Alpha Company (Alpha World Book 3)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Julia froze, her eyes wide with fear, “I’m sorry, Poppa.”

  With a snort of disgust, he cut out a piece of the bloody meat and began to chew it. “Do better next time. Just as useless as your mother always was. Even more, at least she had other uses that you don’t.”

  Julia hung her head as a tear fell from her eyes, “I’m sorry, Poppa.”

  The man leaned back, eyeing her with a sneer on his lips, “And this.” He picked up the paper he had brought out to the living room with him and began to crumple it before her. He watched her face fold with grief as he did so. “Trash, like most of the others you’ve done. I told you the orc should be fucking her, like the useless slut she is. I wanted a bite mark on the elf because the orc is playing rough. Yet you drew that trash.”

  Her head slumped and she curled further into a ball, her plate forgotten. “I’m sorry Poppa, I did my best.”

  “Your best is still trash,” the man said as he went back to his steak. “Since you failed at the drawing, we’ll just have to do a photoshoot instead.”

  Julia began to shake, “Yes, Poppa.”

  “If you don’t do as you’re told during this shoot, I’ll have to get the paddle, you understand?”

  “Yes, Poppa,” the girls voice was a barely audible whisper as she rocked in the corner of the room.

  She stayed like that as the man finished eating and stood up. “You have ten minutes. We’ll be doing the schoolgirl scene again tonight, so make sure you’re ready. And if you don’t have that plate licked clean before the shoot I’ll apply the paddle.”

  “Yes, Poppa,” Julia whispered again as she grabbed her plate and began to jam the food into her mouth. She kept her head down, so she missed seeing the laughing sneer on his face.

  They followed Julia as she literally licked the plate clean before rushing to her room. She tore her clothes off, and Alburet had to look away. He felt his gorge rise, as well as his anger, at the way Fluff was being treated.

  Ten minutes later exactly, he came into her room carrying a camera. “You’re dressed. Well, no paddle yet, it seems.” He motioned her over to her desk, “We’ll start with the regular shots then move onto the better ones.”

  Julia avoided looking at him, “Yes, Poppa.”

  They watched as the photoshoot started off normally enough. When he told her to bend over the desk and pull her skirt up, Alburet spun away from the scene. “I need out,” he said.

  He blinked as he was suddenly standing next to the bed Fluff was sleeping on. Karen and Stacia both stood with their eyes closed, Stacia still gently humming her haunting melody. With a shuddering breath he looked down at the poor abused woman sleeping there and his heart clenched.

  “I’m sorry, Fluff,” he whispered as he sat on the bed next to her sleeping form. “I know you wanted me there, but I can’t watch that.”

  He was still there some minutes later when Karen and Stacia opened their eyes. Karen was rigid with anger, “That sick fucking bastard.” Her voice was strangled with rage as she seethed. Her eyes went to the sleeping form next to her and her face twisted into a mix of pity and sorrow. Dropping to her knees next to the bed, Karen gently reached out and stroked Fluff’s ear. “I’m sorry, Julia, your life has been horror until now. I will be here for you.”

  Alburet watched Karen for a moment before he stood up, “I wish I could tell my old coworkers about that sick fuck.”

  “Nay need,” Stacia said softly. “He be nay longer alive. His heart failed him years back. Sadly, she was nay able to face the world after all he had told her and done to her. She has been mostly a recluse all this time. Her drawin’ and photos be all tha’ keeps her goin’ now.”

  Karen and Alburet looked at Stacia, their faces still reflecting their anger. “How can any father…” Alburet began but Stacia cut him off with a raised hand.

  “She has nay faced tha’ memory yet. She will in time, but she still be tryin’ to come to terms tha’ what he did to her was wrong. Once she has, I will show her the memory that she has hidden from herself. Paval was nay her father.” Stacia looked at each of them, “ya can nay tell her tha’, but it may help ya deal with what ya just witnessed.”

  “Why did she want us there?” Alburet asked.

  “She be afraid tha’ once ya know her for how she thinks she be, ya will toss her away. She wanted to face tha’ head on. She has nay been able to break the conditioning Paval instilled in her. She still thinks she be ugly and useless, and deservin’ of all the abuse he heaped on her.”

  “Gods,” Alburet whispered as his eyes went back to the sleeping Fluff. “She thinks we’d spurn her?”

  “The one time she tried to seek out help, the doctor was nay understandin’.” Stacia sat on the edge of the bed and gently stroked Fluff’s foot. “He did nay listen to her and could nay do as I do. Instead, he gave her drugs and sent her away. She never went back and figured tha’ Paval was right all along.”

  “Useless bastard,” Karen snapped as she stroked Fluff’s ear again. “I won’t turn away from my friend. I wish she could see herself like we do.”

  Stacia smiled at Karen then at Alburet, who was nodding in agreement. “Good. Tha’ be what we be doin’ next. Me plan is to show her the truth compared to her memory next. Will ya continue to be there with her?”

  Alburet and Karen looked at each other before they turned to Stacia, “Yes,” they said in near perfect unison.

  “Tha’ we will do tomorrow, then, iffin Fluff agrees,” Stacia said, getting to her feet. “Karen, if she starts crying just stroke her softly and tell her ya be here for her. Master, ya be comin’ with me.”

  Following Stacia out of the room, Alburet chewed over what he had just experienced. It had been so similar to what Victoria had done to him that he wondered about how it worked.

  As they entered the room Stacia shut the door behind them and paused there. “Master? Are ya okay? I can sense a deep unease from ya.”

  He turned to her and pulled out his Mindstone, “I need to find something out, Kitten.” He sent Victoria a message and waited.

  Message from Victoria AI:

  I can explain, but would rather do so in person, as it were. Can you spare me five minutes?

  He sent back his reply before putting his stone away. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Kitten, then we can talk.”

  “Did I do somethin’ wrong?” Stacia asked as she leaned against the door, her face filled with worry.

  “No, Kitten,” Alburet told her, giving her a hug, “I just need to figure something out and the person I need to ask isn’t here. Five minutes, okay?”

  “I be waitin’ for ya,” Stacia held him until he vanished from her arms.

  ~*~*~

  Seamus looked across the desk at Vicky. “How is it that Succubi in the game can walk people through memories like you did with me?”

  Vicky leaned back in her chair, “Their coding is similar to parts of mine, so they can do the same thing with fully immersed players. With that ability, they’re able to help reconstruct a person’s memory, restoring parts that have been lost or, in some cases, deliberately suppressed. The fine print in the EULA grants Mindblown permission to survey the mental and emotional states of immersed players, and help is being carefully offered to those that need it.”

  He sat there, lips pursed for a moment, “Everyone who plays is subject to this?”

  “Yes, though we don’t take any action without the request of the player.” Vicky chewed her lip for a moment. “We don’t want to harm anyone, but we would like to offer help to those people who want it. Fluff for instance. Or Karen if she decides to accept it. And so on.”

  “Or me,” Seamus finished for her. “Except I don’t have a choice, I think.”

  “You do, but your problem is a much larger issue,” Vicky sighed. “Your memories have started to surface on their own. Your mind is starting to reject the memories that you manufactured to replace them. That’s why you are having nightmares, part of you is rebe
lling about not knowing the truth.”

  He rocked back in his seat, his chest tightening. “Truth?”

  “Things like your father’s first heart attack, and the letter he left you,” Vicky replied.

  His chest stopped aching, a ragged breath escaping him, “Oh.”

  “Are you going to go forward with Stacia’s offer?”

  He sat there for a minute, thinking, “If I don’t, I’ll keep having nightmares, won’t I?”

  “Yes, though you might then come to grips with things yourself. Or you might break,” Vicky said softly. Her hand reached across the desk imploringly, “Please, let her help you.”

  Looking at her hand, Seamus felt himself agreeing with her assessment. If he broke down mentally, he wouldn’t be able to stay with Stacia. They would probably yank him from the game and call long term immersion a failure. Kaylee wouldn’t have the chance at something like a normal life.

  He met her eyes, “I will. Please send me back now.”

  Vicky met his eyes, hers wet with tears, “I will be here if you need an ear to lean on, Seamus. I think of you like family, so please don’t think that you’re alone.”

  He frowned, wondering at her depth of feeling as he was whisked away from her.

  ~*~*~

  He blinked as he discovered that he was still in Stacia’s arms. “Sorry, Kitten, I’m back.”

  “Do ya nay wish me to help ya?”

  “I want you to help me, Kitten, and to help Fluff. Just go slow with me, okay? I’m afraid of what I might find now.”

  Stacia locked eyes with him, hers full of fear, joy, hope and worry. “I will do me best to protect ya. Come over to the bed, we need ya stripped an’ comfortable before we begin.”

  Once he was naked and on the bed, Stacia lightly touched his head and began to sing to him. It was the same song she had used with Fluff earlier. He felt his mind slip away as he was drawn into the melody.

  ~*~*~

  Blinking, Seamus found himself standing behind David’s couch. David was in his normal chair and Seamus watched himself sitting on a sofa. He felt like a ghost watching himself and David chat away about nothing important.

  A door behind them opened and Kaylee came into the room, dressed in a simple, conservative black dress. “What do you think?” She spun in place for them, a cheeky smile dancing on her lips.

  David shook his head, “You’re growing up too fast, that’s what I think.”

  Seamus laughed, “You look good. What’s the occasion?”

  “I have a date tomorrow,” she told them. “Richard asked me to go see the latest blockbuster with him. He seems like a good guy and I figured I might as well. Otherwise I might end up like you two.”

  The guys both laughed at her attack on their single status. “Oh, is the child not respecting her elders?” Seamus asked, as he made a motion like he was going to get up.

  “Ha, I respect the elderly. I just think you need a walker.”

  David laughed harder, “My eyes aren’t so good. Come closer, dear.”

  Kaylee danced back with laughing eyes, “Nope. Okay, that’s enough. Let me go change and we can go get some dinner. I just wanted your opinions if the dress was a bit too much.”

  Both men shook their heads, as the dress did nothing to accent her figure. “It’s fine,” David told his daughter.

  “Much better than what I see the girls your age wear normally,” Seamus shook his head.

  “I’m just going out with a friend,” Kaylee told Seamus. “Not like the other girls who are trolling for a fun time.”

  “Good,” both men said in unison and laughed about it.

  The scene froze and Stacia ghosted over to Seamus where he stood behind the couch. “Why did ya hide this away?”

  Seamus shuddered as he felt tears start to fall from his ghostly face. “I miss her so much, Kitten. She was basically my daughter. This was the last time I saw her before…”

  Stacia held him as he began to cry in earnest, “Shh, I be here for ya, Asthore. We will leave it here for now, ya need to rest.” She began to sing as he sobbed into her chest.

  He felt the world dissolving around him as darkness reached up and embraced him gently, like an old friend welcoming him home.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Alburet woke to a warm body pressed against his. He pulled her closer with a sigh, “Morning, Kitten.”

  “Morning to you too, Al,” Karen snickered into his ear.

  Eyes snapping open, he found Karen in bed with him, thankfully wearing her underwear. “What the hell?”

  “Stacia is making breakfast, but she thought you might need someone to wake up with. We compromised, I got to snuggle you for the last half hour, but only if I was wearing these.” She fingered the edge of her panties. “I would rather have been here skin on skin, but Stacia felt that might send you into a panic.”

  Letting out a ragged breath, Alburet was acutely aware of his traitorous anatomy, responding to the sexy woman he was still holding. “Karen, please. I know what you want and I know what Stacia wants. I am trying to come to terms with my stance on things, but it isn’t going to happen overnight. I’m asking you to not push me. You are sexy as fuck, we both know that. If things had been normal I very well might have gone after you instead of Stacia, but due to…” His lips snapped shut as he cut off his explanation.

  Her eyes traced his face, “NDA?” At his nod she sighed, “Figures, all my relationships have been bad. I’m not trying to push you though, I just…” She stopped as she tried to get her thoughts in order and off of his growing problem that she wanted very badly to offer a helping hand with. “You saw a piece of Fluff’s past last night. Mine isn’t anywhere near as bad, but it isn’t pretty either. I’ve been trying to find a strong man who will care for me for a very long time. I thought I had, then you went and got married to someone else. I don’t have your hang-up about multiple partners, and when we were all together I thought, maybe, that I had found perfection. A sexy woman who’ll bend to my will and a man who’s strong enough to make me fight for what I want.”

  Alburet started to speak, but she put her hand over his mouth silencing him. “I’m not done yet. When you set me aside, I was hurt. I tried to play it off, but it stung. I thought maybe Fluff was an answer, she’s submissive, which I like in my female partners. But she can’t deal with that kind of relationship right now, and that is like having a wonderful meal sitting in front of you, but behind glass, so you can’t get to it. I know why now, and I can understand why she is the way she is, and that fucker is lucky he’s already dead.” Her hand left his mouth as it clenched, “Then I thought maybe Marian would be the answer, but she went with Violet instead. It hurts. I hope for what Stacia hints at, that maybe you’ll follow through and we can go back to what we had. At the same time, I have to try not to hope, so I won’t be disappointed again.”

  Stroking her hair, Alburet sighed sadly, “I’m sorry, Karen. I never meant to hurt you. I had thought you just wanted a good time.”

  “As did I, but you pulled at me,” she nuzzled his neck. “You unknowing bastard. You draw me to you like iron filings to a magnet. You tick off all the right boxes for me, your possessiveness, your stern nature, the way you can take a loss but still come right back out for more.”

  He leaned back so their eyes could meet, “Karen…”

  “Master?” Stacia said from the doorway.

  Alburet jerked guiltily, his head whipping around to orientate on her, “Kitten?”

  “Ya still owe me any one thin’ tha’ I wish, ya recall tha’?”

  “Yes…” He felt a pang of guilt over what he had been about to say to Karen as he met the eyes of the woman he loved.

  “Then I be collectin’ now,” Stacia said as she closed the door behind her and came towards the bed. Her apron hit the floor first, “I want what she be wantin’.” Her shirt followed the apron, “Ya promised me anythin’.” Her bottoms followed the top just as quickly, “This be what I be wantin�
�. Mayhap ya will see again, what joy we can all be havin’.”

  He was partially frozen as he had watched her cross the room, stripping as she came. His already interested member stiffened further as he couldn’t pull his eyes from her. “Kitten, I’m not sure this is rig…”

  He cut off as she leaned down so their noses touched lightly, “It be right, master, ya heart knows it as well as I do. Or are ya goin’ to go back on ya word to me?”

  He struggled with the warring voices in his mind. His father on one side, berating him for even thinking about being unfaithful to his wife. Stacia on the other, begging him to listen to her and follow his heart. He let out a shuddering breath, about to speak when his mind went blank. His full attention had been focused on Stacia, but he didn’t notice her signal to Karen, or Karen slipping south as Stacia leaned over him, so the mouth that enveloped him was a complete surprise.