Days of High Adventure (17 page)

“That’ll work for people who don’t really know us, I guess,” Eric said. “What about family? Friends? I’m sure your email looks the same way mine does. People were
really worried about us. You said you can’t just alter people’s memories or anything.”

“
I can’t do that, no, but I know a spell to make stories more convincing. We’ll come up with something,” Amanda shrugged. “I’m just thinking that there’s not much chance of getting back on track at the U right away. It’s too far into the semester.”

“Yeah,” Eric frowned. “I’m not so worried about that with the money we’ve got. We’ll both be okay without financial aid now, right? But that does kind of leave us with a semester off.” He looked to Fallon curiously. “How do you feel about traveling for a while?”

Fallon smiled and nodded approvingly. “I should like to see more of this world before you return to your books.”

“I’m game if you’ll have me along,” Amanda offered. “Just got a couple things I’d like to do here first before we leave town.”

***

Naturally, the knock on his door came right in the middle of his raid. Jason cursed under his breath, furiously clicking at his mouse to hold back the wave of zombie trolls that threatened to take out his whole team. He kept looking from his computer to the door and back once more. The knock came again. “Jason?” asked a woman from the other side of the door.

He blinked and looked at the door. One of his guildmates swore in frustration over Teamspeak as his shaman died. Then the wizard died. The cascade of failure began.

He heard the knock on his door once more. “Sorry, guys,” Jason muttered before killing the speakers. He didn’t need to hear the wave of nerdrage that would follow his leaving the fight, but this was the first time anyone had come over to his brand new apartment unannounced.

His mind ground to a halt as he opened the door. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” Amanda asked, leaning against the doorframe.

Jason’s jaw dropped. “Amanda?”

“Mm-hm.”

“
Ohmygod, you’re okay! And you’re…you...wow.”

Her smile broadened. She placed a hand on his chest. “Can I come in?”

“Y-yeah! Sure!” He stepped back, still staring in wonder as she followed.

“This is a nice place you have here,” Amanda observed, glancing around. “I didn’t know you were planning on moving out of your parents’ place.”

“Yeah, well, uh...things got kind of wild earlier this month,” Jason stammered. “Some crazy shit happened with Alex and… um. Look, you really wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“I could say about the same,” she said. “I’m sorry I was away for so long without warning.”

“Yeah, we were all really worried. Are you okay? I mean, you look okay. You look great. Wonderful. I mean, just...wow.”

“Thanks. I wanted to see you, Jason. I wanted to say thanks for running your game.”

Jason blinked. “My game?”

“Yeah,” Amanda nodded. “It was a little rough at first, but in the end...I’m really glad I played.”

She shoved him back into the chair on his desk. Jason stared in awe as Amanda crawled into his lap, running her fingers through his hair before drawing him into a deep, lustful kiss. “You didn’t have any plans for tonight, did you?” she asked softly.

“Plans?” Jason said to the valley between her breasts. “No...no plans. I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Grinning wickedly, Amanda tore his shirt open. Buttons flew across his desk. “Good,” she said before attacking his neck.

He would learn a day later that his microphone
kept running. On the one hand, he was mortified. On the other, his guild unanimously agreed that they didn’t mind him bailing on raid night when he offered up alternative entertainment.

About the Author

Elliott Kay is the author of
Poor Man’s Fight
,
Good Intentions
and
Natural Consequences
.

His adventuring career began at the age of ten, when a mysterious youth in a hobby store encouraged Elliott’s mother to buy him a red box with a dragon on it. In the twenty-nine years since, Elliott has conquered dungeons, castles, far-flung military bases in outer space and secret occult lairs hidden away under the streets of unsuspecting American cities. He has slain innumerable goblins, orcs, kobolds, ogres, dark elves, human bandits, blood mages, Nazis, elder vampires, anarchist vampires, goddamn Nazi vampires and just vampires in general, along with, ghouls, zombies, stormtroopers, Klingons, filthy xenos beasts, Sith lords, terrorists, post-apocalyptic warlords, cultists, ninjas, Lovecraftian monsters and dragons. Elliott won three gold medals at the Athenian Games and stood victorious in gladiator pits on alien worlds. He has been a starship captain, a pack alpha, a Primogen of New Jerusalem, the Harpy of Orange County, the Prince of Seattle, the Master of the Flying Guillotine, the sole paladin of the Trickster God and the undisputed Most Wanted Man in the Galaxy. Elliott once destroyed large swaths of the first layer of Hell with a second level spell, reassembled the Rod of Seven Parts, hijacked a battlecruiser, rescued a pop singer from the Yakuza and roadied for a theatre troupe in a post-Apocalyptic wasteland. His employment history includes extensive black ops work for the O.S.S., several megacorporations, the Inquisition and an undead sorcerer king, along with various stints of bounty hunting, soldiering, espionage, starship crewing and freelance mercenary work. He remains a faithful servant of the Emperor.

He now lives in Seattle, where the skyline just doesn’t look right without teocalli and arcologies.

Elliott maintains a blog at elliottkay.blogspot.com. He can be reached at [email protected] and will gladly add readers to his notifications list if asked.