot," Alice said.

"Oh! That lobe! No, you can't have part of my brain, Promestein."

"But someone of your intelligence would barely miss it," Promestein insisted.

"You're not dissecting Luka's brain!" Sonya exclaimed.

"I would only dissect part of it."

"No dissection, no vivisection, no sectioning of any sort!" I exclaimed. "First step is to get you out of here. How long have you been stuck here?"

"A little less than two hundred years," Promestein replied, as if discussing the price of milk at the supermarket.

"Two hundred-!" Sonya started.

"I've been studying this place to pass the time. I'm afraid I haven't made much progress. As you can see, I don't have much of a lab here, and I ran out of specimens over a century ago."

"Is that why we didn't encounter any of those…those….." I asked.

"Apoptosis, Luka," Ilias said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, those. Did you destroy them all?"

"Some I destroyed in self defense," Promestein confirmed. "Others I captured and experimented on. Eventually this place ran out of raw material to attack me with. I guess you could say that I'm a virus that defeated this place's immune system. So where will you be taking me? Are we going to visit alternate dimensions?"

"We were on our way to one in particular," I answered. "So grab whatever you can carry and we'll be on our way. I can't say enough how glad I am that we found you, Promestein. I have high hopes that we'll be successful with you on our team."

"If she doesn't stab us in the back," Ilias grumbled.

"And if she doesn't dissect your brain!" Sonya reminded me.

I almost admired Promestein for not even rebutting their allegations against her. In all the time I'd known her, she had never technically deceived me. She had always been up front about who she was and how much I could trust her, and actually criticized me many times for trusting her despite her warnings. That being said, she never did truly betray me. She manipulated me, hurt me, and risked my life for her own purposes, but never a true betrayal. I'm sure many of you have had worse friends than Promestein.

The young(or at least young looking) angel scientist began quickly throwing things into a duffel bag. While I waited for her, I browsed the small house. She'd created a nice little space for herself in the house, albeit a cluttered space. I'd always wondered how people with such organized minds often had such disorganized living and working areas. Maybe it was my own simplicity that made it easy for me to keep my own spaces neat and clean.

Promestein finished quickly and pronounced herself ready to go. I took another moment to take in her different appearance. She was younger, to be certain, but not nearly as young looking as Alice and Ilias in their sealed forms. I would have estimated her to be in the sixteen to twenty range if I'd met her on Earth. Rather than the unruly straight brown hair that she'd maintained, or not bothered to maintain, when I knew her, her hair was neatly groomed and kept in a ponytail. There was also more of a brightness, a spark, within her, rather than the sardonic coolness of her later life. Given that her reaction to Ilias was not as negative as Ilias' was to her, this must have been before she developed a hatred for the goddess. I also noticed a teddy bear on a table that she had not placed in the duffel bag.

"Is that bear yours?" I asked.

"Um… yes," Promestein replied. "That's helper bear, my pretend lab assistant. I was alone for two hundred years so I required someone to talk to in order to maintain my language skills. It has no value to me anymore since I'm leaving with you."

"Let's take Helper Bear," I said, picking the teddy up. "This little guy was your only companion for two hundred years. I know you aren't very sentimental, but I think it would be good for you to bring him along."

I smiled, because I could see the look of longing on Promestein's face. Had she decided to leave the bear because she thought it would be too ridiculous to pack it while we were watching? There was a soul in that body, and I decided it would be quite rewarding to make Promestein embrace It a second time around.

"Well…. If you really think it has value, I'll bring it. Not because I want to or anything. I mean… that would be immature, and I'm hundreds of years old."

She quickly snatched it and placed it in the duffel bag, then hurriedly tied it shut, as if hoping that we'd all forget the whole thing and never mention it again.

Leaving her house, we strode through the abandoned city fairly confidently, now knowing that there was unlikely to be any opposition. After a few miles of walking the city streets, we found ourselves without transition in subspace again.

"Another spacetime rift," Alice noted. "I wonder where this one leads?"

"We've left the town without a doubt," Promestein observed. "It appears that you can even take others to and from isolated areas of spacetime. The last time I walked down that street, I ended up right back where I'd started."

"I just hope it isn't as horrible as the last one," Sonya fretted.

"Speaking for myself, I'm giddy with excitement to see what kind of world awaits us!" Promestein said, demonstrating her enthusiasm with a thin smile and a monotone.

As before, we emerged back into the facility, but in reverse. We made our way to where we'd entered the Tartarus and climbed up the ladder. I was optimistic, but didn't want to sound too hopeful, as things can always be worse. But I'd done this a few times, and knew that not every world you encountered was a hellscape. I'd seen paradises as well. What I saw when I was the first to emerge from the hole was pretty nice, actually. It was a forest.

"Okay, this is a good start," I said, as I waited for the others to climb out of the Tartarus. "We've got trees, fresh grass, smells nice. None of that sense of oppressiveness that we saw on the last world."

"I don't sense any danger," Alice said. "So that's a plus. Still, we need to be on alert."

"Yes," Ilias agreed. "While our senses are superior to a human's, this is an alien world. There could be dangers that we can't detect, or even imagine."

"I'm so excited!" Promestein said, her enthusiasm becoming slightly more apparent, as I actually saw teeth in her smile. "I'm going to collect some samples of the local plant and insect life!"

Not only was there plant life, which Promestein eagerly took samples of, but also intelligent life. A few curious rabbit girls waved to us, not seeming to have a care in the world. An excellent sign, which made Sonya visibly relax. A wolf girl observed us from behind a tree, which was somewhat more concerning, but also entirely normal.

We walked two hours to the nearest village, which was Rostrum, not sure what we would find. Being a sort of expert on alternate worlds, I made a playful bet with Sonya that we'd find Rostrum thriving and intact. Sonya was optimistic, but took the bet anyway, although she feared that with a Tartarus so close to it, it would probably have met the same fate.

I won. We entered Rostrum to find life going on as if there was nothing at all to worry about. I sighed with relief. This was the definitive proof that everything was fine. We had not entered another hellscape.

"I don't think this is an alternate world," Ilias said out of nowhere.

"I don't understand," I replied, waving hello to a friendly villager.

"I'm a master of spacetime, as I'm sure you know. Aside from the oppressive nature of the last world we were in, I felt the alienness of it as well. This doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like the world we just came from. I think we're in the past."

"We've time traveled?!" Promestein said excitedly. "This is the best day of my entire life!"

That time the smile had actually reached her eyes. "No dissecting anyone," I said, only half joking. You never knew with her.

"Marcellus!" a young villager shouted, getting my attention. "Hey, welcome back! What brings you here this time?"

"Who?" I asked, puzzled.

"Marcellus! Man, you look different every time I see you. Did you shrink?"

Now I'd like to remind everyone reading this that I'm not actually short. I'm almost six feet tall. So if this Marcellus was even taller than me, he must be one big dude. But who was Marcellus again? That name was important, but I couldn't remember why.

"Luka looks a lot like his father," Sonya said, reminding me who Marcellus was.

"Father?!" the youth stammered. "Marcellus looked way too young to have a kid your age! The resemblance is uncanny."

"Excuse me," Promestein interjected. "What year is it?"

"What a strange question," the youth replied. "It's the year 1430."

"Twenty-five years in the past then," Alice mused. "That would have been about the time your father went adventuring."

"When was Marcellus last here?" Ilias asked.

"The first time was about a month ago," the youth answered. "He had three companions with him, and it seemed like he was a promising young hero. We saw him again a week later. He was alone then and seemed like a completely different person."

"A different person?" I asked. "In what way?"

"He just seemed haunted by demons. As if he'd been through hell and back. It was so weird. What could have happened in one week to do that to a man?"

I thanked the youth and continued exploring the village, politely chatting with residents, many of whom also wondered if I might be Marcellus. I began to grow excited. Our first trip to a Tartarus had shown us a nightmare. This one had been all good news. I'd found Promestein, or at least some variant of her, and we'd found our first real clue as to the whereabouts of Luka's father. One particular villager had some more information.

"I wonder if exploring those Taratarus rifts did that to him?" the older villager wondered.

"Marcellus was exploring the Tartaruses?" Ilias mused. "I wonder why he was doing that?"

"Excuse me, sir," Sonya interjected. "It's not that important and I feel awkward for asking, but what was the female priestess that he was with like?"

"Oh wow," the man replied. "Let's just say her clothes didn't leave much to the imagination."

Judging by Sonya's reaction, it was clearly not what she wanted to hear. But the man did have something we definitely needed to hear.

"The last time he was here he spent quite a bit of time talking to the village chief," the villager said. "His house is right over there if you want to ask him."

I thanked the man and we strolled over to the village chief's home. The door was answered by a kindly looking old lady who bade us enter. The village chief was an old, grizzled fellow who squinted and looked at me closely.

"Oh, is that you again, Marcellus?" he asked. "You seem quite different once again… wait, you're not him. Quite a resemblance. His son, perhaps?"

The old man may have had poor eyesight, but he'd figured out that I wasn't Marcellus much faster than the other villagers. He had evidently been well chosen to be chief. The chief invited us all to sit while his wife fetched us refreshments.

"So how have things been here in Rostrum?" I asked.

"Weird since that rift showed up," the chief replied. "Our crops are bigger though, so it's not all bad."

"Egbert only sees that the fruits and veggies are huge and so they fill his belly," his wife chuckled, handing us glasses of fresh juice. "I'm the one that has to make sure they are safe to eat. And not all of them are."

"Strange fruits and vegetables, you say?" Promestein asked with interest. "I'll have to collect some samples."

"So what brings you to our little village, young man?" the chief asked. "Looking for your father, I assume?"

"Yes," I replied. "What can you tell me about him? Do you know where he went the last time he left Rostrum?"

"I'll never forget that day. He knocked on my door, looking like he'd seen Armageddon. We talked about Tartarus and the recent odd events. He was especially interested in all the earthquakes we'd been experiencing."

"There's been an increase in seismic activity?" Promestein asked.

"I'm sorry, young lady, I'm not terribly well read. What did you just ask me?"

"About the earthquakes. You said there have been more. Have you collected any data?"

"We're a simple village, miss. All we know is that the ground shakes more. But that reminds me that Marcellus did warn us that we were in danger. Said we had to leave the village in a few years."

"Fascinating," Ilias said. "That means he came here, at least the second time, exactly the same way we did. So he knows."

"Oh!" the chief said suddenly. "Marcellus left a letter with me. He wanted me to deliver it to an acquaintance of his if he ever showed up here. Some guy named Luka."

"But Luka wasn't born yet!" Sonya objected.

"It's not clear at what point he actually entered Tartarus," Alice noted. "But it clearly happened, so best not to think about it too hard. Leave that to our new friend."

"I'm already calculating the dizzying possibilities in my mind!" Promestein giggled, excited to finally have so many new things to study. "The most likely is that the first Marcellus was from this time, but the second was from our time."

"I'm Luka," I said. "Could I see the letter?"

"Oh, I thought you might be!" the chief said. "Let me go get it for you."

The chief left and came back a minute later with an envelope. I opened it and read aloud to my companions.

"To my son, Luka," it read. "If you're reading this letter, it means that I haven't returned to Iliasville. Most likely, Lucifina isn't with you anymore either. If she were, she'd never allow you to leave on an adventure. Please forgive your parents for not being there for you at such a crucial stage in your life. Seek Micaela's help, Luka. She lives in the hidden village of Enrika, deep inside the Lost Woods. Micaela should be able to help you, if anyone can."

"Micaela," Ilias breathed.

The letter continued, "I'm determined to drive out the darkness that's covering the entire world. Go to Micaela and protect your world. Know that I'm proud of you for making it this far."

"Do you know this Micaela person, Ilias?" Sonya asked.

"She was one of my Seraphs," Ilias explained. "She fell from grace. We haven't spoken in some time. I was hoping we wouldn't encounter her."

"Is she evil now?" Sonya asked.

"I know Micaela," I interrupted. "Ilias' side of the story is substantially different from Micaela's. We can trust her."

"Perhaps you can," Ilias countered. "But if she sees me in this state she might attack me. I need your promise to protect me if that happens, Luka."

"Micaela is a Seraph, Ilias. In my current state, unable to access my full power, I'd have no chance against her. I'm sure I can reason with her. I doubt she'll even attack you."

"Let's hope not. If she were to unleash the Sword of the Heavens on Me…. "

I had what I needed, so decided it was time to head back. As we left the village, Sonya had more questions.

"There's a village called Enrika in the Lost Woods?" she asked. "I was told all my life never to go into those woods. I'd been told there were incredibly dangerous monsters in there."

"There are," I said. "Elves. Some of the most lethal monsters around, but not killers unless provoked."

"The Lost Woods are really close to Iliasville. It's hard to believe that we came this far east, only to be going back near home again."

"Well, if we find Micaela and she'll help us, things are going to be looking up. Finding Promestein is a huge win for us. Finding Micaela too… that would be extremely helpful."

"So we're going back to your time!?" Promestein asked excitedly. "This is so amazing!"

She was almost jumping up and down. I waited for her to collect some samples of the local crops, then I gathered everyone together.

"Okay, guys, do we want to try to teleport back to Iliasville again?" I asked. "There was no danger, so we can take the long way back if you prefer."

"No, we really should get used to using your power together," Alice said. "So let's all join hands. Since you did such a good job of teleporting us last time, we'll let you drive. But not Iliasville. Remember, the Pocket Castle? Just imagine yourself back there."

Oh yeah, duh, I thought. With one hand, I took Alice's, and another Ilias'. Sonya held hands with Ilias, and Promestein with Sonya. As soon as my hands made contact with both Alice and Ilias, I felt my power again. I reached for it and closed my eyes, imagining myself back in the castle.

We made it back to the Pocket Castle with no issues. The automated maid wasn't even alarmed by our sudden appearance, although I imagined she shouldn't be. Lime on the other hand, became momentarily physically incoherent, so badly did we startle her. She was thrilled to see us back, however, embracing me in a very slimy hug, which caused my penis to respond.

"So, who am I feeding today?" I asked Alice, since I was ready to go.

"How should I know, idiot?" Alice responded. "That's between you and our guests. It's not as if I'm keeping a schedule."

"Monster Lord, is there a lab here?" Promestein asked.

"Not a functioning one, no," Alice answered, causing Promestein to sag a little. "This is just a replica of the Monster Lord's Castle, not the real thing. But I can tell you where to find a room that's been used as a lab in the past. Just go to the library, which is that way, and then down the stairs to the library's basement."

"Excellent, and thank you," Promestein said gratefully. "I want to get to work learning as much as I can."

"Be sure to get rest when you're tired," I called after her as she quickly left. She gave me a strange look in response. "Oh! And dinner is in one hour!"

"Not hungry!" the scientist called back.

I made dinner, which went over wonderfully as usual. If our party got any larger, I'd need assistance in the kitchen. I supposed that I could have the automated maids assist with some things without reducing the quality of my work too much. Alice briefed everyone on what we saw in the second Tartarus, although you had to be listening closely at times because her mouth was always full. And not every monster listened. The harpies were very attentive, but the rest of the monsters didn't seem all that interested.

Before I retired, I needed to find a monster to feed. For their own good, of course. Even though my dick was still hard from Lime's hug. Speaking of which, I hadn't fed Lime yet. I tracked her down and found her hanging with the imps.

"Hey, Lime, are you hungry?" I asked innocently.

"Nope," the slime replied. "Already ate. Thanks for bringing those men here, by the way. Very tasty."

"Oh," I said, nonplussed. "How about you imps?"

"We ate too," was Rami's reply. "We don't mind pleasing you if that's what you want. You're a lot of fun."

"No, it's… okay. I just want to make sure everyone's eaten."

The next monster I encountered was Pig. She had a similar response, telling me in graphic detail how she had forced one of the men to have sex with her, in several different positions. Judging from her story, it didn't sound like she had forced him at all, although I'd have to ask later to make sure the men weren't being raped by the monsters.

Pochi and the harpies in the courtyard had recently eaten, but I asked anyway. Pochi was always eager to please and offered some of her special licking. The harpies, who had developed a genuine affection for me, went so far as to offer their pussies, which was flattering, but something in me felt guilty about just having recreational sex with our companions. Unless it was Alice.

Ratty had also eaten, but as with the other monsters was willing to please me since I was her friend and all. I was actually more tempted by her than anyone else, because she had taken a liking to joining the men in the showers for some fun times and she was looking and smelling a lot cleaner as a result. Except for those scary teeth, she was quite pretty.

While I was a bit horny, I decided to be relieved that I could just go to bed. If my horniness prevented me from sleeping, I knew that I could come back out anytime in the next two hours and find a partner. With a satisfied sigh, I climbed into my ultra comfortable bed and closed my eyes.

I don't know how long I had been asleep, but I awoke instantly when I heard the door slowly creek open. Alice? No, not Alice. In the dark, the only thing I could make out clearly were the telltale ears of Ratty.

"Oh, hey, Ratty," I greeted her. "What brings you here?"

"Hungry," she replied in her squeaky voice.

"Needed a midnight snack?" I laughed. "All right, come join me under the covers and do what you want with me. But if you're coming to me in my room, there's a rule."

"What rule?" she asked suspiciously.

"The rule is that if you take me in my own room, you have to stay and cuddle with me for the night."

"Deal," she said happily, lifting my blanket and crawling under it.

I felt her settle in between my legs. I was already naked, as I slept naked when I was indoors. I felt her sniff my penis and lick it tentatively.

"Careful, Ratty," I said. "You have sharp teeth. I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"I'll be careful," she replied, and then began lightly sucking on the head. I was surprised at how good it felt. Her lips had looked a little thin. Must be the magic, I thought, giving me the impression of fuller, softer lips.

She explored my dick with the tip of her tongue, little licks here, small kisses there, then some attention to the head. She seemed tentative, as if inexperienced. I wasn't terribly surprised. I doubted many men asked her to do this given how scary and unattractive her mouth looked. Still, I knew monsters loved to eat this way more than any other, at least most of them did.

"Is it good?" she asked.

"Very," I half lied. Actually, it was barely getting my attention. It was enough to get me hard, but she'd be at it all day if she didn't get serious. This was starting to feel a lot less like eating and a lot more like lovemaking. I decided to help her out.

"The spot just under the head on the underside is my happy place," I suggested.

"Oh, here?" she asked and gave the area a big lick, causing me to arch my back and moan in response.

Placing my dick in her mouth, I felt her tongue explore that area more. The combination of not being able to see what she was doing, along with the randomness of her movements, increased my excitement. Growing more confident, she went a little deeper and began bobbing up and down. I stiffened when I felt teeth, knowing how jagged and sharp her teeth were. Thanks to her magic, however, it caused no pain. Actually, I felt no jaggedness at all. Perhaps her teeth in the back were more human-like. It made sense. Front teeth were for biting into and tearing food, but in back they'd be for chewing and shouldn't be much different from a human's.

She began to add some light suction to her technique, although it was still clumsy. She was trying to do too much at once, moving her tongue around, bobbing up and down, and sucking hard at the same time, all while trying to keep her teeth out of the way. Nevertheless, I was horny, so it was working very nicely for me. She must have decided that it was time for me to ejaculate, because she started using a hand as well.

A few minutes later, I came into her warm mouth. She must have been surprised, because she pulled away and began sputtering and coughing. But I heard her gulp down what she had in her mouth . "Mmmmm…. Delicious?" she said tentatively. "Water, please?"

I grabbed a glass of water from my bedside and lifted the blanket to hand it to her. She accepted it gratefully and drank deeply. Satisfied, she handed it back. As I placed the empty glass back on the night stand, I felt her move up. I looked to find her face to face with me. She kissed me deeply, her tongue exploring my mouth. I expected it to be disgusting, but her breath smelled fantastic. She must have made herself fresh for me. How thoughtful.

I felt her reach for my penis and place it at the entrance to her vagina. Without waiting, she lowered herself onto me. I was surprised at the tightness. It didn't feel anything like the first time with Ratty. Before, it had felt obviously slimy and unwashed. Now it felt fresh and pure. Ratty had really outdone herself.

Her warm breath caressed my face as she slowly moved. It felt a little strange. Normally I was ready to go several times with a monster, but I was feeling as if it might actually be difficult for me to orgasm a second time. Maybe I wasn't as horny as I thought? I let her keep pleasuring me with her body for awhile. Her breasts got close to my face and I sucked lightly on the nipple. Her response was enthusiastic, pressing my face down hard on her chest. She must have shaved as well for me, because I felt none of the coarse body hair that she normally sported.

We continued like that for about fifteen minutes and I was definitely getting into it again. Still, this would take forever if I let her keep going like she was, so I decided to take control, something I rarely did. I turned her over onto her back and began controlling the pace, pushing into her slowly but all the way. She moaned in pleasure as I reached the deepest parts of her. I gave more attention to her breasts, since she seemed to like that. It occurred to me that this had gone far beyond a mere feeding. I'd have to make sure things didn't get weird between us later. Monsters normally didn't get weird about sex, in fact they tended to get weird if you DIDN'T have sex with them, but this felt different to me somehow.

"Faster, Luka!" she pleaded. "Harder! I want to feel all of you!"

I obeyed, pumping as hard and as fast as I could, trying to climax, but also hoping that I could get her to achieve orgasm as well. I missed having my power. I would have imitated monster magic so that I could make it even better for her. Still, I had centuries of practice, so was a lot more confident in my abilities than I had once been. My experience paid off as I felt her nails in my back and heard her throaty cry of ecstasy. I had expected loud squeaking, but I guessed that she must have been in the throes of passion.

I hadn't come a second time yet, but I slid off of her anyway, deciding to let her finish me another way, or not at all if she was tired. She looked spent, which boosted my ego considerably. Monsters usually went to great lengths to pretend that I was no big deal, even the ones I was married to, because they enjoyed being dominant.

After a few minutes of listening to her heavy breathing subside, I decided to just put my arms around her and go to sleep. She snuggled into me. So she was sated after just a little bit of semen? I would definitely have to be careful with Ratty. If she was getting overly attached, that could be a problem. With those thoughts on my mind, I soon fell asleep.

I awakened with last night's lover still cuddled up with me. I smiled, looking at the back of her head in the morning light. That's when I noticed that she didn't have rat's ears, and her hair was short and brown. I sat up and looked at her sleeping face. Sonya!

I decided not to make a scene and startle her awake. Instead, I gently shook her. She moaned and smiled, then her eyes popped open and she looked at me with alarm.

"Luka!" she exclaimed. "Oh, crap! I overslept! I was going to leave before you awakened!"

"Well, I'm glad you admitted that you were deceiving me," I said, then reached under the covers and found what I was looking for. "Really, Sonya? Fake mouse ears?"

"I'm sorry, Luka!" she sobbed. "I just…. I just wanted to be able to feel you. To know what your touch was like."

"What my touch was like, or your Luka's?"

"M-My Luka's," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I felt that I could do whatever I wanted with you without it getting all serious. I would never have had the nerve to approach my Luka that way. Are you mad?"

"No, I'm not mad," I said gently. "You were wonderful last night. You didn't have to deceive me. But I worry if that was a good thing for you to do, for your own sake. Shouldn't your first experience with this body been with the man you actually love?"

"You assume that I actually have a chance with him."

"I told you Luka loves you, Sonya-"

"Not that way! He thinks of me as a big sister! I'm sorry, I just had to feel him, in case I never get the chance when he comes back!"

I reached for her and hugged her close. "It's okay, it's all right," I soothed. "Just… I hope that you are all right with what you did. You can never have that first time with Luka again. It won't be as special."

"I strongly disagree," she chuckled, her tears beginning to dry. "and boy, you're easy to fool!"

She grabbed a pillow and hit me with it playfully. I wasn't sure how I felt about what had happened, but I was at least glad that Sonya seemed to be mostly all right.