City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“Because I made a deal with their queen, and she gets pissed about anyone killing her sentient daughters… and she’s about the same size as that building,” I said, nodding toward a structure that was just visible through the smoke and fog of the city.

“Seriously?” he asked, then shook his head. “I don’t wanna know about the deal; just tell me it doesn’t involve feedin' me and mine to it.”

“It doesn’t, and so long as you get rid of any evidence of her, they won’t have a reason to ask for it, either.”

“Deal.” Mal said, and I gestured to my crew as I reentered the main room. “Okay, let’s try this again. Bedtime, people.” I started to lead them to the door. “Oh, and Mal?” I said, looking back at him. He quirked an eyebrow. “You have anyone that does washing and repairs? I think we all need some clean clothes.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a guy here does it. Josh, send him to their rooms,” Mal said, waving us off and talking to his people as we left the room. This time, nobody followed or led us back down, but we found our own way, as it wasn’t far. A few minutes later, a small, fastidiously dressed man turned up in our common area. We loaded him down with our stinking clothes, and he scuttled off, looking sick but promising that the clean gear would be back by tonight.

I closed the door to my room, and Oracle flew from my shoulder to sit on the edge of the bed, smiling at me hopefully.

“Look, Oracle, I desperately want to, believe me, I really do, but not now. I can barely keep my eyes open…okay?” I entreated her blearily.

“Okay… but next time…” She said, a little cross at the delay, but clearly understanding.

“Next time…” I promised her, stripping off and climbing into the bed. I felt her brushing my hair back from my eyes and stroking my beard as the world went dark, and I slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Chapter Eleven

I woke again in the early afternoon, the sun slanting across my face, and I rolled over, groaning.

“Jax, you need to wake up,” Oracle said, and I pulled the pillow over my head.

“Nope. Not gonna do it,” I mumbled, loving the feeling of an actual, honest-to-goodness, goddamn pillow. It’d been so long!

“Mal sent word ten minutes ago; the healer has agreed to see you in an hour. I let you sleep as long as I could.”

I pulled the pillow back from my face and glared up at her She had changed again, back to full size. Her hair was long and black with a hint of purple, curls and waves of it running down her back, and her eyes were a deep brown. Her face was… perfect, and as I looked down from her ruby-red lips, I couldn’t help but wake up a lot more.

She was naked and poised on the edge of the bed, right within reach.

I rolled over to face her fully, reached up, and wrapped my arms around her. Pulling her down, I felt her slide across my body like silk. Her skin was warm, and her breath sweet as her lips met mine; the feel of her body firm and glorious where I cupped it, and we both felt me rise to the occasion.

“Ah, ah!” Oracle said, putting one finger on my forehead and pushing my head back as she gently but firmly disengaged herself from me and my wandering hands. She rolled aside and jumped out of the bed before I could grab her, moving back to lean against the wall. Letting me drink in the full view of her, she grinned at me.

I pulled the blanket aside, allowing her to see me fully in return as I stood up. I moved to her with one thought firmly in mind, a thought she could see very well, I damn well knew.

She lifted both hands up, wrists crossed, and held them against the wall over her head. I took them in my left hand, pinning her there as we kissed, and I stroked her hair back with my right hand.

I moved from her lips, to her cheek, to her ear, and down to her neck, lightly trailing kisses as I went. I staggered when she suddenly became incorporeal, making me fall forward, as she shifted back to her usual twelve-inch self and flying around me.

“What the…?” I grunted, shocked, as my blood-starved brain tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“We’ve got less than an hour now to get you to that healer,” Oracle said huskily, shaking her head as she backed away from me. “And you doing that isn’t going to get us there any faster!”

“But I thought… I mean, you wanted to…” I mumbled, trying to make sense of the horrible concern that I had made a mistake. Had I misread her, or didn’t she want me now… or?

“Oh, no…” Oracle said, flitting up to hover before me, still naked. “I want to, and you can’t imagine how hard that was to stop…” she said, then made a point of looking down delicately. “Okay, maybe you can understand how hard, but still… I love you, Jax. I have to do what’s best for you, and getting you healed now, before anything else happens, rather than screwing your brains out, is what’s best.”

“Whoof…” I muttered, shaking my head and trying to get my brain engaged. “Okay, but…”

“Later.” She nodded vigorously. “Believe me, definitely later.”

“Now I need another cold bath…” I muttered, shaking my head as I walked into the bathroom to relieve myself.

I glanced at the sunken bath and shuddered at the color of the water. I deciding I really didn’t need it that much. There’s nothing like a scum of blood, sweat, and dirt floating across a bath you’d been considering dipping into, to kill the mood.

I dressed quickly, wearing the same filthy, stained clothes as