Theo: Blood Angel - Arc Melinda

This is a substory about Melinda, a human girl in servitude to monstergirl Empire in this metaplot story: Theo: The Blood Angel of Lescatie.

Her story starts at page 5. This is her own story, please enjoy and give feedback.

**

Inquisition Interview Serial No: E6-Y-17T

Post-screeningTags: Bondage and mildly sexually suggestive content.

Subject: Female, healer cleric.

Physical Profile: Age 23. Slightly voluptuous with large breasts, dusky brown skin with black eyes, features of the southeastern continent of Qadim. Muscle development toned, given the military calisthenics even for clerics being mandatory. Contamination suspected, as her gaze and demeanor shows a slight agitation regarding matters of mamono beyond mere trauma.

Name and past: Miriam bint Al-Fulani, Qadimi immigrant's daughter enrolled into the Lescatian priesthood, re-baptized as Melinda. Lost, presumed captured and enslaved in skirmish, ransomed back after an incident involving a murder and an encounter the rogue terrorist "Theo", 500 gold pieces of ransom paid by the state to her minotaur owner.

Psych Profile: Subject is in deep depression and kept calm by spells and medication. Interview taken during a calm time, with potions laced with truth serum.

Q: Thank you for agreeing to talk with us. I hope we can heal you eventually of your mental ordeals.
A: (nods wearily)

Q:Would you tell us about yourself?
A: I joined the Healing Sisterhood of Hypatia when me and my family came from Magreb as a refugee. Since brown people are a curiosity in your lands, I was taken in to healer sisterhood to get free room, board and even a decent allowance. I sent it to father. He was...happy I contributed.

Q:So your area of expertise is...?
A: I can heal deep wounds once per day, help women deliver babies and prepare plant extracts for healing. Mostly a medical lay sister, a midwife and healer.

Q:What caused you to sign up for the war? You must have been aware that losers likely get accounted as "lost" in mamono lands and maybe never can see their home again.
A: I was...(swallows) disowned. Father didn't want to see me after I was mingling with men and boys. Our culture...

Q:We did not have much information towards Qadimi religion and culture until now. Can you give us a few tidbits?
A:Our women follow a law called "purdah". You have to cover parts of your body the higher you are in social status. Slave women and prostitutes could wear far less, and family women wearing "abaya", clothes that leave only hands and face outside, with noblewomen and queens in a complete tent-like "burqa", meaning only their husbands can see their bodies and faces. We had a...what you call, a culture shock. But father let me join the Sisterhood on the condition I maintain my abaya-dress level purdah. Our culture encourages having women learn in schools, especially for healing other women.

Q:What happened?
A:...

Q:Please. What you tell will contribute greatly to our research about monstergirls and their interaction with human women. This is serious research, not harassment. Believe us.
A:Fine. I hated the abaya. Why not shirt,skirt and trousers? So when I was at the boarding school, I discarded the abaya in my cupboard and lived like the other girls, dresses skirts and blouses, shirts... I was free! Well...until father learned that I drank forbidden beer, ate a little bacon and even met the boys...Lescatian boys are fair-skinned, gentler and far more handsome than all the men I saw...*sighs* . Not aggressive, and they liked a dusky maiden from unknown lands talking to them. They said they loved my exotic accent.

Q:How did he learn about classified students? You are supposed to be sheltered from outside world during clerical training.
A:He paid people to peek and spy. (angrily grits her teeth) Looks like your janitors aren't that loyal once given a handful of silver...MY SILVER I sent to him...*sobs*

Q:And have you...? Had any relationships?
A: What does this have to do with the interview? (Agitated clearly)

Q:A lot. Pre-marital sexual activity and its results are reported to change mamono attitudes to human women they meet. They CAN sense others' sweat on people. Now please...
A:(Calm) No. But I have...well, spent time with them without daring to go further. Then came the war effort and we were drafted into medical roles anyway. And...

Q:Yes, What happened?
A:We were relieving a town under siege until cavalry routed them. I was tending the injured. Since everyone is using blunt weapons, it was bandage, plaster and tie up, letting ingested potions and wrapped poultices heal the flesh. I was resting a bit until some of the battle nuns who prayed and fought ran panicked to the camp and started screaming to retreat. One was downed with a bola on her ankles, with all the strange monster women charging, shouting and celebrating and pushing down any resisters. I was frozen from fear.

Q:How did they treat the wounded and the defenseless?
A:(Makes a gesture of tilting her open palms) Eh... They don't kill but we were surrounded, and my hands were pulled behind my back and tightly bound. They forced us quickly to sit and form a circle as the wounded were bandaged and tied as well.

Q:What did she say? (offers memory potion)
A: Hmm...(drinks and concentrates, repeats unnaturally accurately, in her voice) "Alright human girls, listen up. You are now prisoners of the mamono. Meaning you will be distributed to the winners, our citizens who need humie domestic labor." Now that brought a wail of sorrow and protest, which the monstergirls quickly beat into silence with sticks. Well...(sighs) She went on. (switches to the mamono voice) "Now now, it's not that bad once you humans get used to. Cooperate, and you might go back after some wimpy human delegate buys you out. Until then..." She then pushed down one of the male knights, and locked him with a savage kiss, slapping him when he protested, and said: "...we get to enjoy each other a little, and make some pretty coin of your cute butts."

Q: And the prisoners melted into compliance? Just like that? (aghast)
A: Not at first. But as time went on and we were pushed to our feet and were being marched, the monstergirls knew how to manipulate the runt of the litter to their side.

Q:How so?
A:Offers. rewards. Incentives and "friendship." In full view of the camp, we are made to sit on a circle and eat nothing but stale bread and water...except, they'd occasionally wave some wine and cake and luxuries under our noses. And they'd propose...

Q:Propose?
A:*sighs* "You look famished, fufufu~" Then you'd be offered a bite of luxury for a smile, a kiss or downright skinship contact. And the ones that weren't defiant get rewarded with lying closer to the fire and...massaged of their soreness...(drifts off)

Her memories drifted off to these days...

**

The human girls sullenly followed the caravan under guard, their hands tied to wagons or each other. They were fed and watered regularly, and nothing beyond a bit of harassment went on, unlike the horror stories of how monsters would murder, sacrifice or torture prisoners.

Still some girls stuck together or sobbed, making some of their monstergirl captives roll their eyes and sigh in annoyance. The loudest ones were eventually pulled aside, gagged with a cloth and tied up tighter before being given a slap on their rumps to follow the prisoner trail, monstergirl soldiers laughing all the way.

Some of these were re-loosened in their binds later when they made puppy eyes and wept of rope welts.

Melinda was lost in thoughts.

What would happen to her? Execution? Torture? Would these cute girls cook and eat her? They looked amiable though...

She was walking with a prisoner wagon, sullen, tearful and worried, walking blindly forward until she felt a pinch on her cheek and instinctively flinched.

"Psst. Brown cutie."

It was an idle smile of a sleepy monstergirl with horns leaning from a horse cart. She grinned at her, smelling mildly of beer and wearing a dopey smile. Her still feminine body was like a brickhouse, but she had an angular, lovely human-ish face, topped by horns and flappy bull ears.

A minotaur.

Minotaurs were quite unlike the legends, instead of a bull-headed monstrosity, she was a muscular, but still curvy girl with bull legs and horns.

Melinda thought that her face was quite cute too.

"You look famished. Want one?" She dangled a beer bottle in front of the thirsty girl. "Got rootbeer too, if you one of them...*burp* southerns...only bacon sandwich though." She lazily lay in her transport wagon with other monstergirls who mostly slept.

Licking her lips, Melinda considered her options. Reluctantly, she nodded. The minotaur's smirk and laughter mocked her reluctance in a way that tickled her insides.

"Alright... why don't you climb on my lap first? Looks like they don't even bind you anymore. Gained our trust?" She looked at the human's brown skin with interest. Melinda replied coolly, her brown eyes boring into the minotaur's own, dull pair:

"I'm a healer. I don't make racial distinction when helping the wounded so they trust me." Melinda made no effort to climb up to the cart, intent on bantering first.

"Ohhh?" The minotaur girl grinned. "Nice. How where were we? Hungry? Thirsty?" The human girl nodded, making the minotaur female grin and pat her lap. "Why don't you get up here and we work something out? Looks like some of your "sisters" did already..."

When Melinda looked around, she realized that some of the human girls and women were on horses or wagons, enduring (a relative term, some enjoyed it) a bit of skinship in return for good treatment. Her eyes grew *wide* when she noticed one of her sisters-in-arms, a brunette human girl by the name of Talia shyly talking with a young lizardgirl sitting on a wagon. She could hear their hushed argument:

"How can you know it's forbidden if you never tried it?" The green-scaled girl grinned, her armor an unbuckled heap next to her. She wore only a tank-top and shorts, and her eyes shone with an eager glint, her green scales making her look like a dragon when sitting. The human girl, Talia's hesitation was visible, who was a prisoner, hands still loosely bound before her, looking at the lizard-girl snuggling with her.

"Look..just once, alright? And don't you get any funny ideas. I'm doing this for your...hospitality..." She shyly looked down.

"Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night." The lizardgirl grinned. "Now close your eyes." Gulping, the human girl obliged, and pouted her lips. The young monstergirl smiled, and landed a peck on her lips with a soft "smooch" sound, making her human captive shudder.

"See? No Allfather striking you down or anything." The Lizard-girl grinned. "Now... a little reward...fufufu..." She dangled a chocolate-dipped half-banana in front of her. "Say aaaah~" Sensually, she inserted the chocolate-banana slowly through the lips of the girl, and made her eat it slowly. Even so the prisoner human girl's expression was one of humiliation.

"You're mean." She pouted.

The lizardgirl's grin beamed with cockiness. "Come on, none of you will be abused or locked in a prison or dispersed forever as chattel, so what gives?"

The human prisoner looked at her with confusion.

"We'll put you all to work according to your skills and...cooperation." The lizardgirl smiled. "Working for the highest bidder, of course." The human's gasp and teary eyes confused her.

"What's the difference from slavery then?"

The lizardgirl shrugged nonchalantly at her question."Well, we keep an open eye for ransom, per the Empress Agrat's orders." The lizardgirl smiled apologetically. "But until your leaders trade you back, and we will let them, you'll get..." She yawned, and stretched. "...uahh...some country life and work, especially work where my sisters' thick paws and claws screw up." She was clearly bored with explaining.

"You mean precision work."

"Mhm." The Lizardgirl nodded, lying back on her bedroll. "Look, I have a preposition."

The human prisoner girl, in her ragged armor, looked up with a glint of interest and hope.

"I'd like to take you as my slave-...servant." She smiled sweetly. Seeing the human girl bite her lips and blink, she went on "What? We get along, right? Instead of being assigned a master who might keep you tired and working, I'd treat you well until some delegate ransoms you. I just need a maid until I get married, hopefully soon." She showed her hands, strong but sharp claws on large, reptilian hands which made a contrast for her cute, humanlike outlook. "I have a bit of trouble housekeeping with these. Too sharp. And I'm done paying for furniture every time I open a cupboard."

Looking at the girl's hesitant face, the lizardgirl sweetened the deal. "If you say yes, I'll personally pay attention to the first ransom offer."

Licking her lips. Talia nodded, hesitant but relaxed. "Promise?"

"Of course, I promise! I'd never...break your heart!"

The lizardgirl's face lit in joy, leaning on the girl with gusto saying these words.

"YES! I'll tell the sergeant I'm taking you as trophy and write me off the loot share." She hugged the tired human soldier girl affectionately, nuzzling her. Talia rolled her eyes and indulgently leant on the lizardgirl's scaly neck.

"I'm loot, huh?"

The lizard-girl, her cute fangs gleaming smiled sweetly. "More valuable than any trinket." The scaly mamono leant, kissing her nose, and when she noticed the human girl didn't flinch, her lips, again.

"Don't say that." The girl mumbled, lost in thoughts of her captivity, clinking her cuffs on her wrist.

"You know you like it." The lizardgirl's expression was one of adoration. "Priceless."
Talia frowned, yer returned the kiss shyly (on the lizardgirl's cheek) and covering herself and the lizardgirl with a blanket. "It's cold."

Melinda watched them with conflicted emotions until fingers snapped near her hear. "Yoohoo~, you are drooling at them." The minotaur girl that harassed her was laughing as her wagon rolled on "Jealous?"

"NO!" Melinda's shocked response made her laugh harder. She hooked an arm around the stunned Melinda's waist, and lifted her with a laugh.

"Uuup you go!"

"Whaaaa!" Melinda fell on her ass, straight into the minotaur girl's strong, lightly furred lap and in her arms. Before she could react, the strong monstergirl already had locked her arms around her waist, her strong scent on her nose: the smell of a strong, female origin, with a mild pungency of someone who overexerted herself a little.

"I'm Pebb. You?"

"Melinda." Sighing, she leaned back on the monstergirl's chest, which was quite warm, with a build of solid muscle under a pair of large breasts that were like hard jelly on her back.

"Want cake? I still got one from your caravan!" She dangled a large slice of banana cake, yellow, buttery and rich with aroma, before the human's nose.

Seeing her worried look at other prisoners, the Minotaur girl grinned cockily, patting her thigh.

"They'll be treated decently, stop worrying. It's not usual we land a number of female captives like this. The captain will probably put them to work farming or writing until your handsome general Lacarde bothers to ransom their cute butts."

"You know him?" Melinda stopped eating for a moment to reply. Suddenly, the whole transport cart gave out a sigh of yearning, startling the human girl.

"He's so coool!" A goblin girl squealed, looking at Melinda.

"I want him! I want him to make strong babies with me!" A Red Oni growled between bouts of drunkenness. A sleepy Holstaurus nurse stirred, her tired face hopeful, sleepy eyes covered by soft flappy cow ears, lying on a haystack. "I hope he likes big breasts." Her neighbor was far less tolerant, however.

"Bleh, he looks far too refined for a cow's milk-udder-" Before a tired lizardgirl warrior could finish her words, the Holstaurus was on top of her...

"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU LEATHERY SKANK?"
"You fat cow!"
"Dried Lizard!"
"Milkbag!"
"Arsebiter!"
"Moo-moo!"

Both monstergirls slapped and kicked each other, locked in a struggle that shook the cart.

The Minotaur kept watching their catfight with interest, chuckling and shielding Melinda from the flying empty bottles. The human just sighed and hid herself under the blankets.

"OII! Cart's shaking, quit it you numbnuts!" A large, scaly Dragon-girl, wearing a general's elaborate hat and a luxurious uniform, roared with fury and releasing a thunderclap of fiery air. "Or you're written off plunder!" That perked up the Minotaur-girl's cow-ears, who shouted at the driver.

"Captaiiin! I want to keep this cutie as my trophy! Write me off the list!" She kept Melinda in her arms and nuzzling her, ignoring her shy protests. The dragon-girl's bored gaze fell on the cowering human with her ragged outfit with a look of hunger:

"Ohohoho, claiming the prettiest one, Pebb?" Her serpent eyes flashed with a knowing look.

"You know it boss." Pebb's grin was wide. "Plus I'm shit at cooking. You know how to cook, do you?" Her dopey smile turned to Melinda. She nodded, making the minotaur girl grin happily.

"Great. We get off at the next town where we put your sisters to work and take the ones we need for domestic labor. My house is there."

Melinda lay back, eating and drinking comfortably, half worried and half relieved for the turn of events. She sighed and kept making idle talk with her new captor and master, hand-fed. Of course, the open display of cooperation drew hateful glares from another source.

One of the gagged battle-nuns glared at her with fury, the one that was most vocal against her enrollment in the first place. Her glare was interrupted with her captor's cheek pinch riding alongside her.

"You know, hatred makes you humans uglier..." A blue oni woman with a katana and samurai armor led the angry nun's hand binds by a leash, with an indulgent eye on the gagged and angry human who flinched with every attempt at caressing her hair. Sighing, she pulled the gag out of her mouth and straightened her hair.

"What harm is there in talking a little? We can get to know each other..."

The nun, a young woman with a chestnut colored hair and cute, pointed nose resting on a set of cherry-red lips, merely grumbled at her remark: "Why?"

"I want to know you a little. We like to...make prisoners feel at home..." The Blue Oni smiled innocently at the nun, earning a disbelieving stare.

"And these?" She pointed at her bound arms, sighing.

"Well, prisoners. Plus we fought, if you remember. But that don't need to stay that wa-"

They kept talking and bickering.

Melinda ignored the nun being led by the blue oni who seemed to take a deep interest in her attire and kept making small talk. She noticed however, as an hour passed, the nun growled less and didn't flinch at being led by the arm.

Another hour of banter, and the nun held her hand back, asking kindly to be untied.

Melinda had made her decision. Betrayal by family, abandonment by parents had made her feel no loyalty to the human empire. After all, this monstergirl said she'd keep her as a well-treated maid. A much better fate than what she feared, or had back in Lescatie...She planned on contacting her family one day, just not now. Especially after the parting argument, it would help to make them cringe with news of her disappearance and captivity, and (alleged).

Her only worry was her comrades, who were herded to a red stone building with slight shows of resistance, where they'd be screened, and...questioned...

And stripped.

Monstergirls' tradition was to strip any captive completely naked and inspect was said to be a measure of healthcare. Melinda thought that, in her pre-Lescatian pagan ideas, that it was because they were lusty perverts, born of dreams of a powerful male Djinn, perhaps an Efreet writing her fate like a sick story.