Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 67

“Let’s go in this one!”

Dante looked at the shop, then back at an excited Olivia. “No.”

Olivia began to pout, her expression downcast. “Why not?”

“Seriously?” He looked back to the shop. It was a lace shop, which wouldn’t have been so bad on its own, but the lack of anything for sale aside from undergarments gave him misgivings. “If you want to go in there, I’ll wait for you here.”

Olivia walked toward him and latched onto his free arm. “But who will tell me if what I try on looks good or not?” She let out a sigh. “You’re not acting like much of a gentleman.”

He didn’t bother to respond to her words, she had said the same thing when he refused to go ‘see her room’. That refusal had led to his current predicament; shopping.

Shopping wasn’t nearly as fun as he thought it would be, they had only been in one shop thus far, and Olivia forced him to try on different clothes for hours. Every time he came out of the changing room Olivia would giggle with the store owner, and the two of them would exchange remarks that made his cheeks flare red.

He had thought that they were just killing time so that Victoria and Melisandre could talk, but was proven wrong when Olivia bought all of the outfits that she liked the best, and they were expensive. Something about Olivia spending so much money on him, and the mirthful expression of the store owner as she paid, was demeaning.

He and Olivia continued to walk down the wealthy merchant's district of Desas. The district was surprisingly well kept and seemed exceedingly wealthy. Even those who were walking the streets and perusing the shops were finely dressed in silk. It was definitely a clear cut off from the other areas of Desas that he had walked through with Victoria, and the two of them even had to go through a guarded gate to enter the area. He was actually surprised that Melisandre and Olivia weren’t staying in the district.

Dante glanced down at Olivia, who was still holding onto his arm. She somehow managed to fully press herself against his body as they walked without making it look awkward. “Why is this area of the Desas so much nicer than the others?”

A disparity in city districts was somewhat standard, but the disparity in Desas was a bit much. The difference was almost night and day.

“The entirety of Desas is basically a garrison with a city inside of it, and this is the city.” Olivia gestured to the different shops and finely dressed people with her free hand. “As a powerful warlord’s headquarters, it’s one of the safest locations in the wastelands. Anyone with a rare skill or a decent amount of wealth would be drawn to it. Oh, our masters are finished talking.”

Dante looked at her curiously. “How do you know?”

Olivia held out one of her dainty hands. “The guild ring. It has enchantments that allow it to receive signals from other guild rings if left active.”

That was news to him. He slipped his own ring off the hand holding the shopping bags, then inspected it. Sure enough, there were three intricate enchantments on the inside of the band. The fact that someone could squeeze an enchantment onto such a small ring was somewhat surprising.

“The largest enchantment will activate the ring, allowing you to receive signals. The second enchantment, when working in conjunction to the first, will alert other guild members of your presence when you are in close proximity, and the third and smallest enchantment will send out a signal to all nearby guild members when activated.”

He fed world essence into the largest enchantment, and it lit up. To his surprise, it stayed activated, even after he stopped feeding world essence into it. Then, he placed it back on his finger. It was somewhat surprising that Victoria had never mentioned that the ring was enchanted before. She likely didn’t think that he would have much contact with other guild members.

“This is what a signal feels like.” As Olivia said the words, he could feel a tingling sensation in the finger that the ring was on. “And this is what it feels like when someone has the second enchantment activated near you.” Olivia seemed to activate the second enchantment, and he felt a strange pressure coming from the ring. It was now obvious how Victoria had found Melisandre so easily.

He felt another tingling sensation, this one slightly stronger, and Olivia tugged on his arm. “Let’s go. That’s the third signal Melisandre sent. She must be in a hurry.” The change in Olivia’s attitude when Melisandre signaled to them was slightly surprising, even her playful and seductive demeanor quickly disappeared.

Olivia took charge, dragging him through the merchant district, past the guarded gate, and then down the regular streets until they were back at the inn where Olivia and Melisandre were staying.

When they got there, they found Victoria and Melisandre in the main room, and seeing Victoria with her travel pack on, he let out a breath of relief. He had been worried that they would be staying overnight. He wasn’t sure what he was afraid of, he wasn’t even sure what he would have wanted to happen, but for some reason, the mere thought of being in close proximity to Olivia was frightening.

As soon as he walked into the inn, Victoria looked him over. “I’m leaving.”

Dante nodded. “Just give me one minute, I need to run up to Melisandre’s room and grab my travel bag.” He immediately headed toward the stairwell, not wanting to delay their journey. It was already starting to get dark, and he had no idea how far they would need to travel before making camp for the night.

“You’re not coming, Melisandre will continue your training until I return.”

Dante froze mid-step on the stairwell, then turned to look at Victoria. “Huh?”

Victoria actually had a slightly amused smile on her face. “I need to make a few arrangements to finish your training, and find some medicinal plants that will help your fox develop properly.” She gestured toward her travel pack, which had an almost sedated umbra fox inside. For some reason, as soon as she touched the fox, it had completely calmed down. “I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“Yay!” Arms suddenly wrapped around him, but he didn’t react. Victoria was really going to leave him with the two of them? Olivia’s voice was in his ear. “Think of all the fun we will have together.”

“You’re not serious, right?”

“I am. I’ll finish things faster if I go alone. I wrote down a few instructions for you, if you follow them, you’ll be fine.” Victoria walked over to him and handed him an envelope. “I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

Dante watched in shock as Victoria practically disappeared. A shadow seemed to envelop her, then the shadow flashed out of the room with incredible speed.

He was alone, with Olivia and Melisandre.

Melisandre smiled at him charmingly. “We are going to have so much fun. Why don’t you go upstairs and grab your things? Olivia and I will make arrangements with the innkeeper.”

Olivia pouted. “Why can’t he stay in my room?”

He could feel a shiver go down his spine.

Melisandre rolled her eyes. “Control yourself, Olivia.”

Olivia immediately retracted her arms from him. “Yes, Master. My apologies.”

Olivia’s reaction was slightly surprising, but in a good way. Giving Melisandre a grateful glance, Dante walked up the stairwell. On his way to Melisandre’s room he opened Victoria’s letter, only reading two sentences before releasing a groan.

Dante,

Watch yourself around Olivia. She and Melisandre both have a variant Classification – the Succubus Classification. Olivia is still adapting to it, and may be unable to control her actions. If you sleep with her, not only will you lose any unspent world essence, but you will also be ‘charmed’.

Have fun,

Victoria