Mature Content Warning: The first section includes the sale of intelligent beings for profit. Some other stuff might offend as well. Due to the nature of this story, its content is not suitable for anyone. Enjoy.

Author's Note: We jumped the shark in the first chapter. Now we're going to jump over it again while wearing rocket boots and holding sparklers in our butt cracks. This chapter might have more grammar and spelling issues, feel free to point them out for correction as I have a headache and this is the best that I could do at the moment. Thanks!

Chapter 8: Spider in the dark.

Seated on a leather office chair, a young man in his early twenties spoke of a true desire. He spoke this desire to a man currently engaged in video-chat. The digital rendering of the man on screen snorted derisively. "You ask too much. That angel of yours may be powerful and rare according to her official stats, but she's been knocked unconscious in almost every duel that she's fought. How you've managed not to lose her in a challenge match yet is beyond me."

A familiar looking man replied, "Look, you can send her off for re-education training. That might help you to improve her dueling skills. I would, but every time that I've tried to sign her up something has gone wrong. I finally gave up."

"No deal, Henry. If you want to sell me your Selkie, feel free. That angel isn’t coming near my harem." said the man.

Henry the douche bag tamer idly rubbed the back of his head. His fingers ran along a spot, a bad scar. That spot had become quite familiar to him over the course of the last three months. The chunk of his ear that had been torn off by that crazed lunatic’s teeth had been regenerated, but that scar had remained. Every medical practitioner he had visited had tried to remove it, but it always returned. Scars were not supposed to work like that, but this one had a mind of its own. It would not be denied. "Fine, have the credits sent to my account."

The man nodded and authorized the transfer. A few minutes later Henry's ball flashed from its place in the taming center's transport console, and he noticed a little over three-hundred thousand credits appear in his account.

"Pleasure doing business with ya, mate." said the man on the other end before signing off.

Henry hissed under his breath. "Whatever..."

He took out Cerene’s D-ball. He stared at it for a moment while seriously considering the option of throwing it out of the window. He couldn't even give the bitch away. No wandering tamers were willing to trade for her since they were highly suspicious of someone trying to give away an angel.

Henry was at the end of his rope. The only thing that the girl talked about, when she bothered to talk at all was her 'prince.'

He glanced at the terminal and said, "Fuck it. If I can't offload the bitch I'll just have to take her to see that idiot that attacked me."

Unvoiced was his thought that he would make sure that she learns that he'll never be able to 'rescue' her.' Henry figured that if he thoroughly beat that fool down in front of her, his angel would finally shut the hell up and accept reality. She belonged to him, and as his property he was going to get his use out of her.

He typed in a few search words and eventually found a page linking him to the jail in Oldtowne. The place where he'd left that fool.

A few minutes of fiddling with links led him to the prisoner roster since it was public record. Realizing that the guy had been released, he spent a few more minutes searching. That search time led to the discovery of his current occupation. He smirked. He wouldn't even be breaking the law when he went after him.

--

Training the use of a rope weapon was a time consuming task. It required more dedication and concentration that fighting with a sword of spear. The flexible motion of the weapon required exact and precise movements in order to create an effective method of fighting. The rope flew out with precision and grace. The hook on the end slammed into yet another empty soda can. The exercise was proving too easy for her, but her master wanted her to keep working on her precision.

Nina smiled softly then gave into the momentary distraction that had been on her mind since the moment that she had been taken out of the woods. The idea of having a tamer, a sweet and thoughtful tamer who truly cared about her, was an amazing thought.

Who would have ever thought that the day would come when a human male with no gifts would try to fight solo against demi-humans and actually win?

The rope zipped out then somehow managed to flip back on its trajectory before rocketing back toward Nina. It flew past her while missing her right shoulder by a tiny margin. The hook slapped the small can situated directly behind her. She hadn't damaged the wooden fence these cans were sitting on once. She was at the point where she could almost will the rope and hook to move in a direction of her choosing even if it seemed to defy physics.

She moved into a slow rhythmic twirling motion and began to enjoy the feel of her weapon whirling about her. Suddenly, she whipped it out in three quick casual motions without telegraphing her attacks in the slightest. She quickly tapped a trio of cans that were arranged in three separate locations on opposite sides of the training area, sending the hapless tin bastards into scrap metal oblivion.

They were going into the caves again in a few hours. She and her beloved master would no doubt find themselves swarmed by more of those 'kobolds' as he called them. She didn’t know why he called them that. She just thought of them as short, ugly, rat-dog things with scales who liked to use spears and run in packs.

She smirked, the thought of their pathetic combat skills were a source of amusement for her. They had fought a few dozen of them in the last fourteen days, but the word fight had been a gross overestimation of the actual combat intensity. It had been more like a slaughter than a battle.

The blond haired slashette wondered just how sad and pathetic the last few adventurer teams had to be not to be able to beat these things. They were barely able to improve her skills. Sure, she'd gained three levels in the last two weeks, but she would have had the same effective growth rate from a handful of decent duels.

Ah well, at least they'd had random loot to sell. Her master had made a nice little bit of change and even set up a separate bank account in his name. She had been delightfully surprised when he’d given her the account information.

That new account was for her cut of the profits. He had to put it in his name due to legal issues, but he had wanted to give her a share of the loot.

She blushed furiously after recalling that happy moment. A heartfelt smile crossed her face. "My own money..."

Nina had already purchased a few odds and ends, along with some combat gear. Sure, her red leather bodice didn't add much to her defense rating, but it certainly got Scott's attention. She could do without his dominatrix references, though; and what was a Mord-Sith anyway? Her master was odd, but she would not willing trade him for anything or anyone.

"Today's our last day here, Nina." came the voice she loved to hear above all others.

The girl smirked once more then whipped her rope out at the general location of her beloved master. The hook arrived at the attack point with swift, brutal, precision. However, it found only empty air. He'd kept moving as he spoke.

"No tying me up right now, silly. We have to get ready." He smiled at her in a warm and sincere way. She had to fight down her constant desire for him. It was rare to see him wearing his armor without wearing his 'storm trooper' helmet.

"Aww, you're so mean, Master." The blond girl pouted at him in an attempt to force his submission.

Scott snorted, "Do you really have to keep calling me that? I have a name you know."

Nina stuck out her tongue at him then attempted to look sexy and cute once more. She did a good job of that by the way.

"I'll call you anything you like, if I get to use this first..?" She held her weapon up then nibbled on the rope while looking at him.

"Maybe, later..." He slipped his helmet on to signal that it was time to depart. He certainly was not attempting to hide a rising blush. Don’t believe the hype people. Just because he was more used to the casual sexuality of this world now, didn't mean he was over his natural shyness yet.

"Oh poo! Don't be such a stick in the spud!" exclaimed the girl.

"Mud, sweety."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah... mud, whatever!" She flailed her arms about wildly. This sudden erratic movement caused her rope to start zipping around dangerously.

Scott ducked casually when a stray strike came his way then chuckled at her antics. They'd grown a bit closer these last few weeks. Though, most of that closeness had come from her getting as much quality time as she wanted whether he was awake to enjoy it or not.

She finally ceased her flailing then tossed of her hair with a casual twist of her neck. “Hmph!”

The man smirked then let that smirk ease into a soft smile. He slipped in behind her and gave the irate girl a tender hug.

Her ire slowly drained away and she leaned into his embrace. She wanted to enjoy the sweetness of that gentle moment.

----

Scott held the halogen light up to scan the dark passageway before them in an attempt to perceive whether any of the kobolds were coming down the sole entrance to this wide cavern. It was the final day of the mission for him and Nina.

Despite continual efforts to exterminate the monsters in the cavern they always seemed to return by the next morning. Scott had briefly wondered if they were able to respawn, but this world was not a roleplaying game based reality despite the level and stat based information. He strongly suspected that something stranger than game mechanics was at play.

The researchers were pleased with their effort, but they were about to turn the caverns over to a government appointed extermination squad and biological studies groups. The researchers would come back, after the clean-up. The site was too important to current research to allow it to remain a constant battleground.

As he stared down the passageway a sudden red blur came hurtling out towards him. It revealed itself to be a kobold running full tilt. Scott steeled himself, but the thing just veered away and kept running towards another exit.

The cavern they were in now might have only one entrance, but there were lots of other adjoining corridors not too far away.

A moment later a squeal of pain was followed by a girlish exclamation, "Eww! My new shoes are ruined!" Nina had taken care of the little pest, but the cost of victory had proven to be a price too high to bear.

A few minutes later three more kobolds came through. They also made a beeline for the exit corridor leading to the surface. The scaly critters completely ignored him and the researchers for some reason. Three more squeals came from Nina's direction, followed by more annoyed grumbling about kobold splatter. It was a good thing that she was wearing red.

Scott moved forward to intercept another kobold as it ran in his direction, but he heard a great clamor coming from the darkness. The clamor was underscored by a subtle clacking sound. It was a scrabbling sound that was reminiscent of claws on stone. Slowly, the origin of that sound revealed itself. This time it wasn't a single kobold or even a small group. There were at least two dozen of them, and they seemed determined to make a break for the surface.

Something was definitely wrong. They barely registered Scott and Nina due to their obvious terror. The man called back to the researchers. "We need to go people! Something’s got these things scared to death!"

Dr. Gera came rushing up to ask him what was going on, but before she could say anything her breath caught in her throat. Her glasses slid from her face and she lost sensation in her legs. Her arms flailed wildly in a vain attempt to stay upright, but she inevitably fell backward and landed on the floor with a meaty thump.

Scott noticed the absolute terror etched itself onto her every feature, but he did not get a chance to ask her what was wrong. The curious scrabbling suddenly increased in intensity. He turned to look back toward the darkness, a cold sweat beginning to form at his brow. Out of the darkness walked a horror, a thing of chaos and terror. It was a nightmare of obsidian and red.

“St-strider!" shrieked the doctor. She desperately tried to slide back, tried to get away from the monstrosity. Her actions made it clear that she expected that each new breath would be her last. Soon she would become meat for the beast.

Scott felt a curious trickle between his thighs and his eyes widened comically. He would never admit it to anyone, but after seeing what walked out of the shadows he'd involuntarily urinated.

A shriek erupted outward from Nina's corridor. A Kobold that had tried its best to get away had been caught in a web line. It was snatched back toward the monstrosity with lightning speed and absurd ease.

The man watched as the half-spider creature finished webbing it up then stuck it against the wall. Something seemed off about the situation, well beside it being royally screwed up. He had been much closer to the monstrosity than the kobold, but the thing had not attacked him.

The creature seemed to be wearing actual armor on its humanoid torso. That bespoke reasonable intelligence. Further, the Strider was a spider monster with a humanoid torso, but the lower body of a spider. It would have massive fangs and multiple arms. This thing looked more like a drider that had wandered out of a dungeons and dragons campaign module.

It caught three of the scaly critters then glanced over at Scott and smirked. It spoke out in a soft, lilting voice. "Kobolds are an acquired taste, you know."

Scott collected his wits a little then frowned and snorted. If there were non-native kobolds, why not have a half-spider creature? "I wouldn't know. They have too many scales, and the fur just isn't my thing."

The creature laughed merrily, but with a decidedly creepy edge to its tone. "No doubt of that, but tell me something. What are you doing in my domain?"

The armored man considered his answer for a moment. "Keeping the rat-dogs away while these people do research."

The spider guy, for his voice was decidedly male, nodded and said, "Very well then, but I'll need something in return for them traipsing along in my caverns."

Scott hmm'ed loudly and then took a shot in the dark saying, "You do realize this cave system probably isn’t where you think it is, right?"

The creature blinked then stared at him curiously, "Explain..."

"First, what's the name of your world? Faerie-Rune by any chance?" asked Scott. He would have asked if it were the world of Faerun, or the forgotten realms, but everything here seemed to have something to do with the crap that he used to write. Faerie-Rune was a goofy Forgotten Realms knockoff that he had written about. After asking his question, he noticed Nina ready herself in the shadows. He could guess what she was thinking. This thing was a possible threat to her master.

"Indeed it is..." said the aberration.

Scott smirked, though the now obvious drider knockoff couldn't see it. He continued to talk to the creature for a few minutes. That led to the scientists beginning to get over their dread. They started to come closer so that they could hear more of this strange conversation, much to his annoyance.

"You seem to be in a fairly similar boat to me then. You've crossed dimensions and are in an entirely different world." said Scott. He made certain to keep his voice cordial. The last thing he, or anyone else, needed was to get into a fight with a Black Widow.

The Black Widow settled back slightly and seemed to consider Scott’s words carefully. He wondered what was crawling through its chaotically evil mind. Dark elves from Faerie-Rune were notoriously evil, though that evil was mostly in the form of mean spirited pranks. They were more likely to rip the tag off of a mattress, or unscrew the cap on a salt shaker, than perform any great evil.

However, being turned into a Black Widow always screwed with their heads a bit. It was punishment for not being evil enough. Sometimes they would hold puppy kicking social events, or cat slinging contests to make sure that the evil slutty spider goddess that they worshipped approved of them.

"I do recall a certain feeling of disorientation earlier. I'd assumed it was simply a teleport trap that I'd managed to stumble into." confessed the half-spider.

Scott nodded. "Hmm, well you've come at an incredibly bad time I'm afraid."

"Oh and why is that?" the cursed being asked with a hint of menace in its voice.

The man nodded, "Because, come tomorrow the people of the neighboring area have an extermination squad coming through to clean out the rest of these kobolds. They'll mistake you for something you aren't and then all hell will break loose."

The cursed creature hissed and drew back, "You surface monkeys are all the same! Why I ever thought it was worth giving up my heritage, I don't know!"

Scott winced. He had chosen to say the wrong thing.

"Nina, don't." said Scott aloud. She had made herself ready to attack the irate spider. The girl frowned and backed away. She stared at the oversized creature menacing her master after she stopped moving.

"Feh. Why would you care if she struck me down? Love, justice, honor, it's all a myth!" shouted the creature as it reared back and flailed its arms.

Scott noticed its antics then a thought occurred to him. Deciding to pull something out of his ass, so to speak, he asked. "Would the Shadow Mistress think kindly of you if she heard that, and you know she probably did?"

The monster stopped cold and took a deep breath, its eyes glared down at him before they widened perceptibly. "You, know of her?"

The scientists were crowding around now, some wrote furiously while others recorded video for posterity. An actual conversation with some sort of Strider variant, they'd make history!

"I know of the legends surrounding her. She is the patron deity of all good aligned elves, dark or otherwise. Now it seems she is also the patron of a possibly good aligned Black Widow, as nearly insane as that sounds." said Scott sagely.

The spider half-breed became morose for a moment, and said "I wasn't always as you see me. I was once a servant of Bitchoth, but I refused to kill my husband in her name. Thus did she afflict me with my current nature."

Scott nodded. It was crazy that the things that he wrote about were real here, but it kept him from being juiced. He might as well go with it. "Alustra came to you later?"

The spider nodded and settled its skittering legs down like a horse that had chosen to rest. "Yes, in my misery at being outcast, and the slow insanity creeping up inside me, I wept in the dark caverns on the outskirts of my former home."

The others settled down to listen to this strange creature's tale. Even Nina seemed to relax slightly.

"Months, years, I am not sure how much time passed. I lived like an animal, a spider who trapped her prey in cunning fashion. But, I was alone. I was always alone." continued the spider elf.

Nina kneeled down in the corridor but kept herself alert. She wanted to hear the story too, it sounded so tragic! The fact that it seemed to resemble her life to some extent also drew her in.

"Then, a time came when I'd come across a small band of dwarves. They attacked me and I killed all but two of them. I'd avoided most intelligent races. I chose to live off of the kobolds and random goblins that teemed in the underground."

Scott considered the unlikely nature of this story, but thought enough to keep his own counsel. It was the spider’s story to tell. He did notice that the words husband and her were mentioned. That led him to believe that this androgynous looking abomination was actually female.

"When I came across the last two survivors, they were a small dwarven boy and his tiny sibling brother." The Black Widow’s eyes seemed to gaze at nothing at all; she was obviously lost in memory.

"The dwarf child stood shaking before me. He wielded an axe too heavy for him to lift in his tiny hands. He was trying to protect his brother." A small trace of tears began to appear at the corner of her eyes.

Several sniffles from behind him made the black armored man sigh. It was a sad story, but why were these people crying? Man people were a finicky lot. One minute they're scared to death, the next minute they're on the edge of their seats while wrapping themselves in someone else’s grief.

"You can't have him! The little one had said that just before he tried to raise that axe. I, for some reason, can't remember my reply. Though, I do recall a small smile crossing both their faces." said the spider.

The half-spider cleared her throat then continued. "Several times in the next few months I'd find myself in similar situation. Despite my grief and insanity, somehow I barely managed not to let my cursed evil nature overtake me."

Scott quirked an eyebrow and listened intently. He wondered just how different the real Faerie-Rune was from the world that he had created. It should be impossible for a Black widow to regain their sense of decency. It was part of their nature.

"One day after such an encounter a voice that was both soft and lilting called out to me. It was followed by a vision of a dark elf whose beauty was beyond compare. The immaculate maiden said that I had shown mercy seven times. That day a simple mercy was granted to me in kind."

The others behind Scott murmured a little. They wondered at what kind of mercy the vision had meant, and one or two of them babbled something about demi-human goddesses.

"After the voice faded, I felt a sense of calmness, a sort of serenity, come over me that I had not ever experienced in my two hundred and thirty years of life as a servant of Bitchoth." She stopped speaking after that, and it seemed to signal the end of her tale.

"So, the Shadow Mistress Alustra removed the chaotic evil that had been cursed into your soul, and set your mind free?" asked Scott carefully.

"I did not know who she was, until much later. I freed a band of surface elves that some of my former brethren had captured. They were all children, save for the priestess. She was a dark maiden one of the Shadow Mistress’ ladies." she said.

"Uh, but I didn't know dark maidens had that kind of power?" asked a random researcher from behind him.

Scott answered with a bit of trivia from his writing, as though it were unedited truth. "Alustra isn't a demi-human. She's a goddess of the elven pantheon from this girl’s home world. The deities there take a major interest in the random mortal races and interact with them directly and often."

A hushed murmur of voices behind him continued.

"So now you know my tale. The goddess of good elves took my insanity, but left me in this cursed body." said the girl in a bitter tone.

Scott nodded, "True, but you also now find yourself in a world where it just may be possible to cure you of that curse. You may once again regain at least a humanoid form."

The Black Widow looked up in shock. "Can this truly be so?"

"Let me make a few calls. I can't promise you a ready cure, or even an eventual one. However, I can promise you a major attempt on your behalf. I know several demi-human elves and the like who'd love to meet someone of a genuine elven race, even in your current form."

The girl seemed to go pale for a moment and then her cheeks darkened slightly. If Scott hadn't known better, he'd have sworn he had just seen a spider blush.

“You... would go through this much effort for someone you do not even know.” asked the spider girl.

Scott shrugged. “I know what it’s like to suddenly pop into another world. I had a similar issue. I really wish someone had made this kind of effort for me in those early days, but someone did eventually come to aid me.”

The Black Widow did something terrifying. She opened her mouth and smiled sincerely. Of course, her sincere smile revealed sharp fangs, but they were sort of cute.

-----

A soft hissing sound resonated outward from a small capsule-like chamber. Cold vapor escaped around the edges of a now unlocked hatch. Slowly the crystalline chamber door opened and revealed a creature not seen upon this earth in millennia. It was a royal beast with the cunning of a man and the unrelenting desire to achieve its goals.

Slowly, the creature awoke from its ten thousand year slumber. Its soft blue eyes opened slowly, almost delicately. The white-furred creature arose clumsily at first. It stumbled out of the chamber then took a deep breath. With much effort it padded its way from the capsule toward a tiny hole in the distance where light was shining down inside its tomb.

A soft "Mew" was heard as it struggled free of the earthen prison. It looked up at the rapidly darkening Skyline. It now stood on a rocky outcropping overlooking a forest. Further in the distance it could see what it would consider to be a small town.

Thoughts began to form. At first they were incoherent and rambling memories. Thousands of years of slumber had dulled its senses, but after a few minutes had passed a face and a name became clear. The word would be incomprehensible in any modern language, but it translated as "Love’s Guardian."

The tiny predator tossed its head. The motion caused its golden mane to fly off to one side, but it did not pay attention to that because he had felt something change. It began to feel a slight tugging sensation, and a moment later it started to walk in the direction it lead. It had a mission. The tiny ancient beast knew who it was looking for and it was going to find out where they were.

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