The face in the mirror was a complete stranger.
An incredibly handsome, sexually alluring stranger. I turned quickly around, expecting to see him behind me, but there was nobody. And he wasn't in the bathroom. Which meant….
Slowly, carefully, I raised my hand. I touched my face, and the hand in the mirror moved in tandem. It moved across my chiseled jaw and the dimple on my cheek, over my shining, beautiful, bright blue eyes, and through my luxurious mane of dark brown hair.
On top of my facial beauty, I was now ripped. And not just in the right lighting but unquestionably ripped. I had abs for the first time in my life. My biceps bulged and I wasn't even flexing them yet!
There was something else I felt, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt lighter… more capable.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" I asked, startled at the deepness of my new voice.
"Bridgid." She waited a few moments before adding, "The redheaded mermaid."
"Oh! Please come in."
"Can you help me with the door?"
Odd.
"Sure thing, just let me grab a towel."
There were plenty available. This was a pretty well stocked hotel, so kudos to the management team at whatever group Elaine belongs to.
I wrapped it around myself and approached the door. There was one of those peepholes you could use to check in on people before you opened the door, so I decided to sneak a peek.
Bridgid was beautiful, even without a mermaid tail and even when clothed. Even with the distorted view of the fisheye lens in the peephole. Her hair was braided this time, similar to her blonde Sister's, though looser, with a few rebellious strands framing her face. She wore a green dress trimmed with fur, something between ceremonial and practical, like a Slavic princess who knew how to play at being a shieldmaiden. Tattoos I didn't remember seeing before covered her perky bust, including one of a stag that looked like it was leaping from one breast to another.
And there was something else—what was she doing? She was stepping away from the door and seemed to be positioning herself for a running start. But toward the door? Toward me?
She ran, I stepped back as quickly as I could, even if a bit clumsily, but the door slammed open in time to perfectly arc its way into the side of my head. I closed my eyes in anticipation.
After a few seconds, I opened them, realizing that the expected blow hadn't arrived. The door was still moving, but very slowly. I peeked beyond the door out into the hallway to see where Bridgid was in all this, but oddly it looked like she was just now landing her foot from the donkey kick she used to launch the door.
I felt my heart rate slow, and I could breathe a little easier. Time seemed to speed back up as I relaxed, and the door opened, revealing Bridgid standing there with her arms crossed, and smiling.
"Are you satisfied?" She asked with a smile.
"More than satisfied." I said.
She hummed approvingly. "Good. That would have been awkward otherwise."
"I mean, I'm assuming that was you? The face and the... whatever happened just now?"
Bridgid nodded.
"It's called Sugar Rush. There is something else I should mention first, though. You are now synced with the Hotel's Mana network, which includes access to your own personal daemon."
"What do you mean? Like, a devil?"
She waved a hand dismissively. "More like a fairy with a confirm button. You'll rarely see them. Mostly you'll hear them. Think of them as your interface."
"An interface to what?"
"To everything that matters," came a soft, feminine voice—not Bridgid's.
I flinched.
In front of me, a translucent screen of blue light flickered into existence, hovering comfortably in midair. The text was crisp, impossibly clear.
=================
Subject: R-01917
Name: Theodore MacBride
Sugar Levels: 2,500^
Sugar Babies: None
Known Abilities: Sugar Rush
=================
"This looks like the same information from the hospital. I even have the same subject name!"
"The hospital is run by the Hotel," said the voice from before, who I assumed was the daemon Bridgid mentioned. "Every industry with a Hotel presence is connected via the same Mana network."
How powerful is this Hotel?
"Wow..."
"Do you have a question, Mr. MacBride?"
I had to hold myself back from making a quip about Mr. MacBride being my dad, I'm just Teddy.
"It's like learning the Illuminati actually exists. We're not allowed to learn about magic or Mana or anything like that in school, our parents don't talk about it, and it's even rare among kids because of how dangerous the accidents have been. And it's not like it's all been around for a very long time, yet a magical organization based out of a hotel now runs the local hospital?"
"Power is the best defense," Bridgid said. "And money is power."
I couldn't argue with that. I looked back at the tablet.
"My Sugar levels are lower. They're down by a couple thousand!"
Bridgid again waved her hand with a casual dismissiveness. "Don't worry about that. The Shower takes a lot out of people, and your Sugar levels took a hit, but your ability to produce that level of Sugar was not affected. You might even end up producing more. What you should be more interested in is your new ability."
That's right. When I first looked at the tablet when Elaine unlocked the information on Sugar Levels and Sugar Babies it said that I had no known abilities. Seeing something there now filled me with a sense of relief I didn't know I was looking for. Like what made me special was no longer just a number, but something that I could put into action somehow.
"Sugar Rush? That's what you called what happened when you came in. Time slowed down, but I didn't do anything."
"Courtesy of me and the Sisters. You were a very interesting case, you know?"
"I keep hearing that."
"Normally, people with the capacity for massive Sugar production are naturally more beautiful to begin with. At least more capable. Your body seemed ill equipped to make use of any of your Sugar stores for your benefit. So, when we reshaped your body, we reshaped your Mana grid to give you something we thought would be pretty useful for someone new to all this."
"Thank you, but I'm confused. Time slowed down, but I didn't do anything."
"It's a passive skill. It's activated any time you sense danger, but you can suppress it manually. Let me demonstrate again."
Bridgid walked over to the TV that came with the hotel room and grabbed the remote, turned around and threw it at my forehead. Time slowed down again, and I had ample time to dodge. But I just stood there, looking at the remote as it headed my way. She did say it was a passive skill, so which was the part where I exactly had to step in?
The answer came with a thud to my forehead as time resumed normally and I could hear Bridgid yelling.
"You idiot! You had all the time in the world to move out of the way!"
"Sorry," I said with a grimace. Tears welled up at my eyes, more from where I got hit than any actual pain. "I thought some subconscious warrior program would kick in or something."
"Hmm," Bridgid said, finger to her lips. "I'll make a note of that. But listen. My Sisters and I are going to outfit you before presenting you at the Penthouse. Before we do that, though, I get to perform a final test run."
She smiled.
My cock grew.
"You mean..."
"Just something quick to make sure we didn't break something."
I had questions, but wasn't going to argue with her.
She turned around, raised her arms behind her back to unclasp her dress, and let it fall to the ground around her petite hourglass ass. She wore a matching black bra and panty set. She unclasped her bra and let it drop before turning around with the tattoos again changing. The deer that had looked like it was about to leap from one breast had landed on the other, and had found another deer, and were apparently in heat.
She circled and pinched one of her nipples and moaned. Her body was soft, but muscles rippled underneath and tightened as she bent down on her knees removed the towel from around my waist.
I was probably more surprised than she was, as this was the first time I had gotten a good look at my cock since the Shower. It was a thick ten inches long, easily twice the size of what I was working with before. It was already as hard as a rock before she grabbed it with her hand.
The very first time a woman has touched my cock.
She eyed it hungrily as she stroked it, sometimes with one hand, sometimes with two. Her tits bounced small, perky bounces and I could see her diamond ring nestled in her abs as she flexed for position. Without thinking I reached down and felt up one of her breasts. When she spat on my cock and began rubbing the saliva in a horrifying thought came to my mind.
I'm going to prematurely ejaculate on her face.
I could already feel it coming, and I already knew from bitter experience how unstoppable that process was when it began.
It began.
The fear of humiliation consumed me but could not prop up a damn against my escalating orgasm. My muscles spasmed, I felt the bliss of a thousand sultry summers, I cherished the sight of Bridgid's face and then came all at the same time.
Her face was completely glazed, some of it stuck to her hair, some of it dripping onto her chest and onto the tattoos, which had stopped moving.
Which had stopped moving.
Bridgid had stopped moving, too. At least, she was not yelling at me. But more than that, I could tell. My Sugar Rush had activated. Time had slowed but hadn't really slowed in this case. It was completely stopped.
"Oh dear," said a familiar voice. The daemon.
"Did I break time?" I asked.
"Orgasm is a very effective force multiplier for abilities based on Sugar and Spice. Sugar Rush being activated in this situation... it's unprecedented."
"How do I get out of this? Will it just wear off?"
"Hmm. It could be a while. For you, anyway. For us, actually. There may be something we can do, though."
"Oh?"
I heard some light chimes in the air as light began to coalesce around a spot at one of the beds. In a final bright flash of light, the daemon appeared sitting. My cock twitched slightly, as if aching to come back to life.
"Come on. We will figure this out together."