His Monster (Digital Demons Book 1)
Working at a game company is just a job until a cosplay moment opens her eyes to another world beyond her own and exposes her boss for the demon he is.
Serene hasn’t wanted much out of life. A car, a house, a job, and a few friends. That was her list. She ended up with a house that taxed her to the limit, a car that died at work, and a job that paid too little for her to be able to afford a new vehicle. She was thinking about working elsewhere when an urgent request puts her in a situation she wasn’t too fond of.
Dressing up as one of the bosses in the game had become part of her job, but she hated doing it in public forums where guys got grabby. A day’s appearance at the convention dressed as the demon queen was an exercise in dodging pinching fingers. The moment she could relax for the display, the crowd went wild. She couldn’t turn to look, but the hand around her wasn’t human, and it pulled her back into what appeared to be the game that she had been seeing all around the office. She wasn’t a gamer.
A demon assigns her a few quests; she completes one without trouble. Seducing him is the other. When the demon reveals her boss’s face, she is a lot less hesitant.
Waiting for thousands of years for the woman reincarnated with the spirit of his wife has caused a lot of stress for the nameless god. Finding her was one thing, convincing the human soul that she was housed in to agree to let them reunite involved a detailed seduction. It was a good thing he had time to plan.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
His Monster
Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-989892-17-6
©Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.
His Monster
Published by Viola Grace
Look for me online at violagrace.com and your favourite eBook sellers.
His Monster
Digital Demons Book 1
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
She staggered into the boardroom with her arms loaded with the vegetable and sandwich platters for the launch meeting. The caterer normally brought it in, but today, there was just too much advertising and game paraphernalia in the way.
She felt her way carefully across the room and then set the stack of platters down on the table. When her arms were free, she looked up and saw the Boss smiling at her. “Oh, Boss. I didn’t know you were here already.”
“Serene. Good to see you again. I showed up a little early. Looks like things are getting exciting here.” His gaze was as calm and direct as always.
She hunched in a little, “Uh, yes. Team One’s product launch prep seems to be going well. As far as I know, they are only lacking a few elements to their campaign. I have no idea what they are, but I know they are on budget.”
He smiled slightly. “Don’t let me interrupt your work. I am just reading a report on the drop rates.”
She swallowed and started to set the table, leaving plenty of room for laptops and tablets. All the drinks were still in the lobby, so she walked out and picked them up, hauling them back in, and she carefully set them in the cooler, keeping four out for the guys who liked their drinks at room temperature. There were napkins, plates, and hand sanitizer. She knew that everything was going to be trashed in a few hours, but it would keep the guys fed and taken care of for their meetings.
The entire time she had set things up, confirmed the connections to the display, and sorted the spare charging cables, the Boss had been watching her. There was something about his gaze that made her want to pile on a heavy sweater. He never said anything untoward or even suggestive. Hell, he never complimented her on her outfits, but there was something in his look that sent her heart fluttering. It could have been his body. It was definitely his body. He was the first guy of her acquaintance that made her feel petite next to him, and at six feet in heels, it was an unfamiliar experience for her. He was also structured like a professional wrestler, and he really had no excuse for being a brilliant game designer. It didn’t suit the caveman physique.
She walked to the door. “Have a good meeting, sir.”
He looked at her in surprise. “You aren’t staying?”
“No, sir. This is best left to the people who actually understand what the heck you guys are talking about.” She grinned. “For once, I have a lunch date.”
She left with her heels clicking on the marble tile.
Serene didn’t look back until she was at her desk, and the Boss was scowling at her. She shivered and grabbed her purse. Her phone was already lit up with messages, so Serene headed to the door and sprinted across the street to the restaurant. She had a date.
Serene slurped her soup, and she grinned as she set the bowl down. “So glad you could get out today, Lia.”
Lia chuckled. “You caught me between babies. It has been a heckuva week. Too many mothers and mothers-in-law are offering obstetrics advice when the mother just needs to relax a bit. The stress of being watched like a ticking time bomb is intense.”
Serene thought of the way the Boss watched her. He didn’t watch her like she was a bomb; he stared at her like she was a snack.
“So, are you enjoying the wide world of game design?”
Serene snorted. “Right. No, not really. I don’t hate it, but numbers are numbers, and events are events. I just organize everything and go home. Then, I get called at weird hours and have to go kiss the financials better.”
Lia grunted. “You don’t do anything fun?”
Serene grimaced. “Occasionally, but I would describe it more as weird than fun. I do some motion capture for the female monsters. Mostly for cut scenes.”
Lia’s eyes were wide. “You are one of the monsters? Cool.”
“I am four currently. They finally found a woman of the same dimensions, so she is the other two. They are going to be filming one of the scenes today.”
“Really? Can we watch?”
Serene checked her watch. “Do you have time? They should be starting in twenty minutes.”
“Oh, for something like this, I can make time. This is finally interesting.”
“Hey!”
“Oh, you are interesting, Serene. Just a known event. I want to see something new!” Lia waggled her eyebrows.
Serene groaned and got to her feet. “Fine. Come on. We can watch the mo-cap in the warehouse.”
“Do we have to be quiet?”
“No, they do the voiceovers later. They are just looking for motion and expression today.”
They walked to the door, and the rain had started.
Serene winced. “Right. Use your briefcase as cover. We are aiming for that yellow door.”
Lia grinned. “See? Fun!”
They opened the door and bolted out into the rain, across the empty street, and toward the yellow door. Serene hit the scanner with her code card and stumbled inside with her friend behind her. She was soaked to the skin, and she staggered a little further into the building.
She was going to tell Lia where they were going next when a frantic Tibor ran up to her. “Serene! Thank goodness. We have been calling for the last twenty minutes. Where were you?”
She paused. “Uh, across the street? This is my friend Lia. I thought I could spend the rest of my break showing her the mo-cap procedure.”
Tibor blinked. “Yeah, welcome. Seren
e, come on. Sammy sprained her ankle. She can’t work today, and we need this scene.”
He grabbed her wrist and hauled her into the backstage area where a dozen voices said her name in relief. “What is the rush? Who am I going to be?”
Tibor muttered. “Alwis-Haub.”
“The demon queen? What the hell? I thought she wasn’t going to be a main character.”
“Yeah, there is a fight sequence with her and Embor-al.”
She stopped cooperating, and Tibor was pulled to a halt. “Who is the model for Embor-al?”
Tibor smiled. “The Boss said he would do it. It took a while to find his suit, but we managed it.”
As he spoke, the changing room curtain flapped open, and the Boss came out, in skin-tight spandex covered with reflective dots at major joints.
He looked directly at her, and his gaze slowly trailed from her face, down her body, and up again. “It started raining, I see.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her face on fire. “Um, yes. So, fight sequence?”
“It is just for a cut scene where they can choose to fight either boss. There is a tournament planned so they can see what the bosses have to offer.”
She nodded and looked to Tibor. “Is my suit in there?”
Tibor nodded. “We are in a bit of a hurry.”
She nodded. “Right. Gear up and get all the equipment ready. I will be out as fast as I can.”
Lia was talking to one of the guys and seemed to be in good hands. Tom wasn’t a perv, he was just unlucky in his choice of ladies.
Serene went into the change room, and her clothing hit the floor with wet splats. The suit didn’t want to go on over her damp skin, but she pulled and smoothed and zipped until she was covered. The accessories for Alwis-Haub were many. She pulled on the thigh cuff, the arm cuff, the wrap skirt with the reflection points. There were dots on her forehead to mark the necklace and rings on every finger, each with their register point.
She put her hair in a heavy band that would hold it in place, and then, she looked in the mirror. All the main points of the demon queen were accounted for.
She needed her facial dots and the camera, and then, she was going to be ready. She liked the bonus but hated being on display.
She was set up, and she headed to the platform. There was a small trampoline, and that made her wince. She was going to have to do aerial attacks, and that was always difficult to manage with a straight face. The bouncing made her giggle.
The Boss was swinging the signature sword of Embor-al, demon king.
Serene went to the table and picked up the dagger and wand of Alwis-Haub. She flicked through the storyline, and her cheeks pinked. “Who wrote this?”
Rob looked up and said, “The Boss. Who do you think? I mean, the last page was just brought in today, but you can manage it, right?”
She looked at him and blinked. “Manage it?”
“Yeah. It is just a kiss. We can film it first if you like.”
She blushed but nodded. “I would like to get it out of the way.”
Rob shrugged. “I will tell the Boss.”
She swallowed and smiled. “Thanks.”
Rob went over and talked to him, and the Boss looked at her, beckoning her over. He frowned. “Are you sure you want to start with that?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Pretty sure. If it isn’t any good, we can always try it again later.”
There was a light in his eyes. “There is that.”
“How hard am I allowed to hit you?”
He chuckled. “As hard as you like.”
She paused.
“What?”
“I am just trying to remember how much I got for my Christmas bonus. It will be the deciding factor.”
He grinned, and her heart thudded in her chest.
“Right. It is time to make out with twenty people watching. Nothing weird about that, right, Boss?” She tried to keep her tone light, but then, he took her hand and led her to the platform where they would be filming.
She ignored Lia’s whoop of encouragement, listened for the call to start, and she looked at the Boss when she started to speak, “You break my heart, over and over, chasing mortal women.”
He looked away. “They are fleeting entertainments. The thrill of seduction, of the hunt, of the chase.”
She growled. “Do you know what it took for me to let you in? You have thrown me away.”
He paused. “What will you do?”
Her smile was twisted. “I will follow your excellent example, husband. I will find myself a human lover and then another and then another.”
His hand snapped out and pulled him to her until she was flat against him. He bent his head, and he whispered, “You have been mine for fifty lifetimes, and you will be mine for five hundred more.”
She moved to slap him, and he caught her hand. He pulled her hand down, pressed it to her lower back, and he whispered the words she wanted to hear. “I’m sorry.”
His mouth descended on hers, and her toes curled during the surprisingly tender kiss. His free hand touched her jaw, and she fought the urge to go up on her toes. He lifted his head, and they looked at each other. She said her line. “I might forgive you... in fifty lifetimes, but you are going to have to earn it.”
His smile was slow, her smile was slow, and then, Andre yelled, “Cut!”
She stepped back and exhaled slowly. “How many more versions are there?”
The Boss murmured, “Three. You land the blow, you blast me at close range, and you refuse to come in close. They will be randomized in the promo.”
“Lovely. A kiss in each one?”
He shrugged. “Sue me, I am a romantic.”
She didn’t remind him that they were portraying demonic battle bosses who killed players gleefully in the game. “Right. Let’s do the slap next.”
He grinned, and they went back to the first positions marked on the platform. It was time to earn another Christmas bonus.
Chapter Two
Three hours later, they had fought, kissed, made up again, and Serene had even engaged in two aerial attacks. The third ended up being a fumble, and she took off instead of bounced. The Boss caught her, and she apologized then had to wait for him to slowly put her back on her feet.
She was going to be sore in the morning.
When they wrapped for the day, she walked around to Andre and watched some of the blocky translations of her motions into the video while removing her facial camera. She froze in horror as she saw her jump, flail, and get caught neatly by the Boss. Her character would be mortified.
“You can’t be keeping that.” She looked at him sternly.
“It is hilarious. You weren’t injured, and Embor-al got to save the girl. It will make an excellent clip with the mountain behind you exploding or something.”
She groaned and tried to straighten up. There was a wall of heat behind her. “Um, Boss, I need to get out of here and finish filing payroll.”
He sighed and regretfully straightened. “Run away; I need to check the footage.”
She scooted sideways and headed for the changing area where she found that, in her hurry to get into the suit, she hadn’t hung up her shirt, skirt, or underwear. They were still soaked. Fuck.
She rang out her clothes and pulled them on after carefully removing all of the bling and hanging up the motion-capture suit. She peeled off the headband, and even her hair was still damp. Ah, well, there was work to be done. She could dry off as she typed.
Lia had left a bunch of teasing messages on her phone. Alone in her office, she smiled at the phone. The speakers blared Lia’s taunts about how cut Serene and the Boss had looked.
“So, you had a lunch date with a friend.” The Boss was leaning in her doorway.
She frantically shut off Lia’s analysis of the kiss. “Um. Yes. She doesn’t get much free time.”
He chuckled. “You brought her along?”
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br /> “Yeah. She had to attend a delivery, so she left about an hour into the afternoon’s activities.” She ran the payroll numbers while she talked.
“Delivery?”
“She’s an obstetrician. She had to catch a baby.” She grinned.
“Ah, so the scheduled...”
“Has to be planned around other women.” She chuckled. “So to speak.”
He chuckled and stepped inside. Her normally comfortable office became a lot smaller very quickly. She shivered.
He looked at her. “Aren’t your clothes dry?”
“Um, no. I forgot to hang them up. Was in too much of a hurry, I guess.”
He frowned. “Don’t you have something to change into?”
“No. It is between seasons, and I usually have a sweater here, but... I took it home last week.”
He looked at her with his brows knit together. “Hang on.”
He left her office and returned in under a minute with a shirt in his hands—a big shirt.
She looked at it and at him. “I wasn’t planning on camping.”
“Just put it on so your shirt can dry. It is nearly transparent and fairly distracting.”
He handed her the cotton, and she took it. He politely turned his back, but she still pivoted her chair before undoing the buttons of her blouse, whipping it over her head and then slipping herself into his shirt. She pulled everything into neat lines and rolled the cuffs back. It was long enough to fall past mid-thigh.
“Okay. I am decent. Thank you.”
He turned around, and she noticed that with the dimming light outside the window, he could see everything reflected in the glass of her office wall. Fortunately, she had only given a show to the non-existent traffic outside her window.
She picked up her blouse and took it to her door, lifting the hangar off it and letting the fabric have a chance to dry. She scooted back to her damp chair and looked through her documents.