Inhumans Pt. 02

A.N. Sorry it's been so long. Thought I lost this story but finally finished.

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Crystal sat in the library, reading through the book she had selected. After a few minutes of skimming through it, Crystal pulled another book down from the shelf, reading the name.

"Tentacle Demons."

She stared at the cover illustration, a shadowy humanoid figure with a dozen or so writhing tentacles reaching from behind him and wrapping around a naked woman around the abdomen and throat, blood running over the tentacles in both spots. She opened it, beginning to read. According to the book, Tentacles Demons were horrible, monstrous creatures that waited in the shadows for unsuspecting women to pass before catching them and brutally raping them with their tentacles and their actual penises before killing them by ripping them apart. The book said that Tentacle Demons were able to choose whether or not they impregnated a girl. Allowing them to reproduce only if they want to. She leafed through the pages, trying not to stare at the illustrations of Tentacle Demons "feeding" as she scanned. After a few minutes, she set the book aside and returned to the shelf, pulling down a book for each species of her teammates. Once she had the books, she set the one for her own species down, opening it and beginning to read.

"Doing homework?" Angel asked.

"Oh, you're still awake?" Crystal said, turning toward her. "Well, I figured that if I was going to do this job, I might as well know what to expect."

"You shouldn't have to worry about many of those types," Angel said, checking the books Crystal had. "Most of us are actually pretty non-violent species. Mia's kind actually partners with humans for life. Granted, they ensnare the human's mind, but the human is happy and Kitsune feed off of sexual energy at night. It's kind of like being married. Cat Girls usually just make a mess by leaving corpses so we just show them where to put them instead, or what kinds of monsters to give it to, and they generally listen, though sometimes Mia has to...persuade them."

"Wow," Crystal said. "You all really have to...uh..."

"Get around?" Angel smirked. "Yeah. Comes with the job. And the species."

"What about you and Sarah?" Crystal asked.

Angel's smile fell and she sighed.

"I'm not really sure," Angel said. "I really like her. And I want to be able to be faithful, but with the job as it is, that's really hard."

Crystal nodded. "So, what if we find another Slime or Tentacle Demon causing trouble?"

"Tentacle Demons usually stop causing trouble when James shows up, and when they don't, he takes care of it, alone," Angel said. "As for slimes, we've only fought one and that was because the slime was trying to kill one of our old members. I can't remember why, but I don't think I've ever heard of Slimes causing enough trouble for us to have to step in. They usually only hunt once or twice a month."

"You say that like killing two people a month is nothing," Crystal said.

"Not nothing," Angel said. "Human life is precious. But in the grand scheme of things, two people a month is pretty insignificant. It's also not enough for us to track reasonably. And to be perfectly honest, it's not worth the risk. Slimes are incredibly hard to kill."

"I suppose," Crystal nodded.

"Let me put it this way," Angel said. "Suppose we did kill every monster who killed someone, ever. That would be every monster to ever exist. Including all of us. Except you. We'd be wiping out entire species for doing what all living things do. Hunt. Feed. Monsters hunt humans. Humans hunt animals. Animals hunt other animals. It's natural. Most of the time."

Crystal nodded. "So, which ones should I study first?"

"Slimes," Angel said walking to the shelf. "Then I'd go with...this one...then this...then this."

She set a stack of books on the desk. In order, they were Succubi, Arachne, and Sirens.

"Why these?" Crystal asked.

"Arachne are ridiculously common, which sucks because I usually end up being raped by them," Angel grimaced. "Trust me, not a good time. Succubi, as you've seen, are deadly, and unfortunately, they're also pretty common. Sirens are the single most dangerous if we ever go on any missions near the sea or go to the beach."

"We go to the beach?" Crystal blinked. "How?"

"The organization has their own private beach," Angel said. "Mostly safe, but certain water spirits and monsters simply refuse to be caught in traps."

Crystal nodded and opened the first book.

"After those, I'd read Lamia, Echidnae, and Empusa," Angel said.

Crystal nodded and Angel left, allowing Crystal to read.

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I walked up the stairs, groaning and rubbing the bridge of my nose, taking swig after swig of water to try and wash my mouth out.

"You fed?" Angel asked, waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah," I said. "Disgusting."

"Blood there's better than feeding our way here," Angel said. "You'll be proud of her. She's been in the library all afternoon."

"Studying?" I guessed.

"Yep," Angel nodded. "I have her reading about Succubi, Arachne, and Sirens first."

"Good," I said. "Go get some sleep."

Angel nodded but leaned forward, kissing me on the cheek before turning and walking away. I sighed, staring at the ground a moment before making my way to the library. When I got there, the door was still open so I was able to slip inside silently. I stood at the door, watching from behind Crystal as she poured over whichever book she was reading at the moment. I could see a stack of books larger than Angel had indicated on the corner of the table and walked over, seeing the Tentacle Demon book on top. I picked it up, Crystal looking up at me as I flipped through the book, stopping at an illustration of five Tentacles Demons. All five were misshapen shadows but each was different. One had a pair of horns curving up from the sides of his head to form a circle and was on the far left, the far right one had spikes on his elbows and three-toed feet as well as glowing red eyes, the one on the left center had a single spike extending upward from his head, and the right center looked human. Behind them was a much, much larger one with glowing red eyes and thick horns sticking straight out to the sides. The largest wasn't showing his tentacles, and the three of the others with spikes or horns each had six showing, but the humanoid one had them sticking out from behind him all the way around. I ran my thumb over the one on the far left and sighed.

"Do you...know them?" Crystal asked after a moment.

"I should," I said. "They're my family. Back when I was still living with them and we were fighting the war. I was the youngest, never grew horns, so they picked on me. I also never successfully killed a slime. They never were very good brothers. The one in back is my father. He's...well, he's self-serving."

"He's a demon, right?" Crystal asked.

I nodded, smirking. "So am I. Anyway, which one you on?"

"Arachne," Crystal said. "There's so much information about them."

"If you think that's bad, wait till you get to Hanyou," I chuckled. "There are Four different species of Hanyou."

"Four?" Crystal gaped.

I laughed, nodding. "Mia and Alicia are both Hanyou, Hanyou is a Japanese term for monsters that are people with animal features, like tails or ears. However, the book also includes the relative species of Rakshasa and their Human-Rakshasa hybrid offspring Yaksha."

"Are all of the classifications just different animals?" Crystal asked.

I nodded, smiling. "Very good. Yeah. There's foxes like Mia, cats like Alicia, rabbits, and sheep which all have horns even though they're all females."

"What are Rakshasa?" Crystal asked.

"Rakshasa are shape shifters, in a way. They can make themselves look mostly human, but they keep certain traits from their true forms, like the hands, claws, and teeth. Rakshasa are beings that have the bodies of humans, heads of an animal, tails of whichever animal if there is one, and hands that close the wrong way. They also generally have the fur of whatever animal they have a head for. As humans, their hands are still backward and they keep the sharp teeth and claws. Yaksha, on the other hand, are much better. They are all women, and all beautiful. They all have stripes like a tiger's, only less of them, maybe a third as many, and can retract their claws and teeth. Rakshasa are all male, so that's why they have to rape humans to create Yaksha."

Crystal nodded and I glanced at the Arachne book, thoughts inexplicably turning to Shanna.

"Arachne are horrible creatures," I said. "They turn a female only when they need to replace their queen. That female is the only one to keep their humanoid body but grow spider legs out of their sides. Then, that female is compelled to find the person they cared most about before being turned and rape them and feed off of them, then lay their eggs inside of them and continue raping them until the eggs hatch and the host dies. After that, the queen just has her spider slaves satisfy her sexual needs and lays eggs in egg sacks like normal spiders, reproducing at a very high rate. That's why we take Arachne so seriously. Oh, and they inject aphrodisiacs through their stingers. They have the upper body of a beautiful female, no matter their previous gender, and the lower body of a giant spider, all of them also possessing a penis. Even if they were originally female. Only the queen remains fully female."

Crystal grimaced and nodded.

"Angel's been raped by Arachne, hasn't she?" Crystal asked.

I also grimaced and nodded. "Yeah, she really hates Arachne. She got separated from us by the queen who had been watching us fighting and had taken a liking to Angel, deciding that she wanted her as a sex slave. So she took her and injected her own aphrodisiacs into her while we were trying to get her back. Then, the queen raped Angel, then gave her to the other Arachne, who also raped her. By the time we got there, Angel was covered in Arachne jizz and sobbing. So, we finished off the Arachne, sprayed her with a fire hose to get the smell off a little, drove back with the windows down, and she didn't come out of her room for a couple of days."

"That bad?" Crystal asked.

"She was raped by transvestite spiders," I snorted. "It was traumatizing."

"Ouch," Crystal winced. "Fair enough."

She closed the book, and I pulled up a chair sitting down as my tentacles grabbed several more books. We were going to be here a while.

I rolled out of bed, standing and stretching, covering my mouth as I yawned. Crystal and I had been up late going through the books. A second knock sounded on my door and I yawned again, glancing at the clock as I walked over. Five in the morning. I walked to the door, opening it and raising an eyebrow as I saw Crystal standing before me, holding her bathrobe closed.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I...uh...can't find my room," Crystal blushed.

I fought back a grin and nodded.

"Come on," I said. "It's this way."

I led her down the hallway my room was in then down a less-used hallway to her room. She stepped inside and glanced back at me.

"Um, thanks," Crystal smiled. "So...uh...what are we doing today?"

"Training," I said. "Around eight. After that we'll probably end up having lunch, the human lunch time is from ten to noon, and then Angel and I have something we need to take care of."

Crystal nodded and I turned, walking away and allowing her to close her door. Since I was awake anyway, I took a shower, glad that the blood I had drank when I was home was still keeping my hunger in check. Once I had cleaned up, I left my room and made my way to the training room. Inside, Angel was already setting things up. In this case, training was scheduled to be combat training, so Angel was moving racks of weapons and straw dummies around the room. Being a Devil Girl, she was stronger than a human, but she was still only one person, so it was taking time. I extended my tentacles, moving the remaining training equipment into place around the large square room and Angel turned to me, smiling.

"How are you this morning?" Angel asked.

"I'm not a morning person," I said. "Not to mention the bad news I got from my family."

"What bad news?" Angel asked.

"It's my brother," I said. "The Tentacle Demon killing the Tenomes. It's Ismael."

Angel's eyes widened and a hand rose to her mouth.

"Why?" Angel asked. "They know the rules. Why is he suddenly being so obvious about it now?"

"He's calling," I said. "He wants me to find him."

"But why?" Angel asked.

"I don't know," I said. "It sounds familiar, but I can't remember what it is."

Angel nodded and walked over to a rack, pulling a pair of roman gladius-style swords and tossed one to me. I caught it, flipping it in my hand twice before pointing it at her and grinning.

"You didn't even dull them?" I smirked.

"The way I see it, by the time you and I are finished, they'll be dull," Angel grinned.

"And red," I snorted, flipping the sword again and turning, holding it horizontally in front of my chest and turning so that my unarmed side was toward her.

Angel grinned, then darted forward, her sword flashing around at me. My own met hers with a loud metallic ring before I spun, firing a windmill kick at her. She ducked under it and lifted her leg, smashing it into my gut, throwing me backward. Then, she pounced, slashing downward. I extended a tentacle, grabbing my fallen sword and blocking her strike. Then, I shoved it up and kicked her off, rolling backward onto my feet, my other three tentacles reaching out and grabbing a sword each. Angel flipped backward, landing beside a weapon rack and drawing another sword in her free hand, then one in her tail. I smirked. It was rare for Angel to use her tail to fight. Angel sprinted forward and I crossed my arms, smirking as my swords flashed around and around, only my tentacles moving for me while Angel was spinning and slashing, her three swords meeting my four in a continuous shower of sparks and ringing metal. Finally, I stepped forward, catching both of her wrists and dropping three of my swords, the last continuing to fend off her tail's sword for a moment before one of my tentacles wrapped around it, holding it in place, my other two free tentacles binding her legs in place before I put my sword to her throat.

"Yield," I said.

She glared at me before rolling her eyes.

"Fine," she said. "I yield."

I grinned, releasing her and setting my sword in my hand, retracting my tentacles. Just as I did, the door opened and the others walked in, Mia, Cassidy, and Janice all groaning together. Sarah and Crystal raised their eyebrows and Alicia instantly sprinted to the straw dummies, kneeling down and extending claws, reaching up and beginning to use the dummy for a scratching post. I burst out laughing, the others doing the same as Alicia looked over at us.

"What?" Alicia asked.

"They're not scratching posts," I laughed, setting my swords on the rack and picking up a dagger. "They're targets."

I spun, hurling the dagger and hitting the center dummy, the one two down from hers, in the face.

"Today we're doing combat training," I said. "A little less than half our team has never done it, so it's what we're starting with. Ground rules for combat training. None of the weapons are dulled today, so be careful with them. During each sparring session, violence only. No seducing your opponent, even if you're dating, Cassidy."

Cassidy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, no fun stuff, I get it," Cassidy smirked. "Now, who's fighting who?"

"Sarah, how much combat training do you have?" I asked.

"Extensive," Sarah responded. "I am trained to fight all forms of creatures, including you and Crystal's species."

"Good," I said. "Angel, you're testing her. Mia, you're training Alicia. I'll train Crystal."

"Why?" Cassidy asked. "Is this also to test whether or not we will be able to kill our partners if they get corrupted, or lose control?"

I stared at her in silence for a moment before smirking.

"I suppose it could be," I said. "It's a fair threat. But my reasoning was, Mia knows Alicia's abilities best because they are both Hanyou. I am the only one here who knows a Slime's full abilities. And with me busy and Crystal untrained, only Angel is able to fight against a highly trained angel and live. Which leaves you and Janice to fight each other."

Cassidy sighed and nodded, taking a defensive position as Janice did the same with a pair of escrima sticks. I turned to Crystal who looked nervous.

"It's alright," I said. "I'm only teaching you, and half the time, Slimes are naturally good at fighting. The most basic rule is that you can't stop and think about it. If someone acts, you have to react. Instantly."

Crystal nodded and I began to run her through basic form, noticing instantly that she needed almost no correction, her muscle memory holding up. After a couple of minutes, as she was going through different stances, I kicked a shield at her. One pure muscle reflex, she caught it so that the straps slipped onto her arm then held it up to defend before staring at it.

"See?" I grinned, beginning to slowly circle her. "Let's see how good you are, shall we?"

She nodded, grinning excitedly and I lunged, sweeping at her legs. She jumped over it and flipped, landing on one hand and swiping the shield at me. I flipped my attacking foot under me, slamming it into the shield and flipping Crystal off of her hand, her body contorting unnaturally in order for her to land back on her feet while I stood. I grinned as she stared at her midsection, which had been folded in half backward a moment ago.

"You know, I totally forgot you could do that," I smirked.

Crystal looked up at me and shook her head slowly. "It's almost scary how much more you know about me than I do."

I shrugged, readying myself again just as Angel sailed between us, a surprised look on her face. I looked to Sarah who was watching Angel blankly. I turned to Angel who pushed herself off the floor growling in frustration, her wings and horns growing.

"Angel, calm down," I said.

"I am calm," Angel snarled.

"No, you're not," I said. "Your horns are showing. I've seen you this mad once. From what you told me, you've only been this mad, what, five times total now? Calm down. Before you do something you'll regret."

Angel glared at me before taking a breath, her horns and wings shrinking out of sight again. Then, she picked up a bo staff, tossing a second to Sarah, who caught it, spinning it in one hand for a moment before stopping it diagonally behind herself. Angel charged, attacking her and I shook my head, sympathy for Angel filling me since I knew how the fight was going to end. Sarah was specifically trained to kill both Angel and myself at the same time. I kind of wanted to fight her myself to see how I could do, but I still had to finish fighting Crystal.

I turned back to Crystal just in time to deflect a jab then duck out of the way of a roundhouse kick. I moved to catch her leg and she continued spinning. I groaned. I should have seen it coming. She had always favored the windmill kick. Sure enough, her heel crashed into the back of his head a moment later, dropping me onto the ground, my vision swimming.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Crystal said. "Are you okay?"

"You know, for having a slime body, your kicks fucking hurt."

I pushed myself up, slamming a mule kick into her stomach and forcing her backward then spinning, readying myself. She lunged, jabbing at me. I trapped it under my arm, spinning and throwing her, only for her to flip onto her feet again, readying herself.

"I think you're good on hand-to-hand combat," I said. "Turns out your species' innate muscle memory held out."