Chapter 17
Hope rounded on Kirby once everyone else had left the holding cell.
"We need to talk." She said.
"That sounds vaguely ominous." Kirby replied nervously.
"Did you really not know about Raf and Josie?"
"I really didn't. I was too worried about making sure you were safe to focus on anything else. Once Malivore pointed it out though, it became obvious." He replied truthfully.
"How can I trust that you're telling me the truth? You've been lying to me, and it started before Landon became two people." Hope tearfully asked, the hurt obvious on her face.
"I haven't ever lied to you, and if I recall correctly Landon wasn't the only person keeping secrets." He replied calmly before continuing, "I'm not trying to assign blame or anything, merely pointing out that keeping a secret doesn't make someone inherently untrustworthy."
Hope stared at him wordlessly, having difficulty coming up with a counter argument.
"What happens now?" She asked.
"I am the part of Landon that loves you, however that comes with it's own issues."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember how I explained that I learned about the Malivore Gate shattering in a letter from my father through my system?" He said.
"Right, your system. We need to have a talk about what exactly this system is." She told him firmly.
"We do, but more importantly we need to talk about you or rather you being the tribrid."
"What about it?"
"Your existence is anathema to that of Landon Kirby." He answered.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" She shouted.
"It means that Landon is Malivore's natural born son, and that means that being in close and continuing contact with you is detrimental to Landon's health." He replied.
"I'm calling bullshit, before entering Malivore I was around Landon all the time and he never said anything about feeling bad." She retorted angrily.
"Right… You also never exchanged….. bodily fluids for prolonged periods of time…." Kirby said blushing heavily. Hope's eyes widened and he hurried to move the conversation along.
"Landon is partially human which gives him a layer of protection against things like skin contact and saliva, but… liquids which are rich in life essence like blood or… other things are different."
"So, you're saying what? Landon and I can't ever have sex?" Hope asked him.
"Not exactly." Kirby paused. "In the note my father left he also wrote about how he begun to develop an immunity to the tribid, an immunity he passed along to me."
"If he really became immune to me then why did he end up dying?" She retorted disbelievingly.
"Because you poisoned him faster than the immunity could be developed. He only completed it up to about 23% or so by the time he died." Kirby answered sadly.
"…..I'm sorry about your dad." Hope stated meekly. "I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn't know."
"It was my fault too." Kirby admitted. "If I had told you about the system earlier, the letters I'd gotten from my dad, we might have been able to avoid all this. It's why Malivore is so angry. He blames himself as much as he blames you."
"He's actually going to try and kill me, isn't he?" Hope asked, her face downcast and her expression forlorn.
"It's worse than you think." He replied. "In a basically empty prison world he has no way to increase his level or attributes, but once the gate shatters and the entire world becomes flooded with monsters it'll be an all-you-can-eat XP buffet. He's going to get so much stronger it's not even funny."
"I'm not afraid of Landon." Hope said resolutely. "He's not going to be able to kill me no matter how strong he becomes."
"You have no idea what Landon is capable of or how strong Malivore is going to become." An exasperated Kirby replied. "Either way we need to prepare for when he escapes."
"It sounds like you have a plan." She said dubiously.
"Several, the first being completing the tribrid immunity my father began to develop. That way we can weaponize your blood against him without it harming me."
"How do you know he won't become immune to it too?"
"His smoke form, it must have been something he received after the split because I have no idea what it was and it's not in any of my logs. Whatever one of us gains after the split doesn't apply to the other, at least not unless we merge."
"Then how do we complete the immunity?"
"Exposure therapy. I'll be exposed to small amounts of your blood spread out over time. My system should warn me when the toxicity from your blood starts reaching dangerous levels, we'll stop wait until I recover and then do it again until I'm completely immune."
"Ok, that makes sense. Since we shouldn't be getting any monster attacks now, how are you planning to get stronger?"
"There is a way I could use to increase my level…. but that's not going to be happening." He replied succinctly.
"Why not? You're making this sound like we're going to need every advantage we can arrange to fight against Malivore, but you're leaving a giant reservoir of power untapped? That doesn't make any sense." Hope stated, confused at his reticence.
"…You remember how the headmaster was talking about my ability to awaken different bloodlines, right?" Kirby asked hesitantly.
"I do, but I'm not sure what that has to do with anything."
"Well, one of the bloodlines I awakened allows me to increase my level in a way that doesn't involve killing."
"That's great!" She exclaimed.
"You didn't let me finish." Kirby continued unable to hide how awkward he was feeling. "The bloodline I awakened was Incubus. Basically, I'm now part sex demon. I get stronger each time I have sex."
"Oh. OH!" Hope responded, her cheeks turning beet red.
"Yeah… and even if you were comfortable having sex with me there's still the issue of me dying." He said, finally managing to get control of his emotions. "And while death by snu-snu is probably one of the better ways to go, I'm not ready to die just yet."
"That's not even funny." She said while trying to suppress a smile.
"Which would only leave having sex with someone other than you, and I'm pretty sure that's gonna be a hard-limit on your part."
"Wait! That means…. You… and… Josie?" Hope's eyes widened in realization.
Kirby nodded to confirm her suspicions.
"Needless to say, that's over now that my memories have returned." Kirby assured Hope.
"I.. need some air. I can't breathe." Hope said before she ran up the stairs.
Well, that could have gone worse. Kirby thought to himself as he began making his own way up the stairs.
A foolish person would have chased after Hope in an ironically hopeless attempt to appease her. Luckily a predilection to overindulge in television, movies, and an attribute score of 70 in intelligence all informed him that the only correct move in this situation would be to leave her alone. When she was ready to talk to him, she would find him.
He made his way up to his room only to find that Raf was already long gone, and with him all of his things along with a large portion of Landon's belongings as well.
Not entirely unexpected. Kirby hoped that Raf ended up somewhere safe, he had already been through too much.
As he sat down at his desk Kirby took out a note pad and began to plan his next steps. Without the possibility of gaining XP there were some potential methods of leveling the playing field between himself and Malivore. The inevitable confrontation between them loomed like an ever-present shadow in his mind. Most of his short-term plans would have to wait until MG or Kaleb returned to school this coming weekend. He needed a vampire for their ability to compel and MG still owed him for killing him.
No matter what happens, Hope, I swear I'll keep you safe.
Gargoyle Bloodline Unlocked – You can now utilize the following abilities
Stone Form | Stone Flight
A smile worked it's way onto Kirby's face.
Maybe this will be easier than I thought.
Hope found herself in the gardens trying in vain to hold back tears and unable to catch her breath.
She couldn't blame Landon for moving on, he didn't even remember who she was at the time he started dating Josie. None of her logical arguments took the hurt away.
Not only had he started dating, but he had also shared something with Josie that he hadn't shared with her even though she had been with him first.
Something he might not ever be able to share with her.
That thought sent a rush of tears streaming down her face before she was able to regain her composure.
Get ahold of yourself! She mentally chastised herself. Now that you're back whatever they had is over, Landon is yours and no one is going to take him from you ever again.
After spending nearly an hour in the gardens, Hope felt like she had finally calmed down sufficiently and was prepared to continue her conversation with Landon.
Ugh…. Kirby not Landon, Kirby not Landon. Hope thought, repeating the phrase like a mantra to solidify the name in her head. This is going to take some getting used to.
Making her way to "Kirby's" room Hope noted the quiet resonating within the empty school. She was glad that the none of the students had returned from summer vacation yet. Keeping all this a secret from a supernatural student body, two-thirds of which had enhanced hearing would have been challenging.
Understatement of the century. She thought, bemusedly.
As she came closer to Kirby's room her werewolf instincts began to warn her that something was wrong. None of her preternatural senses were picking up anything from within the room. She couldn't hear or smell anything past the threshold to the door.
Concerned for her mate's safety the primal werewolf portion of her brain took over and she rushed forward, opening the door, and racing into the room while prepared to face whatever was threatening her mate.
"Hope?" Kirby asked from his seated position at his desk, surprised to find her in his room and prepared to attack.
Once she had seen him safe, she began to relax from her fighting stance.
"What the hell? I couldn't hear or smell anything in here! I thought you might be in danger!" She told him, with perhaps a bit more force and frustration than she had intended.
Kirby's cheeks blushed and he sheepishly glanced away from Hope before responding.
"Right… that. Well, no one outside this room can smell or hear anything that goes on inside of it. With the werewolves and the vampires coming back this week, we thought it might be for the best." His already scarlet cheeks turning even redder.
It took a second for the implications of the statement to sink in for Hope. She caught on to their meaning just before she noticed that her enhanced sense of smell was picking up a musky scent within the room.
She had found faint traces of it throughout the entire school but had been unable to place the scent.
Now she knew.
It was the scent of sex, specifically Landon and Josie's sex.
And his room was drenched in it.
Once she realized what she was smelling, she couldn't escape it. It was everywhere in the room. It had permeated the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and all the furniture. Hope couldn't even contemplate how much sex they must have had for it to leave such and indelible mark in this place.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Landon's room had effectively been converted into an incubi's lair, his pheromones transforming the location from a resting place into a den of debauchery.
In the back of her mind, Hope became dimly aware that her pussy had been moistening from the moment she entered the room, and her panties were currently soaked through.
Her overactive imagination took over and she began to visualize Landon and Josie have sex everywhere the scent was strongest. She slowly walked through the room taking note of these locations. The bed was obvious she supposed, but other spots proved more interesting to her imagination.
The very desk where Kirby was sitting had a strong scent marker, as did his dresser, his chair, and his win….
"The window?!" Hope asked incredulously, a single eyebrow raised.
Kirby's face went through a change after she asked that question that Hope couldn't adequately describe. It started out embarrassed, then went to shocked, followed by some expression she couldn't placed before landing on confident.
"Yeah… Turns out Josie has some exhibitionist tendencies. Pressing her naked up against the window turned her on like crazy." Kirby said with a smirk, rising from his desk and walking towards Hope.
Hope found herself backing away a step from Kirby each time he took one towards her. She was soon stopped by the presence of a wall, letting him finally reach her.
"Why would you tell me that?" Hope shouted in his face.
"Because…" He said softly as he continued to smirk. He took another step until he was almost touching her.
He moved his head forward until his lips were inches from her ear, his hand reaching out and caressed her leg, slowly moving upwards.
"It's turning you on." He finished saying as his hand reached the crotch of her pants and he began to firmly rub her pussy through her pants.
Hope placed her hands flat against the wall and tried to corral her thoughts.
"Why… would you…. think…. something like that… would…. turn me on?" She asked breathlessly.
"Sex demon, remember? I can sense it." Were all the words he got out before Hope reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss.
The moment their lips touched lightning raced through her entire body. All thoughts of discussion forgotten.
Kirby reached around Hope grabbed her by her ass and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Turning around he walked them towards his bed, the single area in his room where the scent of Josie was the strongest.
Kirby broke the kiss for a moment to take off his shirt, resulting in a surprised gasp from Hope along with the widening of her eyes.
No one other than Josie and himself had seen Landon naked post Incubus transformation, the results of which had left him sculpted like a Greek god.
Hope trailed her fingers across his abs tracing the lines of his muscles, lost in the differences between the Landon she had left behind all those months ago and this version she was being re-introduced to.
Kirby reached down and softly grabbed her arms by the wrists. He slowly moved them back until they were above her head where he used his left hand to keep both of her arms pinned before moving his head down to continue kissing her.
They continued aggressively making out for a few minutes until they were very rudely interrupted.
Tribrid Toxicity: 0.01%
Threshold of 10% must be met to continue Immunity development.
Warning!
Exceeding Threshold of 22.7% will result in catastrophic system failure and death!
0.01% huh? I have more leeway than I thought. Kirby mused internally as he reached under her jeans with his free hand worked his way into her panties until he reached her clit with his middle finger.
Pulling his head back slightly, he gazed into Hope's eyes searching for any sign of reluctance. The only thing he found hunger, and need being reflected at him.
He began to circle he clit with his middle and index fingers, her increasing wetness soaking his hand as toyed with her sex.
The tribrid toxicity percentage counter never left his vision, the number increasing the longer he exposed himself to her… juices for lack of a better term.
After a few minutes, once the number hit 15% he removed his had from pants and pulled back from her kiss.
To his shock the number kept increasing despite his newfound distance from her.
It only to him a moment to realize that despite separating his hand was still coated with the evidence of her arousal.
"Fuck!" He shouted while staring at his hand. Leaping of the bed he took of in a dead sprint towards the bathroom. Once he reached it, he immediately turned on the sink and began to wash his hands in an alarmingly frantic manner.
The counter began to slow and finally stopped at 21.79%.
Thank God. He thought to himself.
Looking in the mirror it took only moments for Hope to join him in the bathroom with a concerned look on her face.
"Sorry for running out like that. I can explain." He told her before going into the message he had received from the system and how he almost cut it too close.
Hope's eyes narrowed before stating, "You said you could develop an immunity through exposure."
"Yeah, I think once the toxicity works it's way out of my system, I'll receive an update about the immunity." He responded.
"Good." She said before stepping forward and looking him unblinkingly in the eyes. "You will finish what you started today."
It was a statement of fact, not a question or a choice. An inevitability.
He nodded to show that he understood, and she took that as a sign to turn around and exit leaving him caught slightly off guard while this time she was the one to walk away with a smirk on her face.
