“Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, taking a step toward me as I opened her menu.
“Let me see, just give me a second, okay?” I replied as a new message flashed in the Tooltip box beside her head.
“Oh,” she said, her smile slipping. “Okay.”
New Skill Tree Unlocked. Prestige Tree- Elemental Crucible
“Booyah!” I cried, pumping my fist as I opened the Tooltip to see what the new tree entailed.
Elemental Crucible: User has the Ability to work with obscure resources in both casting and metalworking. This Skill will give a 10% bonus to all items created by the blacksmith.
After reading the message, I looked at the Abilities. Like with Annabeth’s tree, most of the Abilities were blacked out, and similarly, only three sub-Abilities were unlocked. Specialty: Dark Blood, Specialty: Demon Horn, and Specialty: Etheric Flame. Both were Rank one out of ten.
There were no recipes at all. Damn.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked, and her voice held a strange quality I couldn’t discern. It was like she was hurt but also wanted to comfort me.
“There’s no recipe in your Skill Tree, but you did unlock it.” I took a deep breath. “I think you may have to figure out how to make the emitter on your own.”
“Oh, yeah, okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “We do need to save Gwen and all…”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, touching her shoulder as she moved to turn away from me. “You seem upset.”
“I just, I dunno.” She shook her head. “It’s nothing, just me being silly. I’m glad you like your sword.”
“Something is clearly wrong, Sam.” I smiled. “I’m a dumb guy so if you won’t just tell me, I’ll never figure it out.” I took a step closer to her and touched her arm. “Please, if I can help, I will.”
Sam blew out a long breath. “I know we need to save Gwen and all.” She turned to look at me, and her eyes were huge as she stared at me. She fidgeted slightly.
“We do, that’s why—”
She cut me off by pressing her mouth to mine.
41
I awoke with a start, the last vestiges of a nightmare I couldn’t remember sending my heart into a pounding flurry. I sat up, one hand gripping the blanket covering me, and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. I didn’t even recognize the place.
As I sat there for a moment, trying to blink away the sleep, the sound of Sam sleeping next to me brought me back to reality. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself but I couldn’t.
You’d think it would have been easy to just lay back down and shut my eyes, especially since I had a super-hot naked chick in the bed with me, but I couldn’t do that. No. I was wide awake now. Whatever had happened in my dream had scared me.
Worse, as I stared at Sam, I sort of felt like I’d betrayed Gwen somehow. Granted, the two of us weren’t anything, but I wasn’t so dense as to think she didn’t like me. What’s more, even though she was a succubus, I really liked her back. How would she feel when she found out I’d slept with Sam? How was Sam going to feel about my feelings for Gwen?
Oh my god, I was in the Hell edition of Melrose Place. Worse, I didn’t have time for that kind of drama. I had to get a handle on things. Had to find a way to get the recipes to craft the Emitter and Conduit for the Nexus Gateway Conduit so we could go save a woman who, for all practical purposes, might now hate me.
I rubbed my face with my hand and stared at the ceiling. I wasn’t quite sure why I’d done what I’d done with Sam. I liked her a lot, and she was beautiful. At the same time though, she sort of worked for me. Granted, it’d been one hundred percent her choice, but still. Still.
Either way, I needed to get out and walk around. Some fresh air would do me good. Taking a deep breath, I pulled back the blankets and moved to climb out of bed. Only, before I could, I felt Sam’s hand on my thigh.
“Where are you going?” she asked, sleep still heavy in her voice. “I didn’t peg you for the ‘dine and dash’ type. Can’t you stay until morning?”
“I, erm,” I said because I possessed a sparkling wit. “I just needed some air.”
“Do you wanna talk about it?” She gave me a wry smile. “Wanna talk about us?” she added, sitting up so the blanket fell away to reveal her naked breasts. “That’s a thing your kind does, right? Talk?”
“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you want to talk about what we, uh, did?”
“You mean the sex?” She gave me a curious look. “If you want some pointers, I guess I can show you.” She patted the bed next to her, and while I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong, I was definitely willing to let her tutor me. “Or we can have a more hands-on approach.”
“Huh, no, that’s not what I meant at all,” I said and this time her face filled with confusion.
“What do you mean then? It seems like there’s a problem.” She let out a breath. “Was I not good enough? Did I do something you didn’t like?” She ran a hand down her body. “We can try other things. I’m definitely open to suggestion.”
“No, you were great. Everything was great. It’s just…” I sighed, not sure how to put my feelings into words. It seemed ten kinds of uncool to talk about Gwen to the girl I’d just slept with.
“Sorry, I’m not very good at the whole human thing.” Sam scratched her cheek before dropping her hand onto her lap. “Can you explain it to me simply?” She gave me an apologetic smile.
“Human thing?” I asked, suddenly feeling stupid.
I’d sort of forgotten Sam wasn’t human, and while I’d assumed she operated like a normal human female, it was possible she didn’t. Actually, as I looked at the confusion plastered across every inch of her face, I realized that was entirely the problem. She had no idea what in the blue hell I was concerned about. Well, that was interesting…
“Well, you seem to have had some kind of problem with sex. You say it’s not performance related, and I’m choosing to trust you on that because I would hope you would tell me what you do and don’t like.” She tapped her fingers against her bare thigh, drawing my eyes to them. She had a lot of muscle in those thighs, and she was even stronger than she looked. “So clearly it’s something else. Only I don’t know what that something else is because I’m not human.” She touched her chest. “I’m a fallen angel.”
“I’m worried that Gwen will be upset that we slept together,” I blurted out. Then I willed myself not to flinch away and shut my eyes.
“Why would she care?” Sam snorted. “She’s a succubus. They sleep with everyone. It’s how they feed, and even if she wasn’t a succubus, we’re demons. While sex is important to us for pleasure and forming bonds and such, it’s not like it means I own you or you own me.” She shook her head. “It’s not something I even considered for a second because Gwen would absolutely not care.”
“Would you care?” I asked, gesturing at her. “Would you care if I slept with Gwen?”
“Not especially,” she said, rubbing her chin. “The only reason I’d care is if you stopped sleeping with me because, I’ll be honest, it was a lot of fun. Am I supposed to care? Would that make you happier?”
“Honestly? I have no idea.” It was true too. I wasn’t sure how I felt about what she’d just told me. It went against everything I knew about women, and again I had to tell myself that these weren’t normal girls. These were demons.
“Well, come back to bed then. You can figure it out later.” She bit her lip, slowly dragging her teeth over her bottom lip as she reached out and ran a hand down my stomach. “I want to show you a couple more things you can do with your tongue.” She winked mischievously at me. “Then I can show you a couple more things I can do with mine. Sound good?”
42
When I next awoke it was after noon, and Sam was nowhere to be found. I sat up and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes. My stomach was rumbling, and I needed to hit the bathhouse with a fierceness. Then
I had to find out what was going on with everyone.
I stretched, and as I went to get out of bed, I noticed a small tray sitting beside the bed. It had one of those metal chafing dishes on it with a small burner beneath, presumably to keep it warm. There was also a kettle next to it with its own burner. A note was taped to the top of the dish, and as I pulled it off and read it, I smiled.
Had to get to work. Let you sleep. You earned it.
Sam
PS. No, I didn’t cook it. The chef did.
“Well, that was thoughtful,” I said, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. I knew part of me should have felt regret, but I just didn’t. Sam had been okay with everything, and what’s more, if she was telling the truth (which seemed likely), Gwen wouldn’t care either. Hell, there might even be a threesome in my future. Wow, I really never thought I’d be that guy.
I pulled the lid off the platter and found myself staring at a whole mess of bacon and eggs. The kettle revealed itself to contain coffee, and there was a little cup filled with cream I hadn’t seen at first glance. I hastily poured myself a cup of coffee and set to work on the eggs and bacon. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I started eating, and it took me only a few minutes to clear my plate. After that, I got myself dressed and walked out of her room in the dormitory-like structure the girls slept in. Since it’d been there before I got to the town, I’d not really thought about it, but as I wandered toward the entrance, I wondered if it needed expanding. We’d taken a lot of people on, and I was fairly sure a bunch of them were probably sharing a room.
Still, first thing was first. I needed to find out how the apothecary was coming. With any luck, I’d find Elizabeth or Buffy, and they’d tell me one was here or at least on the way.
I quickly moved to my own room and changed my clothing, opting for a hasty shower of new deodorant before making my way outside. Only as I stepped through the doors, I nearly collided with Maribelle. My coffee cup slipped from my hand as I stumbled backward. It hit the ground with a crash that threw hot coffee and bits of broken ceramic in every direction. I stood there, my chest heaving from shock while Maribelle’s face went bright pink.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” Her head whipped around like a dervish as she looked from me to the coffee and back again in quick succession. “I’m such a klutz. Sorry.” She pulled a dirty rag from her pocket and got down on her knees, frantically trying to sop up the mess.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said, getting down to help her. “I shouldn’t have dropped it.”
“I should have been watching where I was going,” she said as she finished wiping up the mess while I grabbed a broom and dustpan from the janitor’s closet. I scooped all the fragments into a pile on the dustpan before shoving them into a nearby trashcan.
“I’m so sorry. Want me to get you another coffee?” she asked, shoving her hands in the pockets of her overalls.
“No, it’s fine,” I said, smiling at her. “I’m awake now, anyway. I was actually going to come look for you. Have a minute?”
“You were?” she asked, blushing harder at me in a way that made me why she was suddenly so flustered. She’d never been that way before. “I was actually coming to get you so I could show you something. What did you want to see me about?”
“I wanted to know how the apothecary was coming,” I said with a shrug. “Is it finished?”
“Nearly. Maybe six more hours. A day tops.” She shrugged and moved outside. “At this rate, it will be done long before Buffy gets through the mountain of red tape we just got wrapped with.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, following her outside. She pointed at a building that was nearly complete.
“Oh, normal guild stuff. They don’t want to allow transfer of someone here. Buffy is trying to find a blacklisted one, but they don’t have any in Royal Centre. She’s reaching out to other towns now.” Maribelle sighed. “Same problem with the mason, I’m afraid. Now, that’d be helpful.” She gave the sky an annoyed frown. “Ah well. If we didn’t have setbacks, we’d actually get things done, eh? Couldn’t have that.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” I said, mentally crossing off two items off my ‘to do’ list. That just left me to check on Annabeth and Sam, but I was fairly sure neither would have much to tell me. I’d still find them, but it was looking like another day with Sheila was in store for me while I waited for progress. I just hoped Gwen would live long enough. Part of me figured she would because otherwise, she’d be dead.
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if she was just bait in a trap. If they killed her, I’d know, and then I might not come. So, if that was the case, it would be better if she was left alive.
“Anyway, guess I’ll get back to work then,” Maribelle said, waving to me before turning to head toward the building. “Got to keep the workers in line.”
“Wait, what were you coming to see me about? I’m assuming it wasn’t about the building?” I asked, and she stopped in her tracks.
She turned her eyes back to me, and her face was flushed again. “That’s right, um, I do have something I want to show you, if, um, you have some time?”
“Unfortunately, time is the one thing I have none of and an abundance of. I feel like every day is hurry up and wait.” I blew out a sigh. I needed to save Gwen, but there was just no way to do that quickly. “Anyway, yeah, I can spare some for you. Let’s go.”
“Okay,” she squeaked, taking a hard left toward the back gate. “It’s outside. Is that okay? A bit of a walk, really.”
“That’s fine,” I said, patting my stomach. “I could use the exercise, anyway. Had a big breakfast.”
“Glad you have lots of energy,” she said as we exited town and began walking along the path. Ever since we’d taken to hunting the devil dogs and clearing away forest, there had been a lot fewer sightings so I wasn’t really worried about them. They almost never came within a mile of the town.
A few minutes later, we were moving through the forest. I had my hand around Clarent but Maribelle didn’t seem worried. Truthfully, I shouldn’t have been either, but at the same time, I was in a forest in Hell.
“So, uh, where are we going?” I asked after another few minutes. The shadows were cast across the forest, but that wasn’t what worried me. No, what worried me was the creepy as fuck cave we were heading toward. Its mouth gaped open like an old beast and moss clung to every nook and cranny.
“Inside. Don’t worry. I checked it out earlier. It’s perfectly safe.” She held her hand out to me and the way she said it made me trust her. If she said it was safe, I was willing to believe her. Besides, I was more curious than ever. “If it makes you feel better, you can hold my hand.”
“Do you want me to hold your hand?” I asked as we stepped up to the mouth of the cave. The air inside felt damp, but it carried with it a soft floral scent that reminded me of bouquets in spring time.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. We are entering a cave.” She gave me a weak smile and took my hand in hers.
“That we are,” I said, taking a deep breath. “So what’s inside?”
“It’s better if I show you. Come on.” She pulled me inside then, and I was surprised at how bright it was inside. Luminous moss clung to the rocks inside, causing it to glow like the inside of a rave. As we twisted through the tunnels well beyond the point where I got hopelessly lost, the air became thicker and heavier with the scent of flowers.
“Are we almost there?” I asked after another few moments. I kicked my shoes a bit. “Because these boots aren’t meant for this much walking.”
“Actually, it’s just around the bend,” she said, pulling me around the corner. Only as I turned it, I didn’t see anything at all because it was pitch black. Hell, I couldn’t see my hand when I put it in front of my face.
Maribelle’s fingers tightened on my hand, and I heard her shift in the darkness. She pressed something into my open hand. “Would you light the torch on the wall with the lighter?”
Their flames all writhed with every color of the rainbow, and as I turned my gaze back toward Maribelle, I found myself staring at a cavern that was filled with gemstones. Not the cut and faceted ones, but natural ones that were embedded in the walls and ceiling. Millions and millions of them. Enough to make the dwarves from Snow White go absolutely berserk with greed.
Crazier still was that there were wreaths of flowers set over some of the particularly large gemstones. Was that what had been giving off the scent? I wasn’t sure, but as I sucked in a breath, I realized it had to be true because it really smelled like flowers here.
“What is all this?” I asked as Maribelle pulled me forward into the center of the room where there was a small picnic basket set on a blanket.
“It’s what I wanted to show you. Do you like it? I found it a few days ago when I was scouting for a particular type of wood.” She smiled at me. “I added the flowers though.”
“It’s beautiful. Truly. Thank you for showing me.” I nodded to her as she sat down on the blanket. She opened the basket’s lid and pulled out a bottle and a small plate.
“I have some chocolate and wine too if you’d like to eat or drink.” She offered me a small plate with a bit of chocolate. “I had it specially made.”
“Um… sure,” I said, taking the plate and looking at it for a moment. “What’s this all about?”
Her face flushed a bit more. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Um… no?” I said, taking a bite of the chocolate. It was velvety and rich and rolled over my tongue in a way I hadn’t ever experienced. I licked my lips. If I wasn’t careful, I’d eat everything she’d brought before she had a chance to.
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 24