by E. M. Hardy
He remembered Samantha, the weird little witch who liked wearing glasses and experimenting with spells. The time he helped her cook up a ritual to identify demons ignited his curiosity about the arcane, and they spent many an hour just chatting about the potential of magic. She’d never joined her two friends in jumping Glenn’s bones, but he nonetheless enjoyed her company as they both learned about her witching ways.
And finally, he remembered how Annie presided over the drugging and gang-raping of three sorority sisters that tried slipping a roofie in her drink during a party. He remembered the teacher who tried blackmailing Annie, demanding sexual favors for allegedly failing his class. They discovered his body at the bottom of a flight of stairs, his neck bent at a disgusting angle.
These memories of Annie’s capacity for ruthlessness, along with many others, was why he did not fight his incubus instincts—did not resist the call to dominate and subdue his prey. No, he embraced them whole-heartedly as he continued pouring every ounce of ecstasy he could into Annie’s scrambled brain.
He wasn’t even counting the life points he gained from each subsequent orgasm anymore. The only thing he cared about was bringing Annie to rapid, violently powerful orgasms. She was still struggling after the tenth time. She only managed to croak out weak protests after the fifteenth. Feeble jerks and the occasional twitch greeted him at the twentieth mark. She began babbling after the twenty-fifth, and those babbles died out to incoherent grunting and panting after the thirtieth. Her limbs flopped boneless at the thirty-fifth orgasm even as her breaths came in short, hitching hiccups. Annie’s Mark burned out after forty orgasms, no longer granting him the bonus points that came from Indulging a high-value target. He didn’t care for those bonus points though, only stopping at the forty-seventh orgasm when Annie’s life points hovered dangerously low.
All this in the span of ten violent, mind-breaking, soul-crushing minutes—ten minutes for him to grind down Annie’s consciousness into an incoherent jumble of mush. Her mind was scrambled, and Glenn did not absorb that mental damage with Link Life.
Not that he wanted to destroy Annie’s mind in the first place, especially if he still had other options to explore.
He knew he was a broken man with a less than pleasant history, and he felt that the past was best left alone. He only ever experienced pain looking back at those days gone by, which was why he preferred living in the present and planning for the future. Yet Annie was his only remaining link of that forgotten past. He knew what he had to do to protect those close to him, but he hoped with all his heart that he could do so without having to destroy her body or her mind.
Glenn unwrapped his tangled appendages and slid his prehensile member out of her drenched slit. He then gently placed his unconscious victim unto his couch, his arms carrying her legs and his tentacles handling her chest and neck.
Glenn Olson
Life Points: 17,102/2,900
Experience Points: 5,804/6,000
You have gained enough XP to level up!
“Ynnistoria, convert excess life points to experience. ALL of it. Get me to as high a level as you can with all the experience points I’ve accumulated.”
Ynnistoria: As you will, Glenn.
Convert excess life points to experience points? Y/N
Confirmed. 14,202 life points converted to experience points. (20,006 experience total)
You have enough experience points to reach level 03! (20,006/6,000)
You have enough experience points to reach level 04! (20,006/9,000)
You have enough experience points to reach level 05 and metamorphose into a Mature Incubus! (20,006/15,000)
Ynnistoria: The level-up process has been confirmed, Glenn. I must warn you that leveling multiple times in one session will be extremely unpleasant—far more unpleasant than sitting through a single level-up.
Glenn already set himself down on the couch, wrapping his tentacles around his body.
I suspected as much, Ynnie. But we don’t have much time left, he replied mentally to his digital assistant. Annie’s breathing started to speed up at that moment, shifting from the deep content sleep of the lust-addled to the ragged breathing of someone returning to consciousness.
Ynnistoria: Confirmed, Glenn. Hold on…
His face contorted as the familiar paralysis locked his body, filling his nerves and veins with liquid fire. He knew what to expect and so he bit down on his lip as he prepared for his body to tear itself apart, metamorphosing to accommodate the power stored within him.
He knew what to expect… yeah right! He immediately choked as pure pain slammed right into his muscles, bones, gut, eyes, nose, mind, and soul. It burned everything it touched, broke and re-broke everything about him as he screamed soundlessly with a dissolving mouth.
***
Good Boy startled awake on something soft, underneath multiple layers of fluffy blankets. He panicked, immediately throwing them off as he jumped out of the bed. He stared down at his hands and legs, at the flawless skin that had been flayed off the previous night.
The logical, thinking part of him knew that he should be dead. No man would have survived being skinned alive, with layers of flesh cut out from him. And yet the Mistress somehow did just that—riding him to multiple shocks of orgasm even as she expertly dismantled him with a surgeon’s razor.
“Ah, I see you’re awake,” crooned a sultry voice from off to Good Boy’s right. He tore his eyes away from his arms toward the source of the voice, toward the Mistress in her latest skin. She wore an aged woman this time around, hair graying and skin wrinkled like old leather. She boasted thin bones, a crooked nose, a bad knee, and a pockmarked face battered by pimples. The Mistress usually picked beautiful skins, but she deigned to don this one because of how exceptionally malevolent and sadistic its previous owner was.
This was one case where the book could most definitely be judged by its cover.
“M—” Good Boy’s voice caught, his throat dry and parched. He sputtered before coughing, drawing up enough spit to lubricate his throat. “Mistress… good morning, Mistress.”
The Mistress flapped a hand dismissively at him. Glenn startled, feeling a twinge of compulsion to look to his left. There, on the bed stand, sat a glass of water. He instinctively reached out and drained its contents without a second thought, the refreshing liquid soothing his now-quenched thirst.
He put the glass down, sighing in relief as he turned back to the Mistress with eyes cast down. “Thank you, Mistress.”
He felt another twinge of compulsion, and he looked up—eyes widening with what he saw.
Another woman stood by the Mistress, dressed in nothing but the wires and cables restraining her. This woman, however, was not completely human. Her skin took on a deep, red tone while two lamb-like horns protruded from her temples, curving out then back into themselves. Two wings sprouted from her spine, though tightly restrained by a length of cable that wrapped around her waist. A spade-tipped tail hung limply behind her legs.
Her eyes, however, stared at nothing.
The Mistress chuckled, trailing a finger across the chin of the comatose woman. “So… this breed actually possesses a physical form all of their own,” she mused out loud as she circled the woman. “That makes them more like your people than mine, really. It is an interesting phenomenon that I would love to study once I reclaim you.”
The Mistress turned the woman’s head around, nodded to herself, before slapping her heavily with a gnarled hand. The dazed woman staggered and fell, unseeing eyes still looking at nothing.
For some strange reason, Good Boy felt a surge of anger. He didn’t know why he would get angry, but he couldn’t help himself.
The Mistress stared at Good Boy, brows raised in surprise, before she chuckled low. “Right. I just remembered that you bonded with this one.” She pulled up a seat and sat down heavily on it, eyein
g Good Boy with a disdainful smile.
“So… let’s see what we have here, hmm?”
Good Boy looked up at the Mistress, not quite sure what to say. “I… I’m sorry, Mistress. Whatever I did to displease you, I won’t do it again. Please give me a chance to make up for it.”
The Mistress huffed, sneering at him at the same time. “Oh shush. I’m only mildly annoyed by your Ward constantly screaming for my attention. To be honest though, I am surprised you have not yet killed yourself. Most Broken Thralls do so after I abandon them, lock them inside their minds.”
“I’m sorry, Mistress. I will do my best to kill myself as soon as possible.”
“Oh, stop the melodrama. You are talking to me now, not the stupid Ward overseeing your mind, and I didn’t go through all the trouble of a Sending just to force a suicide. And I must admit that I am intrigued by what I see.”
Good Boy blinked, and the Mistress disappeared from her seat. She leaned closer to him, the fetid breath of her skin washing over his face as she stared closely at him. His own skin turned blue now, his muscles filling out as he tucked his tail between his legs while his two tentacles quivered in fear. She reached up, stroking his long horns with a finger.
“Very interesting,” she whispered thoughtfully as she gazed up at his horns. “No wonder your Ward has been calling out to me so urgently. You’ve become one of them—one of those newcomers. And now you want to become even more like them? Interesting indeed…”
She continued marveling at his physical features, poking and prodding at his new body. She even gave his tentacles a good rub, smirking as she pushed them away. “The soul of this newcomer meshed so well with one of my thralls, integrated with my Ward and a synaptic implant. This means that their kind really do possess affinity not just for the profane but for the mundane as well.”
She turned around then, pushing Good Boy’s head away as she went to inspect the bound woman. She flipped her over, running her fingers over her body. She even stuck a finger in the bound woman’s slit, probed around a little before pulling it out and giving it a good lick. She nodded to herself, as if sampling something delicious.
Her scorn was replaced with curiosity now as she considered both Good Boy and the bound woman. She nodded to herself then, shrugging her shoulders.
“Nothing here breaks the Accords of Heaven and Hell. These newcomers may share our affinity for the profane, but they have nothing to do with the forces of Hell. I see no problem with you tapping into their power and claiming it for yourself…”
She leaned in then, kissing Good Boy fully on the lips. He groaned, his eyes rolling back into its sockets as he melted under the pure pleasure she brought upon him. He cared not one whit for her blackened teeth, her leathery skin, or the distinct malodor of the dying elderly. To Good Boy, the Mistress would always represent the epitome of pain and pleasure.
“…especially if I just so happen to one day take a sip of those new powers, take them for myself to see what I can get out of them.”
The Mistress shifted then, the decrepit woman turning to a shockingly young girl with braided ponytails, twirling them around playfully. “I will come for you one day, when the eyes of Heaven and Hell eventually tire from this intrusion and look away. Until then, keep yourself alive as you embrace your new self.”
“Yes, Mistress. Anything and everything you desire, I will give.”
“Very good. I hope to see you soon… my very, very good boy…”
***
Glenn slowly came to, groaning as the pain of the leveling process began ebbing away. Leveling multiple times all at once was an experience he would not be repeating anytime soon—at least not if he could avoid it.
Especially since he felt like he was forgetting something very important. He tried focusing on what he had forgotten, but his brain just throbbed with pain as if it had just been gouged out with a spoon.
“Options,” Glenn croaked, ignoring the thing he failed to recall and focusing on what he needed to do in the present. He redoubled his efforts when he saw Annie slowly awakening, her mind and body recovering from her ordeal. He needed to do this fast before she regained full control of her consciousness—especially since she had given him enough experience to level what he suspected would be multiple times.
Nothing happened.
“Ynnistoria? Are you there?”
Still nothing for a few moments, then a weak whisper inside his mind.
Ynnistoria: What in the blessed whore’s stale cunt was that? How the fuck is that thing able to channel so much of itself, so much of its power, through a simple Enthrallment Ward? I don’t… I can’t even…
ImmerCorp Anti-Malware Shield has detected anomalous behavior! Please wait a moment while we clear that up for you!
Ynnistoria: M-my apologies, Glenn. The… intensity of multiple simultaneous level-ups seems to have adversely affected my processes. I have recovered now, and will update your available skills in just a moment.
… … … … … … … … … … …
ImmerCorp Anti-Malware scan completed! Anomalous behavior confirmed as a false positive. We apologize for the inconvenience!
Ynnistoria: And here you are, Glenn; you may select up to three skills to improve:
Phase
Active Skill—turns you immaterial for 3 seconds, allowing you to walk through solid matter for the duration (50 life points or 50 mana points)
*Level 2 Version—increases the immaterial duration from 3 seconds to 6 seconds and turns you invisible while immaterial.
Shapeshift
Active Skill—transform between human and incubus forms (100 life points)
*Level 2 Version—while transforming, you may choose to alter your physical appearances. Gain two manipulator appendages in your incubus form.
*Level 3 Version—while transforming, you may choose to mimic a target’s appearances. Gain two more manipulator appendages in your incubus form.
Dream Shawl
Active Skill— wrap yourself in a shroud that makes others ignore you. Interacting with or drawing the attention of others increases their chances of noticing the shroud, depending on their Willpower and Perception. Lasts 60 seconds (50 life points or 50 mana points)
*Level 2 Version—extend the shroud to 30 feet around you, halving the Willpower and Perception of those within attempting to perceive you.
Empathy
Passive Skill—focus on a humanoid target to telepathically receive snippets of its emotional state. Also allows you to identify high-value victims that grant bonus Life Points when drained via Indulge (requires Human or Incubus form)
*Level 2 Version—you may choose to amplify or subdue a specific emotion within your target, strengthening them or weakening them at will.
Soothe
Active Skill—calms a target for 60 minutes by filling them with a sense of peace and serenity. Targets can resist if their Willpower surpasses your own Willpower. Evoking hostility within the target through words or actions increases the probability of the target breaking the effects of Soothe. (Cast at will, 60-minute cooldown)
*Level 2 Version—imprint yourself into the mind of a target under the effects of Soothe, permanently making them view you in a more positive light. They retain their ego, but they are more willing to assist you and are more open to your suggestions (500 Life Points, requires Incubus form.)
Link Life
Active Skill—creates a telepathic link between you and the target, absorbing 100% of all mental and spiritual damage the target is taking. If the current target’s Life Points are fewer than your own, then you transfer 1% of your current life points to the target (requires Incubus Form)
*Level 2 Version—reduces all mental and spiritual damage you take from Link Life by 50%. Your target gains 150% of the Life Points you channel into them.
Indulge
*If your partner is under the influence of Soothe, Indulge drains 5% of their current Life Points while you gain quadruple the drained amount in Life Points (requires Incubus Form)
Level 2 Version—Brand a target with a Lust Mark during coitus. Branded targets enter a permanent state of estrus while making them view you in a more positive light. They also gain a higher orgasm threshold, increasing the intensity and psychological damage of each orgasm they experience (500 Life Points, requires Incubus Form.)
*If your partner is under the influence of Soothe and is branded with a Lust Mark, reduce the total psychological damage from orgasms by 50%.
Why can I suddenly improve these new skills? I thought they were locked or something, and—no, questions later. I need to pick assets now!
He immediately disregarded the improved versions of Phase, Shapeshift, Dream Shawl, and Link Life. The first three skills revolved around escaping and evading, but he needed a way to control Annie, to curb her destructive impulses. Link Life likewise appeared as a powerful healing skill, but again he needed control at this time, not support. Dream Shawl would have been useful, halving her perception and willpower, but its duration was limited and he needed to stick around for it to work.
Go for Soothe, Glenn thought to his digital assistant after quickly skimming through the options. The upgraded effects of Soothe were exactly what he needed at that moment. He wanted Annie to back off from his friends, to negate her threat to them, without doing lasting harm to her. He had to pay a hefty price in life points, but the effects should be permanent. He just needed to be careful in his suggestions, keep Annie pleased enough to be complacent without triggering an aggressive, violent reaction.