The Desire-Drinking Spirit
Slurp… slurp…
A wet noise rang obscenely through the quiet forest.
"Ugh…" Victor's body convulsed, his back arcing over the mossy earth. A fire spread from his lower half, molten, dizzying, too real to be a dream. His own breath stuttered out of him in jagged gasps as his eyes fluttered. "Wh-what the… this feeling…?"
He willed his eyes open.
And froze.
Between his thighs, hidden in the roots of the giant tree, was a girl—silver hair flowing like liquid moonlight down her spine, mouth wrapped around his cock as if she'd starved herself for him. Her violet eyes shone dimly when she looked up, but she didn't relent. Her tongue explored him in slow, calculated circles, each stroke practiced, ruinous.
"Wait—what the fuck—?" Victor cursed, bewilderment washing over him even as another groan escaped. His previous life had been one of pleasure and deception, but this… this was something he'd awakened to previously.
He clenched his teeth, attempting to maintain a hold on reason. "Who… are you? Why are you… ngh—doing this?"
Slurp. Slurp.
She finally drew away, lips shining, a thin thread of saliva still linking her mouth to him. Her smile was languid, too knowing for a girl who appeared to be barely twenty.
"Mm…" she licked her lips, relishing the flavor. "Your seed is tasty."
Victor's brows furrowed. That voice—low and sultry, but with a faint familiarity. He had heard it before. Before his death.
"You…" his chest went up and down in a quick, harsh motion. "You're the one who talked to me when I was dying, aren't you? The one who asked if I wanted a new life?"
"Yes." She cocked her head, amusement in her violet eyes. "Technically, I saved you. But not for your benefit. You're my host now, Victor."
He blinked, still dazed, cock still smarting from her contact. "Host? What the hell does that mean?"
The girl did not reply. She instead crawled up his body, leaning her tiny weight on his chest, her hair caressing his jaw. Her lips hovered just above his, close enough that she was all he could smell.
"Some say demon. Some, angel," she breathed, her voice twisting into his ear like smoke. "Neither. I am Spirit. Conceived of the strongest, ugliest desire people attempt to suppress."
Victor tried to swallow, but his throat was dry as sand. "You're… not human?"
Her smile grew, ethereal, unnerving. "No. But I exist. I starve. Just not for sustenance."
Before he could answer, she kissed him on the lips and breathed something into him—warm, electric, alive. It seared down his throat and swelled in his chest until his body shook.
Victor gasped. "What… what was that?"
"My essence. Connecting us together. From this point forward, you supply me, and I sustain you."
His heart pounded, yet somehow, he wasn't afraid. Too many lies and disillusionments back home had schooled him in hiding fear behind a disguise of tranquility. He regulated his breathing, then queried gruffly, "Feed you… how?
The Spirit laughed, a laugh that was ridiculously innocent-sounding as her hand slid down and wrapped around him once more. "Like that. I am born of desire, Victor. I require your seed. Your pleasure. Your body within me." Her eyes sparkled. "Every day."
Victor's jaw dropped a little. He let out a half-disbelieving bark of laughter. "That's it? Just sex?"
"Mhm."
He rested his head back against the bark, exhaling slowly. Of all the things he'd anticipated for this do-over, daily sex wasn't quite the worst. His former life as a gigolo gave the ridiculousness a sort of. familiarity. And she'd saved him.
"Fine," he said at last, voice firm but tinged with curiosity. "I'll provide what you require. But at least tell me your name."
Her face flashed. For an instant, she seemed. lost. "I don't have one."
Victor examined her—silver hair glinting dimly in the light, violet eyes sharp but inscrutable. She was lovely, intoxicating, but something else too, something more deadly.
"Then I'll assign you one." His mouth curled slightly. "Violet. Because of your eyes.
Her form froze. Something deep flickered through her eyes—shock, perhaps even terror. Then she smiled again, gentle and odd, as if his words had touched a forgotten thing. "…Violet," she breathed, feeling out the name. Her grin then curved back into playfulness again. "Very well. Call me Violet."
An abrupt chime sounded.
[Ding!]
[Host synchronization with Victor Lionheart: complete.]
[System unlocked.]
Victor flinched as a translucent blue screen snapped into existence in front of him. His eyes widened. "What the hell—?"
Menus floated before him, familiar in layout yet impossibly real.
Character.
Stats.
Equipment.
Cultivation Techniques.
Battle Techniques.
Item Box.
Partners.
Quest.
Shop.
It was like a game. Or one of the countless webnovels he used to read.
"…You've got to be kidding me," he muttered.
Violet smiled, her mouth barely grazing the rim of his jaw. "This is my gift. I molded it out of your memories, so you would not be lost. You refer to it… system, yes?"
Victor's eyes sparkled, wonder igniting under the bewilderment. "A system? Like in the books?"
"Yes.
He laughed, actually laughed, a raw, giddy sound that sent the birds in the trees screaming out in surprise. "Holy shit, I actually got transmigrated!" He wrapped an arm around Violet spontaneously, holding her tightly against him. "You're amazing."
She just giggled, fingers trailing lazily over his chest.
Victor turned away from the glowing screen and clicked the Character tab.
[Character]
Name: Victor Lionheart
Age: 16
Cultivation: Mortal
Physique: Black Lion Body
Bloodline: Celestial Black Lion
Elements: Fire (Lower Rank), Wind (Lower Rank), Earth (Lower Rank), Water (Lower Rank), Ice (Lower Rank), Lightning (Lower Rank), Dark (Sealed), Light (Sealed), Space (Sealed)
Innate Ability: Fast Regeneration
Victor's breath caught. His grin grew wider. "So this is me now."
But Violet's voice cut through, softer now, stern. "Look closer. Your build and your heritage—they are not playthings. The Celestial Black Lion is an animal of pure dominance, pure hunger. Without balance, without control… it will consume you."
Victor's smile wavered.
"You will require Yin to temper that bloodline," Violet went on, eyes dark and unflinching. "Otherwise, the lion within you will devour you, distort you into nothing but lust and madness."
Victor's throat constricted as he struggled with that. The idea of losing his mind, of being a slave to his own bloodline—his flesh crawled with it. But her words kindled something within him as well. A challenge.
He drew breath, half laugh, half snarl. "So let me get this straight. I have to screw in order to live?"
Her lips curled, smiling and lethal. "That's it. And you already owed me, didn't you?"
Victor leaned away, eyeing the drifting system screen, Violet straddling him with violet eyes burning into his. A shiver went through his chest—not quite lust, but the gravity of possibility.
He had perished betrayed, discarded like rubbish. And now he was here, with power coursing through his veins and a demon tied to his heart.
And for the first time in years, Victor Lionheart smiled like a man who had nothing left to lose.