by Dante Steel
“That’s scary,” she murmured.
“How so?”
“When you have no fear, you have nothing to lose. You can do anything.”
“Like Smaug,” Gary said.
She nodded.
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Gary said firmly. “He’s dead.”
“I know.” Elena smiled and squeezed his hand. “We did it.”
“We did.”
He was trying to be good. He was trying not to notice the sparkle in her eyes or the sheen in her hair that was dyed a deeper, more vibrant shade of red than any natural shade. He was trying to ignore the feel of her soft skin against him, and he was definitely trying not to take a peek at her cleavage.
Gary turned aside so he wouldn’t be tempted.
“What is it?” Elena asked.
“I’m worried.”
“About?”
“I don’t know if we’re going to get out of here,” he mumbled.
“You don’t trust the developers.”
“Do you?”
“I… I’m not sure,” she admitted.
An uneasy silence fell. Gary hated to show weakness in front of her, but he had to tell someone about his worry. Elena entered the game because of him. Now, Nicoletta had, too. This was quickly spiraling out of control, and there was nothing Gary could do about it.
Maybe not having a power hadn’t been a glitch. Maybe he had too many issues, fears, and weaknesses for the game to narrow it down to one.
Because he feared losing people as he had his parents. It was a miracle that he could find love once, let alone with three amazing women.
He was weak in that he constantly thought he wasn’t good enough. He could have gone to a community college. He could’ve tried for a degree. Instead, he became a trashman. He had settled.
As for his issues, well, they were numerous, too numerous to get into.
He sighed and glanced at Elena. She was running her fingers through her hair, a wistful look on her face, a slight orgasmic tilt to her lips that he had seen a few times before and had again last night.
“What are you thinking about?” Gary asked suspiciously, hoping she would say something naughty.
Damn. His promise to not do anything with any of the girls if one was upset with him was already proving too hard to keep.
“I… was thinking about a dream I had,” she said, her cheeks as red as her hair.
“What did you dream about?” he pried.
“Well, it was last night.” She bit her lower lip.
It wasn’t often that Elena looked vulnerable, but she did now. Gary wanted to sweep her into his arms and hold her, comfort her…
Love her.
“After…” he prompted.
She nodded quickly. “After.”
“Was I in it?” Gary teased.
Elena slowly shook her head. “No.”
“Who was?” he asked, confused.
“Nicoletta,” Elena whispered.
Gary thought his heart might stop. The girls hadn’t done much of anything at all to each other. They had only pleasured him. But if he hadn’t been there, and she was this embarrassed…
“It’s only natural to be curious,” he said.
“Right now, I just want what’s familiar,” she said, reaching out and rubbing her palm against his stiff cock through his clothes.
“Elena,” he groaned.
“I want you,” she whispered, stepping close enough that their bodies were flush. She licked her lips and then kissed him.
She moaned against his lips, and God damn it, he was so hard, so ready for her, so willing to grab her, rip her clothes off, and give her everything he had.
“I don’t know if we should,” he tried to say, but she kept kissing him, touching him, caressing him. Her hand slipped inside his superhero costume, and she stroked him a few times.
“You’re as hard as I am wet,” she murmured. “Do you want to feel?”
Just then, the door banged open, and a familiar Japanese man strolled in.
Haru Sato, the game developer who was supposed to be working on getting them out of the game. The game developer who had warned them about Smaug. The game developer who had created an expansion for the game instead of finding a way for them to get home.
The one person Gary hated but also the one person he needed maybe even more than he needed the girls.
“Do you have news for us?” Gary demanded as Elena scrambled to free her fingers from around his cock and straighten as if they hadn’t just been about to fuck each other’s brains out.
“I do,” Haru said, but the man did not seem happy.
“Good news?” Gary couldn’t dare to hope.
Haru shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
Chapter Three
Gary swallowed hard. “Why am I not surprised you’re the bearer of bad news?” he grumbled. “You never have anything good to say.”
Haru wrinkled his nose. “I do apologize that it seems as if I do not have more good news to share, but—”
“‘Let me assure you, my team and I are doing everything in our power to bring you back home,” Gary mocked.
“Hush,” Elena murmured. “What is the bad news?”
“We still are not certain how Samuel August was able to enter the game. Nor are we certain how he transferred from the original version of the game to here in the new issue.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Elena asked.
It shouldn't please Gary that she sounded as annoyed as he was, but it did. Haru was an infuriating man. Nothing ever seemed to faze him, but it wasn't as if he was one of the people in the game. Nope. This was just his avatar. He was safe at home or at his office. He could go home to his wife and fuck her in their bed and then roll over and go to sleep in his house.
Gary didn’t have a house. He had just moved into an apartment before all of this had happened. Now, he was sure to have lost his place and all because this tool and his fellow developers couldn’t figure out how to reverse engineer how to get a person out of the game even though they could send someone in.
Two someones.
“Well, ah…” Haru swallowed visibly. As always, he had his hands clasped behind him. He appeared as nervous as he ever had.
“Just spit it out, man,” Gary snapped.
“Samuel August might not be dead after all,” Haru said.
“What?” Elena cried.
“How is that possible?” Gary demanded.
“We saw his dead body,” she protested.
“He was dead,” Gary confirmed. “All of that fire and ice. No one could have survived that!”
“His body—” Haru started.
Gary was done listening. He grabbed Elena’s hand and took off running, leaving the inn behind. He had to see for himself. Besides, it wasn’t that long of a hike to where they had fought Smaug, near where Gary had first arrived in the Vampire War issue.
Only Smaug’s dead body was no longer there.
There weren’t any footprints in the sand, but that didn’t mean anything. Smaug had been a wizard. He had the powers of wind, fire, and ice. He could have flown away.
If he had survived.
Haru approached. Gary wasn’t surprised that he had followed them.
“You don’t know where he is?” Gary asked the developer, glaring at the exact spot where Smaug had supposedly died.
But how could Smaug have faked his death? Gary and the girls had all seen him. Smaug had stopped breathing for far too long. He had to have died!
The vampire hunter glowered at Haru. “Well? You don’t know where he is?” Gary repeated.
Haru lifted his hands defenselessly. “I am afraid we do not. He has been most elusive for some time now and—”
“I’m almost wondering if you want him running around,” Gary growled.
“Come on, Gary,” Elena said. “That doesn’t make any sense. With him killing gamers and having them go back to level one, people ha
ve to be leaving the game.”
“Or maybe not.” Gary lifted his chin. “Wouldn’t some gamers find that as the ultimate challenge?”
Haru looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“Has the number of gamers dropped?” Gary asked.
“There has to be a petition going for you to change the rules so that if a gamer attacks and kills another gamer, that the one killed doesn’t lose ten levels every time,” Elena said.
“My, my, you two do like to hear the sound of your voices,” Haru said.
“Just answer us,” Elena said.
Uh oh. Her voice was getting that edge to it that she normally reserved for assholes she was going to rip a new hole.
"Some gamers have dropped, yes, but many seem determined to bring down Samuel… Smaug." Haru nodded toward Gary and shifted to face Elena. "As for any petition, if there is one, I have not been made abreast of it, and honestly, we cannot change the game mechanics like that."
“Why did you even have it that way in the first place?” she exploded. “Sure, fine, take some rupas. Steal loot. Whatever, but to strip ten levels away? Each time? Whose brilliant idea was that because they should be fired.” Her chest heaved with each breath during her angry tirade, but Gary was relatively good and kept his gaze on her face, only noticing her breasts from his peripheral vision.
“I do not think there is a point in rehashing this,” Haru said stiffly. Oddly, he smiled.
“What is it?” Gary asked, immediately suspicious.
Haru held up his hands and closed them into loose fists as his smile widened. “I do have good news.”
“Maybe you should have started with that,” Elena snapped.
Gary grinned. She was a lioness when she was angry.
“One of the developers is willing to also enter the game to work on the problem from inside.” Haru seemed ready to burst. “Is that not wonderful?”
“Oh, sure,” Gary said, skeptical. “You’re coming into the game, huh?”
“Oh, no, not me.” Haru shook his head, his smile failing. It hadn’t lasted long.
“Then who?” Elena asked.
“Yuna Aki,” he said. He glanced at his watch, waited a few moments, and then nodded. “Ah, she should be here now.”
Haru turned to face the precise spot where people entered Vampire War. Sure enough, a woman stood there. With flawless, porcelain skin and dark, silky hair, even from afar she looked beautiful.
The woman walked over, and Gary blinked. She looked young. Her eyes were wide, the color of ink, and her lips were perfectly shaped. All of her features were perfect, so much so that Gary had a difficult time believing she wasn’t an avatar.
She bowed to Haru and then Gary. At the moment, she merely inclined her head toward Elena.
“I am Yuna,” she said in a soft, whispery voice.
“I’m Gary, and this is Elena.” Gary shook her hand. Her grip was firm, the antithesis of her almost too-soft hands. Her hand was tiny compared to his.
“Gary, Elena, it is nice to meet you.” She smiled and licked her lips.
Damn it all. Gary couldn’t help himself. She had DSL. Dick-sucking lips. She was hot. Super hot. And when she licked her lips again, he really wished he could readjust without calling attention to himself.
Yuna brushed her long hair back, revealing her long, perfectly curved neck. Gary suddenly wished he was a vampire so he could sink some fangs into the hollow of that neck.
Her hand went down her throat to her cleavage. He hadn’t even noticed her outfit until now, and just looking at her boobs that barely had the nipples covered had him ready to spew.
“Gary,” Elena said in a tone that suggested she had called his name already. “Gary!”
“Boob—yes,” he said. He blinked a few times and kept his gaze fixed firmly on Elena.
“Did you hear a word I said?” she demanded.
“No,” he admitted.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, clearly put off.
“Don’t I get points for being honest?” he asked.
“No.”
Haru just smiled as he glanced from Gary to Yuna and back again.
“What are you smiling about?” Elena asked. She crossed her arms, pushing her boobs up.
Gary snaked an arm around her. “Don’t be jealous,” he murmured into her arm. “I want only you.”
“I’m not—no, you don’t.”
He winced. “I meant—”
“Don’t worry,” Haru said, cutting into their private conversation. “I didn’t forget about your request, Elena.”
She furrowed her brow. “My request?”
“We made another new issue. Don’t worry. No more vampires. It’s with the shifters that you wanted, woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers.”
Out of nowhere, Olivia sauntered up, her light brown hair curlier than normal today. “What’s this about tigers and wanting to saber my tooth?”
“Olivia,” Gary said, holding out his other arm to hold her, but she winked at him and then Elena before turning to the Japanese couple.
“I’m Olivia. Or Nighthawk.” She giggled as she spread her hands apart, the sleek, black feathers attached to her arms fanning out. “We really should use our superhero codenames more. Who are you two?”
“I am Haru,” the man said.
“Haru,” Olivia purred. “You’re a genius, aren’t you? I think I heard that.”
Gary couldn’t believe it. Haru was blushing with embarrassment.
Haru cleared his throat. “Yuna here is the genius. She is here, in the game, with your friends.”
“Ah, a superhero too?”
“No, not yet,” Yuna said, blushing herself. “I’m only level one.”
“Don’t worry.” Olivia winked. “I’ll take you under my wing.”
She gave the woman a one-armed hug to literally take her under her wing.
Gary couldn’t believe it, but yet he could. Olivia was flirting with both Haru and Yuna. He already knew she was one of those people who loved everyone, but would she be content with just him, Elena, and Nicoletta? Would she always want more?
“Ah, tigers won’t want to saber, ah, your tooth,” Haru said, still blushing. “They will want to slice you and carve you with their teeth.”
“A new issue?” Olivia guessed, moving away from Yuna and positioning herself to be in the middle of the entire group. The center of attention, just the way she liked it.
“Yes. From Vampire War to Shifter War.”
Olivia grinned at Gary. “Gonna change your superhero name again?”
“You know it.”
“Will there be monsters like yetis and Baba Yaga? Or elves?”
“Hmm,” Haru said. “No. We did not think of yetis when coming up with the shifters. There will be the traditional werewolves, of course, and the already mentioned sabre-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths. Lions, tigers—”
“And bears?” Elena cut in.
“Oh, my,” Yuna added.
Olivia burst out laughing.
Gary sighed.
Haru ignored them. “The portal is near the ocean. You can transfer at your leisure.”
“Hey,” Olivia said, all pretenses of joking aside with a sudden appearance of wonder, anxiety, and fear in her green eyes. “Where’s Smaug? You guys didn’t bury him, did you?”
“Not a chance,” Gary said glumly.
Haru grimaced apologetically. “You can go to the new issue at your leisure, and allow me to reassure you that if Samuel August is alive, he will not be able to follow.”
Chapter Four
“If he’s alive,” Olivia said.
“If who’s alive?” Nicoletta asked, approaching them. She made a point of not looking at Gary.
Haru bowed. “I must go,” he said, and he walked away without another word.
Nicoletta stared at his retreating backside. “If who’s alive?” she repeated through gritted teeth. “If someone says Smaug, I’m gonna—”
“Get ready
to do it, love,” Olivia said.
Gary groaned.
Nicoletta stiffened. “That’s impossible!”
“There’s a new issue,” Elena said.
Nicoletta’s eyes flashed, and she glowered at Elena then Gary, her gaze positively incensed.
“Why do we need to go anywhere?” Nicoletta asked.
“It might be fun,” Elena said.
“We need to go home, not continue to play this stupid game!” Nicoletta shouted.
Gary winced and carefully watched Olivia’s reaction.
“You’re in the game,” she said quietly.
Nicoletta nodded.
“I am too,” Yuna said.
“Who are you?” Nicoletta asked. “Why are you even here?”
“I am Yuna. I am one of the developers. I am here to help from the inside.”
"Maybe now that one of you is in here, your friends will actually start to try to get us out of here," Nicoletta griped.
“Whatever happened to the hope that killing Smaug would get us out of here?” Elena asked.
“We might not have killed him, remember?” Gary asked.
Nicoletta held up her hand. "I know what we should do. We should all go to the bar and get trashed while Yuna here does her developer magic, and then we can all go home to our beds to sleep off our hangovers. Sound like a plan?"
“I do not think that’s smart,” Elena argued.
Nicoletta smirked. “You were pretty agreeable to things last night.”
Elena’s face turned bright red.
Olivia glanced from Nicoletta to Gary to Elena to Gary to Nicoletta to Elena.
“You three—”
“How are you feeling?” Gary blurted. “You drank a lot. You don’t have a headache, do you?”
“Just a heartache,” she muttered.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Olivia reacting this way surprised him, but maybe it shouldn’t. Could his lack of being intimate with her yet start to cause an issue? He never intended to not have sex with her. He wanted to. He definitely wanted to. It just never worked out. Whenever they had been alone, it had been when villains or dragons and then vampires had been out and about and could attack at any second. Not exactly romantic. Didn’t exactly scream, “Rip off my clothes, throw me down, and ride me.”
