"Are you telling me to… to become a prostitute?" Alex whispered, the words tasting vile. "To sell my body to survive?"
[I'm telling you to be resourceful,] Lily replied, her spectral form appearing beside him, arms crossed. Her expression was a strange mix of pragmatism and pity. [You have a tool. A very, very effective tool. Use it. Your morality is a luxury item you can no longer afford.]
He wanted to argue. He wanted to rage against the sheer depravity of her suggestion. But the ticking clock in the corner of his vision was a brutal, silent counter-argument.
'Could I…?' he thought, the idea taking root in the desperate soil of his survival instinct. 'Could I actually do it? With a man?'
The thought was foreign, but the body's reaction was confusingly immediate. A faint warmth spread through his lower abdomen, a phantom echo of the pleasure he'd felt with Lily, with Eleonora. His new Succubus physiology didn't care about gender; it cared about proximity, about emotion, about potential.
'FUCK NO!'
[Alex, we have no choice if we want to survive,] Lily said, ignoring his outburst. [You and I are the same being now. If you die, I die. And I have a very long list of people I need to get revenge on. So, you will do what you must. And don't worry, I'll help you.]
Before he could continue this internal debate, a strange ding sound echoed in his mind.
A new, much smaller blue screen materialized in front of him.
…
[First Quest Acquired: A Hungry Succubus is a Dead Succubus]
[Reward: 3 days of life force]
[Objective: Find a target and drain their essence using any means necessary]
[Time Limit: 23:59:59]
[Failure: 6 days of life force will be deducted]
[Note: After completing this quest, it will become a daily quest with no failure penalty.]
…
"…"
Alex stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
"This is insane," he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "What are you doing, Lily?"
Alex thought that Lily was the one who created this quest, but to his surprise, she seemed just as surprised.
[I didn't do it,] she replied, her own mental voice laced with confusion. [You already have a system, and it must have been mutated by my merger. It wants you to survive as much as I do.]
A system quest. A literal, game-like quest with a reward and a failure penalty.
[It's a tutorial quest,] Lily explained, her tone dry. [A gentle nudge in the right direction. The universe is telling you to get laid. Or at least to get to second base.]
"I'm not going to…" Alex started to say, but the door to his room creaked open again.
He expected another family member, another walking dose of psychological torment.
But it wasn't.
It was a woman in a crisp, white doctor's coat. She had a short purple hairstyle in a line bob haircut, and sharp, intelligent gray eyes that seemed to miss nothing. She looked to be in her early thirties, her expression one of professional calm and efficiency behind that pair of glasses that really enhanced her strict doctor look.
She carried a chart in her hands, and she didn't look at him with the same adoring, obsessive fervor as the others. She looked at him like he was a puzzle. A fascinating, complicated, and potentially dangerous puzzle. Get faster updates on g.com.
The tag on her coat read 'Dr. Linda'.
"Alexander von Valerian," she said, her voice crisp and clear, as she walked into the room. "I'm Dr. Linda. I've been overseeing your case. It's good to see you're finally awake."
Alexander von Valerian, that's his full name, apparently.
She stopped a few feet from the bed, maintaining a professional distance that was both a relief and a challenge.
"I hear you've been… quite active," she continued, her eyes flicking from him to the door, then back again. "Your sister and mother are… very… enthusiastic."
Alex felt a blush creep up his neck. He tried to ignore her… damn hot figure.
Under the white coat, she had a curvaceous figure, with wide hips and a large chest that strained against the fabric. She wore a black skirt that ended just above her knees, revealing a pair of long, toned legs.
A white shirt with the top two buttons undone, giving a tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage.
"They're… protective," he managed to say.
"Protective is one word for it," Dr. Linda said, a small, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips. "I've reviewed your vitals. Your health is stabilizing, and I only need to run a few more tests before I can clear you for discharge."
She walked closer, her heels clicking softly on the floor. She stopped beside the bed and reached out, her fingers cool against his wrist as she checked his pulse.
[Oh, she's perfect,] Lily noted, her mental voice a purr of approval. [Professional. Boundaries. All the more satisfying when they break.]
'I'm not going to break her!' Alex shot back, but he couldn't deny the effect she had on him. Her touch was professional, yet it sent a jolt of energy through him, a small but noticeable trickle that made his life force timer pause for a precious second.
"Your heart rate is a little elevated," Dr. Linda said, her gray eyes studying him intently. "Are you feeling anxious?"
"I'm just… overwhelmed," Alex admitted, which was the truest thing he'd said all day. "It's hard to keep it cool when a beautiful woman is touching me."
Alex couldn't stop himself, his new Charisma stat taking control of his mouth. The words came out smooth, confident, and undeniably flirtatious.
Dr. Linda's professional mask cracked, just for a second. Her pupils dilated, and a faint blush colored her cheeks. She pulled her hand back, as if his skin had burned her.
"You are… very direct," she said, her voice a little unsteady. "I'm your doctor, Alexander. You should maintain a level of respect."
"I am being respectful," Alex said, leaning in a little, his eyes locked on hers. "I'm merely stating a fact. You are a beautiful woman. And a very good doctor. I appreciate your care."
He saw her swallow, her throat working. The curse was working on her, twisting his simple compliment into a potent cocktail of affection and desire. Her composure was fraying at the edges, like a rope being pulled taut.
And the worst part, he didn't even realize it.
"I… I need to examine you," she said, her voice a little too high, a little too fast. "I need to check your mana channels. Please… remove your gown."
The words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken meaning.
Alex stared at her, his mind racing, but before he could say anything.
[Let me give you a hand.]
Lily materialized behind Dr. Linda, a mischievous smile on her face. She waved her hands, and a pink, almost invisible aura enveloped the doctor.
"Hurry up… Mr. Valerian…" Dr. Linda struggled to speak, feeling tired all of a sudden. She barely managed to stay on her feet. "I need to…"
She didn't have the time to finish before she collapsed into Alex's arms.
Alex's heart hammered against his ribs. She was out cold.
[I just helped her relax a little,] Lily said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. [She was clearly stressed. A little nap will do her good. Now, are you going to finish the quest or not?]
Alex looked at the unconscious doctor in his arms. She was so vulnerable, so trusting. And he was about to violate that trust.
'I can't do this,' he thought, his mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. 'This is wrong. This is a crime.'
[Is it?] Lily asked, her voice a soft, persuasive whisper. [She wants you. I can feel it. Her body is screaming for you. All I did was lower her inhibitions. I gave her the courage to do what she really wants. You're not a monster, Alex. You're a miracle worker.]
Alex looked at Dr. Linda's face, her lips parted slightly, her breath coming in soft, even pants. He could feel the life force pulsing off her, a warm, inviting current.
'Fine… but I'm not going to enjoy this,' he thought, a final, desperate attempt to cling to his crumbling morality.
[Whatever helps you sleep at night,] Lily replied, her voice a mocking whisper. [Now get on with it. The clock is ticking.]
Alex took a deep breath and gently laid Dr. Linda on the bed.
'What do I need to do?' he asked Lily, not knowing what to do. After all, draining essence was a succubus's thing.
[We don't have much time, so just suck her pussy until she cums,] Lily instructed, her matter-of-fact tone making the words sound like a recipe. [The more pleasure she feels, the more potent the essence. It's a direct correlation. Think of it as… mining for life. Very, very intimate mining.]
'Okay…' Alex thought, his hands trembling slightly as he reached for the hem of Dr. Linda's skirt. 'Mining. I can do that. I have experience with women in my old world.'
The skirt rose slowly, fabric whispering against her stockinged thighs. Alex kept his eyes on Dr. Linda's face, half-expecting her to stir, to wake and slap him across the room. She didn't. Her chest rose and fell in a slow, drugged rhythm, those sharp gray eyes shut behind her glasses.
He pushed it upward slowly, past her knees, past the smooth expanse of her thighs, until the material bunched around her hips.
He expected soft folds. Lace. The familiar pink that he had known in his old world.
What he found instead made his breath stop cold.
"What the… WHAT?!" he shrieked internally, scrambling backward on the bed so fast he nearly knocked over the IV stand.
A thick, half-hard cock rested against her lower stomach, flushed and heavy, the head already glistening. It was longer than average, neatly kept, and unmistakably male—yet it belonged to the curvaceous body of the woman currently unconscious on his hospital bed. Her black panties had been pulled aside just enough to free it, as though her own body had already begun to prepare itself.
[Well, well, well…] Lily's voice echoed in his mind, laced with an agonizing amount of amusement. [That is certainly a plot twist. I guess the tight skirt was hiding more than just impressive hips.]
"She… what?… how?" His mind blanked. The soft curve of her hips, the swell of her breasts straining against the open white shirt, the delicate line of her throat—all of it still read as female. But the heavy length between her legs was undeniable.
[How should I know?] Lily sounded delighted. [I guess this is the charm of this world. Some women are more… complete than others. Look on the bright side, my dear Alex. You were just bemoaning the idea of finding a man. The universe provided. Conveniently packaged.]
"No! Fuck no! I can't do it! I'm straight!" Alex panicked, burying his face in his hands, his heart hammering like a trapped bird. "I can't put that in my mouth! I refuse!"
[We are going to DIE, you absolute idiot!] Lily roared, her tone instantly shifting from amusement to furious command. [Your delicate, fragile masculinity is going to get us both erased from existence!]
"Find another way. Drain her through skin contact or something. Kiss her. Touch her tits. Anything else!"
[We don't have time for 'anything else.'] Lily's mental voice was cold, sharp, and unyielding. [Do it or we both vanish. I've been waiting for this for too long to let your pathetic human squeamishness ruin everything.]
"I'd rather die!" Alex yelled back.
Dr. Linda stirred faintly on the bed, a soft, needy sound escaping her throat. Her hips shifted, and the cock between her legs thickened further, rising until it stood almost fully erect.
The sight made something low in Alex's borrowed body tighten in a way that felt traitorous.
[Fine.] Lily's sudden calm was more terrifying than her anger. [If you won't do what needs to be done, then I will.]
...