Sarafune Monster Preserve Vol. 1 Read online

  The Interview

  In, out. In, and out. One, two, three, four, five, pause, one, two, three.

  The boy in the car that had pulled into the reserve a few minutes ago continued to do this, along with other, simple exercises to calm himself. His name was Charles, and to call him nervous would be an understatement. In short, the poor, black haired, skinny, white guy had anxiety issues. Sure, he'd learned to control them, but they were always there and ready to derail his thoughts at a moment's notice.

  To make matters worse, this was the sort of thing that his mind lived for to bring him into a spiral. It had started a few months ago when he graduated from college with a degree in psychology, hoping to put it to use so that he could help others who suffered from anxiety like himself. As most would tell you though, a psychology degree doesn't always get you very far, so he hadn't been able to put it to use, or even really find a half decent job. So, when a position at a research, habilitation reserve on the elusive monsters of the world came up and was emailed to him, he had immediately applied.

  He hadn't quite expected to get the position though. Sure, his immediate reaction had been one of delight, as this was the largest reserve on the planet and he had been fascinated by the creatures since he was young. To actually work with them was a different matter, especially since he had expected not to actually be qualified. He had assumed someone needed and he assumed someone needed to know self-defense skills, experience teaching before now, and half a dozen other little things he didn’t have that they simply had failed to mention in the job listing.

  But, Charles had applied and been accepted, so-

  "Hello."

  "Ah!" The poor boy jumped in his seat from the raspy voice that was outside of the car. Looking over, he noticed a man who looked like he was probably eighty or ninety years old, hunched over and breathing hard.

  "I'm guessing you're Charles?" The old man gave him a small smile, before stepping away from the car. "I understand your hesitation, but you have nothing to worry about. I'm pretty bad about giving too many chances, otherwise I'd never have been able to drink with a minotaur. So come on in. I haven’t rejected an applicant yet."

  Charles swallowed hard while the old man laughed. He'd never seen a minotaur, a real one that is, even in the news. Then again, these preserves had only started about thirty years ago, and only the most intelligent monsters had left graduated from their respective Habilitation Programs. The best and brightest, and of those characteristics, most minotaurs lacked at least one of them.

  The boy stepped out of his car, and the old man stopped laughing as Charles stood up straight. While the nervous boy couldn't tell it from how the old man looked upon him, he was being analyzed. He wasn't too tall, thin on the arms and legs, though that could mean he’s deceptively strong...

  The old man nodded, before gesturing for Charles to follow him. "Come, we'll talk inside, and you can address me as Mr. Sarafune."

  For a moment, there was silence, before Charles ran to catch up, words already streaming from his mouth. "Wait, does that mean you're the founder of this preserve? I thought it was simply named after your work in the courts to stop the eradication of monsters after they were rediscovered. Didn't they need more legal..."

  For a moment, Sarafune just stared him down, one eyebrow raised, before a faint touch of a smile got to the corner of his mouth. "I thought I was supposed to ask the questions, not you."

  Charles looked down, shuffling his feet a bit before nodding. It's not like he was wrong, but his mind raced with what this could mean. Was this why Sarafune was the largest preserve? Why hadn't the preserve's website said anything about him? Was this part of why you didn't hear much about these places in general?

  He could have gone on for another hour in his own head if they didn't reach the one house that appeared to be on the preserve in only a few minutes. Instead, Charles remembered with the sharp sounds of hard heels on wooden boards that he was in fact here for a job. A job that would have him living here if he got it.

  The house itself was rather large, almost more a mansion than a house, which made sense. In here would be all the personnel who ran the facility. The gardeners, cooks, everyone. At least, so he assumed. It was surprisingly cozy despite that, looking like a house you might find in a normal town, only with a third floor to it and about three garages behind it. All rounded out with a white paint job and black trim.

  Sarafune looked back at the boy, smiling as he saw him pause on the front porch. A knock on a small, wooden set of drawers next to the entrance got his attention back, which was good. "So, can you tell me what you know about monsters?"

  Charles clicked his tongue as he stepped in, closing the door behind him silently. "Well, to begin with, back in medieval times, many of the stories they made weren't as much stories, but exaggerations. Accounts made to make the killing of humanoid beings with large changes to physiology okay."

  "These accounts were used for the wholesale slaughter of many monsters over the decades, especially by rich families who started to bear the honor of slaying them with great pride. We can only assume that the grander tales like King Arthur’s were records of some of the largest households that did this. The practice died of though with the Explorer’s Age, when they seemingly went extinct

  "Over the next hundreds of years, the stories..." Charles blinked a few times, first noticing how Mr. Sarafune had an eyebrow raised, and then realizing that he'd blindly followed the man to a small study with a large, wooden desk. Papers littered the table top, along with books covering every inch of the walls which made up any visual flair the small place had. The only other furniture in the room were two chairs, one behind the aforementioned desk, and one before it. "Um, should I sit, sir?"

  A small snort of laughter escaped the old man as he went to behind the desk. "Yes, and you should tell me what you know about monsters, not their history, as I might know a little of that."

  Charles blushed as he took his seat. Of course Sarafune knew the history, as he'd been not only their lawyer, but their representative in Congress, before then going to the United Nations and making his cases there. If not for him, it was questionable if they'd be considered 'people' by today, or if the debates would still be going on.

  But that left a hard question for him. "Sir, what exactly do you mean?"

  Sarafune nodded and leaned back. "Well, what do you know of the people classified underneath the race known as mon-"

  Charles cocked his head as Sarafune stopped talking, seemingly stunned for a moment. His gaze was directed at something behind him, and it only now occurred to the boy that the door had creaked a moment ago. Why would the man be shocked by an employee walking in though?

  Turning around, Charles might have realized that it wasn't an employee who had come in. He might have thought that Sarafune was worried about them being roasted alive, or slashed in twine. At the very least he might have registered more than the gender and species of the being in the doorway.

  That is, if said being was wearing a single shred of cloth. Instead, Charles's brain had checked out for the moment as his eyes almost popped out of his skull. Sure, it was common knowledge that monsters looked akin to humans and that across the board their genetics were better than ours, which often let them look like what we wished we looked like.

  He had never seen one like this though. A vampire, Yuki-Onna, Dullahan? Sure, as those were ones that had come out and been able to actually talk with the normal populace and had been put on television.

  This was a dragon though. It wasn't hard to tell either, from the black horns that started on her forehead and curled back over her hair. If that didn't help you, there were the monstrous claws on h
er hands and feet, covered in red scales from her palm, only stopped by the black talons that were her fingers, to about her elbow. The only thing one could hesitate about was if she was a drake, as at the moment she wasn't showing her wings, if she had them.

  She was also very much so a girl though. Her face was soft and a slightly tanned white, with small scales coming down from her horns. The red flecks came down in two small crescents, pulling your eyes down to where they touched the inside ends of her eyebrows, which let you quickly transition to her beautiful, bright red eyes.

  Her frame was lithe, with not an ounce of fat on her as a gentle, hourglass curve went along her sides. And then at her chest were two rather immodest breasts, also pecked by scales that came around her mounds in a segmented circle pattern. They were easily larger than Charles’s fists, and maybe even his head.

  She moved one claw up, possibly defensively and trying to hide herself in some way. The effect was the opposite though, only making sure that his eyes were straight on her chest. Her claw slowly traced itself along the side of her bosom, following the nice, wide curve, all while a soft voice said, "Did I interrupt some-"

  "You know damn well you did. Now, go to your room!"

  The harsh words helped Charles snap out of his stupor, forcing the thoughts of the woman out of his head as he whipped himself back around so that he could look at Sarafune. The sound of her claws along the floor accompanied his breathing exercises.

  Don't close your eyes. The darkness is where your imagination lies, and you need to clear it. You can’t dwell on something like that while you do something like this. In, out. In and out. Breathe in deeply, let it out slowly. Focus on what you should be doing, not what you want to do.

  Sarafune heard the hard breaths and glanced at the boy... before really watching him. He didn't even blink as he performed his exercises, which made sense with the medical notes he'd been able to get about this young man, and this sort of event could easily make a normal person get excited. Whatever he was doing seemed to cause him to slow down, and even faster than half the candidates that he’d met with before.

  Sarafune leaned in more, squinting as he stared into his candidate's green eyes. Lust flashed in there, but there were other emotions fighting for attention. Fear, anxiety, excitement, embarrassment, and...

  Wonder.

  "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Brooke. That was Dari, one of the students here. I had hoped to ease you into these parts of your role, but alas... It doesn't matter."

  Charles turned his attention back to Mr. Sarafune, focusing on his words, and nothing else. The old man continued with, "See, these preserves aren't just for them to live in. It's a place where they can grow their populations, learn, and hopefully one day be at a point where they can be sent somewhere to live with humans, rather than other monsters. That poor girl just set herself back at least a point with that stunt though."

  A crease formed on Charles's brow as he focused on what he'd just heard. "That makes sense, but, well, hmm."

  Sarafune let out a slow breath as the boy continued to mumble to himself. Good. This was very good. "I know it wasn't on the job description, as it's part of being the caretaker to a preserve like this that's less appealing. If I did, no one would have come, no one I wanted at least, and for that I apologize."

  Charles glanced up, frowning at this point. "Less appealing? The whole reason someone would want to take this job is to help these people, right? Habilitation would be one of the best ways to try to do that."

  "And what about when one doesn't want to take advantage of human DNA malleability, but instead wants out, and then rips your head off during class because they think that will do it?"

  For a moment, there was only silence, before a whispered, "They wouldn't... they wouldn't do that, would they?"

  "Do you think they would?"

  Charles leaned back, breathing in deeply, reviewing what he knew as he thought about it. They were monsters. Even he, in a post preserve world, had heard the legends, the tales. Those weren't going to leave popular conscious that quickly, let alone stop being stories for kids, especially if the parents of the child were racists.

  But... "No. You didn't defend the monsters who would. The ones who didn't show logic, real thought, or even the barest level of sentience. If they were a threat not only to humans, but also other monsters, they were..." he sighed for a moment, "Some were kept for research, but those are the only ones that exist anymore, at least in as far as we know."

  "The rest however," he said with a bright shade of red coming back over his face, "were brought to the preserves because they showed the ability and desire for peace, even if how they may be is often too prideful for that, such as..."

  "Dari, and it looks like you do know something about monsters after all." Sarafune gave the boy a smile, a glimmer in his eye. "Now, go upstairs and to the third door on the left. It should be unlocked."

  Charles blinked a few times as he shook his head, pushing Da-Ri-... He made a note to himself that he needed to make sure not to forget that name. He then blinked again, realizing that he'd been sidetracked himself. "What did you say sir?"

  "I said that you had a room, upstairs, third door on the left." Sarafune gestured for the boy to go as his smile broadened. "I believe in actually seeing you in the preserve before I make a decision, hence why I scheduled this interview so late in the day. Now, go."

  Charles glanced at his watch, biting into his cheek as he saw that it was almost seven forty five now. He'd arrived at seven, and Mr. Sarafune must have got him maybe two minutes before he was supposed to be interviewed at seven thirty. "Are... Are you sure you don't want to ask me anymore questions first? Make sure you're not wasting your time?"

  Sarafune shook his head, leaning back as he closed his eyes. "I want you to be able to get Dari out of your head first, and I've already gotten a lot about your history, including getting your references to tell me as much about you as humanly possible. I would not have let you on this preserve if I didn't think you were right for the position."

  Charles gave one last nod, understanding that while this was odd, Sarafune probably know best.

  As he watched the boy leave though, Sarafune let out a small cough as he held his side, finally showing the agony he'd slowly been getting into since Dari showed up. He barely whispered, "Please let him be the right one," a tear rolling down his cheeks as he couldn't help but think about how much of a fool he'd been during these last few years.

  Beginning to Learn

  Charles hummed to himself as his fingers tapped across his keyboard. He'd done some breathing exercises after he'd gotten up to his room, in part so he could properly clear his mind, and in part due to him trying to process that he really had a shot at this. It was... exhilarating, but now he calmed down in a different way, mostly by letting friends and family know just how well today had gone.

  It was in the middle of typing out one of these emails when a knock came to his door. He glanced at it, biting the inside of his lip as his fingers hovered over the keys. Was it Mr. Sarafune? Or maybe it was one of the other students having come to introduce themselves? What if it was in the same way Dari had?

  The knock came a second time, causing Charles to jump a little, before he got up from the small desk in the room. No matter what it was, letting his mind race more wasn't going to help. In fact, that was something he would need to remind himself of more, as today was just embarrassing. He was better than this. He could handle himself better than this.

  Slowly opening the door, Charles found his first few guesses had been incorrect about his late visitor. It was in fact, Dari.

  This time though, she had something on. Not a lot, he somewhat assumed, but something. Now a long, black t-shirt covered her, extending from her collarbone down to almost her knees. Or, since she was holding the bottom and pulling it down, to her knees in the front. Like the claw on her breast though, if it was meant as an innocent action, it had the opposite effect, as it pulled the loose shirt
tight and framed every inch of her upper body.

  Charles blinked a few times, taking her in better than he had before. She'd been there for maybe thirty seconds before, but he had more time now, especially as she seemed to be surprised by him actually being in his room. One hand left the shirt, hovering in mid air like it had no idea what to do, while the other only pull harder on her shirt, leaving space below her left collar bone exposed. On the plus side, the shirt no longer framed her chest as well, even if it caused the other side of her shirt to go up to her mid-thigh.

  She didn't talk though, but instead looked away from him, a tint of red touching her cheeks. He felt bad that while he'd taken in the horns, he hadn't taken in the dark, red hair on her head that was around those horns, cut to be short, and not a hair went beyond her ears. It was a little spiky, though that could have also been because of it being a little messy.

  The final detail he took in as she brought her free hand back to the hem of her shirt was that she must have had her tail behind her when they'd met before, as the long, thin appendage, covered in her smooth scales, was wrapped along her right leg now.