by Tina Gerow
A flesh and blood man had never caused this kind of instant physical reaction. “Damn, I really need to buy better toys.”
She shook off the strange reaction and moved her cursor over the ‘Save’ button. Glancing back at the consort she’d built, his dark gaze burned through her skin until she thought she would spontaneously combust where she sat. Almost without conscious thought, she slowly pressed the mouse button.
“Thank you, Astiria. You have chosen Lerik, the Warrior, as your consort.”
“Lerik.” She rolled the name around on her tongue. It seemed to fit him somehow. “I’d definitely like to do more with Lerik than just choose him.”
A small progress bar flowed across the screen, then Lerik disappeared. She blinked at the sudden loss and inhaled, realizing that when he’d looked at her, the air in the room had seemed thin and in sparse supply. Leaning back in her chair, she concentrated on getting enough air back into her lungs.
“Please answer the following questions honestly, Astiria. Honest answers will complement your gaming experience.”
She sighed. “As long as you don’t ask me my weight or something equally horrendous, I think I can do honest.” She scanned down the list of questions frowning at several. Most were simple such as hobbies and food preferences, but they also asked allergies and even a few very personal questions.
“Do you need help answering the following questions honestly, Astiria? Honest answers will complement your gaming experience.”
A bark of laughter escaped her as she realized she’d tensed up. “Damn, Astiria. It’s just a game, why are you letting yourself get nervous over a few questions. Just answer them.” With a fortifying drink of rum and diet, she quickly clicked her answers down the list, being honest, but trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. Then the very last question stopped her like a fist to the stomach.
44. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR SEX?
A) GENTLE & SLOW
B) HARD & FAST
C) A TOTAL POSSESSION OF BODY MIND AND SOUL THAT MELDS YOU TOGETHER WITH MELTING PASSION.
A slow persistent throbbing began between her thighs as she read option C again. Her imagination quickly supplied several vivid images of what such an option might feel like, and she considered breaking out her toys before moving on with the game. “With my luck, Max, the computer voice will ask me if I need any help with that, too. And unfortunately, I probably do.” She scrubbed her hands over her face and slowly clicked on C.
“Thank you, Astiria. Your world is being created.”
Arousal still flowed through her and she swallowed hard against the sudden need. Her clothes were now scratchy and rough against her sensitive skin, and she wished Lerik would come to life and try A, B & C with her—repeatedly. She might go home limping, but it would be well worth it.
Suddenly craving comfort, she reached over and closed her fingers around Max’s front paw, pulling him over to sit on her lap facing her. “What do you think, Max? Do you think I could handle an entire week with a real live man who doesn’t cheat, doesn’t want me for my money or anything I can do for his career, but just wants me? A man who is sensitive and caring, but not a doormat. Someone who sees the real me and wants me anyway. Someone who could…love me. The real me.” She whispered the last few words, almost afraid to speak them aloud. She blinked and then refocused on Max. “Do you think a man like that exists?”
“Welcome to Fantasy Quest, Astiria.” She glanced up at the screen in time to see a lush view of a deserted beach complete with slowly lapping waves kissing the picture-perfect shoreline. Stars twinkled overhead reflecting their diamond-like lights off the water.
The scene was so beautiful, it caused something inside her chest to tighten with longing. She hugged Max to her chest and inhaled the tangy scent of the ocean breeze.
Her eyes widened as that same breeze ruffled her hair. Holding onto Max for dear life, she reached down beside her until her fingers burrowed into cool white sand.
Chapter Two
“Holy Hell! Where am I?” She squeezed Max to her chest, thankful that wherever she was, his comforting bulk had come with her.
“Ouch! Astiria squeeze too hard!” Max squirmed, loosening her grip.
Astiria squealed and tossed Max into the air as if she’d just found a live snake in her lap. When he landed with a thud in the sand and began sputtering and spitting, his long purple tongue hanging out, she closed her mouth and studied him closer.
“Max?” She scooted to her knees, the cool sand digging into her bare skin. She reached out a tentative hand to stroke Max’s head. His fuzzy purple fur was warm under her touch.
He turned toward her, a pout on his thick gargoyle lips. “Yes, is Max. Why Astiria throw me? Max hurt his nose and got icky sand on tongue!” He extended a fuzzy purple tongue until it hung to his toes and he pointed out clumps of sand still sticking to his appendage.
Dear God, I’ve finally lost my mind. At least Max came with me into insanity! Maybe this is all part of some virtual reality gaming experience…I hope.
Astiria took a deep breath before continuing. “Max, I’m so sorry. You just startled me.” She grabbed his long tongue and helped him brush the remaining sand away. “You’ve never moved or spoken before and…” Her mind went blank. What do I say to my stuffed animal that has suddenly come to life?
He rushed into her arms like an affectionate child, burrowing his fuzzy head against her middle. She couldn’t help but cuddle and comfort him since just having him close kept her from hysteria over her current situation. “Astiria forgiven. Astiria take good care of Max, always.”
She picked him up so she could look into his face and he rewarded her with the mischievous evil grin he’d always worn since the day she’d bought him. “Do you know where we are, Max? And how we got here?”
He nodded enthusiastically, his entire body participating in the movement. “Yes, Max knows. Max from Verrath.”
Her shoulders relaxed that at least someone who was on her side knew where the heck they were. “Verrath?” Astiria wrapped her mouth around the unfamiliar word. “Is that where we are now?” When he nodded, she continued. “How did we get here?”
“Astiria chose consort and we come to where he is. Lerik good and strong. He give Max bananas!” His long tongue licked a path from one side of his cavernous mouth to the other, slobbering all over Astiria’s fingers in the process.
“Wait. You said I chose a consort, but in the game I created someone out of my imagination.” She set Max in the sand and rose to rinse her hands in the water gently lapping against the beach. She splashed some onto her face in case it might wake her up out of this dream. The cold water stung her skin, and she winced as Max bounded beside her, playing and splashing in the shallow current.
He laughed as he picked up a snail from the sandy bottom. He crunched down on it loudly and green snail juices dribbled down his chin. “Game is only a portal between this world and that. Lerik always good to Max. Sent me to Earrath to find his consort.”
Earrath? Astiria rubbed her temples as she figured out what Max meant. “You mean Earth—right?”
“Yes, Earrath. That what Max said.” He scrubbed a fuzzy hand over his face to remove the slimy snail juice and jumped into Astiria’s arms.
She squealed, then realized what she wore—and what it covered, or not. The thin white cotton top clung to her now wet breasts, which stuck out like happy full torpedoes under her sodden shirt. She set Max down and pulled the shirt away from her wet skin so she could look down at her new anatomy.
“Oh, my God. I can not believe I’ve got stripper boobs!”
I wonder if everything I chose for my ‘character’ came with me?
Max perched on her shoulder. “Max want to see!”
She hastily closed her shirt. “Uh, never mind. Hey, Max? Do I look different than I did when we were back at the Fantasy Quest resort?”
Max’s purple head nodded so fast she thought it might pop off his body and roll
around on the sandy beach. “Yes. Astiria look like game profile now. But Max like Astiria either way. Even with stripper boobs.”
Heat suffused her face and she bit her lip.
I’ll have to remember to watch what I say around Max from now on.
She returned her attention to the rest of her newly renovated body. Her legs were long and athletic under her thin white cotton shorts, her ankles and bare feet, dainty and petite. She grabbed a strand of hair and pulled it in front of her face for an examination. “Yup, definitely red.”
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and reached both hands around to her grab her ass. “Oh my God, Max. I’m a freaking hottie.”
Maybe there are some perks to this particular delusion after all!
Max stepped tentatively forward and touched a single outstretched claw to Astiria’s leg. “Astiria no hot.”
“Sorry, figure of speech.” When Max opened his mouth to ask, she shook her head. “Never mind. How about you take me to see Lerik?”
He did a happy jig in a circle around her feet. “Lerik give Max bananas!”
A sensual shudder flowed through her as she remembered some of the questions she’d filled out on the questionnaire. I wonder what Lerik will try and give me…
Max’s oversized head whipped around, his lips opened in a wide grimace. He bared what appeared to be hundreds of needlelike teeth, and a low feral growl escaped from deep inside his throat.
“What is it?” she whispered as she knelt beside the gargoyle.
“Goblins…” he said through gritted teeth. “Max hate goblins.”
As if the words had conjured them, she and Max were suddenly surrounded by half a dozen of the ugliest four foot nothing men she’d ever seen. The stench from the newcomers caused her eyes to water.
Each of them wore clothes so caked in dirt and grime, there was no hope of ever identifying the color the garment had originally been. Ragged scars criss-crossed each being’s skin, and she resisted the urge to laugh—a nervous habit. Must be all the rage for the well-dressed goblin.
“Fresh meat, we claim you in the name of the lord of Marsoon!” Each goblin drew a wicked looking sword and pointed it at them.
“You be sorry, goblin. She belong to Lord Lerik.” Max’s small frame stood in front of Astiria reminding her of a loyal terrier.
She opened her mouth to protest that she didn’t belong to anyone, but another quick look at the goblins made her close her mouth. If she had to choose, belonging to Lerik sounded like a much better deal.
One of the goblins stepped forward. “Once she’s properly declared, no one will question Marsoon’s claim.” He stabbed the air in front of him with his sword as he opened his fly and leered at Astiria. “Take them, and save the gargoyle for dessert.”
With startling clarity, the meaning of declared hit her like a blow to the gut. Before she could decide what to do, Max darted forward to sink his teeth deep into the leader’s leg.
Strong arms grabbed Astiria from behind. Panic surged through her, and her knees threatened to buckle beneath her.
A flash of sunlight glinted off the leader’s sword as it came down in an arc headed directly for Max’s neck. Anger and fear for Max burst through her and she kicked her foot back, surprising her captor and loosening his grip. “Max!” She rushed forward, blocking the arc of the sword with her shoulder and knocking her fuzzy purple rescuer free.
Pain sliced through her as the sword hit her shoulder, driving her to her knees. She let instinct and adrenaline take over. Her hand darted forward toward the goblin’s exposed crotch, and her fingers closed around his bulging privates.
Using all the strength she could muster she squeezed and then twisted.
A pained squeak filled the air before the goblin crumpled, clutching his injured manhood. She bolted to her feet, worry for Max twisting her insides, as she cradled her useless left arm.
Suddenly a large silvery column of light vortexed around her and the pain in her shoulder disappeared. A quick look confirmed her suspicion that she’d been healed.
I’ll be damned, I must’ve made a new level in the game. Most games gave a healing boost whenever that happens.
A tingling inside her palm made her rub her hand against her thigh before whipping around to look for Max.
When she turned, she saw him expertly weaving in and out of the goblins’ legs and easily avoiding their sword thrusts.
That’s what I get for assuming he can’t take care of himself!
Astiria refused to stand by and be the helpless damsel in distress. She picked up a handful of sand and thrust it into the face of the nearest goblin.
~~~
Lerik paced his chambers, his boots stomping a flat line in the rushes from the man-sized fireplace and back to the door. The door his consort should already be entering through.
He scowled and resisted the urge to yell for one of the servants to see if his consort had arrived yet. However, since he’d bellowed for the servants on and off for the past few hours, they’d found ways to make themselves scarce.
“I’ve waited patiently for far too long. Where the hell is she?” A man of action, he decided he could wait no longer.
“Oopec!” His voice boomed across the castle and he heard scuttling, as if all the servants shuffled into hiding at his call. He scowled again. He was the lord of this castle, he could damn well call anyone he pleased.
Before he could rip the door from its hinges in preparation for giving one of the servants the same treatment, a stocky wood elf scurried in through the door, his small round spectacles slipping down his nose.
“Yes, Lord Lerik. You called?”
“Yes…”
“Nay, my Lord,” Oopec cut in neatly. “She has entered the portal to Verrath, but has not arrived at the castle gates.” Oopec craned his neck to look up at Lerik’s chest and raised one thin dark brow. “And bellowing and scaring the life out of everyone will bring her no faster.”
“Damned insolent elf.” He glowered at the elf, using his superior height and bulk to tower over him. When Oopec merely gazed back patiently, Lerik ground his teeth in frustration. “I’ll have your pointy ears removed and served to me for breakfast.”
“Yes, my Lord. Buttered and boiled, or fried in eel oil? I’m here but to serve you.”
Lerik resisted the urge to laugh at the witty comeback, reminding himself that he didn’t like insolent elves, even though this one had been with him for nigh on twenty years since he was but a lad. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. “Why do I put up with you, Oopec?”
“Probably because you scare everyone else in the realm but me, my Lord.”
Lerik shook his head and laughed. “You’re probably right.” He slapped the elf on the back—a blow which would send any other being flying across the room. However, elves were sturdy stock—especially wood elves—and Oopec didn’t budge.
“My lord, if you’re finished berating me for the day, there is something I should bring to your attention.” Oopec pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and blinked up at Lerik.
“What is it, Oopec? Spit it out.”
“The portal, my Lord. Your consort and Max came through the portal near Castle Marsoon.”
Rage boiled inside Lerik’s veins as all the ramifications of the news flashed through his mind. Marsoon was the lord of a particularly bloodthirsty goblin clan who enjoyed raping their victims before boiling them with vegetables and serving them for the evening meal. And not only his consort was in danger, Marsoon and his minions didn’t much differentiate between men, women, animals and any other creature as long as they breathed and could be eaten later.
“Don’t just stand there, elf. Ready my horse.”
“Stryder is already saddled and waiting, my Lord.”
Minutes later, Lerik rode his horse across Verrath, dread warring with anticipation surging through his body. He’d waited an entire lifetime for this woman, he would not allow Marsoon or any of his goblin
clan to lay one claw on her—or Max. The little gargoyle had served him well, venturing into Earrath to befriend his consort. A brave little creature, Lerik would reward him with an entire moat full of bananas for his loyalty. Few warriors had braved the trip to Earrath, let alone a tiny purple gargoyle without clan or kin.
Stryder’s hooves thundered over the grassy plain, and the first tang of ocean air tingled over Lerik’s tongue. He reined the spirited horse to a slow gallop as they started up the last hill before Castle Marsoon came into view. It wouldn’t do to alert Marsoon or his minions that they had company.
When he crested the hill, the dark ominous castle speared up from the sand, obstructing part of the view of the ocean. Lerik searched the beach for any sign of Max and his lady. His breath caught in his throat as he saw them.
Max loped next to a fiery-haired siren with curves that could threaten a man’s sanity. She wore a simple threadbare cotton tunic and short trousers held up by a frayed piece of rope. The material was so thin, her coral nipples and the lava-colored curls at the juncture of her thighs showed like a beacon, causing his mouth to water with anticipation.
She turned to face him as if sensing his presence, and their gazes locked, shaking him to his toes. Awareness burned through him like none he’d ever experienced. It wasn’t purely sexual, it was an awareness that the woman whose soul he read behind those brilliant green eyes was destined to be his.
When her cat eyes darkened with desire, his body reacted, and he shifted in the saddle, his soft leather trousers suddenly too tight and confining.
Out of the corner of his eye, the movement of Max scenting the air caught his attention. Both he and the goddess before him shifted their gazes toward Max in time to see the fuzzy purple gargoyle bare his sharp teeth in a menacing growl.
