It was Eric's turn to clean up after dinner and the girls wasted no time in scurrying upstairs as soon as they finished eating. Eric scraped dishes and loaded the dishwasher, wondering if things were okay between him and Ellie. He had slipped into their shared bathroom after they got back from skiing to find Ellie undressing, but instead of being eager take advantage of the few minutes they could be alone before dinner, Ellie had wrinkled her nose and kept him at arms distance.
"Oh, baby, I stink right now." Ellie made a face. "And honestly...you do too. Let me take a shower and then I promised Cassie I would go help her with dinner." Her eyes softened as she saw his smile drop. "I'll make it up to you later," she leaned in to kiss him lightly with the tips of her lips. "Promise." She smiled. "Now out!" She pushed him playfully out the door to his bedroom before she peeled off the rest of her clothes.
Handwashing the stainless steel sauté and frying pans, he wondered if the newfound closeness between his sisters also included comparing notes about their recent extracurricular activities with their brother. He couldn't see Cassie volunteering that she had allowed Eric to take her picture topless, let alone with his dick in her mouth, but Ellie seemed so unpredictable at times that he fought a brief wave of anxiety thinking that she might have told Cassie everything that was going on between the two of them. He worked through his memories of how the day had gone between the three of them and didn't recall any indication that either of them was angry or upset with him, but something had changed in the dynamic and it troubled him that he just couldn't be sure exactly what it was.
As much as he had been eager to get some alone time with Ellie, the fact that the girls were doing something upstairs did mean that he could squeeze in some time gaming in the den before bed time. He hadn't set an exact time to meet up with Lisa, but had told her he would try to get online at some point that night to keep working on the fortress they had taken. Wiping down the counters and running the garbage disposal, Eric took one last look around the kitchen before deciding it was in pretty good shape. He took the garbage out and washed up before heading to the den to log into his gaming console.
Eric spawned in the hidden passage where he and Lisa had exited the game last night after securing the fortress. Lisa didn't look like she was online, but he sent her an invite and a location marker so she would know he was as he debated whether he should enter the fortress without her. The three players they'd killed would have been sent back to their original spawn point and would have lost everything on their person when they did. Most players kept a minimal cache of weapons, armor and gold at their spawn point for just such an occasion, but they would have lost half of their status to Eric when they died. Along with the status went a significant amount of strength, speed, ability to deliver and withstand damage and a corresponding drop in effectiveness of all of the unique skills that their chosen character types had or could acquire through the game at certain levels. Just as Eric had more than doubled his own status and unlocked a whole host of strength, upgrades and abilities when he killed them and took their life energy.
If the three had managed to return and get through the defenses and traps designed to prevent them from getting back in, they would each be significantly weaker and probably less well-equipped than they had been when Eric had ambushed each of them from behind. Still, if they had a secret entrance like the one Lisa had built that he and Lisa had been unable to discover, they could be waiting to ambush him somewhere in the fortress, they would have the element of surprise in their favor this time and it would be three on one. As much confidence as Eric had in his new weapons, armor and abilities, he wasn't sure he could hold off three attackers at once, particularly if one of them was behind him. His character was built for speed, stealth attacks and killing from a distance. Fighting in the open, particularly in an enclosed area with little cover, like a small room, or a hallway, was risky at best. Trying it against multiple opponents, while there was a chance that one of them could flank or ambush him to deliver damage from behind, was nothing short of suicidal.
Eric was just debating about whether he should follow the tunnel back to Lisa's hidden fortress to spend some time there or make a stealthy run through the new fortress, when he heard a heavy bass beat begin to pump steadily from the other side of the house. Pausing the game, he got up to walk down the hall, through the kitchen and out to the living room to investigate.
The lights were out in the hallway and kitchen and no one was in the living room, but much of the furniture had pushed back to clear additional space from the center of the room. The music was much louder once he'd entered the living room, with the EQ settings on the stereo turned up to give a visceral thump to the heavy bass beat. The lights in the living room had been dimmed and the armchair and a side table had been moved into the newly enlarged space, facing toward the kitchen. Some table lamps, including a couple of old lava lamps from Ellie's room had been added around the room to create a warm, intimate glow. One the side table, by the arm chair, Eric saw his pipe, lighter and a drink laid out. Taped to the cushion of the armchair was a note:
"Strip down to your undies, have a seat, a drink and a smoke. The show's about to begin."
The note was unsigned, but had two imprints in lipstick. Eric shrugged and took off his shoes, pants, socks and shirt to have a seat in his boxer shorts. He smoked from the pipe and took a drink to ease the tickle from the smoke in his throat. The song reached the end and heavy bass line faded away even as Eric began to feel the effect of the weed.
