“Then you understand why I sent it?” asked Brianna, trying not to let on how nervous she was. Her heart was hammering.
“I do indeed. However, the higher ups do not care if this Anthony is a threat or not. The potential for destruction that he represents alone is enough to classify him as an S-class Magic Catastrophe. They believe that if we wait until he becomes a legitimate threat to our world, it will be too late to save the people from disaster.”
Brianna’s blood turned cold. She sucked in a deep breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She felt like she could hear the rushing of blood filling her ears as she stared at the owl.
“But… my report…”
“We have looked over your report. Anthony might not be a threat now, but we cannot afford to wait until he becomes one to act. If you don’t act now, he could go on to destroy entire civilizations.”
“You don’t know that!” Brianna shouted. She clenched her hands into fists as she stared at the owl with a pleading look in her eyes. “Anthony is a good person. The only thing he wants to do is bring his brother out of a coma. He’s never harmed anyone. Please, instructor. Let me watch over him instead. If he turns out to be a threat, I will kill him, but we should at least give him a chance to prove that he’s not a threat.”
A sigh echoed from the owl. Weary. Resigned.
“It seems sending you on this mission might have been a mistake. You are still not ready for something like this.” Brianna flinched at the words, but her instructor didn’t seem to notice or care. “You have your orders. Kill the incubus called Anthony Amasius, or we will send someone else to take care of him.”
As her instructor finished relaying the damning orders, the owl suddenly glowed with a bright white light before unraveling right in front of her eyes. It turned into small sheets of paper with numerous magical formulas written on them. As the papers fluttered in the air, they quickly caught fire before burning to a crisp, disappearing so not even their ashes remained.
Brianna didn’t know how long she stared in despair at the spot where her instructor, or rather, her instructor’s familiar, had disappeared. Her entire body felt cold. A chill swept through her, causing Brianna to shiver as she hugged her arms around her waist.
With stumbling steps, she mechanically walked into her bedroom, hung the Geminius Sword on the rack, and crawled onto her bed. She sat against the headboard. Taking a slow, shuddering breath, Brianna curled her knees into her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and buried her face between her knees. A single sob wracked her body.
What was she going to do now?
Could she really kill Anthony?
Alone in her bedroom, Brianna was plagued with despair and a feeling of intense isolation.
Anthony couldn’t stop himself from frowning as he wondered how he’d gotten into this situation. He was standing in front of a movie theater, Secilia’s arms wrapped tightly around one of his own, while the woman in question looked at the different holographic posters to figure out which movie she wanted to see. It looked like there were several.
“Hmm… I can’t decide,” Secilia muttered. “I’m tempted to see Daylight Explosion because I really love a good action flick, but Evening Solace is directed by Gabriel Angel and stars Alexandria Ryker. That’s my favorite director and actress in one place.” She turned to look at him. “What do you think?”
“Why do we have to see a movie at all?” asked Anthony with a frown. “Isn’t a movie kind of cliched for a date?”
“Oh? Then do you have any better ideas?”
“Of course not. I’ve never been on a date before.”
“Then stop complaining about cliches and choose a movie.”
“I don’t even know what’s good.”
“Fine. Then I’ll just choose at random.” Secilia pointed at the Daylight Explosion posters. “Ini mini miny moe.” Her finger went back and forth from Daylight Explosion to Evening Solace. “Catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers let him go. Ini mini miny moe.” Her finger ended on Evening Solace. “Evening Solace it is.”
With her decision made in the most banal way possible, Secilia tugged on Anthony’s arm and got him moving alongside her. They went up to a line of people who were buying tickets from the automatic ticket booths. They would select what movie they wanted to watch, pay by having the booth scan their wristwatch, and then head off into the theater.
“That was not random,” Anthony said.
“Was too,” Secilia rebutted.
“No, it wasn’t. Ini mini miny moe is a predictable rhyme. When you use it to choose between two options, your finger will always point at the opposite option you started on.” Anthony narrowed his eyes at her. “You started on Daylight Explosion because you knew it would land on Evening Solace.”
“You got me,” Secilia confessed, smiling in that teasing manner of hers. “I was perfectly aware of what I wanted to see. There’s no way I can miss a movie directed and acted by two of my all-time favorites.”
“Isn’t Evening Solace a romance movie?”
“It is. Got a problem with that?”
“Not really.” Anthony shrugged, but then stopped when his arm rubbed against Secilia’s breasts. She was hugging his arm, so it was nestled firmly within the valley of her twin peaks, which made him very aware of how… soft her assets were. “Anyway, since you are the one who arbitrarily decided on what we are going to do, you get to pay.”
“Uh uh. No way. Everyone knows it is the man’s duty to pay for the date.”
“I believe in true gender equality,” Anthony argued in a bland voice. “When a woman asks the man on a date, it is her duty to pay. Consequently, if a man asks a woman on a date, then he should obviously pay. Deciding who pays based on their gender is the basis for gender inequality, and I won’t stand for it.”
“That’s the kind of eloquent bullshit men spout when they’re cheapskates.” Secilia tossed him a mild glare without any real heat. When she saw the stubborn look in his eyes, however, she smirked. “Okay then. How about we settle this the way we always do when we have a dispute?”
Anthony could feel a strange heat rise up in his chest as he stared at the woman, whose smirk was so sexy he could have pushed her against the wall and claimed her right there. However, this wasn’t a heat from sexual desire. He could feel his competitiveness surging. Secilia had lit a fire inside of his veins that needed to be quenched.
“You’re on,” he said.
Secilia’s smirk widened. “Then follow me.”
They moved out of line and left the movie theater. They traveled through the bustling streets, merging with pedestrian traffic. Hundreds of sounds and scents assaulted Anthony’s ears and nose. The honking of hovercars, the thrum of engines, and the chattering of people filled the air. A person walking on their left smelled faintly of perfume. Someone several feet in front of them smelled like they hadn’t bathed in a few days. Combine all the different smells and sounds with the lights from passing cars and street signs, and Anthony felt like his senses were being overstimulated by everything around him.
After a year of living here, he had fortunately grown used to this.
Secilia eventually led Anthony to a large building of about six stories called Aces High Arcade & VR Tag. It didn’t look like much on the outside. Most buildings were shaped similarly. However, several people both young and old were emerging from the building wearing large smiles.
“Come on,” Secilia commanded as she tugged on his arm.
Anthony didn’t resist as the woman pulled him inside, where a large lobby appeared before them. He looked around as they walked across the carpeted floor. There were quite a few people here. Some of them were sitting around holographic TVs that projected images of several people wearing helmets and wielding rifles as they moved through a simulated world. However, a few people were standing near the betting booths. It looked like they were placing bets on which players would win.
“I want to place an order for two people to pl
ay exactly one game of virtual reality laser tag,” Secilia said the moment she got to the booth.
Unlike the movie theater, where orders were fully handled by computers, Aces High Arcade & VR Tag still used people to deal with customers. The person behind the booth right now was a young man who was maybe 15 or 16 years-old. He had dark skin, brown eyes, and a relatively skinny build. As he looked Secilia over, his nostrils flared slightly and a hungry look entered his eyes.
Anthony pretended he was not annoyed by the look.
“One game for two people will cost forty dollars,” the boy said.
“We’re paying separately,” Anthony said as he and Secilia held out their wristwatches.
The boy nodded as he tapped on a holographic display, selecting from the number of paying options available. He selected the one player option, scanned Secilia’s wristwatch, then selected the one player option again and scanned Anthony’s. A soft beeping sound issued from the desk. Anthony looked at the holographic monitor floating above his wristwatch as an icon flashed within it.
“All right. You two are ready,” the boy looked at them both. “It looks like you both have a membership here, so you probably already know the rules. However, I still am required to inform you both that you two are not playing alone. There can be anywhere from fifteen to forty people playing at any given time.” The boy paused, glanced at his holographic screen, and continued. “It looks like your game is going to be on floor four. There are already thirty-one people playing, so with you two, that makes thirty-three.”
“Thank you.” Secilia smiled at the boy, who blushed bright red, then turned to Anthony and cracked her knuckles. “You ready?”
“Ready to kick your ass, you mean? Bring it on,” Anthony said.
“The only ass that will be getting kicked here is yours,” Secilia retorted with a confident smile.
Anthony and Secilia traded barbs as they walked into the elevator, and they fired even more verbal shots at each other as the elevator ascended to floor four. When the elevator doors opened, they stepped out and into a large room that had several pod-like stations lined up in four rows of ten. Several people were already present. There were both men and women. Anthony and Secilia received a few glares and appreciative looks from some of the people there, but they both ignored the stares and continued insulting each other as they traveled to their respective pods.
As Anthony stood in front of his pod, he placed his wristwatch up to the scanner. Soft beeping issued from the pod, followed by a hydraulic hiss, and then seams appeared at the top before the pod opened up. What lay inside the pod was a helmet, a vest, and a rifle. The rifle was not real. It resembled an AP4 LR-308, but it was white instead of black.
Anthony first slipped on the vest, then placed the helmet over his head and flipped the switch, activating the helmet’s VR system. The darkness that had engulfed him after putting on the helmet suddenly disappeared and revealed the room he was in. However, there was also a heads up display appearing in his vision. It showed a compass, his health gauge, and his ammo bar.
Once he was outfitted, he turned to Secilia. She had also finished putting her equipment on as well. The vest blocked off the view of her chest. Her helmet made her look like one of those old-school anti-demon officers from the early 2100s. Meanwhile, she was wielding two pistols instead of a rifle like him.
When she saw him looking her way, she grinned. “Ready to lose?”
“Ready to win,” he corrected her.
It wasn’t long before an automated female voice announced that all VR tag participants were to head for the game room. Anthony and Secilia walked inside with all the others. As they entered through a door, which slid shut behind them, their VR helmets activated more functions.
The area around them, which looked like a multi-level room with large geometric objects, places to hide, trenches, ladders, bridges, and everything Anthony could possibly imagine, suddenly turned into a visually appealing world that looked like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie. The towers turned into power plants. The various levels became walkways. Glowing lines of energy raced along the floor and walls. High above his head were several flying ships that soared through a clear blue sky.
“The game will start in 10 seconds and counting. 10, 9, 8…”
As the countdown commenced, Anthony and Secilia glanced at each other one last time and split apart. It wouldn’t be any fun if they had to fight each other right off the bat.
“… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0. Game start.”
“Ha! I still can’t believe you got your ass handed to you so easily!”
Anthony grimaced as he stood with Secilia on the maglev, listening to his companion teasing him. The maglev was mostly empty, which meant there were very few people to hear the woman’s mocking comments, but one older gentleman was glaring at them from a distance as if they had disturbed his rest.
“So what? At least you weren’t the one who beat me, which means our match ended in a draw.”
“Even so… watching as that kid sniped you from a distance really made my day,” Secilia continued, chortling as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.
During the game of virtual reality battle royale, some young punk had taken a disliking to Anthony, found a perch to stand on, and sniped him from a distance. This had nearly caused him to be taken out of the game early.
Everyone was given 100 points at the start of the match, and they earned points by shooting other players. Consequently, they lost points when someone shot them. The kid who kept shooting at Anthony had sniped him so many times that his points had ended up in the negatives, which forced him to take a penalty. He was honestly lucky he’d managed to win those points back and catch up with Secilia. That meant their game was still a draw.
“Tch.” Anthony crossed his arms. “I’m glad someone had fun.”
“I had a blast.” The grin on Secilia’s face widened so much he thought it might split her head in half. “Thank you for doing this with me. It was fun.”
“More fun than seeing that movie?” asked Anthony.
“Hmm… yeah, more fun than that. I guess this is the kind of date that suits us best.” Secilia stretched her arms above her head, which caused her shirt to ride up and reveal some of her flat stomach. Anthony took a slow breath to steady his heart. His friend continued talking as if unaware of what she was doing to him. “Anyway, it looks like this is my stop.”
As she spoke, the maglev slowed to a stop and the doors opened. The old man didn’t get up from his seat, but a small group of female vampires did walk out the doors.
Athony turned to Secilia. “All right. I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah.” Secilia smiled, and then surprised Anthony by leaning forward and pressing her lips to his cheek. Anthony was so stunned by the soft, warm feeling of her lips on his skin that he couldn’t respond as she stepped back. “See you later!”
With a mischievous grin, the woman stepped off the maglev. As the doors closed behind her, she turned around and waved at him through the window as the maglev lifted off the rails again and began moving.
“That vixen…” Anthony muttered.
Leaning against the wall, Anthony crossed his arms and stared at the city lights arrayed before him. The city seemed to go on forever.
He didn’t know what to do about Secilia. She’d given him a lot of signs that she was interested in him, but Anthony didn’t really want to enter a relationship with her. It had nothing to do with not liking her. He liked her a lot. But he wasn’t human. As an incubus, he didn’t do normal relationships the way humans did, and he didn’t want to force Secilia into becoming his bondmate. It wasn’t something she’d be able to get out of once she got in.
It would also be a betrayal of his feelings for Lilith.
Anthony grimaced. He knew he was using his feelings for Lilith as a chain to keep him from entering a relationship with anyone else, but he just… he couldn’t help it. The worry he felt, the feelings gnawing at his heart, an
d his desire to keep everyone safe by not letting them become involved with him were a force he couldn’t break on a whim.
His stop soon arrived, and Anthony got off and traveled the empty streets toward his home. He frowned a bit, however, upon realizing that this area was completely empty. Academy Island had a lot of nightlife. While there were some sections of the city that did become empty after dark like the section where the Academy Island Hospital for Magical Catastrophes was located, the area around his residence should have been fairly active.
A strange feeling crawled up his spine. He did his best to ignore it.
Anthony reached his apartment soon enough, but he stopped when he noticed the figure standing in front of the entrance door. It was Brianna. Her head was tilted down, causing her hair to shift forward over her face, casting it in shadow. He could not see what expression she was making. However, there was a very visible frown marring her lips.
The feeling of wrongness became stronger.
“Brianna?” he called out, walking closer. “Is everything okay?” She didn’t say anything. He grimaced. “Listen, I’m sorry for not showing up at the maglev station. A friend of mine dragged me off, and I don’t have your comm number so I couldn’t call you. Oh! Speaking of which, we really should trade contact information. We can do that right now if you—”
“Just stop it,” Brianna suddenly said. “Just stop talking!”
Anthony stopped. He didn’t just stop talking. He stopped walking too.
Brianna lifted her face, showing off her bloodshot eyes with red rims. It looked like she’d been crying. Concern shot through him like a bolt fired from a mana rifle.
“Hey… are you okay?” he asked.
Brianna’s face twisted into a truly unpleasant expression of anguish. Her shoulders shook. She looked like she was barely suppressing her desire to break down and cry.
“No, I am not okay,” she choked out.
“What… what’s wrong?” asked Anthony, only now realizing why everything about this situation felt so off.
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