Passion and Lust 01

"No. I am still weak from the revival, too weak to form the prison again. That, and I would need to overpower Lust's will, which would not be possible unless I caught her unprepared or already weakened. She knows my plan now, and will take measures to ensure she is not."

Grunting, Allen tossed his lighter across the room. A fuckload of work for nothing. No hundred mil, not even the measly cash for a statue. The location of this structure, whatever it may be, might be worth something to someone, but likely nothing more than a pittance. And to top it off, he'd apparently released some malevolent sex-spirit or some shit. Allen got to his feet, hands forming fists as he walked over to his fallen lighter. This is so fucking stupid! Leaning down, he picked it up again to throw it at another wall, harder this time. Fat lot of help that lighter was. He would've been better of just yelling for help under that hole. He stomped on over to the lighter and raised his foot to smash it.

A hand darted out and grabbed his leg, halting his rampage. Another three went to his back to help him keep balance.

"Please, sir, you should relax. This isn't going to solve your problems." Her tone had changed from the all-business woman he heard earlier. She was gentler now, soothing.

"No, but it'll make me feel better. And don't call me 'sir'. My name's Allen." He tried stomping again, but Val's strength far surpassed his own. She moved him away from the lighter, picking it up with a spare hand and offering it to him.

"Things may not be as bad as they seem, Allen."

"Yeah?" He snatched the lighter out of her hand. "Care to explain how that might be? Cause things look pretty crappy from here. I've got a dead-end job to look back to, not to mention I'm sore and have some nasty bruises to deal with at work tomorrow. Oh, yeah, and it's in the dead of the night. I'm not gonna get any sleep. Now you're telling me I can't cash in on that jewel, the one thing I've been looking forward to for years, and there might be some ancient, crazy slut on the loose who could eventually bring the population to a standstill." Allen's eyes flicked toward the exit. "Can't forget the fact there's no way out of here, either, unless you've got the strength to toss a full-grown man up that hole."

Val took Allen's ranting without a slight frown, keeping her face even, eyes concerned, and arms crossed as he went on. When he finished, she took a glance at the hole. "I do, in fact. Easily."

He threw his head back with a roaring guffaw, slapping his thigh as he laughed. "You? Just 'cause you've got eight arms doesn't mean you have the strength of eight men. Or women, in your case."

"Oh?" An amused smirk grew on her face and she raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Why don't we see?"

"You're serious? Oh, god, this is great! Sure, sure, let's see. But I get to laugh as hard as I want when you fail. And you have to catch me when I don't make it out."

"Those are agreeable conditions. If I succeed, I gain the right to laugh at you."

Allen shook his head, walking over to the hole. He took another good look at it. The edge was still a good fifteen or twenty feet above his head. Nah, there was no way she'd be able to toss him that high. When her many hands grasped him and she leaned back in a throwing posture, however, he had to swallow down a rising nervousness. "Hey, uh, you sure you can catch me?"

Val only smiled.

With a "ha!", she lurched forward, throwing Allen at an alarming speed upward. Shit! He clenched his teeth, crying out as the hole rushed up at him. He cleared the top but didn't go much further. The power behind Val's throw was perfect. He landed without incident on his feet, standing still and patting himself to make sure he was still in one piece. The abandoned building was graciously familiar after all those hours stuck in the ruins. Shit. Spinning around, he leaned over the edge of the hole, making out a grinning Val down below.

"Uh, I'm okay. But how're you...?"

She thrust her arms into the air and they grew, extending a shocking length to where her hands could grasp the edges of the hole. Her knuckles went white as she pulled herself up, muscles animating with the effort. Just like Allen, her momentum carried her high enough for her to land on her feet safely outside the hole.

"Duuhh... how did—?"

She tossed him a playful smile and chuckle. "I am a spirit, remember? Did you not think I would have some freedom with this body of mine?"

"That's fucking cheating. And if you could just do the Stretch Armstrong thing, why didn't you lift me out of there like that?"

"Because you asked to be thrown."

Grumbling, Allen grimaced and bit his lip.

"I believe this is where I get to laugh."

Putting all eight hands on her hips, Val chuckled, a light and genuine laughter. It was a taunting melody, ringing throughout the building in a night that held little else. Allen turned around, crossing his arms and enduring it as best he could.

He decided her laughter was annoying.

Luckily for him, Val was not one to drag things out. She ended her laughter by placing two hands on her stomach, shaking her head and grinning. "I have not had a laugh like that in a good long while. Thank you for putting up with me."

"Eh, that was the deal, right?" Allen turned around, determined to be grumpy, but her grin stole his annoyance away.

Now back on the surface, Allen realized what a big deal an eight-armed woman would be. Extremely skimpy clothing, too. Not that he minded, of course. Her height was odd, too, but that was at least acceptable.

"So, do you have some way to hide those extra arms? 'Cause they're gonna stand out. In a bad way."

"Hmmm." Val brought up her extra arms to look them wistfully. She closed her eyes a moment, and Allen saw all six of them vanish. Looking over to Allen, she held up her two remaining arms, twiddling her fingers. "Is this good?"

"Y-yeah. Are they really...?" He walked over to Val and moved his hand to the place where her extra arms were a moment ago. At least, he tried, until six invisible hands all grasped his reaching arm. He jerked back, letting out a soft whoop. Val chucked at him and he shot her a sneer in response. "Okay, so still there, just not visible."

"Yes. I could retract them as well, but I'm used to their presence. Invisible is preferred."

"Whatever. It's your weird body. But you're going to have to cover up more than that. A cop sees you, you're in trouble."

"I can do that." Closing her eyes again, she waved her hands over her body and clothing appeared, a plain t-shirt and jeans like Allen was wearing. Val opened her eyes and presented herself for critique.

"Good enough. It's a little weird to see a chick like you in just a t-shirt, though."

"'A chick like me?'"

Allen gestured to her. "Well, yeah. You're pretty good-looking. Usually hot chicks wear stuff that shows off their bodies more. Dresses, or tops that hug their curves close." When Val raised an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not some fashion designer. Do whatever."

She batted her eyelashes at him. "You think I'm hot?"

He waved an arm at her. "Oh, come off it! You're a spirit of sex! Of course your body is attractive!"

"Ooo, I could use a strong man to hold this... alluring frame of mine," she said, drawing out her speech as she sauntered over to Allen.

He pushed her back, cheeks flushing. "Why are you all catty all of a sudden? Don't you have some business to take care of?"

Sighing, her face went back to the formal presentation he was more used to. "Sorry. The laughter got me a little loopy. As I said, it's been a while."

"It's not that I minded. Just weird to see you like that."

"Of course. And you are right. I do have business I need to attend to." She held out her hand. "It was a pleasure."

"Yeah, pleasure," Allen said, giving it a good shake. "So, good luck. With the whole evil sister thing."

"She's not evil."

"Tomahto. Anyways, later."

Allen spun on his heel and walked away, dragging his footsteps and listening for Val's own. The old building echoed his exit alone until another set of footsteps began pattering away. He paused at the door, leaning on it.

You know you've gotta ask if she's got a place to stay, right? And you know she doesn't so you have to offer yours. That's how this goes.

Allen clenched his fist. He didn't want to get caught up with all this spirit business. She'd taken that jewel away from him, too. And done the whole mind-fuck thing.

He hit the doorframe as if the pain could snap him out of his thoughts. She wasn't exactly unpleasant to be around, though. He'd been able to make her laugh and as annoying as it might of sounded, Allen had to admit he had a soft spot for girls who would laugh at his antics. With her being a statue for so long, she'd probably be lost on her own. She may have gotten something out of Allen's head, but that couldn't have been enough to complete her mission without running into trouble. Heck, she about ran off with all eight arms still showing. Allen couldn't help but blush when he thought about the sex. That was certainly something he'd never experienced before and would likely never encounter again.

Allen glanced back at her, watching her put more distance between them. It would be such a big risk to bring her home. She had trouble written all over her.

Oh, stop kidding yourself. You've known her for all of a few hours and you're already crushing on her.

Spinning around, Allen jogged off toward Val. "Hey, wait up!"