1.1 The Elysium Rendezvous

Author's Notes: This story is a plot bunny that has consumed my interest to the point where it's actually distracting me from my other stories so as I do with these things I put up a word document and put fingers to keyboard. Fast forward several months later and my interest has not waned. Since it made it through creative limbo I decided to release it into the wilds. This story may or may not be related to Daily Life With A Lilim, I haven't decided yet.

Anyway enjoy!

~O~

After four years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears Roland Wayne has graduated university. To commemorate this pivotal milestone of their young adult lives he and his friends decide to hit up a local nightclub to celebrate. Now Roland wasn't exactly plugged in to the night life scene like his friends were even if they try their hardest with hot often they drag him out to parties. This time he decided to go along with them without putting up a fight as this was a very special occasion.

He should have known things wouldn't be simple but he was still riding the high of his academic success so he didn't notice the red flags. Things like his friends failing to tell him where exactly they would be going until he was in the car and they were already driving to their destination. The club they decide to go with was the Elysium which Roland has never heard of. Though they assured him the reason for that was because the place opened relatively recently yet has become really popular especially among single men.

The reason for this became obvious when they arrived and he found himself beholding several monster girls enter the venue. So clearly this club caters to monster girls and if Roland knew this fact beforehand he might have been a lot more apprehensive about joining them. Not because he had a problem with monster girls or Mamono but because if his friends are going to hook up (which they will) he won't be receiving a ride back to his apartment.

As for the mamono themselves they were a mostly unknown quantity to him as they were a relatively recent phenomenon despite exploding into the hearts and minds of the world population and pop culture. His knowledge on them mainly comes from PSAs, news reports, forums and social media none of which he put his entire trust in as a source of information. What he did know was that there are a race of supernaturally beautiful 'monster girls' whose personality and culture seem to revolve around love, sex and general lewdness.

It sounded like something straight out of a stereotypical weeb's wet dream but it's the truth and they hardly made it a secret. When he first heard about it he didn't believe it then he saw pictures and videos of them and initially it painted a very promising picture of his future relationship status. Then time went on, more information about Mamono came out and suddenly the idea of a mamono encounter seemed less promising.

The information was not anti-Mamono propaganda, trolls, general racists or stories from unreliable sources but rather documents and reports about peculiar habits and facets of mamono culture that just wouldn't fit in with modern earth sensibilities. Most of them are unverified but very plausible and for better or worse it colored his impression of the interdimensional beings in a way that would not see him encounter one by himself in a private setting.

Roland can imagine that the portal connecting their world to earth is a hotbed of bureaucratic red tape akin to an immigration office made worse by the fact that Mamono are a completely different species from an entirely different world. All this is to say that currently there aren't a lot of Mamono on earth right now so Roland doesn't have a lot of experience with them.

So understandably Roland was a bit leery about going into a nightclub that was more or less established for hooking up Mamono with human men. That was another big thing about mamono culture that was very much public knowledge at this point. They have a peculiar emphasis on finding romantic partners and having children. It's a pretty big deal for them in the same way that most people wanted to get rich and live a happy life. And just like most people some Mamono will go to some dire lengths in order to secure their happiness.

At least according to some less than savory rumors that are all too plausible when given enough context. Roland chose not to entertain said ideas however as he and the boys entered the club with no issue. He even managed to ignore the big burly yet plainly good looking horned woman (Minotaur) acting as the club's bouncer shamelessly checking them out. Once inside Roland was immediately overwhelmed by the sounds, the smells and especially the sights. There was flashing lights, loud music and a lot of beautiful exotic women fawning over men and vice versa.

Within the next few hours Roland found his apprehension melting away like ice in the summer heat as he and the boys drank, danced, and rubbed shoulders with both human and Mamono alike. Turns out when you get past the 'monster' aspect of monster girls it turns out that they're just people. Exotic, a bit eccentric, beautiful and yes even lewd but people all the same. The only thing that threw him off (aside from some of their appearances) was just how aggressive some of them were with the flirting.

Roland was by no means ugly and he kept in pretty good shape but it wasn't an exaggeration to say that a lot of the women he mingled with were out of his league in the looks department. Imagine someone with Kim Kardashian levels of beauty walking up to a random normal guy and start flirting with him.

It was actually a bit daunting and Roland ended up turning down a few women out of sheer panic and mild discomfort. He had no idea what a Manticore's venom does to a man or why said Manticore kept bringing up her tail and 'milking' but he saw a dangerous gleam in her eye and bailed out of there faster than the Flash. Its encounters like this that made Roland stop drinking after the third beer because he really did not like how some of the women ogled him.

Eventually the initial excitement wore off and Roland broke off from his friends who were more successful in their own pursuits or got worn down by pursuers. He'd been periodically checking the time and was surprised to find that he'd been at it for a few hours now. The fact that he lasted so long was a genuine shock since he's usually the type to leave parties early.

And speaking of leaving…

'It's as good a time as any I guess.'

He planned on paying his tab, informing his friends about leaving and calling an Uber to pick him up since he's pretty sure they're going to be going to a hotel after this. Unfortunately he found an unlikely obstacle sitting at the bar in the form of a pretty woman. Actually to call her 'pretty' would be an insult as she was easily the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, period. She wore a strapless crystalline dress that sparkled in the lights, a matching choker, white heels, crystal earrings and carried a pink clutch handbag over one shoulder. The dress reached her thighs, hugged her full figure and showed off her cleavage. Her platinum silver white hair was let down past her shoulders and paired with her unblemished fair skin made her seem like an ethereal figure.

"Whoa…" was really the only thing he could say.

The woman quirked a brow seeming amused at his response and while he attempted to recover from the embarrassment she took the time to a seat herself on the barstool directly next to where he stood.

"Well?"

"Huh?"

"Aren't you going to take a seat?"

"I was actually leaving…" he trailed off pointing at the vague direction of the door.

"Oh I'm sure you can stay for a while longer."

Roland bit his lip looking around for an out in the form of his friends.

"Your friends seem to be occupied" his gaze snapped to hers as she gave a half shrug "or so I assume. Let me guess, they left you all by your lonesome the moment you stepped into the room?"

"Something like that" he frowned though given where he last saw them (chatting up some stunning Mamono women) he couldn't really blame them for ditching him.

It still sucks since they were his ride home.

'Gonna have to call an Uber' he thought only to be interrupted by the mysterious woman.

"Oh then that means you aren't preoccupied" she chirped "and here I find myself without any company to enjoy the night with. Won't you keep me company for a bit?"

Roland pursed his lips in indecision. Despite being approached by all manner of exotic beauties this night (an already unbelievable prospect for him) he could feel that this woman was a cut above the rest. The way she looked, the way she talked and just her general presence spoke of something…more than any other woman he's encountered that night or ever really.

So here was the most beautiful woman giving him a chance now the question is was he chump enough to let such an opportunity slip past him?

Hell no!

"Yeah, I guess-ahem" he mentally cursed his knee jerk reaction and coughed into his fist "I mean sure I would love to keep you company, if that's all right with you Miss..."

He didn't think he pulled off sophistry in his tone like she did but it didn't matter.

She gave him a dazzling a smile and practically purred her next word "Maddie" she answered "and you are?"

"Roland" he stuck his hand out without thinking causing her to glance at it before once again giving him an amused expression.

Before he can retract his hand she grasped it gently "charmed."

'Her hand is soft.'

And his are sweaty.

'Shit I should have wiped them first.'

He attempted to do that as subtly as possible but whether she noticed or not is a mystery as the bartender approached with his requested tab calculation. Roland already had his wallet out and dipped in retrieve his credit card when he was halted by Maddie.

"Consider your tab paid" as she said this a black credit card materialized between her fingers before passing it off to the bartender.

"You didn't have to do that" Roland said feeling not right with what just happened.

"You're absolutely right" she said not looking at him "but now you're obliged to sit with me for at least an hour to make up for it."

Roland's mouth dropped 'is she serious?'

The way how she stared at him unerringly seemed to answer his question but before the outrage could come Maddie broke the stern calmness with a snicker before it turned into a giggle. He thought she would go further however the giggling eventually tapered off when the bartender returned with her card.

"Relax Roland, you don't owe me anything. I simply did this as a gesture of goodwill" she explained "if you want you can still leave. I won't think badly of you if you do though it would be disappointing."

He would be lying if the smoky eyed look she gave him didn't send shivers down his spine but he shook his head. No he already made the decision to stay so he took a seat beside her to which she only said one thing.

"Excellent~"

After ordering something and giving Roland free reign to get whatever he wanted the two did a little toast and got to talking.