A Virtual Temptress

Dan was four hours into studying, increasingly confident that his midterm for Mathematical Modeling was going to kick his ass. He was still groggy after twelve hours of sleep. And Jimmy would not. Stop. Texting.

Head resting against the table, Dan felt the phone's vibration through his cheekbones for the third time in ten minutes. He groaned and dragged the screen in front of his face.

Shinji Shadowstep:

But my point is. It's gotta be hard to get or what's the point even. Like not just anyone can be a ninja. Just the elite, you know? Top players. Like there isn't a ranking system posted but they know, you know? I bet there's a big board the devs have posted.

Shinji Shadowstep:

No no wait it's internal, like only they can see it so it's on the dl but my point is they're all watching, you know? Keeping up on skills. And who does what quests. It's all data dude, they're seeing all of it. That's why I've gotta practice, I mean just because you cap a skill doesn't mean you can't get better, just only the devs can track it.

Shinji Shadowstep:

Dude she has no idea I'm onto her. I know everything. Bro come on I'm trying to keep you informed. Like she isn't who you think she is.

Dan considered uninstalling the messaging app for Saga. He rolled his head to look at his textbook, then back to the phone. He opened the voice channel.

"Pretty sure it's against the user agreement to creep on people."

"It's surveillance," Jimmy whispered. "Not creeping. Perfectly legit. Hey, meet me at the Crooked Kettle in 20, we need to talk in person."

Dan picked his head up and frowned at the phone. "Why are you whispering? Jesus, you're watching her right now aren't you? I'm studying. You probably should be too. Just spit it out so you can stop pinging me." How much could Jimmy actually know, Dan wondered? That Lexi was an NPC? That she was a demon? All of that would be inconvenient, but manageable. If he knew details about Dan's involvement, on the other hand ...

"Come on man, I can't talk here."

"If you want to sit in the Kettle while we talk, fine. I'm not logging in till I finish the practice exam."

For thirty seconds the line was silent. "Okay, I pulled back." Jimmy's voice had returned to normal. "Listen dude, how involved are you with this girl? Like have you gone on any quests together?"

"Did you want to tell me something or not?"

There was a long-suffering sigh. "I don't think she's even a real player."

Dan could suddenly hear his heart beating. "What do you mean?"

"Like this girl doesn't do anything. Bro, she doesn't even have a class. She's not here to play Saga, she's just some e-girl taking pics for her InstaFans page. How did you even meet her?"

Dan blinked several times at the phone. "Is that it?"

"What do you mean, 'is that it?' I'm letting you know this girl is bad news, you don't want to be hanging out with some fake gamer. How did you even meet her?"

Dan hung up. Mostly he was just relieved. Part of him couldn't believe that Jimmy was messaging him this shit, but if he was being honest it wasn't a shock. Jimmy had some hang ups that he could be overly vocal about.

Shinji Shadowstep:

Hey if you don't like it that's whatever I'm just looking after you. As a guildmate. We don't want to bring that kind of situation into the guild, e-girls can tear groups apart.

Shinji Shadowstep:

It's for your own good, dude. I'm gonna find proof okay, you'll see.

Dan stared at his phone, sighed, and sent one more text: "I'll be online in an hour, talk to you then." He'd have to deal with Jimmy's weird little crusade at some point, but it would be safe for an hour. Studying couldn't wait. If he was lucky, Jimmy would get bored and leave things alone for a while.

*****

You have unlocked a new class!

The message flashed across his screen as Dan logged in. He flicked open the menu.

Due to your contract with a being of the Far Realms, you now have access to the Warlock class! Would you like to change your class to Warlock? You will retain all current class levels and abilities and will become a level 1 Warlock. Gaining experience will advance your level in the Warlock class instead of your current class.

He waved dismissively, closing the window. Dan didn't need to read the ability preview. Warlock was technically one of the hidden classes available in Saga Online, but it was the easiest to unlock. If you believed server polls, it was more popular than some of the starting classes.

"Daniel?" Lexi was leaning out her room, watching him adjust the HUD. "Can we talk?"

She was wearing a black silk bra and a pair of thin black panties, tied at the side with little pink ribbons. Her hair falling in waves of golden sunlight that emphasized her bust. The succubus batted her eyelashes at him, waiting for a response.

Dan furrowed his eyebrows. His gaze was still drawn to her breasts, jaw-dropping even without magical encouragement, but he could still pull his eyes up to meet her own when he felt inclined. It was refreshing. He would have been more comforted if this hadn't been an obvious attempt at seduction.

"Do you find me unattractive, Daniel?" Her lip trembled slightly.

"Oh. My god."

"It's just... I worry that with the contract signed, you've lost interest in me. I couldn't bear to languish in this place, starved of affection... Surely your hatred does not run so deep?"

Dan leaned his head back and sighed. "You are literally the most attractive woman I have ever met, in this world or any other." He looked at her. The lip tremble intensified. "I'm not buying it, Lexi."

"Ugh!" She wrinkled her nose at him, walking quickly to follow him down the stairs. "You are entirely unreasonable, Daniel. I have been trapped in this prison, unable to feed for the past two days! You need to take responsibility for our contract."

"Meaning?" Dan turned as he reached the bottom stair, admiring the way Lexi's chest moved as she descended.

"I am a succubus, Daniel." She gave him a pointed look. "It would be proper for a familiar to be fed by her own master, of course..."

"But...?"

"But if you insist on impropriety, another man will do. Preferably a healthy one." She gestured to her body, posing to show off her toned legs and plump ass. "Would it really be so dreadful let me use you for a time, Daniel? Surely you remember how much you enjoyed our previous encounters."

He shivered involuntarily. Despite repeated attempts to suppress what had happened, it was impossible to forget the pleasure of being drained. He shook his head as if to banish the thought.

Lexi began walking upstairs, hips swaying enticingly as she moved. "I will honor your requests for now, Daniel, but I suggest you consider the consequences of straining our pact. A girl has needs, after all." Dan couldn't help but watch until she was out of sight.

He'd need to figure out a more permanent solution for Lexi. First, though, he had to deal with his midterm. It was time for another visit to the alchemist.

*****

Dan admired the claustrophic display of neatly labeled, multicolored jars that lined the walls of Rughen's laboratory. A small apartment, stripped to concrete and overloaded with alchemical supplies, hadn't been Dan's first expectation when he'd arranged a meeting with the Forge District's most reputable black alchemist. Maybe that was the point? It was a discrete location, if nothing else. Any chemical discharge would be masked by the fumes from the refinery next door, and rent was probably cheap for the same reason.

Rughen stripped off his mask, picked up two vials of red sludge in a small leather case, and handed them to Dan. "As promised." He gave the pyromancer a contemplative look. "Listen, Mr. Firewilde. I haven't worked with demon blood too often -- most adventurers that go after than kind of quarry don't come back. Even so, fiends all pretty much bleed the same. And this ain't standard-issue blood."

Dan did his best to feign surprise. "No?"

"No. It's more potent, for one thing. Had some odd interactions, needed to adapt the recipe a little. Nothing major. I haven't seen blood from a greater or elder demon before because I've never heard of anyone killing something that powerful. But if I had to guess, that's what went into those potions." He waited for Dan to respond, realized the man wasn't going to, and continued. "Now, a man in my line of work knows better than to ask about the source of a restricted substance. But if you were to pick up some more of it... well, demon blood is a substitute component in dozens of potions. Add it to the mix and you can boost the effects dramatically. If you happened to come across more, I could find a buyer pretty easily."

"Ah. Well." Dan shrugged. He could certainly use the coin, but if the potion worked the way he was hoping, letting samples of Lexi's blood out onto the market would be a tremendous risk. "I'll keep an eye out, I guess. Hard to guarantee."

"Of course."

Dan offered an awkward nod and turned to leave, listening to the clack-clack of Rughen triple-bolting the door as he stepped out in to the Forge District and strolled past the refinery and into the gathering dusk. Innate fire resistance dulled the emanating swelter to a dull warmth.

He was about to pull out the bottles when his notifications had lit up, and Dan realized that he had forgotten about Jimmy. Dan sighed, tucked the vials back into his inventory, and accepted the voice call.

"Bro, you up for a dungeon tonight? There's this mine that's opened up near Southspire? Hasn't even leaked to the forums yet, supposed to have insane drops."

"Probably not. I'm logging off in twenty, gotta take a midterm."

"Dude come on! We've already got tank and healer lined up, I'm DPS, you slot right in as a bruiser. I've been talking you up to these guys, they don't think a pyro can go frontline."

"Can't, sorry. I'm already tired and I have to study for tomorrow's test after I finish this one." Dan frowned, scanning through his chat logs. "What's with the dungeon, anyway? Didn't you want to talk about that girl?"

"Oh." There was a pause for several seconds. "Lol yeah just joking around man, don't worry about it."

"You seemed super adamant about this a few hours ago. Also, did you just say 'L-O-L' out loud?"

"Hey man I just wanted you to be careful, is all. Can't trust girls like that, you know? She was definitely taking pics for her InstaFans or something, so it's not like she's into you or something." Another pause. "Ha ha but wouldn't it be funny to look at her page? Like you could just link it to me bro, no big deal."

Dan checked the time -- 45 minutes till class started. Time to try this out. He took a few steps into an alley, just in case someone was watching, and downed one of the potions. It tasted like over-ripe blackberries.

"Like it's cool if you don't have it, but wouldn't it be funny if you did. Dude, are you there?"

He'd been hoping for some sort of immediate effect like the previous set of potions, but Dan reminded himself that those were combat-designed. This was a slow-burn potion that would last six hours, maybe longer if Rughen was right about its power level. After a minute Dan could feel a steady trickle of clarity snaking its way up his spine, relaxing his mind and filling him with a growing confidence. This was going to work.

Dan realized he'd been ignoring Jimmy and scrolled up to read the chat transcription. He narrowed his eyes at the log as the trickle grew to a rivulet, flooding him with understanding. God damn it, and everything had been going so smoothly.

Lexi probably didn't even know, Dan realized. Jimmy's stealth score was through the roof, so the chances he'd been detected were close to zero. That didn't solve the problem that the succubus had accidentally charmed him.

I'm such an idiot

, Dan thought.

I should have closed the blinds

.

"Sorry," he said to Jimmy, "Got distracted. Don't know her IRL, sorry man." Dan was almost at the townhouse. He'd just go inside, check on Lexi real quick, and then log out and run to class.

*****

Night fell across the Nath Valen.

In the Theatre District, the flagstone streets were lit by a forest of wrought-iron lanterns hung from each building. The flickering glow of ten thousand overlapping lights bathed the landscape in an orange haze.

Dan walked quickly. He was too preoccupied to appreciate the scenery. Jimmy was blessedly silent.

Approaching the townhouse, Dan realized that something was off. To start, there was no one around. NPC populations were reduced after dark, but the Theatre District was a busy place. There should have been at least a few citizens hurrying through the lantern light. There was also a dull aura pricking the back of his mind, an itch he couldn't quite identify.

There man standing beneath the townhouse, cloaked and hooded, hovering just on the edge of the lamplight. He was tall, bulky. A Templar? It seemed unlikely. Dan had heard about Inquisition occasionally going undercover, but they weren't much for skulking about in the dark. Unlikely to be a thief or assassin either, given their lack of circumspection. Another player? There wasn't much reason for an NPC to be here, but people could find all sorts of dumb reasons to be prowling outside a random building.

He shrugged. Only one way to find out.

"Hey, buddy. You alright?" Dan kindled a wisp of fire in his palm as approached, squinting to try and discern who was under the hood.

The figure turned. Dan realized the person was taller than he had expected -- at least 7ft, probably more. Even with giant heritage, player height was capped at 6'6".

"Ah. The warlock."

Dan froze. The voice was deep and inhuman, steel against broken glass. The figure walked within range of Dan's Torchlight spell and he realized the stranger was not human. Leathery hide, fangs, hands extending into talons -- this was clearly a monster. How had it gotten into the city? What was it doing here?

"Pyromancer." Dan took a step back involuntarily as the thing continued to close.

"But the pact keeper, yes? Your profession matters little." The creature was a few feet away now and Dan could see the heavy ram's horns and glossy black eyes. This had to be a demon. "I am an Emissary, sent to reclaim the Demon King's subject. You will relinquish your pact immediately."

"Subject?" Did he mean Lexi? Dan certainly hadn't formed any other demonic contracts. His mind spun. An Emissary? He shrugged -- it didn't really matter right now. He was in the middle of Nath Valen, night-time or no.

"Or what, you'll kill me? Piss off, buddy. I've got a class to get to."

The impact sent Dan sprawling. He had barely seen the emissary move before its claw struck, leaving no time to react. Blaize Firewilde's health plummeted to 24%. Dan's eyes went wide.

You have been poisoned

, read the message across his screen.

"Holy shit." As if things weren't bad enough.

The demon cast the cloak aside, building momentum as lumbered toward him. "The pact can as easily be ended by your death, mortal. It matters not to me." He raised both massive fists, bringing them down like a hammer blow.

Dan had been prepping a counterattack but the thing was too fast; he had to release his spell prematurely. Rather than stunning, the impact from Kindled Force shoved Dan out of the way at the last moment. Stone shattered under the impact like ripples through a pond, fragments of pavement flying in all directions.

Dan worked quickly as the demon pivoted to attack again, altering the incantation to shift damage into impact. A dull boom shook the plaza as his Furnace Blast released, knocking the demon off its feet and sending Dan flying some 30ft away.

Your enemy seems to have high resistance to fire!

Try using different damage types to overcome their resistance

. Dan took a moment to stare at the system message with disgust.

"You only delay the inevitable. Yield, and I will hasten your demise."

Dan staggered to his feet, still trembling from effects of his last spell. He'd created a little space, but the creature was already on its feet and stomping toward him. His health had dropped to 19% - no way he could take a second hit. He certainly wasn't going to win this.

NPCs in nearby houses had woken up and were yelling for the city watch. Dan didn't like his chances stalling till they arrived, and the guards were unlikely to be much help against such a high level adversary.

The back of his neck twitched unpleasantly as Dan felt the effects of his intelligence potion finalize and everything fell into place like some ridiculous cosmic puzzle. Dan laughed.

"Switch to city-wide chat. Start message. 'Hey, there's a high-level demon running around the Theatre District. You guys need to get over here, I think it's a unique quest. Oh, sorry, supposed to be guild chat.'"

"Bluster will not save you." The demon lunged, forcing Dan to drop to the ground as its claws hewed the air above him. "There is only one verdict to be delivered here."

Dan's chat window lit up, first a few messages and then a wall of text.

Unique quest? Hey where are you? Can you ping location? Nvm I got it. Hey, send a party invite?

Players began materializing around the plaza, fast-traveling from other points in the city.

The demon slowed its onslaught, snarling at the incoming adventurers as they drew weapons and prepped spells. It opened its mouth to speak, only to be interrupted as a burly woman in plate mail charged. Her greatsword slammed into the side of the demon's head, shearing off a chunk of horn.

Much as he wanted the satisfaction of seeing this thing get swarmed, Dan was running out of time -- class was about to start and he was still poisoned. Skirting the growing melee, Dan limped to Silas Revene's townhouse and pounded on the door. It opened immediately.

"Daniel? What were you thinking?" Lexi pulled him inside and slammed the door shut. "To confront an Emissary alone... Daniel, you look pale. Are you alright?"

Dan glanced at his hit points: 11%. He slumped into a gilded armchair. "He hits like a truck. And he poisoned me, which honestly seems like overkill." Dying would be a colossal pain in the ass, but he would probably be fine. Inside a home you could log out instantly, and he'd just get Jimmy to bring him an antidote for when he logged back in.

"To think that you would risk yourself for me..."

Dan blinked and looked up. Lexi was standing over him, lingerie complemented by a translucent nightgown that covered little. She seemed genuinely upset.

"Daniel, I have used you most unfairly. I can scarcely believe that you would sacrifice yourself to protect me, despite our quarrel."

What is she talking about

? Dan wondered.

She looks like she's about to cry.

Lexi rested her hands on his shoulders, offering Dan an incredible view of her cleavage. Their eyes met. The succubus leaned forward and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

Her mouth was warm and gentle, pressing against his own with a comforting heat. A small, unimportant part of Dan's mind reminded him that this was probably a bad idea. He decided not to listen.

Energy surged through Lexi and into Dan, sending shivers through his body in fractured echoes. As she pulled away, Dan realized he was no longer quite so tired. His hit points still read 11%. The poison was gone. He stared at the succubus. "What was that?"

"It was the least I could do, Daniel. To repay your sacrifice. I have transferred a portion of my power to you, as a token of our bond." She looked nervous. "When the Emissary was outside, I thought my time in your world was over. I still do not understand how you drove it away, but I find myself glad to see you are still alive."