Lily appeared mesmerized by the far-off video display. “So we’re famous for that?” She looked over at D_Light, puzzled. “But that was just a game, right?”
“Yup, but it’s a game that a lot of people play. I mean, over a billion!” D_Light spread his arms wide for emphasis.
“When you have that many people playing a game, it’s kind of like a parallel world. You get fame in one world and you’ll get fame in the other.”
Lily leaned slightly toward him. “Okay, but we didn’t win the game, right? That Queen Fooba, or whatever her name is, blew us up. It seems to me that anyone could get themselves killed like we did.”
D_Light chuckled and replied, “Yeah, that’s where the old expression ‘better to be lucky than good’ comes in.” D_Light swiveled in his chair to face Lily. “I don’t expect you to understand this since you’re a nOOb when it comes to spank games. Like I said, NeverWorld is just about as complex as any real world.” D_Light took a gulp of his drink before elaborating. “Okay, so we, er…I used a powerful spell to open a portal to one of the most evil and powerful creatures in NeverWorld. That would be Queen Pheobah. Few, if any, spankers in NeverWorld are powerful enough to take on the queen, much less her and her son, Salem, at the same time. But we didn’t open the portal to fight her or to steal from her unfathomable treasure hoard; no, we did it just to insult her.” D_Light put up a finger as though he was making an important point.
Lily nodded. “Right, and that infuriated the queen, who isn’t really a queen at all, but just part of a software program.”
“Right,” confirmed D_Light, “and then she goes on a killing spree, causing a massive panic among the spankers, which-”
Lily put her finger up to D_Light’s lips to shush him so she could finish the sentence. “Which allowed us to escape the sniffer bot because it couldn’t find us in all of that chaos.”
D_Light gently batted Lily’s finger from his face and pointed his hand like a gun and fired at her. “Bingo,” he said with a wink. “OverSoul gave with both hands to you, Lily, both brains and beauty.”
She shrugged in response while her veil covered her blush.
“Right, so that should have been the end of the story,” D_Light said. “I sacrificed my character to create a diversion for our escape. Period. But that wasn’t the end. From what Smorgeous has gathered from the NeverWorld forums, Loki, the NeverWorld god of mischief-well, one of the trickster gods at any rate-saw our little confrontation and thought it was hilarious. Loki loves to watch the humiliation of other deities. And so Loki used his immense magic to resurrect Ascara and Boobooma just to vex Pheobah!” D_Light grinned and shook his head.
“So your software characters are alive again? I suppose that makes you happy,” Lily speculated.
“It does,” confirmed D_Light. “I whiled away countless hours playing Ascara, and I hated to lose her. But all’s well that ends well ’cause now we’re celebrities of NeverWorld. It is a great honor for a mortal to get the attention of any deity, even one as dodgy as Loki!”
D_Light pounded on the table in excitement. “My Soul, I can’t wait to see what plans Loki has for me-or us. That is, if you’re interested.”
D_Light was interrupted when Lily’s hand shot out and gripped his arm. Physical contact from her, with the exception of when she’d knocked him down and put a knife to his throat, was unprecedented, and so his attention was now hers. Lily looked into his eyes steadily. “You look very pleased, and so I hate to bring this up. So we’re famous, right?”
D_Light smiled, nodded, and winked all at the same time.
Lily took a deep breath. “And all these people are staring at us, right?”
D_Light looked around him. Indeed, many of the groksters were unashamedly staring, some waving, which meant Soul knew how many others were being more covert. “Yes,” he answered.
Lily then put her hands up in the air exasperatedly and hissed, “Demons, remember? I don’t know about you, but I could do without all the attention!”
D_Light’s smile faded. After a few long seconds of consideration of Lily’s words, the truth of her observation suddenly dawned on him. It was so obvious that he felt like smacking his forehead down on the table as punishment for his own stupidity.
D_Light looked around the groksta again, only this time he was not looking for admirers, but for hunters. D_Light knew that agents of the Authority were not obvious. Any one of these people could be an angel, or worse. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock from behind him. It was the mime. He was smacking the snout of his mask against the door like a woodpecker. D_Light assumed it was the mime’s way of asking for entry. The dancing bear was standing beside its master, its paws flat against the plexi. Its beady eyes stared vacantly inside, and its breath fogged the transparent wall.
We got those little bitches. Katria sent the message to Rhemus, her longtime playmate. Along with her mental message she sent a video feed of a crowded groksta, but the feed followed two individuals in particular. They’re disguised, but it’s definitely them, she added. Confirmed by several sources.
Rhemus replied, Wow, a popular feed. Looks like a lot of players are hot for them.
Sure, they’re newly minted celebrities, Katria sent in response. Ah yes, demons. You can always count on them to fall for everyone’s favorite sin-vanity.
Actually, I think lust is everyone’s favorite, Rhemus sent back playfully.
Katria sent a nOObicon™ to Rhemus. Don’t be such a bore! You’re probably right, but I sound cleverer when I tie together a well laid out plan with a timely idiom.
Sorry, accuracy is a bitch, Rhemus quipped back.
Katria offered a silent prayer of thanks to the OverSoul. It was in a flash of divine inspiration like a voice in her head that she had thought to set this trap. It was sheer brilliance. Rather than making the conventional move of adding these demons to the demon database and hence put her prey on high alert, she instead made them stand out in a less threatening way.
All she did was use her law enforcement security clearance to nudge the NeverWorld game in the right direction.
Just a little cheat, a little unearned divine favor from a pretend god, she thought. And then I let the spanker forums and media outlets do the rest. Enjoy your freedom and fame while you have it, fools.
The sweet scent of the meat puppets was nearly overwhelming to the seeker. It was always a challenge for Treva to focus her attention on her intended prey in such tempting surroundings. This groksta was laid out like a banquet. Warm, sweet meat was everywhere-up on the walls, up on the catwalks and platforms above, undulating and crying on the multiple entertainment stages as though taunting her. She nearly snarled at one fool who stupidly brushed up against her, his neck moist with sweat, so close she could literally taste the tangy high notes of his essence. Her blood sugar was low, and she was feeling very edgy.
It had been with a great deal of relief that Treva got the call notifying her of the location of her prey. She had been searching the lake shoreline attempting to pick up their scent trail again, but the search had been frustratingly unsuccessful. The moment the coordinates were sent to her, she rented an airlift (an expense to be passed on to her client) which dropped her onto this island smothered by the immense edifice of House Monsa. Using her security permits, she skipped the line of sycophantic wannabe groksters. She was, like everyone else, required to give a blood sample before entrance. The guards, designed to be ever suspicious, were not happy about letting a seeker in, but they had no choice.
It took her no time at all to spot her targets. They were the center of attention, appearing to be gift-wrapped for Treva in their pretty glass box. Of course, she would not take them now. Such a public display of violence, especially against these apparent guests of honor, would not bode well for her eval. Instead, she intimidated a patron out of his seat and ordered a drink-a clean one since she was on duty, but sweet enough to take the edge off.