Deep Woods: Lily Quinn, #11

By Natalie Severine and Eric Severine

My name is Lily Quinn and I was supposed to be the best monster hunter in the city. After everything that's happened, though, I'm not even sure I want to do this job anymore. I've lost everything.

But what else is a girl like me going to do with herself?

So I've taken another bounty, one high in the mountains where a yeti's been tearing it up. And I don't mean throwing parties. This job might take a while and my powers only last about a day, so I'm bringing something with me that I never have before – Max.

Deep Woods also includes the bonus short story 'Dirty Hands.'

This and all Lily Quinn stories contain graphic depictions of sexual acts. Lots of them. There's other stuff, too, like fun stories and crazy adventures, but these books are definitely for adults only.

You have been warned. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Loose Leaf Stories
• Release date: Oct 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643190266

Book preview

Chapter 1

The old truck rumbled along a winding highway that led out of town. I leaned my head against the window and watched the city fall away below as the road curved up into the coastal mountains. Six lanes of highway dwindled to four, and then barely two. The truck was well-maintained, of course, but the en­gine still wheezed a bit as the air grew thinner with the high altitude. The glass of the window against my cheek was warm, but the air blowing in from outside smelled of bitter-sweet pine sap and cold, stony earth.

I kicked my hiking boots up onto the dashboard and switched the air intake over to recycle. Max downshifted again and glanced over at me.

I don’t want to ask if you’re okay because I know you’re sick of everyone asking, he said. But… Lil, are you okay?

No.

Max nodded and drove in silence for a bit, guiding his truck through the increasingly sharp turns of the mountain road. For a moment, I had a breathtaking view of the bay and red spires of the bridge spanning it, but then they were eclipsed once more by the green of pine trees and the black-flecked gray of granite boulders.

A few minutes later, we passed the first weathered wooden sign marking out the edges of the national forest. Max pointed to the yellow closed notice taped over it.

Will we even be able to get into the park? he asked.

Yeah, I answered.

Is it closed because of the uh… what is it?

Yeti.

Max nodded. Yeti. As in a sasquatch, right? Bigfoot? What are they like?

Big, savage and smelly, I said. Dangerous.

So not exactly a monster you can take to bed before you take it down. Well, maybe… Max smirked, dimples marking his cheeks. You’re a kinky girl, Lil.

I shook my head. I’m not fucking a yeti.

Well, that’s what I’m here for. To keep you powered up.

Yeah, I said. This might take a few days and it’s not like I can rely on a steady stream of hot forest rangers.

And I own actual camping supplies, Max pointed out. I don’t think you even had a sleeping bag.

Back when I owned anything.

Max fell silent again. Each breath fogged my window in wispy white plumes for a moment before they faded. Outside, the road shoulder had all but vanished and only a dented aluminum guard­rail separated us from a long, rocky drop.

Lil, why did you take this job? Max asked quietly. It doesn’t seem like you want to be out here and it’s not like you need to work. You have enough money stashed away to live in luxury for the next hundred years.

I had to get out of the city for a while. Besides, what the hell else am I supposed to do with myself?

I’ve been hunting down monsters since I graduated high school. There was no other profession I knew. This was what Evaine had trained me for… I squeezed my eyes shut. I wasn’t sure if I had any tears left to shed, but didn’t feel like risking it. I felt Max’s hand on my knee. He didn’t keep it there long.

I don’t really know what’s going on or what happened to your condo, Max said slowly. And that’s okay. You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to, Lil. But you’ve been living in that hotel room for the last month…

It’s fine. Like you said, I’ve got the money.

But you don’t have to do that, Lil. You could always crash with me until you get back on your feet.

I kept leaning against the truck window and cast a sidelong look at Max.

It’s fine, I repeated. The words came out a little harder than I meant them to. Besides, what about Taya? Even if she’s okay with you and me suddenly being fuck buddies again, I really doubt she would be thrilled with me living at the garage.

Max glanced at me. There was something in his expression that I couldn’t quite figure out before he returned his attention to the road. We drove without speaking for another ten minutes, each one ticking by in glowing blue lines on the dashboard clock.

So, Max said at last. "What’s the plan? Is there a particular technique for hunting yeti? Uh, is yeti singular or plural?"

I think it’s both.

How many are we dealing with? Max asked.

Just one. And trust me, that’s enough. It’s already killed two campers and put a park ranger in the hospital. He’s still in critical condition.

Max frowned. I read that story in the news. They said it was a mountain lion.

And the ranger probably even believes that. The College wiz­ards rewrote his memory and then went to a lot of work to get the whole forest shut down. Only hunters are allowed up here until someone kills that yeti.

How do you plan to do that, Lil?

Pretty much by wandering around and smelling delicious, I admitted. That’s how Stefano catches werewolves, by being both the bait and the trap. Yeti are man-eaters and I don’t mean meta­phorically like me. It should be nice and hungry by now.

Max went a little pale and his hands tightened on the steering wheel, but they remained steady enough. I gestured through the wind­shield to a gravel parking lot up ahead, closed off with a bat­tered yellow gate. A chain wrapped around the gatepost, but wasn’t locked into place.

This is it, I said.

Max nodded and pulled to a stop. I got out of the truck and pushed the gate open, then closed it again when he drove through. I followed at a trot as Max parked and then climbed down from the driver’s side.

I thought the forest was shut down until the hunt is over, he said, pointing.

A neat black Mercedes sat on the other end of the lot. The coat of dust it had picked up on the drive into the park seemed conspicuously out of place on the shiny obsidian paint job. I didn’t recognize the car.

That doesn’t look like a forest service vehicle, Max noted. "No government plates. Maybe it belongs to some tourist who ignored the closed signs?"

I shrugged. Maybe.

Max waited for me to say more. When I didn’t, he lowered the tailgate of his old truck and began unloading our gear. There were two huge backpacks, each bulging with supplies. One of them even had a hunting rifle strapped to the side.

Borrowed it from my dad. Just in case, Max said, catching my look. He nodded to a small, weather-beaten building at the end of the parking lot. "That’s our last