Morning came and a little slime was sleeping on the stomach of a half vampire. Aria's red ruby eyes stared at him. She was lying in bed awake for an hour already. Jack was dreaming of being a pirate searching for his coins.
Waking up, he wobbled on her abs.
"You reek of that innkeeper," Aria said, not accusatory, but as a simple, observable fact like stating the sky was blue. Her fingers, stained with faded black rune tattoos, lazily traced circles on her own stomach around his gooey body.
"Oh yeah." Jack was about to make a joke but she cut him off.
"Are you prideful of your action?" Aria's question hung in the musty air of the room, her crimson eyes holding a level, unnerving calm.
Jack paused. Sex wasn't something he felt guilty about on Earth. He loved sex and he was loyal. But the marriage with Jeanne wasn't a leash; it was fake, forced. Until they actually sit down and talk about it properly, he was single in a new world.
"I am myself, Aria," he said with a shrug that sent little ripples through his gelatinous form. "And that involves a bit of fornication."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you want for the reward?" she asked, referring to their deal.
"No," Jack sighed.
Thinking about the reward for too long numbed his mind. On one hand he wanted to secure an ally with his slime pact, on the other it might stopped any chance of actual companionship. But it had to be worth him risking his life.
"What I want..." he paused.
Her breathing slowed, her gaze intense.
"I want loyalty. I have this slime pact skill. If I make one with you, you won't be able to refuse my hold... your loyalty will be unwavering."
He had asked the system and as long as they didn't go 50+ levels higher than him, or get a skill to break it, then there was no way for her to break out of a pact.
But Aria took this in differently than expected. She pushed him off her. Her fangs were showing, her claws ready to pierce him.
"I won't ever become a slave to another being." she snarled, her voice low and dangerous.
"Calm down. Calm down," Jack backed up to a corner, forming two of his slime tentacles into a defensive shape, mimicking tiny hands.
She huffed. The anger subsided but it was still there, simmering beneath her stoic facade like embers waiting for a breath of wind.
"Like I was saying. I want your loyalty but not enough to control you against your will. I want it by choice," Jack said.
There was an honesty in him she recognized.
"So my reward is ghost magic. I want you to teach me ghost skills," Jack explained. "Maybe something else we can decide later, if you'd like."
Her crimson eyes lost their angry glint.
"Can't you just ask your system?" she asked, genuinely curious. Jack had already used a ghost skill against her after all.
"There are limits. I need to evolve into a ghost slime to get the skills more easily." He replied.
She nodded. It made sense, you can't learn without a master or a book.
"So teach me. Teach me your phasing skill."
Phasing would get him out of more sticky situations and would make it easier to gather information. Aria put a hand to her chin. She had never thought someone else that skill, after all it's basically an instinct to ghosts, and it's incredibly hard to teach someone who doesn't have the right 'feeling'.
"Fine," she agreed, "First-"
The door was swung open. Jeanne had a worried look plastered on her face.
"We have to go. Now." The priestess said while grabbing the satchel and a pack of dried meat.
Aria and Jack exchanged glances. But they followed after her, through the hallways, through the stairs, through the reception area. Amelia was finally hanging up the wanted posters, her legs were still wobbly.
"Morning. Off so soon?" Amelia yawned, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.
Jeanne's nod was curt as she pushed past the sleepy innkeeper.
"Wait this is... YOU?" Amelia squinted her eyes, finally connecting the dots between the poster and the woman in her inn.
The trio were already outside, not waiting for the innkeepers reaction. They had to run away. Moving in between a few houses, they tried to make their way outside the town. But an angry mob of a few people, and the pastor were blocking the exit.
"Seize the heretics!" Pastor Heron yelled.
Aria stepped forward, her claws out, her bloodlust obvious. Jeanne grabbed her hand.
"No we can't kill humans. It's wrong."
The hybrid's teeth gritted. "It's wrong? Wrong?"
She shot back, her crimson eyes burning.
Jack felt a tightness in his chest. Not because he cared for this moral debate but because they were arguing in the middle of this dangerous situation. Solutions first.
"Let's just go around."
So the three of them took a detour through the back alleys of the town. Passing chickens and washing lines. The scent of fresh bread was in the air, a cruel reminder of the normalcy they were being chased away from.
They had to run through a farm.
"Stop!" A farmer yelled.
A herd of cows were blocking their escape route. They were big; too big to jump over. Jeanne was the first one to cast her holy spear.
"Hypocrite," Aria sneered.
The mob caught up with them in the farm-fields. Pastor Heron had a holy dagger ready. Two of the townsfolk had pitchforks. Jack turned to look at Jeanne. She wasn't moving. Her face was a stone-cold mask but her right glove had turned into a trembling fist.
[Pastor Heron, Level 15, Human.]
[Class; Pastor]
[HP: 200]
[Mana: 100]
[Skills: Holy Dagger, Holy Speed blessing.]]
"Jack... I'll throw a blinding spear and you and Aria stop them with their ghost skill. Don't kill them," Jeanne said. The plea came out choked. Aria's scoff was a knife through the fragile hope of her words. Jeanne turned to Jack. Even though he was technically a monster, she still saw him as a person.
"Please. Don't. Not to innocents."
The weight of her desperation was a pressure on Jack's core. To trample on her morality now would be to crushsomething delicate between them. Yet he was a survivalist.
He glanced between Aria and Jeanne.
"I..."