Becoming Monsters: In the Mirror Ch. 11

This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters series, by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

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Chapter 11: Bargains and Prices

In the end, she showed up almost exactly twelve minutes later. No idea how Nurse Johnson could locate us that quickly from the unbelievably brief description I had given, but I'd take it. She spotted my waving hand and came to examine those who really needed it. As she closed in, she dropped the pretense of her human form, sprouting fur and her three tails now that her concentration would be needed elsewhere.

Whitney was in the most serious trouble here. "Get her next to a tree with a low branch, now!" I jumped to it, picking her up to carefully move her injured form as we rapidly exchanged information about her. Spotting someone she thought was avian and being corrected that she was demonic threw Emily for a loop, but to give her credit she adapted.

"Whitney is a Karackt Demon, full on Wrath Hunger. She is a Berserker with Regenerate, fueled by food, but is critically low on usable resources. She was struck by acid claws and didn't tell me she was approaching collapse until she hit the floor."

"Food fuel? Why did you call me at home for something that can be solved by a loaded baked potato? Never mind, let's get her stable." She quickly hung an IV bag from the low branch, got her saline lock and stick, wrapped and secured. Afterwards, she pulled something that almost looked like a bottle of soy sauce out of her bag, then used a syringe to inject it into a side port on the IV. "Nutrient mix. Not a long-term deal, but we use it to stabilize starvation victims until we can get them to eat real food."

"Sounds about right, here. Can't chow down on turkey when the fastest you can consume things is individual lemonade droplets on the lip."

"Ah, so you have done this before. That'll save some time. And what is up with her arm?"

"She was arm wrestling an Ogre who insulted her honor." The nurse facepalmed. "What? We weren't expecting to fight a greater demon."

"Not helping. Okay, who needs help next?" I pointed at the Hispanic girl. "Alright, need the info."

"She got downed by the same thing I came to help you with at the Curse Annex. Demon as well, Babau Race, but I don't know her Hunger type. She's middling on her stores there, should be fine for today. Has not been conscious to give information."

"Alright, there's a lot to unpack. She's obviously malnourished as well, we can get her started on the same solution. Going to empty my stock pretty fast if we have to keep it up." She was good, almost before she finished the sentence she was done getting another IV hung and inserted. "Once we have the rest checked out, get the scan done?"

"We aren't in the hospital, Nurse Johnson. I need consent or an emergency."

She sighed. "Fine. She's done, what about the others?" Her gaze landed on my Enchanter and our familiar.

"Sarah and Nibbles..."

She laughed at that. "Sorry, but I would not have guessed in a million years that you'd have a yarrb named NIBBLES."

"... anyway, Nibbles got hit by a similar curse, and I had to apply a Status-based sleep effect to keep him from attacking. Sarah got caught in the blast radius, both went out like a light about 20 minutes ago and show no sign of waking yet. I might have overdone it a bit."

"20 minutes is nothing as long as both are breathing, and they are. If they are still snoozing tomorrow morning, we can check for anything more serious. What about you?"

It took me a second to catch up. "Uh... what about me?"

"You also participated in the fight, and I can see that you took some hits on your shield and mail. Take that stuff off and let me give you a check."

Oddly determined. "I..."

"Save it," she interrupted. "You're about to try to tell me you're fine, when I can plainly see otherwise. Now strip."

I complied, starting with my mail shirt and the cloth underneath. I stopped there, until she raised one eyebrow at me. Off went my boots and reinforced pants, until I was in my underwear and nothing else. "Better?"

She smirked. "Much. Now, I last saw you a bit over a week ago. At least, last saw you professionally then. How much trouble have you been in since then?"

"Uh... you have a note pad and some popcorn?"

The eyebrow raised again. "We have time to kill while we wait for them to recover and your wife to get back. Try me."

So I did. The scorpion. The Karackt. The skeletons. The Gaaku. The abduction. The training match. The duel. The Babau. I knew I was forgetting some of it, but it was easy to lose track.

She stopped writing before I was halfway through detailing my scraps and injuries. "How are you even alive? I didn't hear any major healing in there."

"I possess a Regeneration class ability similar to Whitney's." I didn't mention why it was so similar. She did not need to know. "Recent acquisition since I hit Level eight, been getting some serious work on grinding its ranks."

"I... see. Before we go any further, we need to talk price."

My mouth dried. "Price? Nurse Johnson..."

"Emily, please. I'm not at the hospital, am I?"

"Emily. We are not precisely rich people, and I know what this would normally cost." I was rapidly going through our recent deposits and assets in my head, what we could offer as a service.

"You are thinking the wrong way. Reject my deal, and I'll skip seeing to you then demand money. I want something more valuable than gold and paper."

I should have known. Favors were not a hard currency. For some, satisfying some curiosity was enough. For others, especially among the Demonics, extracting obscure worth could be a matter of life and death. Whatever she had in mind, it was about to be extraordinarily significant in some way. I swallowed, hard. "What are you thinking of?"

"I see what you have built, here. I have been watching you, Jeremiah Kithkin."

"You have no idea how often I've heard that the past few days."

"These ladies all love you, after their own fashion. Even your pet. I think you love them, too. Not like your wife, but it goes well beyond a mere Guild oath." Her three tails were thrashing, the tan fur at their tips glowing with power. "My price is this: I want in. Bring me into your Guild, into this life you have made. I want to share in that joy, that devotion, that love."

I stared at her, jaw grimly set. "We need to talk about what you are asking for, because there is no possible way you know exactly what your request entails."

"You are not the only demon with baggage here. I know the life will not be an easy one. I can see your scars, the bullets to your wing and shoulder, the blunt trauma to your head, the stress fractures in your shin, the broken and mending ribs and arm. I am no coward. That will not deter me."

"I cannot declare that unilaterally. All I can promise is a chance. This is my offer to you, should you accept it. I will present you to my guild for approval. I will ask my wife for her permission. You will need to earn your licenses, and work with us. If and only if you can do all of this will I be able to give you what you ask, but if you do then I will swear unto you that, as a member of my Guild, you will be integral and valued as both a person and a Delver. I can't conjure love for you. You have to earn that. Will that be good enough to uphold my end of this bargain?"

She stood and stared at me as she thought through what I said. Her tails still thrashed, with a speed that turned them nearly to a blur, the glowing tips drawing intricate patterns in the air behind her. My heart was pounding at a million miles an hour. My words had been chosen with obsessive care, so as not to accidentally accept outright. I could only hope they were enough.

"Even as you are, standing nearly nude in front of a shapeshifter, a deal-making demon, with the possibility of lives at stake, you can come through with that. It is this that I want, Jeremiah Kithkin. This devotion. This power. All this on top of being the best lover I've ever had. I accept your terms." Her tails stopped their motion, but the lines behind them remained. A complex sigil of woven light hung there. The three lines flowed together into a knot, making it impossible to track any one of them individually. It faded fast. My heart rate did not lower that quickly. Whatever had just happened, it was reinforced magically.

I shivered, only partially because I was in my underwear in the crisp breeze.

She strode over and laid me on my back, going wound by wound. Her hands did something I could not easily see, but where they passed my injuries felt lessened. Like they had the time I so desperately needed. As each faded this way, others came into sharper focus. The sheer background noise of it all had been paradoxically making everything feel like it was hurting less. As it went, I saw the look on Emily's face grow more and more strained.

"What are you doing?"

"I am not just a Kitsune. My class is Hengeyokai, and we have some very specific abilities. While I cannot rid you of your injuries, I can move them. I can borrow the pain, bear a part of the burden while your body catches up." She focused a bit, the glow returning to her tails. Her breathing eased. "My command of healing magics mostly work on myself. Tips the scales bit by bit."

"Seems useful." The sudden reduction of pain was as shocking and frankly exhausting as receiving the injuries originally had been. She seemed done with me, moving back to Whitney and the victim. I got dressed again, no sense shivering.

In the end, it was Whitney who woke first, disoriented and with a growling belly, about a half hour after that. "What... okay, why am I laying under a tree with an IV bag in, and why do I feel so freaking hungry?"

I explained as quickly as I could. She, in turn, begged me to let her go get food. Emily nodded, and Whitney had the IV needle out before I could look back at her. Her first few steps were rather unsteady. "I... think I'm going to walk slower than I thought."

The nurse looked at me. "Did... did she even notice I was here?"

"Pretty sure. I mean, at least 80% sure. To be fair, she is quite hungry."

"Yarrrrrb?"

I didn't even hesitate. One second I was chatting with Emily, the next I was holding Nibbles in a giant hug. He looked confused for a few moments as I whispered apologies into his fur, but eventually settled in my arms. I was just glad he was alright. Sarah stirred next to me. "Okay, I got to wake up. Guessing we won? Uh, who's the fox?"

I breathed much more easily. "That's going to be a really long story, but for now I'd like you to meet Nurse Emily Johnson, a prospective guild mate."

"Huh, cool. Assuming she did the IVs? Where'd Whitney go?"

"For food."

"Ah, yeah, should have thought of that."

When Whitney came back, she had someone else with her helping carry the early dinner spread. Lucy had finished her delve, backpack bulging, and dove directly into my arms for a fierce hug. "How did it go, love?"

"It was certainly different. Not sure I liked it, can I have you with me next time? It got really repetitive. Got to throw a lot of fireballs, though. George said he was getting bored by the end. His guild mates didn't know what they were looking at for loot, so I definitely came out ahead of the retainer." Lucy seemed to notice that the group was a couple of people bigger than the one she left. "... what happened up here? Who are they?"

Couldn't blame her for the confusion. To her, a random fox girl in scrubs was seeing to a malnourished girl under a tree. I did my best to explain the fight and the emergency call.

"Is Nibbles alright?" She breathed a sigh of relief at my nod and Nibbles's squeak of assent. "So you are telling me that is Nurse Johnson? The one who picked you the last night at the Red Lights?" I saw Emily freeze a moment, sigh, then keep working. "Why are we not at the road loading the victim into an ambulance?"

"I called her because we need to keep this secret. Now, she is demanding a price. I'm willing, but I needed to ask you before I could agree."

Lucy gave me a glare. "Let me guess. She wants to contract you to make her scream loud enough for me to count her orgasms from next door again?" Incidentally, Kitsune can, in fact, blush.

"Bit more involved. She wants to join Shield, in the same way as Sarah and Whitney."

"Oh, now I KNOW I'm not delving without you again. Leave you alone for half an afternoon and you add another woman to the harem. Where's she going to sleep, the ceiling?" Lucy didn't seem upset, more resigned. She pointed at the still-sleeping curse victim. "And what about her?"

"I'll tell you after she wakes up, just like the others."

"Okay, so you added TWO in four hours when I wasn't looking."

"To be fair, the Babau came at me."

"Fair, nothing. Nibbles brought you directly to her."

Emily looked at me, bewildered. She, apparently, was NOT as aware of what she asked to get into as she thought a few moments prior. Whitney looked over at her. "Yes, it's like this. Worth it, though. You get him naked while we were out?"

"Underwear, but I've had him twice before."

Lucy glared at me, I put up my hands. "I was running on fumes at the Curse Annex, she gave me a quick feeding in the medicine closet."

"Jay, you did not just help your case." The glare, thankfully, softened. She looked back over at Emily. "Thanks for your help, though. I can tell he's breathing easier than this morning."

"You're, uh, welcome. Jeremiah tells me I will need his wife's permission to join the guild, I assume that's you?"

"Ah, he does think of me. Yes, Lucy Kithkin, wife of our esteemed Guild Leader. This whole setup wasn't exactly my idea, but since my husband wants to keep our relationship together as badly as I do, he let me set some ground rules. You have two minutes to state your case. Go."

"I'm a level eight Hengeyokai, a healer and shapeshifter, and a specialist nurse working at the Curse Annex while slowly progressing on my MD. I have both an individual income and an apartment near the hospital. He called me in to help care for his injured team, and a stranger. I can feel how close you all are, and want in on it, whatever it takes. He's a good man, and loves you with a deep and pure power. If I can bask in the glow of that, I'd be happier than at any point in the last five years."

My emotions went for a ROLLERCOASTER during that speech. It was a good case, we needed what she could do and an additional way to support the group. And, well, seeing Lucy's face light up at that last part helped my spirits immensely. I would need to work on what she had been through these past years, though.

"How are you in a fight?"

"I'm not a Delver, not yet, but I've had to restrain a few combative patients and did alright."

"Fine. I'll let you in if the others approve, but two conditions. First, I'm his wife. That is important to both of us no matter what he might be doing with certain impressive bits of himself. Two, if I ever catch you impersonating my form or that of any of the other members of our Guild without direct permission, it will end very, very badly for you."

"She's not joking," Whitney added. She did have firsthand knowledge of this, after all.

"Then it's settled. I will swear whatever oath you require, but bring me home. Or come to mine."

Sarah swallowed a mouthful of roasted corn. "I vote yes, so that makes your plurality."

"And I make it unanimous, welcome to the Guild." Whitney added, reaching for a loaded baked potato.

Emily blinked. "That was... much faster than I thought it would go." She unhooked the IV bag from the victim, putting away what she had used.

"Helps that my guild is five demons and a yarrb, now that you're in it. Let me Scan you for safety, then as soon as you pick up your Delver card the rest is a formality." I tried to ignore my wife's snort as Emily nodded.

Emily Johnson, Kitsune. Hengeyokai class alright, not precisely common but not unheard-of. INT, PER, and CHA for class attributes and showing strong in all three. Envy Hunger, which I had no earthly idea how it might feed. Class ability of Shapechange, which might present a complication when it came to my love life since it would almost certainly be replacing Sterilize.

Love life complication. Really, Jay? You just got permission from your wife to add a hot fox nurse to your rapidly-expanding hybrid harem-housemate-guild-collection, and you're worried about that?

One thing caught my eye, though. "One second before you leave. You have a Status debuff on you, the text seems to be in Japanese. Care to explain?"

She got very quiet, very fast. With a practiced hand, I pulled a notebook out and blindly copied the complicated symbols I saw. With a blink, I cleared the status screen. I could see her nervousness. Her ears tucked against her head. "I can explain, later tonight. Please trust me when I say that it will not bring danger to you and yours for as long as I am doing my job right."

"You are attempting to join that group, remember. If it's a danger to you, I need to know about it. Before we induct you." She winced, and nodded. Whatever it was, I'd have to take her word for now. "You have my number, let me know when you get your license."

She sighed. This was, apparently, not the way she imagined this going. Tough. I ran a tight ship in my Guild. "I should not be long." In a puff of smoke, she suddenly transformed into a small bird, which flew off.

I turned to the others, once she was out of hearing. "Turned out to be a bit more eventful of an evening than we anticipated. We've all got stories to tell and stuff to unpack," laughter from the circle, even Nibbles giggled at this, "but step one is going to be getting our new guest somewhere safe."

The laughter died quickly. We all looked at her, and all felt pity at her emaciated form, clad in the dirty rags of what might once have been a white sundress. "If the pattern holds, she'll wake up in the morning. Ladies, we need to be home and ready for it. We're probably the only group who know how to deal with this."

The trip home was thankfully quiet. By unanimous unspoken agreement, we decided that any remaining shopping could be handled another time. People hauling unconscious teammates was not as rare an occurrence on this route as it should have been, nobody batted an eyelash at the fact we were apparently doing so.

Whitney was not so amused to be sleeping on the floor, but the girl needed the cot and Nibbles was using the extra space to cuddle with her. Good sign, that. As a consequence, we sat around the kitchen table to show what we got. Sarah showed the reagents she had bought. I dumped out a bag of fangs and gold, which Sarah grinned wildly at. Then Lucy opened her bag, and I suddenly became chopped liver.

Some of what was there was expected. Slime acid, Labyrinth pumice, bat wings, a few odd crystals. A smattering of bronze and silver coins. Typical, though useful. What was wildly atypical was the fist-sized lump of silvery metal she dropped on the table.

"We were exploring the target zone for key shards. Found one, but it was guarded by an Earth Elemental. It dropped freaking mithril, and George had to use his first-pick rights for the key shard itself!"

And no wonder. The first level of the Seattle Dungeon, the Labyrinth, was a maze that shifted over time. It was possible, even easy, to find doors that led down, but those doors required keys. Keys that could only be made from shards found in the first level, and which only permitted ten people to pass. The second layer, the Depths, was a large set of self-contained biomes. The monsters within tended to be much nastier, the hazards deadlier, but the treasures richer. It was often, but not always, possible to tell which biome a given door led to, and those contained a door to the third level... about a quarter of the time.