A shapeless lump of blankets and pillows lay on Jay Sigma’s best couch—the black leather one in front of the television. It had been there for the better part of a week; occasionally, it shifted position, or a red hand would emerge and grab for a bottle of water or the tumbler of whiskey next to it.

Jay Sigma sighed and looked over the scene. The apartment smelled like unwashed demon and dirty laundry. He shook his head and muttered something under his breath, then walked over to the couch.

He poked at the mound gently. “Hey. You alive in there?” A muffled moan was the only response, and the blanket-covered mound didn’t move. Jay reached out with the corner of his tablet and prodded the shape harder. “Seriously. You need to get up and eat something. Maybe get some air and touch grass. Dying under a pile of bedsheets is not exactly a dignified way to go.”

“Go away,” Una’s voice croaked from inside the nest. “I don’t know if I’m alive. I’m probably just a figment of some mortal’s imagination.”

Rather than retreating, the engineer sat down next to the blankets, his lanky weight causing the cushions to bounce slightly. He set a cup of steaming coffee on the low table in front of him, within reach of the blanket pile, and cleared his throat. “Well, at least you’re able to engage in philosophical musings. But you’re not an intangible spirit like Yael was when she first arrived in this world, Una. You have a body—one that’s quite human in origin, despite being modified by nanomachines and infernal powers.”

Una snorted, and the blankets shifted slightly. Through an opening, Jay could see one of the succubus’ golden-yellow eyes staring balefully at him over the top of a rumpled comforter. “If I’m so human, why isn’t this whiskey getting me drunk? Or making me sick?” She gestured vaguely at the bottle, then looked back at him. “And if you’re going to bother me, would you do me the kindness of pouring me another drink?”

Jay raised an amused eyebrow and poured a modest measure of liquor into the tumbler next to the tall bottle of water. “Like I said: it’s the nanomachines or the infernal powers… but I didn’t set the nanites to filter alcohol from your bloodstream, so it must be the succubus thing. I don’t imagine succubae would do too well if you couldn’t metabolize alcohol at a supernatural rate.” He took a sip from his own mug. “So if it’s not working, why bother drinking?”

Una’s expression was sour, though mostly shrouded by blankets. “Drinking lets me pretend I’m binging on a self-indulgent pity party, which is the only thing I feel like doing. And it tastes good—like the inside of a tree, which sounds ideal to me right now.” She reached for the tumbler, still lying prone, but Jay pulled it back out of her grasp, ignoring her outraged expression.

“Ah-ah-ah,” said the slender redhead, holding up an admonishing index finger. “This is a very expensive bottle, a 30-year-old single malt from Karuizawa in Japan, where they make the casks out of black pine that grows by a sacred pond. Hell, it might have some god-essence in it, this kami-no-kosui stuff.”

The bleary eyes of Jay’s roommate blinked slowly. “Really?”

He shook his head. “No, probably not. Cool story, but I ran a bunch of tests and there’s nothing magical about the stuff, other than the magic of fermented grain. But it’s expensive, complex, and must be savored, not guzzled in a heap of misery. And this couch you’re rubbing your ancient, nubile body all over is also expensive; custom Italian leather, as I think I’ve mentioned. So sit up before you spill anything on it, okay?”

Una groaned once more, but sat up after a moment, shedding blankets like molting feathers. Beneath the layers, she wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with a tusked, metallic skull—the logo of some heavy metal band, Jay guessed—and soft, black athletic shorts. She looked like a depressed college girl, rather than the fusion of pious human and millennia-old demonic power that she was; her dark hair tumbled around her face in wild tangles and knots, and through the fabric of the T-shirt Jay could see the faint outlines of her nipples.

Jay Sigma picked up a decanter of much cheaper whiskey from an end table and poured an ample splash into his mug as Una picked up the tumbler; he took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of coffee and peaty spirits.

“Slainte, roomie,” Una said in a morose monotone, taking a swallow from the tumbler before grimacing. She coughed once, then looked at the glass with an expression akin to betrayal.

“Can I get you some coffee with that?” Jay asked, amused. “Or a little food, maybe? I could make you an omelet, or a grilled cheese…”

Una shook her head violently; errant strands of her usually sleek black hair floated about her scarlet features. “I don’t need to eat, remember?” she growled. Jay could smell her breath from several inches away.

“At the risk of getting explainey,” he said, earning an eye-roll from Una, “Let me point out that like any aetheric entity maintaining corporeal form—not to mention supporting a colony of expertly designed nanomachines—you need to consume energy. Where do you think that energy comes from?” The engineer sipped his drink, then gestured at her with his pinky finger.

The succubus clutched her forehead in both hands, as though trying to hold off a splitting migraine. Her tail flicked in irritation behind her, slapping against the leather couch cushions. “Hold on, I think the booze is working—my skull is throbbing. Oh, wait… no, that’s just my irritating landlord! Honestly, you’re smug enough that it’s almost like having a pet cat.”

Jay snorted and leaned back, stretching his legs out and resting them on the coffee table. His socks were bright orange and covered with pictures of cartoon cats. “Miss Belmont, I must once again point out that if I were your landlord, you’d be paying me rent. Which you are not. Now… where was I? So, the obvious answer is sex, right? That’s the wavelength of human emotion your type is attuned to.”

His lecturing tone seemed impervious to Una’s visible annoyance as he continued. “You could probably learn to draw on other kinds of aetheric energy—hell, with my knowhow, we could probably make you photosynthesize. But honestly, it’s easier for you to do something bodies are designed to do: eat some damn breakfast, Una. Or at least go out and draw energy from something else, or get laid, anything!”

She scowled at him and drained the whiskey tumbler in one smooth motion. She set the glass on the table with more force than was strictly necessary, then glared at it, her face a mask of consternation. “What’s the actual point, Sigma? I’m causing some problem, aren’t I?”

He nodded with a glum sidelong glance at her. “Afraid so. There’s another way you can get energy, long observed when demonic manifestations… get out of control? The classic term is a ‘blight,’ I believe.”

“Wait… you mean…” Una ran a hand slowly through her hair, looking faintly alarmed for the first time. “I’m sucking the life out of other living things?”

“Plants are the most susceptible,” Jay said. He held up a pointy, withered leaf. “I didn’t notice it until this morning: the effect spreads as far as the roof, but thankfully not down to the street. My grow lab, my GMO potato experiment, the potted plants around this floor, and the herb garden all look like someone left them unattended through a New York winter.” He shook his head sadly.

Una stared at her hands, her eyes fixed. Her lips moved, but Jay could hear only a faint whisper: she appeared to be praying.

Jay leaned forward, his elbows balanced on knees and his hands clasped together. The engineer studied Una intently, his pale blue eyes bright.

“Look. It’s just plants. They could as easily get wiped out by a freak hailstorm. We don’t have any pets, so any animals affected are Brooklyn’s own unwanted wildlife: pigeons, roaches and rats. Good riddance! You’re not hurting me, Una—I’m not sure if that’s because you have more self-control, or if it’s something else. I mean, I’m a little tired, but that could be from pulling too many hours coding this very lucrative freelance gig I’ve got—”

Una placed her hand on his arm, stopping his flow of monologue. Her eyes met his, wide and solemn and golden, and a slight tremor went through Jay’s chest.

“I’m sorry, Jay. I didn’t realize—I mean, obviously, this was an accident. But I should have thought about it before being so… self-absorbed.”

Seeing the look on her face, the engineer softened his tone. “Hey. How were you supposed to know? It’s not like Una Belmont has centuries of experience with this kind of thing, even if part of your spirit has longer memories. Let’s just focus on fixing this: forward!”

She blinked, searching his face for any hint of reproach. “Fix it? You have some way to restore these plants? To make them healthy again?”

He shook his head, then reached out to tap her gently on the forehead. “We always try to hack the wetware first, before going to software, hardware, or aetherware. Let’s address the problem at the source. But you don’t feel like eating anything, huh?”

Una wrinkled her lips into a grimace. “I could probably force something down, but my stomach still feels like I drank a barrel of rotten milk. And my head is throbbing.” She paused and frowned.

Jay nodded, one hand on his goatee. “And you’re not truly drunk, so it might not be the whiskey that’s poisoning you.” He paused, considering; his gaze raked back and forth across the ceiling of the loft apartment. “Have you returned Susan’s messages?”

Guilt crossed Una’s features; she glanced away as her shoulders slumped slightly. “Not yet. I take it she told you everything that I told her in my initial… outpouring of emotion?” When he nodded, she went on. “I haven’t really been up for talking to anyone. And I—I know I can go to Susan, that I should. She needs me and I need her. But I… Jay, I can’t help feeling like I fucked everything up, I feel like shit and I don’t want to just… go running to Susan to cry all over her and get her to kiss it all better, you know?”

The hacker just nodded again, and scratched his cheek with an index finger, watching her.

“Darkest hells, Jay… Even John texted me to see if I’m all right. He’s holding it together just fine—he’s probably leading services right now. But I’m the mess. I’m the source of all this pain and chaos and heartbreak. If I hadn’t come along and absorbed his friend and partner, none of this would have happened. John and Susan wouldn’t be suffering like this, and…”

Her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes; Una looked away from her companion, and her jaw worked silently while she fought to keep her composure.

The engineer watched her for a while, then spoke with a gentleness quite different from his usual acerbic manner. “It’s all right. It helps to talk about it, doesn’t it?”

Una nodded, but something welled up within her—some memory or feeling—and she buried her head in her arms. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed quietly, her body trembling with grief.

For several minutes, Jay let her be. At length, Una’s sobs quieted, though her breathing still hitched with hiccoughing gasps. She wiped the tears off her cheeks, sniffling, and turned to face Jay again, who sat quietly near her on the couch.

“I’m sorry…” was all she managed.

He shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for, roomie. It’s hard to talk it all out right away without getting tangled. Tell you what: I made major progress on my freelance gig, and I have some free time. What if we come up with something to take your mind off deep-rooted problems for a while? Something that doesn’t involve drowning your sorrows ineffectively in high-priced liquor?”

Una studied him for a moment, wiping her eyes once more and managing a slight chuckle. “What do you suggest?”

Jay Sigma held up two slender fingers, their nails adorned with cracked black polish. “First, I’ll rustle up the ingredients for my bubbe’s famous cure-all soup.” He held up his hand to stop her as she opened her mouth to say something. “Not for you to eat, unless you feel the urge. I want some soup, and it’ll make this place smell… homey, I suppose?”

The succubus watched as the lanky hacker walked over to the large cabinet beneath his massive, wall-mounted television. Neither of them gave it much use; Jay spent most of his time in his workshop, and Una preferred to read. After all, she was the multiplicative product of a studious priest and a succubus who’d only sporadically glimpsed the modern world until recently. Still, as with everything in Jay’s residence, the equipment was state-of-the-art: a 64-inch OLED television, connected wirelessly to multiple devices in the sleek, minimalist cabinet below.

“Second,” said Jay, drawing out the word as he pulled open a vertical drawer and pressed several buttons. “Hold on, it’s been a little while since I spun this rig up.” He checked a connection, grabbed a remote control, and flipped another switch. Something inside the media cabinet began to hum softly, and the television flickered on, revealing a glowing cloud of particles that swirled around the display screen.

Jay pulled out two more small devices from within the cabinet, letting out a small cry of triumph. “Here we go!” He walked over and handed one device to Una, who studied it: a rounded, black plastic enclosure designed for a double-handed grip, topped with buttons and control sticks.

The succubus raised an eyebrow. “Is this for playing…”

“Video games!” he crowed, waving an identical device in red over his head. “Don’t worry,” Jay Sigma said with an impish smile. “I’ll show you how.”

***

Ninety minutes later, the strong fragrance of chicken and vegetables wafted through the living room area of the loft, drifting in from the open-plan kitchen, where a tall pot softly bubbled. The slow-cooking soup required little attention, nor was there much to spare. Jay Sigma and Una Belmont were entirely occupied with something else.

“Hey, come over this way,” Jay said, tapping a button that made his avatar jump and whistle. The little, round-faced character in a straw hat and overalls looked almost nothing like its player. “I think this is the last seed we need to complete the Wilderness Garden, but it’ll be faster to transport it if we both—Una. What are you doing?”

The succubus wrestled her controller, holding it at an awkward angle. “Running into trees again, but on purpose this time?” On the screen, Una’s character—an adorable fox-girl in a blue gingham dress and bonnet—careened and bounced wildly through a virtual forest of colorful trees. She crashed into a particularly large tree, sending her sprawling onto the ground. A shower of flowers rained down around her.

“Hey, something besides flower petals popped out that time!” Una’s voice sounded eager as she tapped a button, causing the little fox girl avatar to pick up a red object from the forest floor. “It’s an apple!”

“Cool, you lost a bit of health to get… one gong-apple.” Jay’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “If we complete your side of the garden, however, you can plant a gong-apple tree. And we already have apple seeds for that at home. Come on!”

Una complied, running towards Jay’s avatar; her fox girl leaped through the air in a graceful somersault as she approached. Together, the two characters lifted a large, rectangular object—the outside surface looked a little like a seed, but the shape seemed more like a cube—and started walking at a slower pace through the forest.

“So… explain to me again why we’re planting all these seeds? It’s a quest, or something like that?”

Jay sighed. “Well, part of it is a quest, yes. You’ll hopefully get a level up and be able to use the ironwood shovel I made. But remember what I said about the complex ecosystem in this game? If we plant enough native flora, it’ll attract Gob-Bees to live in our garden, and then—”

“Gob-Bees. They’re like goblins… but they’re bees?”

“I guess so? They’re the green things flying around by the cliffs.” Jay gestured with a movement of the game camera, pointing at a swarm hovering in the distance.

“The ones we were running from earlier while you were yelling about how you didn’t want to lose all our seeds? We can make them like us instead?” Una took a sip from her water bottle, managing to keep the fingers of her other hand moving across the game controller.

Jay wrinkled his nose behind his glasses. “I think so… it was a mistake to steal the honey, even though I figured we could speedrun to mead that way. But this way, we probably need to build a Gob-Bee Hive first. I should really look that up on a wiki…”

“No!” Una barked. “I don’t want us to cheat at this or read spoilers.”

Her roommate rolled his eyes, then sniffed the air. “Ooh! I think I should tend to the soup. Feel free to crash into trees or dig up some more Autotaters if you see those purple leaves nearby.” Jay set down his controller and walked over to a counter near the stove. Una kept playing as he stirred the soup.

“You want to try some of this when it’s done in an hour or three?” Jay called.

“Mmm,” said Una, lost in the game. “Maybe… by then. What’s this soup called, anyway? It smells pretty good.”

“Just Chicken Soup. I mean, it has vegetables and spices in it too, but no noodles or matzoh balls. It’s mainly… just chicken soup.”

“Yes! I got another apple!”

***

Four hours later, the fox-girl on the screen wore a crown of flowers and a traditional Japanese robe, as Una guided her to hammer the side of a tall structure. Una herself had changed into something else: a pair of dark jeans with stylish tears across the knees, and a loose black blouse with a deep v-neckline. She’d pulled her chin-length hair back into a small ponytail with a pink scrunchie.

Two empty soup bowls, one large and one small, rested next to each other on Jay’s sleek glass-top coffee table, alongside two half-full mugs of tea. In the kitchen, the large pot still simmered merrily as the aroma of chicken broth filled the loft space.

“I can’t believe you’re building a signal tower to attract a giant robot!” Jay Sigma said, laughing, as he maneuvered his own avatar, now wearing a suit of practical leather armor, around the base of the structure Una was constructing.

“It’s not a giant robot! The Goatron King is a benevolent god of the forests, according to the ancient scroll you found. Why didn’t you tell me the actual point of this game?” Una kept hammering, her eyes glued to the screen.

“The actual point?” Jay said, his lips curved in amusement. “What’s the actual point, pray tell?”

“I mean,” the demoness said, “There’s the entire ecosystem of magical animals, but you’re also rebuilding the village to guide home all those lost people? The ones wandering in the Outer Void ever since the Great Collapse shattered their reality?” She shivered. “That’s horrible! It’s like… well, I couldn’t really explain what Hell is like, even if I remembered it properly. But it’s horrible.”

Jay’s eyes widened with interest, but Una didn’t pause long enough to notice. “Well, I’m glad you’re so into saving the world and whatever. And that you got dressed and took a shower! Wait, when did you take a shower?”

“Huh?” Una said. “I didn’t take a shower.” She paused the game and looked at him. “I’ll be honest. I wanted to save time. So I just did… this.”

The succubus closed her eyes, snapped her fingers, and said, “Nkeocha!” Abruptly, Una’s skin glowed a warm red for a moment, then faded. A smell like ozone and fresh laundry wafted from her body, along with a faint breeze.

Jay sat up, having slumped back on the couch while playing the game. “Was that a cleansing cantrip? But on your body? Wait, did you use the nanobots to…?”

Una nodded proudly. “Simple trick, but I figured out how to use both at once last week: the spell creates a burst of static electricity that ionizes and cleans, but it’s the bots that destroy all the dirt and oil and dead skin cells before the cantrip blows away anything that remains.” Her tail twitched with satisfaction as she grinned at him, and Jay noticed her nails had grown shorter.

“Will wonders never cease? I wonder if I could replicate that…” Jay paused, his head cocked. “But it’s getting a little late. Maybe we should call it a night and finish the tower tomorrow?” He yawned and stretched, not quite mustering the energy to stand up.

“Uh huh,” said Una. “Just let me finish putting on this last panel…”

***

Jay Sigma woke up to the sound of a crash, then realized sleepily that the noise had come from the television. His head lay on something soft, smooth and warm: the bare thighs of his roommate, Una Belmont. She had one arm around his head and shoulders, but both hands and all her attention remained focused on playing the video game.

The succubus had taken her pants off at some point, Jay realized with some embarrassment, and he’d fallen asleep while leaning against her leg. Her skin felt hot to the touch, and smelled faintly of cinnamon and something else…

He tried to pull his face away without disturbing her, but his nose brushed against her thigh and she gasped softly.

“Hey, sleepy human! I didn’t want to disturb you,” Una said, “but you curled up just like a cat and started making this adorable snuffling noise. So I was forced to keep playing while you snoozed on me. Forced, I tell you.” He heard a smile in her voice, and her fingers brushed his shoulder as she spoke.

The hacker sat up, stretching his back with one hand as he rubbed his face with the other. “Sorry for falling asleep on you… what time is it?”

Una’s gaze never left the television screen. “Hmm. Something so late it’s early? Getting-light-outside o’clock. But I finally figured out how to breed the Gob-Bees with Minotaurs, so our farm’s energy problems are over! You can make this special harness… for their backsides… and it collects, like, some kind of methane?”

Jay glanced at the screen in disbelief. Una’s avatar, dressed in a flowing white gown with a golden crown on her fox-girl head, ran through some sort of cave. The succubus’ fingers danced dexterously across the controls, avoiding obstacles. “Methane gas? You made the settlement fart-powered?”

“That’s not all,” she replied. “I reached the bottom of the ancient mine, and I found the Dark Gem of Kul’as.” The fox-girl emerged into a glen filled with flowers and butterflies.

“Holy shit,” Jay said, standing up to stretch. “You really have been playing continuously, haven’t you? That gem is an endgame artifact! We can use it to reprogram the behaviors and skills of the villagers.”

Una set the controller down, and the camera spun around her avatar as she regarded Jay. “First of all, how did you know that? Second, of course I’m would never reprogram people to do what we want or make them more efficient! That would be wrong, even if it’s… tempting.”

The hacker snorted as he wandered over to pour more tea. “Okay, so I might have read a couple of wiki pages while you were meticulously plowing fields. But this is a game, Una! You can explore weird things you’d never do in life without turning into a real-world villain like Thomas Spencer. What did you do with the gem, then? Put it in our storage box?”

“Aha,” said Una. “That’s where my moral compass comes in handy. The Dark Gem of Kul’as was one of the options for the Harvest Pot, so I put it in the stew.”

Jay nearly spilled his drink and turned around quickly to stare at her in amazement. “You cooked an… an ancient, evil artifact in a festival dish and fed it to the entire community? That was your more ethical option?”

“Look,” said Una, and moved her avatar down a path into the entrance to the community they’d built together. The village looked subtly different from when the pair had played together during the night; it seemed brighter, for one thing, and the colors seemed more vibrant. Then Jay saw it: the villagers were moving through the air, floating as if supported by invisible currents while they went about their business. One young boy in overalls drifted by the screen, waving a hoe in greeting.

Jay rubbed his eyes. “That was not in the wiki. Giving the villagers magical powers… Una, I think you might be breaking the game! In a good way, I mean. The best way to play.”

Una set the controller down and stood up, mimicking Jay’s stretch—though, unlike the hacker, her body’s curves made her T-shirt ride up to expose a few tantalizing inches of her belly. She raised her arms above her head, arching back to show off her full figure.

“I could use a break,” she said, noticing Jay looking at her.

He coughed and looked at his phone to check the time. “Good idea. You might not need sleep in the exact way I do, but we ought to keep you fed so that you don’t start sucking the life out of plants again. What do you say we go outside and get some breakfast? And fresh air.”

Una put a finger on her chin. “I… I suppose. I’ve gotten too used to staying indoors. But maybe a walk will do me good, even if I don’t feel like eating much more than broth.”

Jay moved towards the bathroom, then turned back. “Fresh air might perk up your appetite. Or how about this: imagine you were hungry, and you were at one of those diners with eight pages of menu items? What would Una Belmont order?”

The demoness smiled at the question. Her yellow eyes sparkled for a moment. “French fries.”

***

The gate of the industrial lift slid back, and the two roommates stepped back into the sunlit expanse of the loft apartment they shared, both laughing. Jay carried a shopping bag of snacks and other supplies, while Una balanced a box of diner takeout on top of an enormous milkshake.

“I can’t believe you told the waitress that you’re a Goatron from beyond the portals, and you needed the calories because you’re about to power a new biomechanical form,” Jay said, setting the bag onto the kitchen island and beginning to unpack.

Una winked. “It wasn’t entirely untrue, right? And she didn’t bat an eye. Waitresses in Brooklyn these days must see everything.” She took a sip from the straw jutting out of the milkshake, then grimaced and set the cup aside, rubbing her temples.

Jay watched her curiously, waiting. When she spoke again, her tone was more resigned. “Thanks for dragging me outside, Jay. I needed this. But it’s… I mean…” Una looked at him plaintively. “I’m not up to going to work tomorrow. Do you think I can call in sick again?”

Jay Sigma raised his arms, palms out in a hands-off gesture of neutrality. “I’m not your boss or your partner. Maybe you’d better talk things through with Susan?”

Una nodded, sinking onto the couch, where an indentation perfectly matched her body contours, evidence of their lengthy gaming session. “I should. I did—I texted her earlier, but she’s in some briefing about our next assignment.” The demoness frowned. “I ought to be there, of course, but I’m terrified of having a meltdown in front of Director Lombardi. Or worse, Monsignor Albert.” Her nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought.

“Okay, so call in sick!” Jay shrugged and settled himself into his own neighboring indentation. “Take a personal day, a mental health day. OSA agents must get those, what with the stress of the job!”

The succubus looked doubtful, biting her lower lip as her eyebrows drew close. “I feel guilty for skipping out, but maybe you’re right. I’ll take care of myself properly, instead of lying around the loft feeling sorry for myself.” Her gaze moved to the television, and she picked up one of the game controllers, idly toying with it. “…but should I really let myself get sucked back into the wonders of Stardust Hollow: Echoes of the Void?”

Jay ran his tongue over his teeth as he considered her. “If you’re asking yourself that question, you might be ready to escape the siren song of video games. We could do something else instead? I’ve been meaning to run more tests on you…” He saw the look on her face and relented. “Or we could play a board game instead? Or read, I know you like reading…”

Una pursed her lips. “Or we could… I dunno, just hang out? Talk? Like friends do? It feels like you’re always working or experimenting or something. Don’t you ever relax, Jay?”

The engineer looked at her blankly for a few seconds, then shook his head. “That is how I relax! That, or doing some other activity that uses my brain or body, like exercise or playing a game. But I’m happy to talk with you if that feels helpful.”

The succubus sat still for another long moment. Finally, she set the game controller aside and leaned forward, her elbows balanced on her knees. She looked up and caught his gaze. Jay Sigma’s heart skipped a beat as he met her golden eyes, framed by a fall of glossy ebony locks of hair. Una’s lips were slightly parted, her breath softly exhaling.

“It’s not so much that I need to talk,” she said. “I’m… hmm, how do I put this? I don’t know if it’s a good idea.” She placed a finger on the side of her chin.

“What?” Jay tilted his head, perturbed. “What’s not a good idea?” He tried to catch a hint from Una’s body language, or a glimpse of some emotion in her face, anything to help him decode the situation.

Jay’s roommate took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose… you feel like fucking?”

The hacker blinked. He felt a surge within him, but he fought it down as he searched her face and found only uncertainty mixed—ever so slightly—with hunger. Jay Sigma’s pulse raced, and he swallowed. “I—uh… actually, yes. Yes, I do. Feel like fucking.”

Una nodded, then grabbed his shirt and pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him deeply and hungrily. She moaned softly as their bodies pressed together, her breasts flattening against Jay’s chest. Their legs shifted, and she climbed atop his lap.