Liam stumbled back, surprised but also not minding. His legs hit something soft, and then he fell back with Tori on top of him.

He was surprised at how amazingly real she felt. She was delightfully solid, for all that she’d been fading in and out of reality since he saw her for the first time.

She kept right on kissing him. Opening her mouth to his and pressing her tongue into his own.

He couldn’t resist. He reached down and started running his hand along her body which was delightfully firm. Then down to her ass to…

Olivia cleared her throat and pulled him back to reality. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to pull Tori back to reality. No, she kept right on kissing along his face even as he tried to push her away.

She was surprisingly strong. Like he got the feeling if she wanted to press the matter, if she really wanted to get it on, then there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Finally she pulled away after Olivia cleared her throat for a second time. She looked up, blinked a couple of times, and grinned down at Liam.

“That was fun,” she said.

“What the hell was that about?” he asked, breathing a little heavily and looking between his legs where she still straddled him.

God he would’ve loved it if there wasn’t anything down there separating them. Those leather shorts were enticing, but he would’ve rather they weren’t there.

“Does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Olivia asked.

Liam shook his head. He looked to Olivia, and then to Tori.

He’d always had a fantasy of going back to some girl’s room along with one of her friends and having some fun just like this, but this was one of those situations where he realized he should’ve been a lot more specific about exactly how he wanted that fantasy to play out.

“Not that I didn’t love what you just did,” he said. “But do you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?”

“The bond,” she said. “It must be sealed.”

“The bond?” he asked.

Again she shook her head. Again she looked like she wasn’t quite sure exactly what she was saying. Like there was something in her mind that was missing. He figured they were running up against that whole amnesia thing all over again.

“I don’t know exactly what it means,” she said. “Just that I need to seal the bond, and I’ve chosen you.”

“Is this like some weird alien mental link or something?” he asked. “Like we’re talking telepathy or something?”

“Sounds to me like you’re her brand new Pokemon,” Olivia said with a snort. “I choose you, Liam!”

“I don’t know,” Tori said. “I only know I have to bond with you. And on your world…”

She grabbed his favorite piece of anatomy.

Under normal circumstances that was the kind of invitation he would’ve gleefully taken, but with Olivia still in the room providing a dose of reality he couldn’t bring himself to go along.

Even if there were certain parts of his body screaming at him that he should just fucking do it, already.

Though it looked like reality was going to prevent anything fun from happening just yet. Tori started to flicker. Her eyes went wide, and she reached for Liam.

“You have to save me,” she said.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and that flickering stopped.

“They’re distracted, trying to harvest this world, and so they’re not paying close attention. This is the perfect time for someone to rescue me. I can’t always appear this strongly, but the more the bond grows the easier it will be. If you find me then we won’t have to worry about their interference.”

“Rescue you?” Olivia said, clearly confused. “But you’re standing right here with us. Or I guess you’re straddling right here with us.”

She hit Liam with a half smile. He grinned and shrugged.

“That’s great and all,” Liam said. “But I have no idea how the hell I’m supposed to rescue you.”

She kept flickering, and she got off the bed. She took a stumbling step, and he noticed that when she stumbled it was like she was moving through the other bed in the room, and not actually on top of it. Like her hold on reality was tenuous at best, and she was losing it.

“How can I help you?”

“You need to…”

She stumbled and fell forward towards the wall. Right through the windows that looked out on a balcony and a long drop to the parking lot below.

“Tori! Wait!”

But she was gone. He ran over to the window and tried to pull it open, but the door refused to budge even when he flipped the lock.

“It’s not going to work,” Olivia said. “They locked all these a long time ago to prevent jumpers.”

“Was that a serious problem?” Liam asked.

“Serious enough that they saw fit to close off all the balconies and refuse to give people a way to easily end it all,” she said with a shrug.

Liam tried to peer out, but he couldn’t see past the balcony.

“So who was that?” Olivia asked.

“I think she’s a friend,” Liam said, sitting up on the bed. “At least I hope she’s a friend. She’s saved me from the vampires a couple of times now.”

“That’s a good friend to have when the convention is being invaded by vampires,” Olivia said.

“Tell me about it,” Liam said, shaking his head.

Olivia came over and sat down next to him. She reached out and patted his leg.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” she said. “Tori seems like the kind of girl who can take care of herself, you know?”

“That’s the thing,” Liam said. “I don’t know shit about anything that’s happening right now. Including whether or not she can take care of herself.”

“This is definitely crazier than a bunch of furries getting it on in public spaces,” Olivia said.

Liam snorted and shook his head.

“Talk about mental images I could’ve done without. Thanks for that,” he said.

“I aim to please,” she said.

They settled into a silence.

“I should go look for her,” Liam finally said.

“And risk a bunch of vampires discovering you?” she asked. “Is that really a great idea?”

“I don’t know what’s a good idea anymore,” he said. “But she said I have to find her while the vampires are distracted, and I owe her several times over now.”

“I still don’t get how she was even here,” Olivia said. “Was she a projection or something?”

“I don’t know anything about how alien technology works,” Liam said. “Maybe it’s something like Star Wars where everybody communicates across the galaxy with tiny little action figure sized holograms or something, and she managed to project herself across the convention center while the vampires holding her captive were looking the other way. I don’t know. She was here, though, and she felt solid enough when she touched me. She also kept going on about that bond, and I figure that means something.”

“Aes Sedai and Warder,” Olivia muttered.

“What was that?” Liam asked, looking up sharply.

“Nothing,” she said with a thin smile. “Just something from a book, is all.”

Olivia’s hand started to move up his thigh ever so slightly, and then she stopped. When he looked at her she blushed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “She was just being very forward with you. For a moment I thought…”

“Thought what?” Liam asked.

“Well I thought about all those furries, and how I never wanted to join in on the fun they were having, but I wouldn’t have minded if…”

She blushed and turned away. She let that thought hang, and it was a thought he didn’t mind leaving hanging.

After all, Olivia was beautiful. Sure she was an earthling, but she was just as beautiful as the vampire vixens or Tori or Katie.

“You know, it really makes you think. Getting caught in a life or death situation like that,” Liam said.

“Really? What kind of things does it make you think?” Olivia asked, leaning in closer.

“Like if any moment might be your last, then maybe you should go seizing opportunities you might not take otherwise.”

Olivia grinned, and then she moved to throw her legs over his. A moment later she was straddling him, looking down, and her eyes went wide as she looked down between his legs.

“Oh my. Is that for me?”

It had been for Tori, but it was definitely for Olivia now. He grinned up at her, pulled her down for one hell of a kiss, and for a little while he didn’t worry about silly things like a bunch of vampires trying to kill him.

Unfortunately reality had a way of reasserting itself. They were busy getting their clothes back on about an hour later when there was a rattling at the door. Olivia looked to the door, her eyes wide, and then back to Liam.

"Shit,” she hissed.

"What’s wrong?” he asked.

"Maybe it’s the vampires,” she said, staring at the door.

"It looked like Tori did something to the electronics in the door lock, maybe they won’t be able to…”

He cut off as a click let them know the door lock was more than happy to let whoever was on the other side in. He cursed and jumped in front of Olivia.

His heart thudded in his chest. Tori wasn’t here. Katie wasn’t here. He gave that blaster back to Katie. If a vampire stepped through that door there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop them.

So imagine his surprise when the door opened and he found himself staring at a guy in a pair of very thick glasses who blinked a couple of times at seeing Liam standing there.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” the guy asked.

Liam was casting around for some excuse, something that wouldn’t get them kicked out of the hotel, when Olivia shrieked.

Liam’s first instinct was to look around and see if one of the vampires had figured out a way to come through the window. Maybe they could float, Lost Boys style, and they didn’t need the door. They were aliens, so he figured they didn’t need anything as silly as an invitation before they entered a room.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Olivia shrieked.

“Now wait a minute,” the guy said, though he blushed as he looked at Olivia.

Liam turned around and blinked. She’d pulled down part of her leather, leaving her top half exposed to the world. Which was quite an enjoyable sight, except for the fact that he was pretty sure they were about to get the cops called on them.

“You wait a minute!” she screamed. “Who do you think you are coming in here and staring at me like that? Do something about it honey!”

She shoved Liam forward. He took a couple of stumbling steps. The guy who’d invaded their room, and the woman behind him, stared dumbfounded. Olivia gave him another push and Liam realized he was supposed to be playing a role here.

“Yeah, what the hell are you doing in my room?” he asked.

“But the keycard worked on this room. It’s ours!” the guy said, sounding more dismayed than pissed off.

What had happened was obvious enough to Liam. There were a lot of people who didn’t arrive at the convention until later in the evening after work on a Friday to enjoy the weekend. Clearly these two were coming out for Saturday and Sunday, so they’d done a late check in.

“Well we’re in here,” Liam said. “How the hell did we get in here if it isn’t our room?”

The guy looked at his girl. She hissed at him to do something. The guy, meanwhile, looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here dealing with this confrontation.

“I’m going down to the front desk to take care of this now,” he finally said, shaking a finger at Liam and Olivia. “And the two of you better not be here when I get back!”

“That’s right!” the lady with him said, scowling at them like this was all their fault.

Which it totally was.

They disappeared through the door, though the guy paused with just his head peeking in.

“And if it does turn out this was all a big misunderstanding then I’m very sorry,” he said, low enough that he wouldn’t be overheard by his lady friend.

He slammed the door, and they were gone.

Liam breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Olivia, and started to laugh.

“Good thinking,” he said.

“You’re telling me,” she said. “I could see my job flashing before my eyes. I’m sure they’d think I let you in here if we got caught by someone working for the hotel.”

“We’d better get out of here, then, before they come back and find you here,” he said.

“Good idea,” she said. “People get their rooms mixed up all the time, but as soon as they go down to the front desk they’ll realize they had the right room all along and then they’re going to start asking questions.”

“So let’s get out of here while you still have a job,” Liam said, taking her by the hand.

He felt an electric shock as he took her by the hand. Olivia looked down at that hand he’d offered her, and then back up to him.

“Was that static electricity or something?” she asked, frowning.

“I think it was…”

And then it started to happen again. He was looking at Olivia and suddenly he could see everything about her like they were videogame statistics. He shook his head, trying to clear them away, but that didn’t stop the info dump.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, looking him up and down.

He tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn’t move no matter how hard he tried. It was like they were glued together. That electrical jolt coupled with the strange warmth moving back and forth between them wasn’t letting up.

Though he was glad it was happening now, and not ten minutes ago while they were enjoying one another’s company. There were far more awkward ways to be glued together than by the hands.

“What’s happening?” Olivia asked as that warmth got to the point of almost being painful.

“It’s like what happened with Tori earlier,” Liam said.

“Wait,” Olivia asked. “What happened with Tori earlier?”

“We saw each other in the hallway when I was looking for the Vampire Vixens showing,” Liam said. “She reached out and touched me, and there was a spark between us.”

Finally the connection broke and they stumbled back. She stared at Liam and shook her head.

“It’s weird. When I stare at you it’s almost like I can see…”

“A bunch of statistics hovering over my head?” Liam asked.

Her eyes went wide, and he knew he’d been right on the money.

“How did you know?” she asked.

“It was happening to me too,” he said. “I’d look at someone and see statistics floating over their head. Like how strong they are. How many weak points they have. Stuff like that. It looked like something straight out of the heads-up display for my VR headset when I’m working, only…”

He shook his head again. “I thought it was impossible, but if you’re seeing it too it must mean there’s something going on here.”

“There’s definitely something fucked up going on here,” she said. “We have space vampires, a disappearing woman who looks like she could twist you into a pretzel if she wanted to, videogame statistics hovering over people’s heads when you look at them, and that weird spark when we touched.”

“Are you talking about earlier or just now?” he asked, grinning.

She rolled her eyes. Clearly them getting it on wasn’t enough for her to tolerate his slightly off kilter sense of humor, but whatever.

“Something bad is happening this weekend at the convention, isn’t it?” she asked, and she looked genuinely scared. “Like I can call this an adventure all I want, but…”

“I think so,” Liam said. “I can’t shake the feeling I should get the hell out of here while I still can.”

Speaking of… He headed for the door, but checked the hallway first to make sure there were no vampires or hotel security lurking out there. The coast seemed clear, so he motioned for Olivia to follow and booked it for the elevators.

“You and me both,” Olivia said. “But at the same time if we leave then…”

“What?” Liam asked, genuinely curious where she was going with this.

He figured leaving would be cowardly, but at the same time he couldn’t shake the feeling that leaving was the best idea. He figured this whole hotel was about to wind up on one of those TV segments about people who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Though it was more likely they’d wind up on some conspiracy forum somewhere rather than having Robert Stack talking about their unsolved mystery considering he was dead.

“I mean it feels like I’d be giving up, you know?” Olivia asked. “Every day I wake up and I go to a job that’s okay, but I always thought I was going to have an adventure with my life, you know? I’d watch movies and read books growing up and think about how amazing it would be if I got to have an experience like that, and now an experience like that is here and what do I do? I think about running away from it.”

“I mean let’s be fair,” Liam said. “Most of the adventures people in those old movies and books ended up having were pretty fucking terrifying if you were the one living through it.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Think about it,” he said. “Corey Haim was menaced by a werewolf. Atreyu was menaced by a thing that might as well be a werewolf.”

“You said werewolf twice,” Olivia said, smiling.

“Because they fucking terrified me growing up,” Liam said. “But even on the non-werewolf side you had plenty of scary shit. Those kids in the Goonies got shot at. Kids got shot into space where they probably wouldn’t get rescued if that kind of thing happened in the real world. The Monster Squad would’ve been mauled to death the first time they tried to kick the Wolfman in the nards. Every one of those adventures would end with a bunch of people dead if they relly happened. Or at the very least on the side of a milk carton or up on the wall at a Walmart asking if you’ve seen them lately.”

“You have a point,” Olivia said, but still. Vampire vixens from Planet X! Like the real thing. Not just some cheesy movie. There are space aliens and strange women who look sort of like a sexy lady Han Solo but wearing way less clothing. What kind of people would we be if we gave up on an adventure like that now that it’s come knocking?”

“Living people,” Liam said.

He was starting to sympathize with a certain Mr. Bilbo Baggins when a certain wizard came calling and leaving marks on his door. Though at the same time he also couldn’t shake the feeling that this was an adventure. He wanted to see where it went, and it’s not like he could do that running away.

Besides, there was something else keeping him in the hotel. Not only did he want to see Katie again, see Tori again, but he also had his friends to think of. They were out there in the convention somewhere, and he couldn’t leave them behind.

Even if he was risking almost certain death.

He sighed. "Fuck.”

“So does that mean you’re sticking around?” Olivia asked.

“I think it does,” he said. “I probably won’t be nearly as happy or confident when I’m getting my blood drained by a vampire vixen, but whatever.”

Olivia grinned. “That’s the spirit! Now what do we do?”

“First we stop by my hotel room. I need to get in touch with my friends and warn them, and from there we should try to find Tori, or Katie.”

“Who’s Katie?” Olivia asked.

Liam couldn’t be entirely certain, but he thought he detected a hint of jealousy in Olivia’s voice.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said, stopping in front of the elevator.

“Try me,” she said.

“Would you believe she was a Galactic Enforcer?”

“No shit?”

“Totally no shit, promise,” Liam said as he hit the button on the elevator.

He half expected to find a group of vampire vixens in there when the doors opened, but blessedly the elevator was empty. He breathed a sigh of relief, and gestured for Olivia to follow him.

First his room, a chat with his friends, and from there he needed to find Tori and Katie, and pray he found them before the vampire vixens got to him.