by Dante Steel
He really had to do something about that. This was the kind of erection that wasn’t going to go away without being satisfied.
But what could he do? If he moved, they would wake up.
Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe then the dream could come true. He had talked to Elena. Granted, she didn’t seem on board with the sharing part of him, but if she was there for the sharing, if he was giving himself to her at the same time as someone else, maybe she would be more up for it.
Gary certainly was.
He groaned. His arms were pinned by both of the ladies. He wasn’t sure he could get an arm free.
For two painful minutes, he waited there, hoping one of them would wake up, but they were both sleeping peacefully. Finally, he rolled Nicoletta forward enough that he got his arm free. He gently lifted it over her and then stilled, waiting, watching. She didn’t wake, and he brought that hand down.
Fuck. His clothes were in the way. It wasn’t as if his superhero attire meant he was wearing pants or shorts. Nope.
Still, he could at least rub himself through it. It wasn’t as if he thought he would have time to make himself clean. Then again, just rubbing would be tortuous without release.
With another groan, he began to rub himself.
“What are you doing?” Elena asked sleepily.
He hesitated mid-stoke. “Go back to sleep,” he urged.
“Gary?” Nicoletta called.
He dropped his hand to his side. “Yes?”
Elena sat up and so did Nicoletta. He muttered a curse but did not sit up.
“You ladies go ahead and eat or get ready or whatever. I’ll be right with you.”
Elena and Nicoletta glanced at each and then down at him and at his tent.
“You do that. Be right with us.” Nicoletta smirked as she patted his shoulder.
“Take your time,” Elena said.
The two laughed as they breezed out of the room.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want,” Gary grumbled.
The delay hadn’t let him any less hard. He stripped in seconds, and he took longer to come than he thought he would, reliving every moment of the dream, wishing that he could have had both of them this morning, wishing Olivia had been there, too.
Once he had cleaned up, Gary went upstairs. He ate some, alone since they must’ve gone topside. He hated that they had, and he inhaled his food, but he listened as the other gamers were muttering about how much harder the game was becoming.
Gary tucked that nugget of intel away and headed to the surface. All three ladies were talking, and he strolled off. Oddly, they fell silent on his approach.
“Talking about me?” he joked.
They said nothing.
Crap. They really had been.
“All good I hope.” He struggled to smile. “Anyhow, I think we should try to avoid vampires today if possible. Get to being heroes and megaheroes and superheroes as soon as possible. Gain the experience points from killing the vampires is great, but—”
“You really think our powers will increase if we become superheroes again,” Elena said.
“It’s worth a shot, don’t you think?” He shrugged.
“We need more than what we have to defeat Smaug. That’s for sure,” Olivia said.
“Count me in,” Nicoletta said. “Where to?”
“There’s a powerless wizard nearby,” he said. “He gave me my first quest. Might as well see if he has another for us.”
The ladies fell into step behind him, and Gary led them to the wizard.
“Long ago,” the wizard said, “war devastated the land. It was only after that the vampires came. With them came the darkness. Bring back the sun, and you will become heroes.”
“Bring back the sun,” Nicoletta repeated.
“How can we do that?” Elena asked.
“Bring back the sun. Reforge it. Find its four pieces and reunite them,” the wizard said.
“Where are the four pieces?” Gary asked.
“North, south, east, and west?” Olivia asked.
“Yes, yes, yes, and yes.” The wizard nodded to her.
“All right,” Gary said. “Let’s head north first.”
“Wait up,” Elena said. “We don’t have a lot of time. Let’s split up.”
“That’s dangerous,” Olivia said. “Not one of us could handle an entire horde of vampires by ourselves.”
“True,” Elena admitted. She rubbed the back of her neck. “Fine. Two and two. I’ll go with… Nicoletta.”
“You trust me with Olivia?” he asked.
Elena glowered at Olivia. “I trust you, not her, but she’s the weakest. She needs to be with one of the strongest.”
“Hey,” Olivia protested. “I don’t need to face them. I could just fly away.”
Elena nodded. “You could. And Gary can fly ,too. Maybe you could be separate. Nicoletta and I will handle the south and the east. You two split up north and west.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Gary said.
“Too bad,” Nicoletta said. “It’s a solid plan.”
“But what if you get into trouble,” he protested.
“We can handle ourselves,” Elena said.
Gary gave her a crap ton of the special potions to heal them. He didn’t like this plan, not one bit, but all of the girls were on board. He had been outvoted.
So he headed north, toward the mountains, staying away from the castle. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking for. He took to the air, flying around. The sheer number of vampires beneath him was staggering. The mountains seemed to be where they hid, and if he had to face even a fraction of their numbers here, it would not be fun.
He searched for what felt like hours. A fog had rolled in, but through it, it was obscured slightly by a faint light. Gary landed nearby to investigate and stood at the entrance of a dank, cool cave.
Wishing he had a light, Gary peeked inside. He couldn’t tell how far back the cave went. Not being a coward, he entered, ready to blast any foe back with his power. One step, two, three… Soon, he was so far inside that there was no light whatsoever. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or shut.
He felt along the side of the cave to be able to follow its path. It turned aside, and he was blinded by a bright, hot light.
A piece of the sun.
Gary had to turn aside and retreat. The light was so bright that it physically hurt him to look at it. How was he supposed to get it out of here? Telekinetically, of course.
Once again, he peeked around the corner of the tunnel, his eyes closed. With his power, he secured the piece of the sun. Man, was it heavier than he thought. He tugged it, and the sun slowly inched along the ground.
Just then, the tunnel bean to shake. Rocks and chunks of the ceiling fell down. If there was some kind of boss waiting to stroll around the bend, Gary wasn’t waiting for it. He took off flying, forcing the sun to move faster behind him, and he launched out of the cave and into the air.
The vampires below him began to hiss and screech, turning away from the sun. Gary grinned and had the sun stand in position above them, burning them, gaining experience levels all the while.
But the sun was heavy, weighing him down, and he could only hold it telekinetically for so long. Eventually, he had to move on, and he raced back to the spot where the wizard was.
He wasn’t the first one there, much to his surprise. Olivia was there, looking mighty pleased with herself.
“Why are you so happy?” he asked as he placed his sun on the ground beside hers. The two pieces fused together like magnets, and he turned aside, their heat and brightness giving him a headache.
“I found your lost ocean,” she said.
“Oh, yeah? Not much of an ocean, huh?”
“There was more water than I expected, considering what you said.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. A ton of beautiful mermaids were there, all naked and rubbing oil all over their massive boobs.” Olivia g
rabbed herself.
He blanched. “I hate to break it to you, but they weren’t mermaids.”
“Oh, I know. They were sirens. They tried to get me to have an orgy with them.”
Gary groaned. “Don’t tell me you were tempted.”
“Bitch, please. I won’t offer this goodness to just anyone.” She fluffed her hair and then sighed. “I really don’t. I might flirt and tease and play like that, but seriously, you’re different. Elena is so fucking strong. Nicoletta’s mind is amazing. She has so much potential. You’re all hot. Why wouldn’t I want you all? But I don’t want just anyone and everyone.”
“I understand. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.
“No, you get me. You understand. The others, not so much. Not yet at least. I do think that Elena might be coming around a little, and Nicoletta only needs a little shove.”
Gary grinned, thinking about his dream and how it might not have been a dream. Although the clothing did suggest a dream. Regardless, he could see it happen. “Maybe sooner than we think.”
“Did you see any vampires?” she asked. “Because I had to fly over a ton of them.”
“Me too. That sun sure came in handy.”
“Didn’t it? Killed so many, but there’s always more.” She sighed. “If one of the quests is to wipe every last one out, it will take forever.”
“I swear they have a machine to multiply.”
“Right? Hey, looks like the other two have a sun piece.”
Sure enough, Nicoletta was dragging a piece of the sun. Gary rushed over and telekinetically took it from her. Her hands were bright red and stayed that way during the rest of the trek back.
“Are you okay?” Olivia asked, rushing over.
“She was a total badass,” Elena said. “Just picked it up and carried it.”
“The heat was almost too much for me to handle, though,” Nicoletta admitted.
“Want me to get the last one?” Olivia offered.
“Take Elena with you,” Gary said. “I don’t want to keep splitting up solo. There’s too many vampires around.”
Elena nodded. “We had to have seen at least one hundred of them.”
“Yeah, and Elena killed at least seventy of them,” Nicoletta said.
“You killed like half,” Elena protested.
“I did not. You know you killed the lion’s share.”
“The lioness’ share.” Olivia winked.
Elena laughed. “Doesn’t matter who killed what. We wiped the floor with them, but, yeah, there’s a ton of them, and honestly, they were harder to kill than before. Did you notice that?”
Nicoletta nodded. “Definitely.”
“I cheated and used the sun,” Gary said.
“Cheater here, too.” Olivia lifted her hand.
“Be careful you two,” Gary called, and they rushed off, heading east.
Nicoletta rubbed her forehead. I’m gonna head to town real quick and see if anyone has any of the burn-cure.”
“I ran out. I’m sorry.”
“I figured you had. Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.” She patted his arm and kissed his cheek.
He snaked an arm around her waist. “If I didn’t have to guard the sun…”
“No. Down, boy. Didn’t you have enough fun this morning?”
“I wanted more fun this morning. Double the fun.”
Her eyes widened. “Gary…”
“I can’t help it. I—”
“Don’t say it,” she begged. She wiggled free of his grasp and rushed away.
Damn it. He was hard as hell and maybe getting Nicoletta on board was going to be harder than he had anticipated.
Ten minutes later, the other two returned. Nicoletta was still at town. Gary hoped like hell she was all right.
“Did you two run into any problems?” he asked.
Olivia dropped the last piece of the sun a far distance away from the others and collapsed to the ground. “No problems for us,” she said breathlessly.
“For who?” he asked, confused.
“We saw a bunch of gamers get swarmed by the vampires,” Elena explained. “There’s definitely a lot more vampire attacks lately, and they’re stronger than ever.”
Olivia nodded. “It’s kinda scary.”
Gary scoffed. “The only thing that’s scary is Smaug.”
Elena shook her head. “Trust me. These aren’t the same vampires.”
Gary opened his mouth to suggest maybe they forgo becoming heroes and just keep the sun pieces as easy peasy vampire-killing devices when Nicoletta came back. Her pale skin and tight frown combined with tears in her eyes had Gary swallowing back his suggestion.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“The vampires. I was talking to one of the gamers, and he said that the vampires killed his friend. Same glitch as before. Lose the ten lives but can’t leave the game. Just keep coming back again and again until you’re killed so much, your character is no more.”
Olivia shook her head, disgusted. “What the hell is going on with this game?”
“That’s not even the worst of it,” Nicoletta said. “First, though, let’s become heroes. I need something good to happen.”
Gary nodded, and he telekinetically attached the last two pieces of the sun together. Without any help from him, the sun lifted into the air, and the sun’s light flittered down on them. It felt weaker than when it had been directly in front of them, but hopefully, they would have real day now, longer periods of daytime, and even more hopefully, the vampires would stay away during the day.
“Congratulations, heroes!” the wizard said, beaming.
“Thanks,” Gary muttered.
“What else happened?” Elena asked.
“I found a female wizard just like the one here. Guys, the vampires came up to her and attacked her. An NPC! The vampires attacked an NPC!”
“Something is terribly wrong here.” Olivia shuddered.
“And I bet I know who’s behind it,” Gary said grimly. “Smaug.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gary stared at the three lovely ladies. “Well?” he demanded. “Am I right? It has to be him.”
Elena nodded. “He’s clearly hacking into the game.”
“Maybe that’s how he was able to get the dragons on his side in the first issue,” Olivia suggested.
“Now he has the vampires on his side here,” Nicoletta said. “That’s just fantastic.”
Gary turned to the wizard. “Tell us how to become superheroes,” he commanded.
“First, you must become megaheroes.”
“Yes, yes, fine. Tell us how to become megaheroes.”
“That is simple. You must defeat the vampires.”
“So not cool,” Olivia said.
“Not to be unexpected,” Gary said. “I bet we have to defeat the last standing vampire, the vampire king. Dracula or whatever it’s called in Vampire War.”
“Or just win the war,” Elena pointed out.
“But if we have to kill all of the vampire minions to become megaheroes, we have to do something else to become superheroes,” Olivia pointed out. “So, like Gary said, has to be something other than a vampire. Vampire king maybe or vampire mutant or hybrid or something.
“A vampire hybrid?” Elena perked up. “A cross between a vampire and a lion would be amazing.”
“I was thinking vampire and werewolf,” Olivia said.
“That was done already,” Nicoletta interjected.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Gary said firmly. “I think we need to kill as many vampires as we can for two reasons. One, to become one step closer to becoming megaheroes and then superheroes. Two, because it’ll be a blow against Smaug. We can’t possibly go up against Smaug if he’s going to send a ton of vampires down on us. We’ll die.”
“Great. This’ll be fun.” Elena went to pump her fist into the air, but her arm locked up. “Damn it. Why does that keep happening?”
“Probably because
Smaug ripped your arm off, and I reattached it the best I could.” Gary rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry?”
“Not your fault but, damn, does it sometimes happen at the wrong time.”
Olivia walked over. “Can I see?”
Elena didn’t hesitate and held out her arm.
Olivia rotated it this way and that. “Hmm,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt at all?”
“No, it just locks up.”
“Honestly…” Olivia bit her lower lip. “Don’t hate me. I don’t think it has anything to do with Gary at all. I think it’s the heat. I think it’s the metal.”
“You think I need WD-40.”
Olivia nodded and clapped a hand over her mouth. Her shoulders shook.
Elena sighed. “Go ahead and laugh. It’s funny, I guess, but how in the hell am I supposed to find WD-40 here?”
“Vegetable oil.” Olivia grabbed Elena’s freely moving arm. “Come on to the tavern with me. We can press some vegetables for their oil, mix with water, and voila! Natural WD-40! Works just as well in my opinion.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. I make all kinds of stuff. Soaps, my own makeup, you name it.”
The two continued to talk as they walked off.
Nicoletta crossed over to Gary. “They’re getting along better.”
“Looks like it.”
She shook her head.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re going to get what you want, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” he said seriously. “I know I don’t want anyone to get hurt, so if I get that, I’ll be happy.”
“Yeah, but…” She exhaled. “That’s asking a lot of us, asking us to share.”
“I’m not asking that,” he said, turning toward her. “I don’t just want all of you with me. I want all of us together.”
Realization dawned in her expression, and her eyes widened. “You really want it to be a group thing.”
“Not just me with all of you. All of us. Together.”
“You just want orgies and threesomes.”
“I just want to love you all. Is that so wrong?”
“It’s impossible,” she muttered.