Britt was just about to knock on Phil’s door to get him and Reese up when it opened and Reese practically skipped out of the room, a big silly grin on her face. Britt glanced inside and saw Phil sprawled out on the bed face first. He was still wearing his sweat pants, but his shirt was off, and his back was covered in scratch marks. Britt instantly snagged Reese’s arm as she skipped passed and answered the silly grin with a questioning look of her own.
“Let him sleep a bit longer. He earned it. A few times.” She giggled and got a dreamy look on her face.
“Did you!?” Britt asked, shocked, but Reese shook her head.
“Nope. Well, kinda? We did, but we didn’t.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Britt asked, completely confused.
Reese smiled and leaned in close. “Apparently I’m ok as long as it’s not skin to skin.”
Britt turned that over in her mind for a second before, “With your clothes on?”
“Just like high school all over again!”
Britt scoffed. “Speak for yourself, goody goody.”
A mock look of shock crossed Reese’s face. “Miss Hughes! Scandalous!” She laughed at her own wit, then looked down at herself. “I’m going to shower and change. I reek of sex, which is funny since I didn’t actually have any. Should probably do some laundry too.” Britt wrinkled her nose, realizing that her friend did indeed smell like someone who had spent the night fucking. A lot. Releasing Reese’s arm, she watched the woman strut to her room, giggling and sighing as she went.
“Good for you,” she said to the blonde woman’s retreating back with a smile. Rose chose that moment step out of her room and also caught a whiff of Reese as she went past. Staring at Reese until she entered her room, Rose slowly turned and looked back at Britt, eyes wide. She quickly made her way to where Britt was still standing at Phil’s open door.
“Did she…!?”
“Kinda?” Britt answered, unsure how to say it. She gestured at the still sleeping form that was drooling into his pillow. “They didn’t actually fuck, but whatever they did was apparently still one hell of a workout.”
Rose brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh my god, his back!” she whispered loudly. “Should I heal him?”
Britt thought about it, then shook her head. “Nah. Only if he asks. Let him bear the wounds with pride until then.” She chuckled to herself. “If he got that reaction out of her fully clothed, imagine what she’ll do to him once she lets him in.”
Rose gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything. She just nodded slowly and started for the stairs.
“Hey,” Britt called after her. “If you’re getting started on breakfast, no more pancakes!”
“Oh, I love pancakes,” Tina said as she stepped out of Phil’s old room. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest and she was still yawning as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
Britt closed Phil’s door and speed walked over to Tina. Grabbing her by the shoulders she turned her around and guided her back to the room. “You could at least remember to put shorts on or something!”
Tina looked at her in sleepy confusion for a second, then looked down. She chuckled tiredly as she realized she was only wearing a t-shirt that fell to her navel. “Sorry. I’m used to being in an apartment by myself.” She closed the door as Britt was shaking her head.
“You’ll have to forgive her. She’s been like that as long as I’ve known her. Always wakes up wearing less than what she went to bed with.” Britt turned to see Rachel step out of her new room, ready for the day to begin dressed in flattering jeans and a plain white shirt both hugging her figure perfectly. Britt admired the view for a second, then shook her head.
You’re with Phil now! No thinking like that! Well, maybe just a little, but NO acting on it! GodDAMN those are some long legs! She must have been staring more obviously than she thought, because she caught Rachel smiling at her, purple eyes twinkling. Feeling her cheeks heat up a bit, she tried to deflect the attention.
“At least you’re up and ready to start the day. We still need to write up our reports of last night’s incident and report to the guild. I think I’ll hold off on making Phil train today.”
“Oh? I was under the impression you were pretty strict about that.”
“I am, but after last night, I think he’s earned an easy morning.” Britt herself wasn’t sure if she was referring to the incident at the pizza place or him making Reese dance this morning, but either way, she’d go easy on him today. “Tomorrow though, you and Tina will join us. I’d like to get an idea of what you guys can do so we can work out party tactics and the like. You’re on the team now, so get used to busy mornings.”
Rachel beamed at her. “I love mornings. Tina, on the other hand, I can guarantee hasn’t seen a sunrise in at least a decade. Have fun with that.” She laughed as she left Britt standing there, making her way downstairs to help Rose with breakfast.
Shaking her head, Britt started heading for her room. Figuring if she wasn’t going to train today, she may as well get dressed instead of hanging out in her workout clothes. Phil may enjoy staring at her in leggings and a sports bra, but she really did prefer jeans and t-shirt. As she opened her door, Phil’s door burst open behind her and she saw him trying put on one shoe while hopping. He was already in his gym shorts and a t-shirt.
“I’m so sorry, Britt! I didn’t mean to sleep in like that. Reese… uh,” he broke off, blushing.
Britt smiled and stepped over to him. Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him. “Morning. No training today.”
He dropped his shoe and pulled her into a hug. “Oh, thank the goddess. I am too fucking sore and tired! Yesterday wiped me out.”
She chuckled, then gave his back a couple good smacks, silently enjoying his flinch as she found the scratch marks Reese had left. Then she draped her arms over his shoulders and leaned back in his arms a bit to see his face. “Yesterday wiped you out? Or was it Reese?” He blushed.
“Um… Reese,” he said, a tiny smile playing across his lips. She laughed, then leaned in and kissed him deeply.
“Mmmm,” she moaned into his mouth before breaking off. “You’ll have to show me what you did tonight. It’s my turn, and goddammit I’m going to get my night with you, since I was robbed last time.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You know I remember everything from that night now, right? As I recall, you were anything but robbed. But don’t worry, even if I have to fight off the gods themselves, it will be just us tonight.”
She grinned, kissed him again, then pushed him away. “You and me both, buddy. Now go take a shower. You smell like Reese.”
*
The party all met up for breakfast about thirty minutes later and ate in awkward silence. Phil was conspicuously not leaning back in his chair as he usually did, flinching every time he forgot, causing Reese and Britt share amused glances throughout the meal. Rose was keeping her distance from Phil, but everyone noted that she’d given him larger portions than everyone else. Rachel spent as much time observing the silent interplay of the original four members as she did eating, while Tina happily stuffed her face, either oblivious to or not caring about what was happening around her.
After breakfast Reese worked with Phil, Rachel, and Tina on their reports about what happened the previous evening, since they’d never written one before. Phil was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that both of his main worries had pretty much fallen in to their laps. The assigned quest that Jack had asked them to look into, and the nagging worry that Chuck was out there somewhere plotting his murder. He was actually more surprised that Chuck had been angrier at Tina than himself, but after thinking about it, he realized he shouldn’t have been. With Phil, Chuck’s plans to kill him came across as a standard bad guy needs to kill the good guy thing. With Tina, her actions had directly affected Chuck forcing him into working with the succubus pair that had been killing men for the last year. If they were the guilty party that is. It had occurred to Phil that they never actually discovered if the women were involved with all of that. They’d just been involved with Chuck and his attack the night before, but Phil had a good feeling about it. What were the odds that there were more succubae out there killing people?
Reports written up, they all grabbed a quick lunch, then made their way to the guild hall. As they made their way to the quest counter before security, Phil couldn’t help but feel both like a badass and a bit embarrassed at the looks he was receiving as his party made their way across the lobby. Who wouldn’t with five gorgeous women standing tall as they walked behind them?
From what the girls had told him, most parties were evenly split with an equal number of men and women, which made sense. Women tended to be more proficient with healing and magecraft, whereas the men were more prone to excel at brute force and damage dealing. This wasn’t always the case, obviously, but it’s generally how it played out. There were few examples of all male and all female parties out there, and even a couple here and there that were built around a relationship with one member, leading to harem and reverse harem builds. All of these examples had frustrated the guild in their efforts to prevent relationships from forming within the party, but Phil had always thought that was a stupid idea to begin with. You can’t expect people who put their lives on the line for each other to not develop strong feelings for each other.
Even given that there was no set standard on how a party was built, Phil’s party still stood out. Considerably so. Six members instead of the usual four. A tank, a mage, a healer, but no dedicated damage dealer and two extra members whose roles had yet to be firmly established. On top of that, his party members were all achingly beautiful. Phil couldn’t help but notice how many eyes were trained past him and on a particular Asian beauty. In fact, now that he looked around, it seemed that everyone in the guild had stopped what they were doing and were just staring. Everyone.
“Hey, Rachel,” he said quietly as he looked around the lobby. “You’re not doing that passive charm thing again, are you?”
“No,” came her voice, unexpectedly close to his ear. “This kind of happens everywhere I go. Something you’re going to have to get used to, I’m afraid.” He glanced over and saw her wink. “Don’t worry though. They can admire the merchandise, but only one man here can take it for a test drive.”
Britt rolled her eyes as Phil blushed. “Back of the line, lover girl. You promised to give it time. Today’s my day anyway.”
Rachel smiled. “Of course, Brittany. It doesn’t hurt to remind him I’m willing and able though.”
Britt smirked. “Oh, he’s well aware. It’s been two days since you’ve met. He’s not likely to forget that quickly. Now get the fine ass back there. You’re stealing my time.”
Rachel smiled and shot Britt a wink but fell in next to Tina where the two started whispering and giggling. Phil shook his head as they finally approached the counter. After waiting a couple seconds for the woman to acknowledge him, he finally grunted and waved a hand in front of her face. That seemed to snap her attention away from the succubus, and she reluctantly looked Phil’s way with a fake smile plastered on her face.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Thomas?” she asked woodenly.
Phil blinked in surprise. “You know who I am?”
“Everyone in the guild knows who you are, Mr. Thomas,” she answered, sounding like she was relaying the most obvious information in the world. “What can I help you with?”
“Um… right. We’re here to submit our reports of last night’s incident and follow up on the status of the quest.”
Stolen novel; please report.
The woman nodded and started typing something into her computer terminal. She raised an eyebrow and typed a bit more. Frowning at the computer, she reached for a nearby phone.
“Ron? Hey, it’s Anne at the front desk. Good, thank you. I’ve got Mr. Thomas and party here with me and… oh. Ok. Thank you.” Hanging up the phone, she looked at Phil. “Ok, the quest has been marked completed, but the reward is being withheld. My supervisor is on his way out now to explain. If you and your party could just take a seat over in the waiting area, please?” She indicated the uncomfortable looking seats the plagued airports across the world behind them.
Raising an eyebrow but nodding, Phil turned around and shrugged at the confused looks he was receiving from everyone. “I guess we should grab a seat.”
“What’s going?” asked Reese as they made their way over to the waiting area.
“She said the quest was complete, but they’re withholding the reward for some reason. Someone’s on their way out to meet us to explain, I guess.”
Reese frowned. “I’ve never heard of that before. When a quest is completed, the reward is automatically given.”
They waited in the uncomfortable seats for a few minutes, trading theories as to what the hold up was. Soon they heard a clatter come from security and saw an older gentleman apologizing to the guards and picking up the stanchions for the lane dividers he’d knocked over. His face was reddened, his salt and pepper hair was out of place, and he was breathing rapidly. Apparently he’d hurried down here and collided with the retractable belts that divided the lanes for security. Getting them sorted out, he straightened up, fixed his suit coat, and tried to brush his hair back in place with his hands as he turned and made his way towards Phil and his party. Phil exchanged glances with Reese and Britt as they all stood to greet him.
“Mr. Thomas. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Ron Coalson, from the rewards department.” He held out his hand and Phil took it, instantly regretting the choice as he felt the sweat and remnants of hair product in his grip. Coalson didn’t notice at all as he surveyed the women around Phil. “So the rumors were true…” the older man muttered in awe.
“Rumors, Mr. Coalson?” Reese asked, a sharp tone in her voice to let him know they’d all heard him. Coalson jumped slightly at having been called out, but smiled and released his grip on Phil’s hand, much to his relief.
Hoping to keep the act subtle, Phil stood with his hands behind his back and tried to wipe it off on the seat of his pants. He didn’t notice Tina hand a couple tissues to Rose, who was standing right behind him. Rose’s eyes went wide for a second but stepped closer and did her best to wipe the shiny hand clean without drawing attention to what she was doing. She nodded stiffly when he gave a grateful look over his shoulder and then stepped back.
“Ah. Sorry about that,” Coalson said. “Obviously you’d like to know why you haven’t received the reward yet, correct?” Everyone nodded. “Right, well, we managed to get one party to confess to the murders.” He pulled out a notepad to check something. “Lily, no last name. She said that her and the other one, Felicity, were responsible for the murders, and that Chuck Brown was their accomplice for the last couple months by providing them with a safe haven and alibis. They in turn shared their ‘loot,’ as it were, with him.”
Phil nodded. That all made sense, given what Chuck had been raging about when the subject of Tina had been brought up.
“That still doesn’t explain the lack of reward though,” said Britt. “Whether the culprits had landed in our laps like they did or not, we still secured them and turned them in to custody.”
Coalson nodded. “Right, well, that’s not the issue. The issue is that we haven’t been able to interrogate the other suspects yet.”
“Why not?” asked Phil.
“They’re, uh, still indisposed.”
“Seriously?” asked Tina. She turned to Rachel. “Just how much did you hit them with?”
Even Rachel looked surprised. “I hit them with a full charm, but I guess I had a bit more power than I usually do.”
Reese chuckled. “A bit? It’s been well over twelve hours since they started. That’s got to be taking a toll.”
Coalson nodded somberly. “It is, actually. In addition to dehydration and muscle fatigue, we’ve been forced to have healers on hand to reduce the damage from too much… friction.” He seemed uneasy going into further detail around the women, which proved that he didn’t know them at all. Britt fixed that for him though.
“You mean they’re fucking each other raw?”
“Ah, yes,” he said. “Until we can get anything coherent out of them in terms of a defense or confession, we’re hesitant to fully close out the quest as completed and issue rewards.”
Phil turned to Rachel. “Anything you can do to help? You’ve said your control is better than it’s ever been, right? Maybe you could turn it off or something?” The woman thought about it, then shrugged.
“Couldn’t hurt to try.”
Phil turned to Coalson. “Mr. Coalson, could you take us to where they’re at? Maybe we can help.”
Coalson shrugged. “Why not? If it doesn’t work, then we can just continue to wait.”
Tina stepped forward. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not see that man again. I’ll just hang out here, if that’s ok.”
Rose and Reese both nodded and joined her.
“I’ll stick around here too,” said Rose.
“Come on, girls. We can hit up the coffee shop while they take care of this. Britt?” asked Reese.
Britt shook her head though. “Nope. It’s my day, and I’m not leaving Phil alone with a succubus as they go into a sexually charged room. No offense, Rachel.”
Rachel smiled. “None taken, sweetheart. Shall we?”
With nods all around, the party split up. The girls headed off to find the coffee shop, while Phil, Britt, and Rachel accompanied Mr. Coalson through security into the holding area. Making their way through the concourse, he led them to a service door. After enough twists and turns that Phil was convinced he’d never find his way out again on his own, they took an elevator down. Once it indicated -10, the elevator came a stop.
“We’re ten floors underground?” Phil asked.
“Yes,” said Coalson. “This is our holding area. The guild actually runs much deeper, but anything below this is classified, so I can’t tell you about it.”
Britt raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got a holding area above a classified area? That doesn’t seem like a tremendous security flaw to you? What if someone escapes and heads down?”
Coalson smirked at the redhead. “I assure you, Miss Hughes, if that were to happen, the only ones who’d suffer because of the security breach would be the ones who did it. Follow me, please. We’re almost there.”
Rachel, Britt, and Phil exchanged glances, then followed the man. They made their way down a hall with empty holding cells to their right and a mirrored wall to their left, undoubtedly hiding security personnel and monitoring equipment, since no cameras or guards were present in the hall. Outside the last cell was a tired looking woman who barely managed a wave for Coalson as they approached.
“Hey, Ron,” she said wearily.
“Jess. Any change?”
She shook her head. “Not really. He’s asleep again, but still going at it. She seems to be getting frustrated at him.”
“He’s asleep?” Phil asked and stepped up to see.
“Wai- oh…” Jess tried to stop Phil from looking, but it was too late. He’d already stepped forward and looked into the cell through the thick glass.
Britt’s worry about Rachel and him being influenced by a sexually charged nature was definitely a misplaced worry. The two were clearly just going through the motions at this point. Still under the charm, but physically too exhausted by this point to actually seem to care. Phil wasn’t quite sure how he managed it, but Chuck was behind Felicity on the bunk, mechanically thrusting into her, and he was indeed sound asleep. His head was drooped forward, drool was falling from his lips on to her back, and he was snoring. Felicity herself had her head propped up on one elbow while her hand was mindlessly playing between her legs. Every now and then she gave a shudder and a whimpering moan, but that was it. Phil remembered her being fairly attractive and lively the night before, despite her flippant attitude towards everything, but now she was just a zombie going through the motions.
“Fuck me…” Britt breathed coming up next to him. He raised an eyebrow at her, earning him an apologetic shrug.
“They’ve really been going nonstop since you brought them here?” asked Rachel.
Jess and Coalman both nodded.
“They didn’t even stop when they needed to, um, relieve themselves,” said Jess, shuddering at the memory. “We just turned on the fire sprinklers in there to clean them up. I’ve had to heal them a couple times since I came on shift because they’ve literally rubbed themselves till they were bleeding.”
Phil watched the pair for a couple seconds, then turned to Rachel. “Think you could help them? Despite what they’ve done to others, this is way beyond cruel and unusual, no matter how fitting it may be.”
Britt moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. “Knew there was a reason I loved you. These two would kill you as easily as looking at you, and you still want to show them mercy.” Phil smiled and kissed her cheek, earning raised eyebrows from Jess and Coalman, but he ignored them.
Rachel was watching the pair, her eyes glowing a bit. Jess had apparently not received the memo that a succubus was now a guild member and freaked out.
“What are you doing!? They’re already charmed! You could kill them if you do it again!”
“Quiet, please, this is taking a lot more concentration than I thought it would,” she softly reprimanded the healer. “I can see the flow of the charm within them. This is amazing.”
“You can see it?” asked Phil. “Is that new or something?”
Rachel nodded. “I’ve never been able to do this before. To be quite honest, it’s never even occurred to me to try. I know why they’re still going though.”
“Oh?” Coalson said.
“Their own powers have kept it alive. Watch, the original charm wore off, but their instincts have kept them charming each other over and over again for some reason. Probably due to their exhaustion.”
As she said that, they saw Felicity’s eyes flash briefly. Phil panicked briefly, but Coalson waved the reaction off.
“Mirrored glass, son. Their charm only affects what they can see, and that’s just each other.”
Rachel shook her head and blinked a couple times. “They’ll probably finish up soon. Since he’s asleep, that last charm of hers didn’t take. She doesn’t even have the juice to fire it off again.”
The group watched them for a couple more minutes. Phil was morbidly fascinated. He felt like a voyeur but couldn’t bring himself to look away. It didn’t hurt that Felicity was attractive, even in her current zombified state. He knew he should feel uncomfortable watching this, but aside from the physical appreciation of the trim blonde woman, it was mostly clinical. Sure enough, Rachel’s prediction came true. Felicity fell asleep just as Chuck started twitching behind her. After a couple weak spasms, he fell to the side, pulling out of her and falling completely off the bunk. Phil winced as the other man’s head bounced off the concrete floor.
“Hm. Guess Tina wasn’t lying about him,” said Rachel.
“Whatever,” Britt scoffed. “He still comes up short. We definitely got the better end of the deal.” She patted the front of Phil’s jeans appreciatively. Rachel glanced over and the two women shared a smile.
“Yes we did, sister.”
Coalson cleared his throat. “Well then, I guess we didn’t need your assistance after all. Let’s leave this to the guards to separate them in to different cells and rest up while the healers do their thing. I’ll escort you all back upstairs and notify you when your reward is approved.” He stepped past the trio and waved for them to follow him.
The elevator ride back up felt awkward to Phil. Coalson kept glancing between three of them, clearly wanting to ask something, but not quite having the guts to do so. It was clearly irritating Britt, but Phil gave her hand a squeeze to keep her calm. Upon exiting the elevator, Coalson shot out the door like a bullet and quickly led them back through the maze to get back to the concourse. He got a call on his phone as they were walking and suddenly came to a stop. After a brief conversation with whoever was on the other end, he turned to them and said “change of plans” before turning and walking back the way they came and down another hall. Confused, the trio followed him.
They finally reached a door and Coalson opened it up for them, waving them in ahead of them. Inside they were greeted by Reese, Rose, and Tina.
“Phil!” Reese said with a smile, getting to her feet from the conference table they were sitting at. “What’s going on?”
“No idea,” Phil said, shaking his head. “We just followed Mr. Coalson.”
“Please, have a seat,” Coalson said. “Jack will be here momentarily.”
No less confused, Phil and the women all took seats around the table. Phil almost took the head of the table out of habit, but quickly remembered this wasn’t their house and sat off to the side. The coffee trio told them about being summoned from the shop and escorted to the room, and Britt relayed how the charmed duo had finally fucked each other beyond exhaustion, even slapping the table to try to recreate the sound of Chuck’s head bouncing off the floor. Phil just shook his head as Tina giggled at the mental image.
“Phil!” Jack said a touch too loudly as he barreled through the door and took a seat at the head of the table. “And ladies! My congratulations! Your first quest completed as a team. Have you received the reward yet? It’s quite nice, isn’t it?”
“Uh, actually, sir, we haven’t authorized payment yet,” Coalson said from the doorway.
“Why the fuck not, Ron? They completed the quest, they get paid. That’s how it works.”
Coalson started shuffling from one foot to the other. “Um, we haven’t had a chance to interrogate the other two suspects, sir. They only recently just… finished.”
“We’ve got Lily’s testimony, don’t we?” Jack actually looked a little pissed.
“But no confirmation that the other woman is a culprit as well, or what the gentleman’s role in all that was.”
Tina scoffed. “That man is hardly a gentleman.”
Jack nodded enthusiastically. “Quite right. I know what he did to Phil and what he attempted to do to the lovely Miss Campbell here. Right in front of her man, no less. Despicable. Fine! Fine, Ron, I’ll meet you halfway. Authorize half the reward for now. We’ve got one confession. If we can get another, we’ll get them the other half, as well as a bonus for the incubus.”
“Sir…” Coalson began.
“That wasn’t a request, Ron,” Jack gritted out through his teeth.
“Yes, sir! I’ll take care of it right now!” Coalson all but fled the room.
Jack slumped back in the seat. “Fucking finally. That guy needs to relax. It’s not like the money is coming out of his own pocket or anything.”
“Jack,” Phil asked hesitantly. “You wanted to speak with us? I was kind of hoping to turn in our reports, collect our reward, and then take the rest of the day off. Last night was a bit exhausting.” He pretended not to notice Britt and Reese share a glance and smirk.
“Completely understandable, and I’ll let you all go shortly. I just had something to talk to you about and an offer.”
“Another quest?” Phil asked warily.
Jack shrugged. “You could look at it like that, I guess. I read your report about last night. Very well done holding your emotions in check. I can’t promise I wouldn’t have done something stupid after hearing what you did about your old high school crush. Her family’s being compensated by the way. We’re going to use the old ‘recently discovered life insurance policy’ trick. They’ll never want for anything again.”
Phil smiled appreciatively. “Thank you, Jack. That means a lot.”
Jack leaned forward. “I also received a visitor last night as well. You may be familiar with her? Tall, redhead, green eyes, tits for days?”
Phil facepalmed. “She didn’t happen to have unusually colored skin, did she? Sky blue, perhaps?”
Jack smiled. “Indeed. She told me some wonderful things, Phil. You, my friend, are truly blessed, aren’t you?”
Phil slumped in his seat. “What do you want, Jack?”
Jack smiled and pressed a button on the desk. Everyone heard the door buzz and looked towards it. The door opened revealing a large man in a security guard uniform. Before him was one angry looking woman with dark skin, brown eyes, and hands cuffed in front of her. Lily sneered at Britt as she was forcefully sat down by the guard at the foot of the table.
“I want to test your Soul Cleanse, Phil.”