Authors: Arielle Archer
Briefly I wondered if maybe we were getting a little out of hand with the whole role-playing scenario. If somebody who wasn’t from the convention, who wasn’t used to all the hanky-panky that supposedly happened at these things, heard us then they might be making a call to the police even as we were screaming. Of course it’s not like there was much danger of anyone other than Samantha overhearing us anyways since we were all alone up here in this suite at the top of the hotel.
Not that I had much time to think about that. He let out a groan as he bottomed out inside me and yelled. “I’m close elf, are you ready?”
Oh God. That was it. That was what I needed. The sparks that had been dancing through my body as he plowed in and out of me turned into an explosion. I felt blood rushing to my head and my pussy clamped down on his cock as he buried himself inside me. With a yell he let loose with blast after blast of his essence pouring inside me. I felt an impossible tingle, an incredible heat, as my back arched and every muscle in my body tensed at once under the incredible feel of the orgasm crashing over me.
I pushed at his body, acting as though I was trying to keep him away from me even as I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer to me, pulled his delicious cock deeper inside me as it continued twitching. As I continued exploding around him as he exploded inside me.
“No! Oh please no!”
“Yes! By the gods yes!”
With one last mighty roar, a roar that was probably a little over the top but I wasn’t judging, he finished exploding inside me and then he rolled off to the side and I turned to face him, smiling at him, running a hand along his cheek and then down to his delicious chest muscles, down to his abs. God he was so sexy, so hot. I still couldn’t believe I’d done that, but I couldn’t deny how wonderful it felt. I couldn’t deny that I desperately wanted to do it again.
“That was amazing,” I said.
“More incredible than I could’ve imagined,” he said.
I leaned forward and kissed him, a quick peck on the lips, but a familiar kiss that seemed to wrap all of our time with one another online together with this incredibly hot session we had in the hotel room.
“I’m thinking this is the start of something wonderful,” I said.
He grinned, and the grin was all the response I needed. It sent a warm feeling coursing through my body that had nothing to do with that amazing session we’d just had. Okay, maybe it had a little to do with that session, but there was so much more there as well. He really was everything I’d fantasized about and more. I was afraid to say more than I already had, but I could feel myself falling for him and I desperately hoped he felt the same way.
I was still lying back on the bed, completely nude, as Eric stood and started putting his costume back together. I leaned up on one elbow and watched. God he was so delicious. So much more delicious than anything I could have imagined. The picture I saw on his profile definitely didn’t do the real-life version justice.
He looked up and grinned. A blush moved across his face and he looked down as though he was suddenly self-conscious. Though I couldn’t imagine why a perfect specimen of man like him would ever be self-conscious with a body like that!
“That’s an odd look,” he said.
“Why’s that?”
“Let’s just say I’m not used to women looking at me the way you’re looking at me right now,” he said.
“Really? You must be blind then. Because you’re fucking gorgeous!”
He paused as he was pulling up his black tights that went below his red plastic armor. “You’re pretty fun to a look at yourself,” he said.
I blushed at the compliment, but I also felt a delicious rush of the most amazing arousal running through me. It was definitely making me feel more confident by the minute the way he was looking at me. Knowing that I’d managed to catch the interest of a man that delicious, and not only because of my prose.
He went back to putting some of his clothes on and I decided it’d probably be a good idea to get my own on. To be perfectly honest I was a little annoyed that I’d taken it off in the first place, no matter how much fun the actual taking off had been. The thing took forever to get into, and I was going to have to get out more double-sided tape.
For about ten minutes the room was filled with the whoosh of tights being pulled on and the clattering of plastic armor being snapped into place. Finally I stood in front of the mirror once more and looked myself up and down. Sure it was annoying getting and out of this thing, and I prayed to any higher power that might be listening at the moment that I wouldn’t feel the urge to go to the bathroom while I was out on the convention floor, but I looked damn good.
I turned around just in time to see Eric putting on his helmet. I arched an eyebrow.
“You have to put that thing on?”
“Well it is part of the costume,” he said.
I was surprised that his voice actually came out sounding different than when he had the helmet off. The surprise must have been evident on my face because he pulled it off and grinned, then showed me the insides of the helmet. There was a small microphone sticking out that ran to a speaker hidden in the mouthpiece. It was all very small, and I imagine that it also had to be pretty damn expensive it to fit that kind of sound into that tiny package.
“The helmet has a built in voice modulator that changes my voice to sound sort of like Rick,” he said.
“Rick?”
“Rick Bennett? He provides the voice for Orthaur in the TV miniseries?”
“Oh,” I said. “I never really paid attention to the acting credits. At least not the voice acting credits.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I figured you would’ve paid more attention to that. He also did a lot of the voice work for the Tales of Elassa video games.”
“Don’t you think it’d be more fun if you didn’t wear the mask?”
He smiled a sad looking smile. But he shook his head. “No, if I’m going down on the convention floor I’m afraid I have to wear this costume. At least for now.”
I pouted but it didn’t look like I was going to sway him on this. He held out an armored arm and I moved to take it. He smiled down at me before putting his helmet back on. It snapped into place with a plastic sounding click and we made our way to the door.
Only before we opened the door he turned to face me. The effect was only ruined ever so slightly by the fact that he was wearing the armor and face mask of the most heinous villain in the entire series. Still, I could see bits of him underneath. There was no mistaking those broad shoulders, that muscled chest underneath.
When I was making my way up to my room I’d seen some people in less impressive versions of this costume making their way to the convention with inflatable biceps under their costume that showed off abs and muscles that had been drawn on, but one look at him showed that he obviously had worked out to get that muscular physique. My mouth was hanging open and watering as I stared at him.
“Jessica?”
I shook my head. Had he been talking to me? He’d been talking to me. Damn it. He’d been talking to me and I’d been so lost in staring at his body that I hadn’t even realized it! I was definitely going to have to get control of myself if we were going to have any sort of weekend.
“I’m sorry, I got distracted for a moment there,” I said.
“No problem,” he said. Sure he was talking through a voice modulator that made him sound like a completely different person, but somehow I could hear the grin in his voice. I sniffed and crossed my arms under my breasts.
“You were saying?”
He reached out and ran a clawed hand along my cheek. Despite myself I closed my eyes and leaned into that loving caress. I didn’t care if he had ridiculous looking plastic claws on his fingers as he ran them down my cheek. He was gentle and they didn’t leave a scratch.
“I was just saying that I know this is early, but I have a feeling this is the start of something special,” he said.
I felt myself melting at those words. I was going weak in the knees, which wasn’t a good thing. If I collapsed while I was wearing this costume then there was a very good chance I’d break something. So I leaned forward and pressed against his chest.
“I think I agree,” I said. “You’ve definitely been a pleasant surprise.”
I swiped my card and we moved into the elevator.
“A pleasant surprise? How so?”
I looked up at him for a moment and once again the effect was only slightly ruined by him standing there in that ridiculous looking armor talking in that over the top voice.
“Let’s just say that a guy like you seems too good to be true,” I said. “Usually in a situation like this I’d figure I was getting catfished, or that you were lying about something. Only so far everything you said has been true. Surprisingly wonderfully true!”
He hesitated for a moment. It was only a moment, but it was enough to send a stab of worry running through me. Why was he hesitating when I mentioned him telling a lie? Was he lying about something? Why was I panicking like this? Why couldn’t I just take something good at face value? Why did I always have to spin out the worst-case scenario in my head?
That moment of hesitation passed and he held out his arm again as the doors opened onto the top-level. We made our way towards the elevators and I viciously squashed down on that worst-case scenario that was starting to run through my head. I was at the convention with a great guy, he was exactly who he said he was, and I was going to enjoy myself. I was not going to think about it all falling apart, because he was telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Only no matter how hard I thought that his momentary hesitation was enough to send doubt worming through my mind.
The convention hall was absolutely incredible once we actually managed to get in there. I learned the hard way that people in impressive costumes quickly got waylaid by anyone with a camera. It seemed like no matter how many people came up to take a picture there was always somebody there ready to replace the person who just left. I had a feeling if I’d stayed in the first spot we got stopped it would’ve been possible for me to stand there for the entire convention and never run out of people trying to take a picture.
Thankfully Eric pulled me away. He seemed to have more experience with crowds of people wielding cameras. Walking along at a brisk pace in his menacing costume coupled with keeping our heads down and shaking my head at anybody who held up a camera seemed to do the trick until we got into the dealer hall. From there it was packed tight enough that we didn’t have to worry too much about people trying to stop us.
“So what do you want to do first?” Eric asked. “We’ve got an hour before the opening speech.”
I looked around the room at the crowd. I couldn’t help but feel like a country girl visiting the big city for the first time even though I was anything but. There was just something about being at my first big convention that was dazzling me.
“This is amazing. It’s so crowded!” I said.
Eric’s helmeted head turned to me and he shrugged. “This is actually just the advance crowd. People who got VIP tickets or whatever so they could gain entrance before everybody else. Just wait until you see how packed it gets later this afternoon after Sean Taylor gives the keynote and they let the real crowds in.”
I looked around at the crowds moving through the dealer hall and I couldn’t believe there’d actually be more people. It was amazing being surrounded by this many fans of the Elassa series. Seeing so many people who were kindred spirits, so many people who loved the series as much as I did, all in one place. Hell, some of these people probably had a lot more dedication than I did. They’d actually paid their way out here. I just happened to get lucky and had no intention of attending the convention until I stumbled into Conlan. Eric. Whatever his name was.
Something Eric said finally sank in.
“Did you say an appearance by Sean Taylor?” I asked.
He flipped up his helmet slightly, looked around, and grinned at me. “Why yes. He’s supposed to be here. He does a keynote every year.”
“The Sean Taylor?”
“Well he is the author of the books that started everything. It’d be a little silly if he didn’t come to his own convention, right?”
I shook my head. “I suppose so. I just have a hard time believing I’m actually going to see him. I’m actually going to see what he looks like!”
Eric shrugged and grinned. “Yeah, I was a little surprised you didn’t know what he looks like. He doesn’t put his author picture in his books, but there are plenty of pictures available online.”
I walked for a few more steps before, once more, what he said actually sank in.
“Wait a second, how did you know I didn’t know what Sean Taylor looked like?”
“You mentioned it in a chat I think,” he said. Then he was pulling me into a booth that had costume supplies. I didn’t remember having any sort of chat like that with him, but at the same time I was so distracted by all the pretty costumes on display that it left my mind.
Besides, I had my phone on me and I could always just pull the pictures up. I pulled it out and tapped at the screen, but growled in frustration as I realized there was absolutely no reception in the dealer hall. I wondered if they had one of those jamming things going. I’d heard about those before, but it was probably just that this was a massive building made out of material that wasn’t very friendly to cell phone signals, and on top of that everybody and their mother was down here overloading the cell towers downtown.
I did see there was a Wi-Fi network from the convention center, but when I tapped on that it brought up a confirmation page asking for fifty bucks for the privilege of getting online for one day. Fuck that noise. I’d just wait until the session to finally see what the infamous Sean Taylor looked like. No distractions there.
I saw plenty of toys I wanted to get my hands on while we were looking at the costume booth, but the prices were enough to dissuade me from actually trying to buy anything.
“I could get one of these for you, no problem,” Eric said.
I held up a hand to forestall him. “Please. You’ve already done more than enough. You don’t need to spend any more money on me.”
“It’s really not a prob…”
“Seriously, it’s okay,” I said. I glanced down at my phone. “Besides, if we don’t go soon we’re going to miss that keynote.”
I was starting to worry we weren’t going to be able to get into the opening keynote anyways. I’d heard those things filled up pretty quickly, and it was only fifteen minutes until Sean Taylor was supposed to take the stage. I had a feeling we’d get there and find a line of people running through most of the convention center trying to get in and being turned away because the fire marshal frowned on overcrowding rooms even for a major convention appearance by a world-famous author.
Eric glanced down at his own phone and cursed.
“Shit. I’ve really lost track of time this morning,” he said. Then he glanced at me and lifted up his helmet slightly, grinned. “In the best possible way, of course.”
I grinned right back at him and blushed at the same time. I knew exactly what he was referring to. “Should we even bother to go? It’s not like we’re going to be able to get seats at this point or anything.”
“Of course we’ll be able to get seats!” Eric said. “You have the highest VIP package which means there’s a seat waiting for you front and center.”
“I have a seat reserved? What about you?”
Only he was tapping something into his phone with one hand and the pulling me along with the other. I stepped out of the booth we were in and looked around. I really didn’t see how we were going to make it to the opening ceremony. The dealer hall was still packed, probably with people who couldn’t get to the keynote in time or who couldn’t afford the VIP seating but could afford to show up to the convention a day early.
“There’s no way we’re getting there in time,” I said.
Eric lifted his helmet one more time and winked at me. “Just wait.”
A beeping noise sounded off in the distance and a moment later that beeping noise became a golf cart working its way through the crowd. It had a yellow light flashing up above and it came to a halt right in front of us. Eric turned to me and I could feel the smile underneath his helmet, though he didn’t lift it now that there was a crowd of people watching us and probably wondering who the hell we were that this golf cart was picking us up.
For that matter I was wondering who the hell we were that he could summon a convention center golf cart like this. I was starting to suspect he worked for Elassa Corporation in some capacity or something like that.
I didn’t have much time to think about it though. We were whisked through the convention center and bypassed the long line of people that started outside the dealer hall and ran all the way to the massive room where they were holding the opening keynote. We pulled up to the door where a group of guards took a look at our VIP passes and we were escorted right up to the front. I was so caught up in how incredible it was getting the VIP treatment that I didn’t even have time to question how or why I was getting that treatment.
Eric hadn’t been kidding when he said my seat was front and center. I glanced at my watch. We had five minutes to go. Five minutes until I was finally going to get to see the infamous and reclusive Sean Taylor. And maybe meet him later if this VIP pass was worth anything.
“You okay here?” Eric asked.
“I’m fine, but why aren’t you having a seat?
Eric stood to his full height and looked out over the crowd. I noticed a couple of people taking pictures of him. His costume really was a damn impressive. He looked down at me and lifted up his helmet so I could see his eyes.
“I was thinking of having a little fun,” he said with a wink.
“A little fun?”
Only he did something that made me want to sit down in my chair and die. He moved over towards the stairs leading up to the stage. There were a couple of burly looking security guards wearing guard armor from one of the Elassa series, and they moved forward and put plastic spears in front of him as he moved towards the stairs. I sank down even further into my chair as a couple of people who’d seen me come here with him looked at me as though I was to blame for Eric suddenly acting like a complete spaz.
Why on earth was he trying to get up on that stage? I thought I was going to die from embarrassment.
“What’s your boyfriend up to?”
I looked up and saw Samantha taking a seat next to me and looking at Eric with a slightly bemused expression.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She held up her pass and it had the same VIP credentials I had. Of course we’d be sitting together. Now why wasn’t Eric over here sitting with us so we could get on with watching the author presentation and then go have some more fun? Maybe even the kind of fun we’d had before we came down to the convention hall.
There was a loud crash and a flash of light. I turned my attention away from Samantha and back over to where the two guards had fallen to the floor as giant sparks flew out from their chests with a loud bang. Eric threw his hands up in the air and shook them with a victorious shout and suddenly more people were looking. The room was quieting down. Several people who saw me come in with him were looking at me like I was just as crazy as a he was.
What the hell was he doing?
“He had pyrotechnics in his costume?” Samantha asked. “Surprised security let him get through with those.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “I’m so embarrassed.”
This was it. This was when the other shoe dropped. He really was too perfect. He was too good to be true. He was hot, literate, and apparently also absolutely batshit crazy. At any moment a bunch of security guards were going to rush the stage. I saw them running towards him as he moved towards the podium.
What was he going to do? Make a speech through that ridiculous voice modulator? There was no way they were going to let him stay up there. I glanced towards the edges of the stage wondering if Sean Taylor was waiting back there somewhere but the only thing I saw there were more uniformed security guards dressed plastic armor. Several more of them rushed out onto the stage, only as soon as they got close to him he held his hands out in both directions and there were more fireworks. More sparks. The guards threw themselves back, rather dramatically considering they were just trying to get somebody off stage, and they laid there on the stage with smoke coming up from their chests.
“Let’s just go,” I whispered to Samantha.
“No way,” Samantha said with awe in her voice. “If your rich boyfriend is going to go off the reservation with the crazy then I want to see all of it!”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” I hissed.
And yet I couldn’t help but think about what we’d shared this afternoon. I couldn’t help but think about all the fun we had together in game. I was profoundly sad that it was coming to this. That he decided to have some sort of breakdown right in front of me.
He let out another triumphant roar as he went up to the podium. At this point everybody in the room was absolutely silent. Watching. Waiting. No doubt for someone from security to finally tackle him.
“I am the dark lord Orthaur, and I now control this convention!” he screamed into the microphone.
There was a beat. Absolute silence. And then suddenly everybody in the room was on their feet shouting, whooping, and cheering him on.
“Is he an actor hired by the company or something?”
“An actor that can afford flying us out and paying for a suite at the most expensive hotel in town?”
“Good point,” Samantha said.
“I can’t take any more of this. I’m going.”
“Wait,” Samantha said, she grabbed my arm and pulled me down into my chair. “It looks like it’s about to get really good!”
Some pretty blonde girl with a microphone clipped to her polo shirt was moving out onto the stage. She looked very official and not happy at all.
“Who are you? You can’t be on stage like this!” she said. Her voice boomed thanks to a mic attached to her shirt. She was waving a clipboard as though that was some sort of magical talisman that would get Eric to jump stage.
I almost didn’t want to look. If he used whatever pyrotechnics he’d used on those guards, I still wasn’t sure how he managed to pull that off, then it’d probably hurt the girl. She didn’t have any plastic armor to provide whatever meager protection plastic armor provided. Judging from the way some of those guards were still lying on the stage it didn’t provide much.
Eric turned to look at the girl and he hesitated for a moment. I could see him tensing in a way he hadn’t when there were security guards running at him. I looked back to the girl who still had that angry expression on her face, but it looked like there was something more to that anger than being annoyed at someone for rushing the stage. My eyes narrowed. What was going on there?