Kinktober #27

This is a Monster Girl Encyclopedia fanfiction.

Shadow / Ensnared

A hundred festive tunes blasting from a hundred different instruments in a hundred different directions, mixing with laughter of joy and bewilderment. Men and women dressed up as jesters, monsters and giant vegetables passed by Daniel Crawford from all directions, including the ones on stilts above.

"Say what you want about Orderites, when they want to they can throw a party! Look at me, I'm, dressed like a cowboy!"
"Glad you're having fun passing time in Pallasandria," said the voice coming from his backpack, "It's not like you could be using that time to, you know, looking for my body!"
"Chillax, Erin!" Daniel said, flipping his hat, "We agreed the perfect time for our great heist is at nightfall. That's when we make our great move. In the meantime, it's important that we don't stick out. I simply don't have any choice but to eat this hot dog the length of a pony!" Daniel said as he slipped the man at the hot dog stand the coin and grabbed the bread and sausage in his arms.
He wasn't wrong though. According to the sailors they met in Dovers, the monster hunter had to store Erin's body inside the basement of the Order Headquarters in Pallasandria, a heavily fortified and guarded building that, on top of everything, was packed with mana sensitive individuals during day and night. That meant the only possible time they could sneak a monster there was during the Carnevale, when all men and women of the Order of the Chief God joined together to for the last time delight in their worldly excesses before the fasting. Today was the last day of the Carnevale, and tonight was the perfect opportunity to sneak into the HQ unnoticed. For this night was reserved for a special tradition...

"Moccoletti! Get your moccoletti here!" The red haired woman in green dress and flat hat yelled at the top of her lungs, earning Daniel's attention. Just what he was looking for.
"I'll take one, miss!"
"That'll be 30 coppers luv! And you'll get one for free for your lady friend!"
"Here you go, miss, but I can assure you... I'm completely single." Daniel paid and winked at the girl.
"Why, how daring then of you, luv... Keeping an uncourted lady in your backpack." Though the world around Daniel and the candle lady kept up its festive activities, the both of them seemed to have frozen in place.
"So... what exactly do you know?"
"Daniel Crawford, heir apparent to the Crawford Family of Laxmaine. Escaped fourteen months ago with a precious antique trophy from five hundred years that happened to belong to a Dullahan."
"And you knew we would come here? Am I really getting so predictable."
"Don't worry... it's just me who is really clever, luv. What's important is that neither the city guards or the monster hunters have learned of your presence. Partially thanks to me, of course." The candle saleswoman looked up from her hat and into Daniel's eyes, her eyes were surrounded by a venetian mask of brown skin. This was a danuki, a monster girl from the Eastern land of Zipangu, known for their powerful magic as well as their cunning and deceptive ways.
"Do not even tell me you just spilled everything at the first one who ran up to you and asked?" The voice in Daniel's bag said.
"Hey, I was having a cool moment." Daniel flicked the brim of his hat dramatically.
"Let's not talk here. Meet me at the entrance to the HQ at midnight." the danuki said, "We will talk more then. Until that time, the name is Asuna." The candle saleswoman turned around and climbed the bridge over the river, and assumed her previous display as an excitable saleswoman, "Moccoletti! Get your moccoletti here!"

A tall middle man passing Daniel caught his attention for not wearing any costume, unless counting his pair of round sunglasses and his mismatched socks, one blue and one gray.
The man caught Daniel staring down at him. "You got a problem, fatty?"
"Oh, I was just trying to imagine the wardrobe explosion that must have occurred for your socks to be that mismatched."
"It's called FASHION you clueless imbecile! I'm so sorry for trying to move with the times and appear trendy! Not all of us can appear like a loute!"
"It's a costume, pardner" Daniel flicks the brim of his hat, "You really shouldn't miss out on it during the carnevale times unless you want to stand out as a party pooper."
"Like I have time or energy for that! Now out of my way! I got better things to do!" The man walked straight forward and would bump into Daniel unless he stepped out of the way; yet the man kept walking as if he owned the streets as Daniel watched him leave.

"Wow..." Erin said from inside the backpack.
"I know! I can't believe I got yelled at by the Irwin Malgorzata! He used to be quite a big deal amongst the monster hunters, before he retired."
"Huh... I didn't know monster hunters could just up and leave their jobs these days."
"They're not exactly growing on any bushes if that's what you're asking." Daniel kept walking as he spoke to his backpack, inadvertently stepping on the tail of a woman dressed up as a wolf girl.
"Yeeaahw!!" The wolf girl grabbed her tail and stroked that carefully.
"Ah, pardon me ma'am." Daniel tilted his hat, "Didn't see you there."
The wolf girl pouted and left. "Heh, clumsy old me. You know what's funny though?"
"What?" The backpack responded.
"I didn't expect her to yelp like that when I stepped on her costume:"
"That wasn't a costume. That was a werewolf pretending to wear a costume to pass off as human without knowing any transformation magic. It was rather common, even back in my days."
"Damn sneaky. You ever did any of that back when you had your body?"
"N-no... I was a knight of the Demon Lord's army, I had better things to do."

The sun was setting over the white cliffs upon which the walled city of Pallasandria was settled, and the people inside were preparing themselves for the final stage of the festival. Hundreds of costumed people gathered around a large torch on the main plaza where the threads of their candles joined together, three at a time, to light them up for the event of the night.

Once the final candle had been lit, the streetlights were extinguished all at once, leaving the city in complete darkness save for a veil of sparkling light settled on the street, seemingly reflecting the starlight above yet undulating like ocean waves the people holding them make their way to the Pallasandria Cathedral.
In the game of Moccoletti, every player is given a candle which is lit at the start of the event and which then must be protected from the other players who will try to extinguish them. The spectators of the event may marvel at the tapestry of light as it makes its way towards the cathedral, slowly losing its luster and brightness as the candles are extinguished one after another until the Carnevale reaches its conclusion at sunrise.

"Remember, don't let anyone extinguish the light under any circumstances." Erin said from the backpack.
"Didn't expect you to get into the Carnevale mood any time soon, Erin,! Took your time to finally get in the mood but I knew you'd get there!"
"I'm not. You saw for yourself that monsters are skulking the streets during the festival. They are hiding in the shadows even now, but won't enter the light to attack lest they be spotted. Once your light goes out, you'll be up for grabs... And then who will get my body?"
"Wasn't planning on letting anyone take out my light. Call me Danny Crawford... ace moccoletti player." Danny flicked the brim of his hat.

As the ace moccoletti player passed the columns of an estate to his left, his first obstacle appeared; a man with a bell at the end of a brass stick. Danny turned his back towards him so the candle was out of his reach, but the man tried to climb over Danny from behind to reach the candle. It turned out wrapping one's arms around the stout cowboy impersonator proved quite the task. Danny took this opportunity to pinch the thread of his opponent's candle to extinguish his light, then pushed him away with his shoulders. The man found himself in the darkness behind the pillars, surrounded by dussins of glowing lewd eyes. Slender arms wrapped around him and pulled him kicking and screaming into the shadows where he was heard from no more.

"Holy hell! You weren't kidding!"
"These festivities are like an all-you-can-eat diner for starved monster girls. The good news is because of the darkness we can slip into the HQ unnoticed and evade being spotted completely."
"Ahaha! Why if it isn't my next victim." A woman in a fancy dress hiding her face behind a fan called out to Daniel.
"If you want me, come and get me!"

The lady didn't need to be told twice but advanced towards Danny before swiping with her fan, causing a strong wind. Danny took his hat off and hovered it before the flame to block the wind. He purposefully exposed the candle once again, and when the lady raised the fan, Danny pushed his hat over her candle and suffocated the flame. Soon after the lady was pulled to the ground by her ankles and dragged into a sewer drain by cackling feminine voices.

Something caught Danny's attention in the corner of his eyes, and when he looked behind him he saw a man who, from his outfit and hairstyle alone was fit to be a butler, sticking out from the window behind Danny with billows in his hands. Danny knocked the candle he had rested on the windowsill to the ground, and he was pulled back into the gallery before the windows closed behind him. "Danny Crawford... ace moccoletti player."

At last Danny found himself by the HeadQuarters of the Order of the Chief God, a large fortified residence of white marble with a clock tower at the center, all presented before a large square. A single guard stood outside, looking alert through the darkness.

"So you made it here safely." As Danny turned to face the familiar voice he found Asuna behind him, carrying a basket of yellow flowers."100
"But of course, the rabble of this city doesn't stand a chance against Danny Crawford."
"Impressive. Most impressive indeed. I expect you shall not disappoint when it comes to this mission as well."
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Danny Crawford works alone."
"You need my help to get inside however."
"And what do you want from us?"
"Do you know 'Paradise Love' ?"
Daniel did know that painting, though he had never seen it. On display at Leprane Art Gallery in Pallasandria, it was considered one of the most beautiful and most controversial pieces of art in recent history, depicting a lamia and a human in tender embrace under a moonlit sky.
"Sure, not into art so much but I've heard good things about it."
"Recently a famous political figure was caught in bed with a monster girl. This ended up causing outrage against culture romanticizing monster love or contesting orderite values. There... Will be a pyre the following week. The 'Paradise Love' cannot be permitted to perish in fire."
"I didn't take you for an art lover." Danny noted.
"Us danukis are known to be full of surprises."
"Sure." Erin said, "But let me ask you, who was it that slept with that Orderite leader?"
Asuna did not answer. Instead she reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring of gold. "This ring will make you invisible for as long as you wear it. While I make the distraction, you sneak inside and enter the storage hall downstairs. There should be no guards inside. Once you get the painting, keep it hidden at all times and smuggle it out of the building."
Asuna dropped the ring in Danny's palm, "Sure thing boss, but how do we get out?"
"Simple. There should be uniforms inside the headquarters. Find a pair of your sizes and slip out unnoticed."
"You really have this all planned out to the least detail, don't you?"
"I would be a terrible danuki if I didn't. Now follow the instructions to the last detail, and you should be fine."

Danny slipped the ring on his finger, unceremoniously disappearing in where he stood, and hid behind the corner of the HQ, Asuna moving to the opposite corner.
"****! ****!" The danuki yelled at the top of her lungs, drawing the guard away as well as two other guards who were inside.
"Unhand her intruder or for the love of the Chief God I..."
"Get your rapeseed flowers here! Get your **** here! Get it while it's fresh!" Asuna pinched a flower between her fingers and held it up before one of the guards, "Would you be interested, luv? Only four coppers, a steal, really!"
"...uhhh...."

While Asuna took care of those, Danny slipped inside the now open entrance to the HQ and navigated the corridor. Everything sure was big and fancy when he went inside, statues and fountains occupying the floor as large paintings occupied the walls. The unpainted, rectangular single door hidden away in a corner stood out as the door to the storage, Danny opened it up and descended the stairs. He removed the ring from his finger and picked up Erin's head from the bag.
"My human eyes can't see a thing in the darkness, so your undead vision gotta lead the way now."
"As it should be at all times, but whatever. There is a wall about eight steps ahead. Turn left now and move forward.

Like a hoarder would his garbage, the treasures inside the dungeons were stacked up in cages lined up along the narrow passageways of featureless stone. Erin could sense her body's presence as she got closer and closer.
"That's... that's some awesome painting right there." Erin said all of a sudden, "Is that the one the raccoon chick was looking for?"
Daniel uttered a whisper of two arcane words, and a tiny marble of light appeared floating in front of his finger. He saw the gorgeous piece of artwork depicting a man and a snake monster embroidered in love. "That's the one. Nice job Erin, let's grab that one and get it to Asuna."
"...do we have to?"
"Look, as much as I'd love to pull a fast one over a Danuki, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. We'd probably end up regretting it sooner rather than later." Danny flipped the bar holding the door to the cage closed and went inside. He wrapped the painting in some paper and slid it into his backpack.
"Now let's get going," Erin whispered, "This place is giving me the creeps."

"The way I see it, only one truly creepy thing is inside here." Danny froze as he heard the familiar deep voice behind him, turning slowly to look but finding nothing... until Irwin Malgorzata stepped into the corridor through the stone wall as if he was a ghost, "I should've known you were a thief the moment I saw you! And a monster lover to boot! Really, you should be grateful I will personally end your miserable life here and now!"
"Uh... oh! This isn't the library! I must've taken the wrong turn somewhere! Let me just..."
Irwin cracked his knuckles, "The only place you're going is facing the Chief God's judgement! Now say your prayers, fatty!"

Danny didn't wait a moment before running away, but found Irwin once again walking through the wall before him like a ghost. Danny skidded to a stop and took a left turn, this time slipping his invisibility ring on his finger and letting go of his light spell. Daniel kept running through the darkness without seeing or hearing anything from any monster hunter. Could he really have lost him so soon?
No sooner had Danny thought that when he was hit straight in the chest by a flying spinning kick. Danny was sent crashing into the wall, followed by Irwin punching him in the face, grabbing him by his jacket and sending a knee flying into his guts.
As Irwin pulled Danny from one wall into the opposite one, Danny slipped out of his jacket, grabbed Erin and his backpack and ran away as fast as he could, coughing up blood on the floor. "Damn... this ring does nothing! And that guy hits like a horse! It felt like his hits were going right through me!"
"That son of a bitch uses earth magic! That's how he moves from one point on the surface of a wall to another in an instance, and amplifies his already bizarre monster hunter strength. Next time he catches you he'll probably just tear off your arms and legs!"
"So we can't run from him, and we can't fight him... looks like our only option is to hide..." Danny opened up one of the cages and hid inside, using a pencil to slide the bar back and hiding behind a very luxurious looking bed.

The former monster hunters' footsteps became louder. slowly approaching the cage in which Danny laid hidden, as he stood completely still; concealing himself completely behind the bed.
Without a moment's hesitation, Irwin kicked down the door to the cage, leaving a heap of warped metal on the floor.
Shit, he knew they were there!
"Eat porcelaine, creep!" Danny tossed a vase at the retired monster hunter, a brass pot and a walking stick... anything he could get his hands on, but Irwin effortlessly dodged all of those with agile movements. When Danny ran out of things to toss he casted one of the spells Erin had taught him, mana shot. An orb of white light the size of a tennis ball shot out from Danny's palm, and struck Irwin right in the face.
It wasn't enough to knock him out, as mana shot was simply a projectile of intangible energy with no physical presence, but it was enough to daze him. Danny took this opportunity to grab Irwin's long hair and throw him head first into the iron door frame and run off, holding his arms in front of him to cushion his impact with the walls he inevitably ran into in the darkness.

"My body! It's just ahead! In that cage just right there! I can feel it! Danny, I'll be able to take this guy on if I have my body!" Danny activated his light spell and flipped the door open. There was only one crate there with paper seals and magic circles inscribed on the wood.
Danny was kicked to the floor by Irwin who was right behind him, "Your time is up. When you meet the Chief God tell her Irwin sent you."
"I think not, old timer." Danny gave the lid of the crate some kicks and then pulled it open, "Go get him, you horny headless body you! Free sexy-time right there!" Instead the headless body inside jumped on Danny, pushed him against the bars and started humping him, "Hey! Get him instead! Monster hunter over there! Far better spirit energy source than little old me!"
"Ugh... he's married you dimwit. Us monsters may be nymphos and rapists, but that doesn't mean we're assholes."
"How was I supposed to know he's married? I can't smell that kinda thing like monsters can!"
"HE HAS A RING!"

As Irwin walked closer and closer, Danny grabbed Erin's head and screwed it on to the headless body currently in the process of violating him.

Soon after Irwin was sent into the wall by a powerful kick, as the Dark Knight once again rose triumphantly as a whole being after 500 years of being apart from her body.
"If you're quite done with bullying that small-fry, how about I give you a real challenge?" Erin broke off a bar from the cage and held it in two hands like a sword,
"Erin... you... look... you look soooo badass!!" Danny said, unable to prevent his gawking.
"Danny... I owe you a big one. But right now I need you to leave this place. Leave the big guy to me."
"...kick his ass, Erin."
Irwin unsheathed his sword.
The elites from the Order and the Demon Realm stepped towards each other with blinding speed, the sound of steel on steel echoing through the passages when their weapons met.

Danny panted heavily, but he was finally almost there. He was in excruciating pain, but the staircase up was just ahead of him, and all he had to do was reach that first step and climb it. Then he'd be able to leave this whole ordeal behind him.
Just then a shadow shot from one wall to the opposite wall, leaving a chain behind it stretched diagonally between them. Once again something was hurled between the walls, and once more until Danny was surrounded by chains connecting the walls. The shadow landed before Danny, and of course it was Irwin holding the end of the chain in his arms and pulled it with both hands. The chains wrapped around Danny, ensnaring him completely and suspending him in the air.
"You fucker! What did you do to...?"
"That undead will not bother us again. And soon enough I will say the same thing to you." Irwin looped the last length of the chain around Danny's throat and pulling, cutting off his air supply.
"If you have any last requests, now is the time to spit them out. I don't think I need to say I have little patience for nonsense."
Last request huh? Danny immediately thought "let me go" sounded good, but "go fuck yourself" would be equally memorable.
Danny's body started becoming weak, his vision blurry and mind dizzy. His very life was really going to be squeezed out of him.
At least he it this asshole with that one mana shot back then.

Wait... that didn't sound right. Irwin was supposed to have defeated Erin, right? How can his own measly beginner level spell hope to have hit this guy in a million years. Something didn't seem right about this guy...
"T-tell m-me..." Danny said with a hoarse voice, "Wh-what's... on the painting...? Th-the one... in my bag..."
"WHAT?"
At that point Erin arrived at the scene, limping and trembling, "You... you leave him alone..."
"...wh-what's on that painting... in my backpack... that's my last... last request..."
"...what?" Erin asked.
"Who gives a shit? Ask something different!"
"Danny... just..."
"No... tell me... you can tell me right?"
"I TOLD YOU! I'M NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT ART WHEN I'M STRANGLING A FATTY TO ****! ASK SOMETHING DIFFERENT!"
"...you... you're blind." Danny fell to the floor along with the chain as he took a deep breath. He pushed himself to his feet.
"WHY DON'T YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE! I SHOULD KILL YOU FOR SAYING THAT TO ME!" Irwin waved his fist, his body trembling with anger.
"Uhm... you were gonna do that anyw..."
"Look! How can you say I'm blind? I tracked the both of you all this time! "
"I mean, it's dark as hell here, and I'm sort of invisible... not to mention those ridiculous sunglasses you keep wearing indoors. You're kinda proving my point here."
"...you know what? Yeah... It's not uncommon to have your other senses enhanced after you go blind, but for him it would be in proportion to a monster slayer rather than an ordinary guy."
"And that's why you found us to begin with. Probably heard our conversation from miles away."
"And that's why Danny could hit you with the mana shot. It appears as a sphere of light but doesn't have any physical presence."
"Stupid! All of this is stupid! Empty speculation!"
"Then prove it! " Danny took out the painting from his backpack, "What's on this painting?"
Irwin picked the painting up and held it before his face intensely for a good moment, his nostrils flaring, "...it's a frog."
"That's..."
"ART IS SUBJECTIVE AND RELIES ON INTERPRETATION SO IF I SAY IT'S A FROG THEN IT'S A FROG!"

Erin and Danny just stood there staring at him.
"Uhm... right... but you know, just because... someone has limitations others don't, it doesn't make you less of a man. You're like, the strongest, coolest and most violent man I've ever met."
"I don't need your pity." Irwin pushed the painting back into Danny's arms, "And if you ever tell ANYONE your idiotic theories you live to regret it."
"Uh... I'll keep that in mind."
Irwin walked into the wall and phased through it like a ghost, leaving Danny and Erin stunned in silence.
In spite of all odds they had survived the former monster hunter.

The life imbued into the city of Pallasandria by the Carnevale season appeared to have phased out by the very next day. Apart from the screeching of the seagulls feasting upon the remnants of the festival lying in the streets, silence ruled over the daytime of the city.
Dressed up as Orderite soldiers, Danny and Erin accompanied Asuna at the Phoenix Cafe; though the largest uniform they could find was one size too small for Danny.
"So let me get this straight, that monster hunter guy just... left?"
"Ex-monster hunter." Danny clarified, "And I don't get it either. Maybe he got bored or something. I mean it's not like he got paid."
Asuna slurped her tea, "You are very lucky to be alive."
"While we were there, I did manage to slip out some confidential Order files regarding their military operations." Erin produced a pile of paper and laid it on the table, "Eight years ago Irwin Malgorzata was involved in an operation that was screwed sideways when a lilim showed up. His entire contingent was under threat of capture just then and there. The lilim's beauty was of such nature as to be impossible not to be captivated by it or look away... so Irwin chose to permanently blind himself in order to rescue himself and the soldiers. Upon returning home he was discharged by the Order of the Chief God and the details of the operation were kept highly secretive."
"Ah... no wonder he's acting like such a prick then. You think he was a nice guy back in those days? That he became a shadow of his former self?"
Asuna didn't answer. She was busy admiring the painting of the man and snake monster making love, now hanging on the wall of the Phoenix Cafe. Most people who come in here are younger people with a liberal mindset, so it should be safe in their care until the outrage would settle.

"So Erin... you never told me what you'd do once you regain your body. Guess you're going back to the Demon Realm?"
"Hmm? Oh... I was thinking about that... but you know what, after 500 years of service, I think I deserve a vacation. The Demon Realm can wait a month or two for me. What about you? Going back to your family now?"
Danny sighed, "I'm... I'm not so sure... I really don't see my future being in that place."
"Umph... in that case I guess I have ****." Erin said, "If you go out on your own you'll get yourself killed, or kidnapped by some lovesick monster girl. As long as you're out on the roads I guess I'll have to tag along."

The waiter arrived to hand in the check. Danny and Erin both rose at the same time, "You'll take care of it, Asuna!" Danny patted the raccoon girl on the shoulder before they left. She groaned as she opened up her purse and pulled out the coin.