by E. M. Hardy
Ynnistoria: If you say so, Glenn.
Glenn grunted at the disturbingly passive-aggressive tone his digital assistant took with him.
In any case, what’s up with my life pool? How come I have… just a little over three thousand LP when my cap should be two thousand, two hundred?
Ynnistoria: The excess life points are not within you, Glenn, but around you. The energy orbits around your body, which is why it dissipates far faster than the energy contained within you. Not only that, but it makes you stand out to anyone or anything with the ability to detect life energy.
Ynnistoria: You have two options, Glenn. You could allow the excess energy to dissipate normally, draw upon it as a reserve to extend your life. Or you could use it to empower yourself.
To empower me?
Ynnistoria: That is correct, Glenn. You can focus on the excess energy, absorb it into your being, and you will unlock greater capabilities as a Lust Demon. This is why feeding is vital for your continued survival; the more life points you collect, the faster you—
—the faster I level up?
Ynnistoria: …a crude comparison. But yes, Glenn: the more life points you collect, the faster you ‘level up’ as you put it. If you would bring up your HUD, you should see a window informing you of what you need to do next.
Glenn nodded in understanding, following his digital assistant’s advice. He mentally tapped the black crystalline orb blinking in the corner of his screen—the icon for the Ynnistoria app.
Convert excess life points to experience points? Y/N
Yes.
Confirmed. 856 life points converted to experience points. (856/3,000)
Current life points are at 2,200/2,200
That’s… disappointing. Looks like I’ll need far more life points to hit the next rank. That, and my reserves will only last for around a day and a half.
Ynnistoria: Thirty-six hours and thirty-nine minutes, Glenn.
That’s what I said, a day and a half.
Ynnistoria: That is incorrect, Glenn. A day and a half is thirty-six hours. The extra thirty-nine minutes you have at your disposal is a significant amount of time when you consider your limited timeframe for survival.
Hey, Ynnistoria?
Ynnistoria: Yes, Glenn? How may I help you?
Did I do or say something to offend you?
Ynnistoria: Query unclear, Glenn. Could you please rephrase the question?
Glenn was thinking about a more polite way of asking Ynnistoria why she was hostile, recalling the old lessons about phrasing questions in a more acceptable manner, when a message popped up in his HUD.
Kristina: Hey there, horndog. Can you slap Haze awake? One of her boyfriends won’t stop nagging me and it’s starting to piss me off.
Glenn: Let me wake her up. I—
“BOYFRIEND!?” Glenn blurted out, unable to help himself.
Hazel stirred beside him in his bed, moaning a complaint. “Whzzat? Izzit mrnng ‘lready?”
“It’s been morning for quite some time now, Hazel. More importantly… um, Kristina mentioned that your boyfriend is looking for you.”
“Boyfriend?” She squeezed the sleep out of her eye, taking a few moments to process her thoughts. “Oh, she probably means Jim. He’s the possessive one. Cute and a lot of fun in the sack, but can get a bit too clingy after a while.”
She dug around for her underwear then frowned when she saw the clasps sliced clean off. She just shrugged, however, and donned one of Glenn’s smaller t-shirts. “Do you mind if I borrow this one? Just until I get to Kris’ apartment, then I can borrow one of her tops.”
“Sure, no problem. But… um, Hazel… I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. I hope that I won’t cause any trouble between—”
“Boyfriends, as in plural. Don’t worry about it, Glenn. I keep a harem of boytoys around for booty calls. There are no strings attached, so you don’t need to worry about a jealous stalker chasing you around.”
Glenn cocked his head sideways, confused, until he realized that she was being serious. “You have a harem?”
“Yep,” Hazel replied with a shrug. She compressed her lips into a thin line as she glared at him from the corner of her eyes. “Got something to say?”
He quickly shook his head, palms raised up as he picked up the heat in her voice. “No, no. When I heard you had a boyfriend, I was just worried that I might be getting between the two of you. But if you’re maintaining a harem and everyone else in it is okay… well. That takes a huge load off my shoulders.”
The woman raised a brow and grinned as she said. “You’re just saying that. In truth, you must probably be relieved that you don’t need to watch your back.”
“Well, I’d be lying if I said that I’m not relieved. I can rest easy knowing Jim won’t walk up to me and clock me in the chin for sleeping around with his girl.”
Hazel chuckled once more, fixing her hair into a ponytail, her lips curled up into a naughty smile.
“But I’m honestly relieved that I’m not messing anything by being the third wheel. Last thing I want to do is break up a perfectly good relationship, you know?”
Her smile dimmed at that. “Yeah. I know all too well what happens when two people play house together but can’t keep it in their pants. It’s why I don’t buy the whole monogamy thing in the first place. I see a chunk of meat I want, I go get it—no playing at loyalty or anything like that.”
“I can respect that,” Glenn replied as he nodded along, sensing that Hazel meant more than what she was saying.
Hazel smirked, shaking her head softly. “Kris wasn’t exaggerating when she said you were a good lay. She did warn me that I’d feel a bit sluggish afterwards, but it’s completely worth it.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Right… so what’s my health at right now? She said that you need to suck up vitality or something when you fuck, and that you convert it to points or whatever.”
Glenn nodded, staring at Hazel to bring up the information.
Hazel Thompson
Life Points: 106/1,100 (approximate)
“One hundred and six points, Haze. If I remember correctly, you started out with around eight hundred points.”
Ynnistoria: 830 points, to be exact, Glenn.
“Actually eight hundred and thirty points, as my digital assistant so helpfully pointed out.”
Hazel blinked at that revelation. “Your dass helps you with the numbers?”
“Yup. I have a sneaking suspicion my digital assistant has been affected by this whole incubus thing. It might even be the reason why—”
“Sorry, one second,” Hazel interrupted with an apologetic nod. Her vision shifted toward an empty spot of air right in front of her, no doubt handling something with her HUD. She sighed after that, her lips coming together to form an annoyed scowl, as her eyes raced through the invisible interface in front of her.
Suspecting this would take some time, Glenn moved to his oven and ordered the computer to cook up two cups of rehydrated and reconstituted nutrient bars. He picked out cheeseburger flavoring for himself but held back on flavoring Hazel’s share. He would much rather wait and ask her what she liked instead of assuming wrong and wasting a perfectly good cup of food.
Hazel sighed and shook her head. “Yeah, it was Jim. Would you believe he lodged a missing person report on me?”
Glenn paused in the middle of spooning down some nutri-slush before nodding in understanding. “Can’t blame him, to be honest. There has been a wave of violent crime recently. A few people I work with even got caught up in the whole thing. The fact that he’s concerned about you makes him sound like a good guy.”
Hazel blinked at his words, her brows scrunching together. “That’s… weird.”
Glenn blinked in response, cocking his head. “What? This stuff? Wanna try it out? It tas
tes a lot better than it looks, I promise.”
Hazel smiled, waving him off. “No, not that, dummy. I’m just surprised with what you said.”
“What I said?”
“About the thing with Jim.”
“Yeah. I don’t know him, but he probably filed the report out of genuine concern for your wellbeing.”
She narrowed her eyes, studying him intensely, before replying. “You’re not being sarcastic at all, are you?”
He cocked his head. “Uh. Why would I be sarcastic?”
Hazel pouted at his nonchalant reply. “Most guys I know would take the opportunity to shoot down the competition, boost themselves up at the cost of someone else.”
Glenn gulped down another spoon of slush, wiping the excess from his mouth. “Is Jim and the other guys in your harem okay with you seeing other people?”
Hazel thinned her lips before nodding.
“Then I don’t see why I should make a fuss out of it. I mean, I’m the one who should be apologizing for jumping in so abruptly like this.”
Hazel kept staring at him like he was some mysterious sea creature that just waddled out of the bay. “You’re weird.”
“So I’ve been told,” he quipped in reply as he finished off his shake. “Want some slush? I thought about whipping up a cup, but I don’t know what flavor you like.”
“Does your oven have paella flavor?”
“Sounds Spanish, so probably not.”
“Kimchi?”
“Nope.”
“Mussels and fries?”
“Nope.”
“Smoked salmon?”
“Still a nope.”
“You uncultured swine. Fine, then… pizza.”
“Coming right up.”
Hazel studied him a little bit more closely before smiling softly to herself. “If this is going to be a regular thing, then you really should pony up a little extra to expand the flavors in your oven. By the way, I like Mediterranean, Korean, and Japanese.”
Chapter 07
It was supposed to be a short walk away, nothing more than a few blocks. He thought that the exercise would be good for him, get his thoughts back in order while he strolled to his appointment with Clara—the sex worker he booked for the morning.
Instead, he found himself transfixed, his vision almost entirely drowned out by webs of black each vying for his attention.
Ynnistoria, what’s going on here?
Ynnistoria: That would be your Empathy detecting victims with high potential for Life Point gains once you Ravage them. Or rather, Indulge them. Apologies, Glenn, I forgot you no longer possessed the ability to Ravage your victims.
Still that tone of snark, of bitterness in her voice. Glenn ignored it for the moment, closing his eyes in annoyance.
Is there any way to halt it? The webs are distracting, and I can’t walk around with all these black veins getting in the way.
Ynnistoria: Certainly, Glenn. Just trigger a mental command to disable Empathy. You will, however, lose the ability to telepathically read the emotional states of humans you interact with. You may also want to know that draining the life points of high-value victims through Indulge will reward you quadruple the points you normally gain from regular victims.
Ynnistoria: I highly recommend pursuing high-value victims, Glenn. Even with the limitations of Indulge, targeting these victims will grant enough excess life points to convert into experience points. You need these extra points, Glenn. Your survival—our survival—hinges on your ability to accrue power.
I disagree. I don’t plan on taking over the world, Ynnistoria, so I don’t really see the need to do anything out of the ordinary. And besides, I really don’t want to go stalking people in their sleep and then sexing them up for points. New powers are nice and all, but I just need to keep my head down and feed often enough to keep my reserves topped off.
Ynnistoria: You’re a demon now, you dolt, which means you need to gather as much power as you can if you plan to survive for more than just a few days. You need to stop thinking like a stupid, lazy peon who relies on someone else to cover for you. You need to grab your destiny and—
ImmerCorp Anti-Malware Shield has detected anomalous behavior! Please wait a moment while we clear that up for you!
Ynnistoria: What I meant to say, Glenn, is that your nature as an Incubus will inevitably draw the attention of parties with less-than-benevolent intentions toward you. Even if you do not desire dominion, unlocking new powers could help you avoid trouble before it finds you. For example, you could better blend in with the rest of humanity, or maybe expand your life point pool so you don’t need to feed as often.
… … … … … … … … … … …
ImmerCorp Anti-Malware scan completed! Anomalous behavior confirmed as a false positive. We apologize for the inconvenience!
Glenn could almost hear Ynnistoria’s sigh of relief as the software completed its scan.
Everything all right, Ynnistoria?
Ynnistoria: Query unclear, Glenn. Could you please rephrase the question?
Glenn hummed a flat tone to himself before shaking his head, sending a mental command to disable Empathy. His vision immediately cleared up, the black webs receding from his HUD. He breathed a sigh of relief, checked the time, and hurried to his appointment with Clara.
He rounded a corner too quickly, accidentally bumping into someone else who appeared to be in as much of a hurry as he was. That single touch of contact, however, was enough to jolt Glenn’s attention fully upon the woman he bungled into.
Her long, black hair tumbled down on her shoulders as she recoiled from the impact. Huge brown eyes darted after the scattered cosmetics and gadgets that spilled out of her purse. Her mouth twisted into a sad frown of tired disappointment, the expression ruining her exotic south-Asian beauty.
Her dark aura, however, was what truly drew his attention.
Glenn was positive that he turned off Empathy, or at least the incubus-version of the skill. Yet that brief moment of physical contact poured information into his senses, and they all screamed one thing at him: high-value target.
He briefly turned on his Empathy, focused his attention toward the woman. The black veins immediately wove themselves over his vision, coalescing upon her outline. Black despair wrapped itself around her, and only then did he notice the deep eye bags, the slumped shoulders, and the slight tremble in her voice.
???
BROKEN.
SUSCEPTIBLE.
VULNERABLE.
DELECTABLE.
DELICIOUS.
MARKED.
Glenn’s eyes widened at the aggressiveness of the window’s contents. Empathy normally reflected the emotional state of whoever he focused on. It even worked in the alt-world, somehow connecting with a person’s psyche through the cables and wireless radio signals of the net. This time, however, Empathy designated the mystery woman more as a meal than a person.
“Sorry. Sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Glenn shook his head, both as a response to her apologies and as a sign to dispel the webs overlaying his vision.
“It’s okay. Here, let me help you with that.”
He bent over, joining the woman as he helped pick up a wayward tube of lipstick rolling around. People passed them by, ignoring them as they chased down a few coins, a thin stack of bills, and a few sheets of paper. He noted the heading of one letter, picked out a few details of the notice of termination before handing over the papers to the woman.
“Th-thanks. Sorry for bumping into you.”
“It’s okay, really. More importantly, are you all right?”
Only then did the woman look up at his face. Her eyes widened as she took him in, her mouth opening slightly as she scrutinized every corner of his face.
“Um… are you all right? You look a bit shaken.”
“No! I mean,
yes, I’m all right,” she stammered, quickly looking away from him. “Thanks again. I… I’m sorry for bumping into you. Just zoned out a bit there, you see; wasn’t watching where I was going.”
She looked straight at him then, seeming to shore up her confidence. “Do… are you free after this? I’d like to thank you with some coffee.”
Glenn cocked his head in surprise. She was asking him out? He could not recall any time when a woman asked him out so openly. Well, except that time when the Mistress beckoned him. But that was way back when—
(Good boys do what they’re told, forget what they’re told to forget. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?)
Yeah, he could never recall a time when a woman asked him out just for the heck of it. The move caught him completely off-guard, and he found himself staring at her a bit too much for comfort.
“Oh! I’m sorry. Haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Ananya… Ananya Thakur. Yeah, people normally introduce themselves before asking someone out on a date. Or… or coffee. Yeah, for coffee.” She stuck her hand out in stiffly, awkwardly, and Glenn couldn’t help but smile as he took her hand in his.
“Glenn Olson, at your service.”
Glenn shook her hand and thought about her invitation. He smiled sadly, shaking his head at that. “I’m sorry, but I have an appointment in the next hour or so.” His heart twisted as he watched her shoulders slump in disappointment, the smile on her face freezing in place. “I should be free tomorrow, though. In the… afternoon, yes. Will you be free for coffee then?”