Introducing the H-space Monster Girl Bestiary

...or as it will more likely be known—the really really grimdark book of sexy monster girls.

I like creating weird and wonderful monsters.  I’ve always wanted to create a monster bestiary.  This year I decided to start putting one together.  Kenkou Cross’s Monster Girl Encyclopedia is incredibly popular online after all.  I’m envisioning the H-space Monster Girl Bestiary (which we’ll abbreviate to MGB from here on—that combination of letters is still unused as far as I’m aware) as a sort of Western equivalent, with a heavy emphasis on sort of.

KC’s MGE is excellent.  As is Monster Girl Quest and Okayado’s Everyday MonsterGirls (known as Monster Musume in the West).  What I don’t want to do is simply copy them.  Yeah, I’d be creating something that was in English, but it’s not as if those works aren’t heavily translated already.   I already have my own slant on sexy monster girls and succubi in my fiction, so it would make sense to draw on that.  My take will likely be a little darker.  I’ve seen criticisms pop up on monster girl discussion threads from time to time that the MGE and EMG universes can be a little too light and fluffy.  Some people like their bad girls and bad ends to be bad.  Well that’s something I can do!

(As an aside, there is no ‘right’ interpretation here.  Some people like their sexy, evil demonesses sexy and evil, and others like their cute monster girls to take them home for Sexy-Snu-Snu Ever After.  Both are fine.  The MGE (mostly) does the latter.  For the MGB I thought I’d do the former.)

(As another aside.  If someone likes one of the H-space monster girls, but would rather they didn’t do the awful things that will inevitably happen in the final paragraph, feel free to imagine—or even write fiction about—them doing nicer things instead.  I don’t really care much for arguments on what is or isn’t canon.  I’ll probably be writing about the deliciously twisted and evil ones because horror-head needs to be let out of his cage to play now and again, but that doesn’t mean the nicer ones don’t exist.  Have fun however you see fit.)

(Which brings me to the last silly aside.  I’d love to see people have fun with this.  Both MGE and MGQ have generated tons of fanart and fanfiction all over the internet.  I’m hoping my H-space Monster Girl Bestiary will give those communities some new toys to play with.  Of course, this is also up to me to create toys people want to play with!)

What form will this take?

A short short story (1000-1500ish words) of the sexy (maybe) monster girl doing her ‘thing’ followed by a short profile summarising what she looks like and what her ‘thing’ is.  The plan is for a new one every week.  If I get behind, or find I need a breather, I’ve got a few pre-existing H-space stories I can create profiles from.  Or post fragments from if the story happens to be one of my eBook exclusives (expect much shilling of my own books those weeks – horror-erotica writers, even the crazy ones, gotta eat).

So no artwork?

Nope, sadly.  My art skills have atrophied to point of uselessness.  The short stories will give detailed (and extremely graphic!) scenes of the monster girls in action, but I know they won’t have the immediacy or going-viral potential of sexy illustrations.  Creators have to stick to their strengths and mine is words rather than line and ink.  Actually, I’m kind of hoping this takes off enough for people to start rattling off their own fanart, but again that’s largely down to me coming up with designs that fire people’s imaginations.  (to be honest, I’ve not got a good track record here—the only artwork I’ve ever seen related to my work was a fairly bad picture of Verdé, and the artist only did it because they thought the author was someone else.  sigh).

It’s not all doom’n’gloom.  If the bestiary is going well and I get a good royalty cheque one month I might see if I can get some artwork commissioned to see if that will help with promotion.

Why H-space?

H-space is my goto setting if I want to write about something too weird to fit in a conventional modern day setting.  It didn’t start off as my first choice.  I knew I wanted to write a series of super shorts about various weird and sexy monster girls.  One idea was to create a brand new story setting using a character I’d created for a forthcoming Sandwiched by story (I haven’t forgotten about that series).  Then I thought about setting it in a generic fantasy world with the plan of maybe incorporating it into a game idea.  In fact, the story coming out tomorrow had a different protagonist at one point.  I didn’t like this as I wanted something to distinguish it from the fantasy settings used in the MGE and almost every monster girl RPG.

(Again, no criticism of these settings.  I just didn’t want to do the same re-tread as everyone else.)

H-space seemed like the best fit for new weird and sexy monster girls.  I’ve already used it a few times in previous stories.  Those stories tend to be a little darker than my other tales and after seeing comments from people wanting to see badder Bad End monster girls I thought there was a good opportunity to do something slightly different to the existing popular monster girl universes, and that H-space would be a good setting to use.  Plus, I really like my horror and this seemed like a chance to let horror-head out of the cage to create some crazy shit.

Setting it in H-space also opens up the possibility of a few sneaky continuity tricks.  These might be short short stories, but there will still be hints of a larger story arc, exactly the same as what some of you might have spotted with my other fiction.

Why not the Succubus Summoning universe?

I was three stories in when the same question occurred to me.  This project could just have as easily been Ye Olde Magikal Grimoire of Monster Girls of Questionable Morality.  Maybe that’s something we’ll see next year after I’ve got the Succubus Summoning series back on track again (It.  Will.  Happen.  I fucked up the end of 2014 and fucked up 2015.  2016 is NOT going to go the same way.)

Obviously, that will be lighter and fluffi... wait... the daemons eat the students fairly regularly in that universe as well.  Funnier, maybe...?

(and there’s the potential to play even more games with continuity, especially when some of the monster girls start to look a little familiar... ;) )

Is this going to affect your other writing?

Not really.  The stories and profiles are short enough to slot in alongside whatever bigger projects I’m working on at the time.  Actually, because the short stories are so short, they make great ‘breather’ activities for those times when I need to take a break from banging my head against the wall trying to make a bigger story/novella/novel work.

They also serve as a useful extension of my ideas file.  There’s been a lot of times over the past years when the idea for a hawt monster girl sex scene has come to me, but I haven’t had a chance to write it down either because the rest of the story idea hasn’t fallen into place, or I was too busy writing something else.  Then the idea ends up being forgotten, or I’ll jot it down as a series of notes and then come back to them three years later and be unable to recall the initial hawtness that made me want to write the story in the first place.

Writing a thousand or so words is still a relatively low investment and is a much better way of preserving the original idea.  I can then reuse them at a later date as part of a more fleshed out story or chapter.

Will this be another one of those hare-brained schemes that fizzle out in a week or so?

Yeah, fair comment, 2015 was not the best on that front.

The H-space MGB will be a little more robust.  For starters, I already have a few stories stocked up.  Originally I wanted to copy a challenge of writing a story a day for a month as I’d seen MGExaminer do it on the MGU forum and it seemed like fun.  I had a few ideas and hammered out five in one week over the Christmas break.  Since then I’ve been writing a few more here and there whenever something else has stalled.  I have a buffer and keeping to a much more manageable weekly schedule (rather than attempting the daily schedule madness that wrecked me for parts of last year) should make it easier for this to settle into a regular feature.

This, of course, is dependent on the H-space Bestiary being good.  Some ideas might seem good at the time, but they don’t always pan out.  If it’s not working out and the interest isn’t there, I’ll give the thing a quiet burial and move on.

(Although I’ll probably keep writing the scene fragments for my ideas file.  I’m amazed I didn’t think of doing it this way sooner.)

Anyway, there’s your introduction to the H-space Monster Girl Bestiary.  If you have any further questions, stick ‘em in the comments below.

The first story will be posted tomorrow and the profile will follow on Friday.

(and to answer one question I know plenty of people want to ask.  I’m still trying with the next chapter of Succubus Summoning.  After the various fuck ups of 2014 and 2015 I’m not going to get people’s hopes up until I actually get something written down.  I’ll let you know as soon as I break through that block and get Phil’s adventures restarted again.)

A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar, part 8

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7


“No, but I do.”

The voice came out of the corner of the room.  Devin looked over and saw there was another devil woman in the room.  She was casually sitting in his chair and watching them.  If anything, she looked even more devilish—more intimidating—than Boo.  Her skin was vampire-pale and she was clothed from head to foot in black leather.  She wore stylish, kinky black boots with high stiletto heels.  Her equally stylish black gloves extended back to her elbows.  A gothic black leather corset was cinched tightly around her waist and emphasised her large bust.  The top of her bosom was uncovered and her deep cleavage was displayed to devastating effect.  The overall appearance was somewhere between up-market dominatrix and kinky torturess.  Devin didn’t know how she’d entered the room.  It was as if she’d coalesced out of the darkness.

“N-n-nÿte?”  Boo seemed to know who she was and also seemed a little afraid of her.

So was Devin.  The new demoness had black horns and eyes like empty black pits.  She radiated a palpable aura of dread.  Devin saw she had a wicked-looking whip coiled up in her hands.  It did not look like a sex toy.

“What are you doing here?”  Boo recovered her composure a little.

“Carnivrillarofax thought this might happen.  He asked me to stop by and check in.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Boo said.  “You’re too late.  He’s already spilled his seed inside me.  That makes him my claim.  You know the rules.”

Her vagina contracted around Devin’s cock, holding him tight within her.

“Those aren’t really rules,” the other demon, Nÿte, said.  “They’re more like guidelines... to prevent conflict between our kind.”

The demon dominatrix stroked the coiled-up whip in her hands.

“Now me, I don’t mind a little bit of conflict.”

Her black lips parted in a smile that revealed white teeth.  The incisors were long and pointed.  Fangs.

“How about you?”

Boo looked away.  “No,” she said.

Her pussy relaxed its death grip on Devin’s cock.  Boo got off him and stepped off the bed.

“I relinquish my claim.  He’s yours.”

Meekly, she put her clothes back on and left the room.

That left Devin alone with the demon dominatrix.  He wasn’t sure that was much better.  Tangible dread rolled off her in waves.  This was not an angel sent down from above to rescue Devin.  She was from a place just as dark as Boo, maybe darker.

Nÿte looked him over, as if sizing him up as her next meal.  “While I do enjoy watching you tremble in terror like a tiny mouse, it is quite unnecessary.”

That was a relief to Devin.  The pale-faced demon didn’t look like the sort who was satisfied with mere killing.  Devin had a feeling that had the circumstances been different she’d have quite happily torn his soul out and taken it back with her to hell to torture for all eternity.

Yes, he was very relieved to see her stand up and walk towards his door.

But she had saved his life (and possibly soul), he should at least acknowledge that.

“You saved me,” he said.  “I don’t know what I can possibly do to thank you, but... thanks.”

“It’s nothing,” Nÿte said with a bright smile that was totally at odds with her terrifying aura.  “A request from a friend I was more than happy to carry out.”

She put her hand on the door and was about to leave when she paused.  She turned her head and looked at Devin.

“Mmm, you know, I’ve just thought of something you can do.”  She closed the door and gave Devin a smile filled with predatory lust.  “We can do.”


to be continued, or concluded (depending on how much fun Nÿte decides to have)...

A couple of months back I mentioned I had an idea for a third entrant for Literotica's Halloween contest, but that the ending didn't work for an erotica story.  Well, "A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar" was that story and this was the ending as originally planned.  For a horror or normal short story, I think it's a fine point to end the story.  Nÿte has a perversely honourable streak, she's doing a favour for a friend, at this point it's implied she's going to fuck Devin's brains out until the sun comes up and then leave, and it can be left to reader's imagination exactly what kinky fun they get up to.  For other types of story that's fine.  For erotica, however, you can't show the sizzle and not serve up the steak.  I think a lot of you out there would be quite disappointed if I showed you Nÿte but didn't give her any scenes.  So, to avoid any disappointment, next week we'll have Nÿte getting her kink on.

(please don't break all his bones, tear him to pieces, or rip his soul out)

A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar, part 7

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6


A devil was on top of him.

His dick was inside her.

Devin moved to throw her off.  Boo chuckled and slammed her ass down.  She had him pinned at the hips and elbows.

“Don’t you like this?”  She wriggled her ass, rubbing the folds of her vagina around his cock.

“Get off!”

He struggled beneath her and tried to throw her off to no avail.

“Too late now,” Boo smiled.  “Your prick is in my hungry wet cunt.”

Her vagina clenched tightly around him.  He heard a disgusting wet slurping sound.  The walls of her vagina undulated against him like a mouth sucking liquid up a straw.  His thrashing grew weaker.  Boo rode his bucking form with serene calm.  Devin felt like his limbs were filling up with molten lead.  It was harder and harder to move them.  She was draining his strength, he realised, drawing it up out of him with her vagina.

“Mmm, better,” Boo murmured as Devin’s struggles ceased.

She resumed bouncing up and down on Devin’s shaft.  The hot flesh of her sex rippled unnaturally around his cock.  It didn’t matter how horrified he was by what she was, the expert ministrations of her vagina kept his cock full of blood and throbbing.

“You made my dear Caco look foolish,” Boo said.  “That’s a bad mistake for a human to make.”

She came down all the way on Devin and the thick, fleshy walls of her vagina clenched and tugged.  Her inner walls fluttered against him, threatening to drive him mad with the pleasure.  Boo sat astride him with her arms folded beneath her big breasts and revelled in the superiority her body had over him.

“I think I’d have broken the glamour even if Cacodoughovorax hadn’t asked me to,” she said.  “It’s so much more fun when they try to fight.”

She resumed riding him with lithe bounces.  The stroking sensations of her wet pussy dragged him up maddening peaks of pleasure.

“Mmm, you can’t hold back much longer.  I can feel it.”

Her ass came down and wriggled.  Her pussy squeezed.  This time he felt it in every fibre of his being.  He bucked and writhed beneath her like a fish caught on a line.

“Let it go,” Boo breathed.  “Fill my hungry wet cunt.”

Devin couldn’t hold out any longer, couldn’t resist the pulsing ministrations of her vagina.  He screwed his eyes shut and gasped as his cock throbbed and released a thick rope of semen into her.  At the other end of that rope was Devin.  Boo grabbed it and began to reel him in with wet rhythmic squeezes of her sex.

She reached down to caress the side of Devin’s cheek.

“I’ll be slow and gentle,” she said.  Her other hand grasped and squeezed one of her swollen tits.  “I’ll make it last all night before I finally suck you dry.”

Devin felt a euphoric glow in the aftermath of climaxing, but he also felt like he was burning up with it.  And he hadn’t finished climaxing.  Boo’s pussy continued to squeeze and coax more semen from his throbbing cock.  She really was sucking out all his fluids.

“I thought Carny said you weren’t to go after me,” Devin wheezed.

Boo pouted her lips and blew him a kiss.  Her vagina similarly bunched up around his cock and sucked another big load of semen—life—out of his body.

“Carnivrillarofax told Cacodoughovorax not to go after you.  He’s a daemon of Wrath.  I’m a daemon of Lust.  We belong to different dominions of hell.  Carnivrillarofax has no hold on me.”

“No, but I do.”

The voice came out of the corner of the room.  Devin looked over and saw there was another devil woman in the room.  She was casually sitting in his chair and watching them.


Okay, so I lied last week.  We're not done yet.  To be continued...

New Monster Girl Thingy Demo from Toro Toro Resistance

Toro Toro Resistance (とろとろレジスタンス) is the person(s?) responsible for the excellent Monster Girl Quest series of games.  You might remember them - I spent a couple of months earlier this year blogging a full playthrough of the most recent, Monster Girl Quest: Paradox!  For the last couple of months on their blog they've been posting screenshots and tidbits from another project.  Today more info went up on their website, including a link to a trial version.

No idea what the exact title of this is.

As for what this is, I don't think it's a game with the same complexity as MGQ:P.  From a brief look at the demo it appears to be a series of scenarios organised using the same encyclopaedia UI and engine from the original Monster Girl Quest.

She's probably going to eat us...

There are two monster girls with brand new artwork - a Sea Anemone Girl and a Blue Slime Girl.  Both are straight Bad End scenes with various H-artwork.  The only player interaction is a "Choose You Own Bad End" option from the Sea Anemone Girl.  From the website it sounds like the finished product will have 33 different encounters.  I look forward to seeing what warped sexiness Toro Toro Resistance throws at us next.

Blue slime girls are a little friendlier... sometimes...

New here?  Like what you saw in Toro Toro Resistance's demo?  Maybe I can interest you in an English language short story take on a Sea Anemone Girl and a Slime Girl.

(this might be the only time I get to match and possibly outsquick something put out by Toro Toro Resistance :) )

A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar, part 6

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

“Let’s fuck,” she said in breathy whisper.

That sounded like a brilliant idea to Devin.  His thoughts were still fuddled by fog, only now it felt like the steam given out by a hot bath, or the condensation left on the window of a car as two lovers got it on inside.

The next few moments were a haze as both removed the rest of their clothes.  Devin was driven back to his bed, Boo kissing him all the way.  Then he was lying naked on top of his bed with Boo lying naked on top of him.  She covered him like a warm duvet as she rained hot kisses down on his neck and face.  She was hot, really hot in the physical sense.  That heat was sinking down into him.  He was heating up... heating up until it felt like steam was boiling off him.

“This is how succubi apologise,” Boo murmured.  “We do it with our bodies.”

Boo’s sensual lips found his and worked against them.  Her tongue squeezed through and entangled with his.  It felt like she was breathing fire into him.

His cock twitched and flexed against the warm body lying on top of it.  It wanted more.  It wanted to be inside her rather than pressed up against her.

Boo wanted it too.  “Time to put your delicious big cock in my hungry wet cunt,” she breathed.

She sat up and straddled Devin.  No longer pinned down, his cock sprang to attention.  Boo stared down at it.  Her soft brown eyes were suddenly dark and hungry.  She wrapped warm hands around Devin’s shaft and twisted up and down in silky-smooth strokes.

“Do you want to be eaten up by my hungry wet cunt?”

Did he?

He must do as his head was nodding up and down.

Boo rose up above him.  Heat cascaded down from her gaping vagina and tickled his sensitised skin.  Foggily he thought something wasn’t quite right with her sex—the lips too thick and fleshy; the interior too red; the whole thing too hungry.  And then those thick and fleshy lips were wrapping around the swollen head of his cock and she was descending down on him.  His cock was completely enveloped in moist flesh and his worries smothered with it.  Hot flesh packed around his cock, as soft—if not softer—than the boobs his face had been wedged between earlier.

Boo gave out a low, satisfied moan as her sex engulfed his full length.  Devin moaned with her.  She was so tight and hot inside.

“Oh yes, now lie back and enjoy it while my hungry wet cunt milks out all your cum.”

That seemed like a very good idea to Devin as well.

In the mirror at the back of the room he watched Boo’s sweet ass rise up and down as she began fucking him in earnest.  Her labia puffed wide with each downstroke as she swallowed up Devin’s erection.  She was so tight inside, yet silky-smooth enough for his erection to slide back and forth with just enough friction to stroke his arousal higher and higher.

Devin watched the perfect curves of her breasts sway and bob with the motions of her body.  He reached up to clutch and squeeze them.  Boo squeezed him back as the cushioned walls of her sex contracted against his cock.

Boo put her hands over his and pressed them into the soft pillows of her tits.  “Mmm, I could leave you in this blissful trance while I drain all your life, but Cacodoughovorax wanted you to be fully aware during your final moments.”

She took his hands away from her bobbing breasts and pinned them to the mattress.  Still with her hips moving up and down on Devin, she folded her upper body over his.  At first he thought she was going to kiss him.  Instead she lightly blew in his face.

The fog cleared.

Devin looked up into the face of a demon.  It was the same blonde girl he’d admired from afar in the university bar, but some of her features had changed.  Her eyes were red and shone as if alight.  Devil horns poked up through her blonde hair.  The bone structure of her face had subtly altered—the angles had become sharper.  Still beautiful, but clearly unearthly.

A devil was on top of him.

His dick was inside her.

Oh Boo, couldn't you have been one of the nice ones.  Oh well, to be concluded...

A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar, part 5

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4


Devin was disturbed from his morose ponderings by a knock at his door.  He opened it and blanched as he recognised the blonde girl with the tight jumper who was not a blonde girl in a tight jumper standing in the doorway.  There was no trace of the devil about her here.  She looked up at Devin with big brown eyes.

“Don’t be afraid” she said.  “Please hear me out.”

Devin knew he shouldn’t.  As Carny had told him, he lacked the defences to survive in their world.  He should shut the door now.

Devin didn’t.  Instead his gaze lingered over her sensually plump pink lips.  And lower, down to where her tight white jumper clung to and emphasised the considerable curves of her chest.

“I came here to apologise for earlier,” she said.

Devin knew he should really shut the door.  Instead his gaze was drawn in by those moist pink lips until they filled his world.

“Cacodoughovorax can be so boorish.  It’s not his fault.  It’s a trait of wrath daemons in general.  He saw your hair and jacket and came to the wrong conclusion.”

Devin watched her sensual lips move up and down.  He wanted to feel their softness against his.

“I can see now you’re a more sensitive soul.”

Lulled by her soft words, Devin’s head dipped lower and closer.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

She pursed those exquisite lips and blew a small cloud of perfumed smoke in Devin’s face.  Before he could react he’d already inhaled it.  A pleasant fog rose in his head and wrapped up his thoughts in tentacles of silk gauze.

Devin was supposed to say, “No,” and close the door.  Instead he said, “Yes,” and let the succubus into his bedroom.

The blonde in the tight jumper shut the door behind her and smiled coyly at him.  Devin’s gaze was drawn to her chest—the way the fabric was stretched taut over her ample bosom.

“I’m Boobella,” she said.  "Most people call me Boo."

“Devin,” Devin replied.  Automatically.  Everything felt smothered in a lush haze.

He kept looking at the curves of her chest.  An itch had awaken inside him.  He wanted to put his hand on those spherical swells and squeeze.  He wanted to feel their softness and weight.  It was an unnatural urge.  Unnatural in how difficult it was to hold at bay.

Boo’s hands strayed down to the bottom of her jumper.  She twirled the stretchy nylon around a finger.

“You’ve been looking at these all night,” she said.  “Would you like to see them uncovered?”

Devin nodded.  His mouth was dry.  He felt the blood pounding past his ears.

Boo started to raise her jumper.  She did it slow and teasing.  Devin saw she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.  First revealed was the flat expanse of her belly.  Then the bottom of her jumper climbed higher, exposing the dainty pink dimple of her navel.  Then higher still as it started to climb the round peaks of her boobs.  She reached a point just below her nipples and paused.

“Boop,” she said, flipping up the bottom fold of her jumper to flash Devin a momentary glimpse of her nipples.

Devin’s pulse quickened.  He felt a swelling hardness rise in his underwear.

Staring directly into Devin’s eyes, Boo slid her jumper up, up and up until she’d smoothly pulled it over her head.  She discarded it and stood before Devin, her big bouncy breasts completely exposed to him.

Boo pushed out her chest and gave her boobs a little jiggle.  “Would you like to touch?”

Devin’s hands jerked forwards.  Fingers splayed like talons, he clutched the ripe pink flesh of her tits.  Her silky-smooth skin dimpled underneath his fingers and he felt them sink into soft flesh.  His eyes had marvelled at the perfection of her curves, now his fingers marvelled at their weight and feel.

Boo drew closer.  Devin’s head dipped lower... lower...

And then he was diving down into the inviting pink valley of her cleavage.  He buried his face between her soft tits.  Her scent, fragrant and creamy, intoxicated him.

Part of him stood back and watched on as if he was a passenger in another person’s body.  What was he doing?  He was pawing her tits and slathering over her cleavage like a lecherous creep.

The message didn’t get through.  Devin lifted his head high enough to take a breath and then dived straight back in.  He twisted his head as he nuzzled her smooth, elastic skin.  Boo placed her hands on either side of her boobs and then squeezed them around Devin’s head like soft fleshy pillows.


“Let’s fuck,” she said in breathy whisper.


Seems like a splendid ide... wait!  To be continued...

A Chance Glance and a Chance Conversation in a Student Bar, part 4

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3


“Put the long-haired fellow down, now there’s a good chap.”

Devin turned his head and saw the silhouette of a slender young man standing at the end of the alleyway.

“Who dares,” Piggy-eyes growled.

Devin recognised both the voice and the silhouette as belonging to the metal fan he’d spoken to earlier.  The pressure on his chest relented enough for him to shout out a warning.

“Get out of here, Carny!  They’re not human.”

Devin was not the only one to recognise the slender man in the Slayer T-shirt.  Surprisingly, Piggy-eyes seemed to know who he was as well.  “Oh,” he said.

The pressure on Devin’s chest lessoned and Piggy-eyes lowered him enough for his toes to come back into contact with the floor again.

“My apologies, I did not see it was you, Carnivrillarofax.  What is your interest in this human?”

“I spoke to him earlier,” Carny... Carnivrillarofax said.  “He seems a nice enough fellow.”

Carny didn’t seem bothered by Piggy-eyes monstrous appearance.  He casually walked up to them.

“Is that it?” Piggy-eyes said.  “Just some random human you happened to strike up a conversation with?”

“Do I need anything else?” Carny said.

“This is my claim,” Piggy-eyes said.

Devin’s teeth rattled as the demon slammed him back against the wall.

“Is that a challenge, Cacodoughovorax?” Carny asked.  His face took on a feral cast.

Devin realised the reason Carny hadn’t been bothered by their monstrous appearance was because he was another monster, just like them.  More than that.  The demon that had Devin pinned to the wall was afraid of him.

“No.”  Cacodoughovorax shook his head and lowered Devin back to the floor.

“I heard stories about your technique,” Carny said.  “And after seeing it first-hand for myself I can’t say that I approve.  There should always be an element of freedom of choice, and engaging the services of a succubus...”

He glanced over at the blonde girl with the tight top and red eyes.

“...to goad the potential claim into fighting tips the scales too far in your favour.  It’s not very sporting.”

“He hit me,” Cacodoughovorax said.  “You saw.  He used violence.”

“I saw.  He didn’t want to fight and you backed him so far into a corner he saw no other option than to use violence to prevent further violence.  Even succubi attempt to seduce their victims first before claiming them.”

Cacodoughovorax glowered but said nothing.

“It’s not a failure to let some slip through your fingers.  It’s sorta the point, actually.  And this...” he gestured to the pouting succubus.  “You should be better than this.  There’s no need to resort to these silly tricks.  Just go into the city centre on a Friday night and you’ll find any number of stupid humans willing to break their fists on your chin.”

Carny spoke to the demon like a teacher giving a lesson to a pupil.  And like most surly pupils, Cacodoughovorax didn’t appear to take the lesson too well.  He walked away, taking the blonde with him, but was clearly still angry at being cheated of his prize.

That left Devin alone with Carny.  This was a good thing?

“Are you okay?” Carny asked.

He still looked like a skinny student in a Slayer T-shirt.  A skinny student in a Slayer T-shirt that had just scared off two demons.

“Um.  Maybe,” Devin said.  “They weren’t human, were they?”

“Nope,” Carny replied.

“You’re not human either.”

“Nope.”

“This is fucked up,” Devin said.

“I wouldn’t think about it,” Carny said.

“That’s going to be hard,” Devin said.  “Welcome to university.  Oh, and by the way, scary demons are real and walk among us.  How come no-one talks about this?”

“Because they’re smart enough to know not to go digging further.  As should you.  You don’t have the warlock spark.  When those without talent try to enter this world it never ends well for them.  If you’re lucky you’ll be thought to be insane and locked away.”

Carny conspicuously left off what would happen if Devin was unlucky.

“What if...” Devin struggled with the alien name, “...Cacodoughovorax comes back.”

He’d seen the demon’s face as he’d walked away.  That motherfucker was seriously not happy with this.

“He won’t,” Carny said.  “It would be seen as a challenge to me.”

Again Carny conspicuously omitted the consequences of making that challenge.

“Thanks for stepping in,” Devin said.

“Not a problem,” Carny said.  “Thanks for the music recommendations.  I always like checking out new bands.”

And with that, the blond student in the Slayer T-shirt, who was not a blond student in a Slayer T-shirt, popped his headphones back in and ambled off into the darkness.

Devin threw up in his sink once he got back to his single-bedroom halls of residence room.  His neighbours would probably think he was a lightweight who couldn’t hold his beer.  Devin didn’t give a fuck.  The world was fucked.

Demons... things... monsters... walking among us.

He sat down in the darkness and tried to rationalise what he’d seen.

Maybe it was... no.

But what if... no.

He knew what he’d seen.

There was a world that overlapped with this one and Devin hoped he never had the misfortune of stepping in it again.

That hope went unanswered.  Devin might have decided he was done with that world, but it didn’t mean that world was done with him.  It didn’t even give him the night before it came back, knocking at his door.

Literally in this case.  Devin was disturbed from his morose ponderings by a knock at his door.  He opened it and blanched as he recognised the blonde girl with the tight jumper who was not a blonde girl in a tight jumper standing in the doorway.  There was no trace of the devil about her here.  She looked up at Devin with big brown eyes.

“Don’t be afraid” she said.  “Please hear me out.”


To be continued...  (where I suspect things will be getting a little NSFW)