Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

“I’m a secret agent, remember? Beastkin Beauties?”

I said nothing, not wanting to give her the satisfaction, but I had to laugh. When I’d found out that she’d been an EDI agent all the time we’d been living together, I had been a bit hurt that she’d not been entirely straight with me. It had put a strain on our relationship for a while, but I didn’t feel that strain any more. It was good to have her tease me again. Just like old times, in fact.

Anyway, I reflected with a grin, Beastkin Beauties was excellent, there was no denying it.

Selena grabbed a few things from her room, and then we left together, locking the door behind us.

“I won’t miss that apartment,” I said as we went back to the car.

“Me neither,” Selena agreed.

We threw our bags in the back seat, jumped in the car, and headed for home.

Chapter 17

We arrived back at the mansion. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before Belinda called in with her portal ready to go in the Blackwood mountains, so I immediately set about getting the grounds ready for the new monsters.

Kyrine and I came outside together, while the others went inside to eat and rest.

“I appreciate your willingness to share Astrid with me,” said Kyrine quietly as we walked through the overgrown grounds together.

I smiled at her. “We’re all friends here. In fact, I have been thinking that it might be nice to bring Selena into our circle as well. I think she’s into the idea too.”

“I think so also,” said Kyrine. “Don’t forget that I’m aware of most things that happen within the mansion’s walls. Selena’s mind is more guarded than Astrid’s, but for all that I can feel her desire for you. She’s keen, I’m sure of it, though she is shy as well. You will need to build that relationship slowly and with care.”

I nodded, grateful for her advice. With Selena, I would take it slow.

“How will we go about getting the monsters through the portal?” I said, changing the subject. “Any ideas?”

“We could use monster lures,” Kyrine suggested. She held out a hand.

On her palm, a little spherical light appeared, hanging about an inch above her hand.

“What’s that?” I said, interested.

“Back on Eosor,” Kyrine explained, “hunters used to use these to draw monsters and creatures to them for hunting. They were considered by some to be a cheat, and hunters who used them were considered to have less valor than those who did not. For us, however, I don’t think that’s too much of a concern.”

“Excellent!” I said. “We can hang one of these on our side of the portal, and it will draw creatures through. Now, how are you at gardening?”

Together, we drew on the mansion’s power and examined her database. It turned out that there were several items that could be added to the grounds—hedges, trees, shrubs, and walls, as well as furniture and decorations.

Kyrine seemed confused and slightly distressed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked gently.

She shook her head. “I don’t remember any of this,” she confessed. “I thought that all my memories of my life as a legendary dungeon on old Eosor had come back to me, but this is new. I had no idea that I could create new things out here in the grounds.”

“Interesting,” I said. “But you don’t need to worry. We’re still just at the start of our journey together, Kyrine. There’s a lot for us still to learn, and probably a lot of things that we can do together that we don’t yet know about. Don’t feel bad about it. It’s a good thing. Come on, let’s make some new stuff.”

Kyrine laughed, and the unhappy look melted away from her face. “Let’s do that,” she said. “You tell me what you want and where, and I’ll do it.”

Creating new things always pleased Kyrine, and I was glad to see her throw herself into the work. We began by going to the most remote and wild part of the grounds, away off by the wall to the east of the mansion. Here, we placed the portal generator, ready to be activated when Belinda called in with her half.

“We’ll create a pathway here that creatures can get through, but not out of again,” I said. We used high thorny hedges to do this, creating a narrow corridor from the portal and out. This would corral the monsters as they exited the portal. At the end of the corridor, we placed one lure, which would draw them away from the portal.

In front of the lure, we put a one-way gate, so creatures would not be able to go back to the mountains through the portal.

“That will do the job,” I said with satisfaction.

Next, we filled the wild area with cover. Bushes, trees, and shrubs made a dense canopy for a large area around the gate from the corral, giving habitat for creatures to get comfortable in before they ventured out into the rest of the grounds. We placed several creature lures around the wild area, hoping that these would draw the smaller wildlife—rabbits, foxes, and birds—that already inhabited the overgrown mansion’s grounds. These would provide a food source for any carnivores that came through.

“There’s only one more thing,” I said. We walked to the edge of the wilder area, and then placed another ring of thick hedges. These could be removed later, but for now I wanted an area where the monsters and creatures would stay.

“I think that’ll do, don’t you?” I said to Kyrine. The work had taken a long time, and we were both tired. To my satisfaction, I found that the lures we’d placed were already drawing animals to the wild area. We’d sectioned off nearly a third of the grounds, and I was