Chapter 14 – Unholy Cardio
She didn't even want to move. Her muscles didn't know whether to melt or scream for a medic. Every nerve had already checked out and filed a complaint, and yet her brain—traitorous and high on post-orgasmic haze—was still trying to process what just happened.
And above her?
Lux was glowing.
Not metaphorically.
[+100 DP. Partner gains +25% resistance to demonic corruption.]
He literally looked like someone had poured liquid gold into a statue of sin and let it stretch. His skin shimmered faintly in the soft lighting—golden, perfect, untarnished by the sweat or panting or twitching that normal people experienced after sex. He just stood there, wings folded, tail lazily flicking behind him, looking like the cover model of Hell's Richest Bachelor Monthly. Smirking. Satisfied.
Radiant.
"Why do you look like that?" Naomi mumbled into the pillow.
Lux tilted his head, eyes still gleaming red, and gave her a boyish shrug that didn't match the wicked glint in his gaze.
"Like what?" he said.
"Like you didn't just blow my soul out my body five times in a row."
"Oh," he said casually. "Because I didn't lose anything. I gained."
She squinted. "Excuse me?"
Just then, a familiar voice echoed in Lux's head—clear, crisp, and obnoxiously chipper.
[Congratulations, sir! After two hundred years, you aren't a virgin anymore! ]
"Shut up," Lux growled under his breath.
[Oh dear. So sensitive after sex. Do you need a silk robe and a cuddle?]
'Mentally flipping you off.'
[How charming.]
Lux sighed and reached lazily for a discarded towel, dabbing a faint spot of Naomi's lipstick from his collarbone. Not that he minded. But he needed to do something with his hands or else he'd crawl back onto the bed and ruin her legs again.
Naomi cracked one eye open and stared at him. "How… how are you not sweating?"
Lux tilted his head, pretending to consider. "Hm. Incubus metabolism?"
"No seriously," she groaned, rolling to her side, the sheets sticking slightly to her back from the heat. "I feel like I just ran a marathon and got hit by a truck and kissed by God. And you're just… glowing?"
He chuckled softly, walking over to sit on the bed beside her. "I mean. Yeah. I am part incubus, Naomi. I kinda eat through sex."
She blinked. "What?"
He leaned in, brushing a kiss to her shoulder, his breath warm. "Didn't I tell you? Sex isn't just for fun. It's… energy. To me, at least. And damn, sweetheart—you were a full-course meal."
Naomi's eyes widened. "You… ate me?!"
Lux burst out laughing, nearly doubling over. "No! No no no—don't say it like that. I mean I absorbed energy through our, you know—" he waved vaguely at the mess between them, "—unholy cardio."
"Oh my god," she muttered, hiding her face under a pillow.
He leaned down again, this time whispering just above her ear. "You felt it too, didn't you?"
She didn't answer at first. But she didn't deny it either.
Her fingers curled slightly around the edge of the pillow. Her legs twitched faintly, the sensitivity still lingering. Then finally—quietly—she murmured, "Yeah… I kinda feel weird. Like I drank three energy drinks and someone kissed my soul."
Lux smiled. That was the best way anyone had ever described an infernal feedback loop.
"See?" he said softly. "That's the difference. 'My investment' is mutual."
Naomi didn't say anything this time. She didn't need to. The blush that dusted her cheeks, the way her eyes briefly flicked down to her thighs—still slick with the remnants of that so-called investment—was answer enough.
Lux grinned and leaned closer.
She met him halfway.
The kiss they shared was slower this time. Not rushed. Not ravenous. It was deliberate. A claiming. Her fingers curled into his hair, pulling him down as his wings arched over them like curtains of shadow and silk.
There was no fire between them—only heat. The kind that smoldered. That promised more. That whispered 'we're not done yet' even as their bodies begged for a pause.
His hand slid along her back, trailing warmth like it had memory, like it remembered every place it had touched and wanted to revisit each one with reverence.
She sighed into his mouth.
He drank it like wine.
And just as the moment started to melt into something deeper—richer…
Fwoosh. Fwoosh. CAWWWW!!
The lights flickered.
A cold ripple of shadow cut through the air like reality itself hiccupped—and then, right through the pristine marble wall like it meant nothing, Corvus phased into existence. Feathers scattered in his wake like shattered pixels, each one humming with faint static and the stench of burned code.
Naomi yelped, pulling the sheet up to her chest like it could deflect whatever unholy noise just invaded their atmosphere.
Lux didn't flinch. His expression didn't change. But his soul?
His soul sighed.
"Of course," he muttered, already bracing himself.
The glass doors burst open like some sort of demonic PowerPoint presentation had just been loaded into the suite.
Corvus, obsidian plumage sleek and eyes glowing with sarcastic malice, strutted in like he owned the place. Which, knowing his hacking habits, might've been true.
"Hello, boss!" Corvus cawed with too much enthusiasm for a bird. "I have managed to fulfill your order. Ahead of schedule, might I add."
Naomi blinked. "The bird is talking."
The raven flapped once, throwing glittering feathers across the room like dark confetti. Then, with dramatic flair, he dropped two shiny black credit cards onto the bed. They gleamed with platinum edges and a strange demonic sigil carved faintly into the surface.
A third item followed—a large, antique-style brass key with Carson's initials engraved, still dripping a faint trace of glamour energy from its confiscation.
[System Notification: New Assets Acquired]
-Black Card (x2) – Unlimited Credit Access
-Ownership: Carson Delacour's Mansion
-Ownership: Eternal Lotus Bank (51% Majority Stake)
-Real Identity & Mortality Credentials Established
Lux's eyebrow twitched. "Wait. A bank?"
Corvus tilted his head. "Yes. You said a bank. So I acquired one. Congratulations. You are now the 51% majority stakeholder of Eternal Lotus. Prime vault access included."